FGO Singularity 1950 Germany- The Road to Paradise

by ColinHayworth

A story in an alternate WWII singularity where its mystery still reigns and the mana were unusually dense for its age. It has allowed all those who were beyond 1900 to become heroic spirits as long as their deeds are beyond any comprehension of human beings. And now this is where all those who remains to reach the truth of what happened

10. Another Frontier

Warning: This fanfic dealt with probably controversial themes and you may find it not suitable for you. If you still decide to read, then stay strong and brace yourself for what you are about to read. This story here happens in Arc 2 and thus may contain some spoilers.

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Chapter 10: Another Frontier

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Back at the ravine

"Hey! We are over here!" Arnold who is on the other side of ravine trying to get their attention. It didn't take much to quickly get the reply.

"How on earth did you two crossed over this ravine?!" The Finnish said as he sees how ungodly wide this ravine is. Not even Servants could jump over this.

"Well, we found some random cable and-" Arnold replied only to be quickly cut off.

"Cable? I used my Hawkeye and sees absolutely nothing that can be considered a cable." Shirou said to them from the other side.

Arnold became silence, all of the night before was such a wild dream that it was hard to discern what is real or not. Not that it matters anymore, they won't deal anymore with it next time.

"Sigh, guess there isn't enough mystery in this world after all..." Richard said.

"So how do we gonna cross this?" Gudao asked his Servants.

"Don't worry, Master. We'll resolve this easily..." Shirou reassured his Master.

"Kuro! You know what to do..." Shirou said to his sister as he looks at her.

Kuro simply nodded, both of them walk closer to the ravine and begin to put each of their hands up with their palms into the sky.

"Trace on!" Both of them said in unison.

Whirling mana flows from their feet to the above of their hands, a physique of a sword begins to form above them. One thing though is the sword isn't just a normal one but also having a much more gigantic size. The sword begins to take form and soon manifests into the physical world.

"Ig Alima!" Both of them shouted together as the said sword fell in front of them. Arnold and Alfin on the other side realized that it is going to land on them and thus quickly jump out of its way. The sword fell on the edge of the other side and bridged through the ravine itself.

"To think that I can't get anymore surprised about your capabilities," Desmond said to Shirou.

"To be fair, what we traced is a Divine Construct. If it weren't for the fact that it is a sword, we couldn't trace it in the first place. Plus, it is just an empty copy. A hollow blade if you considered." Shirou simply just downplay what he did. He wasn't wrong but to do something like this would require an extreme amount of talents in the first place. Prodigy-like if given.

"Well, shall we go ahead? We don't gain anything by standing here." Pierce said to everyone else.

"Yeah, let's go, shall we?" Gudao replied to Pierce.

All of them together walk on the Ig Alima that Shirou and Kuro traced. A hollow Divine Construct created just to cross this ravine. If this was a Holy Grail War, every other Servant would most likely already soiled their pants.

"So... What should we do next?" Richard asked everyone else just to clear the mood up. Crossing this ravine on foot would take a while just to get to the other side.

"On our side? We are going to need more manpower. I thought that we could at least withhold that trump card of ours until the finale for maximum surprise effect but looking at the situation right now. I would say that we should use it when given the chance now. I don't want our team to die in the next encounter something with far greater strength and then get killed due to insufficient manpower." Gudao replied.

Richard's soul froze. The idea that Chaldea's Servants can get more powerful is just out of reality to him. Both the Archers are already ungodly strong with their abilities. The idea that someone is far stronger than those two is just ludicrous and unthinkable to him. If that someone is considered a trump card that can be used here with a strict restriction by them then they have to be far stronger than the enemy they are up against, he couldn't think of anyone who would ever fit that bill.

"Da Vinci, where is the closest leyline?" Gudao asked through the comms.

"Good news, there is one that is just ahead of you a few hundreds meter away. If you can get there, we would be able to rayshift another Servant to you." Da Vinci replied.

"Good, see you soon." Gudao thanks Da Vinci before he turns off the comms

Richard heard the conversation and started to feel nervous about this Servant. He is going to witness the trump card of Chaldea's Servant and it makes him anticipating. His old body of his can only handle so much in excitement when he is going to see a force of nature himself.

"By the way, Mr. Finnish. Would you kindly tell us what your name is? I mean, if you wanted to keep it private then I understand. But it is starting to get really mouthful to say 'the Finnish' every time we talk. So, can you at least give us a nickname of sorts?" Pierce asked the Finnish himself.

Pierce just walking along with the Finnish, hoping that he didn't irritate the man. He just felt that if he pressed the wrong button, he would have died instantly.

"Larry. Just call me Larry." The Finnish said his name, or nickname, or whatever.

Pierce got what he wanted but he felt that he should have left it up to his Servant to ask. At least that would have spared him from unnecessary worry.

Gudao heard the conversation behind him and wonder if there is more to the name that the Finnish give or it is just him overthinking. He is not the type to do things behind one's back but he felt that he should at least tell Da Vinci if he has the chance to do so.

All of them continue to walk on top of the gigantic sword with nothing to stand on their way. It is all one simple trek before they would reach for the next wall.

At least for now...

Meanwhile at Reznov's location

"So the Servant you mentioned didn't manage to take down any of them but also lost too many of specter fighters to mount another assault?" Dimitrii asked his friend.

"Yeah, unfortunately. They have proven their mettle and surely can't be underestimated at all. If only we have much more information about them. At least our Night Witch is still alive but she won't see any more action soon." Reznov said as he felt a little disappointed but also understanding.

"So, sis? What do you make more of them?" Dimitrii said Luydmia to see if she managed to learn more of their enemy.

Unfortunately, though, the battle before has only made her more confused about her enemies' identity.

"There... There are way too many contradictions and differences. No bowman has any shield that could withstand such amount of barrage. No swordsmith has any right to create such a vast amount and varieties of swords. And most of them all, that runner also has a motorcycle. As much as I know about history, trenches and motorcycles don't ever go well with each other at all." Lyudmila said as she pointed out the glaring holes within her information connections.

"And the worst part, the Witch Hunter. I used to hear about a regiment consist of stealth bombers and during one of their missions. Four of them got shot down in one night and that person was soon nicknamed Hexenjager or Witch Hunter. I heard that he didn't make through the war and thus I kinda thought if he was considered to be Spirit, being a Phantom was the most likely. However, what happened last night just proved I was wrong." Pavlov said.

"Warfare was all about uncertainty. Even the worst unlikely possibilities would happen sooner or later. All we can do are prepare for it if it is to come." Reznov said.

"So what do we do next?" Dimitrii askes.

"They have proven themselves so there is no more point in continue fighting them for now. Plus, our side is not exactly in better condition. Our target is that heretic, not those who he is accompanying with." Reznov said resolutely.

And so they concede from the show for now. When will be their next appearance? Only God knows...

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Prismatic Summonings

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Back to Gudao's location

"We're finally here. The closest leylines before like hundreds of kilometer to the second closest one." Gudao said as he checked the land.

"So, are you intending to do what I am thinking of?" Shirou asking his Master.

"Yeah... We made it this far, there is no point in pulling punches back. I don't want this entire journey to fail because I underestimated the threat." Gudao said to his Servant.

Gudao looks around for the strongest point in leylines. The kind that he could extract great output of mana. He soon managed to detect the closest one in his sight and quickly approaches it. He crouches and grabbed a piece of mystic chalk within his gear satchels and draw it against the ground

"Is he going to?!" Pierce said as he would never forget the sight of his first summoning.

"Yeah, it seems so. I could feel a great amount of mana pouring over this location." Larry said as he could feel the surrounding with his senses.

Arnold and Alfin both look at the newly drawn summoning circle in anticipation. They don't know whoever it is going to be their next ally but they knew that whoever that person is will be a strong one.

"Da Vinci... Send her over to the location that I marked. Plus, we are going to use the full house anyway." Gudao said through his comms to the Shadow Border.

"Ok then. I'll announce it to her." Da Vinci replied back

Back to the Shadow Border

The Shadow Border is in truth a fleet of enormous APCs that is moving within the Imaginary Number Space. According to Shirou Emiya with his limited Second Magic knowledge, the situation of Chaldea could have turned enormously worse. Like the majority of the Servants are discharged, almost all of Chaldea's staff are killed, there is only one Shadow Border APC. The Mage's Association could have turned Chaldea off far earlier and that moment sealed the entire fate of humanity. Many horrible things could have happened but in this current timeline, but they have lucked out on many things including all of what mentioned before.

All of these APCs are connected with each other by teleportation circles. Something that would have been on the realm of True Magic if it weren't for Chaldea's Casters putting all of their efforts with each other to make all of it as feasible as possible. Within them is accommodating space for all of the Servants, supplies, and services. The entirety of Chaldea's trump card right now is their enormous number and they went through all of the hassles of not being exposed that trump card in Lostbelt 3 when the leading APC got captured.

And within one of them is where a certain family lives. Most of them are on the current mission and thus there are only two people in there right now. Sitonai and Illya. The eldest sister Sitonai is combing her younger sister's hair while having a far off look in her eyes. She has always been feeling solemn since her first summoned to Shadow Border. That first day was an unforgettable memory where so many emotions that she didn't know existed within her emerged when she saw her own family living their lives there. She soon came to terms and quickly become one of the family members.

"Hey, Sitonee-chan. Do you think that our family will get to live a normal family life after all of this incident ended?" Illya askes her elder sister.

Sitonai doesn't know how to answer that question. All of Emiya Family's member has gone through all kinds of hardship and suffering that is too much for multiple lifetimes, and that includes her. Whether they would make it through or not, the damage done on the entirety of humanity's history will be irreversible. At that point, her insight can't perceive any further at all.

"That... I don't know" Sitonai said it a bit sadly.

Both of them have the same physique, the height of just a small teenage child, hair as white as snow and eyes colored with crimson blood. The difference is that Sitonai has the maturity of an adult while Illya tried to sound mature but can't help her childish outbursts sometime.

"Sitonee-chan, while I was at Observation Room before, seeing the battles unfolded in front of me. Seeing my own family members getting hurt and on the constant verge of death. It hurts me, in a way that makes me fear so much. To see them like that while I am just sitting here, unable to do anything to help them in the slightest. I just wanted to get there and tried to bring them out of the jaw of danger but simultaneously know that if I just join in haphazardously, I would just be a wrench in the gear. No, more as a whole toolbox threw into the machinery." Illya said sadly.

Sitonai is just sitting on the top of the bed while combing her younger sister's hair. Listening to her sister makes her felt the same. Her immense power wasting away here because the enemy has complete control over who gets summoned in that singularity. All of the family members have all went through too much pain and torment and the simple wish of being a normal family just sounds even more farfetched the more time passed.

Attention! Attention! The following Servant shall come to the Rayshift Chamber. Illyasviel von Einzbern. Please come to the Rayshift Chamber, now.

The announcement went through the entirety of Shadow Border and letting all of the Servants in there to hear. And of course, the two sisters obviously heard that.

"Are my ears playing a trick on me? Papa and Mama need my help?" Illya said as she heard her name in the announcement.

