Chapter 63: The Truth

The two of them seemed to be in a standstill. Tohka, the Inverse one, kept on blinking in empty thoughts. Shidou himself was oblivious to what just happened. He was still being carried in the air by Tohka's strong arm by his collar.

He knew that the sealing was successful and the proof of it was that Tohka was lacking her Astral dress completely but why she haven't returned to her innocent one?

Inverse Tohka could only watch Shidou's eyes with confusion and frustration. Shidou prepared for the worst outcome to happen.

"You!" Tohka gritted her teeth in frustration. ""Why am I not gone!?" Her wish to disappear in this world was really nerve-wracking.

"I don't know! I swear!" Shidou expected for Tohka to return to her original form, and when her powers were sealed as an outright inverse, he could feel his head lost.

It might be possible that the Tohka he knew will no longer exist.

Tohka abruptly drops Shidou down the ground with a thud as she clasps her head in confusion, as she doesn't know what to do. Without even looking back, she just went away, opposite of Shidou barefooted and naked.

"W-wait!" Shidou exclaimed as he stood up and caught up on Tohka amidst the ruins. Fortunately, Shidou doesn't need to catch up upon Tohka...

*THUD*

Inverse Tohka unceremoniously dropped down the ground farther from him.

Shidou was about to approach the downed Inverse Tohka when he heard someone that made him freeze.

"Shidou-kun?"

Shidou could not mistake that aloof voice. He slowly turned around to realize that his guts turned out to be true. He was still in a state of shock that he couldn't even talk.

Tohka-chan returned..! Although, just like her inverse counterpart, she was also naked.

"Shidou-kun, why I feel so weak? What happened?" Tohka with half-closed eyes, was trying to understand what exactly happened around them and before Shidou could reach her, she unceremoniously became unconscious and dropped on the ground. Luckily, Shidou just got in time to catch her body.

Shidou then checked for her pulse and so far, she was still alive and breathing. Shidou thanked the heavens that Tohka returned to him as he hugged her subconsciously, to the point he was about to cry.

Still, the mystery still hadn't been solved. Before he could contemplate any further, he had already contacted the Fraxinus to retrieve the three of them. Surely, they would have the same questions just like him he wanted to answer.

But first of all, he wanted for all of them to be safe from here.

[Phantom] eventually woke up and found herself being restrained against her own will. Slithering mass of flesh tentacles with occasional eyes staring at her deeply encircling and restricting her arms and legs. Her arms were being outstretched while her legs were stuck together.

And for some reason, she can't use her ability to escape from her horrid prison. Is this what her fate dictated? No one seemed to know. Nevertheless, she found her ability to hide her identity still active.

"Ara ara, you seemed to be awake." A charming voice piqued her attention and [Phantom] directed her sight toward a certain individual whom she can confidently assume was the one who detained her.

"Apologies for the treatment but I can't just let you escape as easily as that.." Bodhisattva explained.

[Phantom] only tilted her head in curiosity and just maintained her silence, which made Kiara a little more annoyed.

Kiara then clears her throat. "C'mon, I urge you to seek some enlightenment to your situation."

After another minute of awkward silence, [Phantom] finally understood what the Alter Ego was trying to imply. "Why did you capture me?"

"Oh, I am so glad you asked." After saying that, Kiara revealed another individual that recently entered her domain. Ritsuka looked at her curiously as the same as [Phantom] who did the same.

[Phantom] knew who she was looking at, but remained nonchalant. She can't guarantee her life if somehow the Master of Chaldea could take a hint at her own face.

Ritsuka took a long time to scan [Phantom]'s face for a while then went straight to questioning, the one whom she was looking forward to since the day she ended up here in this world.

"Tell me… why." Her voice, although not intimidating, was serious.

[Phantom] only blinked in response as she prepared for Ritsuka's next line.

"Why did you trap me in this world?"

