I forgot to include this last chapter. but I made some changes to the last part of chapter 14.
For those who don't want to see Olga die again, the changes are as follows:
1. Lev shows off a bit more of his power, which causes everyone to be more cautious and hesitant towards him.
2. Olga finds out Lev is Flauros, so she and Romani freak out when they realize the significance of the name, and again, chat as always are confused af about who they are talking about.
3. Ritsuka is more active, in that he was seconds away from triggering a bad end before Romani begged him to stand down because Lev was too much for them.
4. Romani managed to get Ritsuka to not rush towards his death by reminding him that if he tries to take on Lev after fighting Archer and Saber, everyone's deaths(Chiyome's included) would be in vain.
5. Mash and Ritsuka wanted Gareth to come with them, but Gareth chose to stay behind to keep the rubble away from them. Mash wanted to beg Gareth to come with them but this time, Gareth got mad at them and told them to go.
Essentially, Gareth was not abandomed in this new ending, but rather, she sacrificed herself. I just made it seem more heroic.
_________________________________________________________________
Inside a pitch-black room, Ritsuka Fujimaru was sleeping on a bed; however, while his eyes were closed, his twitching eyelids and the spasms in his neck muscles clearly showed he was not having a pleasant sleep.
A weak groan escaped his lips, his mouth clearly wanting to say something, but the words refusing to form into anything coherent.
Then, after a slow, agonizing minute, Ritsuka woke with a deep gasp of breath.
He sat up from his position in a hurry, his heart hammering in his chest as his eyes skittered over the cold, unlit room.
'Where am I?!'
Ritsuka took a moment to catch his breath before he instinctively reached out to grab his phone, which he normally left by his bedside… and found nothing.
His mind panicked, still racing from what he had just witnessed, or rather, re-lived.
The shadows chasing him through ruined streets, Mash being tormented by Medusa, the non stop explosions from Archer's arrows, Saber's overwhelming power, Chiyome's bisected torso, Olga pleading for her life, her haunting death throes, and… Lev's inhuman grin.
A feeling of dread hit him hard, and he had to force himself to relax.
It had been years since he had suffered a sleep paralysis episode. The last time he had one was when he went to an old, ancient hotel in Japan with his aunt and… Gudako.
The vivid image of his redheaded baby cousin flashed in his mind, which was easy to visualize due to how dark it was.
But as quickly as it came, it vanished in a bright ignition of flames—and now Lev's inhuman face stood before him.
Its mouth opened and uttered a single word.
A word which he struggled to understand due to how foreign and unintelligible it was.
Ritsuka's head jerked up, a sensation of falling off a cliff forcing him awake. He had accidentally blinked and returned to the nightmare exactly where he had left off.
Not wanting to repeat the horrifying experience, Ritsuka forced himself out of bed and was about to attempt to find a light switch, but it was unnecessary.
Light flooded the room without warning.
His retinas burned at the sudden exposure, forcing him to shut his eyes in pain.
Thankfully, the images that haunted him the night prior were not waiting for him—only the fleshy color of light filtered through his eyelids.
His eyes opened again, and after a moment of adjusting, Ritsuka realized he was no longer in his run-down room.
No dirty old carpet with cockroaches crawling over it, no walls stained by a mysterious leak from some damaged pipe inside his walls, and most certainly no distant sounds of cars racing down the highway.
Instead, he found himself in a minimalist, futuristic, and silent room with white and light gray walls, and a potted plant with branches tall enough that it nearly scratched the ceiling.
But that was not the only thing in this room.
There was one piece of furniture that clashed with the surrounding aesthetic.
He blinked once, twice, then three times before he realized that a rich mahogany desk was placed in the corner of his room, with his computer sitting atop it.
'How did this get here?'
He was pretty sure the kidnappers didn't bring his computing setup with him.
Curious about whether what he saw was real or a dream, he got out of his bed, and he flinched when his bare feet touched the freezing floor.
Luckily for him, a pair of socks and shoes were placed nearby, so he put them on and continued to walk to the anomaly before him.