"No... It is clearly you. If that is the case then the family truly needs you out there." Sitonai said to her sister.

Whether to celebrate herself or worry in fear that the situation has gone worse than they initially thought. It doesn't matter the slightest to Illya anymore. Her family needs her and she will get there for them. Changing into her combat cloth, the outfit of a magical girl. She opened the door while looking back at her sister as if she doesn't want to leave her alone here.

"Don't worry about me. Your family needs you right now, isn't it?" Sitonai reassures her sister.

"Yeah! I hope you will be fine here!" Illya said cheerfully just to try to lift her mood up before she went out towards the transporting circles that lead to the leading APC. Soon, her shadow is also gone from Sitonai's sight.

Sitonai just sitting in an empty room, but not feeling lonely at all. She lying on the bed and look at the ceiling of the room. Whether it was happiness or satisfaction, she has already felt content.

"Perhaps, things will turn out alright," Sitonai said to herself.

Meanwhile at the Rayshift Chamber.

"Okay, Illya. You just need to step on that magic circle so that we can send you over to the coordinate that our Master has marked for himself on the Singularity. Also, I hope that you can have a good time with your parents!" Da Vinci said to the little white-haired girl.

"Understood! Ms. Da Vinci!" Illya said as she quickly enters the magic circle. A blinding light shines from the magic circle as she was quickly sent to the Singularity.

Back to Gudao's location

The summoning circle started to flash with a blinding light. Everyone there is looking with anticipation, the Emiya Family and Gudao obviously know who is being summoned but to everyone else, it is like watching the second coming of Jesus.

The light dies down and coming out of it is the little girl, with pink-tinted white hair, crimson eye. Wearing the pink magical girl outfit. She quickly leaped towards her parents the moment her summoning is complete.

"Papa! Mama!" She said it energetically as she quickly held on to her mother.

"Oh! My sweet bundle of joys!" She quickly also held tightly to her daughter. It was such a motherly loving sight that it would have touched the heart of those who were presents.

"Welcome to the team, my little whiskey girl," Kiritsugu said as he rubbed her hair with a small smile on his face. There aren't many things that could ever draw a smile from him at all in the first place.

Gudao and Shirou looking at them with happiness while Kuro just simply sighs for she has always seen this all of the time. The rest though looking confused at what the girl is.

"I don't even know if Servants can breed but I am definitely not going to test that out, ever!" Larry said.

"Uhm, is she supposed to be coming from some sort of tales or what?" Desmond asks in confusion.

Meanwhile, Richard just looks at her and tried to make sense of what is going on but he soon just threw his two hands up and walk away as he has finally given up his attempt to even make sense of any of this.

Arnold stood there watching, it is actually a heart-touching scene amidst this sorrowful scenery. Until he felt something dropping on his hand.

He realized that Alfin is getting tearful and her tears are dropping on his hand. He actually patted Alfin's on the shoulder without realizing it himself.

"Alfin? Are you alright?" Arnold asks her, at least to check if she is fine.

"Eh!? Uh, yes! I'm alright!" Alfin said panically as she was startled.

Alfin wiped the tears out of her face while Arnold just looks at her in worry. He just thinks in his mind, wondering what on earth happened to her when she was alive.

"So, shall we keep heading on? We don't have much time to just sit around here!" Pierce said just so he could catch everyone's attention.

"Wah! I'm sorry that I wasted everyone's time! But first, I shall introduce myself. The name is Illyasviel von Einzbern. Caster." The little Caster said happily. She was such a spitting far cry of this ruined land.

Everyone then continued on, onto the next wall where they might encounter more oppositions. Even then, they will be one step closer to their destination.

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Enemy's Gate

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Meanwhile in the Heart of Reich, Berlin

The plane from the night before soon reaching the landing platform, it soon lands on the ground as the tires screeching against the ground. The pilot slowly steers it into a maintenance bay where the maintenance will be done on his plane

The plane soon approaches and the gate opens up for it. The plane enters slowly while the rain splatters like artillery shells on Verdun. It soon came into a stop and the gate was closed shut soon after. The rain that is landing here is straight-up brutal. It is like all the storms that existed within this world and suddenly got compacted to the size of a small one while still keeping the power behinds it. The roaring thunder in the background trying to make itself as clear as hell on earth. A storm like this would have made sure absolutely nothing standing at all. Yet here it is, a functional airport and maintenance bays are built under this critical weather.

The man soon open up his cockpit and exit the plane, it has been a long trip to him and thus he wanted to have some rest right now. Especially after that fateful encounter with his old enemies that he didn't get the chance to settle with. Plus, he has another to do another grueling report before actually getting his rest. He would dare say that the entire mission is far less tiring than the report itself since he doesn't have a way with words.

He walks towards the door that leads him to another room. For a maintenance bay, this place is so silent that it's unnerving. The only discerning sounds are just his footsteps along the hallway.

"Hey there, young man. It seems that you have been really tired out. Here, have some coffee. It will at least giving you some vitality back." A certain old-looking man spoke to him.

"Thanks, I honestly don't know why I am trying to endure for this long." The youngster said back to the old man.

"There's no hard feeling young man. Two of us are two aviators. It is obvious that we should always look out to each other." The old man said.

Both two of them work in the same kind of profession so being relatable to each other is one thing. The old man, however, appears to be far more experienced than youngster next to him but he always paid out the full respect. Two of them have some small chats along the way to pass the times.

Before they knew it, they have already left the airstrip area. The surroundings are a bit livelier, but it still feels oddly sad to him.

"Hey, old man. Do you ever felt your own mind tells you to do something that you not even sure if it would have any meaning in the first place? Last night, something urges me to use the emergency harpoon gun back during my mission." The young man asked the older aviator.

"That is the first time I heard of it. I'm not sure of myself. When it comes to actual combat, it is just my skill and experience that make the decision." The old man said.

As both of them keep walking down the hallway, they encountered someone. Someone that they didn't know. A woman with long snow-white hair styled into a scorpion braid behind her with crimson eyes approaches them.

"Excuse me. Are you Hexenjager?" The woman asked the young pilot.

"Uhm... Yes? Who are you? I don't see you anytime before." The young man reluctantly answer.

"Thanks, can you please tell me where are the maintenance bays of the airstrip?" The woman asked with a kind tone, enough to make any man fall for her.

"Uh... Behind us? I mean all we have done so far here is moving on a straight line." The old man said.

"Thanks, I am the engineer of the maintenance bays, there supposed to be other engineers but they are on work leave right now. Don't worry about me, I am more than capable enough to do maintenance on the fighters." The woman said kindly before she moves toward the maintenance bays behind the two men.

"Strange... I have never seen her before." The young man said.

"Yeah, me too. She looks like a goddamn angel with that body, face, and personality. Not even a lifetime would get you to stumble upon such a divine gift like that." The old man said.

The two of them continue to walk further down the hallway. If it weren't for the perfect noise insulation that was installed in the bases. They would hear the rain far more than anything else. The old man felt that he should at least learn about what happened during the young man's mission.

"Hey, what was your mission before again?" The old man asked.

"Transporting goods from an outpost to the third wall. The goods were a single trunk. I was commanded to not look at the contents inside and it was locked either way so I don't even know what it is. My encounter with Night Witches was simply a coincidence." The young man said.

"Good to know." The old man said.

Both two of them soon reach their resting room which is a really large one with arrays of beds set and each of them has lockers placed nearby. The resting room for the SS Waffen is just so simple and plain that you would run out of things to describe it.

"Well, I am going to take my rest before heading to the recreational room, even the bases don't have much room for entertainment at all but to keep making small talks and stuff." The old man said before he just lies on the bed and then the next second he slept like a log.

The young man sighed, he envies over with trivial stuff but at least it would be the last thing he would deal with in this day is to make the report of his mission. Then he is done with the rest.

"Let just make this quick, shall we?" The young man said as he begins to write on the form that he has a wad of them in the locker.

He looked to the next bed and saw a note on it. The bed has the word 'Fox' designated into. From what he heard, 'Fox' and his elite squad was sent to investigate the massive destruction unfolded during the time of his mission. Even the young man can see said destruction unfold from the distance during his mission.

"Guess nothing is ever easy after all." The young man said as he keeps writing the form.

"I don't know what happened back there. If it weren't for the voice in my mind told me to leave that couple on the motorcycle alone, I would have harmed them. Just what is going on?" He keeps thinking, suspecting that something was off.

It is oddly quiet here, at the heart of Reich itself.

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Soul of Steels

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Back to Gudao's position

"Master, we are getting closer to the third wall. Shall we stop to devise a tactic to breakthrough before proceeding?" Shirou told his master.

The wall ahead of them are in the vision and the same most likely going for the reverse if they act anything rash. The previous one they saw before were decimated and deserted but this thing is still having full force behind it.

It has many high-caliber machine guns mounted on top, one second of careless and those things would turn you into minced meat. No, scratch that, you would be nothing but a splatter of blood on the ground and that is still assuming the ground you were shot at is still in there. Tank stoppers were placed throughout the ground ahead of the wall in order to hinder the movement of anything larger than the size of a human. Artilleries and anti-tank cannons were embedded into the wall making it required a considerable amount of power to destroy the cannons inside. And the cherry on top is that the number of auto-cannons mounted is as much as the machine guns. There is no doubt that you will need an army worth of Servant just to break through without having the specific one with Anti-Fortress NP

"How on earth are we exactly breaking through?" Arnold said as he can't even think of any way to make past it.

Everyone looks warily as their gaze landed upon Alfin. Both Shirou and Kuro can trace Excalibur and use its NP, but to use it to a good enough potential to break a large enough chunk in the wall is a different matter and thus the only person they can tell to be able to break through the wall is Alfin alone. They didn't see her in combat in detail but all of the events happened this far has already pointed to her.

And almost before anyone raise their voices, Alfin has already taken the initiative.

"Well, I understand that all of you have your own doubts. And this place is where I will earn all of your trust." Alfin said with confidence.

"Wait, if so then why didn't you use your NP from much before?" Pierce asked her since he felt that something just doesn't add up.

"To be fair, if I just use my Noble Phantasm nonchalantly, there would be much more risk of a friendly fire than when I'm not," Alfin explains her reason.

Arnold listens to her attentively. After all, he is the one who managed to grasp a glimpse of her Noble Phantasm even if he didn't manage to guess what it is exactly.

"Well, I shall proceed in what I should do. I hope that this will at least earn all of everyone's trust." Alfin said before she sets out towards the wall alone.

She walks toward it without fear, almost as if the wall's destruction was already sealed from the moment she appeared. Her own spirit is tranquil as a pond of calm water before it turns entirely into a maelstrom of destruction within a mere second.

Words of God: For this part, play Ao no Kiseki - Steel Roar (Verge of Death)

The color of her eyes turns into the color of ember. The ember of wildfire itself. All of her emotions will be sealed during this fight and the only thing that is showing are her own killing intents.

Walks into a deserted land filled with tank stoppers everywhere she sees. The defenders on the wall have obviously seen her and preparing to act accordingly on her actions.

