Once they managed to stop Senti from trying to start a fight with the Count, Ritsuka turned towards the Avenger to get some answers. "Do you have any idea what's going on with her?" He gestured towards Elysia.

"No," he bluntly answered. "And I've yet to determine whether she can be trusted… but you've already decided for me, haven't you?"

"You know it."

A short scoff escaped the Count before his eyes drifted towards the other intruders within Ritsuka's mindscape. "And why are they here?"

'Because someone got a bit too close,' Ritsuka mentally mused , only for the Count to reply in his mind— well, even more in his mind.

"Don't make a habit of letting others in here." Without another word, the Count vanished as suddenly as he had appeared. Ritsuka was sure he was listening in on them now though and sighed.

"Please don't mind him; he does that all the time."

"Does he like being a weirdo? None of us even answered him and he just up and left." Senti crossed her arms with a scowl. "Didn't even acknowledge that we were here. For a mental guardian, he's really bad at his jo— yeow!" She jumped in pain as she felt her back burn up. "...Alright, you're dead the next time I see you and none of these guys can stop me!" She shouted at the empty class behind her.

Ignoring Senti's tantrum for the moment, Ritsuka turned towards the others. "As it's unlikely he would introduce himself anytime soon, that was the Count of Monte Cristo. He's been living here for a while." About four years at this point.

"That's… okay," Fu Hua saved herself the headache and accepted the introduction and left it at that. Elysia, on the other hand, pouted and openly wondered what she did to earn the Count's disdain so quickly.

"He's rather particular about who can come in and, having no idea why you are here… Well, you can figure why he acts like that," Ritsuka lightly chuckled.

Meanwhile, Kama continued to stare at the spot the Count was standing. "…That was a different one, right?"

"Hmm? Ah, yes." There was the Count in his mind— the one they just met —and the Count who actively fought and wandered in Chaldea. The latter rarely showed himself too so it was no wonder Kama needed to be sure. In any case, the Count was a dead end in terms of getting any more answers. "But now what…" Ritsuka muttered under his breath. Their next lead was likely Merlin as Fou continued to believe but how would they get in contact with him?

'Speaking of which…' He glanced at the small animal on his shoulder. Fou cocked his head upon noticing the look of deep thought on Ritsuka's face. 'Similar to Kama, huh?' That was his theory confirmed then though ultimately mattered little outside the brief moment of vindication. What was more important was the new question raging in his head—"What exactly is a Herrscher?"

"You don't know?" Elysia replied in confusion before correcting herself. "Right, another universe. Although perhaps the Honkai does exist in your world but with another name."

"I don't think so. I've already had a run-in with the Honkai and they're unlike anything I've faced before." Similar, yes, but only if he oversimplifies them to 'strange beasts that attack people in the forest.' In that case, they were basically the same as nearly everything he's faced in Singularities, But he digressed.

Fortunately, Fu Hua was willing to explain further. "As I've told you before, the Honkai was humanity's enemy for the longest time— and you can say the Herrschers were its apostles. They were capable of unparalleled destruction and chaos in their goal to eradicate humanity; the one who put an end to the Previous Era was a Herrscher in fact."

"To put it in more modern terms, think of them as bosses serving under one big bad."

He already got the gist of it without Senti's summation, but there was one word that drew a reaction from him. "A… Apostles?" He muttered before shaking his head. 'No, that's probably a coincidence. I doubt that has anything to do with the Honkai.' "And… Senti's one of them?"

"Yeah, I won't deny it. My full name-slash-title is the Herrscher of Sentience! And just to let you know, I'm a different breed from the others," Senti puffed her chest with a confident grin plastered on her face. "Mei, Bronya, and Welt are Herrschers too though he's more of a gray area right now. Oh and uh… Elysia is also one."

"Mhmm~ The very first one to be exact. I got lucky and avoided falling into the same hatred for humanity those after me did, and I think it's safe for me to say the Herrschers of the new era are the same too from the sound of it," she confirmed with a bright smile. Her cheery expression was quickly replaced with confusion again as she realized something. "Wait, did you say Mei?"

"Uh…" "About that…" Both Fu Hua and Senti both looked nervous for a brief moment before the former added, "The Mei in the Current Era and the one we knew are different."

