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

24. Return to Zero

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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Final Chapter: Return to Zero

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Words of God: For this part play World of Scattering Flowers - Bravely Default

Arnold stood there... He was trying to reach out to Alice who is attempting to erase herself away. Not accepting such a sad fate, he tried everything he could to save her, and now... here he is... Standing in a world that is painted only with pure white emptiness as far as he could perceive. He couldn't tell where is where or what is what, all he felt is how... empty... this place really is.

"Where is this place?..." Arnold wonders where he is as he looked around the atmosphere although there mostly exists of just nothingness.

And then he realized what has just happened. His mind suddenly went white as he reached toward the realization.

"Everyone? Where's everyone?!" Arnold shouted as he quickly runs around searching for anyone but found absolutely no other soul but him.

As his footsteps causing ripples across the ethereal nothingness, he doesn't even know if he made any real progress at all for the only thing is just the void itself. He soon gives up searching in this futile way and just stands there... thinking of what he should even do.

"So... I must have died... Can't believe that this was how I ended..." Arnold said with resignment as he couldn't think of any better solution for this predicament.

As he continues to take a stroll and feels as if the void itself is just a puddle that stretches for vast eternity while droplets of heaven falling from the zenith above giving this place a melancholic feeling.

"This is definitely not a normal place... But strange... I don't feel any sense of anxiety or fear. In fact... I am actually at peace..." Arnold said as he continues to stroll around the void.

Suddenly, he saw something that completely stood out in the distance. It was a wooden door, one that belongs to an apartment building if he guesses it correctly. As his curiosity got the best of him, he approaches the door and opened it. An overwhelmingly bright light came flooding as his vision was immediately blinded by it. Soon after he managed to recover his vision, he found himself in a different place than before.

He is now in a small room of sorts with a person hunched over a bench that overlooks the area outside through the window. That person seems to be focused entirely on what they are doing that they don't notice him.

Arnold looked around and saw the place is just barely accommodating at best. A simple wooden bed with a mattress, a shelf that contains books of all kinds. A suitcase that contains his clothes which are scattered across the bed.

He wonders why he is at a place like this, there is no such thing in his memory indicating things like these at all.

Fearing that he may accidentally trigger something horrible, he slowly approaches the man who is focusing on his work to see if he could inquire a few things or not. And when he looks at the calendar on the desk did he realized something doesn't feel right at all. The man turned around from noticing the presence behind as both of their faces turned white in shock.

It was Hitler! But what truly makes it shocking is the supposed date itself. It points at February 1950 which is 5 years after his supposed death.

"What the!? What are you doing here and-" Arnold shouted in surprise that he sees a version of himself here living beyond the date of his death.

"Why is there someone who looks like me here!?" The man who sat there said in both surprise and anxiety at this sudden turn of events,

Both of them went into a state of panic for a while until they managed to calm down. Right from this point, Arnold inquires this Hitler for any idea of what is going on here.

"So... You said that I was supposed to die 5 years ago?" Hitler asked with a calm manner despite what Arnold just said and how he looks just exactly like him.

"At least... that is the fate that supposed to befall upon mine but if you are here in this time span then what happened?" Arnold asked for more clues of what to make out of the situation.

"It is self-explanatory... Just looks out the window and you will get the answer immediately." Hitler said to Arnold.

Arnold took a step forward and looked outside. And that's when he realized that he is definitely not anywhere in Europe at all. Not even a single Western word is within sight...

"Where are we!?" Arnold said in confusion as he realized the implication.

"Japan... Europe is at war over who gets to control what was once the territory of Germany." Hitler said with such a nonchalant voice that it is flat-out weird to Arnold.

"Wait what!?" Arnold shouted once more when he heard of the radical changes in this timeline compare to the standard one that he was often told about.

And at this point, both Arnold and Hitler sit down to discuss what their fate is supposed to be like. As their talks between each other drag on, from minutes into hours... Soon enough, both of them have a clear idea of what happened in their respective timeline.

"So let me get this straight... Germany instead of electing you as their leader decided to elect an opposing communist party at the time, right?" Arnold asked to make sure there is no error in his envision.

"Yeah... And when they did so, I don't exactly have any more business with politics anymore. In fact, I didn't even think that I could become successful at all. Imagine the chaos occurred from my own incompetence and the nation probably falls even faster than if they did with the communist party." Hitler said with such calm humility that it is hard to believe this is a man capable of committing great atrocities.

"Yeah..." Arnold said in agreement as he also imagines what Alfin may have potentially done.

"But honestly... I think Germany was doomed ever since that treaty which permanently penalized it economically was signed since WW1. And when the nation is basically stricken with poverty, they decided to assign a communist to basically make things worse. You know that no government systems ever survive contact with practical purposes. Greed is a thing regardless of whatever declared otherwise and they soon worm their ways into the governmental positions and basically just fill their own coffers while the people suffer and starving.". Hitler explained as he hunches over the chair while Arnold sits on his bed.

"I honestly could guess where this is going..." Arnold said as he felt a hunch.

"Yup... Soon rebellions started to take place as both the corrupted government and its people fighting against each other in a bloody civil war that spans a few years if what I heard is true. The insurgent was supposed to have been given aid from neighboring countries but there was no reinforcement at all. In fact, the armies were waiting on the border of the country and wait for both sides to annihilate each other then they will proceed to purge whatever remnants remain. And apparently, all of Europe was doing so and now it is a second world war over who gets to control the remains of Germany." Hitler said with a solemn voice as if he couldn't believe things will turn out like this.

"So why are you here in this faraway Eastern land like this?" Arnold asked.

"Because no one appreciates my arts here back in Europe and so I decided to broaden my horizon and went into an odyssey to understand arts and be better at it, I suppose?" Hitler said before he shows what he has been working on.

It was a self-portray of him in anime style, obviously not something to hang on a museum for sure.

"It's decent for sure... but don't you feel like it is lacking something despite feel whole?" Arnold decided to ask him to make sure that there weren't too many major divergent.

"I was often told about that... But I have reached a point where I stop giving a shit about it. I don't take criticism from people whom I don't take advice for." Hitler said before he puts down his work on the desk.

"Not too many differences but his approach is certainly different from me..." Arnold thought about it.

"So how did your goes?" Hitler asked Arnold.

"Oh... you know... fucking caused so much mayhem that they revoked the Versailles treaty out of fear that they may end up summon another person like me that would force them to do so". Arnold said with a tired expression as he didn't want to admit such a thing to an alternative version of him.

"Guess that everyone always has an alternative version that wreaked havoc upon others across the timeline, huh?" Hitler said while scratching his head.

After they said that, both of them reached an impasse where they genuinely don't know how to proceed. The air has become so awkward that they just don't know how to break the suffocating atmosphere that they created.

"But still... are you sure that this is a path you have chosen for yourselves?" Arnold asked so that he might be able to break the awkwardness.

"I am the one who supposed to ask that considering what you have become!" Hitler said to Arnold.

Both of them laughed at what they just said but it is hard to shake the feeling that they never knew that they would experience, saying things that should never be put into words.

"Even then... Are you really content with this path?" Arnold asked earnestly for once.

"... Yes... We are all dealt with these cards of fate since the beginning. It doesn't matter if our hands are bad or good, the only choice we have... is to play it all until our bitter end. I know that this is coming from someone who got off a better end than you did but please... heed my advice". Hitler said as he puts his thought and the words of advice to him.

Arnold can only look at him silently. To accept wherever fate would lead him? That's just... sounds so defeating even if makes a certain sense. No man could foretell where his destiny would take him, let alone to rebel against such a cold system like that at all.

"But... what about Germany?" Arnold asked.

"You wanted to know if I could have changed its course of fate, right? I'm afraid that even if I want to now... I am already too late... And based on how well you did in your timeline, there isn't much chance for me either..."

Both of them can only look at each other as their intense stares carry far more words to speak than anything they could actually do through speaking.

"Let me tell you one more thing... The fact that you actually managed to seek me out amongst these countless worlds out there means something is guiding you, right?" Hitler asked as he can sense something inside Arnold.

"What do you mean?" Arnold asked for this is the first time he saw a normal person is telling something he didn't know.

"Think about it... What did you manage to do compare to the rest of us? You managed to jump across timelines and have a personal heart-to-heart! That's far more than how any version of us will ever get to do let alone think of!" Hitler said to him while also trying to cheer him up.

Arnold thought about it for a while as his mind drifts off to who knows where. He just wanders there, thinking about what he should even do next. Right at that moment, he heard something. No... Not exactly heard but rather... an epiphany...

Find me

When was the last time he heard of her voice? And how could he ever forget her after he swore to make her an official member of Chaldean himself? Perhaps the time he spent within the void itself started to affect his own memory, and he slowly becomes one with it. And if he remained there... will he remain himself or just someone who looks like him but omnipotent?

Arnold then stood up suddenly without warning, he then tried to approach the door once more and see if he could get back into the void once more so that he can search for her. He could hazily remember that he is being pulled into somewhere and both he and Alice got caught in it. In just a moment he tried to reach out to her and the next second, he found himself in the void with barely any recollection of what just happened.

He opened the door of the apartment once more... and there is nothing unusual behind. Just an empty hallway that is just the trademark and common sight of an apartment building.

"What are you trying to find? Did something appear in your mind?" Hitler asked in surprise when his counterpart just suddenly act up.

"I just remembered something... I was trying to find someone important until I came across this place. Excuse me but... it was phenomenal to know that someone like you existed..." Arnold said as he tried to close and reopen the door along with much dismay that it doesn't change no matter how many times he slams the door and reopen it again.

After a while, Arnold decided to stop whatever he is doing and calm down. He needs a clear plan if he wanted any chance of finding her. Especially amidst the vast void that both of them are now in.

"It seems that whoever that person is, they are really important to you, right?" Hitler asked.

"Yeah... I've sworn to her that I would save her, no matter what. It just... I can't afford to break my own vow and promise after going this far beyond the line of no return." Arnold said as one could gaze into the determination burning in his eyes.

"You are carrying a burden that weighs far more than how I could imagine... I could hardly fathom of what lengths you are willing to go to fulfill that distant promise of yours". Hitler said as he pats on the shoulder of his alternative self.

"Thanks... and... I wish that you will leave a better passage of history behind... at least better than how many of us did..." Arnold said as he breathes as calmly as he could before opening the door once more.

And this time... a bright light shone upon him. It was so intensely bright that it is blinding. And soon enough, he found himself once more in this void. However, he doesn't know how to proceed from this point but to keep moving randomly in a direction.

"This is really starting to getting into me... If I don't do this fast enough... I will forget who I am... Is this really the price to pay for reaching here?" Arnold said as he continues to move forward regardless.

He continues to wander without an aim in sight. He has no idea of where to go for all scenery around him is just the same white color. All he can hope for is that another path may open up to him in due time.

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Distant Dreams

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After a long walk through the void itself with absolutely no idea of how much time has passed. The only thing that held him together is his faith and belief that there has to be a way to find her. The void is vast and unchanging as far as he concerns and he may wander here for the rest of eternity... without hope of ever having a release from whatever awaits him at the end of this long, grueling fate.

At this point, Arnold decided to stop for a bit and thinking of what he should do next. Just wandering without a clear aim is just borderline stupidity at its finest. He wonders... if a path doesn't appear for him, maybe... he could instead think of the path will instead seek out for him. This is the void after all... shouldn't it compass all possibilities to ever exist?

And just like that... He then tried to think as hard as he could so that a path may miraculously appear in front of him. But no matter how hard he tried to squish any of his mind power out, the void refused to create any for him. It was then he decided to go for a different approach.

Instead... he lets it come as naturally as possible. Taking a deep breath and putting himself into a trance-like stance through sheer focus and will... Soon enough, time becomes meaningless even though it already was inside the void. As he opened his eyes once more, a door appeared right in front of him from nowhere without warning at all.

It is a Japanese sliding door, he wonders just what even such a door like this doing here or what is the connection it has with him. Seeing how standing here brings absolutely nothing new to him, he decided to slide it and the mere glimmer of light floods through the door and blinded him in a mere instant.

As all of his senses were suddenly disconnected from him abruptly, he felt as if he can't sense anything or even perceive, hear or feel at all. And as soon as they were robbed from him did they return as fast. Soon, he found himself lying on a wooden floor of someplace. He sits up and looks at the surroundings, the oriental style and the yard outside are definitely unmistakable no matter how one would stretch it.

"It seems... that I am in an eastern estate of sorts..." Arnold said as he looked at the peaceful atmosphere outside.

He looked at the clear and blue sky above him... Almost never once in his life nor his summon here have allowed him to see such a thing for so long... So long that it felt strange to him that the sky isn't completely cloudy and raining all the time.

Suddenly, he heard something opened. Fearing that he may get treated as an intruder, he quickly ran outside to the yard before anyone would notice something wrong. As he heard the footsteps approached, he also heard amongst them were... children?

He decided to look for an alternative window to peek inside and when he did so, a man stares right intently at him through the said window that he is about to peek in...

"Kiritsugu?" Arnold said as he barely remembers his name after spending so long in the void.

The difference here is that his hair is black and his skin is still as pristine white unlike what he sees back when he fought alongside him. Was this... his past? Or is it something else?

"How did you know my name and what are you trying to do here?!" Kiritsugu yelled at him to the point the window barely even reduce the volume of his yell.

Kiritsugu was about to pull something out of his pant and Arnold quickly reacted accordingly.

"Sorry! It's just complicated and please don't shoot me!" Arnold said as he quickly kneels and apologizes as much as he could.

"Shoot? How on earth did you jump to such a conclusion!?" Kiritsugu said as what he took out was his phone.

Soon even his children came out to see the quarrel between the two of them. Arnold soon tried to calm the situation down before it escalates out of hand.

"Jii-san? What are you doing and who is that man?" Shirou said as he seems to be at 18-year-old and doesn't seem to go through the same change Kiritsugu has.

"EHH!? Who is this man and... Wait... Is that Hitler?" Illya looks as much as a little kid although a bit more mature than how she appeared. She said it out nonchalantly without thinking which carries as much chaos as throwing a match into a gas tank.

And then both Kiritsugu and Shirou and realized and both of them continue to scream. Arnold sighed as all of his efforts went up in smoke because someone has to say it.

It takes time...

After finally calmed both the father and son down from causing more than necessary noise pollution, Arnold decided to ask them properly...

"Just calm down... Don't make this worse than how it already is..." Arnold said as he felt tired for the first time...

"You say it as if you yourselves are free of whatever crap you did back then". Kiritsugu said judgmentally

"Can't blame you... But this is a whole different matter now... What year is it?" Arnold asked them.

"2016 or 2017... Can't tell since I haven't checked the calendar yet..." Shirou said while still looking at Arnold attentively for any signs of ill-intent...

"Am I having a talk or an interrogation here?" Arnold said as he finds the ridiculousness of the situation beyond control.

"You don't have the right to ask any question-" Kiritsugu was about to shout before he got interrupted by someone else.

And by interrupting... it is a smack across the head by someone else...

"Jeez... It is just afternoon and you are already making such a loud mess already?" An unfamiliar woman who doesn't seem that old yet carries some sort of grandmotherly feel spoke to Kiritsugu...

"Sorry mother... It is just that..." Kiritsugu apologizes as he steps back away from Arnold while she reprimands him.

"Pardon my son's rudeness. Please enter our house so that we can discuss whatever is the quarrel between the two of you..." The woman said to Arnold with an inviting and kind tone.

Both Illya and Shirou sighed before they enter the house, Kiritsugu gave a glare back at Arnold before also enter. Arnold just sighs, knowing that he just got off to a great start with this family that he knew but not the other way around.

...

...

A little while later...

"You said that you are a Servant that sucked into the void... and now you are jumping through timelines trying to find someone?" Kiritsugu asked for more clarification because it just doesn't feel right no matter what...

"I am surprised that you don't require any more additional explanation or the fact that you are calm when it comes to the presence of a Servant tell me a lot about who you are..." Arnold said as he frowns because while they may look familiar to him, they only see him as a stranger.

"I have never divulged my past or anyone here in this family at all to even outsider and yet you managed to retell it with a high degree of accuracy although there are indeed discrepancies within your testimony". Kiritsugu said while he gazes directly into Arnold.

All sides are silent... A Servant that knew almost all crucial detail although some were wrong... suddenly appeared right inside their estates... It will definitely not fly for him unless he explains everything he knew at his side.

"Look... while I may get that you all are suspicious of me but... let me tell you something. Second Magic... is a bitch..." Arnold tried to make it as simple as he could.

Arnold then explains to everyone that within these endless possibilities that the universe contains. There exist a Servant version of everyone who lived or existed as a concept in any given time. This does not exclude him or all members of the Emiya family.

"So you said that I am a Heroic Spirit and you have fought alongside him? Can you please tell me what I was like?" Kiritsugu said with enthusiasm when he imagines how much of a heroic person he imagines himself to be.

"I'm afraid that not a hero in a sense that you did something that brings great positive changes... It is more that you signed up to endless torture that turned you into a hollow shell of your former self in exchange to be imprinted into the Throne of Heroes... At least that you managed to meet up with your wife and family from countless different timelines that managed to reach out to you and formed into the family that I fought alongside just now..." Arnold explained to Kiritsugu.

And just like that... his enthusiasm shattered like glass although he didn't exactly ignore that it is the likelihood... he was just disappointed that it is awfully accurate to what he would have done if he went down that path.

"Hold on... can you tell me what are they like? I want to see how much of a hero they are". The white-haired woman said as she is interested to this guest's whimsical tales.

"Okay, miss... Can you at least tell me what is your name so that I don't call you 'miss' and 'that'?" Arnold asked

"Oh? My name is Natalia. While I am indeed a certificated grandmother, I am definitely not as wrinkly as those elder folks... Are you interest or something?" Natalia said as she teases Arnold.

"Please don't... I already earned enough ire from those around here already..." Arnold said as he politely declines.

Both Shirou and Illya let out an embarrassed smile as they can't quite get used to such an awkward atmosphere like this...

Arnold then explains his side of the story and the description of the Servant Emiya family that he fought alongside there. From the dual-bladed siblings whose prowess reach the heavens beyond... a cold-blooded assassin with a gentle and caring wife who never once left his side.

The two magical girls whose nature is far more mystic and indescribable than how he could find any word just to describe it and the power they carry rivals against the force that just almost obliterate the known universe he is in. A goddess of ice resided in one of the sisters as her powers defy any restriction placed upon her. Another goddess of jungle warriors whose power output is as plain ridiculous as her normal personality when not in combat.

There were many more that he may have missed but he couldn't think of anything more for he felt the fatigue in his mind clearly.

"Hold on... What about me? You said there is a Servant version for everyone who existed right? Then what do I look like?" Natalia asked for she wanted to know if the family is all in one piece.

Arnold tried to think of anything remotely similar to Natalia. The correct answer would be saying that he doesn't know. But for some reason that he doesn't even understand, he has a brain fart and says the wrong thing immediately.

"A sword..." Arnold said without realizing it and when he did so, he facepalmed.

And Natalia facedesked upon hearing what Arnold said. A sword... That's what she thought that she ultimately become as a Heroic Spirit!?

"How does that even make sense!? You can't be serious, can you!?" Natalia said as she looked at Arnold embarrassed.

"I'm sorry!.. I mistook his sword for you since he often refers to it as 'Natalia'!..." Arnold said as he apologizes in panic for his mistake.

Natalia thought about it for a while before she sighed in acceptance...

"So that is how it goes me for huh? At least he did pay tribute to me in the very least..." Natalia said with a solemn voice in acceptance upon reaching a conclusion.

"Why on earth did you jump to the conclusion that you were transformed into a blade!?" Arnold said with an embarrassed face.

And then everyone just having a burst of hearty laughter afterward. Arnold then further telling them all of the tall tales that their Servant version managed to achieve based on what they told during the downtime. Like preventing the incineration of human history, fought the goddess of life Tiamat, defeat the avatar of lust Kama, prevent the Elder God Yog-sothoth... or at least his vessel...

"Damn... that's what we did huh? To think that we managed to remain as a family even when drifted across those vast limitless timelines..." Natalia said in fascination.

"To be fair... In normal circumstances, none of you will ever meet each other if it weren't for the organization Chaldea to unite and recruit Servants from all walks of life together in an attempt to safeguard human history from major alterations.

"Interesting... can you tell me how an organization like that works?" Kiritsugu asked.

"I have a disclaimer though... I'm not directly serving them but rather a Rogue Servant that joined them on the way and thus I may not be exactly the best when it comes to explaining their hierarchy structure or the organization leadership. But... I knew the man who leads the operation... What is his name again? Oh right, Gudao..." Arnold tried to explain the organization possibly to a family that's far from normal and ordinary.

"That guy... why does he felt so familiar..." Kiritsugu racks his mind for anything that could help him get a bigger image of that person.

"Dear lord... start with the overthinking again?" Natalia asked Kiritsugu.

"He isn't wrong to assume so... That man carries so much emotional baggage from having to face the prospect that even at the end of his journey, the world where he came from won't come back. That's what truly crushing for him... to not know if the light at the end of the darkness is salvation or the beginning of damnation..." Arnold makes a hypothesis of Gudao's situation to them.

"To never know if your decision ever bears fruits... Honestly... it reflects me more than how I thought ever would. For most and the majority of my life, I simply and merely choose the best decision that I thought they were... To save the majority over the few... thank god that Natalia slapped that idea away before it completely roots inside my mind and becomes completely entangled with it..." Kiritsugu took a breath of relief knowing that at least Natalia managed to do her proper job as a mother to him.