As if they decided to ditch their original plan away, they decided to open fire on her first. The hail of bullets and shells moving towards her with speed faster than sound but her own skills and abilities are far faster.

Another second has passed. Those bullets that would have been demise to almost anything that it came to strike got stopped on its track. What they struck wasn't her but the tank stoppers. But the thing is, those tank stoppers are free-floating in front of her and bunched together into a cluttering ball of steel.

The Azure Soldiers on the wall refused to believe that she can even get any closer to this wall in the first place and thus they intensified their firing as much as possible, using the auto-cannons and artillery right at her location.

"So you started to get serious after all. Guess I don't have to keep up to see that you wanted me dead." Alfin said with a voice that is as cold as ice.

The barrage of concentrated artillery shells flying towards her, no matter how much resistance the cluttered ball of steel had, it isn't going to hold up against the said attack.

And of course, the said ball of steel quickly dissolve into a massive cloud of mana dust and flew into her as if she is absorbing them. She just looks intently towards the hail of bullets and shells that is about to impact against her without single care left in this world.

The moment one thought that her death is assured, the next moment literally told the opposites. All of them just came to stop dead in their tracks, just stood there in the air. All of those incoming ballistics that they keep flinging at her only to prove how fruitless their attempts are.

When all of those ballistics that stood there started to amount to a wall. A surge of mana burst from Alfin's position and quickly igniting all of those ballistics that stood in front of her into a wall of blazing molten steel. All of them begin to turn back to the wall and at this point, one can easily tell what would happen next

"Fire!" Alfin said as she pointed her finger towards as like a commander commanding his division to do volley fire.

All of those ballistics form before now moving back with a speed like before. As they started to came crash into the wall with fierce power behind it, clouds of dust fly from the sheer impact alone can tell just how much power behind it.

The dust died down and soon revealed the damage left behind by said attack. Not enough to severe the mana connection of the wall but it has also left the artilleries and cannons completely opened. The survived Azure Soldiers quickly trying to find any weapon that is still working condition from the said attack which is honestly not a lot to remain for but those auto-cannons and artilleries that managed to be still functional enough.

Alfin quickly throws something towards the cannons, a barrage of chains flying towards and soon chained into them. The moment she can tell that the chains have caught the targets she wanted, she yanked them back and pulled those cannons that were caught in her grasp along with them.

Right when those cannons got closer to her vicinity, they were instantly broke down into mana and quickly absorbed into hers. Her body revitalized with newfound vigor. A burning sensation coursing through her as if she got a grasp at her newfound power.

Burning gates started manifest around her and coming out of it is the large barrels of cannons and high-caliber machine guns of some sort. From the appearance alone, one can tell that it was the same kind that she took from the wall and consumed them.

All of those guns are still burning with white-hot steel as if to intimidate her enemies further. Even if they aren't out of the gate yet, Alfin can use them as if they were fresh out from factories. She triggers the machine guns and a relentless stream of bullets came gushing out all of those were on top of the wall.

And soon, she begins to open fire the cannons, a volley of shells came forward and wreck the already damaged wall. Even more of those cannons got exposed out of the wall from her unmatched firepower and so she will take them all with her to bolster her already unreal firepower. The wall also begins to unleash its full might on just her alone.

Bullets clash, shells explode. What is unfolding right in front of the others isn't just on the magnitude of a battle or even multiple at all. This is war, at its rawest. The sound completely drowned out everything else as it turns into an orchestra of chaos. Music to her ears, madness to others. Both sides refuse to give in as their battle disrupts even the air around them. It is just war, only war.

Bullets, shells, chains. To think that the wall will now face its inevitable destruction just because of its own unmatched firepower in the first place, to think that their very abilities got completely exploited by her out of all things. Their weapons being continuously taken away by her while those things joining the rank of her.

Soon, the section of the wall that tried to take her out has completely dwindled of their own weapons. Deprived of everything, they got nothing left to even use as an effective weapon and meanwhile, Alfin has taken all of their weapons and besides her is a massive galore of cannons, artilleries, machine guns, hanging from the fiery gate itself, all forged in the blazing fire of her soul. Not only she has deprived them of their weapons but she also forged more on her own. A wall of fire one can be said, the match has already set and it doesn't take a brain cell to even tell what is going to happen next.

A wall of blazing ballistics come towards, nothing at the receiving end will ever endure such an attack like that. Nothing, their fate is already sealed from that moment.

All of them impact on the wall within a second and created a massive cloud of smoke in the aftermath. The cloud was so large that it moves with fast speed and covered the entire ground in front of the wall. Alfin has obtained her decisive victory.

*cough* "Is everyone's alright?!" Gudao said while where everyone else is also affected by the aftermath.

"Yeah... To think that she intentionally hide such great power like that." Shirou said as he did observe the battle unfolded in front of him.

"Uwah! So much dust... It gets everywhere in me. It's rough and coarse and annoying!" Illya said as she sweeps the dust from her clothes.

Chaldea has many Servants whose destruction capabilities can surpass her like Karna and Gilgamesh but the most critical part about it is that Alfin has tremendous power for a Modern Servant. It is like comparing a large fleet of bombers dropping napalm on Tokyo compares to a single one that drops the nuke in Hiroshima. Both crippled the city and the Tokyo bombing was far more destructive but Hiroshima leaves a much bigger impact on the history for its sheer destructive capability with a single strike.

The dust died down, as the clearing wind howls from the distance. Signaling the conflict has ended, everyone else rises up from their location and saw a massive gap in the wall just before them a bit ago.

Arnold has already stood up before them long before then, seeing the destruction in front of him. His clothes were completely tainted with dust, implying that he didn't even hide, he just stood there and watch all of it unfolded and didn't even flinch when the dust cloud approaches him.

He stood there, with a far off look on his eyes. He doesn't even know how to put the feeling he has now into words. It just all too sudden to him in this way, he felt like he suddenly got left behind helplessly while others just strife to the horizon.

Suddenly, Alfin collapsed to her knees, Arnold realized and quickly make a full leap towards her. He held onto her as tight as he could as if fearing that she would suddenly disappear.

"Alfin! Are you alright?!" Arnold tried to get her attention.

"Yeah... I'm alright, it is just tiring whenever I had to do this. This is what would happen if I used my skill and Noble right at one same time." Alfin reassured

To be fair, it is right that she isn't in any state of danger considering that she did something like this 3 times already by this point.

"Sorry, it is just that... I don't want to lose you, especially this far." Arnold said apologetically.

"Oh, you getting interested in me?" Alfin teased Arnold when she heard what he said.

"No! I mean... Sigh, let just get over all of this okay" Arnold said panically before calming down.

"So this is your prowess after all. I wonder what those abilities of yours mean." Richard said as he approaches two of them.

"I wonder what your Noble Phantasm is actually like, I looked at it and still now understand what it supposed to mean," Gudao said as he also approaches too.

"Let just say, it is a secret," Alfin said with a bit sarcastic in her voice.

Arnold is definitely not amused and thus looks at Shirou as if he wanted to feel that others would feel absurd by the same thing.

"Trust me, not all Servants are made equal. Just look at Mata Hari as an example and you will stop being envy every time." Shirou said as if he doesn't have any better options.

Everyone soon gathered up and proceeds to move to the next area. There is nothing that would stand in their way at this wall anymore. This is just simply a walk towards the inside of the next ring. Into another frontier, they go.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Third Ring - Downpour

"._.""._.""._."

---

They entered through the massive gap on the wall and what greeted them first is an entirely new atmosphere. It seems that the rain has intensified more than before, from drizzles into downpours, if it weren't for the Bounded Field that was imprinted onto Gudao's cloth, he would have been completely wet by now.

"So this is the inside of the third ring? The buildings here look even more rundown than before." Illya commented.

Everyone just looks at the whole area around them with eyes of disbelieve, something is very wrong yet none of them can tell what is it. The Nazi easily has all of the power it takes to built such infrastructure evidence by the wall that Alfin took a load of her efforts to breakthrough.

"Damn, I know that missing a night of sleep is supposed to be a thing that I supposed to use to but I really can't help much of this drowsiness of mine." Gudao said as he felt the increasing tiredness is getting the better of him.

"We better find a good place to rest up. Better to be safe than sorry." Shirou said as he pulled his Master before he fell to his knee.

"Yeah, I know damn well the fine line between determination than insanities. I will not push myself to self-harm if I can help it. If it would benefit others then I will fight to the bitter end. If it would just drag others down, then I would better knock it off." Pierce said to Gudao.

Pretty much everyone else agrees on that. Chaldea easily held the majority of the manpower and losing him would basically deal a killing blow to the operations. His state of health is of the utmost importance, that fact can't be downplayed at all.

Just as when Arnold is about to get away from the wall, he heard something. A voice, a voice of someone familiar yet distance.

Find me...

Arnold instantly turned around and look back, that voice definitely not belong to anyone in the crew. This isn't the first time he heard it and thus he can no longer pass it as a trick that his mind played on him

"Everyone! I heard something!" Arnold quickly told everyone else.

Soon, everyone else came to a sudden stop, they didn't move any distance at all so they didn't mind but they felt that Arnold should give a good reason for stopping them.

"What is this particular something you might ask?" Shirou asked him since wasting time is one of the things he hated the most.

"A voice of somebody. Quick! Scan the wall with your Hawkeyes!" Arnold asked Shirou.

"We didn't hear anything at all," Alfin said to Arnold.

"But maybe there is something this time!" Arnold keeps insisting.

Shirou reluctantly does on his behalf and so he scrutinized the remnants of the wall with great details. The difference compares to the last time he did so at the previous wall is that there is actually something.

"There is indeed something there at the distance near the gap by 100 meters," Shirou said to Arnold.

And the moment he received the most likely location. He quickly made a run for it, not even caring which side from the gap. And so he managed to confirm his own suspicion, a steel blast door, unenchanted.

He simply just spartan kick the door wide open and the only thing is in there is a trunk, one that is used to carry work of arts and a considerably large one at that.

"This is something?..." Arnold felt a bit confused, the lock is hard-enchanted so that force open won't work against this at all.

"So are you happy now? Now let us move on, we will going to need a lot of rest for this time around. Fighting an entire day with no breathing room is going to take a toll on Servants regardless of who you are." Shirou said as he peeked through the door.

"Uhm, yeah... I shall be going now." Arnold said as he carried that trunk on his shoulder with him. Normally, he would just leave it there and continue onward but something in his mind told him to hold onto that trunk.

And so everyone else keeps going. And unknowingly, Arnold's action will soon be a great impact on everyone else's fate.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Melancholic Voice

"._.""._.""._."

---

In about half an hour, they managed to find a perfect resting spot. An abandoned luxurious hotel nearby a lake, something like this still standing under this rain without proper maintenance is nothing short of a miracle.

"Thank god that there is still something here other than collapsed houses," Kuro said as she steps inside the hotel while completely soaked. Although rain has no more effects than an annoyance to Servants during combat, to be soaked wet and then enter somewhere dry would at least get to the nerves of someone.

"Kiri, can you please get our Master to a bed please?" Iri said to her husband.

