Fate/Grand Order story · Part 2: Cosmos in the Lostbelt, Lostbelt No.6: Fae Round Table Domain, Avalon le Fae
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Lostbelt No.6: Fae Round Table Domain, Avalon le Fae. Giant Hole
4 scenes, 721 lines
1. Before the battle
116 linesThe Isle of Britain was collapsing.
All the buildings the faeries had built in imitation of human civilization...
...all the corpses, from those heaped up in ages past to those freshly killed by the calamities...
The insect sucked more of them into the air with every passing second...and swallowed them whole.
The northern lands dissipated like snow. The southern lands drifted away like ash.
Those few who somehow managed to survive all joined hands and fell into the void.
It was as though everything in Faerie Britain had been no more than a single night's dream.
I still can't identify that unknown Servant's Spirit Origin pattern! (Crying)
It doesn't match any of the seven main classes, or even any of the Extra ones!
I've never seen anything like this class before! What IS that thing, Holmes!?
I can only confirm that its class is unknown.
There are those who serve as inspiration to others and usher in new ages by doing good deeds: Heroes.
And there are those who help good things come about by serving as necessary obstacles: Anti-Heroes, the counter to heroes.
Among these, there were doubtless some Anti-Heroes who accomplished great feats through treachery.
An imposterno, someone who achieved greater power and feats than even one who is genuine by deceiving others about the nature of their very soul.
Such an Anti-Hero would not be an Avenger, or a Ruler. Nor would they be an entity from an outer zone, or a distinct, separate personality within a person.
No, they would be a Pretendera Heroic Spirit mired in falsehoods who fights entire worlds rather than people or beasts.
Indeed, I can think of no better name for Oberon!
C... C... C...
Come the hell on! What in the world's going on here!?
The boy won! Kyrielight came through with flying colors!
I know it may not be possible for our world to coexist with this Lostbelt, but we never wanted to destroy it!
We SAVED Britain, dammit!
So why is this happening!?
Answer me, Holmes! What in the world is that monster!?
...I suspect it's the concept of emptiness.
It may seem like a living creature, but it has no muscles, no bones, and no organs.
What appears to be its mouth is, in actuality, a hole.
Though it appears to be sucking up the ground, in truth, the ground is falling up, toward it.
Imagine a bathtub filled with water. Now imagine that our world is that water, and that creature is the drain.
What happens to the water in a bath once the plug is removed from the drain?
Well, it's water, right? So it'd just make a little whirlpool and swirl down the drain...
...Wait. Then, you're saying that thing isn't sucking everything up, but
Indeed. Weor rather, the very space we inhabit, is falling towards it.
Even if we were able to escape our present location, it would achieve nothing.
Now that the plug has been removed, everything on the planet is going to fall into that hole.
The very epitome of a pitfall.
I simply never imagined there could be a hole the entire world could fall into.
Vortigern... The Cowardly King who killed Uther, King Arthur's father...
Then...you must be King Arthur's archenemy for this Lostbelt!
No, I couldn't care less about King Arthur.
Think bigger, Mash. I'm humanity's archenemy.
Vortigern was Britain's destiny incarnate in your world too, right?
Well, I'm not about to allow humanity to have their own age. Not on my watch.
If humans are just going to trample all over Britain's Mystics, I'd rather end it before the Age of Mystics comes to a close.
I'd like to go out on a high note, in essence. Even if it means killing myself.
And yeah, you don't have to say it! Believe me, I get it!
There's nothing worse than when the thing you hate becomes super popular!
Not that that matters when King Arthur comes along to stop you in your tracks.
That's the problem with your world. Neither the good nor the evil ones in it are willing to go far enough.
Want to destroy humanity? You need to destroy the world itself.
Your Vortigern failed because he couldn't cross that line.
...Why do you want to destroy all of humanity?
？！
They disgust me.
What of it?
Wouldn't a bunch of vermin skittering around the corners of your room disgust you too?
Disgusting...? You think this Britain is disgusting? That the faeries and humans who live in the land of the fae are all disgusting!?
Huh? You mean you actually like them, Mash? Wow, that's...really something.
Eh, don't take it too personally. It's not just this place that disgusts me. It's everything.
To me, even your world just looks like a giant pile of shit.
Hm, that was vulgar, wasn't it? Not how the Faerie King should speak, is it?
Sorry. I'll be more careful in the future. Think you can forgive me just this once, especially after all we've been through together?
In fact, tell you what. I apologize for everything I just said.
If you'd rather, we can just forget this whole thing happened.
Huh? U-uh, okay. Wait... Huh?
...I don't understand, Master. It... It seemed like Oberon was being completely sincere just now...
...Stop messing with Mash.
？！
Why, whatever do you mean?
You only ever tell lies.
I mean, you're Oberon the Liar.
？！
You only ever tell lies.
？！
So you DO get it. I'm so glad to hear that, Fujimaru.
You're right, I'm a liar. I never told you guys the truth. Not once!
But, I was still deadly serious about destroying Britain.
And I relied on you most to make that happen.
I mean, think about it. If someone told you to do something as huge as destroy Britain, where would you even begin?
I was as clueless as the next person. I didn't know what I was going to do.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that even if I could defeat Morgan, it wouldn't be enough.
I would need so, so many pieces to fall into place to bring down Faerie Britain.
