The Crime of Revolution/『future』

Do you know who you are?

Uh, no? Hell, there wouldn't be any point in knowing.

I am who I am. I am the one with a body that can satisfy any desire. I am the god of love and the Demon King of Depravity.

I am a singular entity, arguably dualistic in nature...

...and countless versions of me exist to please every single person there is.

So there's no point in asking me who I am.

Um, that's not really what I meant. An opportunity like this doesn't come around every day, so I thought I'd warn you ahead of ti

Would you mind shutting up? You're just a stupid memory, you know.

Yes, I can tell this is a recollection of something I did at some point in the past.

I'm guessing it popped up because of some sudden shock to my system or something.

But if I'd forgotten about it up until now, it couldn't be that important.

Never mind the past. There's no time like the present.

Now please stay out of my way. There's no telling when I might get another chance at this.

W-wait! This is really important!

It has to do with what you're doing here in the first

Yeah, yeah. Maybe, when I have nothing better to do, I'll see about remembering that. Bye.

Teeheehee. Were you thinking you'd died and gone to heaven?

For your sake, let's hope not. If you did, that would make me the only god here you can depend on.

See anyone else around right now? Exactly.

And since I'm the only one here you can depend on, you can cling to me a little tighter. It's okay.

In fact, cling away. Save all your most precious feelings for me and me alone.

Hmm, good question.

If you did, then let's just say that you waking up here with me is proof I protected you.

And since that would mean you owe me your life, don't you think I deserve a little reward?

Um...maybe something like a heartfelt hug? Or a headpat?

？！

Ahh, does this mean...I can take all yourfor myself...?

You don't mind...right?

Cut! That is far enough!

Ahem. Well? Come on, get out of that cramped space already.

It must be getting hard to breathe in there by now, no? It is a good thing I was able to rescue you so quickly.

...Tch.

？！

I just woke up to find myself in there too, so I didn't know what was going on either...

...but it looks like it's stuffed with cotton, or something else similarly soft and fluffy.

So that's where we were, inside one of those cylindrical cushioned rooms.

Right. If you take a step back, you can see that I was in the one right next to yours.

？！

This is probably the Paper Moon world's outer rim.

Though I do not know if this is what it is always like, or if it is just like this now because of the Holy Grail War.

At any rate, it seems like the entire outer wall is made up of these, which have built-in shock absorption.

(I wonder if there is any reason they are shaped that way. They remind me of building pillars...or maybe coffins?)

Based on the transmission we received from Rani-XII, it looks like one of the Holy Grail War's mechanisms...

...involves rotating the entire world in order to change the structures between partitions at a certain phase.

I think that process is likely what sent us flying to this outer rim area.

Hang on, I still don't know what you're talking about. What's this phase thing? Is this because Caster died?

Yes, I think so. The System Grail War is also about the prime AIs competing to expand their territory.

So if a Master succeeds at defeating other Servants and making progress...

...they will gain administrative rights over other Masters' partitions and end up with control over multiple domains.

That must be why they have a way to physically unify the domains, to reflect their new positional relationship.

Hmm. Moving the whole world seems kind of like overkill to me.

But, then again, gods can be pretty cavalier about moving mountains and oceans around, so it might be fine.

Let me try running the simple map program I copied from Āyus.

Now I see. Except for the center, every partition's location has changed.

It appears that the partitions' positional relationships were shifted by means of the entire world rotating.

？！

I understand your confusion, but remember, this is a virtual world.

It could be that the partitions became conceptually paper-thin during the rotation, or something like that.

All I know for sure is that we should be very aware of this rule going forward.

It is just like Raniment and the AIs that keep this world functioning.

It bears mentioning that the Paper Moon is a compass, and so must be able to rotate for that purpose.

It may be strange to think that a massive gyroscope-like rotation is necessary to adjust this world...

...but that may well be an everyday part of life here.

？！

Anyway, this partition unification indicates two important things.

First, this obviously means that the Rider faction now has twice as much area to use for safely securing Raniment.

That is a natural consequence of gaining command authority over another type of AI.

And second, we no longer have any sort of enclave.

What do you mean by that?

Let me explain with a counterexample.

Had Build remained in place and not been unified, it would have been an enclave for the Rider team.

Should they then chose to make Build their new base camp, Transfer would become their enclave.

In other words, they could only protect one territory at a time, leaving the other vulnerable.

Such a punishment is hardly a fitting reward for the winner of a major Holy Grail War battle.

So the partition unification rule must have been added to prevent giving the winner an undue disadvantage like that.

Having twice the area to manage should come with a corresponding advantage to make this worthwhile.

Furthermore, say the war reaches a point where there are only two Servants remaining.

This unification rule would also prevent them from wasting time at unrelated opposite ends of the world.

Put another way, this also means the Holy Grail War participants will always have enemies for neighbors.

Such a development could be said to be necessary to encourage the Masters to fight and advance the Holy Grail War.

？！

As far as I can tell, the regular AIs not taking part in the war were unaffected by that rotation.

Conversely, it is also safe to assume that Āyus and Duryodhana were sent flying just like we were.