The Fraxinus finally retrieved Shidou and the … two Tohka's found at the scene. They were still in a state of astonishment at how there are two Tohka's right now. They couldn't rule this out as impossible because the Hurricane twins exist.

Nevertheless, being sealed by Shidou was already the best result. The two Tohka's were being rehabilitated in their recovery room while letting Shidou rest on his own.

Quick test toward the Tohka twins as well as Shidou yields results that only add up questions rather than answers. Tohka Alter was, for a better word, a different palette of Tohka and it means that other than their physical features, the rest are identical.

How they separated was still up to discussion among a hundred hypotheses. It was getting more confusing.

Even Kotori was still in the state of confusion, opting to keep quiet rather than complicating things. The only thing that she could quite call a success was that Shidou managed to seal Tohka- two Tohka's to be exact- power before it could have gotten worse.

Can they even call this a success when all it did was to further add problems? Kotori was adamant that the mission is a success through and through.

"Senpai?"

Mashu suddenly found herself inside some kind of a makeshift dome of flesh made of mana after being invited by Kiara herself. The Bodhisattva gently nudged her to place herself beside her Master.

"As a Master's partner in the first place, you deserve to hear the truth too… You wouldn't let Master feel she was alone, didn't you?"

"O-of course not!"

Kiara only grinned in anticipation. "Gladly.' Then she left them alone in this lonely prison of the entity.

The entity meanwhile then looked at her instinctively, as if she knew who she was looking at. Still, she hasn't answered Ritsuka's daring question.

The Master of Chaldea was aware that Mashu was here too and expected to be alone in this strange place created by Kiara. Her Servants were currently waiting outside of the domain, in respect of her privacy, enough said.

"Senpai..." Mashu greeted her as she approached her and stood beside her, both of them facing the Spirit whom Ritsuka suspected to be the sole mastermind in them being trapped in this world.

"I know both of you..." [Phantom] spoke. "You, the savior of the humanity of the other realm and her Shield."

"Knowing our name and identity doesn't excuse you from stalling us from the truth!" Ritsuka was now annoyed at this entity.

"Senpai! calm down please." Mashu cautioned her. Quickly, Ritsuka understood what her kouhai said and immediately cooled it off. She held her chest as she felt it beating rapidly until its pace was normalized.

[Phantom] only sighed. "Even if I am able to prepare steadfast upon your arrival here on this parallel world, my captured state indicates that it is still inadequate so far… as the one who identifies the victor of the earth, the corrector of history from the alternate dimension I am obliged to tell you the reason why you ended up in an unstable state."

Ritsuka could feel her blood run cold. Surely, the entity wasn't aware of the imitation Holy Grail inside her, wasn't it?

"Make no mistake, I bear no hint of malevolence against you even in my captured state… in fact, I am quite astounded by your ability to think and act… to the point I need to seal the memories of the tragedy that befall upon you."

Ritsuka's eyes widened in the realization. Never have she thought that this Spirit has the ability to modify memories. What more did she manipulate?

Is this the reason why she has vague memories on how she arrived here in this world? Once again, her heart raced once more.

Other things is how she was a bit more emotive than she was. Again and again, she has demonstrated from various Lostbelt that she was ready to act upon the logic and the mission entitled to her…

...but now, she could feel her emotions flaring out of control as if it was nothing and she has barely any strength to keep inside the lid. Could this be one of the side effects of bearing the Powerful battery inside her body?

Once again, she looked up at the entity, her teeth grating in anger.

"Senpai?" Mashu could only ask in curiosity and her voice calmed down the Master of Chaldea a little bit.

"As much as you suspected me, only the memories upon your arrival was the only thing I managed to exploit…."

No matter how nonchalant the entity spoke of the memories. For Ritsuka, that was already a disastrous and offending move.

"Dammit, just tell us what happened to us right at the beginning!" Her curiosity was flaring as well, dreading what the entity has managed to do so in order to contain their memories.