Both Kiritsugu and Natalia then looked at each other then chuckled. How they managed to get out of those times together unscathed is honestly a miracle in itself.

"I have a question though... How did you come across Shirou?" Arnold asked.

"It was the fourth Holy Grail War... That was honestly the biggest close call that I ever had in my entire life... The grail was tainted and we barely managed to prevent it from spilling its content into the populace. Although it wasn't completely unscathed as Shirou's whereabouts at the time were completely affected by it and he was the only one I managed to save from the hell that was unleashed... I tried to manage everything and prevent more than necessary killings and thus I barely kept Iri when that very incident happened, you know..." Kiritsugu explained what happened to Arnold.

"Too many things happened arbitrarily... Like so many things beyond our control that all we can do is just... pray... pray that things won't get worse. I don't have a vehement belief in any god and that war pretty much had me praying goddamn left and right to all kinds of gods like... Christian... Hinduism... Buddhism... Norse... Greek... whatever the fuck is still up there in the fucking sky..." Natalia said jokingly as if the war back then although really bad as she said, she still sprinkles her humor all over it.

"Damn... Although I am not there... I'm just glad that I mostly will never gonna experience it..." Arnold said as if he experienced it.

"But still... I want to ask you one more thing... Just who are you really... And how did you managed to get here?" Kiritsugu asked this time with inquisitiveness.

Kiritsugu and Natalia look at him attentively... Even if Arnold doesn't mean any harm, there is no possible way for him to appear suddenly out of blue without warning and right inside their estates out of all things.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I made it here through the Root?" Arnold said straightforwardly despite the fact that no one told him about the Root... or at least not that he remembered who told him.

"You what!?" Both Kiritsugu and Natalia shouted in surprise upon hearing it.

"Does the two of you know what exactly it means?" Arnold asked for they so far are the most reliable people when it comes to proper magecraft.

"That is the end goal of all maguses to ever existed. To achieve omnipotence and transcend beyond this world. Don't fucking tell me that you did something similar to that bastard Zelretch or something..." Natalia explained the term to Arnold although she doesn't expect him to fully understand it.

"While I did hear that Zelretch person and Second Magic are associated with each other thanks to your son's rant whenever something suddenly ass-pulled into the situation... If those Magic does come from the Root then... I wonder how did they even manage to be discovered in the first place..." Arnold said as he frowned.

"But still... it leaves me with a question... Why on earth did you manage to reach the Void in the first place?" Natalia asked.

"First of all... I didn't exactly seek it, the more correct term would be to get caught up in something far more than how you ever envisioned when you start out." Arnold explained to her.

"Honestly... whenever I heard of the word "Root" used as a term for mages, my body instantly trigger the fight or flight mode because my entire suffering begins because my blood father decided to use forbidden ways to reach it. And the entire island where I was from gone and purged by the Mage Association to prevent the worsening damage resulted from said methods... Worse... I did not exactly get out of there unstained from the filth I took part in." Kiritsugu said as he relieves those memories.

"Hey, at least you no longer have to shed any more blood for whatever cause you are fighting for... right?" Natalia said as she consoles her son.

"I know... okaa-san... The past is the past and all I need to do is to look forward to the future." Kiritsugu said as he sighs from remembering what happened back then.

"But still, I have one question... How did you even come in contact with the Root in the first place Many mage lineages span across even to the Dark Age didn't even reach there no matter how hard they try. Just what and how did you even know where to go in the first place?" Natalia asked Arnold.

"Honestly, it is far wilder than how you could even think. It is not the Root that they seek, that's just the byproduct resulted from a catastrophic failure that almost occurred. What they seek is to create something far more simple that just gone out of bound long ago without realizing it. To create a Heroic Spirit, one so powerful that even the Throne of Heroes has to recognize them." Arnold explained.

"A simple wish turned apocalyptic... At this point in my life, that just sounds so normal that I hate to even admit that." Natalia said as she closed her eyes then sighs.

Kiritsugu stares at her as if she is picking on him for almost wishing the apocalypse on the world. It serves him right though.

"But still, did it work? Because I would absolutely hate it if all those efforts didn't amount to anything." Natalia asked Arnold in curiosity.

"That is something I never even confirmed and most likely out of my realm of capability too." Arnold earnestly replied.

"...You know... I want to know something. Why and how did you even drift into the Root in the first place? Even if you didn't have the idea to enter at all, to begin with?" Natalia asked as she felt something need to be answered.

"Let me explain this part to you. I may be a Rogue Servant, but my origin is far even stranger than that. I am what manifested from one of the fragments of the original Heroic Spirit Adolf Hitler when he splinters himself in an attempt to save the last girl when the Berlin Azure Crematory Disaster came in. From his Spirit Origin created the 4 of us, carrying his fragmented and splintered memories.

One of them is her, and when she reached the apex of her power, she completely gave up and decided to erase herself away for she believes that does not deserve such kindness and goodwill from anyone toward her after what she almost did. And now... I am following her to find her within that vast emptiness... to bring her back and fulfill that wish of hers.

I'm done with all of these self-loathing in my past life... and it would leave me a far more bitter taste if I allow it to continue once more in this life. All of this perpetuated self-hate and loathing that I put myself in brought more disasters than how it ever did well for my life. And this time... I'm intended to finally end this madness for once and for all." Arnold said with all of his heart and feelings put into words.

Both Natalia and Kiritsugu looked at him for a while into his eyes and then, they can't help but let out a smile.

"You know... I have met plenty of people with despicable pasts that are just plain hard to forgive. But you... you are amongst those that I would personally give a bullet into the head had I existed in your time myself hadn't you did it on your own. But now? I have to give it to you that you are a cut above all of them because you admit that you did something wrong and intend to made amend when others would outright deny or run away from it." Natalia said as she looks at Arnold in the eyes with a serious gaze.

"Some people ran away from their responsibilities the moment they are forced to face even the slightest mistake or reflection of themselves. But you managed to face the worst inside you with such stride. Honestly, if I was alone in this world, I may really have fallen to the footfall that you mentioned." Kiritsugu said to Arnold.

"Jii-san! Everyone's home now!" Illya said to Kiritsugu as she brought things inside."

"I'm not exactly the one allowed to say this but... you better hide now since the last thing we need is a massive freakout that would get us having the police called upon us.". Natalia said as she nudges and pushes Arnold away to the outside.

Arnold quickly stepped outside to the yard as the rest of the Emiya family joined in. As the cheerful sounds closely approach, he decided to stay around for a bit and hear what they have to say.

"Hey... Where is that man with a toothbrush mustache?" Illya said as she doesn't sense his whereabouts at all.

"Oh, he just has his business that he is tending to. It's not like that he has any ill intent or anything... haha..." Natalia said as she chuckles in both excitement and fear.

"Yeah right... When it involves you, things are always intended to go south really quickly. Like the last time, you crashed an entire plane into my school just to deliver the lunch box I forgot to bring." Illya said as she can't believe that she brought up her memory from that dredge.

"Haha... It just my way of showing my love to you". Natalia said as she hugs Illya.

"Whatever... Next time chose a form of love that is far less destructive please." Illya said as she scours.

"Hey, at least that we actually got off our school and have our time at home, right?" A familiar voice is spoken.

"Yeah... If it weren't for Taiga... She actually almost slams our faces into the desk for not doing our homework, Kuro" Illya said as she just said sigh. Literally "sigh" as a word.

"You too just have to drag that painful memory up" Kuro also said with a tired sigh upon being reminded.

"Hey! Overseeing you two is my job, I'll let you know!" A loud and energetic voice is spoken, way too out of character for the voice tone heard.

"Domestic abuse is not listed in the list of your jobs, Miss Taiga!" Kuro yelled back at Taiga with fury.

And then both of them proceed to get into a catfight with one another, leaving much to the dismay of others.

"Dad, why are they act as if she actually did? What she did was just a tap on the head, right?" A kind voice was spoken.

"Miyu... They always exaggerate what everyone did to each other and this will never be the last one. Just let them do what they want and they tire themselves out." Kiritsugu explained calmly.

"Sigh... I may want to say otherwise but consider your way of dealing with things, it probably best to leave it at that." Illya said with a sigh.

"Hey dear... How are you now?" A kind and innocent voice spoke to Kiritsugu.

"It's fine, Iri... At least compared to those hellish days when I live on the run and killing things." Kiritsugu said as he sighs then accepts her embrace.

As Arnold leans against the wall and hears the cheerful family time inside. To see such a family like that left him with far so many things that he couldn't describe with anything in his vocabulary. Just how many things was he deprived of in his childhood, a proper father who cares for him? A fine and decent upbringing in a normal school. To be surrounded by friends and family and not living in fear every single day that their mood swings will hurt you tremendously... Such a thing is supposed to be a normal thing but to him... they are a vestige that he can't ever taste when he forever remembered what he has gone through. Innocent lost... All of them...

The bloodstained memories of his may remain but this time... he knew that he will be far better than this. Far better than what he is destined to be...

He stood up and approach the sliding door once more. Natalia at least has the courtesy of closing it in first so that no one will just accidentally run outside and find him there.

"Thank you... For showing me that there is still hope for broken people like me..." Arnold said before he moves the door.

And this time, the light floods through and overwhelms all of his senses. His mind felt lost for a moment until he found himself back in the void once more. If the Emiya family can find each other as Heroic Spirits then... he will just put in all of his determination to reach her. There has to be a possible way... There has to be...

He took a deep breath, calms his mind, and looks around. It is still the same void that he knew, droplets fall from zenith as its splash ripples across the fabric of the Root itself. The serene atmosphere makes it as if the only thing he could do... is to linger...

"No... I really have to find her..." Arnold said as he strengthens his wills.

He then continues to wander aimlessly in this empty world. In a single direction that he goes, he hopes that all of his efforts will be repaid in the end.

Without realizing it, the Japanese sliding door behind him disappeared before he thought he only took a few steps. And now... he just continues to walk around in this void. That's his plan... the only plan he even knew...

Suddenly... he felt a foreboding sense of overwhelming presence... like someone whose mere existence is so powerful that the void barely held onto itself. Following what his instinct is screaming at, he found an Oriental woman with hair longer than the length of her own body and wearing a kimono that is oversized compare to her figure that the clothing is dragging across the ethereal surface of 'the Root'. Even when he doesn't know who she really is, he felt that he must greet her with a well-deserved and formal welcoming regardless of who she is. That is just how overwhelmingly powerful she is compared to him.

"Hold your head high, you don't need to be so formal with me". The woman said with a voice so calming that Arnold got sunk into complete bliss without realizing it.

After regaining his composure, Arnold tried to pat his chest to clear his throat and breathing so that he doesn't stutter under her holy presence so that he doesn't come off as rude or something.

"May I ask you who you are?" Arnold tried to come out as respectful and already fail at the first line.

"My name is Void Shiki, my power tethers directly into the Root itself and thus... I am an omnipotent being that far surpasses anything this universe may muster. You could say that I am the physical incarnation of the Root itself". Void Shiki calmly explains who she is to Arnold.

"Wait... so you are someone like me? Someone who managed to connect to the Root and thus become powerful beyond words to describe?" Arnold tried to follow the conversation to see if there is anything that he could learn about the predicament in which he got himself into.

"To be fair, I was born with such power already and thus... it renders my whole point of existence rather poignant and meaningless. What's the point of life if everything is handed over to you already? Because of that, I actually join the Chaldea so that I could find joy in the struggles that they went through to fight for their very world. Believe me... I actually joined when my Master was just a greenhorn." Void Shiki explained to Arnold.

Arnold looked at her for a while and think for a bit. Void Shiki is indeed powerful but he can't help but wonder... just why... Why does she actually seek him out in this Root in the first place?

"Miss Shiki... There has to be a reason that you seek me out here. With such omnipotence that you have, you could have easily brought me over to Alice instead of just dragging this conversation on. So tell me... why are you here?" Arnold asked as his eyes locked on Shiki's unmoving expression.

"Guess that nothing could escape your sight, and then again... even if I lend you a hand willingly, your dignity and pride as a man of your own words would decline either way..." Void Shiki spoke to Arnold as if she understood him to a fundamental level.

"I hate the fact that you literally took the words from my mind before I even thought up about it..." Arnold said as he took a tired sigh just from this single interaction with her.

Void Shiki chuckled, for someone who has entered the Root and yet still managed to remain a semblance of self-ego, it is a surprise that not even her could see and thus was delighted beyond belief and by 'beyond belief' that would just be a genuine smile. Although evoking any emotion from her is just as difficult as reaching the Root here. No magus entered here ever remained the same before doing so, no matter how prideful at all and yet... Arnold still remains himself as much as others could discern.

"Do you know why I still manage to keep my sense of self? Although I kinda know that you would just not give the answer..." Arnold asked Void Shiki.

"Who knows... My knowledgeability is omnipotence but this is something that you should seek for yourselves..." Void Shiki said it to Arnold without a shred of responsibility.

"Fucking knew it..." Arnold sighed as he continues to move away from her.

"Hey... I know that I'm not being helpful to you just now but... Did you ever thought of looking down for once?" Void Shiki said before Arnold moves too far away from her.

Arnold upon hearing her then looked down on his shirt, he realized that something is resonating as he seeks out whatever it is in his possession is doing so. After a little while, he realized that it was the medal that Adolf has given to him before he confronts Alice. The Star of Grand Cross, the ultimate award of valor that could ever be thought so.

As he holds it in his hand, the medal resonates ever so slightly that he didn't realize until his mind noticed it. But now with his attention on it, its presence felt ever so presenting that it is now hard to ignore.

"Hey, Void Shiki-" Arnold turned around to speak to her only to find out that she has disappeared.

As he is left alone in this nothingness once more, he realized that this may have been the intention of Adolf in the first place. Void Shiki just nudges him on the right path for once. The medal acts as both a Mystic Code and navigator... or a detector too... who knows? But with a reliable means to find Alice, Arnold's determination flares up as he clenches the medal in his palm then wears it proudly.

"Alice... I swear..." Arnold muttered beneath his breaths before he runs through the boundless emptiness for once with a clear path in mind.

---

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

My Past Mistakes

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

---

Arnold wanders around the Root for a while, he now has a good idea of where to go thanks to the medal's resonance. If he could feel it more clearly then... he must be approaching closer to her...

Because if not... he will honestly be lost to the Root forever... chasing an unknown that forever be distant from him.

"Adolf... I swear that if this medal you toss to me only sends me further into my grave. I will somehow jump back to the reality and give you a massive beating that the next time you summoned will be as an abortion". Arnold said as he stalwartly moves forward through the Root.

The scenery of the Root would have just otherwise driven people into a state of empty serenity, the loss of self-ego will grant them the ascension beyond any belief at the cost of any form of self-identity. Arnold has no need for such a thing, his only reason to be here... is to find Alice... He has broken the promises with his friends already, this shall be the last time he will break any more of those.

As the mere repetition of the Root's scenery drives his mind to boredom. He decided just to close his eyes and keep walking, what could go wrong? And before he has even taken a few steps and he face-slam into a door without realizing it at all. Suddenly broke out of his boredom, he opened his eyes and saw an ornately decorated and carefully carved wooden door that stood in front of him.

"Something doesn't feel too right about this door, just where does this thing even belong to?" Arnold said to himself as he examines it further.

After a while with his limited knowledge about the subject he examines, he decided to screw it and enter it anyway. Can't know if it is a trap or not he just refuses to test it out.

And so he turned the doorknob and enters it, a bright light floods out of it as all of his senses are overwhelmed. But at this point, it is not a surprise anymore, it is just something so normal to him that it felt like a procedure of sorts.

The first thing his senses felt was a regal breeze of sorts blowing through. He doesn't know what exactly gave him that feeling until his visions pierce through the white emptiness.

It is an office and it doesn't seem to be the one that belongs to a lowly official. It's more like something that is far grander than how he could find the words for it. The large window in the back, the... Nazi flag(?) that stood there motionlessly as if it is no more than a hollow shell of its former glory. The stale air that flows through this place indicates that this place has gone on without maintenance for so long that the whole place is running down.

Arnold took a deep breath and he could smell the lingering gunpowder in the air. They have even gotten this close too if that's the impression he is getting at.

He looked at the administration desk, seeing how untidy and scattered the documents are already make him felt the hopelessness without seeing things firsthand. Things are just going into a downward spiral if that's what he is foretelling himself right now. Based on all the evidence he gathered, he guesses that it must be near the end of WW2.

He decided to step out to see if there's anything else he could investigate but he doesn't know if it is a wise idea to move too far away from the original entrance. If his instinct is correct then the outside may not be as safe as how he thought. Especially if there are even scents of gunpowder lingered in the area. After thinking more thoroughly, he decided to remain in the room.

He looked outside and saw the eerily empty street as if not a single life is still there. As if the whole city is nothing but a ghost town and left derelict forever without a single inhabitant.

"What happened..." Arnold can only speak to himself.

Suddenly, the door behind him opened although weakly as if there's barely any strength left against it. It's someone who is familiar to him... It's...

"Alfin..." Arnold can only mutter when he sees her.

This Alfin doesn't seem to have any recollection of him but decided to pay no mind anyway... It seems that in the vast infinite possibilities, Hitler would have the same appearance as her. Or... she actually had the same fate as Hitler... At this point, he doesn't know anymore but just to observe.

She looked at him with eyes that seem to contain so much tiredness that he felt her eyelids would have closed by now. But even then, she didn't even remotely care about someone who she doesn't know... She sat down on the chair as it started to creak from all the wear it went through, with her posture show that she felt completely defeated.

Arnold took a deep breath and he finally decided to ask her.

"What's the situation right now?" Arnold tried to fit in with the situation as much as possible so that he doesn't arouse more suspicion than he wanted.

And just like that without a care in the world, Alfin or Hitler of this world line just speak to him as if he is the only living person left...

"It's over, don't you see? Both the Soviets and the Allied will reach here soon enough. We repelled this wave but they will soon capture this place in a matter of time." Alfin spoke to him tiredly and defeated.

"How bad is the situation?" Arnold may already figure out the criticalness of the situation but asked anyway.

"Bad enough to talk to you without bothering any more about secrecy or not... And the fact that I gave up this facade I built since my election until this point..." Alfin said to Arnold as if this is the first time she ever opens this side of her.

Alfin then planted her face into the desk when the fatigue finally settled in. She looked back upon all of what she has done and see how on earth she did even reach this point. The point where she can easily commit atrocities without a second thought in mind.

Sympathy for the devil, they said... Easier speak than done for the crime and sin she did can't ever be repaid in a multitude of lifetimes of her. And he, unfortunately, has to agree with this one.

"Dachau... Auschwitz... I don't even remember anymore... Every time I pass around those hellholes I built as a condemnation upon the scapegoats I chose, I would avert my gazes away from the atrocities that I would inflict upon... To dare to do so yet averting from what I'm doing myself... What a hypocrite I was..." Alfin spoke as if it was always in her conscience... an idea to stop was in her mind and yet... she chose not to...

"Maximum hypocrisy..." Arnold mutters underneath his breath but he felt as if Alfin could felt what he said regardless.

An explosion occurred from a distance as its shockwave spread across the land. They could feel its rumble shaking the still room and yet... through all of what has occurred, it has become such a common thing that it doesn't even irk a feeling or anything anymore.

"I condemned them to their utmost suffering... And now... They are about to condemn me... All these negative karmas that I gathered will certainly put me into eternal punishments... And perhaps, it is the only fitting end for me". Alfin spoke as if she knew what is coming at her in the end.

There's no way out left for her. With too much war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed, no one will allow her an easy way out and no amount of forgiveness and begging will allow her to get away with it. They intend to make her pay for all of it and no one shall forget what she has done.

"I want to ask you one thing before you will reach your end, just what was your intention when you reached the seat of leader in the first place? What future did you intend for this nation to go before you do all of these?" Arnold asked for he wanted to see the true depths of her intention.

"You know... I wish that someone actually asked me that so that I actually rethink my decisions... It's too late now but I'm glad that finally happen" Alfin said as she finally smiled genuinely without an ulterior motive behind it.

"It's because... I don't want to be controlled anymore..."

Words of God: For this part, play Viva la Vida - Coldplay.

As Alfin stood up from the chair and walks around the room, she looked at the surroundings and reminiscent of what this place once was, the radiants and glorious aura it once held now is just a rundown structure on the verge of collapse upon her. She closed her eyes and just speaks whatever things she wanted to let out.

I used to rule the world... Sea would rise when I gave the words. Now in the morning, I sleep alone... sweeping the streets I used to rule...

She now stood in front of the painting of herself, one that was of her in the greatest height. But whenever she gazed at it now, she can't help but see through the mountain of lies she built. The facade that took her here now.

I used to roll the dice... seeing the fear in my enemy's eyes. Listen to what the crowd would say... Now the old king is dead, long live the king.

In one minute that I had the keys, next the wall started to close on me. Now that I realized that my castle stand, upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand.

As she took the painting of her down for each second she spent looking at it, she felt like she is looking back at the mockery she made of herself. The feelings that one is never made for greatness are devastating beyond all words to compare.

As I hear the Allied trumpets are blowing, and the Soviet cavalry slowly approaching.

Be my mirror, my sword, and shield, my missionaries in the foreign fields.

He felt something trembling across the ground, Alfin could certainly feel it too but she ignored it much as the same. Trying to remain in the little safe world of her from the cruel reality itself, he has nothing to blame on her for that... For no sane person would certainly carry the weight of what she did.

