Meanwhile, Ritsuka and the others...
“Um... so, who exactly are you?”
The woman who had introduced herself as the Singularity’s helper seemed strange somehow.
First of all, she was small. Very small. And yet she gave off an immense sense of pressure and power.
“The Beast of Sodom, Draco. I suppose this is your first time encountering me in this world, Master of Chaldea.”
Then came Olga Marie’s now-familiar shock.
“Wait!?!?!?! That’s a Beast, isn’t it!?!?!?!?!?”
“Huh? What’s that?”
At that moment, the communication abruptly cut off, and Draco opened her mouth.
“You, girl... how long did it take you to get here from Fuyuki?”
“How do you know about Fuyuki...?”
“Answer me, and I’ll become your Servant and follow you.”
Then Mash whispered from beside her.
“Senpai, isn’t this dangerous?”
“Even so, she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d break a promise. Let’s trust her.”
“Yes. Even if something happens, I’ll protect you, Senpai.”
And so Ritsuka roughly explained the journey so far. But then...
Bang!
“Senpai! Behind me!”
The girl in front of them stomped the ground as if she were angry.
“You want me to work with some rookie who just barely started? What is this—khm! Sorry, I got a little worked up. I’m not trying to threaten you, so don’t worry.”
“Ah... yes.”
And so, after forming a contract with a Servant of a class she had never even heard of before—Beast—the journey in Rome began.
“Big brother... you’ll be okay, right? You’re safe, right?”
Even in this situation, the girl worried about that unlucky man who had been separated from them and left to struggle alone.
----
After the threatening presence passed by, they took shelter in a small cave with the giant.
“I’ve shared my information, so I’d like you to share some of yours too...”
Honestly, he was terrifying. But at the same time, it was obvious that if things stayed like this, they wouldn’t even be able to stand still, let alone move forward.
“To solve this Singularity, you need to kill the Twelve Olympians.”
“...Pardon?”
What exactly had she just heard?
“The Twelve Olympians are major gods, and you want me to take them down? Is this difficulty setting even right?”
“It is certainly an absurd trial. But you know that if you want to go back, you have to fight.”
“No, I mean...”
The scale had suddenly jumped from a heroic war to a war of the gods. Who the hell set this difficulty level...?
“My true name is Alcides. Modern humanity would probably know me better as Hercules, though...”
He drew an arrow and threatened them with it.
“I will not allow you to call me by the name of that loser.”
He could tell from experience that saying the wrong thing would get him killed.
“Ah... yes...”
“My goal is to annihilate those disgusting gods. Cooperate with me. If I decide you’re getting in the way, I’ll eliminate you immediately, so keep that in mind.”
“Yes...”
He was terrifying...
“Then, um... is there any other Servant we can recruit as an ally?”
“They’ve already all been taken... no, there is one, but he’s not exactly trustworthy, so don’t get your hopes up.”
Shit.
“And another thing. You don’t seem to be human... no, that’s not right. It would be more accurate to say you were human, but are no longer...”
“I wanted to live, but I ended up rushing my own death instead, I guess...”
“A foolish human.”
“Still, it was the best I could do in that situation. The difference was whether I died doing nothing or tried something...”
“...”
Alcides stood up without another word.
“Come with me. I don’t know whether it’ll be useful, but it would be best if you met that one too.”
----
After walking through the forest for a long time, they arrived at a small cottage.
“Huh?! Heracles... no, Alcides!!!”
A blond man appeared from the cottage, as if he had sensed their presence.
“Who are you?”
“I am Jason, captain of the Argonauts!”
“Ah! The one from Medea...”
“That far is enough... Anyway, you seem to know a bit about me, but who are you?”
“I’m... (rough explanation).”
“Hah... I’ll help him with his goal to the end, but honestly, the situation is way too unfavorable for us. To think we have to beat the Twelve Olympians...”
“If you don’t want to do it, then don’t.”
“No way! If I’m with you, I’m prepared to be dragged all the way to hell!!”
“Heh...”
Watching two men bond like that was something else...
“Anyway, so we’re not actually fighting all twelve of the Twelve Olympians, right?”
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case, but what came next wasn’t exactly good news either.