Once he got close, a bright yellow sticky note caught his attention. He peeled it off the monitor and squinted his eyes to try and make out the signature on the sticky note, but gave up as it was too smudged to be legible.
However, the same couldn't be said for the message written on the note.
[For the sake of your mental well-being in the trials to come. Enjoy. ]
Ritsuka released a dismissive scoff.
So his family and friends all died horrific deaths, but somehow his PC survived? Lucky him.
After he stared at the note for a minute, he looked back at his computer.
Well, it was here, so he might as well use it.
Going back to old habits, Ritsuka pulled back the chair, sat down, and turned on the computer tower next to the monitor.
The familiar soft hum of computer fans drowned out the silence of the foreign room. Logging into his computer, he saw his desktop background was the same as it was when he last left it. His Majora's Mask background was still haunting, but nostalgic and mesmerizing, as it always was.
Out of curiosity, he opened a browser, and what greeted him was a sad dinosaur.
No internet.
Right. Antarctica.
He sighed, then wondered what he should do.
He decided to check the clock, and it read 5 AM.
Much earlier than he expected, but he shrugged it off. With nothing to do, and not in the mood to play something story-heavy, he decided to just go back to what he was doing before.
He opened Minecraft again.
The launcher warned him that he was offline, but he ignored the notification and plunged into the world.
He spawned exactly where he left off last time.
He had a large open area with no foliage due to the flames he used to clear the land.
The smell of burning rubber and metals licked at his nostrils, but he shook it off.
He inspected his inventory and began to place jungle wood blocks to form the walls of his home.
Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.
The rhythmic sounds were comforting, and before he realized it, he had completely shut himself off from the outside world.
So engrossed he was in his game, he never noticed his chatbox and camera from his stream had popped up again.
[Gible_Archeologist: Gudao!! You made it out alive!! <3 ]
[Is Mash okay? Is everything okay?!! Answer us, dammit!!]
[What the? Is he playing Minecraft?!! How?!! His PC got left behind! ]
Despite the commotion going on in his chatroom, Ritsuka didn't acknowledge them, only kept building his home in the jungle.
He placed block after block in succession. Combined with the natural sounds of Minecraft, it soothed his panicked heart.
The walls were done.
Now he just needed to make the roof.
He went to his crafting table and started making cobblestone stairs and some slates.
Then, when he finished, he went back and started installing them to the roof.
[...you know… it's only been a few days, but it feels weird to see Gudao do normal streaming stuff after running for his life nonstop.]
[Yeah… but, I can't blame him. He finally has a chance to sit down and properly process the situation now that he's in a place that's truly safe.]
[Man, Minecraft truly is a balm for the soul.]
[I wish we could play with him, but alas, dimensional separation is an issue. ]
[Yeah, but also, our minecraft clones probably wouldn't mesh well with his copy. Not unless he gets his hands on the source code, so our experts can take a crack at it. ]
Time passed, and Ritsuka finally placed the last block down.
He took a few steps back and a moment to admire his work.
He had made a simple cottage mansion made of jungle wood walls and a cobblestone roof.
[Nice.]
[Homey.]
[Meh, it could be better.]
[Well duh. Gudao barely started building!! He still has more to do!]
[Woah!! Minecraft stream!! Hooray!! We back in business bois and gals!!]
He smiled at seeing his progress, but it was short-lived as a part of his brain decided to make his mind drift toward the abandoned homes he had encountered in Fuyuki.
He pushed his thoughts aside and kept building.
His home needed a fence to keep the creepers away before they could blow him and his hard work up.
After another trip to his crafting table to make the fences, he started the tedious process of surrounding his home.
Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.
'Shit, I missed.'
Ritsuka accidentally placed a fence on an adjacent block. He took out his stone axe and chopped it down.
He placed more fences down.
He kept misplacing the fence.
His frustration was building. Why was his cursor moving so erratically?!
Was there something wrong with the settings?
Oh, wait. Never mind.