Yet for some reasons that I can't explain. Once you go there, you would never...

Never once an honest word, and that was when I used to rule the world.

The outside starts to rain, the bleak and cloudy sky above certainly doesn't make it feel any better to anyone's spirit. Especially in this wartime that practically devastated everything. From innocents to soldiers alike.

It was an awakening and wild... wind... Blew down the door to let me in...

The shattering windows and sounds of drums. People couldn't believe of what I become...

As her emotions heightened, a burst of inexplicably and seething rage of herself rushes through her somber mind as she threw that painting of herself through the dusty window and shatters it. Glass fragments scatters all over the floor as her tears finally started to drip on her cheeks.

Revolutionaires await, for my head on a silver plate...

Just a little puppet on a loneless string, just who even wanted to be king?

Alfin collapsed to her knee in despair. After all of the trauma inflicted upon her, the losses she has undergone, the unbearable pain and suffering she went through... all of it she chose to ignore in thinking she could shed her past away. But in the end, her past continues to bind her like strings on a puppet. Controlling her from every decision that she made. It should have already been clear from the moment she was no longer able to feel the emotions of others and yet... it took so much bloodshed to reach that final realization.

As I hear the Allied trumpets are blowing, and the Soviet cavalry slowly approaching.

Be my mirror, my sword, and shield, my missionaries in the foreign fields.

For some reasons that I can not explain, I know that no one will ever call my name.

Never once an honest word, that was when I used to rule the world.

Afterward, she wailed to the sky above with all the might her vocal cords could muster. With no possible way left to vend all these suppressed feelings and emotions from all of what she went through, she just wails to the heaven above, praying that something up there might just be able to hear her.

{OHHHHH OHH OHHHH OHHH}

All Arnold could do... is just watching her... Watching her yells to heaven to ask why was she condemned to become such atrocities... To ask why was she damned to be something like this but in the end... no answer is given... All it was is just the reverberation of her yelling in this room.

As I hear the Allied trumpets are blowing, and the Soviet cavalry slowly approaching.

Be my mirror, my sword, and shield, my missionaries in the foreign fields.

For some reasons that I can not explain, I know that no one will ever call my name.

Never once an honest word, that was when I used to rule the world.

As her yelling died down and at this point, she has no restraint left, she doesn't care anymore of what anyone thought of her. Stripped of everything away, she is now just a broken girl crying in this room. Arnold decided to say nothing to her and instead... he let his own actions doing the work. Because he knew, that there is no possible way for an action to be taken as something else.

He pulls her up then just hugs her tightly, that's it... He won't judge anything or letting anything judge his action...

'The end justifies the mean'. That's what people object to all the time. And yet... allowing 'the mean' to justifies 'the end', is perhaps one of the hypocrisies that people would do all the time without realizing it. He won't blame them... it just... he has already gotten too tired of the 'blame game' and perhaps why 'Hitler' is never meant for politics in the first place.

A dictator that robs its people will have their desire fulfilled, at least for a moment. But even worse, a dictator thinks what they are doing is for the best of the people. That kind of dictator will do horrible things with good conscience without realizing it ever. And Hitler is a prime example of that for thinking the Jew is a scourge to be eliminated, especially done so in a horrible way.

He keeps hugging her as the world around them starts to devolve into chaos. As the sounds of her sobbing being drowned out by incoming soldiers of Allied and Soviets, with so little left to hold back against the fierce final assault of them, her fate is sealed...

"I won't scatter your sorrow into the heartless sea. Remember to forgive but never forget... Should your final moment approach, let it be the one that you are in my embrace". Arnold said solemnly as he starts to pick her up and carry her in his arms, bridal style.

As he slowly reaches for the door, he could feel the bullets whizzing past his hair and the explosives fired from armored units as they destroy the wall and scatters its fragments. Mortar shells lobbed straight to them as the Allied and Soviet have no intentions of letting that war criminal live.

As his hand turns the door open, the light from the other side floods through his vision as it was then taken away for a brief moment. It was just a moment but... it is a moment that spoke directly into who he is.

He opened his eyes once more and he found himself in the Root once more. He looked down and the girl he is carrying has disappeared. Arnold said nothing as his eyes keep looking at where the little girl in his embrace once was. He felt something started to form in his eyes as his breathing becomes far more difficult. He knew already that it was a mere ephemeral moment and nothing would change how things happened, but... he wanted to do something... something without caring if it's a correct thing to do or not...

And when it finally hits him, he broke into tears as if he could felt the sorrow and lingering regrets of her. The door behind him had also disappeared and so too does any chance he has left to reach her again.

He cried... he cried because for once... he understood someone truly...

Wiping his tears away, he tried to calm down and stand up straight for once. He looked down at the medal on his shirt and felt its resonance even clearer than before. It seems that the moment he clears away his doubts and self-discords, the greater he could feel the differentiation of the medal's resonance will become. And so... he decided that he will stand tall against all adversities for he won't allow himself to be discouraged anymore.

And so he continues his journey through the Root, his destination may still be unknown but he glads that he can face himself properly this time.

---

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

Voyage of Blood

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

---

Already lost his track of time long ago, all he does is just keep walking towards a direction that the medal on him start to resonate even greater. That resonance he felt is the only compass he has left in this vast endless void.

The same scenery that just spans across the vast field of emptiness. He isn't gonna lie that it isn't serene but he started to get fed up with this one same environment no matter how much he goes. Strangely enough, he doesn't feel any form of fatigue at all during his journey. It could have been just seconds or eons upon eons and he will never know.

He sighed for his lone journey is just stretching on without a clear end in sight. He closed his eyes for a bit until he face-slammed into something suddenly... again...

"Damn it..." Arnold said as he holds his nose from the aching pain that resulted from the collision between the two.

Arnold took a clear look into the door in front of him. He doesn't know what it is exactly but there is one thing he could tell with confidence. It does NOT belong to any building... At least not the one that belongs to normal uses. It's a metal door that is operated by a valve placed right in the middle of it. Arnold took a deeper inspection of the door and realized that there is a salty scent ingrained into the door.

The rusted and metallic appearance and creaking sounds that it create when Arnold tried to turn the valve upon tells that it must be really old, like old enough that even the most stubborn people agree that it has to be fixed in a timely manner. After spending a decent chunk of his time to force the valve open, it finally gives in before deafeningly screeches like a palm of sharp fingernails on a blackboard.

Right when it finally turns smoothly enough to him, he pushed the door as it creaks as if it refuses to let Arnold it. However, no matter what it does, Arnold is going through it either way.

But instead of light... The only thing there... was darkness... Arnold steels his spirit before stepping in... for who knows what is there inside the darkest place where the light can't fully illuminate.

As he steps inside and the sounds of his feet against the metallic floor echoes through the darkness without end. He tried to make clear of the surroundings despite the overwhelming darkness in the room. And as he turns around to the door, it suddenly slams itself close without a warning, and soon, there just only the darkness that remains.

"God damn it... Now what? There has to be a purpose here, right?" Arnold said out loud even if no one is hearing.

Lights slowly appear as it illuminates the area around them. It is not a normal kind of light however as it was a red-tinted light that is used when an emergency occurred. The fact that it is usually accompanied by an alarm to warn everyone doesn't make it felt any better when everything is also dead silent.

Something has happened and it is definitely not good.

Arnold quickly approaches back the door where he came from and opened it. Behind that door was... a corridor. Turns out that he has already entered another world line without realizing it. As his mind was trying to comprehend the situation he is, his body instantly jumped away as he detected something coming toward him. For some reason, his power here is severely limited as if there is a literal hole in his memory.

He started to forget what is occurred during the time between him and the Chaldean Task Force, although he still knows everyone's name and who they are, the memory of them is slowly vanishing away and so does the memory of his "previous life". Seeking anything that he could, a Luger pistol appeared as he reaches it out from the depth of his memory. Like grabbing a gun from its weapon rack, it appeared in his hand as he aims the thing at whatever is approaching.

The time in the Root is slowly eroding away his ego. A mere staying of seconds will do nothing to him but he is overstaying the welcome before he is assimilated into the Root and lost "who" he is.

"I really need to pick up the pace. The medal's resonance is clear so I must really have been close. Just a little more and I'll find you". Arnold said before he takes aim down the iron sight of the Luger.

Footsteps approach and as Arnold stood clear, a figure appears as it enters the room and reach toward him. Arnold isn't sure what it is but he is not willing to pull the trigger on innocent people. Never will he make that mistake again.

As the red light illuminates down clearly upon it, Arnold realized that it is definitely not a person at all. It growls at him and something about it just sat in between non-human and human in an uncanny way. And then finally... its jaw gasped open in an impossible way for human at him as it rushes toward like a beast toward its prey. Upon seeing so, he cast away all his doubts and instantly fired his Luger straight into its head.

As bullets impact upon its head and tearing away chunks of it, the thing still moves toward him even when it is impossible to be so. Arnold decided to just unload the entire magazine of the gun into its head until it is completely torn away into parts. It was until then did it collapsed as its corpse drips a liquid of some sort on the floor. With only red light as the source of illumination, it is hard to discern what it actually is. And not that Arnold will risk anymore to find out.

"What on earth is..." Arnold said before he realized that there is a large piece of writing on the floor indicating where this place is. Or more exactly what this place is.

Cargo Bay 1

It was only until now that he felt the underlying motion beneath. He is on a ship or more exactly... a cargo ship. But why? What exactly does this place have to do with him? But if this horrid and uncanny thing that tried to devour him alive is an indication then... what is happening here?

Decided that staying here is not an option, he decided that the best course of action is to fight his way out. A ship always has to have an emergency lifeboat and it may be his way of escape, staying here in this accursed and infested ship might really going to spell doom for him. Especially considering his condition.

As he took out a flashlight from digging through the deepest dreg of his memories, the proper light of it shown him just what that monstrosity he killed was...

"Blood and flesh... What on earth..." Arnold said as he lights the corpse with the flashlight.

It is hard to tell just what anything is with the red light and perhaps it may really be better for him to not see the true nature of this place as he could feel something started to swell up inside his guts. Whether it is disgust or hate, he couldn't tell. It is just that it is a purely negative and sickening emotion that he felt.

As he proceeds to move down the hall why scrounging his fading memories, the realization that he is hitting his time limit and his "ego" is, in essence, being assimilated into the Void itself is a horrifying prospect far more than what this place can muster at him. If he lost to the Void before he found Alice then this journey will be all for nothing.

The whole place is essentially running down as if it was drifted at sea for such a long time that some section collapsed and blocking him from entering other locations. Not only that but those flesh monsters also standing between him and his objectives and thus he has to take them down. Thankfully that he could swiftly finish them off with his pistol but something in his mind tells him that its usefulness will run out soon.

Slowly making his way through the wreckage and take many roundabout ways before finally making some real progress, he managed to blow open a path to the way before by simply removing a piece within the wreckage and just proceed to see the whole thing collapsed into parts instead of an unmovable mountain before. At least he has a way to go back, assuming there's anything left back there.

"Finally... Just pray that this isn't the worst to come" Arnold said as he grips his pistol tighter while staying vigilant.

Continuing his journey through this abandoned ship while the emergency light still blaring like no tomorrow. As the flesh and blood stained the hallway and wall leaving untold tales of what happened, Arnold only feels the strengthening disgusts that keep building up upon as he swore he could feel the dread and agony of what the victims suffer here.

He searched around the rooms and resting areas only to find absolutely nothing... There were definite stains of blood but other than that... just nothing... It was as if the victims suddenly disappeared or... something else... something that is just unfathomably worse. Signs of bullet holes were apparent enough that they indeed tried to resist but it was futile nonetheless.

However, what struck him as strange is that it is understandable if it was pistol bullet holes but there are also pellet scratches around the wall signifies that shotguns were also used. If he got his hand on one right now, then it would be much easier for him to recall his arsenals from the eroding memory of his. Even if that shotgun is nothing but scraps. Just the sensation will get him to remember something close.

He then seeks out the room that obviously the most sensible to search, the Captain's cabin which may in fact contain some important information in there. And he was partially right for the place is completely wrecked to the point indiscernible which furniture was which. The only thing that was left remotely intact is the wood desk that was nailed down to the ground in there.

Arnold forces the lock open through the still above average strength that he has. After a while later, he found a single document inside the drawer. Upon reading the contents, he realized just what era this ship is in.

The document is about what kind of cargo that it was supposed to deliver but now the whole ship is dead and infested with this fleshy monstrosity that seeks to devour any living things in a completely animalistic way. The year of this place is 1926 but there is particularly nothing worthy about this year to him at all. Even if there is, it is definitely not gonna be related to this ship in any way.

That's what Arnold thought but considering the way the Root works, there is definitely something here that would explain to him or at least unlock another particular truth.

While his eyes lock towards the document, his ears detected some sort of noise coming from a corridor nearby. And base on the fact that it is getting louder means it must be approaching his location. Arnold was certainly not made for this kind of situation where he is fighting some sort of eldritch abominations that are about to kill him.

Arnold flashes his flashlight at the door and saw a quadrupedal creature with a sharp jaw and long tongue that is dripping out what is considered its mouth. Its body is spiked with bone as if to intimidate its enemies. Hell, its body mass is most likely just bone alone and thus it might prove to be a much more dangerous adversary than anything else that Arnold fought so far.

With his pistol fired at the boney monstrosity in front of him, the thing lunged at him like a beast toward its prey as Arnold narrowly jumped out of its way. It crashed head-on into the wall with such a force that it dented as if being shot by a cannonball. Arnold tried to shoot at it repeatedly with the pistol and even when the bullet clearly lodged into it, the thing still continues its hunt as it quickly pounces toward him so that it can have a taste of his flesh.

Arnold saw that being inside this small cabin will severely limit his movement and thus he quickly jump out of the room and the beast also follow suit with him. The spiky surface of it makes bullets tend to be deflected away instead of hitting the thing. And combine with its ridiculous speed that it usually moves away from his aim before he even managed to shoot.

Decided that attacking just not gonna cut it enough, Arnold decided to ran away but that monster still gave chase as it quickly pursues him and follows his footsteps. As Arnold turned his head to look back, the thing lunged and is already near his head. His reflex kicks in as he immediately ducked and the thing continues to soar past him and flew off ahead. What followed next is the sound of it crashing into something. But considering what it just did, it might as well be nothing but a scratch to it.

Taking in deep breathes, he tried to calm down and rationalize a way to deal with it. His pistol has too little power to take it down and his memory is eroding down to barely anything. His arsenals are hazy and it might require a Deus ex Machina now to even recover it. But even then, there has to be anything that may help him. Anything. Anything that is stronger than the 9mm pistol that he has right now.

Mustering and scrounging any memory he could, the beast lunged back at him again. Arnold's mind went into overdrive right in the mere instant as the beast was about to devour his face, his eyes gaze into it with such sharpness that it cleaves through the darkness and reveals all the details for him. And just like that, he noticed something... Something that is poking out of it...

Within the last second, Arnold's arm quickly extended towards it then grab the thing. As he then utilizes the momentum that the beast still has as he quickly spins it around like a hurricane before tossing it at a wall with such force that it smashed through it. It then crashes into something as everything in there starts to cascade and falls upon it. While the deafening collapses occur in the room next to him, Arnold just looks at his hand as if he just saw a revelation right in front of his eyes.

Suddenly, a stroke of clarity washed over his hazy memory. He started to remember things more clearly now and-

The beast lunged at him once more through the massive hole in the wall. But instead of flesh, it ate a blast of shrapnel into the face as its head was ripped apart into chunks of flesh and bone. And its body writhes for a few seconds before become completely lifeless. Arnold stood there with a trench shotgun in his hand as the muzzle is still smoking from just being fired recently.

Arnold lets out his breath after confirming his kill. The thing that poked out of its back full of spiky bone is a shotgun stock. How it got there is completely out of his field but just the feeling it gave him had recovered back the long-forgotten sense of his arsenals. Now with another weapon becoming the addition in his gears, he could confidently move further into the battle without worrying... At least until he faces another variant that he has to inevitably fight against.

After completely clearing the residence cabin, he at least could assure that there is nothing more to be found here. He then decided to enter the surface of the ship, thinking that the worst thing that could happen is just the weather. Boy was he wrong...

Even when he made it to the top, the stench of death still extends wide... Even when the weather is stormy as it rains down incessantly, it still cannot wipe away this disgusting smell that has emanated and rooted deeply into the surface of the ship.

He continues his scouting with his shotgun in hand. Staying as vigilant as he could but there is no possible way to eliminate all unwanted variables that continuously makes thing worse for him. Sensing from the movements that he detected, he quickly acts appropriately in a timely manner to take down his target.

Flesh monsters sensed him and quickly mobilize towards him. But since they were so easily dispatched by pistol, the shotgun will instantly make short work of them in mere seconds. But the real challenge isn't any of these fleshy monstrosities but it is the fact that it is pitch black here. He couldn't see anything and his flashlight is barely effective because of all the rain that hamper his vision and the light.

The lightning in the background flashes as its light gave him a vision that lasts mere seconds. He can only detect the silhouette but at least he won't be stumbling around aimless as long as the thunder appears. While a map would have given him a much better advantage, it may be not exactly the best idea when this weather is considered.

Suddenly, he felt a turbulent rush through the whole ship as a massive wave washes over its hull. As he was taken by surprise by it, he slipped and fall to the floor as the wave starts to drag him along with it. As Arnold helplessly tries to find a grip on the slippery surface, he crashes into the railings as he could feel the water dripping from the hull back into the ocean. The cold wave and frigid winds make it felt almost as if he is in a different world in entirely of itself.

As he desperately held onto railings, he felt as if he almost falls over it before he stabilized his position once more. Never once a boat trip is so brutally cruel and harsh as this to him at all. As he gasps for breaths, he tried to clear out his snot from the salty water that got in and his eyes felt the sting from the cold rains that it is constantly subjecting him to.

He tried to navigate through the top of the ships but the waves constantly pushing him around. Even when he tried to balance his motion, he could feel his feet slipping away and sometimes falling face flat into the cold floor. The strangest thing was that despite him constantly slipping up, there were no signs of those flesh monstrosities approaching him. It was as if... They just disappeared...

Arnold quickly gets his act together and finally managed to reach somewhere remotely stable. The ship also stops bobbling around like a matryoshka and finally stands still for once in this rain. When his mind is no longer occupies with balancing his stance, it suddenly starts to pick up on something else... Something that is far benign yet as ominous as ever.

He smells something, something that would easily flood his mind with endless disgust and loathing. One that is just so pure sickening that after this journey, he will bleach his mind clean of what he just went through. Arnold took a deep breath and pray that whatever greets him next won't be that shocking to him anymore, he just prays that this will be the last time this nightmare worsens.

Boy... was he so wrong...

He opened a door that seems to lead to an area that was originally sealed off thanks to the structural collapse of the ship. But what greets him was something that was not even the most sickening thing that he could possibly imagine measuring against it.

First... there is only darkness that he managed to perceive. Then... what hit him is an overwhelming stench of blood, blood that is rotten for so long that it accumulated into a disgusting stench of death. And when he decided to no longer put up with this darkness, he decided to take out his flashlight and sees just what is the business here, boy did he really regret that one.

The entire corridor is just blood and flesh spread through the entire surface of everything here. From the ceilings, floor, walls, anything... It was painted in a blood-red color and the mere implication alone sends a deep chill through his spine. He could feel the terror, the horror that happened here in this hell. And if this place were suddenly to become any more eldritch, he swears that he would instantly try to recall any destructive item just to purge this whole ship right at the instant.

The squishy flesh beneath his feet creates those unnerving noises that are just a far cry of what he thought was supposed to be normal. He knew that there is an ordeal beyond each of these doors but never would he expect to go through a nightmare incarnated like this.

Through the corridor, he finally entered somewhere remotely open. Based on his intuition, this place is most likely the main hall or a hub of sorts. But considering that everything is smeared with so much flesh that it doesn't reduce any amount of disgust he felt. And then... they come for him... No matter how he tried to use anything else to describe those things, he can't think of anything but just monstrosity. That's just the real nature of those things, there is nothing poetic about them. Just pure beings of feral disgust.

Those agile quadrupedal creatures appeared once more. And this time instead of one, it is a group of them about to gang upon Arnold. However, Arnold has the shotgun in his hand and he knew that he has the mean it takes to defeat them. And well... calling them quadrupedal monstrosity is just too mouthful and so he decided to call them, Bone... Not the most creative but just what is the point of being poetic with those things?!

And the squishy flesh one will be called... Flesh... No more is required...

Arnold quickly evades against the oncoming onslaught of the horde of Bones and maneuvers carefully through the place. By splitting up the horde of Bones one by one, he swiftly dispatches them with a single shotgun shell into the head. Thankfully for the fact that he still has some of his Servant capabilities because otherwise, he may have run out of ammo long ago.

Chunks of the skull and brain splatter into the already fleshy wall. By this point, they are literally the last thing to worry about comparing to his dwindling sanity. Keeping his composure intact or be devoured by those things as they try to eat you alive. He doesn't know how if he still has his Servant strength intact or not but he would rather not test it out.

Jumping and parkour through the area until he exhausted their manpower. When it is down to the last Bone, he quickly moves his stance and prepares in anticipation of its action. The Bone in front of him decided to lunge without hesitation at him in pure instinct, not knowing that is precisely what Arnold planned.