Morgan and Chaldea alone just weren't going to cut it.
Everything had to happen at the right time, and I'd only get a single chance.
Even I had no choice but to watch my every step carefully.
But then...I saw you on that beach, and I instantly realized:
This guy's a total moron. The perfect performer. I just know he's going to make all my dreams come true!
I truly believed from the bottom of my heart that you were the worst, and best, spectator I could hope forone I knew would bring everything to a spectacular end!
...Gee, thanks.
So which is it, performer or spectator?
...Fine, I take it back. You're a nitpicky critic. Happy now?
？！
Anyway... My intuition was right. You lived up to my expectations and then some.
So much so that I wouldn't have minded letting you live.
Except, I have to destroy Chaldea too.
Vortigern's goal is to ensure this false Britain finally disappears, since it's hung around for far too long after his death...
But me? MY goal is to wipe out humanity.
And Chaldea's whole deal is protecting Proper Human History, right? Kinda makes us mortal enemies.
So, I'm going to kill you all here, so you can't change things up on me later.
...The Abyssal Worm is falling towards us...
？！
What the hell!? I can't put any distance between us and...THAT, no matter how hard I push it!
Captain! Da Vinci! Holmes! Hell, I'll even take chubby.
Hurry and get Fujimaru and Mash back inside! Aw, crap! We're not gonna make it!
The collapse is coming straight for us! We can't get away! It's gonna swallow us whole!
Dammit, now all our sensors have stopped working, too! I can't tell what's going on outside anymore!
Hell, it's so dark in here I can't even tell what's going on inside, either! There's no sound or light anywhere!
What do we do, Captain!? What can we possibly do against
Lock the deck's gravity, point the bow straight up, and set the engines to the second stage!
If that thing's trying to make us fall in, we just have to rise away from it!
Even if we're in total darkness... Even if we're inside an endless hollow... I'm not giving up until our engines do!
All hands, maintain battle stations!
The creature causing this collapse may still be out there, but so are Fujimaru and Mash!
And knowing those two...
...they'll find a way out of this!
2. Before the battle
138 linesWhen I was born, I couldn't even breathe.
Not so much as a single toe was truly alive.
I was a rotten mass of fluid inside a chrysalis.
Under the circumstances...
...can you imagine how I felt when I woke to the morning sun's rays?
I was in the Autumn Woods at the outskirts of Faerie Britain.
The Autumn Woods...full of faeries who had been bullied, persecuted, and had nowhere else to go.
The only thing to do there was die.
It was there, among those who didn't belong anywhere else...
...among those who were hated and forgotten, and now had nothing left to do but die...
...that my chrysalis suddenly appeared.
My chrysalis looked just like a faerie, but it wasn't. It was a device Britain itself created to bring about its own end.
"I can't believe this time line is still hanging on more than ten thousand years after it died! It's sick!"
"I hate everything that lives on this damn island! I just want to erase it all from existence!"
That's all I am: a single insect born from this island's own excretory hatred of living creatures.
...Ah...ahh... Ahh...
But of course, as an insect born of excrement, my birth was a wretched affair.
My chrysalis appeared both pitiful and beautiful, so the faeries must have thought I was their king.
They gathered around it and watched over my chrysalis until it stood up on its own.
Urk... Guuuh. Oh gods, that was disgusting.
Now that it was standing up, it was a chrysalis no longer.
It was the perfect fairy-tale kingthe very sort those of the forest had long awaited.
For it looked just like the fairy king depicted by a famous, talented, somewhat mean-spirited author.
First the king of the mors, now this?
Huh, so I'm a Ghost Linera Servant now.
I guess as long as they're born from people's desires, it doesn't matter whether a Servant's original is real or fake.
It turned out a faerie named Oberon existed in both Proper Human History and Faerie Britain.
But this "Oberon" pretending to be a king was a creature composed entirely of lies.
Everything he said was untrue thanks to the underlying premise that it was all just part of a single night's revelry.
Wow, this is amazing. Everything I say or do ultimately becomes twisted.
"I love you" became "I don't love you." "I don't love you" became "I don't even care about you."
That was just who Oberon was.
And given his nature as a Heroic Spirit, there was nothing he could do about it.
Hmm. Oh well, that's fine. I was already planning on lying through my teeth all the time anyway.
...That aside, this is all because Britain gets flotsam floating in from the outside.
For someone who's supposed to hate Proper Human History so much, Morgan really seems to have a paradoxical and unhealthy love for it.
And so, the Faerie King was born.
As luck would have it, this was right when the Child of Prophecy's poem was becoming the hottest topic in faerie society.
The king already knew a good deal about Proper Human History, but this time, he made sure to do his homework extra thoroughly.
He knew the story of King Arthur, whom Morgan was wary of.
So he decided he would make use of the faerie of paradisethe Avalon le Fae who had appeared somewhere in Britain.
When I was born, I couldn't even breathe.
Not so much as a single toe was truly alive.
I was a rotten mass of fluid inside a chrysalis.
And from inside it...
...all I could see was wriggling insects, like a sea of living rubbish.
Oberon was born from Britain's death throes.
Oberon didn't love any of the island's creatures.
His only thought upon being informed of his duty to destroy Faerie Britain in accordance with the island's own wishes was:
"Isn't there anyone else who could do it?"
...Oh well. Now that I've been born, I guess I have no choice.