It was just his hand.
It was shaking.
He tried to calm it down but it refused to.
Ritsuka took a deep breath and continued to build his fence, pushing through the shakiness in his hand.
[Oh. Never mind. He's not doing good, folks.]
[Don'tTouchMyBuns!: Healing takes time. It's going to take more than a night's rest and a Minecraft session to work through the trauma he just got subjected to.]
[Here's hoping Chaldea has a therapist on the team… who hopefully didn't get caught up in the explosion.]
He barely managed to finish the fence in time as the sun went down.
He wanted to keep building, so he made a beeline for the bed.
His avatar fell asleep, and daytime arrived.
And so he continued to build.
He built a chicken coop using the fence and jungle blocks to do so.
Next he focused on making a place to put cows, pigs, and every other animal he could think of.
And finally, his fields.
The hoe was easy to make, but he needed seed to grow wheat to make bread.
He also wanted potatoes, but he doubted he would find any villages nearby. So he would be forced to grind zombies.
At least in here, he was capable of fighting and beating them.
But he needed a bucket.
Time to mine.
He left the comfort of his home and made his way to find some iron ore.
The sounds of Minecraft echoed around his room, his mind utterly focused on his self-appointed tasks.
Which was why he didn't notice the multiple knocks on his door.
Nor the sound of the door sliding open and the high heels click-clacking behind him.
[Uh, someone is sneaking up on Gudao.]
[I mean, they did knock. Gudao is just too absorbed in mine crafting. ]
[Shit. I take it back!! This place isn't safe!! Turn around, Gudao!! TURN AROUND!! ]
[No use. We're still in spectator mode. ]
[Gah!! GudakoBot!! Undo it!! We have to warn Gudao!! ]
Ritsuka found a ravine. And he sighed when he saw the iron ore was on the opposite side of the wall.
He took a breath to calm his still-shaking hands before making a dirt bridge across.
Then he carefully placed blocks across the deep ravine.
He reached the iron ore and mined it out.
He then carefully made his way back out of the ravine and back to his home.
Just as it came into view, he paused when he felt two very soft, large mounds press on his back.
Then the sensation of soft hair and someone's warm breath brushed one of his ears.
"Hmm, not bad for a simple home in the wild, Master-kun. Though personally, it would have looked nicer if you used bricks."
"Wah!!"
Ritsuka scrambled and fell off the side of his chair and onto the ground.
"Oh my. I'm sorry for startling you! Are you alright?"
Ritsuka opened his eyes, and they nearly bulged out of his skull at what he saw.
It was a gorgeous, brown haired woman looking down at him with concern, and from his angle her frilly blue panties that matched the rest of the reds and blues of her outfit were in full display. But what really got his attention was everything around it.
'Holy cow, those thighs are thick!!'
He had honestly never seen thighs like these before. They looked perfect, a bit too perfect. Almost as if they were a professionally sculpted statue that had been given life.
His inner monologue came to a halt when he noticed the white orb floating a bit in front of him.
His eyes widened in horror,'Oh shit. Chat!!? How long have they been here?!!'
[Wow. Deja vu. We've been here before.]
[MagnetKing:Yeah, this is exactly the same way he met Mash. ]
[Don'tTouchMyBuns!: And Gudao just keeps ogling away. ]
[Heart0f6old: A man knows what he wants. ]
[Who knew Gudao had a 2x weakness to panty shots?]
[2x? Hah! It's a 4x weakness! ]
[Too bad Hex isn't here to see this. I like seeing her mald whenever Gudao meets another cute girl… or in this case a sexy, mature woman. ]
[Electrical★Streamer_Iono(MOD): She probably passed out on her computer… again. That girl already had a poor sleeping schedule that was only made worse by this whole singularity thing.]
"Enjoying the view down there, Master-kun?"
Ritsuka looked back to the strangely erotic voice of yet another woman he had accidentally perved on… again.
Except unlike Mash, who didn't catch him peeping, the mischievous grin on this woman's face told him she knew exactly what he was doing.
