Alright everyone. This chapter will have spoilers about LB7, specifically regarding Daybit. First of all, that tells you how long it took me to actually write this chapter. But more importantly, if that's not something you're willing to have spoiled… I dunno, I guess stop reading until LB7 comes out. If you're one of those, thanks for being on the ride for this long. I'm sorry for throwing this out there suddenly, but my discord voted to include it so here we are.

Without further ado, here's the next chapter.

Ritsuka could feel that he was in a lot of danger. He didn't know why, but he was getting some extremely bad vibes off of Beryl. It was like his stomach twisted itself into a knot of fear and anxiety every time he was near the man. What could someone like him do about it, though? There had to be someone he could talk to, someone who could help him.

The first person that came to his mind was the Director. That was probably the first person anyone would think of. After all, Olga Animusphere was in charge. If anyone could stop this, it would be her. There was just one problem with that.

She didn't like Ritsuka.

He couldn't even really blame her. He fell asleep on orientation day, he was basically useless, and the one time he was sent on a mission, he nearly died. He was barely conscious when Kadoc managed to save the Singularity and get him back in Chaldea.

But he was just lucid enough to hear her chewing out the staff about sending a completely useless member of Chaldea into the field. That it would have been better if Kadoc went alone then trudging along dead weight. It was all the things she'd never say to his face, but he was sure all of Chaldea was thinking.

And the part that hurt the most was that he knew she was right.

So his next option was Wodime.

That was also out.

As leader of Team A, he was a very busy man. Not to even mention the fact that he would likely be with Olga anyways. So he had to pick his third option, the Servants all around Chaldea.

Xiang Yu was his current best shot. The gigantic robot centaur from an alternative China had the very useful ability to see the future. In normal circumstances, that would just seal Ritsuka's fate, but here in Chaldea, there were so many fate defying Servants it genuinely messed with Xiang Yu's ability. So if Ritsuka could get info out of him, then he could take steps to protect himself from Beryl.

For some reason.

Thankfully, the robot centaur wasn't hard to find, even ignoring the fact a robot centaur stuck out from the crowd. After all, there was one person in Chaldea who would always be by the centaur's side, every second she could be.

Ritsuka stopped at the door to Yu Mei-ren's room, politely knocking on it.

Yu opened the door, her face framed with glasses. Her hair was done up in two dorky looking pigtails that reached her feet. Her baggy white clothes didn't show any skin whatsoever. It was like she was trying to hide her natural beauty.

That was kind of weird.

"What do you want?" She asked in a tired tone. She was tired of Ritsuka trying to talk to her, but at this point, she just accepted she couldn't stop him.

"Yeah, Yu-Senpai, do you know where Xiang Yu is?" He asked nonchalantly, not noticing Yu's face morphed from a look of annoyance to a look of shock, and then one of anger. "I really need to consult with him, but I have no clue where he is. If you don—" Before he could finish, he felt Yu grab his shirt, yanking him inside of the room.

The next thing he knew, Ritsuka's feet left the floor, and he soared across the room. Pain spread across his body as he hit the wall hard. He barely had time to let out a gasp before Yu crossed the distance, wrapping a hand around his throat.

"How do you know?" She hissed.

"Y-Yu-senp—?" Ritsuka asked, fear growing in his stomach. But before he could even finish his question, her hand tightened around his throat, making it even harder to breathe.

"How do you know my name?!" Her face was twisted with anger, such anger that scared the boy. "How… how do you know about Xiang Yu?!" Ritsuka stared into her eyes, the air flow slowly being cut from his lungs.

"I… it's because you—" He tried to choke out. Why was she so upset? What did he do wrong? Of course he knew her name, everyone did. They all found out after— He went limp in her arms, partially from not being able to breathe, and partially from confusion. "I… How… how do I know that?" He asked.

Yu's eyes narrowed. Was he not playing dumb because he was actually stupid (something completely in the realm of possibility with this human), or was he playing dumb after a slip of the tongue?

Maybe he was a double agent like Wodime suggested.

Did she even honestly care about that?

Maybe she should just be rid of him now. Sure, it might hurt the others if she was wrong, but she'd forget it soon enough, and their feelings would stop mattering in a mere few decades.