"Okay, you also get at least some rest too," Kiritsugu said as he takes Gudao to the closest room.

"Oh, dear... Both two of us got in the same state and here you worry about me more." Irisviel said.

"Somebody has got to be on guard duty so who would volunteer?" Pierce said.

A single hand was raised and it belongs to Arnold.

"You?" Pierce asked if he wanted to be sure of Arnold's decision.

"Normally I would have taken a rest, especially after such a fight from before. But I felt that there is still something I can't ignore yet. Just not right now." Arnold said.

"I gonna guess that it has something to do with the trunk you had, right? Either way, I hope that you would at least do your job well." Pierce said as he walks towards the stair and moves to the upper floor.

Arnold sighed, why on earth is there a voice inside him to find someone. He just hopes that this trunk that he brought along for half an hour is actually worth something.

He climbed to the rooftop of the hotel through an array of staircases. After he managed to do so, he stands underneath the rain while looking up to the gray sky above. He keeps staring at it intently, like a lone fish in the ocean.

"Hey, you called me for something?" Kiritsugu said as he looks at Arnold from the doorway.

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask you if you can lockpick this trunk open." Arnold said as he looked back at the Assassin.

"That you said? It is far easier than child play in my line of works. Just let me have a look at it." Kiritsugu said as he walked toward the trunk that Arnold placed on the ground.

Kiritsugu analyzes the trunk carefully, mages would normally install traps on their keepsake just so it would deter anyone from stealing from them. Fortunately for Kiritsugu, he wasn't called a Magus Slayer without a good reason. He can easily disarm or neutralize traps with ease that breathing just far easier to him.

Kiritsugu started to get suspicious, there is no Bounded Field that was installed on this thing, no sign of mechanism that would activate any trap at all, the lock despite being hard-enchanted is extremely simple that a normal human thief could easily pick it open. He felt that there is something to more than this thing and he refused to believe that it could be so simple. If anything, it just screams that it is a trap more.

"Uhm... Don't you think that you are overthinking about this too much." Arnold askes as Kiritsugu stares at the trunk intently.

"Sorry, but I didn't survive this far by not taking unnecessary actions," Kiritsugu said.

"Oh lord. I am starting to feel that you actually spend more time trying to find any non-existant trap than to open it." Arnold said as he started to get more impatient.

"Getting impatient? How about I teach how to lockpick this thing open by yourself then. If anything happens, it is your fault." Kiritsugu said mockingly.

"Fine, it is better than looking at you staring at the lock," Arnold said as he approaches the trunk for himself.

Kiritsugu flicks a lockpick towards Arnold while Arnold catches it in midair. He approaches the trunk tried to look inside the lock to see what it is. He then just bent the lockpick in a careful manner. He then inserts the lockpick and in the next moment, the trunk's lock opened.

Arnold started to anticipate what is in this trunk, it is something that is so important that it messed with his mind? Whatever it is, the content inside would easily give him the shock of his life.

Words of God: For this part, use the song that I have prepared for this very moment. 'https:'/'/drive "dot" google "dot" com/open?id=1ggTX8_'_NVqg0RMgJa-e6yoQjK8QOAG0E and remove the " ' " for the site.

"What?" Arnold said as he can't believe what is actually inside the trunk.

Inside the trunk, was a blonde little girl, wearing a gothic dress and maid headwear. Out of all things he expected, this was definitely not one of them. She is still breathing, he checked carefully of that and thus he can safely assert that fact.

"What did you find in-" Kiritsugu walks toward the trunk to see its content and the content itself surprised the Assassin before he completes his sentence.

"What the fuck! Why is there a girl here?!" Kiritsugu said as not even him can think that the trunk would contain a person.

"I don't know! Something in my mind told me to find someone and I just thought that there is someone nearby. My mind just told me to bring that trunk with me and I am completely oblivious to the fact that the trunk would have a person in there." Arnold argued back.

Kiritsugu wanted to argue back but he decided that continuing this senseless cycle doesn't worth a damn to him and so he just shut up and suggests something else.

*sigh* "Why don't we just brought her inside, leaving her out under the rain just doesn't sound right to me." Kiritsugu said although knowing him, he would just leave her underneath the rain for all he cares.

And so Arnold brought her into the inside of the hotel, finding a good enough room that doesn't leak everywhere. A while later, he managed to find an acceptable enough one.

He dusts away the bed with a sweep of his hand and all of them just flying chaotically in the air, he tried to sweep them away from his face and he just makes a much bigger mess by doing so. Soon he stopped and just laid her out on the bed.

He then sits on the chair in the room, not because of tired or anything, he just felt that he had to. The chair faced towards the window near the bed. He watches her sleeping as the light shines on her, a light that doesn't belong to a blazing sun nor it was a dim-lit light of near-dusk. It was a peaceful light, one that soothes the soul of those people who embraces them when they got the time to notice it. The scene that is playing out here is just serene, one can't feel but to remain silent or else they would break the very thing that makes this in the first place.

Arnold sighed, he felt that imprinting this into his mind just won't be enough, he wanted a physical image of this thing, drawn on something with great detail. And so he searched the room for something and surprisingly enough, there is a considerable-sized piece of yellowed paper in there. He then searches within his mind for that piece of graphite, when he entered the same forgotten armory, there is a pencil there, sitting lonely on the table. He instantly took it and quickly head for the exit.

Having all of what he needed, he sat back on the chair relaxed and started to draw the scenery in front of him.

"Even if it looks bad, just having something to remind me of it is better than to leave it in my mind and then just gone unnoticedly one day," Arnold said as he started to draw on the paper.

Time flows like a river for it stops for nobody.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Sweet and Bitter

"._.""._.""._."

---

In the hotel's kitchen

Shirou Emiya, once again fulfilling his kitchen duty. Using what is remaining of the kitchen's utensil after he rigorously washed all of the rust on them with ease. Now, he is doing what he needed to, a proper meal to revitalize everyone's stamina, especially his Master.

"Hey, our princess here said she wanted to have some tea," Illya said to her brother as she enters through the kitchen's door.

The dining hall and kitchen were connected for common-sense reasons. And in the dining hall which also acts as a tearoom, is where Alfin is sitting for her tea.

*sigh* "The atmosphere here is so serene that I wanted to bring the very scenery here into a physical portrait. Too bad that there is nothing that I could use to draw." Alfin said as she stares through the window panes that lead to the raining outside.

"Here is your tea, princess," Illya said as she places the dish that there are a marble teapot, teacups, and a bowl of sugar on it.

"Oh dear, I wasn't a princess at all, who told you that I was one in the first place?" Alfin said with a bit embarrassment on her face.

"No one! I just call you that considering you held yourself with a regalness that befits a princess itself." Illya said proudly as she praises her.

"Haha... I see. Guess even my beauty could probably befit one so I wouldn't say that you are wrong." Alfin said back as she pours her tea into the teacup.

"Either way, you seem to be distraught by something. Do you have something on your mind that you would like to speak up?" Illya asked as she sits on the chair in front of Alfin.

"Oh, you seem to worry about me a lot, huh? Why do you always putting so much effort into trying to get to know others." Alfin askes as she sips on the tea a bit.

"Well, for two reasons that I could think of. First, is to get to know much better of the new people around me, aren't people work better with each other when they knew each other well, right? And second... Is that I really fear the prospect of misunderstanding among each other." Illya said as her expression became less lively as she begins to get into the subject that she doesn't want to trek into the most.

"Oh? Then do tell me why?" Alfin asked as she started to get interested in the conversation.

"You see, Kuro and I are the twin of each other but not in the exact senses of biological birth. It is more of that she was my previous self before getting sealed to prevent herself from being used for bad purposes that could cause untold destruction. I myself was simply a byproduct that was born from the aftereffect of said sealing. For the majority of her life, she sees the world through my visions, the grudge that she built up within herself could have caused adversary effects to me until the chance for her to break free from me has come to her. With no hesitation, she quickly leverages and reborn as an entirely different being from me. That is the Kuro you know and seeing right now, using the same power as my brother in order to just exist as a separate being from me." Illya said sadly.

"You know, it is hard to ever believe that you two actually have some sort of turmoil between each other in the relationship of you two. You two always getting along with each other so much that it is easy to assume you two having a sisterly bond that is unbreakable." Alfin commented after hearing her side of the story.

"Well, it is all in the past. At first, we were at odds and always being competitive with each other. But now, after went through so much hardship and trails, our understanding of each other is on a whole different level compared to before. You could say that time change a person by a lot." Illya said as life returned to her face.

"Yeah... It does change a person a lot." Alfin said as her mood started to drop from before even if slightly.

"Oh, I am sorry if I have touched you somewhere bad. Please forgive me!" Illya said panically that she accidentally turn the mood sour.

"Oh. No, it is not about you, it just something about my past. Please don't be feeling too concerns about that." Alfin tried to calm her down while putting sugar cubes into her tea.

"Oh, okay. But still if in any case, you can- Uh... Are you drinking tea with sugar or sugar with tea there?" Illya's expression shifts quickly as she sees Alfin putting 10 sugar cubes into the tea.

"Sorry. It is just my sugar tooth, an incurable one at that. The only sugar I have for a while is just rotten bags of sugar inside abandoned buildings." Alfin said panically as she realized that Illya noticed it.

"Sigh, it is okay, you can have as much sugar as you like. Just that I didn't expect anyone to have such a severe case of 'sweet tooth' like that." Illya said as she sees Alfin sipping on the teacup full of sugar.

"Hah, you see, for the majority of my life back when I was alive. I didn't get much chance to ever have tea. It was a period of unrest where it is easy to go meltdown on others without ever thinking of the consequence of one's action. In that time, to get to drink tea is a luxury beyond most people's wildest dreams." Alfin said as she sips on the sugary tea.

Illya keeps listening intently, she has told her side of stories and so she believes that she should listen to her.

"Tea by itself is bitter, some may have the sweet tints but those are exotics and far more valuable than some people's lives. It is like a metaphor of life itself, for it has always been a path of suffering with absolutely no ends in sight. The only thing that one could do to alleviate the bitterness is to sweeten the tea with sugar, much like trying to alleviate the suffering and difficulty of one's life." Alfin said melancholically, with a voice that makes one's mood turn sad if they embrace it.

Illya listens attentively, what she said does make sense but one that she couldn't quite agree on. All of this reminds her back during the event of Incineration of Humanity where she and her family almost died hadn't for the revelation that turned their tides. The mastermind behinds it did have that same idea and decided to turn humanity into immortal beings by going back beyond the Genesis with the energy obtained by erasing timelines.

It was such a close call that she doesn't wish to remember it at all and the predicament she and everyone she knew being in is definitely much bigger than the Incineration of Humanity for the only thing that would happen should they fail is the complete erasure of humanity itself.

"Oh, sorry for being so philosophic right now before. I didn't mean to make you feel down in the mouth." Alfin said apologetically.

"It's okay. If I had let those words got into my heart anytime before, I wouldn't have made it this far. In a time like this, all of Chaldean Servants need to be headstrong and enduring should they wish humanity still have a future ahead." Illya said as she wanted to downsize how much did it hurt her from inside.

