Prologue

The Shadow Border is now docked at Wandering Sea Port 1. All Chaldea staff, please disembark at your earliest convenience.

Yes, Senpai. We've all made it back to base safely!

Indeed, we have! Ahh, I can scarcely recall the last time I was able to breathe a genuine sigh of relief!

That aside, I didn't expect returning to the Wandering Sea to be so...involved.

First we had to anchor the Storm Border out at sea, then we had to change to the Shadow Border to make our way here by diving underwater...

I must say, any workshop you can only access from under the sea is a long ways from perfect in my book!

That's right. It only took about twenty minutes from the time we anchored the Storm Border outside and made our way here in the Shadow Border.

Thank you again, Nemo. I don't know what we would have done without your help! You're amazing!

...Well, I am Triton as well as Nemo. When it comes to navigating the ocean, you'd better believe I can hold my own against the Storm Border.

I doubt my Nautilus will ever serve as a strategy room for you guys again, but it's still nice to hear that.

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Well done out there, everyone. I have been eagerly awaiting your return.

Congratulations on your victory over the Atlantic Lostbelt. Not only did you succeed at your primary objective brilliantly...

...you even brought back a more fascinating souvenir than I could ever have imagined! That battleship out there is simply fantabulous!

The data you sent painted a truly spectacular picture, but now that I have seen it in person, your data hardly did it justice!

While I can certainly understand how you feel, Ms. Sion, I'm afraid I must ask that you postpone indulging your curiosity a bit longer.

I believe you are already aware of the situation, and of the next move we need to make?

You had better believe it. Not to worry, our next mission is right up my alley as well!

I see. My apologies. I should have known Atlas's resident child prodigy would already have the matter well in hand.

Mr. Fujimaru. Director Goredolf. Ms. Kyrielight. And Mr. M.

May I suggest we take this opportunity to roll up our sleeves and return to our respective positions?

What the... How do you know my handle, Holmes!? Don't tell me you're addicted to online games too!?

Hahaha. While I won't deny I have my own vices, online games are not among them. Indeed, I still have very little experience when it comes to video games.

No, that was just a small demonstration of my skill.

While I may not have been at my best in Olympus, I am still the world's foremost detective, you see.

By virtue of my profession, revealing secrets comes as naturally to me as breathing does to you.

Ugh, you really are the worst, aren't you!? Nope. Not buying it. I think it's more like a fetish than it is anything to do with your job!

Now, now, that's enough of that, Ajillo.

His choice of topic aside, the point is, Holmes has proven that his detective skills are still sharp.

And I, for one, am most encouraged to see it, Administrative Advisor! Just make sure you keep your magnifying glasses away from my own private affairs!

It's wonderful to see everyone so relaxed again.

I think we all started feeling less tense on the way back from Olympus, and it looks like I was right.

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...(Sigh) You're really not supposed to chitchat on the dock, you know.

Besides, last I checked, you Chaldeans are supposed to be getting ready to tackle the next Lostbelt.

For all we know, this could be the last time we get to come back to the base like this.

So I encourage you all to head back to your rooms and rest up for what's to come.

Oh yes, you certainly don't have to tell me twice.

I've been looking forward to putting my feet up on my fluffy bed and drifting off without having to worry about being woken up by an emergency alert for ages now!

Oh yes, by the way, Captain:

Shouldn't my gorgeous director's office be done by now?

...Huh?

What?

U-uh, right. How could I forget? How's that coming along, Sion?

Yes, of course it is all done.

However, as luck would have it, I just began further renovations a few minutes ago with the aim of making it even more gorgeous than before.

In the meantime, Goredolf, I would ask that you continue to look forward to the office of your dreams...

...from the comfort of Storehouse 3 for the time being.

I don't believe it. She clearly forgot all about me, but instead of admitting her mistake, she's chosen to power straight through with a thousand-watt smile!

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I'm going to head right back to the Storm Border.

It's still pretty unstable, even with all the renovations we made in Atlantis.

I need to shore it up so it can eventually operate even without my presence, or the Storm Border's for that matter.

I see. So you'll be replacing the virtual parts currently supported by the Aronnax Phantasm with real ones.

It seems, then, that you have a great deal of welding ahead of you.

Yeah. Once that's done, I have to replace the central control system with something that doesn't depend on the Shadow Border so we stop piling more work onto Da Vinci.

I take it everything's ready to go, Sion?

You know it. I already finished moving your things out so you can focus all your energy on the construction.

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It means that both Captain and Da Vinci will be staying on the Storm Border for the time being.