She looked into the boy's eyes, seeing the light fading out of them. She really wished she had Xiang Yu by her side right now. He would have an answer, one she could understand. Since he wasn't here though, she could listen to her inner Prince of Lanling. What would he say she should do?

…

…

…

He would say that this situation was too complicated. That she should leave the boy alive and talk to Wodime about it before making any hasty decisions. At least, that's what she thought he would say. And she trusted him enough.

Ritsuka went completely limp in her grip, the boy passing out from the lack of air. Yu looked at the boy before walking out of her room, dropping him on the floor like a rag. He fell asleep all the time, no one would think it's weird if they found them there.

She didn't know, nor did she care to know, that Ritsuka regained consciousness as soon as she dropped him. That didn't really matter though, as the boy was too disoriented to even attempt to follow her.

Too shaken to even stand up, the boy could only roll on to his back. He stared at the bright white ceiling as questions raced through his head. What was wrong with him? It was obvious that Akuta-senpai didn't like him calling her Yu-senpai… but what possessed him to call her that? It didn't make any sense. Who was Yu, anyways? There was no reason for such a name to come into his brain, but it did, and it felt right.

People passed him by, some giving him confused looks, some just outright ignoring him. None reached down to help him, though. None even asked if he was okay. He couldn't tell if it was because they all thought he was weird anyways, or that they just didn't care.

He soon sat up, rubbing his neck. As shaken up as he was, he needed to keep moving forward. He wasn't too keen on confronting Beryl without first to Xian— … Xia—...

Who was he looking for again?

Confused, Ritsuka stood up, brushing dust off his shoulder. What was he even doing? He came to Akuta's room to…

Ritsuka knew he could be absentminded, but this wasn't normal. What was he forgetting? He looked down at his hands, trying to focus on anything, something to anchor him back to reality. What was going on with him this morning?

With whatever his former plans were now up in smoke, Ritsuka decided the best thing to do was to go to the simulator now. There was some time before lunch, but he wasn't feeling particularly hungry. All he could do now was warm up before he had to "talk" to Beryl.

He found that the simulator was unusually empty.

Ritsuka himself only came here occasionally, but he knew that this place was usually packed. Servants wanting to spar, Masters wanting to stay on their toes, there were countless reasons why people would use this place. And yet not a soul could be found here.

Was this Beryl's doing?

Reserving the entire simulator for himself, just to 'talk' to Ritsuka?

That only made the boy even more nervous.

He had to look at the bright side right now. No one being here was good. No jeering, no taunting, and no one trying to mess with him.

Sometimes he felt like he was back in high school rather than a world saving organization.

Ritsuka began to stretch, going through the motions almost robotically. His mind emptied as he began to do a routine. Once his muscles loosened up, he fell onto his hands and mindlessly began to do push ups.

He lost track of time as he went through the routine. Push ups, sit ups, laps around the empty, blank simulator. He pushed his body, warming it up, getting it ready for what lay ahead.

His body ached but it didn't feel weird to him. It felt almost natural for him, exercising like this. That didn't seem right. He wasn't a particularly athletic person. Something like this should be beyond him.

Why couldn't he trust even his own body today?

He stopped for a minute, taking a breath as he looked over himself again. The way his mind reacted and the way his body reacted to things seemed to be completely at odds with each other. Which was wrong? Which was right?

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He tried desperately to calm himself down.

Instead, he was suddenly filled with a chill. A sense of foreboding. He was sure someone was staring at him. He stopped, catching his breath as he looked around, trying to pinpoint the source of this feeling.

It didn't take long to find. Standing at the door was a woman in an elegant black dress highlighted by blue lines. Her long white hair traveled down her back, and her face was covered by a veil as black as night. She wasn't someone Ritsuka saw too often, to the point he didn't even know her True Name. She kept mostly to herself and stayed around Beryl. So that must mean…

"You're… Beryl-senpai's Servant, right?" Ritsuka asked. The woman didn't answer. She seemed unearthly. She moved closer to Ritsuka. The boy instinctively took a step back.