[Phantom] looked at Ritsuka deeply, her next words bearing heavy weight.

"During our first encounter, you are on the verge of death."

After contemplating Tohka, the two Tohka's to be exact, his next topic of worry was Ritsuka herself. She hasn't responded to the Ratatoskr for over an hour now. He wanted to scour the land searching for her just to know if she was safe but his body seemed to protest from that idea.

Kotori, as if reading his mind recently, told him something. "I know you are worried for Ritsuka but please can you take some time to rest? We can't afford you to drop down dead the next time."

"We are too busy to investigate on how you ghosted away from the ship and into the field without any warning to the point I am too tired to deal with it." She annoyingly added.

Currently, Shidou was back in the medical bay, lying on the bed and being forced to rest. While her staff and operators were busy, Kotori took the time to visit her own brother.

"Funny thing is I heard some voices while I was unconscious." Shidou softly stated.

Kotori's veins were now plainly visible on her temples. "...and you followed and obeyed?! Shidou, what the heck!?"

"C-calm down!" Shidou tried to placate Kotori but to no avail. Kotori really wanted to kick his butt but seeing him vulnerable made her pull her violent impulses back. She could instead pour it to her masochistic vice-commander later on.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Kotori was calm (She was not).

"Anyways, my appearance here has purpose…. and I'm not definitely here to check if you are ok." She blatantly lied but it made Shidou smile that his sister still cared for her.

The door opened and in came a familiar face that made Shidou double take.

"I'm giving you two privacy… ja-nee." Kotori said before she officially exited the room for good. the door behind them closed.

Before Shidou was Miku herself looking none the worse for the wear. She was still garbed in her Astral Dress, although a little damaged. around her shoulder was a large blanket provided by the Ratatoskr.

Shidou didn't expect to have any visitors like her.

"I thought I could find you here and here I am." Miku started the conversation meekly. Her cheeks adorned with light blush.

"Miku, are you ok?" Shidou asked her.

Miku promptly nodded. spotting a chair not that far from them, she immediately took and placed it beside Shidou's bed and sat on it. She was still grasping at the blanket as tight as possible.

Trauma. The recent events were just too much for her. She even has little faith in her own powers right now. If this is the magnitude of the event that she will encounter sooner or later, she could have given up.

She just can't. She's too powerless.

and then Shidou came. He had the courage to do so, and managed almost to do everything. Even if she abused him so much, he didn't even care. All he wanted to do was to save her and that girl who was named Tohka.

Ah, she was a hypocrite, just like what Ritsuka would say.

A lone tear ran on her cheeks and it made Shidou worried.

"Are you sure you are ok?" Shidou tried to assure her.

Quickly, Miku wiped away her tears nonchalantly. "Darling."

Immediately, Shidou was surprised. "Darling?" It was refreshing to hear Miku calling him 'Darling' instead of 'scum'.

"I-I don't know what to do now." Miku said with uncertainty.

Shidou bit his lips in concern then proceeded to sit by the side of his bed, facing Miku. "I might sound like a broken record but please let me save you this time. I am willing to take away your burden little by little."

This time, Miku listened to him. Afterall, he proved to her that he wasn't some scum that she thought every male was.

Miku then blushed. "then please tell me how."

Shidou too, no matter how many times he manages to seal Spirits through kissing, has a difficulty telling Miku. As a result, his face looked red as a beet. "You j-just… I mean-" He looked so hilarious that his voice left him and ended up motioning on how to seal, which was equally hilarious.

Thankfully, Miku understood the gist of it, and proceeded to kiss Shidou unannounced as she reached for his lips while he was still distracted.

*CHU*

Shidou froze as he felt a soft sensation to his lips and that Miku's eyes were closer than he could imagine. Then he could feel Miku's powers slowly draining.

Slowly, Miku's astral dress evaporated into bits of light as she retreated her face away from Shidou. Then she realized that her current clothing was fast disappearing, pulling her blanket to cover her front before she could be considered a nudist, which is the only thing that remained on her body. Shidou decidedly looked away in advance.