And to make matters worse, she then shook her hips a bit, which caused her skirt to twirl and flashed more of her underside to him.
[(O-O) ]
[By the legends, this woman knows no shame!! ]
[Oh wow. Those thighs look like they could crush a Watmel Berry with ease.]
[Gudao is a rogue channel, so I knew that things could get spicy here, but I never expected it to be THIS SOON!! And especially not with a stranger!! ]
[Electrical★Streamer_Iono(MOD): Fight the temptation Gudao!! You have Mash!! Fight it or so help me I will find a way to cross over and strangle you!! ]
[Girrafiggy: Silly @Iono, Gudao is the future Harem King of Chaldea. All the ladies he meets will become a part of his harem.]
[IliekQTthings: Should we really be encouraging such disgusting behavior tho? One is enough!! ]
[Girrafiggy: *scoffs* This is a wholesome harem romcom stream. Such monogamous heresy has no place here. ]
His cheeks flushed red, and he immediately scrambled to get up, but the desperate move nearly caused him to trip and fall on his face.
The woman saw his actions and she let out a rather unlady-like laugh.
"Pfft… ahahahahah! That was a great reaction!"
Ritsuka finally managed to get up off the ground without any other incident, his face beet-red at not only being caught but also teased and laughed at.
"Who are you, and what are you doing in my room?!"
The woman stopped laughing, but her grin never went away.
"I came to inform you that a certain someone was waiting for you in the Control Room… but you didn't answer my knocking." She pouted. "It's not nice to leave a lady waiting, you know? Especially a busy one at that… so I let myself in."
She then looked at his computer, her smile dimming into a curious, albeit concerned, expression. "Imagine my surprise when I walked in, expecting to find a young man fast asleep, but instead he's wide awake, playing Minecraft of all things on a computer perched on a mahogany desk that most certainly wasn't part of his assigned lodgings."
She turned back to face him in the eye. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"
Ritsuka realized she was probing him for answers, but unfortunately for her, he was just as clueless as she was. "I honestly have no idea. I just found it here when I woke up, and it came with this sticky note."
He handed over the sticky note to the mysterious woman, who looked it over with a critical eye.
"Hmmm… how vexing…"
A moment of silence passed until the awkwardness crept back in.
"Oh! Where are my manners!? Greetings, Ritsuka Fujimaru-kun! My name is Leonardo Da Vinci. It's nice to FINALLY meet you!"
His brain came to a stop.
"Pardon me if this sounds rude, but… you said your name was Leonardo Da Vinci?"
The woman hummed in affirmation.
"Leonardo Da Vinci, as in the most famous innovator in human history?"
"Oh my. You sure know how to flatter someone. Yes, I'm that Leonardo Da Vinci!"
"Huh. Neat." Another Heroic Spirit, in the flesh. And a famous one, too.
[JustaBill: Remarkable. To think we would get the chance to meet one of the greatest minds of Gudao's world.]
[So Leonardo Da Vinci was also a woman? Cool!! Girlpower!! ]
[Another Heroic Spirit? But who is her… his? Master?]
She frowned. "Oh, come on! What's with that lackluster reaction? And here I thought you would have been more surprised!!"
"Sorry, but it's just that… I already met two famous people who were depicted as men in history but turned out to be women."
[Yeah, that is true.]
[Ms.Roxanne: Meeting the first was shocking, meeting the second was surprising, but the third just proves it's the pattern for historical figures in Gudao's world.]
[Sorry lady, but you're gonna have to try harder than that to surprise Gudao. Like showing them panties.]
[User has been placed in Timeout for 20 seconds.]
"But I AM a man."
[I beg your pardon, but what? ]
[I didn't expect to get hit with a confuse ray out of the blue. ]
Ritsuka felt like this conversation was leading him into a trap. Luckily, he was used to dealing with such situations.
"Ah, I see. Then I apologize for being insensitive and not respecting your pronouns, Mr. Leonardo Da Vinci."