He felt his back bump into her. Gulping, he turned around, looking at the regal woman. He didn't even see her move. Anytime he got comfortable around the Servants, they reminded him just how out of their league he truly was.

He could feel her piercing gaze, even behind her veil. What did she want with him? After a few minutes, she walked by him like she didn't just stare at him with an intensity that could melt the Arctic. As she passed by him, he could hear her mutter to herself.

"Powerful Magecraft is at work here…"

That caused Ritsuka to blink. What kind of magecraft could she be talking about? "H-hey! What're you talking about?" Ritsuka called out, reaching a hand out. She didn't stop. Not even the slightest hesitation. The mysterious Servant just vanished around the corner.

Ritsuka sighed to himself. After half a year of being treated like he didn't exist, Ritsuka expected himself to be used to it by now. But he never could be, it seemed. Something so fundamental to humans as "wishing to be acknowledged" and "wanted to not be hated" weren't things that would go away so easily.

He knew he wasn't special, but he didn't want to be treated as special. He just wanted to be treated as an equal…

Even if in this situation, he really wasn't one.

The sounds of approaching footsteps shook him out of his thoughts. Looking up at the entrance, Ritsuka saw the whole reason he was even in the simulator.

"There ya are." Beryl said coolly. In his hand was a bright red apple, one he constantly tossed into the air and caught. "Didn't see ya at lunch. Everyone seemed worried about you." Ritsuka rubbed the back of his head, chuckling weakly.

"Ah… guess I lost track of time." Speaking of being an equal, Ritsuka could feel that he definitely wasn't one here. What looked like two people conversing was more likely a predator sizing up his prey.

"Exercising, huh?" Beryl asked nonchalantly. "Never pegged ya for a gym rat, Fujimaru."

"Yeah, well… I…" Ritsuka trailed off. He wasn't sure what the big deal about this all was.

"They all really like you, you know." Beryl continued, the apple still being tossed. "Kadoc, Peperoncino, Ophelia, Wodime." He then caught the apple, staring at his reflection on the fruit's skin. "Mash." His voice suddenly got low, his tone sending a chill down Ritsuka's spine. The way he said her name…

Suddenly, with a gentle underhand, Beryl tossed the apple at Ritsuka. The Worst Master of Chaldea's eyes briefly left Beryl to follow it. That was a mistake.

Pain exploded in his stomach. His feet left the ground. He flew back, the wind whipping through his hair. Pain exploded through his back as he landed on the floor ungracefully.

Ritsuka desperately gasped for air. HIs lungs felt empty, he felt like he was choking. The apple landed on his forehead. A mere annoyance compared to the pain in his stomach. He looked over, seeing Beryl calmly walking over to the down boy. The man adjusted the glove on his punching hand as he walked. Despite looking calm, Ritsuka could see Beryl's eyes.

He was anything but calm.

"I was watching over her, you know." Beryl stated, his voice cold. "Nine more years. That's all it'd take. Nine more years, and she would become something truly beautiful. I'm sure of it." He had a small smile on his face as he thought of Mash. "But then you came along. I don't know what you did. I don't know how you did it. But she changed. You contaminated her."

"The… hell… are you… talking about?" Ritsuka asked, looking up at Beryl as the man stood over him.

"She's coddling you. She's worrying about you. That's not the Mash I know. That's not the Mash I wanted to see." He squatted down, bringing his face even closer to Ritsuka's. "But, you know, it's not too late to… clean her off." He raised his arm up, his fingers looking like a spear. "All I need to do is inflict some… pain to her…" His grin widened. "And the best part is, no one's gonna miss you! A worthless little runt like you will get me a slap on the wrist, and I'll be able to keep watching over Mash…"

Beryl's grin only grew wider as he stared into Ritsuka's eyes. Beryl could see the hopelessness in the boy's eyes, the weakness. He loved staring at that. He loved to see that pitiful light extinguished. Killing truly was life's greatest pleasure.

Ritsuka stared up into Beryl's eyes and saw something reflected back at him. It wasn't hatred, it wasn't anger. What he saw was most of Chaldea's feelings reflected back into him.

Apathy.

