Chapter 1: [Prologue - 01]

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What do people think about at the moment of death?

Philosophical books or programs of that genre often bring up such topics.

If everything ends the moment you die, then it might be better to call the moments just before death the finality—the absolute end.

In such a situation, when the mind goes blank, the breath gradually fades, and life itself is being burned away... what does a person think in that critical moment?

It surely depends on the situation.

However, unless one is dying peacefully of old age in a hospital bed surrounded by family, wouldn't it be difficult to remain calm?

Whether one leaves behind regret, anger, sadness, or some emotion no one could have predicted, there was no way to know.

Beep, beep, beep— The sound of an emergency alarm momentarily catches my fading consciousness.

Even so, it was merely a temporary reprieve. The blood that had already poured from my body to form a pool made it impossible to have any positive outlook on survival.

I tried to force my body up, but it wouldn't move.

Only then did I realize that my lower body had been crushed by something resembling shattered rock.

My workplace, which usually looked blue and stable, was now stained red and burning. There was no chaos quite like this.

"Ah, ugh..."

Even as I tried to grasp the situation, my mind wouldn't function. The important project... we had finally finished preparations to execute it.

The moment we finished the Rayshift preparations for Team A and were about to begin, my vision spun violently.

And when I opened my eyes, it was this.

I wasn't a doctor, but even I could tell I wouldn't survive.

My left arm was gone, nowhere to be seen, and my right arm couldn't exactly be called intact either.

My lower body was completely crushed, and whether it was debris from the collapsed ceiling or something else, something had pierced through my entire torso, and the bleeding wouldn't stop.

...A bomb. I couldn't think of anything else.

But unless they were someone like me, a magus wouldn't use something as modern as a bomb.

This was Chaldea, a place where magi gathered.

No matter how many scientific experts had been brought in for the Rayshift, this was strange no matter how I thought about it.

No, in the first place, this level of power and this situation...

To anyone's eyes, this was closer to an act of terrorism.

"Cough, ah..."

Vomiting blood, the upper body I had barely managed to lift fell back to the floor.

My consciousness grew hazy, and I began to feel cold.

Am I dying? Like this?

...My meaningless gaze drifted toward the red-stained CHALDEAS, confirming that the situation was already far from normal.

Ah, the Director was looking forward to this so much and worked so hard; I really hoped things would go well.

For someone like me, who had no dreams or goals, the way she gritted her teeth and lived just to survive, to move forward, and to climb higher even commanded a sense of respect.

'It hurts... It hurts so much, damn it. The pain is driving me crazy. It hurts. It hurts. ...It's like the sensation in my lower body has returned. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.'

The pain felt as if it were stabbing through my entire body without being filtered by my brain.

I had lived hoping to be at peace at least right before death, but it seemed I couldn't even achieve that.

It felt like my brain was burning.

My body was growing hot.

It was so hot it was unbelievable, considering I had felt a chill only ten seconds ago.

No, it was scorching. It felt like my brain was going to melt.

I gritted my teeth and endured.

I don't know what I was gritting my teeth against or for, but I struggled as if resisting something.

I hadn't accomplished anything, yet I didn't have the time to reflect on the fact that I apparently possessed a survival instinct after all.

'...!'

Something flashed through my mind. Even if I wanted to clutch my head, neither of my hands were in a state to move, nor did I have the energy to move them.

Lying on the floor, my breathing became fast and shallow, desperately craving oxygen as if I were having a seizure.

Thump. Something surfaced in my mind.

No... rather than surfacing, it felt closer to being shoved in.

Burning and stimulating my brain, memories were repeating over and over as if being engraved into my mind.

Fate/Grand Order, Fujimaru Ritsuka, Mash Kyrielight, Incineration of the Human Order, Goetia, Beast, Singularity, Demon God Pillar, Heroic Spirit, Romani Archaman, Solomon, Marisbury, Olga Marie, Lev Lainur. Words I had heard before and words I had never heard before mixed together in my head.

I couldn't tell if this was a memory or a delusion I was creating at the very end.

It was absurd that even at the moment of death, a delusion rather than a revolving lantern of memories would dominate my brain.

'It's ending...'

I understood that the pain was ending.

I understood that I was being liberated.

...And I understood that it was over.

Fallen on the floor without meaning, having achieved nothing, failing to notice the abnormality in my mind or the abnormality in my body, not knowing what was what... everything ended for me as just 'Victim A.'

So simply it was hollow.

My story reached its conclusion. At the very moment death claimed my body—

[No, it's only just beginning. Your story, that is. Now, let us begin the tale. As the protagonist who will unravel a story that is no different from a meaningless tragedy.]

Before I could even know whose voice that was or why it was echoing in my head... I died.

**

"Aaaaaagh!!!"

I let out a scream. Moving from a moment where I couldn't scream to a moment where I could, my body reacted before my mind, letting out the sound.

Before I could even grasp the situation, I clutched my head and let out meaningless groans.

I grabbed my upper body, which had been in agony, then my lower body, gasping for breath on the bed.

Sweat poured off me as if I were taking a shower in it.

Only after ten minutes had passed did I calm down enough to sit on the bed and lean against the wall.

An old-fashioned clock ticking away caught my eye.

There was still quite a bit of time left before I had to report for work, but I didn't have the mental leeway to worry about that.

It felt like a massive amount of information was churning through my brain all at once. My head, currently in a slush-like state, could hardly be described by the word 'confusion' alone.

First... I lifted my shirt to check my abdomen. No wounds.

I got off the bed and walked around the room. My legs were fine too. ...No matter how I thought about it, this didn't seem like a miraculous rescue and survival.

Even if this place was equipped with advanced medical systems, it would be impossible to fully heal someone like me, who was in a state where dying was the only normal outcome.

Unless it was someone close to a True Magician from some myth, or someone possessing the Holy Grail, wouldn't it be difficult?

In this situation, it felt more natural to say the wounds had 'vanished' rather than 'healed.'

"A dream...? That was...?"

They say dreams are often the opposite of reality, so maybe this wasn't a bad omen but a good one, a lucky dream... but...

"Ugh..."

I rushed to the sink and dry-heaved. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn't believe it was just a dream.

That smell of blood, that ache, that pain, that sensation—all of it was a dream? Just a fake my mind had conjured up?

I had fallen into a panic the moment I woke up because those vivid sensations remained in my body, and it was just a dream?

They say realistic dreams exist, but this was surreal.

"What a face I'm making."

Since I was already here, I decided I might as well wash my face.

As I stood there blankly, I felt a throbbing pain in my brain.

Come to think of it... right before I died—even if it was a dream—something had entered my head.

Something... Thump! I dry-heaved into the sink again.

I was worried that blood might come out with my coughing. I raised my head again and looked at my face.

"Chaldea... Chaldea... Fujimaru Ritsuka? No, is this for real... What the..."

I am me. You don't get a second chance at life, and even if reincarnation exists, if you don't have your memories, then that's not you.

In that case, if I've been reincarnated and have my memories, can't I call that 'me'?

I let out a hollow smile as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I had no choice but to laugh now.

A massive amount of experience, knowledge, and information was electrifying my brain all at once.

It was by no means a good feeling.

Regardless, I briefly organized the thoughts currently floating in my head. Yes, to put it simply...

"I picked the wrong workplace."

It was a moment where I wanted to punch myself for joining Chaldea with the foolish thought of wanting to see some heroes.

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