"Ah, alright." Elysia took that information with stride though Ritsuka assumed she didn't want them to go off into another tangent.

"And to add to what Elysia said, a few Herrschers of this era also fought for humanity. The others…" Fu Hua trailed off, leaving them to fill in the blanks. "In any case, the remaining Herrschers are on humanity's side."

While Ritsuka would love to hear more about how they reached that point, he knew the discussion was not over yet. After all, it's only fair he told them about the Beasts in exchange. "You guys called Herrschers beings of unparalleled destruction capable of ending the world; well, I don't think they're a far cry from Beasts in that regard, though their goals are not explicitly the end of humanity or the world. The one behind the Incineration of Human History was Beast I. Grand Servants are the World's countermeasure against Beasts should one emerge."

"The what servant?" Elysia was naturally thrown off by those reveals, completely unable to follow anything.

"Wait, but didn't you say Solomon was also the Grand Caster?" Senti brought up that fact, clearly baffled at the contradiction. "He was both a Beast and someone who's meant to defeat a Beast? That's like a Valk… Actually, no, I can see that happening." She made not-so-subtle glances at Fu Hua and the still confused Elysia.

Ritsuka wanted to clear things up but decided since there was no issue at the moment, it was best to move on for the moment. He could clarify the truth behind Solomon and Goetia later. "You'll have to wait until I get there in my story, but that's not important for now. From what you've told me about the Herrschers, there are a few obvious differences. The Beasts Chaldea had faced had all been independent existences, and each driven by their own love for humanity."

"Their… love?"

"That's right," Kama finally contributed to the confirmation with a small smug grin. "Us Beasts did what we did out of our love of little insects like him. Beast I wiped out human history because he wanted to recreate it into something better; to improve them because he couldn't bear to watch humanity's suffering. I, on the other hand, only wished to bring humanity into my loving embrace but someone took issue with that."

"You know what you did and what was wrong with it, beyond the fact that you turned everyone into home decor," Ritsuka frowned and gave her another disappointed gaze. "But as far as I could tell, those are the differences between Herrschers and Beasts."

One driven by hatred while the other driven by love—that was the main distinction.

"I… think I'm following," Elysia sighed. She shook her head before her head. "But before we move on, is there a way for me to get out into the real world? I'm not saying this place is bad, but if I am here to help you with something then being trapped in here makes the point moot."

Well, aside from letting her take over someone's body, Ritsuka had no idea what could be done. Fu Hua and Senti, however, had the same lightbulb over their heads. "As much as I loathe the idea of using any of his plans, we can try creating a new body for her to inhabit," the former suggested.

"That's how I eventually got my own body. We should be able to do the same thing. I'll handle transferring her consciousness," added Senti. Ritsuka was curious about the story behind that too but he figured he could find out some other time.

"Then that will be our next step," Ritsuka concluded. Now they could leave… but that meant one thing. He glanced at Fou and stared at him, unamused. "Don't hit me too hard, okay?"

"Aww, you guys are leaving already?" Elysia pouted with a sad frown. Fu Hua apologized to which she replied, "I was hoping to catch up with you first but I guess we can do that in the real world. Don't leave me waiting too long, okay?"

"We'll do the best we can."

"In the meantime, I guess I can poke around here. Assuming that Count fellow doesn't stop me," Elysia smiled before something went through her mind. Her smile morphed into a grin as she turned towards Ritsuka. "Oh, before you go, I wanna thank you for technically being the reason I'm back."

Ritsuka didn't have the chance to wonder what she meant before Elysia suddenly moved next to him and— chu~ "Huh?" "Elysia?!" "Oh~" "Fou?!"

The others had their own reactions to her suddenly kissing his cheek. While both Fu Hua and Senti stood in shock, jaws hanging, Kama merely grinned, looking a little impressed. It was once Ritsuka recovered that he noticed Elysia was shooting the former two a teasing look that said "Good luck~"

Before Ritsuka could say another word though— "Fou!" —he was kicked awake.

He opened his eyes with a groan. Fou was still pawing at his cheek even though he definitely knew Ritsuka was awake. "Alright, you can stop now Fou…"

"Oh. You're up, Master." Xu Fu looked up from her desk and spun to face him. "I was enjoying the silence. Now it's just going to be noisy again."

