"It’s here, it’s here. The Guardian is sprawled out asleep on the sofa. If we go in, we’ll tease the hell out of that bastard. From what I can tell, he can’t attack children no matter what. That’s probably why he got so helplessly wrecked by Jack the Ripper—because she took the form of a child.
We should start mocking him the second we walk in. Mordred, you should join in too. Let’s spread the rumor that he’s a pervert who gets off on little girls and make fun of him for it."
"Uh... that’s a pretty different vibe from what you said earlier."
"I trust him, so he’s definitely going to pull through and help us restore this Singularity too. I believe in him."
"...Is that so? Fine! Then I’ll tease him too!"
Messing with our little brat is seriously fun. What a bargain.
Mordred kicked the door in and shouted,
"Hey, there’s a pervert here who gets sexually aroused by little kids..."
The floor was soaked in blood, and the Guardian lay dead, skinned alive. His abdomen had been split open, and his entrails were used to decorate the room.
Jack the Ripper had killed the Guardian.
"G-Guardian!"
That fucking bastard... when had she been here? Had she come in with us from the start using Presence Concealment?
How painfully must he have died?
"Kid!... Kid!"
That skinned body... I’ll kill that fucking bitch. Judging by what that motherless monster did, she pinned his limbs down so he couldn’t move, skinned him alive, split open his stomach, and carefully carved up his organs one by one to decorate the surroundings.
That bitch... I’ll never forgive her... I’m going to kill her for sure.
"Kid!"
"Huh?"
"Hey! Snap out of it, kid! She might still be here, so stay sharp and watch your surroundings. If I were her, I’d have been thinking about you right up until the moment I died. Because of her, keep your head clear and think about restoring this place. Survive first. Focus!"
Cu Chulainn shook me as he spoke.
"Ah... right. Yeah... that’s right. Sorry... no, wait. This doesn’t make sense. After doing all this, there’s no way she’d still be nearby. If she was unlucky, she’d get killed by the Servants, so if I were her, I’d have run for the hills... Okita, Cu Chulainn, take the Guardian with you."
"What?"
"Huh?"
"Think about it. I have the Guardian’s Noble Phantasm.
The fact that it hasn’t vanished yet means that, given his current condition, he may look dead, but he might actually still be alive.
I don’t know everything about his abilities.
There aren’t any myths or legends about him among the heroes known in my era. That means he’s a Heroic Spirit from the future. This could be a trick, or maybe he set something up in advance and hasn’t actually died yet. So let’s take him with us. That’s fine, right, Mordred?"
"Y-Yeah... yeah, it’s fine. No problem..."
Why is he reacting like that?
"Kid... I understand how you feel, but... there’s no hope."
"Master..."
These bastards weren’t listening to me...
"Shut up. I’m the one making the call...!! I’ll use all three Command Spells if I have to, but I’m taking him with us. That’s final. We’re taking everything except the blood. The organs, the skin, those eyeballs over there... every last piece...
I’m going to save him somehow... So take him. If there’s a leyline nearby, even if it’s outside, we’ll set up a circle there...
Let’s go..."
I lowered my head...
"...Alright. Got it, kid. We’ll do that. Let’s prepare something to carry him in. It’d be awkward to drag him outside like this, so at least let’s grab something to hold him in..."
"...Understood."
"I’ll keep watch around us. So, Okita? Cu Chulainn? You two take care of him. I’ll protect the Master."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Thank you."
"No, Mordred, you don’t need to do that. I have the Guardian’s Noble Phantasm. Don’t worry. If he comes after us, I’ll kill him on the spot."
I changed my Mystic Code into a guided missile.
Cu Chulainn understood why Damascus was acting like this.
The Guardian had not been registered in Chaldea’s Spirit Origin system. For some reason, his Spirit Origin had never been registered, and Damascus had been struggling to find the reason back in Chaldea.
And now, before the Spirit Origin had even been registered, the Guardian had died.
That meant he might never be seen again.