...Dammit, my body still won't move.
Every breath I take feels like it's going to kill me.
Just moving my toes makes me feel like I'm going to jump out of my skin.
And the worst part is...
...just being alive makes me sick.
As a chrysalis, Oberon could not close his eyes.
And that is why he could not look away from them.
Wriggling. Wriggling.
For over half a year, all Oberon could do was stare as they wriggled away in front of him.
Oberon was born from filthy sludge.
Even inside his chrysalis, he was still no more than sludge.
Everywhere he looked, everything he saw, looked like so much putrid sludge.
...
He was disgusted by the sight of these vagrant weaklings clinging to unfounded hope.
He was disgusted by these starved wretches now depending on him for help after they had been endlessly tricked and deceived by everyone else.
He was disgusted at being treated like a king by these creatures who could only crawl, squirm, and wriggle.
And above all, he was disgusted with himself for being at the very bottom of such an awful situation.
He felt like a butterfly corpse being swarmed by antsthe kind of thing that happens in trash heaps, in the deepest dregs of the world.
...
Pure loathing grew in his chest, but not for any one person in particular.
He didn't despise the insects swarming him, or even himself for being swarmed.
It was everything. It was the structure of the world itself. That is what Oberon decided had to go.
But never mind his backstory now.
Hang in there, Fujimaru. You're almost at the end.
You've still got to turn things around spectacularly at the very last moment, don't you?
...That star...
？！
Huh? You're alive? That's strange. You do know we're in the abyss now, right?
Oh, I see. Did you already overcome your Lost Will?
That would explain how you opened your eyes. I think that's just going to make your death much, much more painful though. But hey, you do you.
Where are we?
We're still standing on the deck of your ship. The Abyssal Worm swallowed it whole.
Where's Mash!?
Why, she's sleeping right next to you, silly. She may as well not be here though. She's not waking up.
？！
Hey, since you're awake and all, why don't we talk for a bit?
You must be pretty tired, right? Here, have some food. It's one of those ration things.
I found it in your ship while I was doing a little wandering inside.
What, you're wondering why I'm being so nice to you? I'm not.
I only went into your ship to kill your companions.
I killed Mash first, you know. You're going to die soon, too.
You guys are falling inside an endless hollow right now. The Abyssal Worm's thorax is infinite.
You see, there's no destination here. No endpoint. Everything it swallows just keeps falling. Forever.
And since it goes on infinitely, there's no entrance or exit. Once you're swallowed, it's over.
It doesn't matter how strong or accomplished you might be. Nothing can escape this hollow.
Not unless you kill me.
But nobody's going to wake up in here. They're all dreaming of falling.
If anyone did manage to wake up, they'd be able to see just like you can, but most of them will simply keep falling.
Frankly, I think you would've been happier that way, too. Staying conscious in here will just make the rest of your short life hell.
Think about it. Even after you die, you're going to keep falling forever in this endless darkness. Isn't that horrifying?
...So what, nobody's going to save us?
Of course not. Care to see for yourself?
That would mean you're stuck in this hell, too.
True, it does. But now that the Abyssal Worm has manifested, there's no avoiding the world being destroyed.
So, in here? Out there? Doesn't matter to me. My life was already hell.
？！
Anywho, there's nothing you can do now. You can't even perform simple summons in here.
There's been nothing like this place in human history, so you won't find a single Heroic Spirit record here.
So how can you summon something that doesn't exist?
You'll either go mad from the endless falling...
Or eventually you'll close your eyes and slip back into dreaming about falling.
So, which'll it be? If you decide you'd rather sleep, just let me know.
Of course, if you still want to save the world, you don't have any time left to think about it.
Now that the British Lostworld is gone, we're back in the standard timestream.
You said Chaldea observed the planet disappearing in twenty-four hours, right?
They were right. You haven't even got a minute to spare at this point.
If you want to save the world, you'll have to fight me. If you fight me, I'll kill you. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound like a great way to die to me.
...Yeah. You're right.
I couldn't agree more!
？！
Whoa, you actually tried to punch me. How'd you ever make it this far with a skull so thick?
Ah, well. If you're so eager to die, I'm happy to help you with that. I do enjoy watching people fighting battles they haven't got a chance of winning!
I do have a chance.
？！
Huh? Where?
Help'll be here any moment now.
？！
Weren't you listening? I told you, no one's coming to
It's like you said. We're just bystanders, right?
？！
Caster! To me!!!
？！
...!
You... No... No, no, no! It can't be!
I have heard the foreign mage's summons, and come to his aid in accordance with our contract.
If this battle is not to punish Britain, but to save the world...
...then I will cross even the ends of time to deliver this sword into his hands.
3. Before the battle
145 linesI heard the ringing of a bell. Not the coercive bell I'd heard countless times before...
...but a kind, familiar bell that called to you. That believed in you.
This is the storm I was always running in. A maelstrom of wickedness. A crucible of hearts laid bare.
A storm of dark, cold, earsplitting voices no different from a drainage ditch.
No, no, no, no. Make it stop... Make it stop...
I don't know how many times I thought I couldn't go on, or wished for death to free me.
The only reason I was able to keep running without losing my way...was because that light was there.
The pale blue light of a tiny, far-off star shining somewhere beyond the storm.
(Huff, huff, huff, huff...!)
