"So this time, it's the real Hassan."
Seeing the golden light begin to radiate from the body crushed beneath Mash's shield, Daniel Davis immediately realized that after countless deaths of his clones, Hassan of the Cursed Arm had finally revealed his true body.
Using his countless split bodies, Hassan had managed to linger despite being defeated multiple times by both Daniel and Cú Chulainn over the past few days. Even though Mash couldn't yet unleash her Noble Phantasm, her current strength already far exceeded that of an ordinary magus.
"Our turn now."
But while Mash had managed to eliminate the Assassin, she and the others were now surrounded by even more dragon tooth warriors. Though Mash was fine, Ritsuka Fujimaru and Olga Marie Animusphere were in a more precarious situation.
Olga Marie's true strength wasn't weak, but whether due to panic or her soul state, she was clearly not fighting at full power.
"Romani, think of something—fast!"
Amidst the crisis, Olga Marie shouted into her communicator at Romani Archaman. Of the three present, Ritsuka was clearly the weakest. Despite her naturally excellent magical circuits and her perfect compatibility with Rayshift, she had been a complete civilian before coming to Chaldea. It was during a routine blood donation that Chaldea discovered her aptitude and recruited her under the pretense of a high-paying job. Before she could even be trained, she was thrown into the role of humanity's last hope.
"I know, I know! Hold on—watch out! There's a powerful magical energy signature approaching your location!"
"I can see that," Olga Marie snapped. She'd already noticed the cluster of fireballs long before Romani's warning. The fireballs rained down and obliterated the surrounding dragon tooth warriors in an instant.
"A Servant's presence—be cautious," Romani warned again, remembering the last surprise encounter.
"Hello, lovely ladies."
Cú Chulainn appeared, flashing a cheerful grin and waving at the three women. His casual demeanor reminded Daniel of the countless stories surrounding this infamous womanizer. Compared to him, Daniel really was a monk.
"And who are you?" Olga Marie frowned at his laid-back tone.
"That's Cú Chulainn," Daniel said directly.
"The Child of Light of Ireland?!"
Olga Marie gasped in surprise. In legend, Cú Chulainn was a demigod and one of the greatest heroes of his age. As a Heroic Spirit, he was a top-tier Servant. Though his luck was notoriously poor and his fates tragic, that was mostly due to his Masters or class assignments. His Gáe Bolg was a causality-reversing Noble Phantasm.
Not every Servant was blessed with the instinct and luck of Saber.
"And you—what are you? His Master?" Olga asked, noting the three Command Spells on the back of Daniel's hand.
"My name is Daniel Davis. I'm just an ordinary human. Our contract is only temporary," Daniel explained.
He wasn't lying. He didn't fully understand the Servant summoning system, but Cú Chulainn did. Since Daniel had the qualifications to be a Master, he was granted Command Spells and took on the temporary role.
"An ordinary human, huh." Cú Chulainn muttered, unconvinced. To him, someone like Daniel would likely become a Heroic Spirit in the future—if he wasn't already. After all, time had no meaning to Heroic Spirits. Even someone destined to become one centuries later could be summoned to the past.
"What happened here? Why is everything like this?"
After hearing Daniel's introduction, Olga Marie immediately asked. She knew exactly where they were. Originally, her plan had been to send Team A's seven Masters to establish a base, and then have Team B follow to investigate why the future of humanity had vanished.
But shortly after her grand pre-departure speech, everything fell apart. Chaldea was half-destroyed, and only the three of them had survived and Rayshifted. Conducting an investigation like this was going to be extremely difficult.
To Olga, the top priority was figuring out what had gone wrong in this Singularity, then requesting assistance from the Mage's Association.
As for Ritsuka, Olga didn't expect much. She saw her as an inexperienced recruit and didn't want to send her to her death. Investigating Singularities wasn't safe—even top-tier magi could die here, let alone someone who had just entered the world of magecraft.
"You mean you don't know what happened? I thought you were here to repair this Singularity," Cú Chulainn asked, glancing toward Daniel.
"How do you know about Chaldea?" Olga Marie asked, shocked. For a Servant like Cú Chulainn to know about Chaldea was highly unusual.
"I told him. The source of this Singularity is Saber—Artoria Pendragon. The Holy Grail is in her possession. To repair the Singularity, she must be defeated."
"And who exactly are you, knowing so much?"
"Let's just call it foresight."
"Foresight, huh… So you're here to help us?"
Daniel's explanation silenced Olga's suspicion. Claiming foresight—or future vision—was a perfect excuse.
"What's the current situation then?"
"The Holy Grail War went off the rails. Saber started slaughtering everyone and used the black mud to corrupt the others," Cú Chulainn explained.
"So we're facing six Servants… no, five now." Olga frowned.
"Actually, only three remain. Rider and Berserker have already been dealt with."
"Just the Upper Three Knights left, huh. We'll need to strategize carefully. Romani, you heard all that—contact the Mage's Association and request reinforcements."