...and yet, the blanket wasn't enough to cover Miku's bountiful bosoms, barely covering it let alone the under.

At least, Miku didn't regret it all and smirked at her Darling.

"Hora? Darling indeed must take responsibility. He has seen me naked now." Instead of becoming ashamed, Miku instead becomes playful, pretending to sound panicky and sobbing, as she teased Shidou, who vowed himself not to take a peek from Miku.

All in all, Shidou was glad that Miku just became accepting of him and decided to allow him to seal her powers.

Ritsuka couldn't believe what she had heard and it made her heart stop for a moment. Made worse that [Phantom] wasn't even lying at all; she just tilted her head as the entity waited for Ritsuka's reaction.

"Senpai?"

Instinctively, Mashu held Ritsuka with care, worried of the realization that was presented to them. She was troubled whether she needed to get angry at [Phantom] or to comfort Senpai.

"I'm ok, Mashu. I-I'm fine." Ritsuka reassured Shielder as positively as possible. Although, there is something wrong with her right now.

[Phantom] noticed Ritsuka's struggling innately and yet her face remained passive. "At your dying breath from the void, the only one who remained by your side."

The entity's eyes then looked at Mashu, who froze from realization of who [Phantom] was referring.

"You were in despair, my child. The sight of your Master made you feel anguish and bitter. You don't care less of what will happen to you in this uncaring world." [Phantom] recounted what she witnessed a long time ago.

Mashu felt her breath run afoul and a tear flowing down her cheek. Senpai? Almost dead? It's impossible isn't it?

"You wished for your Master to be revived and well and you are willing to pay anything, everything."

Mashu's eyes widened.

"...and who am I to ignore your plea? I am but merciful and took nothing but the painful memories of that present in order to be blissful in ignorance. Of course, raising someone who's other foot was already in the grave was near impossible for me unless..."

"Unless you implanted me with a power source equal to a Holy Grail." Ritsuka supplied [Phantom]'s remaining words. she suddenly grasped her chest, as she felt an aching feeling of realization.

She was almost dead and she never knew. [Phantom]'s persistent silence proved it.

"I assure you that is the only method I know the best in giving you the second life and seeing you still alive and well means that the Sephira Crystal inside you fully bonded with you."

[Phantom] took a second glance once more at Ritsuka and sighed in relief. "Never have I thought I could see one day a human that is completely compatible with the crystal and becoming one."

Sephira Crystal? Then that could mean an equivalent to Holy Grail to her own dimension.

Ritsuka's voice was tinted in panic. "T-then tell me! How can I remove it out of my body!" If her guts are correct then the Sephira Crystal inside was the one that actively prevented her to rayshift back!

Expecting some answers, Ritsuka hoped that the [Phantom] could supply her with the answer but seeing that the entity was hesitant to admit…

Eventually, [Phantom] could only sway her head in denial. "I apologize, Master of Chaldea, but removing your Sephira Crystal is now equated to one losing one's soul." With her voice tinted with sadness, she really meant it.

That means that the Sephira Crystal inside her was deeply bonded, to the point that it can't be removed without resorting to fatality.

Ritsuka could only kneel down as her aching heart continued to torment her.

It hurts.

Can she still return to Chaldea?

It hurts.

Can she still see her family?

It freaking hurts.

Can she still save her own world?

Can she-?

Can-?

Then a silent nova exploded from Ritsuka's within, engulfing everything in its own light as well as destroying the makeshift prison where [Phantom] was trapped.

The phenomenon alerted Ratatoskr as well.

ALERT!

ALERT!

ALERT!

The interior of the ship was blaring with bright red, as it detected high mana density near the ground. Kotori was alarmed that a somewhat different Spirit just appeared all too suddenly when they were finishing things up.