The woman giggled. Her, or rather his, voice pleasantly coaxing his ears.
"You're sweet. But there's no need for that, Master-kun. I don't get bothered by such things. You can simply call me Da Vinci if you wish." She told him with a playful smile.
"Oh, okay. If that's what you want." Ritsuka tried his best not to seem insensitive, so he responded as neutral and diplomatically as he could.
She sighed. "Such a shame that I got my thunder stolen by Gareth and King Arthur. I missed out on a fun reaction." Then her smile returned. "Although it wasn't a complete loss. Tell me, what did you think?"
Ritsuka blinked. "Of what?"
"'Of what' he says, you were really eyeing me like a hungry predator there Master Kun. You looked like you would pounce on me at any moment!"
"I-I I wasn't looking." Ritsuka argued but his guilty expression and blush on his cheeks wasn't convincing his listeners.
[Press X to doubt. ]
[X ] x6439
"I take no offense, Master-kun. I just wanted to hear your opinion on the work of art you saw." She threw him another grin before walking over to his bed and sitting down, one leg crossed over the other.
"Do you want another peek?"
[(O/// _ ///O) ] x8212
[Yes!! Say Yes Gudao!! Please!! ]
[Quick!! Someone cover the children's eyes!! ]
[Heart0f6old: *Readies finger over screenshot button* ]
[Yall boys are gross. ]
[AltariaFloof: How rude of you to assume my gender!! I am a girl and I say TELL HER YES GUDAO!! ]
It was then that Ritsuka realized he wasn't escaping this awkward situation without answering her.
Part of his lizard brain was screaming "YES" at the top of its lungs, but he shot it in the knee and kept his urges controlled.
"T-Thank you for the offer, Da Vinci. Perhaps next time, as for your question… I can only say that they are utterly perfect. 10/10 would stare again."
[Geez, she's not the only shameless one. Gudao just straight up telling her he'd look under her skirt again.]
[Heart0f6old: Aww man. I wanted to see!! ]
[AltariaFloof: @Gudao WEAK ]
[Too bad, so sad! Good on you for resisting the urge Gudao! You have my respect!! ]
"Well said. They really are a masterpiece, aren't they? It was why I chose to use Mona Lisa's image as my new body. And my, how bold of you. Already assuming there'll be a next time~"
Ok. That was a flub of the tongue on his part, but there was no taking it back now without sounding like an asshole.
"Not that I'd mind, but like I told you, I am a man after all. When I said I used Mona Lisa's image to make this body, I wasn't joking. I modified myself during my summoning so I would appear as my greatest work of art. So while I am a woman physically, I was still formally a man. Don't you find that icky?"
"Not in the slightest."
Even Da Vinci was taken aback by his quick response.
[Damn. No hesitation. ]
[Heart0f6old: Oh boy, here it comes. The RizzKing is cookin'!! ]
"Regardless of your circumstances or choices, I can't deny you are very beautiful. And honestly, even if a man came up and confessed their feelings for me, while I might reject them, I'd do it respectfully and without judgment."
Whatever embarrassment Ritsuka had, he pushed it to the side and gave her a sincere response, and now it was Da Vinci's turn to blush.
"Goodness, you really are a kind soul, Ritsuka-kun, or should I say… Gudao-kun?" She said the last word with a playful wink.
[GudakoBot: Waifu Counter 4.]
[That was smooth af ngl.]
[Heart0f6old:Gudao bro!! TEACH ME YOUR WAYS!!]
[Seeing the number 4 there and knowing it's not Olga… it hurts.]
He blinked, but before he could ask, she suddenly stood up and dusted off her skirt. "Well then, this has certainly been an exciting first encounter. And while I am really curious about that special power you have, we must be going."
Her heels clacked as she made her way to the door. "Now come on, Romeo. If we don't hurry up, your Juliet is going to start to get worried."
Ritsuka nodded and followed after her.
"My Juliet?" he whispered under his breath, completely unsure of who Da Vinci was referring to.
