110: Declaration of War

This grassy hill is the exact same as I remember it. Pleasantly warm, just a little bit too sunny, filled with the gentle scent of clean air. Unremarkable in every way, save for the parasol-shaded tea table at the top of the hill. Naturally, there are already two familiar-looking people sitting there. I'd be more upset, if I hadn't had the notion that something like this would happen from the appearance of the other me's Reality Marble.

Heaving a sigh, I move to take my seat at the Witch's Tea Party.

"I guess I should congratulate you," Alter Ego says with a smile as I sit down. "How many tries did it take?"

…Gross.

He's wearing a suit with an unbuttoned collar, and I can clearly see a pyroxene crystal dangling from his neck - but none of that is what grosses me out. What's disgusting is that fake-ass smile.

Wordlessly, I turn to the table's other occupant, and cringe as the Witch of Greed, Echidna, directs a sweet smile towards me. "Won't you have some tea? I brewed an extra cup just for you, after all."

…She's using 'boku' again, I note with a scowl. By this point, the divergence between me and this guy is completely obvious.

"Like hell I'm going to be sipping your damn bodily fluids, you perverted witch," I say before turning my attention back to Alter Ego. "Obviously it took less tries for me to get out of your stupid trap than it took for you to set it up. What the hell are you thinking?"

"You figured that much out, huh? Good, that's good." He nods once, and then leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and clasping his hands in front of his face. "I'll get to the point - the fact is, you can't beat me. That whole opening gambit was just something I threw together on short notice after my reset point moved. I only had to die around a hundred times to set it up."

"...What?" I ask numbly.

One hundred times. 'Only' one hundred times, he says.

"Really?" Echidna asks. "One hundred is enough to faze you? How on earth did you manage to get far enough to upset Pandora like that? Regulus alone should have-"

"It's because this guy cuts corners, Echidna," Alter Ego says, irritation showing up on his face. "But you get it, don't you? I'm stronger than you. You can't have died that many times against my first attack - your strategy that finally forced me to reset and pull Medea and Drake out-" My what? "-was so full of holes that it looked like you were throwing it together on the spot. But even then, you're already looking this exhausted."

I look exhausted, huh?

"...You sure are making a lot of assumptions," I mutter.

"All of that is to say… there's no need for you anymore. Give me your body, and I'll save everyone in your stead," He finally concludes. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."

I blink. "My body?"

"That's right. I can use it better than you, so hand it over. Normally a Servant can't possess a human, but since we're the same person, it won't be impossible. Doubly so since I'm a Demon Pillar."

No. No way. "Demon… Pillar?"

"Yeah. I don't really feel the need to go transforming into Zepar to prove myself, but the fact is, he's the one who set up this ridiculous Spirit Origin of mine," Alter Ego shifts away from his discount Gendo pose and leans back in his chair again. "I'm not going to bother telling you what else got crammed into me to turn me into an Alter Ego, but… well, Zepar's along for the ride now."

"That's obviously a dealbreaker, dumbass!" I shout, standing up.

"Don't be stupid, it's not like I'm possessed," He says, rolling his eyes. "Demons are easier to deal with than guys like Petelgeuse, since they'll tear your body apart if your will disagrees with theirs enough."

"...You lost me."

"It's not that hard to understand. He mixed this Spirit Origin together and climbed in to try to take control, and I resisted. So we died." Alter Ego stretches. "Then we reset to that point a few thousand times until Zepar's will finally broke. I guess you could say I possessed him, if you really wanted?"

"...Monster," I finally mutter.

"I don't want to hear that from the guy who let Beatrice die." He responds with a glare, and I feel my heart freeze.

I didn't… no, there's no way to know for sure. I know that. Her last words, before I was sent back - she did something risky. I know that. But I want to believe. I so very, very, desperately want to believe-!

"This is my declaration of war," Alter Ego says, his face shifting back into the same dead-eyed expression of hate I saw on my arrival in this singularity. "Hand over your body and let me do what you can't. Until then… I'll just keep killing you, without an ounce of guilt. You deserve it, after all."

"It's better if you give up sooner than later, by the way," Echidna finally enters the conversation again. "Whatever limit of [Return by Death] we ran into before that got my contractor recorded in the Throne of Heroes… I'd like to avoid it if we can."

I throw up. That's just one more thing I least wanted to hear. A limit… could that really be true? It can't be true, right?

But I've heard it a few times already recently.

"This time… this time for sure." Alter Ego mutters as this dream starts to melt into the waking world.

Some things… can't be fixed.