Though Olga lacked the aptitude to be a Master, she knew quite a bit about Holy Grail Wars. Even though real-world Grail Wars didn't strictly adhere to game-like class advantages, Servants were still grouped into the Upper Three Knights (Saber, Archer, Lancer) and the Lower Four (Rider, Assassin, Caster, Berserker) based on spiritual foundation rankings.
Masters always aimed to summon members of the Upper Three, especially Saber. Their spiritual cores were strongest. Rin Tohsaka's disappointment at not summoning Saber was a prime example.
"Yes, Director. I'll contact the Association immediately."
"There's no need for that. The Mage's Association can't help you anymore."
"What do you mean by that?" Olga demanded.
"Let me put it simply. Humanity has already been wiped out. Chaldea is all that remains. She is the last Master." Daniel pointed to Ritsuka Fujimaru.
"I don't believe it! Humanity wiped out so quickly?!"
"Director, I can't reach the Mage's Association," Romani's voice came through.
"No way! Romani, are you slacking off?! Try again!"
"Please calm down, Director. Daniel… you're saying you saw humanity's extinction in your foresight?"
"Something like that. The future now rests solely on you. Or rather, on her." He nodded toward Ritsuka.
"Me? Save the world?" Ritsuka stared in disbelief.
"Her? That's impossible."
"It's the truth."
"Uh, not to interrupt," Romani suddenly chimed in, "but I'm detecting another Servant approaching your location."
"More living humans?" The incoming figure was Medusa. Sensing her dragon tooth warriors destroyed, she immediately attacked, launching chains like serpents toward Olga and Ritsuka.
"Senpai, look out!" Mash blocked the attack with her shield.
"Annoying."
Medusa redirected her attacks toward Mash. She charged forward with her scythe, but every blow was blocked by Mash's shield.
"Aren't you going to help?" Olga shouted at Cú Chulainn, ignoring Daniel entirely.
"Such a troublesome girl." Cú Chulainn didn't specify who he meant, but he jumped into action.
"Goodbye."
With Mash tanking from the front, Cú Chulainn finally displayed the full power of a Caster-class Servant. When Medusa tried to use her Mystic Eyes, he laid down Runes and used Mash's shield to blindside her—tricking her into stepping into the trap.
"This isn't the place to talk. Let's find shelter."
"Right. And don't forget to establish a summoning circle at the leyline."
Soon after, they set up a summoning circle using Mash's shield and relocated to an abandoned building to rest and eat.
Servants didn't need to eat, but Ritsuka was still human. She needed food and rest. She was a regular girl, plain and simple.
"Fujimaru, come here. I need to speak with you."
After multiple failed attempts to reach the Association, Olga was beginning to believe Daniel's claim about humanity's extinction. Chaldea used magical communication—it didn't rely on "signals" and couldn't be disrupted easily. The Association ignoring them was unthinkable.
"Senpai…" Mash looked worried as Ritsuka was called away. She knew the Director didn't think highly of her.
"It's okay. I'll be fine." Ritsuka smiled.
"Mash, come too."
Mash was eventually called over as well. No one knew what the three of them talked about, but when they returned, their faces were solemn.
"Do you know the cause of this disaster?" Romani asked Daniel directly.
"You," Daniel thought silently. But he didn't say that aloud.
"I do. But it's best if you don't know right now. Telling you now would influence your decisions going forward."
"I understand."
Although frustrated, Olga and Romani didn't press the issue. They knew that people claiming future sight sometimes had reasons for withholding information.
"Sorry, Senpai… I still can't use my Noble Phantasm."
In the following days, the group didn't rush to Mount Enzō. Instead, they stayed at their temporary base and focused on training.
Specifically, Mash and Ritsuka underwent daily drills under Olga's guidance. Though Medusa was gone, many dragon tooth warriors remained—perfect training dummies.
No matter whether Daniel's claims about humanity's destruction were true or not, Mash had to master her Noble Phantasm. If they couldn't resolve this Singularity, they couldn't even begin investigating the larger crisis.
Despite her efforts, Mash still couldn't unleash her Noble Phantasm.
"Girl, that's not how you do it. Noble Phantasms aren't something you 'fail' to use. For Servants, they're instinctual. You've already become a Demi-Servant, so if you still can't activate it—it's a matter of your heart."
Cú Chulainn wrote a Rune in the air. A fireball appeared and shot toward Ritsuka at high speed.
"Senpai!"
Mash blocked it just in time with her shield.
"Girl, you'd better protect your Master. I'm not joking. If you can't handle even this, you'll die out there—and rightly so."
"Cú Chulainn, what are you—"
"Wait. Let him handle it."
Olga was about to intervene, but Daniel stopped her. Among them, Cú Chulainn knew Servants best.
"It worked. A conceptual Noble Phantasm… the real version is far more impressive than in the game."
In the game, Mash's Noble Phantasm seemed lackluster. But in reality, it was an overwhelming defensive force. If fully mastered, it could even manifest all of Camelot. At full power, it might even withstand Gilgamesh's Ea.
Right now, she could only summon a portion—a wall of Camelot.
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