The door opened, and on the other side was Mash, in her usual outfit: glasses and the female Chaldea uniform. And snuggled in her arms was the ever-present privileged life form, Fou. She looked like she had hastily moved her head away from the door.
[Did anyone else just notice that Mash had her ear suspiciously close to the door? ]
[I knew it!! Itold you guys she was freaky!! ]
[Oh crap she was eavesdropping wasn't she? ]
[BUSTED!! ]
[Oh boy oh boy oh boy!! *pulls out popcornn* ]
"Oh. It looks like we took a bit too long having fun, Gudao-kun~"
"Morning, Mash." Ritsuka greeted Mash, but Mash didn't respond at first, as she was more focused on Da Vinci.
"Mash?"
Mash blinked and blushed. "A-h, morning, Senpai." She turned back to Da Vinci. "Who might this be?"
"I'm Leonardo Da Vinci. The head of the Engineering Department at Chaldea."
Mash's expression turned to surprise. "Leonardo Da Vinci? Then that means… a Heroic Spirit!"
[Yes. It was rather obvious she was one when she introduced herself. ]
"Indeed I am. I am the third servant summoned by the FATE system. So I am your senpai as well… though I wouldn't mind if you called me onee-chan as we—"
"It's nice to meet you, Da Vinci-san," Mash said in a clipped tone of voice.
[Oof. She's jealous. ]
[This is already 100x better than those Cheesy Paldean Telenovelas. ]
Da Vinci slumped. "A shame. Well, now that the gang's all here, let's go meet up with that less important person in the control room!"
With that said, Da Vinci walked away, while Mash and Gudao followed after her.
✦✧✦
"Leonardo. What did you do?" Romani said with his arms crossed, his eyes glaring at Da Vinci.
"What? I didn't do anything!" Da Vinci defended herself.
He pointed a finger at Mash and Ritsuka then at her. "Then why are Ritsuka and Mash blushing like a pair of overripe tomatoes on a clearance sale?"
[Such a specific example. But agreed, tomatoes are red.]
"Oh, that's nothing. I just teased him a little bit. No big deal."
Romani sighed, then looked at Ritsuka. "Please excuse this pervert, Ritsuka. He has a habit of taking his 'teasing' too far."
Da Vinci just pouted while looking at Romani in disapproval.
"It's fine, Doctor. She hasn't done anything bad."
[If anything he's the one who did something bad lol. ]
[Yeah, but she was also playing along too much. For Ho-Oh's sake, if Ritsuka didn't have any self control that first encounter would have gone R18 real quick.]
"In any case, I want to congratulate both of you for coming back alive and resolving Singularity F," Roman said with a smile—but it was an emotion that Ritsuka didn't share.
"Despite your hardships, you did your best to push on through. And for that, you have my respect." He flashed a smile at Ritsuka, completely unaware of the emotions bubbling under the Last Master of Chaldea's skin.
"Romani."
"Yes?"
Before anyone could react, Ritsuka was already standing in front of Roman, clutching the front of his lab coat and glaring straight into his face.
"Oh my!!" Da Vinci said, her hand covering her mouth in surprise.
"Senpai!!?"
Gasps came from the surrounding mages as well.
"The fuck do you mean 'We did our best?' We didn't do jack shit to save the Director!!" He grit his teeth, and his eyes drooped. "All we did was stand there, watching her get thrown into Chaldeas, like we were in some unskippable cutscene. We could have saved her!! We could have done something!! Yes, we were tired, but that wasn't it!!"
He gripped Romani's lab coat harder. "So why? Why did you decide to stop us? WHY?!!"
[Yeah Romani WHY?!]
[We could have saved her!! She didn't deserve to die!!]
[That's it!! Kick his ass Gudao!! ]
Romani, despite being in danger of getting punched in the face, merely stared back with a sad but defiant look.
"Because you're weak."
[Wow. Romani really wants to get punched in the face doesn't he? ]
Ritsuka was taken aback by Romani's words for a moment, but he quickly recovered and nearly punched him in the face right then and there. But he gave him one last chance to explain himself with a glare.