He was worthless, at the end of the day. No magecraft, no servant, no way to turn the tides. Maybe dying wasn't the wrong answer. That was one less mouth to feed, a little longer to stretch out their supplies. In times like these, even a little saved went a long way.

And yet… a voice inside disagreed. It was a small flame in his stomach, one growing stronger with every passing second. He had to keep going, he couldn't die here. Why? Why couldn't he die here? He didn't know. But, he knew one thing for sure.

"So die… for true love!" Beryl's hand shot forward. Suddenly, Ritsuka's hand shot out, grabbing Beryl's wrist. The weaponized finger hovered centimeters over Ritsuka's heart.

Ritsuka could feel his arm struggling. Beryl kept pushing, the tips of his fingers pressing into Ritsuka's skin. It took everything Ritsuka had to keep Beryl's hand still. He could feel his skin beginning to break.

It was now a war of attrition, and that was a war Ritsuka would lose.

Beryl looked once again into Ritsuka's eyes. Seeing the spark of hope being snuffed out of someone's eyes, seeing hope turn into despair. That was even better than despair alone. But, he quickly noticed that hope wasn't what burned in Ritsuka's eyes.

It was determination.

Ritsuka grabbed the apple. With a roar, he swung it full force into Beryl's cheek. The apple shattered into hundreds of chunks from the impact alone. Beryl's glasses went flying off his face, the man tossed away to the side. With a grunt, both spun up to their feet, back away to give a little distance between them.

Twenty feet of empty space was all that was between the two. It was a distance Beryl could cover in a blink of the eye. The air was tense as the two stared each other down.

"I won't die…" Ritsuka stated as he clenched his fist. "I refuse to die here."

"Oh yeah? You'll fight for that? Someone as pathetic as you? Why even try?!" Beryl called out as he spread out his arms, his fingers hooking like they were claws.

"I'll fight to live so I can live!" Ritsuka shouted at the top of his lungs. Beryl barked at a laugh.

"Alright then, let's see you live through this!" Beryl hunched forward, his foot crushing his glasses. His muscles tightened, like a spring being wound up. A second passed. Two seconds. And then… he released.

Beryl sprung forward, looking like a wild animal as he crossed the distance.

Ten feet away.

To Beryl's surprise, Ritsuka took a martial arts stance.

Five feet.

Beryl's arm shot forward like a claw of death.

Three feet.

They could feel the other's heat.

One foot.

The two tensed.

Contact.

Beryl's palm went straight for Ritsuka's head. Ritsuka lowered his head by the slightest of inches. Beryl's attack only swiped through his hair.

Ritsuka's fist flew up, nailing Beryl in the gut. Beryl grunted, but the pain barely fazed him. However, Ritsuka crouched down. He quickly pivoted on his foot, swinging his whole body around. He then shot up, smashing his shoulder into Beryl's stomach.

The sheer force of the hit actually lifted Beryl into the air.

As Beryl fell back to the ground, Ritsuka quickly turned around. One foot slammed into the ground as he stepped forward. His fist shot up, colliding into Beryl's chest. His knuckles cried out in pain as Beryl fell backwards.

Ritsuka quickly took a few steps back away from Beryl, breathing in a measured fashion. That was until the boy blinked. His stance dropped, and he shook his head, like he was waking up. "What… how did I…?" Ritsuka stared at Beryl on the ground before looking at his hands once again.

Once more, he did something he didn't understand.

He could hear coughing from Beryl. Beryl sat up, his coughing turning into wild laughter. "Ah, sorry there, kid. I wasn't really going to kill ya, ya know?" He stood up, dusting himself off. "I just wanted to see how good you were, but you're such a passive guy, yeah? Had to make you think you were going to die so I could see what you're really made of." Beryl lied as naturally as he breathed. "Maybe I did too good of a job." He said as he rubbed his chest. He walked over to Ritsuka, who tensed up again.

This didn't feel right. Was Beryl really just hazing him, or was he lying through his teeth? The boy didn't know. He didn't know why he felt so afraid of Beryl, but it felt like all his fear was now justified.

All Beryl ended up doing was offering a hand to shake. "No hard feelings, yeah?"