“There are three we need to take down: Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.”
“Shit, that’s too much no matter how you look at it...”
It was so unfair I could feel tears welling up.
“I want to say, ‘How dare you swear in front of this guy!!’ but...”
“Given the opponent, that reaction is perfectly normal...”
“Shit, how are we supposed to beat the top three of the Twelve Olympians? It’s not just death—we’re going to get killed like dogs... but...”
“What about the other gods? Why did those three create this Singularity?”
“To be precise, Demeter...”
Jason explained that Demeter had opened this Singularity to take revenge on the three chief gods who had kidnapped her daughter and mocked her, but...
“They got their asses kicked and lost the Holy Grail?”
“Correct.”
What was strange here was...
“Then what exactly are those three doing with the Holy Grail?”
“Poseidon wants to reopen the Age of Gods, and Zeus and Hades are trying to stop him.”
“Then if we just take down Poseidon...”
“Do you think Zeus would use the Holy Grail nicely if it fell into his hands?”
Judging by the original myths and the Greek gods, absolutely not.
“...No, he wouldn’t, right?”
“Hades is trying to revise an old promise he made—that he wants to live together with his wife in complete domestic bliss.”
Ever since I’d read Greek myths, I’d had the same thought...
“Shit, are gods just powerful delinquents or what...”
“If you’d said that in our era, you’d have been struck by divine punishment on the spot...”
As they chatted for a while, I noticed something odd.
“Among the Twelve Olympians, Zeus should be overwhelmingly strong. So how are three of them fighting over this?”
That was when Alcides, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
“The land in this Singularity is limited to this place.”
“Ah, terrain advantage... wait, then what about Hades...?”
“Do you know of Typhon?”
“The strongest of all Greek monsters, right? But Typhon was sealed away... ah!”
“If anyone tries to touch the Holy Grail, Hades will release Typhon and let everyone destroy each other. That’s why none of them can openly wage war.”
“So the current situation is...”
Zeus = no buff, but just absurdly strong.
Poseidon = terrain advantage.
Hades = holding the game-over button, Typhon.
“Then the one we can actually aim for is...”
Poseidon? Fight a god of the sea in the sea? Zeus? Even if this isn’t his true body, he’s still one of the strongest gods in Greek myth, and he’s not coming down no matter how much trouble he causes in the sky.
Then the one we could target was...
“Hades.”
Oh, that sounded kind of cool just now...
“But... how are we supposed to get to the underworld?”
“That’s the problem. Hades has made it absolutely impossible for anyone to enter the underworld. It was already hard to get in, and now it’s even harder.”
“Ha...”
“That doesn’t mean there’s no way.”
“?”
At Alcides’ words, I tilted my head in confusion.
“First, send me your Mana.”
“Yes, sir...”
Then Alcides began chanting something strange and started devouring an enormous amount of Mana.
“Um... I don’t know what you’re planning, but maybe conserve a little...”
Then a summoning circle appeared, and a three-headed dog emerged.
“Huh? Cerberus?”
“There was no way to bring this one out without Mana support. But now that you’ve shown up, things are progressing smoothly. I thank you.”
“Aaaah, I’m jealous!! He got praised!!”
Let’s ignore Jason, who looked like he was about to die from frustration...
“This one is the hound of hell, so can it take us to hell?”
“Yes. But to do that...”
“Don’t tell me, more Mana...”
“...”
And so, after being drained of yet more Mana, we ended up in hell.
“Brace yourself. We’re going to hunt a god.”
“Yes...”
“I’m dizzy to death...”
We had barely walked at all when a massive castle appeared before us.
“That’s obviously...”
“That is Hades’ castle. From here on out, you could really die, so be careful.”
Gulp.
All I could hear in the silence was Jason swallowing dryly.
After walking a bit farther, we reached the front gate.
“Th-that can’t be...”
“No way...? H-Heracles...?”
Alcides kicked the main gate open.
“...We’re screwed.”
Meanwhile, at Chaldea...
“I found him!!!”
“Where is he?!”
Olga Marie had gone two days without sleep while searching for Albus. Fujimaru had ended up making a contract with a Beast-class Servant, and the situation was completely insane, but fortunately, the Beast was surprisingly cooperative, and they were moving toward clearing the Singularity as quickly as possible. For some reason, she didn’t seem very willing to talk with Olga Marie, though...
