Act I: Swan Lake Returns (2/6)

...Indeed. He may have been controlling corpses, talking like an utter madman, but still...

Why are you so surprised? That is what most Servants are like on SE.RA.PH.

They've completely succumbed to their desires, and fight accordingly. After all, one can literally get away with murder here.

Even so-called Heroic Spirits act like that when they show their true colors. It just goes to show how much of a slave humans truly are to their libidos.

Or perhaps it means they're all just Berserkers? Despite ostensibly being rational creatures, humans only ever do what they feel like doing, after all.

Your bias is showing, milady.

Yes, we do all have base instincts and desires, but humans also use their rationality to keep them in check.

That fiendish sorcerer we encountered earlier has long since abandoned such things of his own free will. He was utterly deranged, even among Heroic Spirits.

That's why I said humans were slavesbecause they aren't able to stay rational if they don't keep themselves in check.

Of course, my boundless love can melt down people and their checks alike, so it doesn't matter to me.

How about it, Fujimaru? Any interest in my skill?

My nectar is strong stuff. If you ever feel like ending it all, just let me know.

I can put you down for good before you even have a chance to feel any pain.

It's called All Drain. It's an illegal skill that lets me melt down and absorb...well, anything.

Of course, I can't make full use of it right now, since I'm not really in peak condition.

Kind of pathetic, huh. Especially after I went and promised I'd help you.

？！

You know...it is strange that we did not see any Masters with that Servant.

I doubt that Caster would have gone to such ends if his Master had been there to reprimand him.

So why was the Master nowhere to be found?

Oh, the Master is...around. Just not nearby.

Don't worry. They all died a long time ago.

Huh!? ...May I ask what you mean by that, milady?

...You do know your manners, don't you. I'm afraid it is what it sounds like.

There were Masters here once, but they really did die as soon as they had summoned their Servants.

None of the Servants here even know what their own Masters look like.

The only Servants actually with their Master here are those of you who came from Chaldea.

What...? But then, that would mean that the Servants are all killing one another of their own accord.

Why would they do that, when they no longer have any reason to fight...?

I told you. Every Servant here besides those of you from Chaldea are acting purely on their own desires.

That said, I'm sure SE.RA.PH is also playing a part.

I don't know if BB is responsible for this or not, but here, the ego takes precedence over one's consciousness and

Hm? I wonder what that is.

？！

No, Fujimaru! You mustn't!

This oil rig was taken over before anyone knew what was going on.

Once we realized what had happened, it was too late. No... Thinking back, we had it figured out before things got truly out of hand...

But we all had the same thought: "I don't want to accept that something this terrible could really be happening."

I was just an ordinary person. I didn't have any special talents, so I never tried to make it big.

I made sure to live within my means. I even ended up working here for an incredibly dull reason:

"All I'll have to do is put up with life on the sea for ten years."

Again, I'm just an ordinary person. I couldn't do anything to contribute to society, nor did I have the guts to try a life of crime.

Then came January of 2019... That's when something truly bizarre happened on Seraphix.

Every ship in our dock caught on fire, our helicopter was destroyed, and we no longer had any means of contacting the outside world.

And that wasn't the half of it. Parts of the base itself started to just...disappear.

We couldn't even understand what was happening. The only word we had for it was "strange."

By February, we were down to about a hundred survivors between the day and night crews.

We started living in the Central Command Room, as it was relatively safe...meaning the fewest disappearances happened there.

Thankfully, we had enough provisions to survive. So long as we didn't disappear, we were hopeful that we would make it through.

Some of the medical staff had survived too, and the therapist did everything she could to help us.

Both the wage workers and the privileged higher-ups who came here directly from Chaldea became part of the same community, with nothing separating us.

The main thing we all shared was the same desperate hope: "Let's wait until May. Chaldea is sure to notice what's happening here."

...We should have known better. We should have realized we were already done for, and that it would be over by then anyway.

In March, our director, Hideyasu Ajima, was executed. We decided it was his fault for not anticipating this mess.

At some point, our community turned violent. We told ourselves we were just organizing in order to protect ourselves where we had to.

It wasn't like only a few people made that call, either. ...We all agreed to it.

...I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I was too scared to say no.

Next, the assistant director was executed for failing to resolve the situation. Then a woman who lost the key to the cleaning area.

Then the doctors, who were no longer useful once we ran out of medicine. The people who stood up to Beckman were chosen to be sacrificed to the monsters outside.

One man was killed for eating too much. Then a woman was killed for spilling water. Somebody else was killed just for being a foreigner.

Yet even then, we were optimistic. We believed that in just a few days, this hell would come to an end.

In April, we learned that one minute in the outer world was equivalent to a hundred minutes here.

Which meant that any help Chaldea could provide would effectively take more than fifty years to arrive.

Right now, I'm smoking a cigarette, which the community has forbidden. This used to be a smoking space; a break room with vending machines and the like.

...Not anymore. Most of Seraphix has been digitized.

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't deal with this fear...with BB.

So I left the Command Room and pulled out a smoke. But then I heard an awful, condemning voice:

"Looks like you can't follow the rules either!"

It was Beckman's loyal dogs. They're always on the lookout for deserters, always going around in search of any opportunity to get on his good side.

Then I heard that horrible clanging sound. The sound of the sledgehammer as it scraped along the floor.

...I wish they could have at least let me enjoy my last smoke in peace.

...Man. I never thought I'd go out like this...

With how it's all gone down...I wish I'd grown a spine and stuck up for the assistant director.

？！

Yes. That must have been the final memory of a human who died here.

But it's all in the past now. Don't pay it any heed, Fujimaru.

...Fujimaru. Your expression tells me all I need to know about what sort of memories they must have been.

We must get to the bottom of this situation at once, so that no more lives are lost.