In the meantime, the rest of us will remain here at Chaldea Base to prepare for the next Lostbelt operation.

Mr. Fujimaru, your task will be training to further improve your Master capabilities.

Ms. Kyrielight, you'll be fine-tuning the Ortinax.

And Ms. Sion and I will begin investigating and analyzing the Foreign God in earnest.

!

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Only with the information we currently have available, but yes.

My first order of business will be to peruse the Animusphere records we brought along from Chaldea's Antarctic base.

These records should contain information on former director Olga Marie, who has now returned in the form of the Foreign God...

...and of her father, Sir Marisbury, the founder of Chaldea.

In that sense, I suppose it will be an internal affairs investigation of sorts. As for Ms. Sion, she will be

Say no more. You want me to observe and examine everything I can about the external sidethe Foreign God that now exists on our planet.

You can do that!?

...Now look. You surprised me so much I reacted in the exact same way as Fujimaru!

Hehehe, so you did. It was very entertaining to watch.

At any rate, yes, I can indeed determine the Foreign God's whereabouts now. In fact, I have already done so.

All is within Trismegistus II's analytical capabilities.

You may think of them as being analogous to Sheba from the original Chaldea if that helps.

As we speak, the Foreign God's signal has left the Atlantic Lostbelt and moved to the South American one, where it is holding position.

After I had Trismegistus II analyze the time-lapsed footage...

...it concluded that it could not observe a future where the signal would leave South America while the world was in its current bleached state.

Which means we can expect the Foreign God to remain in South America for the time being.

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...Kirschtaria's magecraft injured her so badly she can no longer move?

That would be the most reasonable conclusion.

I can think of no other reason for the Foreign God to refrain from attacking us.

Th-then this is the perfect chance to strike back! If we go after her now while she's still injured, then

Sorry, Gordy, but I don't think that's a good idea.

Oh, hey guys! Hope you don't mind me jumping in remotely☆

That's right, it's me, Da Vinci! I'm currently examining the Storm Border along with the Nemo Marines!

Wha...? Hey! Cut that out, Marine D! Those are MY skates, dammit!

I swear, why are you guys always messing with me!?

'Cause we're both Riders, which makes us rivals! And there's no way we're gonna let you win without a fight!

Since you've got the land covered, and we've got the sea, whoever ends up controlling the sky will win it all!

That's why one of these days, we're gonna have Captain Nemo fight you to see who gets to keep the Storm Border!

Come on, Marines, winner takes all! Let's win this thiiing!

Huh? What're you guys even talking about!?

Just ignore them, Da Vinci. More importantly, wasn't there something you wanted to tell us?

Oh, right, I almost forgot. Ugh. You know, Captain, it wouldn't kill you to keep these guys in line.

Anyway, speaking in my capacity as technical advisor...

...I have to strongly advise against trying to attack the Foreign God in South America right now.

Even if she really is as badly injured as we're assuming, we'd still be no match for her. At least, not yet.

Based on what we observed in Olympus, the Foreign God's Spirit Origin output is on the order of a third-class planet.

In other words, she's the strongest being we've seen since Beast I, Goetia, and his second-class planet-level power.

We just don't have anything powerful enough to destroy something like that, even if the Storm Border were in perfect condition.

So if we tried going to South America now, never mind beating her, just surviving would be a miracle. If anything, we should be grateful that things are at a stalemate right now.

The strongest being we've seen since Goetia...

True, when we fought Goetia, we were only able to defeat him thanks to a number of extenuating circumstances...

...but what about the Black Barrel? Couldn't that do something against the Foreign God, no matter the scale of her life span?

Hmm... As much as I would love to say that my darling Black Barrel is up to the task, I am afraid I cannot.

To begin, it is possible that the Foreign God simply does not fit our perception of common sense.

You see, Black Barrel can only measure the longevity of something understood by creatures of Earth.

We simply have no guarantee that the same rules apply to the Foreign God.

That said, I suppose it is at least possible, given that we are able to communicate with them...

But even then, I doubt that the Black Barrel's Accomplishments Measure would be able to get a full read on the Foreign God's life span.

Oh? And why is that?

Isn't the Black Barrel designed precisely to turn those sorts of differences in capability on their heads?

Well, think about it. The Foreign God whipped up a gravitational field like it was nothing, remember?

We are talking about a being capable of creating black holes. My engineering simply cannot compete.

You all know about black holes, right? They are basically pitfalls of pure darkness that suck up anything in their vicinity.

I say pitfall, but in the metaphorical sense. There is no "falling" involved. They exert a gravitational force on anything within range.