With the shotgun draws quickly, he fired it one-handed and watches as the Bone's head splatter into pieces as its headless body writhes for a while before lying motionlessly on the bloody ground. With only the echo of the gun surrounds the atmosphere, Arnold sighed knowing that he managed to exterminate all the monstrosity in the vicinity. With a breath of relief that he let out, he calmed down once more before planning his movements.

However... why does he felt like there are some sorts of feeling that he just can't push them off? As if there is something haunting in the furthest depth in the ship, preparing to strike when he is most unexpected. Arnold took a deep breath and pushes his senses to the utter limit even if that means to overwhelm himself in this disgusting smell that overwhelms the atmosphere.

And just like that, his suspicion was confirmed as something charged through the wall and immediately attack him. Arnold swiftly evaded the attack in mere seconds and saw just what is this thing that he is fighting. Its body resembles a humanoid appearance but other than that, it is the only thing that resembles humans enough. Its outward appearance is fleshy and bloodstained, its face distorted to the point to call it a face is stretching the definition. But there is one thing that unnerves him more than its hideous body figure.

Its right arm mutated and formed into a massive blade the size of its entire body. The blade itself is made from bone and sharpened to the point it could probably cut through steel with enough force. Held on together by just pulsating flesh and nerves, it is the definition of a nightmare incarnated.

Arnold glares at the thing in disgust. At this point through this journey, he probably got back to all of his senses the moment he is done with this place. He quickly aims his shotgun and fire at the thing. He decided to call it... Reaper... Trying to fight that thing without a proper maneuver is asking for death. Hell, if it weren't for the fact that he has decent agility, it would have been his demise for real.

He continues to fire his shotgun relentlessly at the Reaper, but it then started to hold the blade up in front to protect itself. As the pellets were deflected upon impact against the calcite blade that is its right arm, Arnold decided to make a daring decision. He quickly rushes toward it and the Reaper immediately tries to pull a downward slash towards him.

Narrowly evaded the body-splitting slash, he quickly let himself slide across the bloody floor as his shotgun aimed right at the back of Reaper's head. With lightning-fast reflex, he pulled the trigger and blast a section of its head's back away. It started to shriek as the sharp pain courses throughout its entire body. It then turns around and quickly swings its blade at him in which Arnold quickly rolled out away as fast as he could before that blade tore apart him and the wall behind.

The shotgun is still as effective but it seems to have better durability than those Bones that he fought. It may not be as fast or agile as them but that thing can certainly put up a fight in a different way than before. Putting up its guard when Arnold is in front of it and it seemingly knows how to adapt to certain fighting styles of its opponents. Like how it could charge toward him if he tried to keep his distance away from it.

It eventually becomes crystal clear that fighting this thing in close-quarter is far too risky for his good and it also has already adapted to fight against opponents with ranged weaponry. He wishes that he has something better to deal with this threat, something that can be accurate at long distances but still carry enough punch like his shotgun. His hazy mind is slowly clearing up but it is just not enough.

And then, he noticed something. Right from where the Reaper breaks into from, there's something lying on the ground that he didn't notice in time because of the emergence of the situation. As he quickly lures the Reaper away from his target, he quickly makes a rush for it while the Reaper still assuming his previous position. When it realized that he is no longer there, it turned around and saw Arnold grabbing something up. Without any form of self-preservation, it charges at him like a raging bull at the red capote.

Memories started to resonate once more in his mind, as his armory slowly reform itself back to its full realization, he immediately grabbed something from the imaginary weapon rack and instantly fire it squarely right at the Reaper's head. It raises its head thinking that it can block it... Too bad that it has played right into Arnold's card.

The bullet pierced straight through the calcite blade and blew its head completely apart. It slipped onto the ground and lies there motionlessly. Although there is a hole blasted through, the blade itself strangely still mostly intact if one decides to exclude the bullet hole in the middle of it.

Arnold lets out a sigh of relief. Never once has something was that persistent just to kill him. He let go of the thing he got in his hand... which was a rifle... stock... The thing was broken when that Reaper came charging through. But even with that stock alone is more than enough to awake his forgotten memory. The rifle that he manifested is the Kar98k, loaded with armor-piercing round. It gave him assurance that he could fight against those more bothersome creatures.

But there is something that he just doesn't want to admit... or more exactly... not want to say out loud no matter what. There's something even worse with this creature... Something... even far worse and nightmare fueling beyond his wildest imagination.

Despite this is just a cargo ship, this place felt larger than how it actually felt. Like... this place is as large as a cruise ship but the interior doesn't lie to him. Without a framework or a map to make marking guidance, he would obviously be going to feel a lot more awkward in this bloodstained ship.

The emergency light above of him is definitely nothing to help him well. It just there to make things more obnoxious for him. He is already tired from the crap this ship put him through but with the way things keep going. He may really end up torching the whole ship down just to purge it from ever spreading its filth to anything nearby.

Suddenly, a group of Fleshes appeared in his way. Because they were just some grunts that were meant to be expendable, Arnold took all of them down remotely quick with his shotgun. They are not even that fast either. So much so that Arnold felt like this is just some sort of sick joke after what he went through. When he thought things would end now, he felt something wrong... So wrong that he felt his soul is revolting at the mere notion of it.

The body of those Fleshes that he dispatched suddenly writhes on the floor violently, and then... its entire body discombobulated into mounds of flesh... literally flesh that seems to be moving and alive. Something that slithers sprout from that very flesh makes him almost want to vomit if it weren't for the fact that he has nothing in the stomach in the first place.

They suddenly move toward one another and seemingly merge into a large pile. And from that pile, the most unthinkable for him happened. That pile of flesh merged into a creature that is entirely different. It is bipedal and has arms but the most disturbing thing is the fact that its entire torso turned into a digestive system with the rib cage itself becomes a maw that could devour an entire human body.

As it sprung open in a grotesque manner, Arnold wanted to scream but his instinct acts before his mind as he unleashes the entire magazine of the shotgun on it. As the blood mist splashes from the impact of his shotgun shells, the monster still continues to move at him as if it wanted to devour him whole. As his mind shifts into overdrive when the danger becomes far too much, he instinctively grabbed something from his imaginary weapon rack and tosses it at the thing in front of him. It then immediately eats that thing which he threw.

Well... that thing was a stick grenade...

The entire thing blew up from inside out into splattered chunks of gore that is far too numerous to count and it seems that it is also the end of it too. Arnold when he got the thing just from sheer desperation alone, has now remembered it so clearly that it is like he just grabbed something similar. Now that he had at least something powerful enough to make ends meet, he could proceed with vigilance.

But still... it unnerves him to no end when he sees just how monstrous this place is. And the fact that it took that for him to realize... That nothing is sacred here... Nothing but to grow endlessly and continuously on the flesh and blood of its victim.

The overwhelmingly nightmarish atmosphere and disgust that he felt is no end.

...

...

After another while of exploring the ship further, he found another cargo bay... Except that it is seemingly much larger than the one before. Now that he thinking back to it again, he realized that the first cargo bay he is in was all collapsed and relatively small as it only leaves enough room to lead back to the entrance of the place.

"Guess that whatever is here gonna be far more unforgiving..." Arnold said before he quickly scouts the surrounding with limited visibility, even with the flashlight that he has.

This place is a cesspool of unadulterated rotten disgust. Each second he spent here, he tried to not repulse instinctively from just what has this place become. When he thought that war was just abominable and vile, this place somehow managed to beat that by a landslide... thousands of times repeatedly all over. Trying to repair his eroded sense of self through repetition and instinct, he hopes that he could somewhat recover the lost fragments that made him who he is.

He steps down the stair and made it into the bottom of the cargo bay. When he finally made it there, he realized that he is stepping into repugnant flesh that keeps twitching as if it is living. No... the entire floor is this flesh that courses through the entirety of this cargo bay. His body wanted to revolt against this oppressing revulsion and yet... it has nothing left to even vomit out.

Feelings the movements approach him and the unnerving sounds of writhing flesh echoes through the darkness. Arnold took a deep breath and prepare himself for whatever may befall upon. A flashlight alone won't help him if something could jump at his back and caught him off guard. He needs something, something beyond more than just mere one-direction lighting.

Attaching the flashlight directly into the waist belt, he turned around and quickly survey the area. But the restlessness that continues to build up inside him is starting to make him feel the tension and stress. While he is still above-average compare to humans but even just one careless move and it will be him adding to this already hideous mountain of flesh and corpses.

Fleshes rise up from the floor as they approach him en mass. They are weak and easily dispatched if he remains careful. But what makes it worse is that they serve as cannon fodder so that worse mutants can get closer to him before he could deal with them. Bones easily thread through those Fleshes as they tried to ambush him, Arnold almost got done in by that one trick and thus he won't allow himself to fall to the same trick twice. How? By literally just bomb any group that he sees with grenades, they easily flush out those Fleshes away and any straggler that is still alive will be executed by him.

And it would have been that simple... if it wasn't for the fact that any biomass that didn't eviscerate down to blood will end up turn into some sort of living fleshes and they start to mount up into a pile and transform into something absolutely eye-bleaching or just so absolutely disgusting that Arnold would refuse to describe them beyond rudimentary description.

"Boy... What a bad time to have eyes..." Arnold said as he stares into the mountain of smiling bodies and it now starts to move using the limbs formed from the deformed remains and flesh of anything close by.

He doesn't know the biology or how any of these work, but the fact that whatever is enabling this kind of horror to become a thing makes him nervous. And within that same fear that lurks is also rage and absolute determination.

He can't allow this thing to continue to exist.

And from the center mass of it, opened a massive maw that seemingly can devour an entire military tank like nothing. The flesh that it molds from starts to rot into black sludge and its whole body are encrusted with debris and body parts of whatever. And to make it worse, it smiles back at him with that exposed teeth with some of it has blood on its tips. The faces on the external appearance of it, contort and twist hideously into expressions that he thought to be physically impossible. And most importantly... its size, that thing towers even larger than a tank and he wouldn't put it past him that it could even eat an entire tank if it put its effort.

It rushes at him as if it smelled fresh meat, something different for once in this rotten cargo bay. Arnold doesn't understand how it can physically create a hive mind like that through just the process of living fleshes infusing at each other. But he knew he has to kill it and thoroughly to the point it can't regenerate by patching up with more flesh.

Arnold narrowly evaded its crushing maw and it instantly tries to look for him once more. Once it smelled the scent of living, it will not stop until that life was thoroughly devoured to the point it becomes paste and assimilate with that hideous monstrosity. Arnold tried to shoot the thing with his gun, even tossing grenades to bait it into eating it. But no matter what measurement he came up with, there isn't enough firepower to deal enough damage.

Guns can pierce into flesh but that is... That horrid thing has no sense of pain or even the concept of mortality. It literally only has one thing in 'mind' and that is "consume". Unless the bullet is powerful enough to literally tore it apart into multiple pieces, there will be no ballistics that can destroy it. He tried grenades already and it is still not enough, the purpose of a grenade is to cripple through shrapnels that it unleashes. Even if that thing ate grenades, the shrapnels won't even bother it much.

Realizing the situation he is in, Arnold quickly decided to fall back into the utmost critical strategy when all is hopeless. Run... Just run away so that he may have a chance to take it down properly later. If not now then there will be one later.

Arnold quickly runs away from it in which it quickly pursues him. Its hunger for his flesh is immeasurably vast as it quickly bulldozes through all the obstacles it could just to get to him even faster. It even knocks the cargo with such force that if any of it hits someone, that person will be crushed into a bloody paste before they even register the fact that they died already.

As everything was thrown into chaos, Arnold managed to found a small door that leads somewhere else, anywhere but this place. The Mountain of Smiling Bodies detected him and quickly charges at him at such a maddening speed that it could catch up with him in seconds. But thankfully though, Arnold squeezed through the door and shut it before the thing slams into it. In just a second later, a sickening crash dented the wall as if a truck just ran at maximum speed into it.

Even when not at the receiving end, Arnold could still feel the collision because of how close he was. He quickly stumbles away from the smashed iron door and just as he got away from it a bit did that thing slam again at the door once more. And this time, he knew the wall won't hold out against such force of nature. Picking up his pace, Arnold quickly tries to put as much obstacles against it as possible by going through the tight area. He knew that the sheer size of it will make traversing such an area a brutally difficult if not outright impossible task.

And by the mercy of this place being near the cargo bay that the entrance to the engine area is also nearby. Taking his chance there, he quickly gets into it just right in time when that mountain of rotten corpses broke through the wall by brute force. It quickly traces after his lingering scent with the intention to hunt him down. The traversable path of the engine room is small enough for a human but this thing has no such thing called common sense as it once more trying to brute force through the engine room's door.

Arnold putting up as much distance as he could while the burning heat of the engine system of this archaic ship emanates the area. This scorching heat makes his already delirious mind turn even for the worse as he could feel the headache resulted from built-up tension that wasn't properly vented. And just where is that chance to present itself in this voyage of nightmare?

The thing smashed its way through once more as Arnold could hear the approaching doom. It starts to wreck through the engine room in precarious manners as the broken heat pump continues to drive the place's temperature skyrocket. Arnold felt that he has accidentally made a death trap for himself but going anywhere else is also a guaranteed death for him. This was the only option he has left when faced with such adversity.

As the heat continues to ramp up, he decided that he will try to get out of here as fast as he could. Losing consciousness while that thing is about nearby is just asking for death. As the dim light of the emergency lighting barely illuminates the path for him while the loud rampage of that monstrosity still rages on from a certain distance away. And then it smashed through the engine itself...

A massive ball of fire exploded and Arnold was thankfully away from it so that he doesn't get caught by it. The heat starts to scale up and Arnold quickly makes his way out of the engine room through the different entrance. It should be obvious common sense that no one would build the engine room with only one entrance.

And as he barely got out of it while his body is drenching with his own sweats, he swore that it should have gone so much worse but he was thankful for the fact that he survived. As he closes the iron door, something slammed from the other side and dented the entire wall.

"Damn it!" Arnold said as he quickly runs away from it.

Just like that, it smashed through the door once more and it is now burning. The very sight itself is as if he is witnessing a hellspawn rose from hell just to kill him.

But... Something is different. It still moves menacingly at him but it felt extremely agitated and irritated by the burning flame that it can't douse off. It roared, it shouted... whether in pain or hunger or the like. It still moves at him although much slower now because of the raging fire that caught on it.

Arnold realized something, its weakness... it is fire. But now how does he find a way to drag it into another fire pit? Or even any fire at all.

The thing glares at him as if it starts to sicken of his tenacity. It wants to devour him now, and at any cost. It rushes at him like a comet blazing through the sky, ignoring anything between them as it wants nothing more than the taste of his flesh. Arnold stares at it as his time perception starts to slow down. An ability so long lost of his yet once again came back just right at this moment.

Seconds into minutes, minutes into hours. As the hand of time forcefully slow down at his command, or at least in his mind. As that blazing mountain of burning flesh slowly crawl to a halt while its massive maw gape open to devour him in instant. Arnold took a deep breath then slowly moves his body. Time starts to move once more as the thing rushes past him without knowing that he has already evaded its path.

And Arnold managed to grab something out of it. Pure disgust it may be, but that thing gave him a long gone sensation of what he needed. As memories collided, a flash of insight appeared in his mind and shown through his eyes as he takes it out of his imaginary armory rack.

The flamethrower of WW1 in which he reobtained by... grabbing a burning hot pipe that lodged into it. But with a suitable weapon to deal with this impossibly tenacious monstrosity, he obtained his courage to no longer run away.

That thing rushes at him once more, and Arnold decided to rush at it. As two of them charging at one another at breakneck speed. From an outside perspective, Arnold looks like he is about to do a suicidal move. But then again, trying to feasibly fight this thing is suicidal enough.

And it opened its maw when he is about to get close but Arnold jumped. A latent part of his Heroic Spirit power managed to slowly piece itself back and enabled right in this crucial moment. As he jumps past that thing while it charges head-first without stopping at all, Arnold quickly turned around unleashes the flamethrower upon that beast. Fire spurts from the muzzle as it torches anything in front of him to ashes, the beast got caught into it as it suddenly writhes from the overwhelming agony it got subjected to.

It lets out its bloodcurdling scream as it tried to turn around, but the moment it did, it got fed an instant face full stream of gasolinic fire. As its body integrity crippled, all of its flesh torched into charcoal, its body collapsed into the floor and unmoving but Arnold decided that he will not let his pity get in his way. He then instantly just flushes all the fire in the flamethrower into the thing in front of him until the flamethrower ran out of fuel, by that point did the mountain of flesh turned into a burning pile of charcoal and ashes.

After seeing through to his duty, Arnold let go of his flamethrower and then impale a grenade deep into it. The thing exploded and tore apart any remains of it from the inside and thus ensure its death completely. Arnold felt nothing after taking down such a monstrosity despite the fact that he should be exhilarated after defeating such a towering enemy like this.

Afterward, he continues to move deeper into this ship. At this point, he wants to confront the mastermind behind all of these and he will personally see the entire thing through to its end. This is no longer just a story that he has to go through, this is now a personal matter that he will settle, no matter what.

...

...

Arnold managed to get through somewhere for once, the previous rampage of that monstrosity seems to not only wreck the engine room but also destroy the stability and foundation of the whole ship. He is surprised at the fact that it didn't cause a massive hole in the ship's hull and sunk this place down. Even after its death, that mountain of smiling bodies still mock him and being a real pain in his ass.

Wreckages blocking the path, some of his Servant strength is basically still eroded and not at its full capacity. He could have easily forced his way through but nope, he is still restricted by the damage done. Well... at least he should try to search the entirety of this ship to make sure he doesn't miss anything. As he slowly but surely repairs the memory that he managed to reclaim, he is certain that there will be light at the end of this darkness.

And now... there really isn't anything that poses a real threat to him anymore. The flamethrower made sure that any of those fleshy beasts stay dead and certainly. Butcher thinks they can block incoming attacks with calcite blades of theirs are instantly incinerated to ash because the flame isn't something solidified to be blocked. Fleshes and Bones are immediately annihilated without discrimination because they usually grouped up together and make use of each other's strength. And his flamethrower is a massive wrench into that symbiotic relationship.

"What in the!?" Arnold said as he came across a large hole.

What is in front of him is a hole, but it struck him as weird about the fact that there isn't any protrusion or any indication of which direction it was broken through. It is as if, the hole just appears without a reason and now it just prevents him from making that jump.

And then it finally just has to hit him. He could smell it... The corroding smells that emanated and when he looked down below, he realized that it was the engine room... or what was left of it. A ball of fire doesn't create such an effect as this so it has to be...

"Oh for Lord's sake..." Arnold said in tiredness when he reached the conclusion.

That mountain of bodies not only is dangerous in sheer physical power but also in the fact that it also pukes pure corrosive acid that melts steel in seconds. And based on the damage, he also sees that it has caused tremendous damage around the below area. Whether physically by its body or its acid.

"Thank god that I didn't see just what its full capability was like". Arnold said as he decided to jump down. At least it would actually lead him somewhere.

As he jumped down to the tattering remains of the engine room, from where the explosion occurred is also a path that leads him further down. And so with his self-belief, he jumped down knowing he must be getting closer to the truth.

...

...

*SPLASH*

Before he realized it, he basically jumped into a pool of blood that is knee-deep. As blood stained his clothing and dye them red, Arnold tried to calm himself down as he tries to find out where he just got himself into.

After a grueling attempt to trek through all of the blood that accumulated into a pool like this, he managed to get himself into a corridor. But something about this place isn't right, actually scratch that. The whole ship isn't right in the first place... Just what kind of twisted mind that enables such chronic and self-perpetuated cruelty and atrocities like these?

And as he got into one of the doors, he decided to assert as much strength that he could muster and broke the lock open by himself. What was revealed to him gave him a horrible sense of disgust burrowed deep into his unprepared mind. He should have expected as much but... In the end, he really didn't see just how far one could go for cruelty.

The entire room... is filled with dead bodies... Many of them are so rotten that the disgusting smell emanated from the whole room. He wanted to leave the place already and slam the door shut but... something inside tells him that he should try to inspect this place more, even when he doesn't want to.

Slowly approaching the mountain of corpses that were piled atop of each other. Each one of them has rotten and bloodstained to the point that he instinctively wants to repulse away from it. As he drags out each corpse one by one, he soon came to find out that he wasted his time for nothing. For the first time, his instinct just pointed him in the wrong direction.

His heart skipped a beat as he could feel something within the atmosphere, a benign sense of his that he couldn't quite explain is picking up something. Something that is transcendental, something that is beyond what anyone could think. It doesn't felt like instinct but more of a guidance of the beyond, something that is there to nudge him in the right path.

Decided that it might be the only good choice he has left. He follows it as it guides him into a room distance away from the original. The inside of it is the same as the previous one, corpses piled high to near the ceiling. But this time, he could feel it much more profound than before. Quickly climb up near the top of this bloodstained hill made out of bodies and fortunately, he found someone who is alive in this utter depth of the purgatory. Thank the whatever that they aren't at the bottom or they would be crushed by the weight of those above.

And in fact, it is two of them. He quickly checked their pulse and realized that it is there but very weak. Their breathing isn't stable either, their lives are about to be extinguished hadn't he found them here. But whether or not he could save them is entirely out of question. Arnold is a runner, not a medic. But he has to try either way. It is now or never...

Scrounging the memory for any clue he could find, or just anything he could use to stave off their demise. Anything... even if it is just for a while...