Ritsuka would have to talk to Wodime after this, but for now…

"Yeah, no hard feelings." Ritsuka stated, slapping his hand into Beryl's own, giving him a firm handshake. Beryl smirked, letting go and turning around.

"I got shit to do. See ya around, kid." Beryl waved over his shoulder and left the simulator, leaving a very confused Ritsuka behind.

Fifteen minutes after Beryl's confrontation with Ritsuka, the members of Team A gathered into their meeting room. The room itself was white, much like every other room in Chaldea. At the center of the room was a round table. Eight seats surrounded it, one for each member of Team A and one for the Director.

Today, only Team A would be using it.

They went through the usual precautions. The door was locked behind them. The Bounded Field was reinforced so no sound could escape it. Team A now had complete privacy.

"Let us begin this meeting." Wodime stated, his powerful voice full of authority. "As you all know, this emergency meeting was called today because each of us have noticed that Fujimaru Ritsuka is acting unusual."

"We don't—," Kadoc blurted out, causing everyone else to turn to look at him in sync.

"Really? You're gonna try to pull that crap on us, buddy?" Beryl asked lightheartedly.

"Kadoc, I know it's not something you want to admit, but you can't deny something strange is happening with Ritsy." Peperoncino said as he wagged a finger.

"Yeah, but he was blasted by Solomon's magic! That might… that… that could have…" Kadoc began to fumble with his words, running out of arguments.

"Kadoc, Kadoc, Kaodc, you know that the kid shouldn't even be alive after being blasted by something like that. Face it. Whoever that is, it's not Fujimaru. It's probably some familiar disguised as him, one made to tear us up from the inside out." Beryl said, grinning widely at Kadoc's discomfort. "I really shoulda just…had an accident during that little sparring match." Kadoc's fists tightened. He didn't have much else to say, nothing else to argue, but… he didn't want to acknowledge that he might have let his friend die!

"A sort of familiar disguised as Fujimaru Ritsuka, basically. It makes sense." Wodime added, nodding along.

"Still, something like that getting past the examinations?" Ophelia stated. "Ritsuka was under intensive care for almost two weeks. The Doctor isn't the hardest worker, but there's no way he would miss it if we brought back someone that isn't Ritsuka."

"There is an option we have yet to bring up." Daybit commented suddenly, his voice commanding everyone's attention. "It's very possible that it is Fujimaru Ritsuka we brought back to Chaldea, but he has been implanted by our enemy. Say some sort of magical hypnosis, or something possessing him, suppressing the real man inside."

Wodime closed his eyes at that, obviously deep in thought. That was a very real possibility. After all, it was Solomon they were up against, someone who knew Magecraft better than anyone else in existence. Who knows what he could have done?

"However, the truth is you all are ignoring the real question." Daybit continued, causing some in the room to tense up. "Does this really matter? While I understand some of you may have attachments to him, the fact of the matter is Fujimaru Ritsuka is an acceptable loss. He won't live long enough to see the end of our Grand Order. He has nothing special about him, and someone like him is always the first to die."

"We can't just condemn an innocent life to death." Wodime stated. "That is why we're investigating it now, to make absolutely sure. Even if his death is a certainty, that isn't an excuse to throw morals out the window." Daybit simply nodded at that. Wodime was sure Daybit was trying to herd him down this path, but he didn't mind it.

"Says you." Beryl scoffed, something Wodime ignored.

"Now, allow me to compile our facts, so we all are on the same page. Hopefully that will lead us to a conclusion on what is going on." Wodime tapped the butt of his cane into the ground, the loud noise punctuating his sentence. "Today, Akuta approached me." The room turned to look at the quiet member. She wasn't even paying attention to the meeting. Instead her nose was in a book. "She told me that Ritsuka approached her with knowledge he should have no way of knowing."

"What… what kind of knowledge?" Ophelia asked, confusion in her voice. Akuta visibly stiffened at the question, but Wodime quickly and expertly drew the attention back to himself.

"Sorry, that's something I'm not allowed to divulge. Just believe me when I say it's not something he should know." Wodime supplied. "Anyways, Beryl also had his Servant check over Ritsuka, and she informed us that there is some sort of powerful magecraft affecting Ritsuka, although she can't determine what it was in the little time she had."

