"Scandinavia Peperoncino. Do you believe humans are inherently good, or evil?"
Those were the first words Marisbury Animusphere spoke to me. A non-sequiter, delivered just after he had sat down next to me on a park bench.
The color of his aura was strange - dazzling, even. One of those bizarre, unreadable people who my usual ability to read emotions won't work on.
Ah, when I say it like that, it implies I run into people like that from time to time - I really don't. At the time I met Marisbury, the only other I had met with such a soul was Zepia Eltnam Atlasia, the Director of the Atlas Institute. Later, I'd meet Daybit Sem Void, and he would be the third.
However strange he may have been, it was impolite to keep him waiting, so I answered his question in the spirit it was given. "They're good, obviously. Believing otherwise is just edgy posturing from people who've never been around children. Ah, and if the person says they hate children, then they're in the wrong. Everyone knows that adults who hate children are bad people."
"That's correct, in your case. Without a doubt, you are inherently good, Scandinavia Peperoncino. Rousseau's savage, in the flesh," he replied, a strange smile on his face. "It's that very goodness which ruins you, which forces you into life as a globetrotting freelancer. After all, if you were to remain in the same town or city for long enough-"
"You don't need to say any more," I said, but he continued regardless.
"-you would see their corruption. And, seeing that evil, your wrath would build, until at last you slaughtered everyone. Because, if humans are inherently good, then evil is all the more unforgiveable."
"You're fooling yourself, hon. A good person doesn't become a hired killer, you know?" I answered, rising to my feet and beginning to walk away.
"And why not? Why can't a mercenary be an Ally of Justice? Emiya Kiritsugu was one - a man who killed one to save ten, ten to save one hundred," Marisbury responded, standing up himself. "His son is much the same - but I've had a bit of a history with him, so hiring Emiya Shirou will not be possible. That's why I've come to you."
"It's a job, then?" I asked - but it seemed like more than that. even among magi, beating around the bush philosophically like this was a bit-
"You are a bird, Scandinavia Peperoncino - an eagle with no nest, circling high above humanity - thus, so that you might dwell with your fellow man, I offer you a cage. I will clip your wings, bring you down to earth, and you will serve me," He said.
"If that's your best sales pitch, you might want to give up on business altogether," I said, finding a small frown upon my face. It seemed like I might have to kill this man.
His smile remained unmoved. "My name is Marisbury Animusphere, director of the Chaldea Security Organization, a group entrusted with safeguarding the future of humanity. I heard from Director Zepia, that you had expressed interest in such things-"
"Then he must have already told you why I couldn't stay with Atlas," I replied. I had thought I'd find beautiful righteous souls there - but instead all I had discovered were a delusional group of broken neurotics. They might have reached good ends, but their means were inexcusable. If I had stayed there-
"That is my purpose, Scandinavia Peperoncino. I will make you my mining canary," He answered, and my eyes widened as I began to understand. "It recently came to my attention, after a certain experiment of ours, that Chaldea was straying from the righteous path. I cannot permit this. Humanity's future cannot be placed into the hands of the wicked."
"Good grief, so that's how it is…" I said, feeling a little disgusted. "If what you want's a moral compass, there's got to be someone better."
"Well, the Wizard Marshal isn't exactly doing freelance work," He said, and I got the impression that it wasn't meant as a joke.
"Hahahaha!" I laughed anyway, though. "I guess I'll have to do, then! I'll be your caged bird, until the day that I become a Tengu."
"Of course. If Chaldea can't prosper the correct way, it's better that I die," He replied.
…Well, in the end, it wasn't even me who killed him, though.
***
Since I was young, I have known the precise day and time of my death. This is [Rojintsu], a kind of enlightenment which I received from my Shugendo training. It also gives me some knowledge of my destiny, which is part of why I heard Marisbury out in the first place.
It's better not to fight fate - it only ever makes things worse for you in the end. One can only die beautifully if one accepts their passing when it comes.
Well, it's not like I was expecting to be cryogenically frozen for months leading up to it! How are you supposed to deal with a prank by the fates like that anyway!?