And then, something manifested from his memory. They are distant yet hazy but he could feel the salvation that he felt when he reached for them. It was the medic waist-pack that he got. He immediately checks the contents and found a bottle of adrenaline and a syringe along with it. Decided that it would be his last chance, he injected a dose of it into both of them. Whether or not they may have side-effect is now beyond his control.

As each second passes, he becomes more and more anxious... When their breathing finally become stabilized and slowly opened their eyes, relief washed over him as he finally managed to save someone here. To be forsaken to this purgatory, just who on this world enables such a thing to happen at all?

The two children slowly managed to stand up and Arnold decided to hold their hands so that they don't fall over. Until they become comfortable with standing up did Arnold ever letting go of them. He has never been a good babysitter or someone who is professionally know how to deal with children, especially in this purgatory. But the fact that they managed to get up back to a considerably stable state is nothing short but a miracle.

"Mister... Who are you?" The boy spoke to Arnold.

Arnold looked at the boy as he tried to find a good response, especially to make sure that they don't get cripple by the worsening mental corruption environment that they found themselves in. The boy has unkempt hair, a ragged shirt that is dyed red by blood. His pant barely holding on to him and will tear apart itself if he took drastic movements.

But something struck him as unordinary by him, something in his eyes... He gazed into it and something deep in there gazed by toward him. It's not the void or emptiness but rather... A persisting light that refuses to let itself snuff out.

The light inside is broken... but he still persists.

Arnold looked at the little girl in the eyes and he gets the same feeling from her. He doesn't understand why... or even know how to at all. This condition would have crippled a normal person in fear but these two siblings seem to act normal as far as he knew...

"I'm a soldier... I came here to investigate..." Arnold said as this is possibly the best he could tell them for now. This lie won't hold if he spoke to anyone else.

The boy just looks at him with far-off eyes. The abnormality displayed unnerves him but compare to the horror that he faced, this is nothing to compare to those.

"Come on... We need to find a way to get out of here... Or at least finishing off the core behinds this horror." Arnold said as he knew that this means putting them into the line of danger for selfish reasons.

As the two of them got out of the room, Arnold no longer feels anything else that he could detect through his instinct at all. That means they are the only survivors left in this place... as far as he knows right now. He keeps moving forward toward the red light at the end of this tunnel flooded with blood.

*thump*

Arnold felt something... Something within the blood that covered his knee. It is a ripple, but it belongs to neither of them. Not him, the boy, or the girl. It belongs to something else entirely.

*thump*

Another ripple... It's not something that swims or lives within the blood either because if it is... They would have already devoured him whether from outside in or inside out.

*thump*

Knowing that this might be a bad idea, Arnold turned around... And he sees it...

Darkness surrounds it but it can't hide the gigantic size that it encapsulates. If that mountain of dead bodies is a tank then this thing is an entire camp itself. While he didn't mention it, the ceilings are actually pretty high for the cargo ship standards, it is like... 5 meters tall. And that thing nearly touches the ceiling with just the height alone.

Arnold quickly grabs the two kids and immediately mobilizes so that he can get away towards the exit in front of him. He keeps running toward the light ahead but soon enough did he realize that neither any of them is making any progress while that titan behind him still moves slowly yet somehow catching up with them. Realized that something is horribly wrong, he quickly took out a pistol fire it at the wall to his left.

The bullet punched through the wall and leave behind the hole, Arnold then quickly made a mad dash toward the light until he gasps for air. He turned to his left and realized the distance that they made is... 20 centimeters.

"You have got to be kidding!" Arnold said as he realized the trap that they got caught in.

This hallway is spatially stretched. No matter how hard he may try to run, he will never make any real distance at all. The only option left is to fight back against that titan. Quickly taking out anything that he could aid him, the thing he got turns out to be a can of gasoline. He then immediately toss the can to the titan then shoot the thing right when the can is nearby.

As fuel poured out of the hole that resulted from his pistol. The sparks immediately ignite the fuel alight and reveal the true appearance of the titan that has been approaching them. Arnold however... wishes that it was an illusion but it's too late to undo what he did.

The flame doused the entire titan illuminated the darkness that veiled its form. With a head that barely resembles anything humanoid yet, it could tell where they are ahead of it. Its large torso and body frame look as if it could withstand tremendous damage. The body structure of it can even rival even concrete walls used to build bunkers. Huge fleshy spikes protrude from its body only increasing its menace observed by others.

There is no doubt about it... That thing really deserves the name, Titan... That walking behemoth that is chasing them down will be proven to be difficult to take down. In Greek legends, its namesake waged war with gods and almost won. And unfortunately for him... and along with the two children, neither any of them are gods.

The Titan started to pick up its pace. Arnold quickly drags the two kids faster so that they don't get caught within its range. Arnold quickly instructs them to run as fast as possible while he slows down to delay the Titan back from approaching them.

The fact that it can literally ignore the flame that doused it without care means the flamethrower won't have much effectiveness here at all. Because of that, Arnold needs an alternative. Something that can lay out suppressive fire from the distance...

Taking out his trench shotgun and slamfire all the shells within it, all the pellets hit its body but it still moves as if all of those attacks are nothing. Arnold quickly reloads the shotgun as fast as he can but soon he realized that time does not wait for him. Nor does he have enough time at his disposal to turn the tide quickly. The situation is like the sword of Damocles, a looming threat that grows ever larger until he can no longer ignore it.

As a single step of it shakes the whole pool of blood beneath their feet with such force that they felt like that Titan is gonna crush the entire ship down into the ocean along with it. The tremors resulted broke open the doors within this endless corridor through sheer force alone. And due to whatever reason that Arnold doesn't know, the dead bodies within those rooms start to drag and crawl along the floor just to get to him as fast as he could.

Seeing the imminent danger within sight, he quickly takes out another can of fuel and torches it to create a wall of fire that will separate him and them. The Titan easily pass through but everything else behind it was incinerated within that wall of flame. It is only a temporary solution and those living corpses will certainly get over it by climbing the incinerated bodies of those ahead.

The Titan then grabbed one of the iron doors within the corridor then forcefully rips it from the doorframe. It then threw it right at him with such a speed that Arnold will be instantly splattered if he doesn't manifest his Servant strength again soon enough. The thing is, he doesn't need to... Its target is him and thus he is confident that as long as the two children ahead of him are safe, he will have no need to hold back or reserve his strength. At least, that's what his intention is.

Narrowly avoided the door from slamming him into the pool of blood below, it splatters the blood everywhere as Arnold tried to swerve and fall back while laying out suppressing fire towards the Titan. Not only he has to juggle three objectives at the same time, but he also has to make sure that he must be swift and decisive for he could feel that the Titan is slowly picking up its pace and become faster. Soon enough, it will catch up with and that's the end of the line.

Shotgun pellets fired ceaselessly, walls of fire erected to stop the oncoming horde that keeps up behind the Titan. Unless he slew the Titan now which is absolutely nowhere near, the horde will eventually become a much worse problem than the Titan itself. The proof right here is the fact that the corpses melted into living flesh in which formed into hideous creatures that spew out acid everywhere towards him. Those things can melt steel and if it weren't for all of the blood flooded in this hallway, it would have otherwise melted the floor and even the ship's hull.

It becomes clear that the shotgun isn't the most effective measure and the rifle while did some damage, can't repeatedly fire like the shotgun slamfire. The oil fire while effective against the horde, however, started to take a toll on his mind due to the repeating cost for a patchwork solution. And it certainly doesn't stop them from spewing acid through the flame.

And when his mind started to feel the weighing toll, his guard was unintentionally dropped a bit in which the Titan immediately swings its massive arm that could pulverize even a military pillbox. Arnold quickly falls back and barely evaded his death but the swinging force was so much that even the shockwave resulted blasted him away as he tumbles and rolls on the blood.

As he is dripped with blood, the Titan continues to approach him closer and closer until it is about to crush him with the downward swing of its arm. Barely keeping his mind clear, Arnold tried to drag himself through the blood until...

The two kids that were ahead of him to drag him out. In just a moment, they managed to save him by a hairbreadth from being crushed by the Titan. But now, they are also caught in the crossfire between him and the eldritch horde of undead.

"Kids! What are you doing!?" Arnold shouted as his mind is being drowned in confusion and exhaustion.

Without any response, they still try to drag him away from the Titan even if it is clear that it won't work at this point. Arnold tried to pull himself up but his mind is refusing to restart itself in time after subjecting to such grueling combat and stress.

Within that moment, something horrifically wrong happened. One of those acid spewers managed to land a strike directly on the boy. Right at the moment, Arnold saw it with his eyes directly, his mind instantly switch to overdrive despite the tiredness accumulated from all extended combat. Driving by sheer will and retribution, Arnold quickly takes a can of fuel and swings it hard enough that the whole can spray its entire content far enough into the backline.

With burning rage in his eyes, Arnold took out the flamethrower and instantly fire it towards the back. It quickly incinerates almost all of the acid spewers instantly and the rest were immolated to the point of becoming immobile before perishing into the flame itself. Arnold keeps doing so until the flamethrower ran out of its fuel.

The moment the flamethrower went silent, Arnold quickly turned toward the boy and find him... to be okay?... Arnold tried to rub his eyes to make sure that his mind isn't playing illusion right now due to the trauma but... nope. That boy is fine and he is in fact still walking on two feet.

"Huh?" Arnold muttered beneath his breath as he felt something isn't right at all.

Arnold has seen this kind of acid melt even steel and the wall here. This kid would have been melt into nothing already and yet... here he is... Still relatively fine despite being doused in flesh-melting acid. The only expression the kid has is annoyed but that fact completely shocked Arnold for it could have turned far worse.

"What on earth!?" Arnold said in disbelief.

The wall of flame behind is so fierce that the horde of living flesh stopped pursuing them thanks to the impassible wall of flame along with the mountain of charred and impassible flesh built from the raging inferno. And as more of them throw themselves into the flame in the attempt to bypass it, they themselves fed into the flame and perpetually fuel it until none of them are left. It is now only the Titan remaining but he hardly has anything that can deal effective damage against it. Especially after it has been dragged out this long.

The Titan's presence of danger is like an ember within a forest. It starts small but if not dealt with properly in time, it will turn into a raging and unstoppable wildfire. Arnold has taken this far just to even has a proper chance to fight this thing. And especially not being meddled with by those acid spewers.

Arnold wishes that he can recover more of his memory but time isn't on his side right now. The kids are not exactly something utterly divine that they could obliterate this Titan with a single strike. The only thing he has right now is his mind that is being pumped with adrenaline from what just happened, his emotions are heightened and start to overflow.

The titan swings its massive arm and this time, it is fast and swift instead of being sluggish like before and takes a while to pull. Arnold's mind instantly went into overdrive as time flow start to slow down. Seconds into minutes, minutes into hours... The unstable mess and mixture of emotions and adrenaline are forcefully awaking something in his mind.

Arnold reaches out for something by his side. To others, he is seemingly grabbing nothing. But in his mind, he is reaching out to that imaginary weapon rack beside him. Soon, his time perception snapped and it all happened instantly.

The two kids behind him can't tell what just happened for it was so sudden. And right at the next moment, the Titan stumbles back as if something managed to punch through its ridiculous organic armor. The smoke coming out of the muzzle of the gun he fired straight in its head in which successfully stagger it. It was the T-Gewehr, the anti-material rifle that he only remembered its form just now.

Taking advantage of the situation, he quickly falls back while laying continuously fire the gun at the Titan with utmost precision and care. The large-caliber ballistic that this thing fire does more work than all of his previous arsenals are doing. As chunks of flesh torn away from its body with each of his shots. Arnold can finally see a glimmering hope of victory in front of him.

"Keep your distance and stay calm. It is the only chance that I have to take this thing down!" Arnold yelled internally inside to keep himself up.

The Titan realized what Arnold is doing and thus starts to quickly move faster towards him. The sudden burst of speed caught Arnold unexpectedly and the Titan smacked him across the hallway even further ahead of the two kids trying to keep running forward. That attack is supposed to even splatter Arnold's body to a mist of blood but for some reason, he is still in one piece. That doesn't mean he isn't in pain however, he felt that thing's full brunt and is now completely incapacitated because of the agony.

"Mister!" The boy shouted when he saw Arnold lying on the ground unable to pull himself up.

"Kids... run..." Arnold tried to communicate through the burning agony that is flooding his mind.

The two kids looked at him briefly before running ahead of him. The Titan begins to approach him with each second passed and Arnold desperately gets himself back on his two feet. He felt like it has broken his internal organs or something although that is supposedly impossible. The Titan's presence soon loomed over him then it raises its massive arm up and about to crush him into pastes with a single strike.

That is... until Arnold realized that something doesn't felt right at all yet... His eyes looked around and realized the T-Gewehr that was supposed to be nearby... is nowhere to be found. Arnold then gazed into the light ahead of him and saw a hazy figure beyond a few distances away. He tried to get himself up but time is not on his side anymore and-

A loud blast was heard and the Titan stumbled by backward. Arnold turned around and saw a chunk of its head was torn right off its face. Seeing the chance, he ignores the pain and agony he felt and quickly pushes forward on his two feet again. The Titan tried to attack and it was once again intercepted by another shot straight into its forehead and knocked it down to the floor.

With all the might he could muster, Arnold runs and left behind any form of self-reservation. In this matter of life and death, he can't allow himself to hesitate. In just a matter of seconds, the Titan managed to get back on and immediately pursue him like a mad bull seeing red. When it started to get serious, it quickly sheds off the illusion of being slow and bulky.

Another shot straight into its face, and this time, the head blew up in entirety. With its head lost, the entire Titan collapsed into the pool of blood and splatters the whole hallway everywhere. Arnold soon caught up with the twin and he breathes tiredly after such a close call with his death. He found out that the two of them tried to use the gun by having the boy hold the forward bipod with his hand and the girl will stabilize herself and firing the gun. Arnold remembered that even a gun like this required formal military training and yet... the two of them used the gun as if they knew what to do and how to compensate for their weakness when using things.

And precisely because of that... he felt something isn't right about them at all... They have something that they don't realize that they have at all. And it scares him...

The hallway rumbled once more. Arnold turned around and saw the corpse of that Titan mutated and metamorphosized into a crawling monstrosity in a blink of the eyes and its whole torso turned into a massive jaw that will devour anything in its path. It now begins to crawl toward them even if its mobility becomes limited due to the state it becomes. But nonetheless, if they don't know the right approach, they will inevitably run out of strength to finish it off.

Arnold took out a flamethrower and begins to unleash its fury upon any target within its fire. However, the flame no matter how strong will never be enough unless he could significantly improve its potency or size and he has neither option. He is basically stuck with WW1 gear and in this world, his chance of coming across any advanced tech is near to nil.

But what else could they do? All they can do is just run and delay the inevitable. The mastermind has clearly made this entire hallway a death trap that has virtually no chance of escape. They must have also been a real capable magus or something similar if they can easily spatially trap this entire hallway into a bounded world of its own.

Arnold has many times ponder if he should instead find a way to finish this off for once and for all or just delay as long as he could. But then, he felt something... something that was so distant and long ago that it is now only felt so clearly when he is in danger.

Resonance... His mind instantly draws itself toward the twin. Arnold wonders if something is playing with his mind or not and thus he ignored it. Only to felt the same thing again just a few seconds later. This time, he can't ignore it for there is no possible way that these two kids are in perfect health despite being thrown into this purgatory for what may be considered extended time.

A massive and slither tongue burst through its gaping jaw. Arnold's mind was barely able to catch up to that fact in time before he narrowly evaded it. However, the swung of its tongue smashed him into the wall. While he avoided getting devoured by the crawling devourer, he is now basically so dented into the wall that even he has a hard time trying to get out.

His consciousness started to drift away and soon his vision only perceive the darkness. Within that bare momentary emptiness, he heard the sound of something. Something that resonates even across beyond distance... beyond even this world. But right now, the closest... is the twin that he is accompanying...

This...

This can not...

Arnold starts to clench his fist. Whether in pain or rage, that question has no bearing anymore to his state of mind. A glint of cold steel flashes within his eyes, his face contorts into a raging expression that makes everyone instinctively fall back no matter who they are. And then, Arnold forced his way out as he rushes toward the Devourer that mutated from the remnant of the decapitate Titan.

It sprung its tongue out once more, and this time, Arnold takes the initiative. Its tongue wrapped around his arm quickly begin to pull him back so that it can devour him. Arnold knew what it is intending to do and thus he planted his feet deep straight into the floor. Soon, it turned into a tug-of-war between Arnold and the Devourer with its tongue as the rope.

Arnold tried to tap into the full power of his Servant strength, the Root has basically eroded his ego so much that he has almost forgotten who he is until now. And the rising and turbulence emotion that manifested inside quickly brought his fighting prowess back.

Rage, hatred, fury, loathing... all of his extreme emotions flooded into his mind as his heart carries a conviction far tougher than any steel forged. If his emotions are a volatile blade then he lets his determination be the guide it required to strike at the right target.

He clenched the tongue and with a burst of strength, he snapped the tongue out of the Devourer's mouth as the thing writhes around upon being ripped away. The Devourer roared in pain as Arnold in essence did the impossible for humans. Arnold felt his mind much clearer and he could feel the Servant power of his slowly being returned to him.

This can not stand!

Arnold shouted as the fiery rage inside him burns even greater than before. Seeing the tongue that was ripped out of it dangling in Arnold's arm, the Devourer then begins to lunge its massive mass of body towards him. Taking the initiative again, Arnold takes a step back then chanted. The hazy memories slowly reform themselves, and soon, he remembered who he is clearly.

The conquest and journey that makes him who he is today. He will never allow such a thing to be forgotten, not even until when he ends.

Spirit...

As Arnold desperately mutters the words of power. The Devourer is already close by and prepared to eat him whole. But the fight's result has already had him as the victor.

Spirit Phaze!

Arnold lunged headfirst into the Devourer at godspeed. Angelic feathers were left behind in his trail as his fist was about to thrust straight into the devourer. Enveloped by a white aura of sorts, he carries no fear or hesitation inside. He intended to end it now and he won't take anything else for an answer.

His fist burrows straight into the Devourer with such force that it tore apart its entirety into thousands of smaller chunks across the entire hallway. As Arnold glares at the fist that utterly annihilated the Devourer after spending such a ridiculous amount of time to devise a proper plan. Arnold doesn't feel anything, he just knew that he has finally awakened after his ego being eroded for so long.

He turned around and the twins saw a flash of light within those eyes of his. He stood proudly with bravery and courage with each step of it carries an unblemished will. He is a hero to the two of them, and they will not let anything else prove otherwise.

"Come on... Let us see this through to the end". Arnold spoke to the two of them before being taken by him.

As the three of them walked towards the light at the end of the tunnel and the Devourer completely obliterated, the end is finally approachable to them as they letting its radiance bask on them.

Although Arnold knew that beyond this light, there is still a final challenge that awaits him. He took a deep breath and keep himself calm. As he clears away any mental distress through basic meditation, he knew that he has to stay level-headed for his ultimate confrontation with the mastermind behind this disgusting purgatory that was made a top of the sea.

The light felt oddly blinding but to him, he has already transcended far past his fear. All he could do is pray that the two kids will not be caught in his crossfire.

...

...

His vision is cleared once more after stepping into a high light-saturation area after staying in the dark is certainly not something that one could adjust in instant. But what soon hit him isn't the light but rather what is at the end of the tunnel.

"What in tarnation?..." Arnold can only mutter beneath his breath for not even he wants to fathom all the inhumane thoughts that enable such a thing to be reality.

Blood soaked the entire place, from the floor even to the ceilings. The rotten scent of death emanated the place into a suffocating atmosphere that he felt even his lung is trying to flip itself inside out just to avoid further contact with the filth that is this place. Beneath the floor is just so much blood along with chunks and mounts of flesh piled up upon each other and nearby.

Much to the twins' dismay, their reaction is far tamer than how Arnold thought. Even he thought that they may react to this place viscerally but nope, they are disturbed but other than that, they knew just how horrible this place is without breaking down into insanity. A normal person will become insane that they have will collapse thousands of times upon just witnessing this horror alone.

Bloodstained and flesh-stained cargos scattered about in a haphazardous manner means whatever this place is, it must have some value of importance regardless. And as he saw the railings that seem to connect the whole area, he could feel that there are presences within this location. He couldn't tell where exactly but he knew that there are more than just one here.

Suddenly, the light turned off suddenly. As they all reduced into illuminating only one location based on the glimmering light that made it past through. Both Arnold and the twins made their way toward it as they trudge through the knee-deep blood and mushy flesh that was torn and plaster across the floor. When they finally made it there, so too did there any conscience remaining of theirs towards the mastermind.

Words of God: For this part, play Dark Throne - Ao no Kiseki

They heard the scream for help more clearly than ever. Arnold was struck dumbfounded more than how he ever could when saw the limitless depravity that the mastermind behind all of this was capable of. The kids certainly don't take what they saw much better than he did.

Hung above the ceiling is a large bloodstained cage that just its mere gaze at it is enough to drive anyone into insanity. And inside it is... children... All young and scared, not knowing where they got themselves in... it doesn't even matter to whoever allows such a twisted thing to take place. To whoever that person is... no life is sacred beyond to be used and discarded.

They just have to stumble into a ritual that is in process. And to make it even worse, the "cultists" that surround the area look unmovingly and pale beyond belief as if there is not even a sign of life left in them. But what even struck him worse is that... all of them wore military attire and wielding military weapons like SMGs and rifles. The clothes were stained so much with blood that there is no nationality to be discerned but other than... dead.