"Sigh, you are very strong for your own age. To carry this much burden yet you still carrying a smile on your face. You are a lot mature than you think." Alfin said as she felt grateful.

"Well, even if I am deep in this madness. I know for sure that I am not alone, I still have my family and friends and I am sure that we would be able to make it to the end no matter what." Illya said in a gracious tone.

Alfin smiled, to see such an optimistic attitude within this bleak atmosphere really freshen up the mood. Perhaps, it makes her realize just how melancholic their surroundings right now.

"You know, it is good to memorize things into your memory but you know what else is also good? To burn the very image itself into a physical drawing." Alfin said as her artistic sense gets tingling.

"Woah! You know how to draw?!" Illya said as she was surprised to know that Alfin is actually into art.

"Well... I do know how to draw but it is not necessarily good if you know what I mean..." Alfin said as she got embarrassed for saying it out loud.

"Are you kidding?! To see an artist's drawing is an experience that one shouldn't miss at all. Chaldea has many artists and all of them took great pride in their works. You shouldn't be selling yourself short like that. Not even when I haven't seen it yet!" Illya said as she tried to encourage Alfin.

"Well. Guess I could draw for you I guess? But I don't have anything to draw on or to draw at all." Alfin said before she got interrupted by something that shouldn't be named.

"Well, well. It seems like someone wanted to draw for Illya huh? Don't worry about it for I can easily create a piece of paper and a pencil for you with my capabilities." A magic wand came out from Illya's back as the thing said to Alfin.

"Uh... What is that?" Alfin said in confusion as she points her finger at the flying wand itself.

"Oh, it's Ruby. My magical wand slash pervert whose capabilities would make any magus green with envy but that is balanced out by her whimsical and perverted nature." Illya said with a deadpan expression.

"But why? Why would someone create such an oddity like this?" Alfin asked as she didn't even believe what is going on in front of her eyes.

"If you ask me, it is the Second Magician, Zelretch. An immortal and to be fair, being an immortal and the only thing can kill you will be boredom. That guy created Ruby and Sapphire as a cruel joke for him and as a gag on magical girl, not that you would understand the magical girl part. But the thing is that his humor can't prevent his pride from turning the said joke into a weapon of mass destruction with great power behinds it and thus only makes the joke playing itself even more." Illya said as with a blank expression that said 'You'll get used to it'.

After hearing it, Alfin just decided to forget her attempt to even make sense of what is going on in her testimonies.

"Sigh. Just give me a pencil and a piece of paper so that I can be done with all of this without having a headache at the end." Alfin said to Illya.

"Okay! Here we go!" Ruby said as she created a piece of paper and a pencil right in front of her.

"Okay... Now I shall-" Alfin said before she got interrupted by the voice of someone.

"Illya! Onii-chan is telling you to get into the kitchen so that we can bring the lunch out here." Kuro said from the kitchen to her sister.

"Wah!? Oh no! I overstayed for too long! Sorry, but can you keep drawing? I would like to see your drawing or sketch or whatever. I'll bring lunch out soon." Illya said to Alfin as she quickly enters the kitchen.

Alfin looks as Illya's figure gone into the kitchen, looking at the paper on the table and the atmosphere around her. It was almost as if her inspiration got ignited as soon as when she grabbed the pencil and then quickly sketch on it. Slowly and surely, she believes that she can bring the whole atmosphere into a drawing. Weaving graphite into lines, soon the rough sketch itself became real.

In just a while later, Illya came out, holding a bowl of meat stew to the table. She decided to at least check on Alfin's drawing.

"Hey! Alfin, how did the drawing go-" Illya said before she got surprised by the rough sketch that Alfin drew.

"Oh, sorry. It didn't come to your expectations, right?" Alfin said as she felt a bit shortcoming.

"What! If this beautiful drawing here is just your rough sketch then I would be mindblown to see you drawing a full-fledged drawing." Illya said cheerfully after seeing Alfin's drawing.

The drawing was just simply her sitting on the chair with the tea set on the table. It is basically her in the dining hall, looking from a different perspective, but what really makes it special is that there is something in this drawing felt very melancholic, like a certain lack of something yet it is still whole regardless. If one thing can be said from this drawing though is that she can portray things from a different perspective without ever looking at said perspective. It is a skill that requires a great imagination to utilize in the first place.

"Oh! Can you call everyone else to join for lunch, we still have a lot to bring out in the kitchen and we made more than enough for everyone." Illya said with that cheerful tone of her.

"Okay. I shall carry it out then." Alfin said it happily as she stands up exit through the dining hall's door.

And so she carries out happily, with a feeling of satisfaction.

Meanwhile, back to Arnold's location

"Well, to think that I could easily sketch out so fast that I ended up having my rough sketch having its quality match up with painting. Oh well, I did volunteer to overwatch this place and so I will at least do it properly" Arnold mumbles to himself as he walks alongside the hallway.

Arnold looks through the window panes of the hotel that overlooks the lake, he doesn't have any much thing in his mind except basic communications and calculation and some 'here and there' memoirs that are loosely connected with each other. His mind is looking at the void in front of him, trying to figure out why does he get summoned, why he has nothing in his mind. Those burning questions his mind wanted to be resolved but he has nothing to resolve them.

While he is walking on the hallway aimlessly, he accidentally bumps into someone he knows well.

"Gah! I'm sorry for accidentally bump into you, Alfin." Arnold apologizes as both of them stumbles into the ground.

"It's okay, I was supposed to find you in the first place." Alfin also apologizes to him.

Alfin picks herself up before noticing a piece of yellowed paper that has a sketch on them. She takes a look at it and then smiles at him.

"Wow, to think that there is another person with artistic sense like me around here," Alfin said happily to him.

"Oh please, I am not that good at it and nobody ever likes it to begin with." Arnold said as he wanted to avert the attention that was just laid on him.

"If this is what you draw when you consider yourself bad then I am going to really fear to see it if you are confident," Alfin said enthusiastically as she gets to see another fellow artist.

Arnold doesn't even know how to follow up on the conversation he has with her and then he realized that he does have to announce a new person that he just found.

"Um, Alfin? I got something to say-" Arnold tried to speak to her until he realized someone familiar is right behind her. That same girl that he found from the trunk has just woken up and walking around the building.

"It was the same girl that I found in the trunk! When did she wake up!?" Arnold's thought begins to scream in panic as he started to sweat bullets.

"Arnold? You starting to sweat profusely. What's wrong?" Alfin started to get worried as she looks at the sweat that is dripping on his forehead.

"Uh, nothing?" Arnold said that in hope that she doesn't notice what's wrong. Unfortunately for him though, she turned back and see that little girl.

"Woah! She so cute!" Alfin said excitingly as she leaped towards that gothic little girl who was just standing in the hallway. The moment she got close, she quickly hugs her as tight as she humanely could.

Arnold just look there with a deadpan look, his expectation was completely knocked right off and thus he just sighed. He sighed for the fact that he has just worried over nothing.

"Oh boy, it seems like I will have a lot to explain to everyone." Arnold said as he braced himself for whatever to come.

And so afternoon came with everyone comes to the dining hall, where they will all discuss the matters at their hands.

A while later in the dining hall

The animosity air of the dining hall started to become stagnant just even a while later. Everyone looks at the blond gothic girl and then looking back at Arnold who is sitting next to her with an unamused expression except for Alfin who already takes a liking of her already.

"So... Who is she and where on earth did she come from?" Larry said to Arnold with an unamused stern voice.

"I know that all of you has a lot of question to ask and some of you may find her suspicious. But please, let me explains first." Arnold said to everyone else at the dining table.

Everyone looks at him, expecting a satisfactory answer.

"First, I don't even know who she is. I simply found her in the trunk that I brought along from the third wall. You did found her the same time as me, right?" Arnold explained and then directs towards Kiritsugu.

"Yeah, I was expecting some sort of traps but the only thing I find in there was just her, unconscious but still alive regardless," Kiritsugu said.

"Okay then, how would you explain why you didn't notice her being a Servant?!" Shirou Emiya said to Arnold.

"Huh? What?" Arnold is completely out of the loop, Servants supposed to detect other Servants?

"To be fair, considering a large amount of Servant concentrated in this area. It is really easy to mistake other presence to others. The only reason I could detect in the first place is that I scan the Servants around our Master's surroundings and find out that except for Pierce and Gudao, everyone else has a detectable Spirit Origin and thus I decided to conclude her to be a Servant. There are simply no other answers" Da Vinci's hologram shone beside Gudao as she said.

"That's strange to me, too. Being an Assassin, I could easily tell the difference in the aura between different kinds of Servants. But she somehow managed to slip past my senses and thus I just consider her to be a normal person. That was when the three of us were nearby each other. The only way this could happen is that her aura was extremely identical to Arnold." Kiritsugu said to his son.

"Okay... Are all of you going to accuse me of being like a mastermind of some sorts when my knowledge of what is going on is just a bare zero?" Arnold said as he felt that for each second pass, more people will just point their fingers at him.

"So does she have a name? What are her abilities?" Desmond asks Arnold to see if he knew anything first.

"Look, I am as much of braindead when it comes to her. I have only known her for like what? 20 minutes? IF anything, we should hear it from her directly." Arnold said as if he is given a fool's errand.

Everyone then looks at her, expecting her to answer. What they didn't expect though is that she actually willingly answer it without anyone force her to.

"My name is Alice, or whatever you wanted to call. I am indeed a Servant and I am not going to deny it." The blonde gothic girl answers it with assurance.

"That was... fast." Even Kuro got surprised by how cooperative she is.

"So, we can call you 'Alice'?" Gudao asks her again just to be sure.

She simply nodded, and just in a sudden. All of the animosity in the atmosphere before has gone instantly. Everyone simply returns back to having lunch much like before.

"Having another Servant joining the party is great. But how well would she fare since she got thrown in a trunk and unable to get out in the first place." Desmond thought as he felt something doesn't quite add up.

"Dude, I don't think she got thrown in the trunk is because she was forced to. I don't quite believe that a Servant would get stuck in a trunk in the first place." Larry sends his thought telepathically to Desmond.

And so the afternoon when by, without a single incident happened.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Ingenuity Combine

"._.""._.""._."

---

Late Afternoon, in a large storage room within the hotel

"Okay, I got everything readied for my workshop." Richard said as he stands proudly in front of the new makeshift workshop he built with anything that is still available.

The reason he built a workshop here is that considering everyone will remain here for about two or three days, he decided to go to take a look at Pierce's armament so that he can assess what he should do right now.

"First, the escalating enemies' firepower. He can do fine against Azure Soldier but against a Servant and he will be dead in an instant. The best thing he could do is to stay low profile and not drawing too much attention." Richard thought as he looks at the Widow Maker.

"This drum mag, I have obviously thought that increased ammo capacity is a good thing but now, with enemy Servants taking the frontline more and more, it just doesn't make sense to use it anymore since its size prevents Pierce from able to go prone. Now, what do I replace it with..." Richard thought as he analyzes.