When I fell, I picked myself up even as I cried. When I was exhausted, I turned my head skyward.
No matter when I looked, the star was always there shining in the distance.
"A flicker of virtue among a sea of vice."
"A bright future awaiting me."
There's no way that could possibly be true. No... Even if it was, it doesn't matter.
For you, that star is just a bright light.
That was all it had to be to become your goal.
Knowing someone else was out there somewhere looking at that same star was the only thing that gave you hope.
It was the one thing that never changed, no matter how the storm raged.
Right... That's right. That's all I had keeping me going.
I was terrified of most things. Most things, I didn't dare to trust. But...
That star's light always encouraged me.
You and that star may not have any connection.
That star may never point your way, or come down from the heavens to help you. But...
...Yeah. I don't care about Britain, or about the future.
But as long as that star is shining, I'll never give up.
No matter how much the world shook with storms, or how much more time was spent suffering than at peace...
...that light has always watched over you, even since you were a child.
It's the one thing in the storm that always shone bright.
You didn't do this for society, or for peace, or even for yourself.
That little star's light never lost its brilliance. It's the one thing I don't want to betray.
Ah...
But that's all over now.
Accept the bell's timbre. Finish your journey.
Just like she could never be happy in that white castle, your life cannot continue beyond this point.
Continue down this path and you, the one who chanted the king's name, will disappear. You won't be needed anymore.
Can you really do all of that, just for one lone star?
Is such a silly, trivial thing like not wanting to "betray that beautiful star"...
...really worth going through with this?
Ghh... Ah. Aghhh...ghhh...
I hear voices cursing me for bringing about Britain's end. Voices who loathe me for fulfilling my duty from paradise.
Thousandstens of thousands of voices decrying me. Millions of voices blaming me.
This is vice. The fact is, there's no such thing as a star shining in a storm.
That's why I can't save anyone besides myself. Not with a reason like that.
(Huff...) Ah... Ah... Huh?
...Who's there? Who's protecting me...?
You're not doing a very good job, but you're still stretching your hands out desperately trying to help me...
Someone who lost their life because of your capricious whims.
Someone you've long since forgotten. Someone from the fringes who's just like you.
Her name is...
I see. I guess not having a name really is a terrible thing.
In that case, what about this? I just came up with the idea now, but...
Please, use my name. Altria Caster.
You can go by Altria, or Caster, or both if you prefer!
Hmph. It's not like I'm going to use it anymore anyway, so go ahead and shout it to the world for all I care!
...Thank you. I promise...I'll always treasure it.
And not just this name. I'll always treasure your heart, too.
...Ah. Ahh...ah...
Her name was Hope. She had found that star's light right at the very end.
She had grown exhausted from always lifting everyone's spirits, but she still never forgot to smile.
She's been protecting me all along, all because of that one impulsive act.
Even now, she still believes in me, and all because of that silly, insignificant act.
It wasn't anything special, or even noble.
To any outside observer, it probably seems absolutely silly. But...
...No. Thank you for treasuring it.
That's right. I don't have any amazing reasons, either.
I'm no different from her at all.
I have nothing to be proud of, no actual skills worthy of praise.
I don't think I'll ever find a reason others would envy for as long as I live.
But... Even so...
Who cares? This is all the reason I need.
I just don't want to betray that star. I just don't want to abandon these feelings.
Silly, insignificant reasons like that...
They've always been what we, and you, have had to rely on to keep going!
Even if you have to grin and bear it. Even if it's just for your own satisfaction. Even if you lack confidence, and never figure out the answer.
Even if it's a reason anyone else would think is silly, insignificant.
It's the only thing I believe in. The only thing I CAN believe in.
The only thing keeping me going, even now.
Farewell, young you. Now, and forever.
In time, the star beating within your chest, and the timbre of the bells, will resonate inside you.
I have heard the foreign mage's summons, and come to his aid in accordance with our contract.
If this battle is not to punish Britain, but to save the world...
...then I will cross even the ends of time to deliver this sword into his hands.
Are you freaking kidding me!? I mean, I know I said this is what you should be doing.
But did you seriously have to become a Heroic Spirit as an Avalon le Fae? I can't believe it. Just how much of a knight ARE you!?
Still, showing up now is a little pathetic, don't you think? I mean, you already had your dramatic exit.
I don't know if that's your future form, or if you've become some kind of special guardian.
Britain's gone, though. You lost. Your part in this play is long since over.
Performers like you who can't cut it the first time around have no business returning to the stage.
...That's true. There isn't anything here for me to protect anymore.
Nonetheless... Faerie King Oberon, he who desired Britain's destruction.
I agree that it is painful to witness a dead world being artificially kept alive.
You were right to bring this one to an end.
I know, right?
But, you were wrong to try to end others that had nothing to do with it.
Even if these faeries were beyond salvation, and our future was devoid of hope...
...that doesn't give you the right to rob others of their present when the future still lies ahead.
That is an act of cowardice far more painful to witness than merely trying to escape destruction.
Isn't that right, Oberon? Your actions have been dreadfully earnest and, quite frankly, pathetic.
(She told him off twice over!)
(Damn, this Altria doesn't hold back!)
？！
Nnn... Where am I? What have I been
Oh. This is a surprise.
Mash!
You're awake! Thank goodness!