Both Arnold and the two kids quickly move silently while staying hidden out of sight for as long as he could. He doesn't know the extent of the mastermind's power but the more he could discern his enemy's capabilities before the inevitable conflict, the more advantage that he will have.

But... Arnold felt only the emptiness inside him. He heard the screams and yells for help or salvation of those who had the misfortune of being kidnapped and brought to this purgatory. But... his mind has already shut its empathy away to save any vestige of sanity he has left.

Suddenly, someone manifested. Arnold could feel something familiar or at least, that he knew he is familiar with. This distinct sensation and the looming dreads that well up inside. He could feel that he knew of this once and long ago.

And when he takes a peek outside of his hiding spot... he saw a woman with a sinister smile on her face. One that is so deranged and distant from humanity that he felt as if she is a completely foreign being. She is wearing garments that seem to belong to nobles of centuries ago and its color is just pitch black to the point even the red light just doesn't reflect upon it.

The more Arnold looks at her, the more unsettling it becomes to him. As if physical wealth doesn't satisfy any longer and the only thing that even remotely irks any sensation or feelings out of her is just inhumane bloodshed and mind-raping suffering.

Arnold clenched his fist while his teeth grit against one another. Something is boiling inside of him, a yell for retribution and justice but just blindly jump into the fray is the most surefire way to get buried six-foot deep into the ground. All he could do right now... is just watching... watching this sickening masquerade of disgust.

The sounds of begging of the children no longer satisfy that wretched woman. And just like that, she controls the lifeless soldiers with the motions of her hand. They then immediately start to aim their guns right at the children in the cages like puppets hang by the strings. At that moment alone, Arnold knew... that he has finally seen true evil for once.

The wretched woman lets out a mocking smirk as if humans to her are nothing but food and toy to be consumed and discarded heartlessly when done. There is nothing that he shares a common with this absolute despicable of a "human being". Even when what is going to happen doesn't occur, Arnold can already feel it because of just how brutally tense the atmosphere is.

His heart keeps beating faster as stress starts to mount over him. Signs of conflicting thoughts and self-disappointment appeared visibly on his face. He doesn't want to deny such a thing that is going to happen next, even if it is already a foregone conclusion.

It finally happens, and all Arnold could do was to plug his ears away from the oncoming bloodbath. Even then, the sounds of screaming and agony can still be felt even if he is not seeing any of it. The sounds of ceaseless gunfires drown out the scream of the helpless and weak and then... it was just silence... For once, Arnold now understood the horror that he in his past has committed and now understand fully just what horror has he subjected others to.

He has no way of running away and all he could... is face the atrocities that are happening right adjacent to him. Worse, he could feel that wretch already knew that he is hiding. Not know where he is perse but know that there is a foreign element hidden around that she seems to try to break their sanity by doing all of these untold horrors.

Arnold took a deep breath, he then calms himself down and tries not to have a heart attack from all the accumulated stress. It is clear that whatever woman wants is to make him suffer mentally by breaking him down with horror... one that his imagination will easily do even when he forbids such a thing. And in the end, his curiosity got the better of him.

He peeked and whether it was for the better or worse, he decided that whatever horror has become is far better than letting his mind just ran off into the deep end. And it was as much as he expected... Everyone in that cage is dead, blood drips and pours down to the floor like the fountain as the lives within soon tarnished into nothing but waste in this purgatory.

The woman in black throws something by the flick of her fingers and it cuts the chain that held the cage up in a blink of an eye. If that's what she could do something like that easily then Arnold knew that he is about to face an adversary beyond his imagination. The cage crashes down into the pool of blood underneath it as it splatters across the room and taints this room with insurmountable filth already.

The corpses sprawl all over and Arnold refuses to let his mind make any comment or description of what he saw. His sanity is already on its brink and the last thing he wanted is to enter this fight compromised in everything.

The woman in black vanished and reappeared near-instantly at where the cage has fallen. The entire thing completely shattered and dismantle with parts strewn about everywhere. Inside it is corpses riddled with so much bullets that they are more of minced meat than proper cadavers. However, the woman looks at it attentively with a demented smirk on her face which makes Arnold felt so uneasy.

By some unknown dark magic, she discerned a survivor within that pile of shredded corpses and proceed to lift that person up by telekinesis. As that young boy merely at age of 8, facing such horror and mind-breaking trauma right in front of his face while flailing around helpless against the inevitable demise. He was so overwhelmed by terrors that not even his scream is coherent.

Arnold felt his body physically revolt itself when he sees and hears that woman's smile. It is so distant and cut from humanity that what he is seeing is more of an eldritch being masquerade as a human being. As she then holds the kid by his neck and then places her lips against his. The mere gaze at is bad enough, but what follows is utterly even worse that it is the final nail in Arnold's patience.

She rips out his tongue with her teeth as blood gush out of his mouth. Overwhelmed by utterly excruciating pain that every second of his life felt like being torture to the brink of his mind. He wanted to scream but with his tongue gone, the only thing that visibly appears is the gaping agony that stabs into his unprepared soul.

Arnold finally has enough. That despicable act of entertaining oneself with others' misery finally tip him over. As the overwhelming flood emotion rushes from the depth of his soul, an unfiltered and unadulterated mess of emotions mixed with one another. Anger, loathing, disgust, revulsion, abhorrence, whatever raging emotions that can be named flood into his mind upon seeing it.

And yet... what ultimately drives him isn't the overflowing emotions themselves but the sense of duty and what must be done. This goes beyond that good and evil, beyond hate and the likes. It is retribution and he will not allow any more of these senseless acts of horror to continue any further. How many have died thanks to this sadistic bitch that enjoys feasting upon the suffering and pain of her victims?

Even if she doesn't have any relation to him at all, he must take her down, at once. Otherwise, it would a blasphemy towards his own growth as a Servant... as a hero.

Like a flash of light that it took, Arnold rushes toward the woman with his fist exuding a holy aura that pierces even the red light of this slaughter room. With a trail of feathers left behind and with his fist raised and prepared to punish this monstrosity in human skin.

The woman disappeared just as fast as Arnold approaches her, leaving behind the boy who she practically left to die thanks to the injury she did to him. The boy writhes atop the mountain of tattering corpses that were once his fellow victim. He looked above as if begging why God make him suffer like this and why this has to happen to everyone else around him.

Arnold looked up to the railings and realized the undead soldiers have their guns pointed at his location and immediately open fire indiscriminately. Arnold quickly evades the oncoming hail of bullets but the kid was not so lucky as they tore him to shred with their gunfires alone. At least his suffering ends there.

Taking out his two dual pistols from the imaginary armory, he dispatches all of the undead soldiers in a matter of seconds with his precision. But in the end, he rescued none of the victims she brought here except for the twin he only managed to save by a mere fluke of luck. As rages escalate, he clenched his fist in anger towards her and the unjust she dished out.

His instinct screams as his body detects something before he could. With his fleeting footsteps of a runner who survived the most atrocious war, he narrowly avoided an underhanded attack from that wretched woman. He turned around immediately and return fire an entire magazine of his pistols at her, which of course bounces off her.

"How strange... A human would already have their mind broken from the horror that unfolded here already and yet, you still stand defying against me no matter what". The woman smirked as she stood there with that mocking smile of her while Arnold keeps unleashing his arsenal of infantry weapons against her.

"Just who are you!? And why are you doing all of these?!" Arnold yelled as he keeps evading attacks that were supposed to be near-impossible to predict from her.

"Considering the fact that you managed to get to this far and defeated many of my experiments, I would say that you are the only one so far to make it this far not as a toy for my pleasure!" That woman said in such a mocking tone that it is impossible to interpret otherwise.

Arnold took out his shotgun and slam-fire the gun repeatedly at the black-clad woman. With motions of her hands, a wall condensed blood formed right in front of her and blocked all of the incoming attacks.

"And you know what!? You will not survive to see the outside of the ship either way! I am the Dead Apostle Ancestor of Flesh and you shall fall against me!" Such madness reverberated within her voice that Arnold felt unnerved by it.

"Dead Apostle... Where did that I heard from before?" Arnold thought as he felt that he is remembering something important. Something that is supposed to be part of him long ago that the erosion of the Root basically turns him into a clueless bunch thrown into purgatory.

And an epiphany flashes through his mind, seconds turn into minutes, then minutes into hours. Arnold stood there as if a revelation flashed through his mind or perhaps... it really is... Within Arnold's eyes are a far-off gaze into the horizon beyond. Looking past beyond the present and into his destiny itself.

Alfin...

A drop of tear welled up from his eyes as Arnold felt that he has betrayed her for almost forgetting her. He felt like shit for only realizing what was missing for so long and how he could forget someone who is so dear to him in the first place?

And from the answer of the beginning, Arnold realized what Dead Apostle is and just what horror will they commit to get their hands on whatever they desired. Just like how it befalls upon her family and sets her into the path of self-destruction along with so many from the fallout and aftermath of it.

Those bloody memories of her can't ever be erased and so too is the demise of her beloved mother. So too will he remember it and never forget or forgive the heinous acts they did.

His emotions subside as time remains as still as it could be. He looked into himself and saw a self-reflection of his own. But this time, instead of a confrontation of the self, it is the last step toward self-understanding and letting go of all of the self-loathing he carried. Only then will he live and fight for truly the sake of others beyond himself alone.

Last Promise...

A heavenly presence manifested within his hand, even without looking at it, he could tell what it was. The weapon whose kills are of a sinner and an innocent, tarnished in pristine silver is doused in tainted blood. A horrid image yet carries a serene feeling... Two contradictory statements coexist together... and finally, empathy for the apathetic.

Justice... for the girl with no life.

Innocent Sin!

And time instantly moves forward, and in his hand is the double-barrel shotgun of back then. Now doused in a holy aura and leaving behind angelic feathers in its trail. He aimed the thing one-handed at the DAA and pulled the trigger before a second would pass.

The Dead Apostle Ancestor could have easily evaded such an attack but nope... all ego and hubris all the way to self-destruction. For a being that is completely disconnected from humanity yet fell prey to the most basic human flaw... arrogance.

The imbued buckshot that was fired rend through the barrier of blood that she conjured and shreds through her torso. The impossibility happened right in front of her and she realized that her opponent is no ordinary soldier. As the power of self-belief courses through himself and the shotgun in extension, he managed to replicate what Alfin did to that Dead Apostle except now even greater than before that he could fight back against even the more dangerous beings like Dead Apostle Ancestor.

The woman looked at him with a vile gaze, a sense of disbelief completely washed over her that there is something that isn't a high-ranking magus that could hurt her like this. She falls to that trap once and never again would she dare to have her own arrogance put her into danger once more.

As she tried to fix her body by reversing her body's timeline, she realized something horrific enough that it would shock any Dead Apostle Ancestors, let alone an inferior ranking ones. A Conceptual Bind was emplaced the moment she was shot, effectively time-lock her body and override any protocol or authority otherwise. This is something that only a magician could create and it practically shocked her to the core. Realizing how much that mistake cost her, insanity and rage immediately consume any line of thought inside of that disgusting mind.

She yelled at him loudly to the point it would have exploded any human's mind from the sheer loudness alone but Arnold remains unaffected because, at this moment, he is a Servant. The woman now only seeks to destroy and kill him no matter what.

The first thing she did is use a portion of the blood here to patch her injury up. The Innocent Sin rends through both her body and spirit and thus a portion of her memory was also damaged in the process. The memory is stored in the soul, damage it and you can slowly turn your opponents into a hollow husk of their former selves.

Arnold fires the Innocent Sin at her once more in which she promptly evaded. 'Fool me twice, that's on me' they really say...

The DAA then uses her blood arts to manipulate the pool of blood beneath her and suddenly, multiple spike pillars rose up from the ground rapidly in an indiscernible pattern. With his reaction time frame down to mere milliseconds, he quickly fires the Innocent Sin and keeping on his pace as everything on this battlefield is played against him. Decided that it is not worth it to keep it like this, he quickly decided to change the direction of the battle.

With a quick jump, he immediately lands on the wall surface and runs as fast he could to keep the momentum up. The blood spikes sprout out from the pool and try to strike him but he easily evades them as they impale through the wall

His gazes land on the DAA, he has no intention of forgiving her for the heinous acts she did upon her victim. And for the fact that he also sees a reflection of himself in it. An evil that has convinced themselves that what they do is not evil. All he could pray for is that his evil has been spread so far and wide that no amount of lunacy could deny what happened.

Arnold shot with his Innocent Sin once more and shatter all the blood spikes that sprouted from the shockwave, let alone the fired actual projectiles. As bloody fragments fly everywhere, Arnold aims at the DAA with his modified sawn-off shotgun. To think that a modified weapon like this still managed to find its way into his armory even if not era-corrected.

Pulling the secondary trigger, the underslung hook was fired and it tried to latch to the DAA. However, she teleported away before the hook contact with her. In the next moment, there are suddenly multiple of her floating around and casting blood arts at the same time. Arnold quickly fired one of them only to find out that his gunshots just phased through them without doing anything.

"I see then... So you are trying to mess with my mind, huh?" Arnold said as he then immediately jumps off the wall and continue his path.

Visionary illusion... Arnold knew that already. If Hitler has already taught one thing to him, is that if you eliminate everything impossible, then the improbable that remains must be true no matter how outlandish it may appear. The reality hasn't been bend to her favor yet so one of them has to be the real one.

Arnold took out any rapid-fire armaments he has and sprays across the room and any target he saw, but the more he tries to pry it out, the more clones just appear to confuse him more. Amidst the worsening chaos, the twin came out of their hiding and decided to assist him by firing the T-Gewehr at any suspecting clone that might be the real one.

In his mind though, that is a pretty dumb idea on their parts since the Dead Apostle Ancestor has long cut any tie with humanity and most likely human mortal coil too. A single gunshot will not cut it. It took a weapon of expelling property just to give him a proper edge against her and what do they expect out of a normal gun?

And then he realized that the real intention they have isn't to shoot her down with it but rather... bait the real her to attack them. Arnold opens his eyes widely and looked for any sign and change that may occur in the most fleeting moment possible. Just like that, it didn't take long for her to fall for it. One of those clones quickly rushes toward the twin right in the middle of the blood pool and completely disregards Arnold when he is the most pressing danger to her.

Well... It is well-deserved for her, he guessed. Arnold thought as he immediately rushes toward her within the blink of an eye as his Innocent Sin pressed against her head temple. Mere milliseconds left and he takes this victory into his bag. With a single trigger pull of it, the entire head of that DAA is blown to a blood-red mist that scatters the atmosphere.

The headless corpse sprawls on the floor and the clones completely disintegrate into nothing. However, Arnold has no intention of letting his eyes away from that corpse for no one who is that dangerous can die in such an anti-climatic way. And his suspicion was confirmed not much later, the blood started to converge towards where the head once was. In a mere moment, the DAA is back more fierce than before as the first thing she did is to lunge straight toward Arnold's neck.

However, he has absolutely no reservation with her shit as he pummeled her down straight into the floor with a sickening force that the blood splatter high enough to the ceiling. And then he stomped on her body with such power that the whole body splattered into thousands of small chunks and more. The whole ship would have sundered from his might and yet it still stood.

Arnold looked down at his foot and saw the tide of blood coming back at his feet. However, he still can't shake off the feelings of dread and horror in the atmosphere. Even then, if the DAA still haven't act yet then he must have some little time left to improvise a plan. First, he needs to know just what kind of monstrosity that the DAA is.

"First off, I think I could easily take out the zombie or undead part since she is clearly something else outside of life and death... And secondly... If I remember that even the Dead Apostles and the Church have been at war with each other then it is clear that the DAA must have lived such a ridiculous amount of years that I couldn't fathom."
Arnold thought to himself as his instincts continue to scout the surrounding even when his eyes are not.

"Then... what is the closest thing that could live for such a long time-" Arnold suddenly got interrupted when the whole ship suddenly shakes as if everything is falling apart.

"This... You two! Grab my hands!" Arnold shouted to the twin beside him.

Without a single question spoken, they reached out for his hand and held them tightly as they could. Arnold took a deep breath as the whole foundation of the ship falling apart and dropping upon their surroundings. Arnold once again felt as if he is back to his greatest ever was with a single mutter of his line.

Swore my vow that I heard the angels cry

His vision completely cut away the darkness and illusion as he sees everything clearly. Through the hazy fog and storm and the relentless rain that completely blind anyone else, he could see the worst that has now completely spread through the whole ship itself. The DAA... is the entirety of this ship.

Angel wings sprouted from his back metaphysically as he immediately takes to the sky, as he bursts through all of the ceilings and right before the whole ship sunk into the depth below. Arnold flew up there while the twin still held onto his hand and hung by the air. Arnold's gaze pierces through the ocean itself and unto the depth he saw, the horror is about to rise.

But what struck him by surprise isn't the utter mind-melting horror that he is about to witness but rather, he felt the resonance between him and the twin. It is the same feeling that he got when he and Alfin are close by and sharing their intimacy with each other. Could it be that they... Are they like him? The two spirits were the result of a mass Spirit Fusion between the poor souls that were stuck in this purgatory. And now they have become the spiritual gestalts that shall bring about retribution to her.

Realizing what it may mean, he then lifts the two kids up and hopes that they too could do the same thing as him through the power of self-belief.

"Kids... Do you hear me?" Arnold spoke to them.

The two of them don't say a single word but it seems that they understood him nonetheless. With a nod of each other, he then placed them into a gamble of his. One that he prays to be successful or otherwise. He lets the two of them go as they freefall into the oceans below. A sense of worry washed over him as he prays that they may be able to do it.

Whether by luck or his belief started to take effect, the pair of angel wings sprouted metaphysically from their back. And as if they were always an extension of their bodies, they started to take flight around the vicinity. Arnold gazed into their eyes and saw that azure color within.

"So it is true... they were like her..." Arnold mumbled as the final battle was about to take place.

As they fly hundreds of meters above the sky, the true form of that DDA emerged from the depth of the ocean. Its form is hideous, so much so that Arnold will rather spare himself from trying to describe its form in his mind. To him, he would rather boil it down to the basics and not planting the seed of nightmares into his mind.

First of... It looks more of a pile of writhing fleshes rather than a concrete lifeform that he could compare to. Secondly, it seems to detect the surrounding with no visually detectable sensory organ or something. It's like... it just knows what is around it despite that.

And finally, it is huge... So huge that there is no possible lifeform that could achieve such a size. It would be more accurate to say that it is a mountain of eldritch flesh rather than a being at all. But that matters little to him because he must dispose of this wretch before it could potentially cause a global disaster.

"You two! Take this!" Arnold yelled as he took two MG08/15's from his imaginary armory and quickly toss them over to the two. They quickly grabbed it and immediately used them as if they knew damn well its functions and uses.

The fleshy landmass beneath them started to sprout tentacles and they immediately rush toward them. Stretching to unbelievable scale and sizes that it could even drag commercial airplanes down to it assuming that they exist in this era. Arnold fears that even the machine guns he gave them might not be enough but they continue to prove him wrong even again through their faith and belief in him and each other.

The machine guns that they wield fire at an unbelievable speed, even so much that he doesn't believe it is Servant modifiers alone. The bullets shred through the tentacles trying to approach them and in before his gun would not even dent through the DAA's humanoid form. As he saw their divine performance in the sky, leaving angelic feathers trails behind. He felt like he is taking back his memory. the story that makes him who he is today.

Decided to assist in whatever he could, he quickly takes flight around the island of flesh and sends out pigeons from his arsenal. Those pigeons carry his message and will immediately unleash the Verdun upon whatever targets he decides. As they soar up to the skyline above and are safe from the threat of the tentacles thanks to the twins. Quickly they moved and vanished into the sky above did a ceaseless barrage of artillery shells start to rain down the island of flesh.

"It's not enough... But perhaps, it would be if those two..." Arnold thought to himself as artillery rains down upon that island of flesh.

Shrapnel shred through the sky and blood fell upon like rain in the storm. Those two are like ace fighters, threading through countless dangers that seek for them while bringing about their deliverance against the wretched who had wrong them and the misfortunate victims. The pent-up misery, hatred have finally reached breaking point and they intended to make sure that justice is delivered.

There is something that Arnolds wonder though, how did the spirit fusion go about? Without a powerful catalyst, the chance of something like this happen is nil. So... there has to be a source that enables this kind of thing. Perhaps...

Space itself tremors, the island of flesh metamorphosized into a massive hulking titan with its height reaching to the skyline. It then let out such a deafening roar that he swore it could have traveled across the world multiple times over. The twins rush over toward the eldritch titan while weaving through the grasp of the tentacles sprouted from its body, Arnold decided to hold his breaths in and wonder... Such a ridiculous amount of biomass would have warranted a global investigation if that many people died. Perhaps... it must be...

A flash of insight appeared within Arnold's mind. He realized the true source of power that DAA had. Before even such realization settles in his mind, he has already spoken the answer.

Azerium

A mixed whirlpool of confusing emotions spread through his spirit and mind. He can't tell if he is being sad or seething with rage or just plain confused beyond belief. But amidst that hazy mess of emotions, a sense of clarity washed over him. Ideal and purposes, it doesn't matter to him whatever he calls it as he knew that he has to do it for no one understood it better than him.

Fragments of the Root itself... Arnold has spent his time there and now he truly understood the resonance he felt between Alfin and him. It is the same sensation he felt within the Root, a blissful calmness and reassurance that nothing else would ever give him the same feeling. And this bitch is using it for the possibly most despicable reasoning, she probably could.