"Hey, is anyone here?" Alfin spoke as she peeks through the storage door.

"Oh, why do you come here?" Richard replied as he looks at Alfin entering through the door.

"You see, I was wondering where did you go since I have something to ask you of. And then I noticed that I didn't find out about this room until now, silly me right?" Alfin said while she felt a little embarrassed.

"What do you want to ask?" Richard sighed as he wanted to get to helping with his Master as soon as he can.

"You know... Your Noble Phantasm that you used against that mechanical robot? I wanted to see if I can create a weapon after it!" Alfin said what she wanted.

"Out of all the things you wanted to be your weapon, you chose my greatly outdated invention?! Sorry but if that is the case then I am going to carry on doing what I needed, that will be waiting." Richard then turns away from her then moving forward to his workbench.

"Wait! What if I help you resolving whatever matter you need to do then can I join in?" Alfin quickly trying to persuade him from dropping her off.

Richard stopped in his track, he decided that if it is going to make short work of his job then he at least try. If he doesn't have the solution then somebody else might have.

"Are you sure you wanted to join?" Richard asks her again to check again.

"Yeah! Just tell me what it is then I will try my best to do so!" Alfin tried to act more cheerful to convince him.

"Fine then, tell me if you know how to increase this weapon ammo capacity while not hindering my Master's ability to change his stance." Richard then takes her to the workbench to see if she know how to fix it.

Alfin looks at it for a moment, and then she started to chuckle and then laughs.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me that you lost your mind?!" Richard said in confusion as he didn't expect such a turn of emotion.

"Sorry, but I didn't expect you to get into trouble with this kind of stuff but I guess it is really understandable after all." Alfin said while trying to calm herself down from the laughing fit she just made herself in.

"So how do you intend to address this issue?" Richard said as he waited for Alfin to give her answer.

"Easy but I hope that your Master can accept carrying more weight than usual," Alfin said as she doesn't want any repercussion for giving her answer.

"Whatever, my Master is a soldier and one with high rank at that although it most likely doesn't matter anymore. If carrying extra weights would be able to save his life then so be it." Richard said as he accepted whatever consequences may happen.

"Okay then, I shall do it." Alfin said as she grabbed the tools on the workbench for herself and then started to tinker with the gun.

Richard looks intently, worrying that she might be going to screw something up considering that he is the one that knows how to install mana circuits properly.

Before he realizes it, she quickly said to him.

"Done!" Alfin said as she quickly closes the gun's newly installed chamber cover.

Richard looks at the remade gun and sees a bullet belt linked straight into the gun. He didn't quite catch it at first so he asked her curiously.

"Uhm... What change did you make for the gun?" Richard asked for he didn't see the inner mechanism of the gun yet.

"Oh you silly, it is one of the most important facets of any modern machine gun. Belt fed mechanism!" Alfin said with satisfaction.

Richard stood there for a while, thinking of what Alfin just said and then it just dawned on him like.

"Oh... OH!" Richard said as he held his head to prevent himself from mindblowing of just how simple the solution is.

And soon, both of them laughed at each other and that is just how they got on each other terms really quick.

"Haha, I did my part of promises so you would better do your part too!" Alfin said as she tried to calm her laughter.

"Haha, fine. Shall we join forces then?" Richard said as he calmed his laughter down.

"Yeah, the path ahead of us will be thorny and we will have to discard any discrimination should we wish to reach there." Alfin said cheerfully.

And so the two genius joined forces together. And whatever they create will surely stand up to the test that they will face.

Words of God: For this part, play Zero no Kiseki - Gleam of Septium

Meanwhile, at Gudao's room

"Da Vinci, look for the name 'Larry' in the database for any results," Gudao said through his telecom.

"Okay, I shall call all of our knowledgable Servants to check through the database" Da Vinci said through the telecom to her Master.

The call soon cut off after that, Gudao just lies there on his bed, thinking of what to come. All those 6 Lostbelts that he has to go through, all of them were no short of torturous at all. Sacrifices were made and there were so many times that the situation was so hopeless that he genuinely wishes that he was dead instead. But he made through all of them regardless with no Chaldean casualties so far.

And comparing them to this Singularity, it is like comparing Dark Soul to some random kid's game. The differences are huge like the gap between heaven and earth.

Gudao lies there while looking at the rainy sky through the window. It soothes his soul for a bit but it can't remove his fear of where Chaldea's future will be headed for. Especially if the world can still return to normal after destroying all of the Lostbelts and defeat the masterminds behind them, there is no doubt that Chaldea will be hunted to its very destruction by the Mage Association. Now that he thinks about it, being lenient to them is part of a reason why Chaldea is also deep in this mess in the first place.

"This is nothing short of a temporary vacation during this tireless journey," Gudao whispers silently to himself, for nobody else to hear at all.

Somebody entering his room, he didn't find it surprising at all for it was his Servants entering. To said precisely, it was Kiritsugu and Irisviel.

"Master, can't we have the permission to go scouting the outside area and built a perimeter in case of any enemy going near us," Kiritsugu asks his Master.

Gudao just simply gives the green light for the two of them. Those two are known to be the 'asspull' for they managed to break out of impossible situations with their sheer skills combined. If they are together then nothing short of the Type would kill them. That is just to show how much faith does Gudao put on both of them

"You two can do whatever you two wanted, I have nothing against at all. Just leave me alone for now." Gudao said in a tired manner.

Both of them exit the room but also hesitantly look back before doing so, both of them do worry about their Master's well being but they have no way of how to help him and so they decided to proceed on what they intended to in the first place.

Their figures soon disappeared from Gudao's sight, carrying on the duty they intended.

Back to Richard's workshop

As the sun went down and the night approaches, the tireless working in Richard's workshop can be heard even if no one is nearby it at all. On the inside, the workshop is strewn with parts and scraps everywhere one can see. Some failed working prototypes were discarded in a bin, waiting to be recycled.

"It was one thing to improve a weapon, but to create something new from scratches even if it was a concept is an entirely different matter," Richard said as he started to get tired from repeating failure.

"What attempt was this? 125th? I don't even know anymore..." Alfin said as her own hands have gotten dirty with the grease and oil.

They have already forged many guns created from their collaboration but none of them works as intended. They used their own mana in order to alchemize steel for experimental purpose but after failing this much, they started to felt the real impact of mana exhaustion. Their attempt to combine belt-fed mechanism with the Gatling gun to create something different so far doesn't bear much fruit at all.

The workshop's door opened and a figure peeking inside. It was Larry and he was surprised to see how much things changed.

"Damn, this room was just a storage room in the morning before and now you two turned into your personal playground?!" Larry said as he found this radical change was surprising.

"Sorry for making such a mess but why are you here?" Richard apologizes as he speaks to Larry.

"I tried to find Desmond but he was nowhere to be found and so I just started to search for him and then I came across this room," Larry explained.

"Came across is a hard word when considering what we just did hours ago. I would say that you were led to this place." Alfin said to Larry with a deadpan expression.

"Sigh, anyway. What are you two doing here?" Larry asked after he sighed as he got roped in whatever they do.

"You know, we just learn that combining two concepts with each other isn't a simple job as it sounds," Alfin said in disappointment at herself.

"I see then," Larry said as he checked the bin full of discarded failure prototype. And that is when he suddenly laughed, that reaction definitely tell that he knew a solution and that he actually finds it amusing that someone spent this much effort for something like this.

"That laugh is either you sneering at us for making such a ludicrous attempt on this or you have a solution in your mind," Richard said as he keeps hearing Larry's laughter.

After a while, Larry calmed down and then agree to join with their projects.

"Haha, two weaponsmiths can't even combine their effort for something this simple? I admit that I may have pre-existing knowledge of how to combine them but if it is going to help me having less burden of carrying everyone else's weight then I shall join force too. Desmond can wait, that guy has enough common senses to not doing anything rashly at a time like this." Larry said as he gives his approval of joining the other two.

The three combined their knowledge together. Even if they were people of different origins, by discarding any doubt or uncertainty of each other, their teamwork will surely give birth to a weapon that will easily turn the tide at the most needed time.

Meanwhile, in Kiritsugu and Iri's location

"Okay, all done," Kiritsugu said as he checked the entire perimeter of half a kilometer surrounding the hotel where everyone is held up.

After that, both of them proceed to create a Bounded Field with the radius of said 500 meters. Any larger would create unnecessary alarm and any smaller would make it difficult to retaliate should there is a threat that is after them.

*sigh*"You know, Iri... There is something about this that doesn't quite add up to me." Kiritsugu said to his wife

"What makes you think so?" Irisviel asks her husband.

"That little girl which Arnold found in the trunk, there is no doubt that she is a Servant. But there is something very strange about her. There is a dominating aura surrounding her, one that easily trumps even the divine Servant." Kiritsugu said.

"And?" Iri asks for more.

"Think about this. This is 1950 and there is a goddamn satellite on the sky above us that would annihilate any Servant with Spirit Origin year of 1900 and below. Her origin and identity is a complete mystery and the fact that she got trapped in a trunk is also absurd in the first place." Kiritsugu said as he started to get more annoyed.

Iri stood there, seeing the attitude of her husband. While there are many mysteries shrouding her, she believes that everyone should be at least given a chance. That is what Chaldea is, to give everyone a second chance to redo or reattempt what they failed back when they were alive.

"Kiri, think about this carefully. This is also 1950 but the Third Reich is still going strong, there are still many unresolved variables and this is also a time of great advancement of many fields of technology. Who couldn't say that the Reich managed to find a way to subdue her to great extent and leave her in such a lethargic state until now." Iri gives her refutation.

"If that is the case, she should be in Berlin, not here!" Kiri started to argue with his wife.

"Oh please! If nobody has given you a chance and tolerate you when you would start out, you would have been ditched back to the throne!" Iri begins to argue back despite her great temperance.

Both of them started to argue with each other. Things started to heat up until somebody unexpected intervenes

"You two go out here just to argue with each other? I know that married couples need to have some empty place to argue with each other without annoying others in the first place. But, from what you two arguing about, it is about that little girl you two found in the trunk, right?" Desmond said as he steps out from the shadow.

"And what are you doing here following us? Don't tell me you try to snitch on us!?" Kiritsugu raised his voice at Desmond.

"No... It is not even about you two at all. I saw you two sneaking out from the window and thus I decided to follow you two too, considering that you two could have just gone out from the front door and no one would bat an eye on you two." Desmond said calmly at Kiritsugu.

"And you are speaking about her right now because?" Iri asks the medic himself.

"You know, she reminds me of the time back when I was alive, back at the time when I was starting at the military. I got frown upon by many others for my religious beliefs and believe me, they have done all they could to make my life a living hell. All of that just because I said I refused to bear arms because I swore to myself to not kill anybody at all. Sounds ridiculous, right?" Desmond said as he reminiscences on the old time.

"And what does she exactly remind you of?" Kiritsugu takes his turn to asks the medic.

