Fragments of knowledge arranged themselves neatly in his mind.
A broad overview of the Fate/stay night or Type-Moon World, the flow of events, and even the potential branching of the story depending on the choices made by its characters.
{Author Note: There's an enormous amount of information related to Fate, so I'll summarize it moving forward.}
Alice obtained all of this thanks to the combined power of the Mind Stone and the Time Stone.
The Mind Stone represents the collective consciousness of all living beings. Through it, Alice can absorb and transmit information directly from their thoughts.
Meanwhile, the Time Stone symbolizes the flow of time, granting her the ability to trace countless possibilities and observe the branching strands of fate.
With these two singularity stones from the MCU, Alice was able to grasp an immense amount of information in mere moments.
It should be noted that each Infinity Stone manifests differently in every reality.
The ones Alice possesses are no exception—shaped by the interference that once reached the Infinity Room, as well as her own direct intervention.
While exploring the residence granted by the Infinity Room as a bonus, Rian reviewed the important points in his mind once more.
One of them was the existence of the Holy Grail War—a secret competition orchestrated by the Einzbern family.
The Holy Grail War is a deadly conflict between Masters and Servants, all vying for the Holy Grail, an artifact said to grant any wish.
This ritual summons Servants, heroic manifestations of humanity's legends and myths, and fills the Holy Grail with their existence.
Servants are summoned by Magi chosen by the Grail to become Masters through a specific Summoning Ritual.
Each Master can only obtain one Servant, and the two must fight against other Master–Servant pairs until only one remains.
The victor of this brutal struggle earns the Holy Grail—an artifact capable of granting any desire.
Every Servant belongs to a specific class, such as Saber, Archer, Lancer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, or Berserker.
Their strength varies depending on the legends they originate from, with some possessing abilities that would be nearly impossible for ordinary humans to counter.
Even more terrifying, some Servants have unpredictable personalities, making them just as likely to become allies as they are to become threats to their own Masters.
The ultimate purpose behind all of this is to reach the Third Magic, a lost form of sorcery and one of the five True Magics that exist in this world.
This Magic is also known as Heaven's Feel—a system that allows its practitioner to achieve immortality by manifesting the soul itself and using it as an almost inexhaustible magical energy source.
It is also the Magic employed to create a pathway that connects the world to Akasha.
In Fate, Akasha is a metaphysical location known as the "Root" (Kongen), the origin of all souls and the archive of every possibility and event in the world—past, present, and future.
It is a realm beyond time and existence, containing everything and nothing simultaneously—often referred to as the Outside of the World.
Rian's exploration eventually led him to a storage shed. At that very moment, the review of this world's conflicts—along with the main missions he needed to undertake—finally concluded in his mind.
The shed was located in the yard, right beside the traditional Japanese-style oriental house.
Before opening the entrance door, Rian raised his right hand. A crimson symbol, looking almost like a tattoo, was clearly etched onto the back of his hand.
Its center was straight like a spearpoint, while the sides curved sharply, resembling the blazing wings of a Phoenix.
The symbol reminded Rian of a Tri-Radial Flame—an impression of beauty fused with dangerous intensity.
Of course, it wasn't just a symbol or a tattoo.
It was the Command Spell given by the Infinity Room as a bonus.
Rian recalled the information about Command Spells that Alice had relayed to him.
Normally, a Command Spell signifies a Magus chosen by the Holy Grail, but Rian's was slightly different—modified through the Infinity Room's intervention.
Even so, its function remained the same as any standard Command Spell.
Command Spells (Reiju) are three absolute claims of obedience—crystallizations of high thaumaturgy—that a Master holds over their Servant in the Holy Grail War system.
Because Servants normally cannot be fully controlled by humans, they are bound by a "condition for absolute materialization": the authority of the Command Spells engraved upon them at the moment of summoning.
Known only to the Three Founding Families and the Supervisors, the true purpose of Command Spells is quite brutal.
They allow the victor of the Holy Grail War to force their Servant to end their own existence, enabling the ritual to reach the Root with all seven Heroic Spirits.
Additionally, it is possible to steal extra Command Spells from other Masters, or receive additional ones from the Overseer, depending on the circumstances.
If someone attempts to disrupt the ritual or interfere with the Church's operations, their Command Spells may be reduced as punishment for such violations.
As a note, losing one's Command Spells does not strip a Master of their status in the Holy Grail War, since the contract with their Servant remains intact and constitutes their position as a Master.
Furthermore, once the Holy Grail War ends, the Grail typically retrieves the Command Spells from all participating Masters.
However, because Rian's Command Spells originate from the Infinity Room's intervention, the Holy Grail cannot reclaim them even after the war concludes.
Even so, Rian can still obtain additional Command Spells using the methods previously described.
After fully absorbing all the information regarding Command Spells, Rian opened the shed door and found a dark, dusty room.
The shed wasn't too large nor too small—approximately six by six meters.
Along the walls, shelves were filled with old jars, tools, and various aged objects, giving the space a mysterious, antique atmosphere.
In the left corner of the room, a small door marked the entrance to a basement.
Rian walked toward the door, opened it, and descended the creaking stairs, making his way into the shed's basement.
Even in the dark, silent, and stuffy underground room, Rian's vision was completely unobstructed—his Six Eyes behind the interface-glasses pierced through the darkness with ease.
At the center of the room, a large summoning circle had already been prepared by the Infinity Room.
Its intricate lines formed mysterious patterns, clearly marking the site intended for the spirit-summoning ritual.
Rian stood before it, observing it intently. He nodded slowly, studying every detail of the engravings as if appraising a piece of art.
"Hm… so this is what a spirit summoning circle looks like when seen up close?" he muttered, a faint smile curling at his lips. "At least my curiosity is satisfied."
However, instead of beginning the ritual immediately, Rian turned away—the timing wasn't right yet.
With light steps, he exited the basement.
***
Time passed swiftly. The sun in the sky slowly sank, leaving behind a curtain of darkness creeping across the horizon.
From morning until noon, Rian still hadn't performed the summoning ritual.
Not because he forgot, but because the time simply wasn't right yet.
Besides, at this moment there was something far more important than a mere spirit-summoning ritual.
Rian now stood in the house's courtyard, his body clad in new clothes. His gaze was fixed with deep seriousness on Alice.
Because what the girl was about to do defied all logic: opening a tear in reality to begin a journey into the Meta-Multiverse alone.
To recap, Alice was capable of doing this because the Infinity Stones within her were unique—altered by the interference that occurred after the stones reached the Infinity Room.
In addition, every time a world transfer occurred, Alice secretly absorbed small fragments of reality.
This happened whenever Alice was inside the Infinity Ring with Rian, who was shifting between realities using the system embedded within him.
If counted properly, Alice had undergone that process more than twice. And that alone was more than enough for her to evolve—and to learn how to do it on her own.
In fact, Alice had calculated every possible outcome along the way, using each one as material for her growth.
Now, the moment had finally come for Alice to show the results.
Alice slowly floated higher, drifting away from Rian's position. Her gaze was firm, while Rian's eyes followed her with a worry he could not completely hide.
In her transparent blue Tesseract form, the powers of the Time, Space, and Power Stones glowed ever brighter.
Her rotation grew faster and faster, to the point where the air itself seemed to tremble.