Chapter 3: Singularity T: The Eclipse
"That's impossible!" Da Vinci, who just entered the room, forcefully spat her coffee on Romani's face. "Even if it's an Anti-Planet Noble Phantasm of the EX rank, the world would surely have countermeasures in place to quell the threat before it could even get deployed!"
"That is..." Da Vinci quickly came into realization the same way Romani did earlier.
"Correct. The foundation of human order had fallen long before the servant destroyed the world. The servant pined their hope in that the human order could make a resurgence so long as part of humanity survives, hence the final resort," Archer explained as a matter of fact.
"But, how?" Da Vinci expressed incredulity at Archer's claim. As a genius who dabbled on mathematics, she calculated that the amount of force required to generate an equal explosion would take about 10^13 gigatons of TNT, which was something that no mere servant could possibly possess. At least, not without being considered a threat by the world and erased from the face of the earth a long time ago. A/N: Thanks quora for the calcs, lol.
Archer read the visible question on her face and spoke while putting a hand on his hips.
"Servant, Saver. If one has to describe his true nature, it would be appropriate to consider him as a Foreigner. However, his connection with Beast 000 established an exception and paved a path to this world somehow, thus allowing him to be summoned as one of the Saver class." Archer mused with half-lidded eyes, "While it may be a bold assumption, the grail likely compensated for the summoning and corrected his identity into one that the world could recognize."
"If I'm not wrong, it would be Mahesvara," Archer added.
But before any could react to the revelation, Mashu's voice aroused them from their thoughts, taking away everyone's attention from the subject.
"Look over there!" Mashu suddenly exclaimed, spotting a pair of silhouettes on a floating island in the middle of the crater.
"---The King of Heroes!?" Romani shouted in turn upon recognizing one of the faces.
Shock covered his face as he looked at the oldest hero, and it wasn't due to the fact that he appeared in the singularity unexpected. Almost half of Gilgamesh's upper torso was gone while blood flowed profusely from all sorts of orifices that riddled his body.
Romani couldn't imagine which servant had pushed him, the king of hero, this far back into a corner.
"Let's go, he needs our help!" Ritsuka couldn't stomach the sight and jumped forward with reckless abandon, landing on top of a floating boulder and made his way to the island, with Mashu following suit shortly after.
"Senpai, wait!"
Romani wanted to chastise Ritsuka for his recklessness, but it was already too late by the time he had the chance. Sighing, he directed his attention towards Archer and asked for confirmation through his eyes.
"There is no doubt about it. I can recognize the other servant's signature even from this distance," Archer nodded, looking at the disembodied figure of a hulking man that was shrouded in black miasma. "Grand Archer, Heracles."
"I've been wondering where he disappeared, and it seems like the mud of the grail had made its way."
"Is there a chance you can fight him to a standstill?" Romani asked gravely, a rare instance where the acting director showed a dark look.
Archer seemed to think for a moment then flew away from the deck of Noah's Ark, "In normal circumstance, Grand Archer would best me in a fair matchup, but such is never "fair" in the battlefield. No matter how resilient a servant is, no one can come out of a battle with the King of Heroes unscathed. Though, it doesn't matter whether I pose a chance or not. If my master desires to bear arms, then so I shall follow... That is my oath."
"Thank you, Archer---" Romani's voice resounded from the distance.
Archer makes a landing on the island about the same time Ritsuka and Mashu arrived, if not mere moment later. And as soon as they arrived, the pair of stray servants took notice of their presence and quickly sent a look their way.
"King of Heroes!" Ritsuka shouted towards the oldest hero.
"Fools!" Gilgamesh, hearing Ritsuka shout his name, forced out a retort before his body completely vanished into golden dust. It seemed like he wanted to say something else, but his body gave out just before he could.
===Cue the fight here, lol. I'll write this part later, but I had to rush cause electricity went out, again.===
After everything has settled, the group took a moment of respite to ease their fatigue. Ritsuka took the chance to plop down to the ground in order to catch his breath, and fell in thought as things started to relax. While it strangely felt like Grand Archer was holding back during the fight, the battle with him proved to be tough regardless, exhausting majority of his magic reserves. Fortunately, they had someone like Archer by their side to assist them in the fight.
From what he manage to gather, if it were just him and Mashu, they wouldn't have stood a chance against the Greek hero.
Ritsuka attempted to thank Archer for the fact, when out of nowhere...
