Chapter 7: Retreat
At the foot of a particularly large and dense tree, a house was integrated into its trunk. The roof was covered in green moss, and the stone walls were green as well. Around the house crosses were embedded into the ground, and small torches lit the area.
Inside the house, the purple haired girl who had saved the three was tending to Saber and Takeru's wounds. She had wrapped Takeru's leg in bandages and laid him on a bed, having applied Code Casts to the wound to help it heal. Currently, she was dealing with Saber, who was sat on another bed.
"There are multiple barriers installed around here. We won't be discovered easily" the girl said.
She picked up a glass vial on a table and went over to Saber.
"I will now be using the elixir and the Code Cast at the same time."
The wound on Saber's chest from the arrow was still very visible, yet Saber showed no expression of pain on her face. Emu marvelled at the tenacity of this woman.
The girl held up the vial of pink liquid vertical on the palm of her left hand and with her right hand opened up a virtual console. A pink sigil consisted of diamonds appeared over the arrow wound on Saber and closed it up in no time at all. The elixir vanished into orange dust.
Emu, although he had experience this type of rapid healing before, was nonetheless still amazed as the speed and efficiency of the healing. If something like this were to exist in his own world, it would completely revolutionise medicine.
You have to get back there first.
He remembered the situation he was in and hung his head. True, even though this world is definitely more advanced than his own, his goal was to escape. And to do that…
The instincts of the voices in his head were almost integrated into his own instincts. He felt their urges deep in his subconscious and lamented the fact that it has become part of him. But for now, he needed to focus on the situation at hand.
"Does it hurt?" he asked Saber.
"This is nothing more than a bug-bite." Saber responded smugly. "How about you, Praetor?"
Emu nodded his head. The trap did not do much permanent damage, and very quickly after being released the wounds on his legs subsided.
The purple-haired girl went over to a kitchen area and started preparing tea.
"Use the beds as much as you want." She said to Emu and Saber. She took a teapot of the tea and poured it into a cup.
"We have been nothing but trouble, are we not?" Saber asked the girl. Emu shared that sentiment. They had invaded her home and are now being a sort of a burden to her.
"No need to mind it." The girl responded.
Emu exhaled. It was fine then, it seemed. However, there were a few questions still lingering in his mind.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Emu asked.
The girl turned around holding a platter of teacups and the teapot.
"I am Rani VIII." She responded. "A Magus who lost her Servant."
Another one, huh?
Where was Rin, anyways?
"I'm the only former Master with the role of a rebel in this floor." Rani continued.
"I am Saber!" Saber cut in, introducing herself with a flourish in her voice. "And this is my Maestro, Emu Hojo!"
"And the one with the bullet wound is Tenkuji Takeru" Emu added, gesturing to the bed where Takeru laid. Takeru lifted his head weakly.
"Nice to meet you. I am Tenkuji Takeru." He said in a quiet voice. He then lowered his head on the pillow again.
"Speaking of which, I seem to have seen you somewhere before." Saber noted. "That's right, where did that girl go?"
Exactly what Emu was thinking. It seemed that their minds were in sync.
"Right. Where's Rin?" Emu demanded.
"The man who attacked you two is the Floor Master of the second floor." Rani said, ignoring their question. "He is my enemy. He is the strongest former Wizard on this floor."
She paused. Then she continued.
"His name is Dan Blackmore."
She offered tea to Saber, who politely declined with a raise of her hand. Emu, however, was more partial to tea at that moment, so he took a cup.
"After SE RA PH broke down, he kills every Master who comes here."
"On this second floor, other than you and the Floor Master, are there any Masters?" Saber inquired.
Emu also was curious to know.
Rani took a second to think. Then she shook her head.
"No. Other than the Masters who went back to the First Floor, he has killed everyone."
She stood over the fireplace, watching the flames flickering in the hearth.
Saber raised her head.
"I see" she said.
Emu looked down at his cup of tea. If she was the only one left here…
"Have you been fighting by yourself?" he asked her.
Rani walked away from the fireplace and looked outside the window.
"I've been waiting." She spoke quietly.
"For Fifty years, I've waited for the next Master who was willing to ascend to this floor."