It was such luck that the new Spirit wasn't releasing a spacequake this time or they could end up being wrecked.

"Commander, we are detecting tremendous mana frequency on the ground. Visuals incoming."

The screen blurred to life, a holographic visual of what was happening on the ground, particularly the area where the Demon King and one of Ritsuka's Servant tussled recently.

It showed a light singularity glowing and growing rapidly, light appendage of some sort reaching out, feeling out. It was an eerie scene since there is absolutely no sound coming from it.

"So we are witnessing the arrival of a new Spirit..." Kotori commented as she sat comfortably on her own chair. Whether they like it or not; whether they are already exhausted or not they must resolve this right now. So far this Spirit's mana that it exudes uncontrollably exceeds so far from the Spirits that they have encountered.

The light was too strong for the visuals to peek through and be curious of what the new Spirit looked like.

I will purge all that is toxic

all that is harmful!

Kotori was about to call Shidou when the ship detected another anomalous mana reading that seemed to be increasing in frequency. The commander of Fraxinus was getting annoyed that it might be possible that it is another new Spirit.

Why oh why!? Right now?

A new light suddenly gathered not far from the main light source, gathering and making shape.

For as long as I have this power,

I shall lead everyone to happiness!

A humongous giant… no, a nurse to be exact, wielding a large sword above its head. It was created entirely out of mana. A construct to be exact, over shadowing the buildings around it. The light that it exudes was just enough to reveal the various buildings around it.

They see it in awe until they realize that the Fraxinus ship is within in range.

Ah, it will be too late.

Nightingale Pledge!

And suddenly, the giant construct of nurse's sword slammed down, aimed right at the unstable light that the Fraxinus had detected earlier. The ship wasn't even spared and was struck indefinitely.

…

…

…

But nothing happened. Kotori was just closing her eyes as she thought they were now completely doomed so when she opened her eyes, everything still remained as the same.

"W-what happened? I thought the ship was destroyed?" Kotori asked, no, begging for an explanation that she expected from her operators and staff. Alas, they are as of same conclusion and neither they did know why and how.

The screen now revealed that the light from the earlier was also gone and that the ship detected nothing right now, not even the mana from the construct, which was gone as well after striking the light with the sword.

Mystery after mystery slammed Kotori. She could feel her head cracking from various questions that was forming from inside.

Reine meanwhile was busily checking her tablet, curious and confused. Kotori noticed her dilemma and asked her what it was about.

"Commander, the girls are now recovering..." Reine's voice was tinted with disbelief. They thought that the chance they would wake is lower than fifty percent from the coma.

"W-what?"

Seeing that they have no longer business here and that Ritsuka and her band of Heroic Spirits were nowhere to be seen, The Fraxinus eventually retreated.

If one would pay attention, the grounds are stricken with miasma due to the intense fighting between Saber Alter and Inverse Tohka. It seemed that it was completely recovered and returned to normal, only leaving the ruins for rebuilding.

The Noble Phantasm of Nightingale is not to be trifled with.

[Phantom] took the chance to escape and away from Ritsuka, not even leaving a glance back. It might be unforgivable for her to stoke and exploit Ritsuka's emotion, in turn activating Ritsuka's Sephira Crystal, whom she never expected to work.

Of all the things she encountered; the DEM, the Ratatoskr, Shidou Itsuka… Ritsuka was the one that made her fear, attributed by how her Servant's managed to catch her unannounced.

Pray that she wouldn't meet her again in another fate. Still, the answers she willingly gave to the Master of Chaldea were not filled with lies and malice but rather the facts themselves for [Phantom] wasn't the one who would be forced into trickery.

Afterall, Ritsuka deserves to know her unkindled fate here in this world. True that she might have been wary now of Ritsuka but she couldn't deny that she has become rather interested not to the point of being invested in her destiny.

Just enough for [Phantom] to observe her from a distance. She wondered if Ritsuka could find a solution to her dilemma before she could end up annihilating this world.