"Karna... No. You, who are you?" Da Vinci gave an incriminating look towards Archer, much to the surprise of Romani who watched with his mouth open. "Not to mention the King of Heroes' reaction upon seeing you, on top of that your Noble Phantasm seemed mismatched for the Hero of Charity."
"Da Vinci, I believe in the kindness Archer has shown us, now's not the time to---" Ritsuka immediately stood up to her. He was about to reason against Da Vinci's suspicion when he felt something lodge at his chest. Looking down, he saw Archer's spear that had pierced him and back to Archer's stoic visage, then spat out a mouthful of blood before falling to the ground.
"Senpai!" Mashu shouted in horror.
"H-How dare you!" She seethed in anger and charged at Archer with rage.
Archer expression twisted into a malicious grin and dodged her initial strike, easily knocking the demi-servant without putting much effort.
"I am Dambhodbhava, the defiler who pierced the chief of gods," Archer took a sinister turn, his white hair changed into a vivid red, the same color of bloodstain from the myriad divine beings that felled under his hands.
Then, pale flames consumed Archer's---Dambhodbhava's---body and shed the golden armor bequeathed to Karna by Surya. Instead, Sahasrakavacha took its place, an inviolable armor whose individual layers are stated to take 1000 years to destroy. A consolation granted to a demon's arrogance who vied for immortality despite bearing a mortal shell.
Before the communications were cut off, Romani had one thought to describe him:
The Eclipse.
And from that moment forward, he was no longer the man renowned as the Hero of Charity, known as the heroic spirit Karna, but a debauched murderer who found vindication by rebelling against the gods. A fallen hero that rejected his altruism, diverging from the "righteous path" and usurped fate itself.
No longer was he the subject of contempt and ridicule.
No longer was he weighed down by the origins of his birth.
For he, alone, stood victorious atop a mountain of bodies.
He was---
"---The shadow that pillages the sun." And, in that same way, Dambhodbhava robbed Chaldea its light and instilled them absolute despair. The same moment when a fleeting spark of hope fades away in arm's reach.
"Good work, Archer." It was then a soft and melodious voice, far removed from the setting of a desolate world, rang across like blooming flowers in spring.
"Heh. Your inclinations are as repulsive as ever, Master," Dambhodbhava playfully scoffed.
By a strange twist of fate, the eclipse called Beast 0/L his master.
Ritsuka managed to get a look towards the source of that voice as his consciousness faded into nothingness; a silky light blonde hair and light blue eyes that reflected the azure skies. He almost couldn't believe what he saw, if not for the cold smile that graced her lovable face, and how he noticed too late her sudden disappearance somewhere before the fight.
"Why..." Ritsuka coughed before his eyelids closed.
"That's an odd question, Onii-chan," Manaka put a finger on her lips and cutely tilted her head, "Let's see... You can say that it's a product of my love; I want to love a world that denies my existence. But alas, it is a love that's not meant to be. Yearning. Affection. Appetite. As much as I want to understand what humans call emotions, I don't have the capacity to perceive their meaning... But! If it's for the sake of that love, it's not too late to start over. We can always bake a new world inside the gigantic melting pot of earth!"
Manaka spun cheerily with manic glee, "So, if this world continues to reject me, we can conform it into one that welcomes me! Isn't that right, Onii-chan!"
Before the original Beast 000 separated, it was branded the designation of Nihilism, humanity's antithetical concept which derives from a longing to deny such longing, a philosophy that rejects the fundamental aspect of human existence, one of retaliation born from a deeply-rooted love failed by the world.
Unfortunately, neither Ritsuka nor the people of Chaldea had the capacity to learn this truth.
『Wise up!』
Beast 000 is the same Manaka from my other fanfic "A Multiversal Anime Chat Group". If that one had been allowed to continue, it would lead to a final confrontation between Saver and Beast 000, ending with the destruction of the world.
The Singularity T is a recreation of the events after the fact, which means to say Chaldea arrived in the aftermath of the fight, with Saver along with rest of the world failing to subdue Beast 000, who then proceeded to recreate the world for unknown reasons. This is also why two timelines exist simultaneously in Strange Order.
It should be noted that Beast 000 no longer exist as it has separated itself into Beast 0/R and 0/L, and that these two are different beings who doesn't necessarily share the same goal.
By the way, the R part stands for "Rancor" while the L part stands for "Longing".
Moreover, rumor has it that while Francesca failed to summon Cthulhu, they summoned an older eldritch horror.
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