Finale: Empress of the Chocolate Garden

Good...good...

It's no use! Both the number eight and nine transfer lines are overloaded! They just won't move!

We still have some room in line twelve! Use that to transport essential resources! Maintaining our lifeline is top priority!

And...argh, we're at our limit! Can't we just stop accepting chocolate shipments!?

We've tried, but...it's impossible! They're practically force-feeding the stuff to us! There's nothing we can do to stop it!

Well, this is bad. I may have kind of underestimated this since it was just about chocolate.

Waaah! Chocolate's falling from the air vents!?

Mmmf...mmmfff... Somebody... Anybody...

Are you all right? Let me pull you out.

Ungh. Thanks. It was all so sudden I fell right on my butt. Oww...

That corridor there is completely blocked off by chocolate. If we are to reach the Command Room, we should go around this way.

It's that bad? This place is scary now.

Yes. Things have gotten rather dire. It seems something as absurd as chocolate has made Chaldea's entire operation come to a grinding halt.

No... If things keep going the way they are...operations could cease forever!

Emergency blockade... It's not going to hold!

...If that door fails, the chocolates will flood into the Command Room!

So there's nothing we can do... It's over... Fujimaru!

Yes...more. More! Show me...the sweet world of chocolate!

Chocolates making more chocolates! Chocolates taking over everything! A chocolate world made by chocolates for chocolates!!!

？！

A human like you need not understand my words.

My Hanging Gardens and I shall descend upon this world of chocolate! How delightful!

Haha...hahahaha!!!

...Hm...?

It...stopped?

This is

...Master!

What is the meaning of this? Why did production stop? I did not order a halt!

？！

What!? No, no... This is bad.

Should chocolate production stop...!!!

It will melt...all of it! The seal...and even I...!

...Oooooohhhhhhhhh!!!

Master! Chaldea will be all right! How are things over onWh-what the...! What's this response!?

Fujimaru, over there! There's something in that chocolate fountain!

？！

？！

That cursed seal has finally melted. How dare that insignificant little chocolate

Gunh...gh...

So the Semiramis we've been interacting with... ...was created by the Holy Grail as a diversion?

Her reading's changed. She's not a Servant.

She's a chocolate.

Wha...!?

？！

Ah, what a...um, creative name you came up with there!

Hmph. I care not what you call it. But you're exactly right: It's a chocolate. One of my own creation.

It was my first attempt, so I put all I had into it. However, after I gave it power to make it my equal...

...it rebelled against me.

And then I got careless and let it usurp my connection to the Holy Grail. That's when it trapped me within a chocolate Bounded Field!

？！

Sh-shut up. Even one such as me may make the odd careless mistake.

I'm just gonna come out and ask this: Why didn't it kill you?

As this is my Noble Phantasm, killing me would cause it to vanish.

Without me, the garden would not have been able to go through so many transformations using the power of the Holy Grail, all the while maintaining its existence.

But it's over. With the Holy Grail's power exhausted, the chocolate fountain seal has disappeared.

I must eradicate this chocolate failure while I have the chance.

Ugh...ngh...I was close... So close...! Our... The chocolate...empire...!

Don't make me laugh. You're no empress. You're just a piece of candy molded in the shape of one.

If that's so, it is because that is how YOU made me!

A human empress governs a nation of people. What, then, would a chocolate empress govern!?

Obviously, a nation of chocolates!

And if such a nation does not exist, then it is my duty to create one!

Ugh, this thing is so irritating! I know that's rich coming from me, seeing as how it's basically a carbon copy, but still!

Since I'm her creator, that thing has completely copied my way of thinking!

？！

I am not fully myself yet, as I have just broken free of the seal. As such, I shall grant you the honor of assisting an empress, human.

Do not embarrass me.

？！

Do you mean to...eat me?

Hm. Chocolate is something that humans consume. It should never be the other way around.

Don't get the wrong idea. You're a failure among failures.

So no, I will not consume you. The only thing I am going to do is break you apart and toss you away. Along with my shame!!!

So...uh, can I say we're done here?

...Hmph. Even I know when to quit.

Besides, I've been sealed away so long that I am not exactly at my best. There is no reason for me to remain here anyway.

As a reward for cleaning this up, you may take the Holy Grail I used. You have just received a gift from an empress. Be grateful.

That is very kind of you...but why did you make a chocolate like that in the first place?

Well...um...

The moment I manifested here, I was given knowledge of Valentine's Day...and chocolate...

Bitter, yet sweet... It has the power to move one's heart... And at times, the power to damage a heart beyond repair...

All of this led me to consider chocolate to be a kind of poison.

？！

I am the Queen of Poison. That makes me, also, the Queen of Chocolate.

As such, I must create the best and most powerful of poisons...

...something nobody has ever seen, and something that nobody but I can create... The ultimate chocolate (poison).

？！

...

It really does seem like the rulers and royals tend to do things...bigger than we could ever imagine...

Agh. Enough. I will take this Noble Phantasm to a secluded area and dismantle it.

Until then, you will remove all those chocolate facilities you scattered across my garden. They stink of cacao.

Even though you're going to tear the place apart anyway?

It's a matter of principle. I cannot permit others to leave their detritus in my garden.

And obviously, you will need to take all the remaining chocolate. I trust you have no qualms with that, at least, given there is no more risk of oversupply?

My chocolate is of superior quality, given the techniques used to make it. I have no use for it, but I am sure it is of some value.

Ah! (I forgot! I need to make my chocolates too...!)

Sheesh. I guess there's nothing for it. We are partly to blame here, so I suppose it's kind of our duty to handle the cleanup.

...Um, Acting Commander. May I make a request?

If it's possible, rather than to stay here in the Command Room to process all the data we collected, I'd like to go on-site to help clean up.

Hm? Well, there isn't anything particularly difficult left to do, and I understand your desire to see the famous Hanging Gardens for yourself.

Very well. Go ahead. You new mission is to help Fujimaru clean up.

Oh...I see. Yes, that does make sense... (Guess there'll be plenty of other opportunities...)

Understood. Let's get to work cleaning up, Master!

Even though they're dolls...putting a seal on something that looks like you and locking it in a box...

...is a bit of a strange feeling.

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Agreed.

I am uncertain if these homunculi will ever see the light of day again...

Hiya! Ha! Next, please!

Hmm. The way she stuffs them into those boxes... Reminiscent of punishment, no?

Could it be that the people of Chaldea do not like Mini Paracel?

Oh...uh, that's not necessarily true.

It's just that I'm in a hurryor, um, I'm simply fired up to finish my task due to personal reasons.

I see...

Either way, I'm happy that you are helping us. Thanks to you, we were able to finish faster than expected. Thank you.

I'm glad to hear that.

Now, all that's left to do is to take the remaining chocolate back to Chaldea.

Oh... Um...actually, Paracelsus. If I could let you in on a little secret...

What is it?

Oh? Is it something you don't want Master to hear?

Th-that's not...it...! No, really...

Ahem. Um...there's something I'd like you to show me...as compensation for helping out...

Out of the chocolate here, which is the best batch that Mini Paracel made?

Whew. We've managed to clean up most of the area.

？！

Wh-whatever do you mean? I-I don't know what you're talking about!

Now please, Senpai. Our real challengeI mean, our job here is done.

Let's go ahead and head back to Chaldea so as not to get in the way of dismantling the Hanging Gardens!