The reason they are called black holes is because not even light can escape their pull, which makes them as dark as it is physically possible to be.

The speed of light is three hundred thousand kilometers per second, and with our current understanding of the laws of physics, we are unable to exceed it.

So there is just no way for anything I could engineer to keep up with an opponent who can toss out black holes with hardly any effort.

R-really? Granted, that gravitational field was quite the force to be reckoned with...

Does this mean there's just nothing we can do against someone with black holes in their arsenal?

No, that is not quite accurate. I am not saying that black holes are strong simply by virtue of their nature.

In fact, increasing gravity is actually very simple. All one has to do is compress mass and raise its density.

For example, if we could compress Earth's mass to the size of a fingertip, it would become a black hole.

So the mechanics behind a black hole's creation are clearly understood. We simply lack the engineering skill to create one.

Even as we speak, new black holes are forming throughout the universe.

They are the inevitable result of what happens...

...when a large star reaches the end of its life cycle and collapses under its own weight.

They are part of stellar life, and as such, they occur throughout the universe on a daily basis. In other words

The Foreign God is using the same mechanisms as the cosmos itself.

Which means even the very scales we employ must use completely different units of measurement than hers. Is that correct?

I am afraid so.

The Black Barrel is designed for fighting life-forms, regardless of how powerful those life-forms may be.

But unfortunately for us...

...humanity has yet to devise a calculation that is not only capable of measuring the life span of celestial objects, but then using that measurement as a weapon.

The only reason we were able to use it to defeat the gods of Olympus is because they were part of a theory that only worked in a Lostbelt.

Put differently, because they were once a foundational factor of human history.

Then...there's no way for us to use the Black Barrel to stop the Foreign God, since it uses its target's own longevity as ammunition?

Correct. Our battle with the Foreign God will be determined solely by how much energy we are able to produce.

So if our opponent is outputting as much energy as your average star, we will need to come up with a weapon that can match and exceed it.

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...I suggest we leave that topic for a later time. For the moment, stabilizing the Storm Border is our top priority.

But, even if we get the Storm Border in perfect working order...what good will it do if we don't have any useful weapons to bring to bear?

Oh, I wouldn't worry about that. We do have some idea of where we might find such a weapon. Don't we, Da Vinci?

Hmm. Maaaybe?

I mean, yeah, if you're only talking about where to look, that part's in the bag.

But actually getting our hands on it? That's a whole other story.

That's quite all right, Da Vinci. We'll have plenty of time to figure that out.

In the meantime, there's something I'd like to ask you regarding Kadoc Zemlupus.

Is it true that he gave you something before you put him in the recovery pod?

Oh, that. I'm surprised you know about that, Holmes. Who spilled the beans, anyway?

Oh, that'd be me. You're talking about the memory chip, right?

I'm the one who told him about it, and how it probably has records of the Crypters' communications.

Right you are, Meunière.

That chip contains all sorts of communication logs between Kirschtaria and the other Crypters. I'm pretty sure Kadoc copied them himself.

Most of it was about the Atlantic Lostbelt, so it's all pretty useless now...

There were two bits I found interesting, though.

Oh? And what were those?

First, that the attack on our world began with the Bleached Earth Phenomenon, not the Trees of Emptiness.

And second...

...that the Bleached Earth Phenomenon's point of origin was in North America, in Area 51.

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Hmm. We may not have a great deal of information at this point, but nonetheless...

Da Vinci, would you be so kind as to send that data over to me as well?

Sure thing! Knock yourself out☆

All right, that's all from me for now. The Storm Border isn't gonna improve itself, after all!

Fujimaru, Mash, I know things aren't easy right now, but try not to let them get you guys down, okay?

Don't worry. You'll feel a lot less anxious once you've had a good rest and gotten back into the swing of things with your training.

I might not get to see you guys for a while, but the next time I do, I look forward to seeing how much you've grown!

Da Vinci already brought up everything I wished to, so there is not much left for me to say.

Now that the Foreign God has arrived on Earth, the situation has changed dramatically.

However, that does not mean we should panic.

For the moment, the best thing we can do is to keep our heads down and focus exclusively on what we are able to affect.

For myself and Holmes on the analysis team, that means studying the enemy and coming up with a plan. For the field teamnamely, Fujimaru, Mash, and the Border's crewthat means equal parts training and recuperation.

No need to worry. According to Trismegistus II's prognostications, the world should remain perfectly intact for at least another month.

And as the Atlas Institute's resident genius, that gives me more than enough time to come up with a plan guaranteed to succeed.

So I encourage you all to kick back, relax, and enjoy this standby time as best you can.