Kadoc gritted his teeth. That was a pretty damning piece of evidence. He couldn't even argue against that logically. Still, something nagged at him. "Look. I get that she's with Chaldea. But that's Morgan Le Fay. Are we really just going to just take her at her word?" Kadoc felt no guilt in throwing the Servant under the bus.

"Oh? Better not let her Majesty hear you say that, Kadoc." Pepe teased. "We don't want her and Anatasia's animosity to turn into full on hostility."

"Oy, while we're bringing up weird stuff, don't forget his sudden Bajiquan outta nowhere." Beryl added. "Damn nearly caved in my chest there." He joked as he rubbed his chest. "Even if he was taking classes with a Servant, there's no way he mastered the damn art in less than a year. And we all know he was physically pathetic when he first came to Chaldea."

Ophelia sighed. She knew what she was about to say was potentially damning, but hiding her info wasn't an option. "... Ritsuka and I were going to have breakfast with Mash. Suddenly, Ritsuka said he had to go make coffee for someone else…"

"... What? He's getting bullied? That ain't new news, Ophelia." Beryl said in a sarcastic tone. She stared at him, causing him to hold his hands up in mock surrender. "Whoa, watch it. We both know your looks can actually kill."

"The way he acted, it wasn't bullying." Ophelia continued in a cold tone. "It was something he did all the time. But… I've never seen him do that before. We've all been together for nearly a half a year, and not once has he ever done that."

"That… is weird… but like… That's not that bad." Kadoc commented. "Oh, Ritsuka made coffee. Death." He stated with a tone to show just how ridiculous that notion was.

"I actually have to agree with Kadoc on this one, Ophelia dear." Peperoncino added. "It's strange, and out of character, but not something we can really use." He turned to look at Wodime. "As for me… I'll be honest. I haven't noticed anything unusual about Ritsy at all."

"Not even with Tashintsu?" Wodime asked. That was unusual. The Shugendon Rokujintsu were six supernomal powers of Buddhism, and Tashintsu was one of the powers that fell under it. The power to read minds. Although Pepe couldn't read minds directly. No, he could only see the color of people's aura.

Still, anything it revealed would be a major clue.

Pepe's face scrunched up. "How… how odd. Now, I haven't seen Ritsy today, so I can't comment on his aura but… but I can't seem to recall the colors of his aura…" A frown marred Wodime's face hearing that. That was really strange, and something to look into later. Right now though, it was a dead end. He turned to look at Kadoc.

"Kadoc, you're the one that spends the most time with Ritsuka. Have you not seen anything unusual with him this entire time?" He questioned. Kadoc shifted in his seat.

"I mean… not really." Kadoc admitted. "Yeah, he's more depressed… n-no… that's not right." Kadoc muttered as he closed his eyes. "He's been letting his true emotions slip out a little more than usual, but… I thought it was because of his close call with death. He wasn't acting as badly as the first few days of the Incineration of Humanity, so I thought it was fine to just… let him vent, I guess…"

"Wait... The what?" Daybit's voice rang out, causing the room to turn and look at him. "What is this Incineration of Humanity you're talking about?"

The following silence in the room was deafening.

"Daybit… we know you have a bad memory… but that joke isn't in good taste, my friend." Wodime said calmly. A little known fact about Daybit was that the man could only remember five minutes of each day. A bit of a day. Yet the things he remembered, he remembered well. "We have been spending the last half of the year fighting against the great disaster that befell humanity."

"Wodime, I have about a day's worth of memory with you. That's about 1440 minutes spread out across 288 days. Longer than the half a year you all claimed this Incineration has been going on. Even my memories of yesterday have absolutely nothing of this. I know I would at least have a memory of you talking about this with me, about any plans we had." Daybit shot back, staring dead in Wodime's eyes.

Wodime's grip tightened on his staff. "You don't have any memory of…" He looked at every member of the room, his mind working overtime. First Pepe being unable to remember aura colors, and now Daybit… things weren't matching up with those two. The two with the most unusual memories, the hardest ones to mess with without inconsistencies… "... Have all our memories been altered?" He muttered, causing the entire room to stir.