"Kid... just standing there and trying to judge the situation must be hard on you... That ordinary guy is probably forcing himself to think right now... Damn it..."
Cu Chulainn hid his expression to conceal his frustration. Okita didn’t have enough experience yet to hide hers, but Cu Chulainn was different. He masked his face well and watched the kid’s condition.
"We’ll be at my hideout soon. Let’s treat the Guardian there. Come to think of it, the fact that he hasn’t vanished yet means he might really not be dead. Normally, when someone disappears, they should return to the Throne, but this guy’s body never went back."
Mordred rambled on as she spoke.
She was worried that if the Guardian completely lost it here and couldn’t do anything, he might end up dying a useless death at Jack the Ripper’s hands.
"We’re here. I’ll open the door."
Mordred opened the door, and Cu Chulainn and Okita quickly carried the Guardian’s body and organs inside. Mordred and Damascus stayed alert to their surroundings, then slowly closed the door.
Damascus was not in his right mind.
"...Mordred... thanks. Is there an empty room here by any chance?
I’m not feeling great after all that shooting earlier, so I’m going to lie down for a bit and sleep."
"Yeah, you see that door over there? That’s an empty room. There’s a sofa in there, so sleep there for a while."
"...Thanks."
I closed the door and went in.
I sat on the sofa, held my head, and tried to make my brain work. It wouldn’t. More than the Singularity or anything else, I just wanted to kill that bitch Jack the Ripper.
"Fuck... fuck, fuck, fuck..."
The revolver in my right hand wouldn’t leave my grip. I felt like I was going insane. But I couldn’t let it go.
The moment I let go, it felt like the Guardian would return to the Throne. I didn’t know why the Guardian couldn’t return to the Throne. Maybe it was because of this thing I was holding right now, something he didn’t have. I never wanted to give it back to him, no matter what.
"That bitch... I’ll kill you with my own hands."
I kept repeating that to myself and forcing my brain to keep moving.
"Master... he’s pulling out so much hair..."
Damascus kept scratching his head over and over.
He was scratching so hard that his hair couldn’t take it anymore and started falling out.
The room began to smell like blood.
Because he kept scratching, little by little, blood started seeping from his scalp.
Okita didn’t know what to do. Cu Chulainn had said to leave him alone for now, but Okita couldn’t just stand there. She couldn’t fix it, either, but seeing the Master like this made her unable to stay still.
"Master... being unable to do anything right now is incredibly painful for me..."
Okita kept watching the Master anxiously.
She thought he wouldn’t be able to see her in her spiritual form, but Damascus’s condition had been altered by Merlin, making him a little different from an ordinary human. He could see spiritualized Servants. It was just that stress had kept him from noticing Okita for now. If he calmed down even a little, he might realize she had been secretly watching him.
Okita kept pacing back and forth. She wanted to cancel her spiritualization, grab the hand scratching at his head, and stop him, but if she did that, he would realize she had ignored his orders and sneaked in to watch him. So she couldn’t do anything. She could only keep pacing around Damascus and watch his condition.
"If you keep moving around like that, anyone would notice... Okita..."
"Eh?"
"Drop the spiritualization. I already know."
Damascus had noticed.
"Drop the spiritualization. I already know."
Who wouldn’t notice if you were pacing back and forth like that?
Ah... right, he was spiritualized, so maybe he wouldn’t know...
"Okita... I can see you. There’s something I never told you all... I don’t know anymore. I’ll tell you. It’s simple. Back in Fuyuki, I received help from a mage named Merlin. He’s Arthur’s mentor, the strange being who is half human and half incubus, and who made Arthur into a hero.
That guy gave me potential... the potential to become a hero... Because of that, I can see you...
So just sit down in front of me... It’s okay... I won’t get angry... just... hold my hand..."
Okita seemed unsure whether he was just testing her or being sincere... I just said one more thing.
"Somebody... help me..."
After that, Okita canceled her spiritualization and took my hand. Had she never seen me beg this desperately before? I didn’t know. I didn’t want to think about anything. The more I thought, the less I could see any way to solve this situation.