？！
Y-yes. I was having a very strange dream. It's hard to describe, but it felt like I was falling endlessly...
...Huh? Senpai? Altria!?
Oh, great. Now even Mash is awake. Must be Altria's doing.
Guess this means the ones in the Command Room will be waking up too then. Faaantastic.
Mash, Fujimaru will fill you in later.
Right now, we need your help.
We're going to destroy the Abyssal Worm here at its source before it can spread beyond Britain.
Right! Leave it to me!
Ugh, you're still just as quick to change gears as ever. Well, whatever. It's fine.
You Chaldeans do so love defeating your enemies. So if that's how you want to play, I'm game.
I was just getting tired of the chatter anyway. I've already told you enough about what I am.
If we were in a play, this would be the grand finale. Shame nobody's around to watch it.
Oh well, I'll just content myself with knowing it's a third-rate production no one would want to see anyway.
Come on then, Fujimaru. Your prize summons should work just fine now.
Show me how proud you are to fight for humanity!
Gladly!
...First, I want to ask you one last time.
？！
Gladly!
？！
Hm? What?
Why are you doing this?
？！
Why? To wipe everything clean, that's all. I was sure I'd already said as much.
Humans and faeries alike disgusted me more than I can say.
That's why I'm getting rid of it all. And I used all of you to do it.
What, did you think this was supposed to be some kind of fun trip? If so, that's a damn tragedy.
Everything I say is a lie. You shouldn't believe any of it.
Peace in Britain... Altria's mission... I didn't care about any of it.
I'm sure you didn't, but even so...
？！
What about your own star, Titania?
？！
That is exactly what I hate about you.
Bringing about the collapse. Erasing the twilight. It's all just like a summer night's dream.
My name is Oberon. Oberon Vortigern.
I am the death waiting in opposition to all of you. I am a threat to all humanity.
I'm not like the Beasts. I don't love anything. I'll prove that to you in this battle.
Now, lift the curtain on this tragedy! This is where your pilgrimage comes to an end!
4. Before the battle
322 linesI'm back, everyone. Did you all manage to survive the day again?
Oh, you already burned to death? Gotcha. Well, that's okay! It was going to happen eventually!
I'll just tell you about the outside some other time then. Honestly, I haven't got any new stories right now anyway.
Oh? It's you.
Hiya.
Oh, sorry. Was I sleeping?
？！
Seriously? Just how shameless are you, you bastard?
Whoops, there I go again. No more foul language from me.
What are you doing here, anyway? Did you fall asleep while we were fighting?
Eh, it's fine. This is all just a dream, anyway. How about one last cup of tea before you go?
I really haven't got anything left to say. I've already told you everything about my goal, what I'm really like, and how things got to this point.
So I really don't see what reason you could have to stick around here anymore.
Not yet. You still haven't told me how you really feel.
This is the end, right? What's the harm in being honest with me about how you feel now?
？！
Are you kidding me!? You really are an idiot, aren't you? Even I'm not this bad. I've met insects with better memories than you.
Hey, you're the one who said you're a liar, right?
？！
...Okay, you've got me there. Well played.
You're right. I do feel strongly about some things. A lot of things, actually.
Vortigern was Britain's destiny incarnate, and I was born as part of him...
I'm not just Vortigern though, you know. I'm Oberon, too.
Did I ever tell you about what the land of the fae really is?
It's all a big, well, fairy tale. A single story, nothing more.
A fourteen-thousand year picture book Morgan wrote just to have somewhere to belong, even if it had to be fictional.
And you people rejected it, just like you have all the others. You said it was wrongthat it was meaningless.
I didn't like that. So much so that it even made me forget my disgust with everything.
You make up characters who behave exactly how you want, put them in the kind of stories people dream about...
Stories so good they even change your very lives...
Then you just laugh and dismiss them as nothing more than flights of fancy.
So...this is about stories?
...You're angry about stories?
？！
That's right. There's still meaning to be found in even the most hackneyed of kingdoms, or the most unsung side characters.
All those stories you people from reality just forgot the moment you finished the last page?
They had every bit as much right to remain afterward as anything else.
Oh well, there's no point in telling you this. You're human. You'll forget all about it once the next story comes along.
Proper Human History's all about growth and progress, right? Nothing is permanent there. It all just keeps going forever.
Me? I find all that stuff a huge pain in the ass.
I was absolutely livid; that's why I wanted to end everything.
There. Happy? Now wake up already.
You don't need a morning lark, or even an evening one. Not yet, anyway.
All right, see you later, Asshole of Chaldea! This journey might've sucked, but at least it was full of surprises!
Good luck with the next one! I'll pray for your success just as hard as I can!
Aaaaaaaaah!
Oberooon!
？！
Oberon Vortigern's fallen off the deck...and is plummeting into the hollow!
His Spirit Core suffered serious damage.
For Vortigern, the Abyssal Worm, the sacred sword is a double-edged blade, both sustenance and poison.
He won't crawl back up here again. Not with an injury like that.
He will simply fall endlessly into a nonexistent abyss.
...Falling down this hole forever... That sounds
...No. It's okay.
...No. This is how it should be...
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Oh. It seems I won't be able to bask in our victory.
It is already time for me to leave.
Well, give my regards to your Merlin. It's only right, since I came here without asking.
Huh, you don't say. (She must have walked here, then.)