"The reaction of the majority of people here acts towards her is a parallel to what I was treated until my feat of the battle of Okinawa. People only look at the external of others and then deeming them that way. People only want to hear what they wanted to be right, wanted whatever they believed to be true until the actual truth slapped them on the face and there is still the denial going on. All I wanted to say here is that we should treat her like one of us, a brother uh- sister in arm. Innocent until proven guilty, am I right?" Desmond said as he wanted to persuade the couple.

Kiritsugu went silent, he thinks hard about what Desmond just said and remembers about the early hour of his being an ass to everyone he saw.

"Fine. I shall give her a chance to prove herself. If I managed to catch her doing anything conspicuous, I shall then do what I must." Kiritsugu said as started to carry his wife on his back and retreated back to the hotel.

Desmond stood there, seeing the figure of the couple moving away from him. He is a bit glad that he managed to persuade both of them without a problem. Feeling satisfied, he soon moving along, back to the hotel along with them.

Back to Gudao's room

"I am very sorry to say but there is nothing that the word 'Larry' actually guided us anything in our WW2 records." Da Vinci said.

"Understood, guess I just have to put an eye on him for now," Gudao said before he turns off the comm again.

He then just lying on the bed, gazing at the window and looks at the raining outside. The dimming light of the mana lamp doesn't help the atmosphere one bit at all.

"Master..." Shirou said as he peeked from the doorway.

"Archer, do you have anything to say?" Gudao asked his Servant.

"No, nothing. It just, I have a nagging feeling that something is observing us, something unseen at a different plane of existence. Something that is threading our fate, one by one. Of course, I might just be too much of a paranoid due to the stress I went through and the lack of rest might have contributed to that." Shirou said to his Master.

"Look, if this is the first time I heard of this, I would have been paranoid too. But Chaldea literally has the vessels of Elder Gods literally fighting along with us, Culthulu, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep... If it weren't for my literally first encounter being far long ago, I wouldn't have found all of this saying of your just sounds tame to me. I don't know if the idea of getting used to the Outer Elder God is a good idea or not." Gudao said as he remembered how much of a spitting image their vessels and themselves actually are.

"Those Foreigners? They are a bunch of weirdoes but amicable enough nonetheless. They also helped us pulled through some of the critical situations in Lostbelt so we actually are thankful for them." Shirou said as he shudders the thought itself.

And so the time went on as the two of them converse with each other, showing how much trust there is between the two of them.

Back to Arnold's room

*sigh*"Just why is there a girl in that trunk, why is there a voice that guided me to pick her up..." Arnold thought as he lies on the bed.

The late-night has already approached, the dinner was great and satisfying and it was no doubt that Shirou's culinary skill easily reached the realm of god itself. Also, according to Chaldea's Master. They were given mana lamps so that they won't have to stumble around the dark or uses their abilities and thus he has one sitting on the table next to the bed as it illuminates the whole room with its light.

"Arnold..." The voice of a little girl was said.

Arnold turned around and saw Alice standing by the doorway while looking at him. She approaches him and jumped onto his bed

"Woah! What are you doing!?" Arnold exclaimed as he felt uncomfortable having a little girl trying to sleep with him.

"What? I just thought it would be fine to sleep with a person who saved me, right?" Alice said with a calm voice.

"I mean... There is a ton of spare room and you just have to go pick mine!?" Arnold tried to convince her to get out of his room.

After a long while of his futile attempt to convince Alice to go to another room and not sleeping at his, Arnold yielded and decided that whatever happens, happens. He lies there, gazing at the ceiling while Alice held him tightly. He thought to himself, thinking about how there are so many people who are far stronger than him. He is not strong enough like those fighters, not smart enough like the tacticians that turned the tide of the war, not fast enough to outrun disasters, not enduring enough to withstand all sufferings. Arnold felt his eyes went dimmer more and more until he closes his eyelids and let his thoughts to flow wherever it might take him. And so he begins his first journey into the earliest memory, the one of his own partner in crime.

---

"._.""._.""._."

A Glimpse into One's Past
Scar of Adolescene

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---

He opened his eyes and sees the scenery around him, it was a complete far cry of all of his previous one, it wasn't raining although the clouds still completely covered the sky. There are actually healthy trees and greenery around in contrary to the decay of the battlefield of the previous two.

Completely baffled, is this perhaps... his chance to finally have a clue to his adolescence?

He decided to at least discern where this place is, he is standing on a dirt road and there are wheat fields to by the two sides of the dirt road itself. This is either a rural village or just an agricultural town. Right now, he is standing beneath a tree with its shade drop on him.

"Damn, I need to find a town to see where this place is-" Arnold thought until he caught his eyes on a certain someone, someone that he is extremely familiar with.

The footsteps keep approaching as he heard it clearly, he was in surprise as he can't mistake that dazzling blond hair for anyone else, it was Alfin but seems really young.

"Alfin!" Arnold said as he quickly tried to grab her.

Unfortunately, the moment he thought he is finally able to grab her, his hand completely swift through her, almost as if he was intangible in the first place. His words went to the deaf ears as he tried to get her attention. Soon, he came to the realization that this is might not be his early day but rather it was someone else, Alfin.

"Dear Lord, I am like a ghost, I exist but simultaneously not. I am just a spectator in this fragmented memoir." Arnold mumbled as he looked at his own hand.

Alfin's figure begins to disappear from his sight, he realized that he shouldn't keep staying here any longer. If this memory ain't belong to him then he should at least checking what happened to her in the past.

"Damn it, I need to find more information. But why did I suddenly having her memory in my mind!?" Arnold said to himself as he quickly follows her.

A while later, the dirt roads ended and replaced with gravel paved road, this means that a town is nearby. Even then, it wasn't as bustling as he thought it would, there just only some 'here and there' carts that were parked and market stands that is devoid of any customer.

"Damn, I know that earlier towns aren't anything I would call rich but this is just even worse than how I thought," Arnold said as he looked around the town while following Alfin.

He keeps following around for a while until he saw her entering a building, it was a considerably large enough building compares to the surrounding with a small court in it. When he tried to approach, the gate was shut quickly and then locked. He checked the sign to see what this place is and where exactly and he was soon disappointed to see that the only thing that is eligible enough to read on the sign was 'school'.

"Wait, if I am a ghost, a phantom in this world then why should I be stopped by a gate?" Arnold thought to himself as he realized.

He then just waltz into the school grounds without problems, it also seems that the guard didn't even detect what is wrong at all.

"Haha, time to check how she is doing in this school." Arnold chuckled as he enters the school for himself.

He soon entered the door, common sense told him that it would be obviously a place of teaching since that is what school is for and it can't be anything else. But the moment he entered inside a class did he realized just how much was he wrong.

From what he is hearing, there isn't a single thing that is actually teaching at all, it is just pure indoctrination, preaching of the divine. He now realized why the church and school had to be separated from each other in the first place.

And he is seeing her, sitting on the corner of the room, staring down to the table. There aren't many kids here at all, like 14 or 15 at best. The teacher is a landwhale whose voice would make people go deaf just by how horrendous it is. All of this isn't teaching, this is torture on one's mind and the fact that she went through all of this goes to show just how shit this world is to her.

"You there! Do you hear what I am saying!" The landwhale of a teach direct her attention to the younger Alfin. A shiver went through Arnold's spine as he fears what might be going to happen to her.

The landwhale grabbed Alfin by her hair and pulled her directly to the front of the class. Arnold became silence as he is witnessing humanity's worse right in front of him. He wanted to do something but what can a ghost do if it can't even interact with physical objects!?

"Repeat what I said! NOW!" The landwhale screaming to the top of its throat directly into Alfin. The fact that someone like that cunt allowed to be a teacher proved that humanity might as well not allowed to be alive.

"I-" Before Alfin is able to say anything, the landwhale gives her another jaw-dislocating slap right on her face. Arnold felt his heart is wrenching in pain and shame as his hands are tied and unable to do anything at all.

He felt truly powerless, unable to do anything for her. All he can do was to see the 'teacher' beating down on her, to make her suffer as much as that cunt could possibly be done. He didn't know how much time passed at all, he has already lost track too long ago, he watches her as she getting beaten down by the landwhale that spectacularly failed the duty of a teacher.

After the landwhale got bored with beating her, the cunt grabbed her by the hair again and throw her at her desk, leaving her a sobbing mess there for all who cares. Arnold clenched his fist. He hated to see such a thing like this to unfold right in front of him, he truly hated himself for being too powerless to do something about this.

And soon the landwhale keeps spewing crap of religions while leaving younger Alfin in a state of completely broken. There has to be a limit to how heartless one can be and this just shows to him how wrong he was.

"Please tell me that her parents did do something about this, please." Arnold thought to himself.

For who knows how long it took, the school bell finally rang and the landwhale who was in the mid of spewing its crap suddenly stop and then just walks out of the room like nothing happened. The other students also leave, leaving Alfin lying on the floor while doused in her own tears.

She picked herself up and grabbed her bag and then exit the room, Arnold decided that he should at least follow her around for this time, just hope that it isn't a cycle of torment that stretches for her entire adolescence.

Through the derelict road they go through again, this time around, Arnold saw something surprising. A white dove landing on her hand and it seems to speak something to her, Alfin seems to understand it and said.

"Yeah, please check out more for me then," Alfin said with a sad and tired tone.

The white dove flew away, as she keeps walking on the dirt road. Arnold takes into account the fact that she can actually genuinely understand animals at her age is a wonder itself.

Both of them keep walking until they entered another town, to say that it is rundown is a great underestimation. They do seem to have light at least but that is probably the only virtue they had. They walked for a while and unaware of each other. Arnold felt that this isn't the end of this ordeal yet.

"Woof! Woof!" A German Shephard running for her while wagging its tail at her. It quickly jumps at her and licking her face.

"Woah! Stop there, don't lick my face like that!" Alfin said with genuine happiness. Perhaps that is the first time she is actually being happy after went through the hell that is called her 'school'. It baffles him that it takes him this long to finally see a single good thing this far and perhaps this is the only good thing in this entire day.

She then puts her dog back on the ground and then entering her home, Arnold's mood suddenly turned sour as he felt extreme malice coming out of it.

"That is her home!? Out of everything her house has to be, it has to be 9th circle of hell!?" Arnold thought to himself as the malice started to unnerve him.

He looks at her as she entering it, he felt something bad is only bound to happen. Not that he remaining outside would do anything good and thus he decided to enter the house for himself.

It didn't even take even more than half an hour that her own beatdown continued, if it isn't going to be her piece of shit of a teacher then it has to be her own father. The man with a large figure, one that signifies his authority in this household and that he makes the rule of this house himself.

"That bastard! How can he do this to his own blood and flesh!?" Arnold thought as he is seeing that man whipping his daughter with a belt. All of this infuriating him to no end, that bastard of a father abusing his daughter for not taking in those indoctrinations, no kid should ever be forced to went through this hell themselves.

"Please! Stop!" A woman raising her voice, trying to stop the man from whipping his daughter.

"SHUT UP!" The man yelled at her and then pushes her away.

Arnold for the first time feeling extremely disgusted at how there is no one trying to stop this madness from going on. Disciplinary? No, this is just straight-up abusement. All of this makes him beg the question of why there is a limit to compassion and kindness yet letting this kind of 'behavior' to go deeper than the abyss itself.