Fifty years!
That's almost a lifetime!
Emu couldn't believe his ears.
"I had concluded that there were no more Masters willing to show up, but the stars said that there would be one more Master that would show up."
The stars?
"Does that mean you had been waiting for Maestro to arrive?" Saber asked.
Rani turned around.
"I think so."
She stood for a moment, staring at Saber intensely.
"Hmm? What's wrong? Are you that entranced by my beauty?" Saber asked, looking almost flattered.
Emu sighed. Arrogant as always, huh?
"I know how your Holy Grail War will carry out, Saber." Rani spoke. "We have never met before, unfortunately."
Saber looked intrigued. "Is that so?" She tilted her head. "That is quite unfortunate, indeed. Because you are a top-class Magus for being able to blow up those arrows, the Heroic Spirit you summoned must be well-met, unlike that coward who hides his presence."
She spoke those last words with a feeling of disgust in her voice.
Rani went over to the tea set on the table and stooped to pick them up, a mournful look on her face.
"He was a Heroic Spirit with a strong resolve."
She picked up the cup.
"During the previous Holy Grail War, I often see Heroic Spirits of such type, including their Masters.
She looked up with reminiscence.
"A tournament where Masters gather. The tournament was indeed a bloodbath, but there were still rules and understanding of each other. In addition, humans back then still had…"
She stopped, struggling to get the words out.
"…still had hopes." Saber finished for Rani.
Emu turned to Saber. She continued.
"You have a point. In spite of the nature of this Battle Royale, everyone could still feel the glory in it."
Emu nodded in understanding. It was unfortunate that he was incarnate in this part of this timeline.
A false heaven. City Ruins. There's nobody here. Therefore…
Where's the glory?
There was never any. It was all fake.
Hope…
For us, that is….
He could feel the other side of him flare up again. Emu did his best to repress it. He knew what their hopes were, and he shuddered at the thought.
The thudding of Rani's cup on her table shook him back to his senses. He turned to Rani.
"SE RA PH is a virtual room created by the Moon Cell; a stage play of the Holy Grail War." Rani spoke. "A new, open world for the human race, and their final frontier. The Moon Cell is like a storage of the souls of humans, able to create the ideal environment. A machine-made heaven."
Like a Game World…
"The truth is, if it is not used in the wrong hands, SE RA PH could be the ideal paradise for humans. However," Rani turned to the window. "SE RA PH is on the brink of destruction right now. "
Emu had heard this multiple times before, but the reasons were still hazy in his mind.
"Why…?"
The burning questions in his mind came to the forefront.
"Why is SE RA PH like this? Why did it end up like this?"
And the most important of them all
"Why is there nobody else?"
Could it be… something to do with...
No. Not us. This is not our doing. This place…
"…is like a machine-made hell."
For us. For you. For them.
That is why…
Rani bowed her head.
"I am unable to answer those questions as of now."
Emu, unsatisfied, looked on with an expression of shock. How could she not know? After fifty years on being in this place…
Suddenly, Takeru yawned.
"I understand that this is all plot-relevant stuff" Takeru stretched his arms, wincing in pain. "But I would like to get some sleep. I need this leg to heal if we are to ever move on."
Saber nodded.
"Indeed, I am exhausted." Saber agreed. "Apologies, Praetor, I shall be taking a rest."
She climbed into her bed and pulled the blankets over herself.
"That's right. We have to rest." Rani said. "This cottage has the same healing effect as the Mile Room." She pulled the curtains across the sides of the bed, dividing them into cubicles.
"You should be taking a rest as well, Maestro." Saber yawned from behind the curtains.
Emu remained sitting on his chair, mulling through thoughts.
I-
The lights shut off.
"You should take a rest." Rani advised.
"In the beginning, the Holy Grail War used to be only an act to collect information."
Emu opened his eyes. He was standing on a piece of marble in a murky room, held up with black pillars inscribed with green lines, that was submerged a little bit in water. Other pieces of marble and rock were strewn across the room, and the only illumination was the glow of a strange cube emitting a blue-green light from a sphere in the centre.
What… is that?