The sound of waves. The swaying of the ship. The creaking of timbers.

My awareness returns to me without the expected screaming. In fact, the truth is, I feel perfectly well-rested. And the cause of that, the reason my sleep was so peaceful - is a small, warm shape, clinging to me.

With a jolt, I open my eyes. "Bea-!"

"Nob." Blank white eyes stare back into mine.

In the wake of her summoning, Ar-chan said she could provide a crew for the Argo if I used a command spell. With no other obvious way off the island, I used one, but-

"What the hell are these things?" I asked, staring at the strange… chibi creatures?

"Mini Nob- er, Mini Nazos!" Ar-chan said. "Well? Pretty cool, right? I come with my own army!"

"Nazo… like the Japanese word for mystery?" Mash asked. "Well, they are certainly mysterious…"

"Nobbu!" One of the creatures exclaimed - and then a gunshot rang out as Ar-chan discharged a matchlock rifle.

"Nazo! It's Nazo now, you idiots!" Mysterious Archer N cried out.

"No…bbu…" The unfortunate victim groaned, writing something in the sand.

"...Oda?" I muttered. Hey, couldn't it be…?

"Mysterious! Archer! N!" The girl who… might somehow be Oda Nobunaga… shouted, hastily erasing the word drawn in the sand.

Yeah. That's the context. Both for this incident, and also the exhaustion that I showed to Alter Ego. But right now..!

"As if I want mood whiplash like that!" I finally scream, tears in my eyes, hurling the mini Nobbu across the room.

"Nobwah!" It screams as it bounces off with a squeaking sound.

"...It's not fair." I mumble past tears as I flop back into my bed.

"Yahar! There you are, skipping work again Ichinobbu! I'll keelhaul you for this!" Ar-chan shouts as she arrives with all the subtlety of a clown in pirate cosplay. Which is exactly what she is.

"Archer… can you… not, right now?" I mumble.

"...Ah, a bad dream?" She asks, growing a bit serious.

"...Something like that." I say, sitting up. "More importantly, I remembered… something I didn't want to, and now I'm missing someone."

"Hm. Do you want to tell me about it?" She asks.

"...Archer, we met just last night, and I already know that you are quite possibly one of the very last people in the world I want to receive therapy from," I deadpan.

"...I guess that can't be helped. I'm a fool, after all." She says after a moment. "But this has to do with that other world, right? We're Isekai buddies, so how about you let me help you out?"

"You literally couldn't tell us anything useful because you spent the entire time at the other Chaldea goofing off."

"Sure, but I had friends too, you know?" She says. "...You know, I was actually sharing part of my Spirit Origin with someone else. I don't have a clue what happened to him after I got brought here, and if he ends up disappearing because of this… that's probably it. It was a one-in-a-million miracle Katsu was even able to show up in the first place."

I blink. "But…"

"But I'm acting like a fool? I mean, if it's happened, it's happened." Ar-chan shrugs. "But if I had one hundred yen for every time someone I knew was supposed to disappear and then just showed up a day later like nothing had happened, I'd have… probably like five hundred yen at this point."

"That's not a lot…" I mutter.

But even so, I find myself spilling all the details.

"Hmm… nah, she's probably fine," Ar-chan says at last after listening to the whole story. "Actually, remember all those mysteries you were asking me about earlier?"

"The ones you kept saying 'dunno' to? Yeah, I remember." I say.

"I've solved one!" She says with a grin.

"...Huh?"

"I mean, your Spirit Partner tries some advanced teleportation spell just as you're being sent back to Earth, and then later a disembodied voice shows up in the middle of void space and heals you?" She tilts her head. "Why didn't you figure this out? Are you stupid?"

The next instant, I'm gripping her by the collar of her stupid red T-shirt. "Yes! I know I'm stupid! But, do you really mean-!?"

"I dunno. Maybe? I can't guarantee anything, but it makes sense to me!" She says with a grin.

"Then how do I-!?"

"Dunno. It's impossible to find things in Void Space supposedly, but between you and me, I don't think mages actually know what the word 'impossible' means," She shrugs. "I remember one of the painting club people getting up to something there… or not? Um, summon Nemo, maybe?"

As expected, this girl is useless.

Useless, except… she's given me just that small bit of hope I needed.

I let out a breath as I release her, and then clap my hands on my cheeks. "Alright. Alright, I can do this." Alter Ego is just some asshole making assumptions about things he doesn't know about. He's just some idiot who got tricked by a witch. "...Thanks, Nobunaga."

"H-how did you know!?"