The woman quickly tried to shield Alfin from the ceaseless barrage of whiplash, the man saw that as disobedience and quickly lashing out two of them harder. After a while, the man then angrily leaving the room, leaving the two of them completely bruised from top to toe.

"Don't worry, my sweetheart. Mother is here to protect you." The woman tried to calm her daughter down while Alfin is sobbing from the pain that is agonizing her.

"Mother, why? Why does Father have to hurt me?" Alfin tried to speak through the pain that is coursing through her body.

Alfin's mother became silent, she didn't want to see her daughter suffer through this. But she was bound by the 'tradition' and thus her hand is tied as much as Alfin herself.

Alfin then tried to weep the tears from her face and then picking herself up although it was a painful process itself. She then moves upstair into the attic while mumbles the word "Why?". This very moment forever burned into Arnold's memory as it forever representing the worst of worst presenting in each human.

Arnold then follows her, when he sees the attic himself, he can hardly believe that this is where she spends the rest of her day. It is dusty, dark and the only thing that is illuminating the place is a dim-lit oil lamp. A small table that has a stack of religious books on it, he can tell there is the Old Testament in there but some of its section has been rotted to the point of unreadable.

And her 'bed', it is just a bunch of empty potato sacks placed on top of each other into a pile, the blanket is just a rag that is loosely patched with each other. She sits on her 'bed' as she sits there and weeps, wondering why does she have to be treated like this for not taking in the stuff that is being forced down her throat. She keeps weeping until she felt exhausted, he didn't even know how much time has passed away until she has fallen asleep. But he knew something for sure though, he can't keep staying in this place anymore if he still values his sanity.

The light of the oil lamp soon snuffed out. Everything turned into the pitch black and can't be discerned anymore. His vision fell into the void as he can't feel himself. Feeling like a piece of consciousness flowing in the abyss. And so the fragments of this memory came into an end.

---

"._.""._.""._."

Howling Wind

"._.""._.""._."

---

Arnold woke up in cold sweat after observing that memory, to think that is what Alfin's childhood makes his own spine shivers in anxiety. Soon, he realized something went amiss.

"Wait... Where is she!? Alice! Where are you!" Arnold said as his instinct pushes him forward.

"I'm here... Why are you getting worried about me all of a sudden?" A calm familiar voice said to Arnold.

Arnold then looks at where the chair is situated and that is where she is, looking at him with a calm demeanor. He then realizes that it is daybreak already, the rain outside has fall ceaselessly throughout all of the time so it doesn't really light up that much at all.

"When did you wake up?" Arnold asks the little girl with worry.

"Just a while ago, I just feel that I should seat on this chair and observing you, that is all there is to this." She said with a calm tone that is so different to the situation right now.

"Sorry, it just... I was so paranoid about what would happen if I just lose sight of you right now." Arnold said in worry.

"Oh, I didn't think I would be your type, huh?" Alice teases the man in front of her.

"If you mean romantic affection then no. All of this is just as a matter of manpower and firepower. There is nothing more to any of this at all." Arnold said with an annoyed expression as he doesn't find this to be the time to be all fun and dandy.

Arnold then walks out of the room, although he just said he doesn't want to lose sight of her. If experience has told him anything at all, it would definitely tell him that there can't ever be one day without any sort of conflict brew up. Something is definitely going to happen today and it will come whether or not. Even so, he definitely needs to meet with a certain person that has no doubt has a great impact on him until now, Alfin. Plus, there is about that

And so wandering on the lonely hallway, he seeks someone that would at least know where she is. Or at least could giving him a hint since he doesn't want to wander the hotel like an idiot.

Well, as fate would have it, Desmond literally just went into his line of sight the moment he thinks about asking someone.

"Hey, have you seen Alfin anywhere?" Arnold asked the medic.

"Her? Well, I haven't seen her this morning or early of it in fact. Although I got the misfortune of choosing the room that is literally underneath Richard's workshop which is on the third floor. I don't know what he is doing but the metal grinding which went on the whole night almost got on my nerve." Desmond told Arnold about what happened last night.

He then proceeds to move to the room, if he isn't able to find Alfin, he would at least know what is going on there right now. Soon enough, he found a door with a decayed sign said 'Storage' which is barely eligible to read. He then enters the room and saw the trio proudly scrub up their project.

"Alfin! What happened here?" Arnold said as he was happy to find her here but also curious about what is going on since the trio consisting here is oddly suspicious, he could understand if Alfin and Richard are here but Larry? That is just begging the question.

"Oh! We're here to prototype an entirely new weapon, built from the concepts that two of us have for ourselves and refined by Larry, the man himself. Behold, the birthchild of our ingenuity!" Alfin said as she shows the gun for him.

The gun is definitely bigger than the infantry-issued machine gun but not as large or unwieldy as the stationary and heavy type. It is a multibarreled machine gun that has some similarities to Richard's Gatling gun, it has a handgrip and foregrip and even stock. There is also the ammo counter wheel built into the side of the gun itself.

"It is cool, I guess? Can you please explain what this thing is in detail?" Arnold asks Alfin.

"Glad to see that you are interested. This machine gun is multibarreled, electrically operated with six barrels and bolts with rotating bolt heads with dual locking surfaces. Its feeding mechanism is operated by gears driven feeder slash delinker with two-piece hinged hatch with our self-invented disintegrating links, The firing rate of this weapon can be changed from 600 RPM to the colossal 6000 RPM!" Alfin explaining the weapon with great enthusiasm.

Arnold got overwhelmed by the details involving this weapon but he also felt that he should listen to more of it.

"This thing fires 12.7x99mm high explosive incendiary high-velocity armor piercer, mana boosted, of course. Giving it the ability to shred through flesh and metal with ease." Larry said as he held the bullet that is used for this weapon in front of Arnold which baffles Arnold by a great degree. A 7.92mm is already considered big to him already. 12.7mm and automatic? Forget even about soldiers, not even armor would withstand such tremendous firepower. This thing will eat its enemies and its ammo like a goddamn woodchipper with logs in it.

"So, how do you intend to feed bullets into this thing if it will just eat a thousand of bullets within a matter of seconds?" Arnold asks for more detail involving this weapon.

"And here is how we resolve that problem, ta-da!" Alfin said as she presents him an ammo box that is attached to a belt of sorts.

Arnold presumed it to be an ammo box and didn't think of anything special about it until she opened the ammo box herself.

"What?!" Arnold said in surprise as the ammo box itself isn't even an ammo box, this thing is a personnel-carrying ammunition manufacturer. He felt his head started to ache when he tried to grasp the concepts of this thing himself.

"You see, this thing will create ammo by siphoning the closest surrounding mana source in the area of 3 meters around it and then using said mana to create bullets belt for the prementioned machine gun. Not only that, when you connect the bullets belt into the gun, the 'ammo box' will automatically recalibrate the ammo counter on this gun. The number will correspond to the amount of bullet which it can create with the mana surrounding, including you." Alfin said in enthusiasm as she started to put the 'ammo box' at the back of his waist, connecting the belt into the machine gun as the counter wheels started to spin into the corresponded number. She then gives the gun to Arnold so that he can feel it himself.

"15636..." Arnold reads the number on the wheels out loud, there are 6 wheels on the ammo counter and he honestly can't think of anyone with enough mana this thing reach 6 digits in the first place.

"Hmm... Decent enough, I guess? It is my turn to see then..." Alfin said to her partner and then takes off the ammo box and wore the thing behind her waist.

The number on this gun jumps up tremendously, the counter now gives the amount of bullet it has is 85214, significantly higher than him. Arnold felt a bit ashamed that a little girl has mana level higher than him by nearly sixfold.

"Don't worry about it, Arnold. If there is anything that can endure this thing's firepower, that thing must be either a god itself or something that this world can't even handle in the first place." Alfin tried to reassure her partner.

*sigh*"Anyway, do you have a name for this thing? I mean, you can't honestly keep calling it as 'the gun', can't you?" Arnold said as he picked up the pieces of the shattered pride that he didn't even know he has.

"Well, we were about to do so but there are so many things that we honestly disagree with each other about its name," Alfin said to Arnold.

"I intended to name the thing as Meat Grinder since staying its line of fire alone would turn you into minced meat in less than a matter of seconds. I gave that name because previously Richard decided to name the thing as Portable Gatling and who on earth would give it such a generic name like that!?" Larry said while expressing his opinion, Richard then stares at Larry unamused.

"Well, I intended to name the thing as Last Paradise but it just sounds way too melancholic and unrelated that I decided to discard it away," Alfin said as she frowned.

"So... You decided to choose me to name the thing?" Arnold asks everyone around and all of them give him the nod.

"Hmm, six barrels, rapid-fire, large-caliber explosive cartridge, what should I give this thing?" Arnold thought as he looks into the gun and then something else caught his attention.

"Hey, what is that revolver on your holster?" Arnold asked Richard.

"This? This is a side project that I made for myself. Consider this thing like a magnum that uses .44 remote detonation explosive cartridges, I call it the HE Anaconda." Richard said proudly as he presented the revolver for everyone else to see, it has the appearance of a Colt SAA revolver but with some changes that can be noticed.

"I see, so then this machine gun should be called. Final Conda. It is like a large snake that devours preys that can be far bigger than them. This thing is a threat to be reckoned by anyone that has seen its firepower." Arnold said as he stapled the name onto the gun.

Everyone seems to agree, it did fit the very definition of this gun after all. A weapon of mass destruction in the size of a carriable machine gun. And so they declared the official name of the weapon.

"Now that we are done with the naming of this weapon, I shall then move on to the final step, giving you the Final Conda," Alfin said as she hands over the gun to Arnold.

"Wait, what!? This thing is your literal blood and sweats, how can you just give it to me so easily like that!?" Arnold said to Alfin as holding the Final Conda.

"Oh you silly, my ability would have allowed me to recreate as many of those as long as I still remember all of the inner mechanisms of the weapon itself. I just think that it is better if you held onto it yourself." Alfin said to Arnold with a mischievous smile.

Arnold sighed, there is no arguing with her at all. It is powerful, there is no doubt about that but how on earth would he lugs the damn thing around the battlefield at high speed?! He then exits the room while letting the gun hanging at his back. If this thing somehow imprinted into his armory then he would just fall laughing because of the irony.

"Hey, there you are! We received an alarm that someone has crossed over the Bounded Field." Shirou quickly caught Arnold at the back as he speaks of the predicament that they are about to get in.

"Wait!? Who!?" Arnold suddenly got confused about how fast things just go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds.

The wall nearby them exploded, it seems that the enemy is closing on them already.

"Shit, I have to act now. See you on the battlefield." Shirou said as he leaped out of the hotel through that gaping hole from before.

Arnold looks at the outside and seeing the chaos already unfolded. His fist clenched and he muttered his breath, he held onto his conviction and joined the fray along with everyone else. Whoever is this enemy they have to fight against, it is clear that it will not be a laughing matter anymore.

And so the new battle has just begun.