In front of Emu sat the man in the white coat that he had seen from the bottom floor at the pit. He was facing the strange cube looking down.
"The Moon Cell only wanted to collect human information accurately. However, the Masters that were dragged to the moon started killing each other for personal reasons."
His form flickered.
"They lost their way. Just like you."
Me? Lost… my way?
Though the voices inside him had their own desires, Emu was sure that he wanted to escape.
Or… was he?
"People who only care about their own interest. People who don't know their roots. People who don't know what they will become. Such foolish humans."
He turned around and raised his hands to the sky, his glasses glinting under the turquoise light.
"I am the one who decides the ones worthy of the Holy Grail.
For the human race, I am like the devil. However, the wheel of life spins endlessly. In order to make everything alive, and to save human beings, I bestow this power."
He looked down again.
"Too bad. You'll never reach the Angelica Cage."
There was a blinding white light, then sudden blackness.
Emu opened his eyes. He was lying in the bed in Rani's house.
A dream?
He got up and clutched his face.
Was that… their memory?
It was definitely not his. Apart from the encounter in the Preliminaries, he had never seen that man before in his life.
Who is he? Tell me!
And yet for once, the voices were silent.
Angelica Cage. He said something along those lines.
His mind flitted back to the vague image of the cube. That place.
That must be the top floor…
The room felt so foreign, and yet… there was a familiarity to it.
Have I ever been there.
No.
Have they ever been there?
Answer me!
The voices didn't respond.
What does it mean? Did they descend from there?
No, wait…
Could he know what they are?
Has he kept killing them over and over again in my dream?
Is that… my enemy?
It definitely seemed like that. He felt a shudder from inside of him. Despite not knowing him, he nonetheless felt enmity against him. An irrational hatred. One that he didn't understand…
He looked over at Saber, who was sleeping soundly in her bed. Then to Takeru, also sleeping, a peaceful smile on his face.
Lucky of him to have good dreams…
He got up quietly, so as not to disturb them, put on his doctor's coat and went out.
The woods were chilly, and Emu quickly wrapped his arms around himself. If he had a thicker coat, then he would have taken it. As it was, he only had his trusty doctor's coat. Putting it on reassured him of his value, who he was. He progressed forwards.
In a dimly lit area ahead of him, he saw a figure crouched at a lamp, looking down. For a second, Emu was scared that the enemy Servant had found them, and he pulled out his driver. However, the figure looked up, and Emu recognised her distinct purple hair.
It was Rani.
"My apologies, did I wake you up?" Rani asked.
Emu put down his driver and walked up to her.
"No. It's fine."
He then looked around and gasped.
Around the area, crosses had been stuck into the ground, lit by candles in front of them. The crosses were ornate, yet they were rusted, as if they were placed there aeons ago. Around them, duplicate Ranis were walking around, some kneeling in front of the crosses and others wandering about with no distinct purpose.
Are they… clones?
"They are copies made from the doll's core." Rani explained. "They only walk as dolls, and they won't fight. However, depending on the input, they are capable of doing complex tasks."
She held up her left palm face-up. A glowing white cube emerged from thin air over her hand.
"They require users, but they can also transform into swords or armed machinery."
She looked intensely into the bright light of the cube. Emu did the same, half intrigued and half worried about the dolls. From his perspective, they uncannily seemed like exact replicas of Rani.
She made the cube vanish and put down her hand. She then opened up a purple virtual console in the air with her right hand and inputted some commands.
"Have you calmed down now?"
The dolls vanished into orange mist, similar to that of a Bugster vanishing. Emu nodded his head warily.
Rani returned to the cross she was tending.
"Then, what do you want?" she said.
Emu looked around again. He hadn't noticed small specks of light floating around the air. He looked at each one closely, mulling through his thoughts.
"I had a nightmare." He replied.
Rani's face was understanding. "I see." She murmured.
They stayed quiet for a short while. Emu continued circulating his thoughts in his mind, searching for other things to say. Finally, he came upon a question that had bugged his mind since entering the area.
"Are those… graves?"
Rani nodded.
"Correct. Here lie Masters who lost their lives on this floor."