The same surely goes for the Rider and Saber teams, too.

Since we cannot see any other faction's camp from here, it would seem that we were all sent in somewhat random directions.

I doubt anything would have happened to forcefully separate Masters from their Servants, but we cannot be sure.

？！

Yes, I agree that would be best.

Fortunately, she agreed to let me put some code on her which functions like a tracking device.

So it should not be hard to find her.

However, there is also no telling who we may run into as we make our way along the rim.

So we will need to be careful.

Man, I wasn't even sure if the Rider team had any interest in winning this thing at all.

I never would have guessed they were packing firepower like that.

Don't let your guard down around them, Master. Next time, they might try to point that cannon at us.

...That said, as capable as I am, I'm planning to keep you safe no matter what happens. So, that's something to feel good about.

？！

No problem. I'm always happy to hear your thanks, even if you're only being polite.

Keep it coming, if you like. You can even show your appreciation more...physically, if you want.

That cannon was a truly massive, but also single-use spell. I doubt he will be able to do that again so easily.

But, I also agree that we cannot let our guard down around him. I thought I had a handle on the Master of Rider, but now, I am not sure at all.

(Besides which, he appeared to be seeing something visible only to him. What could that have been?)

(It felt like he was searching for the answer to a question that does not necessarily have anything to do with winning the Holy Grail War.)

(Well, no matter what it is, the fact remains that we need to be careful around him.)

(After all, there is no telling whether the answer he is looking for...)

(...is going to help us, or hurt us...)

Whoa, whoa, is this really happening? What the hell's going on here?

... ...

Haha, I'm glad you didn't say anything there, Rider! I wasn't about to actually explain anything yet anyway!

That's going to wait until I've got proof. Once I do, I'll gladly talk your ear off.

No, wait. Now that I've said that, you'd probably ask just the right balance of questions anyway, wouldn't you? Ah, who cares!

Now come on! We've got to get to the next point!

Hehe... Hahahaha! I knew it! Everything's misaligned!

Which means... What DOES this mean?

Now that I think about it, there must be a reason this world is circular...

Maybe enabling movement like that is the whole point...?

...No, the key is the future. Continuing that movement must cause something to happen in the future.

Yes, that's it. Whatever that something is must require centrifugal force...

May I ask what's going on now, Master?

Hehe, oh yes, absolutely! Your timing is impeccable!

I think I may have just figured out what this Holy Grail War is going to bring about!

No, wait. It may even be that the whole point of this Holy Grail War is to

...Huh?

Master!!!

(How could I let this happen!? I didn't sense anyone. I never thought someone would try to snipe at him from such extreme range!)

Urk...ghh...

Master!

R-Rider... Where's...the enemy...?

There's no sign of them...or of any follow-up attack. I think they just meant to assassinate you...

With that done, I guess there wasn't much sense sticking around, huh?

... ...

Dammit. They got me. I must have figured out something they'd rather stayed secret.

And I was so close to getting a glimpse of the next future, too...

Master... I'm so sorry. I

Don't worry. It's okay. If anything, I'm sorry I never gave you a chance to fight.

You must've been so frustrated. All that warrior's talent, and no avenue to use it.

I wish I could've let you contribute more to the future...

Please, Master, don't be sorry. You understood me better than I could ever have dared to hope.

Warped and twisted though this version of me no doubt is...

...you never looked on me with disdain or undue heroic adulation. You just treated me like...me.

You were never afraid that I might be more than who I actually am.

As I am now, that alone was...more than enough.

...Ha. Is that what you were scared of?

'Cause anyone who'd be afraid of a pretty boy like you would be a straight up failure as a Master...

... ...

But me...I just want to see what comes next.

If that means sacrificing the past or present, that's fine with me.

Makes me a pretty shitty Master, honestly. So...I may as well not go down without a fight.

Rider. Over there.

Is this right, Master?

Yeah. Who knows, maybe there won't be any point. But in case it changes something...let's give it a go.

That's who I am, after all.

...Okay. It's almost time.

There might not be a future for me anymore, but you might still have one.

Once I lose my Master authority, maybe a new Master'll be born in my place...

And if there happens to be a Master with enough magical energy to sustain two Servants...serving them might not be a bad idea, either...

Goodbye, Master.

On the matter of your final words, I have no intention of serving anyone else.

I will just stay here and wait to disappear...

...while I savor my good fortune for having found a Master willing to treat me only as a tool.

Oh? You want to be treated as just a tool? How fortunate.

Huh!? You!? The Master of Caster!?

I was hiding the last worms keeping me alive in the shadows. It seems no one ever noticed me!

You could quite literally have stomped me into oblivion with but a single step. Haha, it seems fate had other things in store for me!

What luck, finding a dying Master who still has his Command Spell!

Now I can regain both my Master authority and a Command Spell in one fell swoop!

And by that Command Spell, I give you these orders:

Rider! Take my worms into your body and obey me, Makiri Zolgen, as my new Servant!

Ghh... Gaaaaaah!

I don't know which Servant assassinated your former Master...

...but it was foolish of them to leave their quarry ripe for the taking.

Heha... Hahahahaha!