Still, they had to know what had happened to Albus. After concluding that he was definitely not in Rome on the first day and analyzing and observing countless Singularities, they had finally pinpointed his location after two days.
“B-but the location is...”
“Enough nonsense. Where is he?!”
“The underworld...”
“...What?”
On the monitor, he could be seen somewhere with a gate open, facing off against someone and preparing for battle.
“His opponent is a Divine Spirit!!! And not just any Divine Spirit—the Greek chief god, Hades!!!”
Thud!
Impossible. He was going to die. No matter how much his combat ability had improved through training, how could he possibly defeat a Greek chief god with only two Servants and no Command Spells?
“This is because of me... I should have stopped him no matter what...”
Even if she had to break his leg or arm, she should have stopped him from forcing his way back into battle.
“I’m sorry... I’m sorry...”
“Director!! Please wake up!!!”
It would be news of his death, of course. Someone so precious had ended up like this because of her mistake...
“He won!!! Albus won, I’m telling you!!!”
“...What?”
----
The man in front of me looked exactly like he was announcing, I am Hades.
“The son of Zeus, his attendant, and...”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“The ■■■■ of ■■■■...? So Gaia really has gotten her fill of poison in the end...”
“Son of Zeus, by the name of the chief god, I say this: that man is a dangerous existence who surpasses even Typhon, our greatest enemy. We must kill him at once—”
As if he no longer wanted to hear another word, Alcides shot an arrow at him.
“...What is the meaning of this?”
“Do not call me the son of that disgusting bastard.”
“...Indeed, it would be strange to ask why you hate Zeus. Come, then. I’ll make you feel the difference in our power to the bone.”
And so the battle began.
First, Alcides’ arrows flew in such a barrage that they might as well have been dozens fired at once, but...
Clang!
They never reached Hades.
“Your strength is indeed incomparable. But I am a chief god, and more than that, the king who rules the underworld.”
With those words, he exhaled black mist.
“Feel death!!!”
The mist that had been rushing toward us... suddenly U-turned and came straight back at me.
“Shit, I don’t know... let’s see whether I live or die!!!”
I activated [Devour] and sucked in all the black mist around me. But...
“Kh—! Shit, deactivate it!! Deactivate it!!”
It hurt. It hurt too much. I’d tried to endure it, but I couldn’t. It hurt so much I really couldn’t take it anymore.
It was worse than having a knife shoved into my stomach, worse than my upper and lower body being slowly torn apart.
“You bastard!! How dare you steal my power!!!”
“Deactivate it, damn it!! I’m deactivating it!!!”
But for some reason, [Devour] no longer responded to my control. It was as if someone were forcibly manipulating my body...
Hades, too, seemed to be losing power to me, as his flesh began to wither like a mummy’s.
“Stop this at once!! This is my authority—!”
But he wasn’t only facing me.
“Go, Argonauts!!”
Other Heroic Spirits appeared around Jason and unleashed their Noble Phantasms...
“Nine Lives!!!”
Alcides, too, pierced Hades’ spirit core with an arrow.
“Kh—! That bastard is... the world...”
“It hurts, damn it...”
And then I passed out again.
----
“Wak...e... up!”
I woke to a voice ringing in my ears.
“Kh—!”
The memory of that agonizing pain from before made my body scream in reflex.
“Huh...? It doesn’t hurt...?”
“Honestly, I wanted to let you sleep for a full day, but Heracles—no, Alcides—told me to wake you up, so I roused you after three hours.”
Shit, at least let me sleep for ten hours...
“Where is he?”
“He said he was going to see the sealed Typhon. He told you to come once you woke up, so hurry up. I’m too exhausted to go myself...”
Looks like that Noble Phantasm really was too much for him...
Anyway, after following the direction Jason gave me, what I found was...
“Shit, what the hell is that...”
A gigantic sleeping three-headed dragon.
“You’re here.”
Then Alcides appeared from behind a massive pillar.
“From here on, we’ll wake this thing up and kill Zeus and Poseidon.”
“No, let’s slow down a little...”
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