No, I did not walk here. I stepped through time and space all at once.
...I will. Thank you.
...No, thank you. It was good to hear your voice.
I am just glad I was able to be of help.
？！
This is the Storm Border Command Room! Do you read me, Fujimaru!?
We don't know how it happened, but we can at least see what's happening!
We just picked up a breakdownno, a blockage in this conceptual space!
The abyss is starting to lose all connection to the outside world!
We need to get out of here before it completely closes up, or we'll be stuck falling here forever!
So I'm going to point the Storm Border straight up and try to fly us out of here at full speed!
Fujimaru, Mash, you both need to get inside the Border right now!
Did you hear that, Master!? Um... What should we do!?
Please, do not worry about me. I have already said my goodbyes.
...The girl who traveled with you, Altria Caster.
She existed only in this Lostbelt, and will return to the planet's inner sea along with the shadow of paradise.
However...
Her actions, and the answer she found, have been inscribed upon me.
I am not King Arthur. I am the concept of the sacred sword's wielderthe Knight of the Sacred Sword, given form.
I only entrust this sacred sword to those who use itto those it has chosen.
So consider this a special bonus. It was an important contract, after all, so I could not break it.
...Right. This was just a onetime thing.
？！
Indeed. Just as you wished to help, so too did my other self.
Now please, hurry. You must not let yourselves be caught up in the Abyssal Worm's downfall.
Farewell, Fujimaru, Mash.
Tread onward without fear, for the light of the stargazers of Chaldea shall always illuminate your path.
...Goodbye, precious friend of Britain.
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...Goodbye...kindred spirit.
？！
...Senpai...
Come on, let's go!
？！
Right!
Okay, Captain, Fujimaruand Mash are back inside! Now punch it!
All right! Activate all four Triton Engines in parallel! Target speed, ten thousand kph!
Set a course out of this hollow! Let's go!
Professor, how long before the exit collapses!? Will we make it at this speed!?
Okay... It looks like we have about five minutes before the abyss is completely sealed.
Since the computer room has been shut down for twenty minutes, and assuming that the ship has been falling constantly during that period...
Okay, quick and dirty calculations say we've fallen about four-hundred and twenty kilometers.
So...if we can push the Border to Mach 8.5, even accounting for acceleration and deceleration, we should have no trouble getting out in time!
Wait, I just realized something! There's no point in calculating the distance we've fallen!
This hole is infinite! Now that we're inside, there IS no entrance or exit!
We can't possibly reach where we fell in, no matter how fast we fly!
I see. Then we'll just have to make our own exit!
Captain, can the Storm Border's cannons blast open the sides of this hole?
If we can't make it to an exit by flying upwards, our only choice is to break down this hollow's very concept.
It will be risky, since there's no telling where we may emerge, but in five minutes' time, even that risk will no longer be an option!
I'm sorry, but after all that fighting, we just don't have the power for that!
Keeping the ship flying is the absolute best we can do!
Even if we shut down one of the engines now, we wouldn't have nearly enough time to create a Spiritron warhead!
Then...you mean we can't leave? All because there's no exit?
...I'm afraid so. And once the hollow is completely blocked off, we won't be able to go anywhere.
Once this hollow loses its connection to the outside world, it will be even more inescapable than a black hole.
A black hole may be a mass of gravity so dense that even light can't break free, but at least it still has an exit.
Theoretically, one could still make their way out if they could achieve faster-than-light travel.
But there simply is no means of escaping this hollow.
It is an inescapable space that no man-made transportation technology can leave, regardless of how advanced.
It is truly the epitome of a pitfall. Even as we are ascending, we continue to fall towards the abyss.
Dammit man, this is no time to be admiring it! Gaaah! Isn't there anything we can do!?
It's not as though we're under attack, or the ship is about to explode!
I'll be damned if I'm going to admit defeat just because of a missing exi
Guys! Guuuys! I just picked up some kind of explosion three thousand kilometers away!
The hollow's been ripped open! I can see the outside again!
That thermic ray has got to be Albion! Albion just fired off a Mana Burst!
I don't know why she did it, but Albion just attacked the Abyssal Worm!
She falls to the ground, her strength exhausted. The sky of the end times looms overhead.
Still yearning for the distant horizon, she continued to descend.
Her intelligence and memories were gone. Everything that made her who she was had been shattered.
All that remained now was the decaying corpse of a long-dead dragon.
A falling star with neither purpose nor desire, doomed to scatter upon impact.
... ...
And yet, she still felt pain in her hollow chest. There was still something she desperately needed to remember.
"Searching. Searching. Searching..."
In an instant, old sights flashed before her eyes and shattered forever. With each memory...
... ...A-ah...
...sparks flew from her cells.
It was as though they were telling her what she is, what she used to be...
...and why she'd flown around this place for so long.
...Ah. Ahhh...
There, she saw it.
Faerie Britain's destroyer, the one who brought it to its conclusion.
...Britain's white dragon.
Possessed of the same name as her, it was finality given form, swallowing up the entire world those she loved had called home.
Ah... Ah. Ah, aaahhh!!!
She spread her broken wings and summoned her voice through her crushed throat.
Her scales peeled away as she flies. Her flesh began to sloughed off, unable to handle the strain of reactivation.
She knew this, and flew on anyway.
...That's right. I have to fly. I have to fly.