He suddenly moved, his sudden movement shocking the others. They were quick to follow though, determined to see where their leader was going.

The man was silent as he walked. His stance, his stare, all exuded authority. Anyone who passed him in the halls subconsciously moved out of the way to give him more space. Wodime was now a man on a mission, a mission he would see through.

The small group of Chaldea's elite stopped in front of Ritsuka's room. The door opened with a loud, mechanical hiss as Wodime stepped inside. Ritsuka and Mash were in the middle of having some tea. While that seemed a little odd to the leader of Team A, there were far more important things to do right now.

"Wodime?" Ritsuka stood up. He looked behind Wodime to see the rest of Team A hanging out behind him. "Um… I don't think I have enough tea for everyone."

"Ritsuka, you need to come with us for a little bit." Wodime said, keeping a calm and straight face.

"Uh, okay. Where we goin'?" Ritsuka asked as he looked at Mash. Mash shook her head, equally confused.

"To the doctor's. We just need to check something." Wodime explained simply as he walked out of Ritsuka's room. Ritsuka blinked as he followed Wodime, Mash following Ritsuka like a lost puppy. The small group started their walk to the infirmary. Ritsuka was quick to notice that Daybit, Pepe, and Beryl boxed him in from all sides, making it nearly impossible to move comfortably.

"I… see…?" Ritsuka blinked as he looked at the four boxing him in. "But Beryl didn't hurt me, so… I should be fine…?"

"Just humor us." Daybit said bluntly.

"Ah… okay…?" Ritsuka looked behind them, seeing Ophelia, Kadoc, and Mash following with worried looks on their faces. "You guys are all acting really weird today. Is something going on that I don't know about?" No one answered him. He was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. They were getting close to the doctor's office. Maybe Nightingale or Asclepius needed him for something?

That didn't seem right. Both were direct enough to get him themselves.

Then what was going on?

They stopped in front of the infirmary, the door opening with a loud hissing noise. "Seriously guys, this is really weird. Please tell me wha—" Ritsuka froze, the words dying in his throat as he stared into the infirmary.

Standing inside wasn't a Servant. No, the kind green eyes the man had, the friendly smile on his face, the messy orange hair. There was only one person this could be… and that was impossible.

"Is everything okay?" Dr. Romani asked as he stood up from his desk, looking at the group of Masters.

"Doctor, we need you to run another diagnostic on Ritsuka, we think that…," Wodime began, but trailed off as he noticed the strange look on Ritsuka's face. Wodime, for the first time in awhile, felt uncomfortable as he saw tears suddenly streaming down Ritsuka's face.

The boy's chest tightened, and a sense of hollowness manifested in his stomach. "D-Doctor…" Ritsuka managed to choke out the words before images flashed before his eyes. A desolate wasteland, gigantic pillars covered in eyes, an Evil of Humanity desperately trying to stop the inevitable.

And the real body of Dr. Romani slowly fading away in a golden glow.

"Yes. It is my everything, after all." The Romani in his memories explained. "Of course, this body will disappear soon. I'm afraid this is a bit of a suicide attack."

"It's not that simple!" Goetia roared with disbelief. "You just gave up being a Heroic Spirit! It's not about giving up one's life! It's the complete abandonment of one's existence, of one's everything! Everything Solomon made will become worthless. The Temple of Time will lose its power! We 72 Demon Gods will cease to be a colony, and go back to being individual demons…

Neither King Solomon or his works will ever appear on Earth again! You know that! You're about to disappear from even the Throne of Heroes! My band of light is nothing compared to that! You will experience true nothingness! An end no human has ever reached… The complete annihilation of your being! And you did it to yourself?!"

"What…?" Ritsuka muttered out loud, his voice choked by the tears running down his face. The other Masters looked at the boy, confusion etched on their faces. "What is this…?" It felt as if his entire body was being pierced by lances of grief, guilt weighing down on the boy's shoulders.

The boy could feel his legs giving out from under him, his body feeling like it was shutting down from the pain that was flooding him.

Something was wrong, something was wrong something was wrong somethingwaswrong!

And so the boy faced with an impossible person, a dear friend he missed so much, did the only thing he could do.

He screamed.