"Master... I am here..."
Okita took my hand. Her skin was slightly pale, and her body temperature seemed a little low. When my hand touched hers, Okita’s hand felt faintly cold.
"Sorry... I’ll make you dango later."
"Wh-... no, it’s fine. Understood. It’s okay, Master."
I asked Okita what I already knew the answer to.
"The Guardian... he can still be saved, right?"
"..."
Okita said nothing. So it really was impossible.
Without saying a word, I hugged Okita. I couldn’t stop myself.
She’s definitely sixteen, right?
And I, a man in my mid-twenties, am hugging a sixteen-year-old kid and crying my eyes out... I’m such an idiot.
"Just... stay like this for a moment..."
After about ten minutes, I sent Okita out of the room.
"Are you really... alright?"
"Yeah, I’m fine. I’m back to normal now. I just used my brain too much, so I’m tired.
I’ll sleep a little and be fine when I wake up.
It can’t be helped. From here on out, I need to stay sharp, or the Guardian’s death will become a pointless one... So don’t worry. I’m really fine..."
"...Yes. Understood, Master."
After that, I closed the door and tried to sleep so I could talk to Merlin.
I wasn’t normal right now, so I couldn’t think straight. I wanted to ask for advice from someone around me. First, Merlin. Then I’d set up a base camp in this house, connect it to Chaldea, talk to Da Vinci, Doctor Romani, and Director Olga Marie, report on the Singularity, and find a way to solve it. And then I’d repay Jack the Ripper for what she did to the Guardian.
You fucking bitch, you’re dead.
"I’m worried about the Master..."
Okita spoke up.
"Of course you are, but we can’t solve it for him.
That’s something the kid has to work through on his own.
And he needs to understand this: no matter how close you get to a Servant, you still have to separate public from private. We’re already dead. Things that shouldn’t exist in this world.
The kid’s too soft on that point. If you or I died and he fell apart like this every time, he’d end up destroying himself. It’s better to think of this as a bitter but valuable lesson. The kid needs to get stronger. If he doesn’t, he might die someday."
Cu Chulainn said it flatly. His words might sound cold, but they were true.
"...But...!"
Still, Okita felt frustrated. If there was any way to solve the situation, she wanted to solve it. Those silly jokes, those absurd and outrageous pranks—he might seem playful and never serious, but when people around him were struggling or anxious, he was the kind of person who would stand beside them and say something comforting and encouraging. Okita hated seeing someone like that fall apart.
"Was it Okita? Cu Chulainn’s right. We don’t know what the road ahead looks like, but there’s no guarantee something like this won’t happen again. If that kid collapses every time, can you handle everything for him?"
"...But..."
"That’s enough. Okita’s feelings aren’t wrong... But the desire to protect the kid isn’t wrong either. I’m just saying that’s how I see it. You have to make your own judgment."
Cu Chulainn ended it there.
"If the kid knew women, then in times like this, hugging one to forget it might be a solution..."
Okita heard Cu Chulainn’s final mutter.
"...Merlin."
"Oh, my lord. You came because the situation isn’t good, didn’t you?"
"...Yeah..."
"My lord, let me say one thing: if you keep suffering every time a Servant dies, it’ll be hard to resolve any Singularity in the future."
"I know... I know that."
"And yet you’re this shaken over someone who hasn’t even died yet... That’s disqualifying for a Master, isn’t it? My lord?"
"Right... that’s true... Servants are already dead anyway... To begin with, getting attached to a Servant for just a moment—what did you say?"
"Huh? My lord didn’t know? That’s surprising. You usually think things through so well."
"No... no, no, no, no, no? Wait a second. He’s alive?"
"Yes. He hasn’t returned to the Throne."
"Huh?"
"So he’s alive. Well, not exactly alive. He’s dead. But he’ll get back up."
What?
"My lord, believe me. Even though I can’t leave here and am saying this from inside, I have no intention of lying to you.
It’s true. The Guardian still hasn’t returned to the Throne."
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