Even if I never did anything honorable as a faerie... Even if I never did anything noble as a knight...
Even if I am a freak of nature who was just imitating people all along...!
She wasn't a British faerie.
As a higher form of life, she was a perpetual outsider, neither faerie nor human.
As the dragon who presides over the Border, she was considered part of Proper Human History even within a Lostbelt.
As a life-form from the outside...
...there had never been a place for her in this Britain.
I'll never know the ground, or peace. I'll never have what I truly want.
All I have is this sight here before me.
The border that separates the earth from the heavens, and the stars from space.
And yet, there was still something she had gained.
Something that, whether false or abandoned, she had found for herself.
She could remember nothing now, but the fact alone that her memory circuits were blank proved that those memories once existed.
This body's name... The name it was given here...
The wind resistance whittled her body down. Every increase in speed chipped away at her dragon form a little more.
If she kept going, she would soon self-destruct. The few moments remaining to her had nearly passed.
No weapon would behave like this. No living thing would do something so paradoxical. The dragon understood it was acting erratically.
And yet, it persisted.
"Objective: stop anyone aiding Britain's destruction. Reason: unknown."
The fire that shone in her eyes drove her to fly even faster.
My name is...Mélusine... Tam Lin Mélusine!
Now fly! Even if you are just an animated corpse, you still must fly!
She tore through the air, soaring over the destruction below and flying straight for her enemy.
And so, the crumbling dragon, one of the beings who found salvation in this Britain, let out her final roar.
...Ah... ...That sound...
A vaguely irritating sound jolted her to her senses.
Several hours after the Tam Lin ran her through, she slowly opened her eyes, still sprawled on her back.
...It's so quiet. The riots must have died down.
Hehe, of course they have. They were at it for so long, they must have finally exhausted themselves.
You see? I told you all we had to do was wait. Someone always takes care of my problems if I'm patient enough.
It's always been that way for me. Why should this be any different?
She coughed a few times, her throat oddly parched.
Then she smiled a gentle smile and began an elegant speech, just as she had many times before.
But there was no one to hear it. Everyone in her city was dead.
All she received in response was visions of her past.
You know what your one and only love is? Shining brighter than anyone else.
You would never think to improve yourself. The very notion of growth and effort is alien to you.
And why shouldn't they be? You've been perfect from the moment you came into existence.
You don't have to work, like the Earth clan. You don't have to suffer injury, like the Fang clan.
You don't have to study, like the Wing clan. You don't have to serve, like the Mirror clan.
No, the Wind clan's value lies solely in it existing in the first place.
And you, Aurora, are the very avatar of that value.
You don't love anyone, but you also don't want anyone. All you need is ornaments to further adorn yourself.
What a wonderful way to live. I think it's fabulous. In fact, I really love it.
But...you're diminished whenever someone grows more popular than you.
Of course, you would never get your hands dirty. You have all the people who adore you for that.
Just like you did at Londinium, and with Ainsel.
Huh? Whatever are you talking about, Oberon? They both deserved what happened to them.
I was sad when I learned they were dead, but I suppose they must have done something to earn someone's ire.
Ah, I see. How wonderful.
I must have just imagined that you sent them to the western human ranch, knowing Gawain had a visit planned just when they'd arrive...
I must have dreamed that you assigned one of your most capable fae horses to monitor them and report to you.
Huh? True, I did know Gawain would be going there that day...
But was it wrong to have her meet the Child of Prophecy?
Not at all. You helped me move up my plans and cleared away a few actors in a stroke.
Anyway, I'd better get going. Have fun scheming with Spriggan.
Aww, leaving so soon? Well that's a shame.
I thought you were going to tell me more fun stories today.
You don't need me for that. You're already aware of almost everything that happens in Britain, right?
Really, nobody can compare to the Wind clan when it comes to espionage. Your wind tidings can manipulate information so easily it's genuinely terrifying.
Oh, but I will say this.
Would you mind leaving Altria and Fujimaru alone?
I'm going to need both of them in order to defeat Morgan.
Oh, my. You're never so serious. It's almost enough to make me jealous of them.
Oberon? You told me your only goal was to remove Morgan from the throne, but...can I really trust you?
You're not just some nasty vermin that snuck into my Britain, are you?
Of course not. Everything I do is for Britain's future.
That's why I've been telling you all this; I truly believe you're the one best suited to rule it.
That said, you probably shouldn't trust me too much, no. Everything I say is a lie, after all.
Huh? What do you mean by that?
If everything you say is a lie, that would mean you're also lying when you say not to trust you.
That's just the kind of Heroic Spirit I am.
I'm not hiding the truth, or spreading falsehoods.
It's just that everything Oberon the Faerie King says becomes something that was never worth believing.
It doesn't matter if I speak the truth or not. Once I say it, it becomes a lie.
You and I are opposites in that regard, Aurora. Everything you say becomes true.
No matter what dark feelings you harbor, or how falsely you present yourself...
...the moment you say something, everyonefaeries, humans, even you yourselftakes it as the gospel truth.
Teehee. You're so silly, Oberon. I never know what it is you're talking about.
Are you...calling me a liar? As in, it takes a liar to know a liar?
Not at all. You're not even aware you're lying, right?
You're both an aggressor and an innocent bystander. That's how you've survived this long.
The very idea that you're Britain's most beautiful faerie is ridiculous.