Arnold took one last deep breath before he rushes toward that titan. With a flash of cold steel within his glints, Arnold's pupils turned into the color of azure. Carrying his will and purpose clear like the empyrean sky itself, Arnold quickly flies towards it. His speed accelerates to beyond all belief, even leaving the two twins behind. They probably will never understand him nor remember him at all. But Arnold now finally finds it completely personal.

This can not stand

Seconds slow down to minutes, minutes to hours... Arnold has suddenly become such a dangerous threat in such a short amount of time that even the DAA started to priorities him first. Tentacles sprouted from the sea in massive hordes of thousands, maybe even millions but Arnold easily slips through. Even when they tried to restrain or block him outright, Arnold's Spirit Phaze just obliterate through them effortlessly.

With each strike of his, it felt like the world sunders from his might. He is not only destroying the physicality itself, his attacks also rend through the essence of his target. Spirits or whatever similar is called, all is not spared from the wrath of cerulean gestalt.

Strikes with everything he has, seconds each tick away as he approaches her like an unstoppable thrust. For once, fears started to be felt, dread emanates from the atmosphere. And this does not belong to him at all.

Finally, he finally approached right at the center mass of the eldritch titan. With a determined gaze, he thrusts his fist straight into it as angelic feathers trails behind. Belief and faith become one, and for once did he hear the scream of agony that roared to the horizon beyond. But he has already long past for mercy as he then thrusts his fist even deeper.

Azure cracks started to form from the center of impact as it quickly spreads out through the entirety of the eldritch titan in a short amount of time. Realized where the Azerium core must be through the resonance with it, he strikes without hesitation and all he could. And now with its demise on its course, it can't do anything but curse him from whatever eldritch sounds it mutters. Finally, his impact has reached its core and the entirety of the titan blew up from it. A strike that was so powerful that it cleared the storm.

A blinding flash was unleashed and soon, only the silence followed.

...

...

...

Arnold opened his eyes and found himself floating on the sea. The sky is completely cleared, revealing the full moon illuminating the sky above. The stars twinkle as if to reward all the hard work he has done to finally end this menace who preyed on the weak and hapless. Arnold sighed and closed his eyes for he believed that it has finally ended and he could rest for all he could care.

Suddenly, he got dragged by something. Something up, not down for he soon found himself in a lifeboat. His hazy gaze tried to identify the surroundings and find the twins too. He lets out a chuckle before drifting away to unconsciousness. While he finally has his rest after this horrible nightmare ends, many military boats started to appear although they didn't even notice the lifeboat that was drifting away from the scene of the disaster.

Lights were turned on and there were seemingly multiple organizations on the investigation because of what the DAA did. Maguses, soldiers, they are now looking for any trace when the opportunities came.

As the sound of the commotion dies down, even strange time does even silence die.

...

...

...

Arnold woke up to the sounds of waves crashing against the shore. How long did he fell asleep? The sky is a tad cloudy but beats the storm that was once where the horror that took place. Arnold tried to stand up but tiredness still makes his body as stiff as a plank. All he could do is just drag himself up to peek at the beach outside.

He sees the twins moving away from the drifted lifeboat, as the sands stick onto their weak steps does he see the unwavering conviction they held. Then they too collapse onto the sandy beach from the overwhelming fatigue. It may sound like the end of it but he noticed an elderly couple approaching them. They too must have witnessed what just happened and thus quickly come to intervene.

Arnold by this point finds it too mentally consuming that his consciousness drifted away once more. This time probably for good... but at least he could embrace in the solace that the twins finally found someone to take care of them. It doesn't matter if they notice him or not because he is but an ephemeral existence either way.

Only the sounds of the waves remain as his expression remains at peace...

...

...

...

He opened his eyes again and the fatigue is all gone. But instead of the beach that he found himself in, it's the Root... again... Arnold sighed... Because never once did he imagine finding himself in such situations. But it's over now and he is all but thankful for it. He wonders if fate has ever allowed him to meet the twins later on or not but it doesn't matter anymore to him. With his memory now all recover from the ego erosion, he can now continue his journey steadfastly without worrying for a while.

He stood up and then he felt an overwhelming presence in the back. He turned around and saw that same familiar woman once more.

"Void Shiki..." Arnold said as he can't ever mistake that overwhelmingly long hair that brushes against the ground and the deadly powerful aura that presents.

"It's you... I'm surprised that you haven't been consumed by the Root through all of these times. I thought that you were gonna lose your identity but it seems like I was wrong after all. And it's far more exhilarating to be proven wrong when you are omniscient, you see.

"Whatever, can you help me or anything please? Drifting around the Void would certainly be fatal without a clear direction, you know.". Arnold said as he shrugs and breathes tiredly although that is for more of expression than he actually is.

"Don't worry about that though... You... are certainly close..." Void Shiki said with a smirk on her face.

Arnold looked down into the medal that he wore, the resonance has now been felt so much clearer than before. Realizing that he is finally about to find her, a sense of accomplishment washed over for once did he take pride in that. He turned around to thank her only to find only himself in the Void once more. With a sigh, he then proceeds to continue his journey and finally did the end is within sight.

And so onward he goes... this time with hope and belief that he is finally close.

---

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

The Answer

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

---

After such a grueling journey, he has finally reached a standstill. If he goes any further from this point, the resonance would simply become weaker and thus he managed to pinpoint this location after endless trials and attempts. But despite all of that, it is still the Root everywhere and no sign of her at all. Feeling defeated, he decided to take a break and just sits right at the coordinate and wonders what to do next. If the resonance is really unreliable then where else? Where else in this endless plain of emptiness?

Arnold then stood up and just jumps up in frustration, he needs to keep his mind actives with whatever actions or line of thought. An idle mind is prone to ego erosion and that is the last thing he wanted right after getting so close. After multiple jumps, however, Arnold's landing proceeds to crack the "surface" of the Root. Realizing what he just did, he jumped once more and the crack becomes visible.

Upon seeing it, possibilities started to run across his mind like mad. But after a while of careful thinking, he decided to just proceed because standing still instead of going for a bold approach is fatal. Whatever thought of impossibilities run in his mind is better to be uprooted at once. Whatever happens next is better than standing here and do nothing.

And with his final jump, the surface shatters like glass as he then fell into the abyss beneath the Root itself. Only the darkness and himself, Arnold desperately looks around for anything that resembles Alice but nothing is within sight. It would have appeared to be hopeless if it weren't for the fact that his medal's resonance started to become more powerful the more he dives deeper into the abyss.

Decided to put his faith completely into the medal, he then dives even further and soon the light of the Root disappeared in entirety and leaving only himself to be perceived in this abyss.

Times run past him without a thought. He has no idea of how much time has passed. Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Days? Years? Milennia? Eons? It doesn't even matter to him anymore. Such a ridiculous amount of time would drive anyone insane from the comprehension of it and yet... Arnold is still here... his hold on his sanity is so tenuous that even a light breeze could probably snap him at this point and yet... He wanted to believe... he wanted to see her again. It doesn't matter how much time it would take, all it matters for him... is to see her smile... to see her living a genuinely happy life...

He closed his eyes... As his body drifts deeper into the depth below. Eternity be damned, for the stars may burn out before he ever loses his faith in her. As long as his self-belief hold, anything is possible.

...

...

..

..

.

.

.

..

..

...

...

Arnold opened his eyes suddenly as if a flash of thought appeared in his mind. He looked around and saw a spiral of light a distance away from him. Upon witnessing it, Arnold quickly tried to swim through the abyss towards it like a moth to fire. When he finally got closes, he is suddenly able to walk on what seemingly appeared to be tangible ground although they were probably even deeper into the abyss than the diameter of the observable universe. But that matters little now, he has finally had a chance to have a heart-to-heart with her properly.

"Alice..." Arnold spoke with a solemn voice...

"Found you..." Arnold whispered to her as he tried to hold back the flood of tears behind...

Alice curled up into a fetal position, with unbearable sadness that she radiates which would probably straight up kill people from just how horrible depressed such a sight is.

"How?..." Alice said in both disbelief and surprise although she couldn't muster much strength in her voice.

"Because... I've heard your voices... Even when things appear hopeless, I can still hear the echo of your whispers subconsciously". Arnold said to her as he tried to rekindle the spirit inside her.

"I see..." Alice smiled a bit before returning to that frown of her.

"But I no longer have any of the rights left to say that anymore... Because after all, I'm an incarnation of evil... One that has brought pain and suffering to the innocents. You think that I have the right to be protected... to deserve happiness?" Alice spoke all of her distraught and grief.

"Honestly... I don't think I have the right to say any of these either... But thinking back from all of the journeys I went through and testimonies of so many others... All of this really begins with self-loathing and not loving oneself enough. It was a festering wound that eventually got bad to the point it scarred the world itself. Because of that, if I don't break that cycle now, I may allow our fate to repeat once more". Arnold spoke as he tries to connect with her.

Both of them stared into each other's eyes, further into the gazes are a sense of unknowing how to proceed next. Both of them have descended this far into the Void. Doing acts far more unbelievable than even any Divine being to ever existed on Earth. And now when they stare at each other with nothing left to hide, they were speechless as if stuck in the final barrier that stood this far. The barrier to forgiving oneself.

Then... Arnold breaks the suffocation atmosphere as he chose to act first.

"Alice... Do you feel happy when you are with us?" Arnold personally asks her in hope of achieving understanding.

"Yes... Because for once I could be true to myself even if I have to restraint emotions from exaggeratingly overflowing". Alice said to him honestly as her voice is tainted with a mixture of clashing emotions.

Before Arnold could follow up, Alice has already continued to speak.

"But all of it could have just been my manipulation, you know! You saw powerful I am, right? To control even fate itself, you would think that manipulating even the happiness you felt at a time is out of the question?" Alice attempted to deflect her true feelings only to have Arnold return it with a scowl on his face. She can't even be honest at herself even at the world's end, huh?

"Honestly, if there's even a way for me to tell if you manipulated me or not, I wouldn't even bother about it either way. You gave us as much happiness in this bleak and broken world just like how we returned it to you wholeheartedly without questioning. And to be frank with you, I may never for this life of mine to understand why everything just has to come this far like this but I can assure you that the bond we had isn't stuff measured in 'time'.". Arnold said while ignoring just how stupid it may sound to others or even otherwise.

"The time that you cooked such a stew that tastes so good, it reached the apex of culinary that our Red Archer even comment about it... The time where you watch those rolls of silent films with us to pass the time as your sincere smile shows on your otherwise unmoving expression... The moment when you fight to protect us from what appeared impossible to overcome no matter what? You think all of them is a lie concocted by you?" Arnold said with sincerity even if it is false otherwise.

"I... I don't think so?..." Alice said as if she is on the verge of breaking down in tears.

"Then if that lie is 'false' to you... then this is the 'truth' we talking about right? As long as we held on to that 'truth', we will hold out against whatever adversary fate may have in store for us. Because of that, you shouldn't be the one to shoulder everything by yourself. It's fine if we all do our best, including you too. Because after all, that is what 'family' is". Arnold said it straightforwardly without hesitation, for he believes it would be the final blow to shatter the last barrier stood between him and her.

"Ar...nold... Arnold! Uwaaaahhh!" Alice shouted to him while holding no restrain to her emotions. She let all of them loose as they spiral out like the Genesis Flood. She broke down completely in tears as they carry the sincerity that she has long forgotten. As she cries her heart out, she sheds away the divine and transcendence form that she has. Arnold looked at her for a while as she finally reveals the truest form of her. A normal little girl, yearning to live a normal life amongst those she cares about.

She then held onto Arnold tightly, while wishing to not letting go of him at all. The abyss slowly turned into the surface of the Root as Alice finally becomes honest to herself.

"Now that I think about it, how do I go back again? This is the Root after all..." Arnold ponders as he carries Alice in his hands.

"Don't worry, just go wherever you intended to. By using my power, I might be able to create a path to return". Alice said as tears still overflow from her eyes.

Decided that he will believe her with all of his faith, he then runs toward the horizon. Even when he has no idea where he will go, he decided to place his faith completely in her. Believe in oneself they say, and Arnold just simply took that to the extreme, literally.

As their figures slowly disappear into the blinding emptiness of the Void, so too does his journey finally reach its end. A man's tale of finding himself again...

---

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

Even so... I have to

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

---

"Arnold... Arnold... *sob*..." Alfin still crying her heart out at where Arnold got dragged into the Void.

Everyone doesn't look like they fare better at all either, they faced such a loss right at the end of this too. And they are too tired to even put on a different expression other than tiredness.

Suddenly, a crack in the reality slowly shows itself that everyone can't help but take notice of it. Something is about to happen and they just don't know the right reaction to it. Right in the next instant, Arnold jumped out of it as fragments of the world shatter out of it like brittle glass. Soon, even that hole Arnold created mend itself just as fast before patching up that gateway to the Root.

With his heavy breathing and sense of relief washed over, Arnold's knee gave away as he kneeled on the ground. Alfin who had missed him already quickly broke into a tearful breakdown as she held onto him tightly as if fearing Arnold may disappear once more from her sight if she doesn't hug him tight enough.

"Arnold! I thought... I thought you were dead!" Alfin yells of laments echo through the alter chamber as if she had gone through lifetimes of grief.

It was so surprising that everyone quickly approach him, except for Hitler who had probably become a cripple after suffering such brutal attacks from much before. What Arnold essentially just did is nothing but short of a miracle.

"You are the only person to enter the Root and proceed to make it back out". Kiritsugu said in great disbelief because Arnold just simply ditches the enlightenment away for the sake of that little girl.

"Unbelievable... Can you tell me what is it like from the beyond?" Iri immediately inquires Arnold for she wants to know just what exactly is there that so many willing to commit deadly sins for it.

Being bombarded with questions upon questions, Arnold's mind just decided to just go a deaf ear to preserve any form of sanity he still held onto. After a little while, his mental stability finally affirms itself and Arnold stood up proudly.

"We're back... Everyone..." Arnold said with a solemn voice of a man who went through countless tribulations.

"Alice..." Gudao said as he looked into the girl.

Alice is still sobbing from the emotional turbulence she just went through. This is for once the first time she has ever been so honest with herself. No more deceit, no more lies, it's just her and the barest essence that she is.

"I... I can't detect any magical power from her anymore..." Gudao said in disbelief and sheer shock.

"She... She must have expended every drop of her power to bring both of them back from the Root. An act that is essentially a miracle itself..." Shirou said as he looks at her as if his whole life has just gone over through him.

Everyone can only look at her as they don't know what to do in front of this revelation. A goddess whose power could destroy the foundation of the universe now is only a little girl who has nothing powerful about herself.

And then, Arnold realized he is forgetting something. Not something on him or Alice but rather, he is forgetting someone here. He then quickly moves past the Chaldean and approaches the man who is behind all of these inane insanities that he has committed. When Arnold looks at the man who is leaning against the wall tiredly, many thoughts ran through Arnold's mind and he doesn't know which one to do first. In the end, he chose to properly speak of his name for that's the least he could do for 'his other self'.

"Adolf... Come with us..." Arnold whispered as he kneels down to look at him properly.

Adolf looked at Arnold in his eyes tiredly before letting a wry chuckle. In this world, Adolf is taught a heavy lesson of humility and is now forced to live with it on his mind.

"Heh... You think? What else is there left for a soul that is beyond redemption?" Adolf said with fatigue seeped in his voice.

Arnold stares at the man that is once a part that stems from the same person. While not looking like it, his mind in reality is running through blazing speed just to get a proper response. Talking and convincing yourself isn't sound as simple as one might be convinced.

"Honestly, you had a lot to be answered for and many will not treat you kindly. But... if there's anything this whole journey has told me is that the path of redemption is one of long and grueling. But it is the one that any person has to answer to move beyond the shadow that emplaced them. I may be wrong or something but that is at least something I want to affirm and believe." Arnold spoke to Adolf with a solemn and calm voice.

"Kiddo... You and Alfin are the only ones that have the right to say that. The only thing I did here in this world is to add so many more crimes to my weight of sin, I'm too long gone for any realistic redemptions that don't irk anyone of as off-putting." Adolf said as if he is holding back his bitter tears of sadness.

"Adolf..." Alice whispered as she approaches him.

"Alice... I'm sorry that in the end, I couldn't fulfill the dream that you wished... Instead, I have put you into a path of self-destruction that could speak untold calamity upon this world and so many more else." Adolf spoke with remorse to the girl who wished only for the best.

"It doesn't matter anymore, I only want you to live along with us, it doesn't matter if you have to atone for all of what you did!" Alice tried to convince Adolf only to have it sounds completely insane.

Silence befalls between the four of them. Arnold, Alfin, Adolf, Alice... The four were born from the same origin. At this point, they don't know how to continue or keep this conversation up. Overwhelmed by the bitterness of fate and taste of sorrow, they genuinely hoped that they can once again unite under one same banner but it seems that it is nothing but a pipe dream.

"I'm sorry... I'm so tired... Tired of playing the role that fate has appointed me to... It really was my punishment all along, to continue relieving the consequence of my actions beyond my death... It just... I don't want to care anymore..." Adolf said as his composure finally broke down, his tears roll over his cheeks as he tastes the empathy that was long lost to him.

The three looked at him until Adolf seems to remain motionless. Arnold gazed into his eyes and see only the emptiness inside. Upon seeing it, Arnold clenched his fist as his teeth grit in frustration. The emotions risen up then calm down just as fast, with a deep sign that Arnold released, he then pushes Adolf's eyelids down so as to give Adolf a proper rest.

And then...

"I'm not dead yet! I'm just tired, ok?..." Adolf just opened his eyes then said it which obviously breaks the mood for everyone else.

It was such a mood whiplash that three of them felt angry at Adolf for being so crude with timing. But they really can't push themselves to even dispense their anger at him either. So the best they could do is just...

"God freaking damn it, Adolf..." Arnold said as he pats his hand on Adolf's head.

"Just leave me alone for a while, okay? I honestly have a lot to think about of what to proceed from here on out... And I doubt that this is going to be the end either..." Adolf said before he goes truly unconscious.

The three of them can only look at Adolf, his expression seems so peaceful compare to all the times of extreme tension and distraught. They decided to leave it at that for that is the least Adolf deserves. A proper resting for once in this cruel world.

Everyone then begins to head for the exit, as each person slowly leaves this realm of azure. Arnold looked back for a brief moment at Adolf who seems to be asleep. He decided to end this with a satisfying note so that he will not look back with regrets.

"Farewell, my old friend..." Arnold said before he exits.

And so... this journey finally approaches its end.

---

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

Last Rain in the World

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

---

"DONE! We managed to harvest a decent amount of Azerium already! This is probably our last trump card for whatever last Lostbelt or the probably proceeding Alien Gods that we are about to face." Da Vinci said as she goes through the final reports.

"Are you sure that this is enough? I mean shouldn't we just harvest all of it straight away?" Gilgamesh asked as he went through the list and logistics.

"Even just a chunk of it like the sample we obtained is more than enough for the extent of Chaldea's existence either way. And besides, having that much Azerium in one place is asking for disasters to occur." Void Shiki said as she explains the reasoning to them.

"If that's what you say then I have no further comment to speak". Da Vinci said as she then quickly reaches for the radio.

The Chaldeans have basically searched through the Furher's Bunker and Ground Zero for any clue or Azerium that they could potentially harvest. Void Shiki is the one doing it since all Servants seem to have the tendency to be deterred from approaching them for some reason. Many Servants have also attempted to collect any information left abandoned in lower layers of the Furher's Bunker, some also try to use their diplomatic abilities to draw out more information from the homunculi of Azerium Research Facility.

So far, things have gone smoothly enough and no attempt to intervene has been done so far. With things out of the way and most of the tasks completed, Da Vinci decided it might be the best time to leave this place.

"Attention, everyone! This is Da Vinci speaking and we inform that all Heroic Spirits of Chaldea return immediately to the Shadow Border. We are about to leave and if any of you missed somehow then please contact Gudao for a hitch ride through the Rayshift system". Da Vinci said as she announces to all Chaldean personnel.

"Hold on... Don't you think that we could take our Master back by this mean? I mean it is Rayshift too?" Moriarty jumps in out of nowhere into the conversation.

"Where were you when... Forget about it, it is just that it might be really risky if our Master just enters and gets out from two different routes, it might result in some sort of anomaly that I decided to not test out after this far." Da Vinci said as she seems to look down on Moriarty with disapproval.

"I see... If that's the case then... I'll relay this information to others." Moriarty said as he then leaves the meeting room.

"So... about that divine child... How is the situation with her?" Gilgamesh asked for he is interested in the news that something has happened deep below.

"I don't know either... If they really can't find a way to defeat her then no matter which world we ran to, it is all game over for us." Da Vinci said as she could feel the weight of stress on her back.

"I believe in them that they will find a way. Master did something like this multiple times already with arguably high-stakes involved. And besides, that is something I can in fact vouch for." Void Shiki said with confidence that no one knows if it is true or not.

"By the way, Gilgamesh. About those mana wards that you placed around the whole area, were they your doing?" Da Vinci asked as she has seen him moving around Ground Zero and place all of them everywhere.

"Think whatever you want, we are gonna leave either way. My Golden Rules will easily replenish them in my treasury so there's nothing I miss about them." Gilgamesh deflects what Da Vinci is trying to imply.

"Aww... You care..." Da Vinci said as she smiles at him.