"Afternoon to you too," he snarked back.

"It's already sunset."

"...Oh." A glance at the window confirmed it was indeed starting to get dark. At any rate, the others were waking up too. Senti, who had been resting her head on the bed next to his arm, immediately shot to her feet with a scowl.

"That damn elf… Why does she always pull stuff like that?!" She grumbled with the stomping of her feet. She only stopped once she noticed Ritsuka was staring at her with a nervous smile. "...Forget you saw that."

"Oh I sure won't," came the smug voice of Kama who was also up. Senti made to go give her a piece of her mind, only stopped by Fu Hua grabbing the back of her collar. Kama naturally snickered at the sight until she caught the disapproving look on Ritsuka's face. Still, she continued to grin as she opted to fade away.

Fu Hua released her Herrscher self now that there shouldn't be any more trouble. However, she still had an exasperated look in her tired eyes as Senti shot over to where Kama was standing and shouting at nothing, "You okay?" Ritsuka asked out of concern.

"No need to worry about me, Ritsuka. I'm used to all this." Her reply only made him frown more.

'Well, that won't do.' He thought with a smile. "Come on."

"Huh?" Fu Hua's exhausted look was swiftly replaced with one of shock as Ritsuka grabbed her hand, got off his bed, and led her out of the room.

Welt furrowed his brow as he read the report about their crash. Just as Theresa mentioned, the strangest part was what hit them— an energy source they've yet to identify. Their only clue was serving to confuse them further which at this point was not out of the ordinary. "Very particular…" he muttered under his breath. "Tesla, do you have any theories?"

"Other than it being a secret weapon someone managed to hide for who knows how long?" Tesla scoffed as she leaned back into her seat and rubbed her temples. "I can only make deductions based on what I know, and right now, none of us know anything. Maybe I can head to the site tomorrow…" Taking a closer look and running her own tests would definitely shed some light; Welt believed Tesla could do it. However, he still expressed some concern over her planning to go to a recently Honkai-infested area that was basically in the middle of nowhere. "You know you don't need to worry about me. Besides, knowing Theresa, she'd be deploying someone to secure the site."

That much was true but still…

'That's for later.' Welt put it in the back of his mind for now. He glanced at the clock and noted it was almost time they left for the landing port. It would not be too long before Bronya would arrive with her new acquaintances. While he was still supposed to remain under observation for the night, he was permitted to leave for some fresh air so long as Tesla accompanied him. As they were about to leave, they sent the Headmistress a quick message asking where to meet up.

Her reply, however— "You guys head there first. Something came up."

"A problem?"

"Nope~"

Attached to that mischievous text was an image taken from the bushes. "I swear…" Welt sighed with a small amused grin. He supposed he couldn't be too disappointed at what Theresa got up to. A little fun won't harm anyone… except maybe if Fu Hua realizes what she is doing. Only the gods knew what the ancient warrior would do if she noticed Theresa following them.

She knew it was not the smartest idea to eavesdrop on what was likely a private moment, but Theresa couldn't help it. She had been planning on taking a small walk to clear her mind when she noticed those two together without any of the others— not even Senti. Mei was naturally exasperated by her antics, but loyally followed Theresa from bush to bush.

"Are we really doing this?" The younger Valkyrie sighed again.

"Yup~" Theresa grinned as she poked her head out a little to get a better view. Those two had initially been silent as they walked together, but she soon overheard snippets of a conversation.

"...that a lot though?"

"...gets close at times… Sorry for that."

"Don't worry about it."

'Need to get a bit closer…' Theresa thought, slightly frustrated at missing out what was definitely pivotal information.

As she tried her best to do just that, she picked up on something like, "…kiss me like that?"

'Huh?!'

"I've got an idea but… from that? I…"

"Sure, Senti already did."

'SENTI DID WHAT?!'

They spent the first leg of their walk in silence— simply trying their best to enjoy the environment. They passed by some others but soon enough found themselves alone.

"Elysia really is confusing, huh?" He was not a stranger to sudden acts of affection, but Ritsuka was certain the strange woman in his head didn't like him like that.

"She likes to keep a few mysteries under her belt," Fu Hua answered with a small exasperated sigh.