No, what you are...is Britain's most innocent usurper.
Ahh, he really was adorable. I should have caught and killed him when I had the chance.
To be the most beautiful faerie in Britain. To be the faerie who shone brightest of all.
That was her only purpose. She spent every minute of her three thousand years being exactly that.
For her, lying and scheming weren't crimes. They were just the cost of being her.
She had no concept of evil, or of good. She only ever thought of ways to keep shining.
That said...
...There was one time...
Just one time she did something that wasn't solely for her own benefit.
It was in the Lake District during Era of the High Queen 1600, when she went to inspect the Mirror clan's town along with her ladies-in-waiting.
There, she found a strange creature in a dark bog.
It was a writhing mass of flesha thing even fouler than its putrid surroundings.
Oh my...
It was all a calculated act. A way for her to show off to her servants.
Just imagine it: Britain's most beautiful faerie helping Britain's most grotesque creature.
A ploy to spread the word about what a wonderful, selfless faerie she must be to do such a thing.
My name is Aurora. What's yours?
... ...
What she hadn't expected was for the mass of flesh she cradled in her arms to begin weeping like a person.
She had never before seen tears so sad, so utterly genuine.
Never before had she been so moved by her own actions, rather than the envy she so enjoyed them creating.
...Honestly, I never wanted to touch that thing.
"I want to be like you." That was what the mass of flesh said before transforming into a beautiful faerie.
Though Aurora's youth was eternal, she still suffered from decline.
Her wings had continued to lose their luster ever since the Era of the High Queen began, and her natural shine would grow dim without a steady supply of new and unusual delights.
...(Sigh) And yet, that girl...
She was stronger than anything. More beautiful than anyone. She never declined, even in the smallest way.
She didn't need to be innocent so she would never realize what a monster she was.
You see? There she is right now.
A dragon faerie soaring nobly through the sky. How irritating. How contemptible. How revolting.
Aurora was stuck on the ground covered in dirt and grime, while the dragon faerie shone more beautifully than anyone.
...Foolish girl. If you...kill me...
The dragon faerie would return to being no more than a mass of flesh.
Aurora would never come to love the dragon. She was so certain she would never return its affection.
She wanted nothing more than for the dragon to suffer, continually despondent at never hearing that simple statement of genuine affection she so craved.
It was that longing, that despair, that made the dragon the faerie she was.
That's why it benefited the dragon to continue protecting Aurora, the source of her suffering.
But it hadn't been her own benefit that the dragon killed Aurora. It had been for Aurora's.
Yes, that's right. I'm not afraid to die.
What I fear is losing my radiance...having my colors fade and no longer being special.
That's why...
Even though the dragon knew that doing so would turn her back into the hideous mass of flesh she used to be, she still chose to kill her...
Aurora, the miracle that saved her, and the one she loved more than anything else in the world.
...What an utterly loathsome creature. Fine. I'm glad to finally be free of it.
You see, Oberon? Idiocy like that is the stuff of true innocence.
She had only cradled that mass of flesh to show off what a good person she was. It reflected her inner ugliness as clearly as a lake.
...Go away. Go away.
But the creature born from that hideous mass was truly beautiful.
Aurora realized she had done something good for the first time in her life, and smiled.
...Higher. Higher.
...As high as you...possibly can...
And so, gazing upwards with childlike innocence as the dragon corpse scattered like dust in the wind...
...Aurora faded away, and her radiance finally faded.
There! There's the exit!
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Y-yes, I see it too! But why in the world did Albion do that!?
We can worry about that later! Da Vinci! What's our distance to the target!?
We're eight hundred kilometers away from the rift! It's farther than it looks, but we can totally make it! Captain!
Everyone, hold on to whatever you can! Meunière! Maximum power! Forget all the safeties and just get us out of here!
Aye, aye, Captain! Full speed ahead!
I'll punch it all the way to the sun if I have to!
Oberon was falling.
He kept falling down the bottomless void, along an endless shaft.
He had no strength left to fly. No, actually...
The wings on my back are just for show. I could never fly, stupid.
He smiled a hateful smile. He was truly enjoying himself.
He may have been defeated, but he'd still accomplished his goal.
His only regret was that he hadn't been able to take Chaldea down with him.
Go on, get out of here! It'll be a relief not to have to see your damn faces anymore!
Further. Further.
The foreign mage, the other Child of Prophecy...the companions he had spent his long journey with flew further into the distant sky.
Then, after Oberon the Liar had hatefully seen them off...
Oh well, who cares? What matters is that I killed Britain, just like I wanted.
...Although...
I'm sorry, Titania. My fictional queen, who loved me in all my twisted ways.
I'm sorry I couldn't get rid of those Proper Human History bastards for you.
Titania. One who was created for a single purpose, then discarded the moment it had been served.
The sacrificial love of his life who could only exist within a story.
...Maybe he'd already met someone similar to her.
But even if he had, Oberon the Liar would never be able to believe it.
You know, it's weird. Even though I got the ever-living shit kicked out of me...
I still feel strangely at peace.
The hole in the abyss disappeared as he continued his endless fall.
There...
Hmph. So that's Proper Human History's sky, huh.
Dammit. It's so beautiful it makes me sick.
The infinite hollow sealed itself as the Abyssal Worm fell on, a destination forever beyond his reach.