"Shut up..." Gil attempts to deflect once more only to have it shows the obvious.

5 hours later...

"The rain... it... stopped..." Arnold said as he steps out of the bunker and sees the sky unhindered by rain.

In before, there was a perpetual tempest that covers the whole area. It is always dark and the only source of natural conceivable light was lightning. Other than that, it is just a pure pitch black no one can tell which was which. Now... the sky is still dark but they can at least tell the awfully dark cloud above.

"Guess that harvesting all of those Azeriums really impact the atmosphere... At least I don't have to hear any more of those raindrops splatter on the glass anymore. They seriously disorienting that I honestly don't want to hear any more of it for a while." Gudao said as he looked up into the weather above.

"All that is left is to Rayshift back... Come on, Master. Let us head to Ground Zero..." Kiritsugu said as he pats on Gudao's head.

After taking an autonomous train ride, they soon got back into Ground Zero. However, there was a commotion going on there. The remnant survivors of Berlin and the researcher homunculi were all gathered here. The survivors obviously looked perplexed and shocked at the revelation of the place. But other than that, it just is... No mental breakdown or contemplating suicide. The reality is that they have a sense of something is wrong but can't tell what is exactly wrong at all.

"So... This is really the true state of Berlin... Just... How are we gonna rebuild from here onward?" A soldier of Berlin said as he stares into the ruined Brandenburg Gate.

"I didn't even get a chance to properly say goodbye to my parents... And now I am greeted with such scenery." Another soldier said as he gazed up into the unnaturally azure sky above.

"Hey... At least we could date those albino researchers, right? That's one good thing and we should look at the bright side, right?" A soldier attempted to break the sad mood only to show how unsuccessful he is at it. Well, to other soldiers that is.

"My my... It seems that you want one of us, huh?" And one of those homunculi researchers immediately responded to what that soldier said.

"Oh god... I didn't expect any of you to take it seriously!" The soldier who made the statement immediately try to back down. Unfortunately that these homunculi ran entirely on a different logic.

"Well not anymore, young man!" The homunculus said as she slowly and menacingly approaches that soldier while carrying a well-hidden sinister smile.

"AHHHH!" The soldier screamed for help but unfortunately for him that after pulling such a statement like that, no other soldiers are willing to come for his side.

And while that is happening, Kiritsugu and Irisviel looked at the drama that is happening and can't help but be embarrassed about it. That very dynamic itself is literally like how both of them got together. Irisviel's first lack of understanding of emotions was a real headache back then.

"Let us go... We shouldn't spend more time here than necessary..." Kiritsugu said as he averts his gaze from that drama. He felt pretty embarrassed to see the past replaying like that.

And so they quickly approach the Brandenburg Gate. With the coordinate in place, they can now begin to Rayshift back whenever they felt like it. And since their duty has officially ended, there are no more particular reasons for any Servant to remain here.

"Pierce... It seems the time of parting has really come..." Richard spoke to him as he slowly begins the distance.

"Richard? What do you mean?" Pierce for the first time felt confused at what his Servant just said.

"Us Servants are nothing but a fleeting existence. We are summoned to fulfill our roles and when it is done, we take our leave. To make a crucial impact with whatever fleeting time we have. Whatever worlds we are summoned to, it is nothing but a stage for the actors like us to play. We were never meant to stay at all." Richard spoke as if he doesn't want to leave just yet but it is a part that he must fulfill no matter what.

"I see then... But before you leave, I want to say this to you with all of the sincerity I have." Pierce said as he held onto Richard's coat and then removes his helmet to reveal his face once more.

"You are like a grandparent that I never have a chance to properly have. Mine has been gone when I barely recognized the reality I was in. But you, you are someone I looked up to and strive to be..." Pierce said wholeheartedly as he tried to hold back the tears during this parting moment.

Words of God: For this part, play I'll remember you - Trails of Cold Steel 2

Richard looks at Pierce for a while before letting out wry chuckles. He then replies in turn to him so that this conversation won't be one-sided.

"Kids... You better not look up to someone like me as an idol. I have plenty of flaws that I unfortunately have, my failure to stop the cycle of violence and bloodshed did nothing but escalate it even more. But if there is one thing I too can say for sure is that you are the best Master that I ever have. And there will hardly be anyone who can even come close to your honesty and sincerity when summons me." Richard said as he looks at Pierce once more to remember that face of his.

This time, Pierce truly broke into tears as he brushes his face against his Servant's back. Richard stops for a little while as a small tear rolls on his cheek. He then turns around and proceeds to reassure his soon-to-be former Master.

"Master... Even if our paths no longer will cross ever again, just as long as you held onto and remember that image of me, you will assuredly become someone stronger in the end... Perhaps even more than me..." Richard said before he proceeds to go through the Brandenburg Gate.

And the moment he goes through that gate, Richard's body starts to break down and collapse into golden dust. He turned his face back and let out his last smile before he is gone from existence. In just that moment later, Richard disappeared as if he never has existed at all.

Richard wanted to cry but he decided that it would be much better if honors his Servant's wish by standing up straight and held his head up. The last thing he wanted is to see just how powerless he truly are the moment his Servant is gone.

The next is Simo and Anastasia. They are basically summoned by the world itself for being the few recipients fit in the time. With no proper Master connections, they are basically destined to disappear. Even so, they have no dissatisfaction with it and seem to come to accept that fact.

"So... it's your time to leave, huh?" Larry said to his old friend.

"Yup... I came to this world unexpectedly and I decided that it might be for the best if I just leave here too. And it seems that you also won't leave here anytime soon if that's what I assuming". Simo said to him while accompanying Anastasia.

"Yeah... These folks are practically left on their own. And with how their history is so abruptly and irreversibly changed that whether this world will become a Lostbelt to be pruned or it will become a striving alternate history with the gift of Azerium, with all of that did I decide to stay and look over for them. And besides, I decided to stay here until the end, whether which one of it comes first." Larry said as he tips his green beret.

"I see, guess that you really sort of having a hatred of communism that you are willing to go that far. I commend you for that at the least." Anastasia commented to Larry.

"What else? I was dealt a shit hand and now I am forced to live with it. It is just how I even work at this point." Larry said as he shrugs.

The trio has a hearty laugh afterward. A moment later, Simo and Anastasia gave Larry their goodbyes as they proceed to go through the Brandenburg Gate. At this point, it is a rite of departure at this point. Simo carries Anastasia in bridal style, as the two of them passed through the gate, their spirits collide as their form collapse into a cloud of golden dust just like Richard. Larry swore that he could see Simo and Anastasia smile at each other but at this point, it is too late to verify either way.

With them disappeared, Gudao also received a call from Da Vinci that their Rayshift out is on the way. As golden dust scatters beneath their feet and a spire of light illuminates up into the above, it was the time for the Chaldean to leave this Singularity or in reality... a Lostbelt...

"So... You are leaving... Wait! Can you take Alice along with you too?" Arnold asks before he realized this is the moment that he could use to fulfill her dream.

Gudao looked at Arnold then Alice... Seeing the innocent eyes of her, Gudao cursed himself for the one unspoken rules of the Lostbelt... You can't take any people out of a Lostbelt. Items are one of those things exempted but an entire person is an impossibility that is imposed by the law of reality itself.

"I... I'm afraid that I can't..." Gudao said as he grits his teeth in bitterness of denying someone's their only chance at their dream.

"What do you mean you can't!? Think about her, damn it! She only wishes to belong with you, you can't possibly just deny her like that after this far!" Arnold yelled at Gudao as he tried to quickly get Alice as close as he could.

"Damn it... Do you think I don't want her?! Let me tell you that I have attempted to save people from their doomed worlds and yet faced with only futility... Gerda, Patxi, Ayesha, so many more... If I could bring them from their world to Chaldea, I wouldn't have even think of rejecting Alice... Don't try to say I don't feel any pain or sorrow for doing this. I've been feeling its weight crushing me ever since and long before the beginning of this mess. Please, please understand me already..." Gudao yelled back as he could feel the trauma reappearing in the back of his mind.

Both of them started to argue madly at each other. As things start to escalate out of control, Alice shouted in order to stop the nonsensical arguing between Arnold and Gudao.

"STOOOOOPPPP!" Alice shouted loudly as much as her vocal cords could muster.

Both Gudao and Arnold stopped, they looked at each other with sadness and guilt that they couldn't fulfill each other's promises. Alice deserved to have a place where she could live like a family among everyone and this broken and might soon-to-be-pruned Lostbelt is certainly not one of it.

Gudao's mind went into overdrive in an attempt to find a solution to this dilemma. With only a few dozen seconds left, he went through countless upon countless solutions within his mind, and yet, none of them sounds feasible until... He realized one thing... He decided to think more simply and got an idea. However, he now only has one digit worth of seconds left.

"Arnold, toss me the medal that you wore! I might be able to use it as a catalyst to summon all of you in Chaldea!" Gudao shouted to Arnold.

Arnold upon hearing what Gudao said immediately took the Grand Cross medal out of his shirt and tossed it to Gudao. The Chaldean Master managed to get hold of it just in time before the Rayshift returns all of them back into Chaldea. With a flash of light, all of the Chaldeans disappeared from this Lostbelt and leave behind the bewildered people.

All Arnold could do is pray that Gudao succeeds at whatever he does.

When the blinding light in Gudao's eyes finally died down, he is greeted by all of his fellow Servants. They were all congratulating the success of the operation but Gudao felt none of the happiness. He is reminded once more of his failure to protect things that are important to him and the consequence of it. Gritting his teeth in both sadness and frustration, he clenched tightly the fist that held the Grand Cross medal.

"Master... Are you alright?" Sherlock asked as he approaches Gudao.

With blind fury and remembering of the mistake he almost done in, he pulled a devastating left hook right at Sherlock's face. And the imbued power of the Grand Cross allowed his fist to harm even Servants. Sherlock thinking it wouldn't do anything just allow himself to take it only receive a brutal strike and fly across the room. Everyone in the Rayshifting room was bewildered and shudder upon their Master's sudden might.

"You have a lot to answer for, Sherlock... Da Vinci! Bring the Saint Quartzs! I'll bring them here, no matter how expensive it may take... They fucking deserve it..." Gudao said begrudgingly as he storms out of the room.

Everyone has a sort of understanding of what has happened but they didn't expect their Master to lash out violently like that. Meanwhile, Sherlock lay on the ground unconscious from the devastating hook Gudao just performed. Because who wouldn't expect an item got dipped into the essence of the Root would obtain such mystics that it overwhelms everything else?

"Sherlock... Are you okay?" Moriarty said as he approaches Sherlock.

No response, it seems that punch is more severe than it may look.

"Wow... Who would have thunk that karma got you back so soon." Moriarty said with a tint of regrets in his eyes.

And afterward, Moriarty then follows his Master into the summoning room. Where it would quite be a hellish sight of its own when one sees a man desperately pursues to fulfill a promise at all cost.

...

Meanwhile, back at the Singularity

...

It's been five minutes already and yet... no signs of him being teleported suddenly. At this rate, the panic has risen amongst the soldiers because the sudden out of nowhere disappearance of the Chaldeans caused quite a stir here. But nonetheless, Larry calmed them down before something horrific may happen or things went out of control.

"So... we are stuck here with no hope of getting to them... To think that in the end, it isn't a battle that will kill me but rather my acceptance of the end. Quite ironic, isn't it?" Alfin said as she held onto Arnold's hand.

However, Arnold felt something is wrong... Like something inside him just doesn't feel right at all... It isn't an omen or something close because if it is, even Larry would have detected it immediately.

An odd beat played by his heart and he felt a sudden weakness in his limbs. "Why now?" Arnold thought as he held his chest.

He looked at Alfin and realized that the same is happening to her. With confusion and fears start to spread through their minds, they looked at each other hands and realized... they are disappearing just like those Heroic Spirits who take their leave.

"Wuh? What's happening!?" Arnold said in disbelief as he held his disappearing hand.

A homunculus researcher immediately approached them when she saw what's going on. Upon examination, she looked at them and the slowly disappearing part of them. Afterward, she lets out a small wry smile.

"You know... To think that all of my colleagues laughing at me at my research papers and hypothesis about this and suddenly having all of it proven like this. I genuinely don't know how to feel about this but I maybe should keep up this smile of mine anyway." The researcher said to them.

"What is it about! Tell me!" Arnold held the researcher woman by the collar of her shirt and shakes her repeatedly as he begs for an answer.

"Can you not shake me like that!" The researcher woman said as she felt uncomfortable with Arnold shaking her repeatedly.

Arnold finally lets her go as he quickly demands an answer. In which she replied as she took the papers she carries along with.

Words of God: For this part, play Third Warning - Lobotomy Corporation

"Gestalt Collapse... Any Spirit Origin infused with Azerium gains strength proportionate to their will and self-belief. However, there is one thing that almost no one ever takes seriously... There is still a limit to how much power a Spirit Origin can channel through itself. If that threshold is repeatedly broken within a short amount of time, their SOs may collapse upon themselves, resulting in the spiritual collapse of said origin." The researcher woman explained it to Arnold.

Arnold stood there in shock as his pupils shrunk in horrific realization. Realizing how many ungodly feats he did that are far surpassing even Servants themselves and just when it is finally the end, all he ever wishes for is stripped from him and slapped across the face just like when he was "alive". Alfin felt the same too, much like how she learned that she is created from Adolf Hitler's spirit itself.

If that's the case then... Adolf maybe at some point has already been dead during their departure towards the surface. He was just simply there to assure them nothing is going horrifically wrong with either of them. The only one who is spared from this horrific end is Alice due to the fact that she expended every ounce of power she has and thus becomes a normal person in the end. As the dreads settling in their mind, Alice just has to overheard what the researcher said and realized just what is happening to Arnold and Alfin.

"Arnold! Alfin! What's wrong!?" Alice yelled as she checked out their failing body due to the result of their combat against Alice Azure-demiurge.

The fear started to swell up inside, both of them genuinely don't know how to explain this to Alice either because after how much they swore to rescue her only to just die like this at the end. Even worse, they just had to broke the promise they held for her literally only a moment after this journey ended. With remorse and regrets that plagued their mind, both Arnold and Alfin felt tremendous guilt that eaten up their mind. This tragic outcome just has to come right at the end like this.

Even Pierce took notice of it and try to calm all of them down but he doesn't exactly have a smart idea of helping a person that is going to die. A pat on the back or reassuring words aren't just enough to calm a person that knew they are going to die soon.

At this point, Arnold just wants to shut off all his thoughts and drift away into oblivion. But he can't help himself but gaze at Alice's face once more. However, that moment was a sobering one that allows him to think straight once more. He saw those teary eyes of her and he saw himself within the reflection of those eyes, he looked so pathetic that he could just die from seeing it.

"Alfin... If we are going to disappear, then let us be clear of ourselves before we go out with dignity..." Arnold said as he pulls Alfin up with the remaining hand.

Both of them stood up and wiped their tears away. It was really unliking of them to be so emotional before. Though to be fair, this time they really have no way out anymore unlike before when they can fight their way through.

Arnold kneels down to Alice, in which he placed his hand on his knees so that he can keep his balance before his Spirit Collapse cripples his entire body.

"Alice... I know that it was really irresponsible of me to leave you like this. Especially after I made my promise to save you too. But as you can see here, I don't have that much longer to live. If there is anything I want to speak to you now is that... live strong... stay strong... Don't let the prospect of the end or uncertainty of the future deters you from living your best." Arnold said what he wanted to let out.

"I want to say with all I had too. I spent most of the time, wondering just what is the point of my existence. Fighting each grueling and impossibly demanding day after day for a purpose that I myself most likely not understanding at all. But through my meeting with him, I can assure you that you too will find someone who can dependently rely on. Someone who will give you their back so that you too can strive to be something better. Like two parts of something greater..." Alfin said as she felt her body become lighten as she couldn't even feel the sensation of her other hand.

Time is about to run out for the two of them, Alice who could hardly believe that the two closest people are going to leave her alone in this world. Both Arnold and Alfin felt guilty for doing so but fate has dealt them this hand, and now... all they could do is to accept it with grace.

The two held their hands together as they approach the Brandenburg Gate to fulfill the rite of departure. Others did so already, it was just more or less the fitting things left to do. As they cross the gate, their bodies finally gave up as they started to collapse into golden dust, much like how any of the previous did.

Strangely enough to Arnold, he doesn't feel any worries left anymore. Guess that when you dropped off all the things in your heart and mind, you genuinely felt free from any weight he carried. But he felt pity that in the end, he just has to leave Alice behind in this broken world. Wished that he could have said goodbye before though but it's too late anyway.

Just like that, both of them disappeared from this world. No pain left to worry, no more regrets to carry with, nothing left... The two disappeared from this world as if they have never existed.

And right at that moment, Alice finally broke down into tears uncontrollably on her own. She yelled to the heaven above as if to curse it for leaving her alone in this world again. She then collapsed to her knee as she just cries as hard as she could. Alone once more... she can't accept the reality that all those she cared about no longer exist. As tears fell upon the azure-tainted ground, her sobbing left those who heard it equally as sad as never once did they in their life heard such a tragic and heartbreaking scene like that.

Seeing her wallows in grief, Pierce can no longer accept seeing such a sad sight like that anymore. He decided to console her so as to calm her down. Even if it won't work as spectacular as Arnold, it is far better than to leave her alone to lament like this.

He approaches her and then crouched nearby. With his hand on her shoulder, he tried to find the words eloquent enough to calm her pained spirit. Even though his vocabulary of a soldier hardly leaving any room eloquentness, she started to calm down upon seeing him.

"Alice... I honestly will never understand you on the level of Arnold and Alfin but seeing you like this, I realized that even I have to do something... Please, tell me what's on your mind right now..." Pierce asked as he braces for any inevitable backlashes.

"Bring them back! Bring them back now!" Alice yelled at him as she demands the impossible...

"Kid... I'm afraid that I'm just a normal person... I can't do any miracles and the only reason that I even make it this far is just my sheer belief and determination... I'm... I'm sorry..." Pierce said as he was just stumped when he tries to be soft-spoken to her.

Alice continues to cry for a long while, as tears drip her face while her expression contorts into an unbelievable sadness and sorrow beyond any word to describe. Larry thought about trying to help out but with how much of a hardass he is, he might just make the situation even worse. Pierce just stood there, watching over her.

After a long while, maybe a few minutes, maybe hours but no one could bother to care anymore. Finally, she ceased crying... She stood up as she then looked straight into the sky with a solemn look on her face. A face devoids any happiness inside after witnessing it torn apart by heartbreak and tragedy. She cried so much that even a streak line formed from where her tears flown.

"I'm... I'm actually the one who has to say sorry for you... Sorry that my whole existence must have turned your whole life upside down. Your name is Pierce, right? I'm sorry... Pierce..." Alice said with sincerity as she for the first time embraced so tightly to after such who knows how long.

"Damn it... Now you just have to let me be the one who is speechless..." Pierce said as he covers his eyes from shame.

"You know... After letting my emotions overblown for once, I actually now understand what Arnold and Alfin spoke to me. Even when I thought of myself being alone, there was still someone thinking about me... I wished that I could have read their thoughts but at last... it is too late... How funny, was my dream so important that I just have to take the gamble like that, to almost making such a painful sacrifice that can't ever be repaid..." Alice said as she steps closer to Pierce.

"To be fair, you really did become too powerful to be contained by this world's dimension. That is just how ridiculous it really is..." Pierce said as he gazed up into the azure sky.

"I really should have died back then, spared a lot of people's pain too. But now I have to live with it, I cried because I was such a selfish monster, and letting such a wish like that almost spelled doom for everyone..." Alice said as she reflects upon herself.

"They could have lived if I stopped my thirst for power... then I'm certain that I would have hardened my heart and done it. Arnold, Alfin, Adolf,... It is all my fault... Now, I have nothing left... and this world is now just a meaningless existence to me..." Alice said as she tries to defuse the tangling mess that is called the emotions in her mind.

"Alice... Even if this world's existence is meaningless, we all have existed. Arnold, Alfin, Adolf, all of my companions... Whether this world just happened to be a meaningless and fleeting passage or just a text of someone's book, what matters is that we all have existed. Our tales make people feel and become attached to who we are... All of these happened, in one way or another and it can't ever be erased." Pierce said to her as he tries to understand what Arnold and Alfin have said, he felt that may have missed the mark entirely and just spew whatever craps he thought.

"And who told you that?" Alice asked Pierce again.

"It's Arnold and Alfin, of course! Although I might have misinterpreted them somewhere... that doesn't matter anymore, right?... I got your attention, right?" Pierce said as he lets out a mischievous chuckle...

"You never change!..." Larry said from the back as he tries to calm the crowd down.

"And yet... all of what I have given is all of these useless tears that I cried..." Alice said as she looked down at the wet ground that she cried a mess at.

"Alice, they all have wished for you and everyone else during that battle within the Azure Abyss... Even still they did it even if they know about their ensuing self-destruction either way... They may no longer be with us but they have left with a smile on their faces, they knew that this whole journey wasn't meaningless." Pierce consoled her as he tries to be calm and collecting with his words.

Pierce then grabbed Alice's hand and hold her tightly.

"You see... what you left behind aren't meaningless tears..." Pierce said as he held his breathings for whatever inevitability that may come or never.

They are also the last rain in the world...

---

The end... Or was it?

Don't worry, there is still one last chapter that I intend to write. It's just a short one. It's been a long journey since like... 5 years ago? Either way, coming soon for the final act of this journey... The epilogue...