"Does she do that a lot?"

"From what I could remember, she likes to get close at times but not to that extent. Sorry for that," she apologized to which Ritsuka waved his hand.

"No need to worry about it. It's not the first time something like that happened." He muttered that last part to himself.

"Hm?"

"Uh, nothing. Still, I wonder why she kissed me like that?"

"I've got an idea but…" she trailed off with another sigh. "Can we move on from that? I think it's better if we forget about it for the meantime."

"Sure, Senti already did." Well, it was more like she was more preoccupied with her ongoing feud with Kama. Either way, he agrees that it was better to put Elysia's stunt in the back of his mind. "But do you want to do something to clear your mind before we head back?"

"No, nothing in particular but… can we continue walking for a while longer?" Fu Hua requested, her voice getting smaller as she continued.

Ritsuka smiled at that. "Of course." He was somewhat sure he heard some rustling nearby when he answered, but that didn't matter right now.

Fujimaru Ritsuka let out a long yawn as he made the familiar journey back home. After a long day at school, he wanted nothing more than to just collapse in bed and sleep. 'Oh yeah, who texted me earlier?'

Pulling out his phone, he opened his messages and scanned through the names. 'Kyuu needs help picking out a Father's Day gift. Adam wants help with homework.' Being the reliable one of the group was tiring but he felt obligated to lend a hand… with Kyuu at least. It was Adam's own fault for procrastinating.

Ding!

'Oh, Fuka…' The edges of his mouth tipped up in a smile as he saw the notification. Before he could open it though— crash! "Huh?!"

He looked up to see a small pile of people shouting to get off each other while next to them… "Miss Schrödinger? Are you cosplaying?" Sweet claw though, and the face paint (or was it a mask) was amazing.

"So not this one either," she sighed before looking at the pile of bodies. "And this is why I said not to rush the process."

"Someone was making another move on Master, okay?!" Someone in the group shouted in defense about… something.

"Master?"

"Hmm? Oh. Apologies, Fujimaru. Please forget all about this," Schrödinger(?) replied before taking something out. Before he could utter a single syllable, they vanished right before his eyes.

"...Yeah, I think I need to nap." He wasn't that tired, was he? Oh well. No point thinking about that now. "Oh right. Fuka…"

OMAKE

Chaldea was still in the middle of their rush to find out what was going on. There had been no signs of a Singularity yet or anything similar so the only thing left now for those unable to do anything was to try enjoying what they could. That is… until the air suddenly became still. For about half of Chaldea's population, a disturbance was felt.

A silence descended on the ship until a single shout was heard throughout. "SOMEONE'S TRYING TO MAKE A MOVE ON MASTER!"

The riot that followed was brief but nonetheless drained Da Vinci of basically all her remaining energy. "Any more and I might just disappear," she moaned in exhasution as she collapsed on her desk. "Mash, can you wake me up when the results are in?"

"Of course, take as long a break as you can." Mash smiled as she helped pull a blanket on the tired inventor.

"Well, if there was one thing we can confirm, it's that Fujimaru is safe enough." Unless he was flirting or being flirted with on a battlefield which… wouldn't be that unusual. But they kept up hope that he was fine at the moment. As she let out another yawn though, she realized something. "…Mash?"

Da Vinci's face dropped as she noticed Mash had frozen like earlier; she already knew what the cause was and could only pray she wouldn't die in the aftermath.

"ALRIGHT, WHO'S THE WENCH HITTING ON MASTER?!" The cry of a certain Servant echoed again through the halls.

A/N: Next chapter is finally up with the Beast/Herrscher discussion y'all been waiting for. It's only a brief topic for now but don't worry, I do think there's going to be a point where everyone would sit down together and lay everything on the table. Right now, everyone's still in their little groups without knowing what the others are really doing. I am 90% sure I got all the facts straight and if I got something wrong, one of y'all will surely correct me lol. Either way, another brief Ritsuka variant and then not much else happened.

...Except for that part. Everything I write is to serve the plot and I was definitely not bored and threw it in for shits and giggles. Nope, nosiree. In any case, see you all next time!

And for y'all on Ao3 and FFN, an ending bit that I initially deleted before adding back cause some wondered what Chaldea's been up to.