This confirmed Emu's suspicions. Although he had been to graveyards before, there were no plaques anywhere, no indication of any names. The crosses were identical to each other, as if little thought about distinction was made. A graveyard for the nameless.
Just like my hallucinations. Just like…
"Among them were good and bad people." Rani continued, cutting into Emu's thoughts. "However, everyone here had been living in desperation. Thus, they deserved to be mourned. I have decided to always be alongside them."
Emu understood. Whether a person was evil or not, their lives still mattered. Remembrance is essential for their memories to not die out.
Still, that was not a job for mechanical dolls to do. Not for one person.
Rani looked up at the golden circle in the sky.
"Why do you wish to ascend? What kind of Master would you like to be?"
Emu opened his mouth to speak, but his voice caught in his throat.
Wasn't it my intention to escape?
He searched around for his desires, but that question caught him off guard.
Of course. It's to return to reality.
Don't be silly. That's not what you want.
Look around you. So much death. So many killed. And for what? Your wishes had aligned with us from the beginning.
They were right. That old desire of his had diminished, eclipsed by a new one. He knew, but didn't want to say it.
"…I don't really know. I just feel… like it had to be done…."
Rani acknowledged the response, yet said nothing.
Emu sudden remembered something.
"A while back, you said something about 50 years… Is that how long you've been here? "
Rani stopped.
"You don't know?"
She stood up and turned to face Emu.
"I have been here for much longer. Since the 21st Century."
Wait, since?
"Then… what year is it now?" Emu tentatively asked.
Rani's already downcast face became even more crestfallen.
"3020."
3020!?
Emu gulped.
"So, that means…"
"Yes. I've been here for about a millennia after SE RA PH collapsed. The world is now dying, and we are the last of Humanity."
Emu shook his head in disbelief.
This game, this war… is millennia old!?
No, no. It can't be. It hasn't been that long!
Yes it is. You know it's true.
He searched his memories, trying to remember when he entered the game. However, he came up with nothing.
What was the last memory I had?
The image of the burning city in the pit on the bottom floor suddenly jumped into his mind. Could it be…
No! That's not my memory!
Yes it is. It is what you remember. We share our memories.
"I assume you are aware of that circle's purpose." She interrupted, indicating upwards with her eyes.
Emu looked up.
The golden circle, Chakravartin, was intent on destroying the Moon Cell. He knew that already.
"If that circle destroys the Moon Cell…"
She turned to Emu.
"then humanity will disappear from this universe."
Emu's mind raced. If he wanted to escape-
No. That is not what you want.
No! Stop! Stop!
Face it. There is nothing to go back to. Your world is gone. The humans you are trying to save are worthless.
Instinctively, Emu knew they were correct. Being trapped in this game for a millennia, their rage and revenge was understandable. And humanity's decline means that they were the last of their species, and they were wasting it killing each other for a prize unattainable. He only had to look around him to prove that. All those faceless bodies in the earth. It was all useless.
All you can do now is satisfy us. That circle will steal our revenge. Therefore…
"Umm, excuse me?"
Rani was shaking Emu lightly. He opened his eyes.
"Are you alright?"
Emu took a breath and calmed down.
"Yeah. I'm alright."
Rani nodded.
"Good. Get some rest. It's getting late."
Emu turned around and headed back to the house, while Rani turned around and crouched down to the cross she was tending.
She took out a small red-and-white Eyecon from her pocket and looked at it.
"He's very interesting, isn't he?" she asked the Eyecon.
The clock tower chimed again.
Inside, Dan Blackmore was polishing his rifle.
"Why didn't you target the Master first?" he asked his Servant, Archer.
Archer sighed.
"No, I did target him."
Dan was unsatisfied with that response.
"You were just having fun with Saber, weren't you? Had you targeted the Master in the first place, you would've finished him before that bitch arrived."
Archer looked downtrodden.
"Ah well…"
Dan continued to polish his gun.
"Theres no other chance. You have to take out the Master."
"Alright, alright." Archer sighed.
"It looks like they have joined forces, though."
Dan stopped polishing.
"That doesn't matter."
He cocked the rifle and peered down the scope.
"This time, we will ascend!"