-Jokes aside, that was my demise. Scandinavia Peperoncino was destined to bleed out in some inexplicable Tokyo alleyway - or rather to be incinerated while bleeding out, when Daybit invoked that thing.
I still don't fully understand his thought process, but having gathered more about the singularity since then…
As I died, I had hallucinated - and speaking briefly, conjured a rumor of those I had killed in the village I grew up in. The moment those shades of my family began to appear, Daybit Sem Void discerned that this singularity created enemies and events based upon what was spoken. Then, with that in mind-
"Daybit Sem Void."
-he gave the most basic transfer of information regarding his own existence that he could. And, in doing so, he called forth his own root of existence.
I still don't understand all of the details. I'm not a genius like Daybit was. But, from what I gather… there was once a young boy, who by some tragic accident was present when, by an absolute fluke of probability, a certain inexplicable alien artifact activated.
This alien artifact took the shape of a wooden halo - unremarkable save that nothing could be seen through its center. However, under certain circumstances, it would activate, and exhibit an effect similar to the teleporters in certain science fiction TV shows - that is, disassemble nearby living things on an atomic level, and then reconstruct them somewhere else.
That boy was returned to the same spot 0.2 seconds later - but that's an incorrect statement. To be precise, he was 'reconstructed' there. The original was, of course, reduced to a charred outline on the floor. The new boy, who would end up being named Daybit Sem Void, would not consider himself the same as the boy who vanished in the slightest - even if they did share their memories.
It probably goes without saying, but I can't really consider myself 'Scandinavia Peperoncino' anymore - though since nobody has forgotten my existence, it's safe to wager that the rumor of the [Angelic Artifact] wasn't quite as thorough in its anti-civilizational malice as the original was. As for the originals of Scandinavia Peperoncino and Daybit Sem Void - naturally, they were disassembled at the atomic level, which makes them quite dead.
But, as for me - what occurred in the alleyway, at the time 'Scandinavia Peperoncino' was destined to die, was something like a 'teleporter accident'. That type of thing happens in those science fiction shows too, right? Two people teleport, and their particles get mixed together - it's that kind of thing.
That's why I remember Daybit's past as well as my own. That's why I can utilize the Wooden Halo. That's why, even putting aside the fact that my death won't happen for another few weeks, this specter from my past has no chance of killing me.
***
He's dazzling, to be honest. The fourth perfect soul that I have met - even if it feels a little prideful to be saying that!
"Should I just call you 'Myourenji Arou', then?" I ask, eying the bloodstained Tengu in front of me. "Or - then again, with that mask… do you honestly think that you're Fudou Myouou, or something?"
…Also, it looks like he's wielding the Kusanagi. That's pretty intense - but I'm not going to die here, so I won't worry too much about it.
He doesn't speak, and I tense myself. I used the halo against Hokusai earlier, but I'm still not used to it - still if this man is who I suspect him to be, my Shugendo will be inferior to his.
He is who I would have been - I understand that. The me who has become a Tengu, who has thrown away all humanity and become a god who simply passes judgement and slaughters evil wherever he finds it. Doubtless, he has already achieved all of the precepts - with extras like [Reduced Earth] and the [Flying Bowl Technique] to spare.
So, then, why doesn't he act? Why, since his arrival, has this Tengu simply stood still, his eyes boring into my own, even as Romani rushes forward, heedless of the danger, and begins to treat his would-be victims?
-Finally, perhaps because one of Daybit's brain cells mixed with my own has fired, I understand. "Oh my! You're just a complete slave to fate, aren't you!?"
It's decided that I will kill him here. And so, he will not resist. Maybe, if he had made it here just a little earlier, before I arrived, he might have been able to enter that strange tower, and slay whatever evil lies at the heart of this incident. But instead, he met me-
"And naturally, I won't let you leave here, you wicked thing," I say - and stepping forward, I accept the sword from his single hand.
My soul has reached enlightenment. I will not have another reincarnation. But, as for this bloodstained creature of carnage-
"It doesn't matter how righteous you thought you were being. Murder is forbidden. Repent in the next life, you sinner."
For the second time in 'my' life, I kill Myourenji Arou.