Romani took the hint and continued.
"Ritsuka, you are new to our world, so you wouldn't know. But words and names hold weight. Conceptual weight. The longer something has existed, the heavier the weight of its mystery."
He looked at Mash. "Mash has barely been a demi-servant for a day. She is nowhere near her peak of strength, barely at the start of her growth." He looked at Ritsuka. "Gareth, while a Knight of the Round, is the least known of them all, and her legend has only existed since the 6th or 7th centuries. And Chiyome…"
Romani paused when he felt the material of his lab coat stretching and deforming under Ritsuka's grip as it tightened.
"Perhaps we could have had a chance if she were around. Perhaps not. The risks would have been too high."
He looked Ritsuka in the eye. "The Demon Flauros is part of the myth of King Solomon, a myth that has existed for 3,000 years. It was that fact combined with Lev's unpredictability, that compelled me to stop you. If you attacked him, he would have killed you. Even if you used up all your life force in a desperate gamble to fuel Gareth's Noble Phantasm, it would have meant nothing to that monster."
Ritsuka suddenly froze when he felt a soft touch on one of his arms. He turned to face the owner of the hand and he relaxed when he saw it was Mash, who had a sad expression on her face.
"Senpai, please let him go."
Ritsuka looked at Mash, then he looked around himself. He saw everyone equally as somber as he was but still sending him disapproving looks.
Ritsuka let out a sigh before he released the doctor.
Romani fixed his lab coat, then turned back to Ritsuka. "I'm sorry, Ritsuka. Truly. I am. The Director's death was tragic, but if it meant it distracted Lev long enough to get you out of there, then at least it wasn't in vain."
[SurgeOfLightning: I hate to say it. But he's right. Lev was too much of an unknown to risk Gudao's life. Fact of the matter is, Olga was already gone, and Gudao was not. Prioritizing the living is not foolish. ]
[These still sound too much like excuses to me. Surely they had some form of magecraft that could have saved her. Aren't they the ones who know about the workings of the soul? ]
[Dang, so Lev is as old as the war that happened in ancient Kalos? That's rather incredible…. he's still a scumbag though. ]
[So what? Just cause he's older he's stronger? ]
[Kohga: I can see why. Pokemon from the wilds who live for centuries are often far beyond the strength of elite tier pokemon raised in civilization. Fighting one, especially with a weakened team is tantamount to suicide.]
"But why me? What's so special about me?"
"Because out of the last remaining humans, you are the only one who can Rayshift." Romani clenched his fist. "Master candidates who can Rayshift are rare. Out of the billions of humans in the world, only 48 were found. And Lev's scheming sent all but you out of commission."
Ritsuka felt his heart drop.
"So Lev wasn't lying about humanity's extinction was he?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Humanity outside of Chaldea is gone, Ritsuka. Every man, woman, and child has been incinerated to ashes."
[ (˙◠˙) ] x7189
[Lusamine_Aether: How horrible. Even the children… ]
[Then all is lost, isn't it? The world is already dead. ]
[Poor Gudao. ]
'Gudao-nii!! I came to visit you!! Now come on. Let's go play some games!!'
Tears started to streak down his cheeks.
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Yes. There is.While the extinction of humanity is fixed in 2016, that doesn't mean we can't undo it."
[Really?! Is such a thing possible?! ]
[JustaBill: It's time travel. The answer is time travel, or rather, Rayshifting. ]
[I completely forgot they had that tech. ]
[Yay!! Not all hope is lost!! ]
Romani flicked his hand up, and a map of the world appeared.
"Using the restored SHEBA, we have scanned Earth's past and found these seven distortions—or as you know them, Singularities."
Ritsuka stared at the distortions in shock.
"Normally, changing history doesn't cause issues to humanity's existence. The World can easily spot any errors and resolve them without issue. That isn't the case with these Singularities."
[Anyone else find it weird they keep bringing up the term "the world" as if it's some living being? ]
[Perhaps they are referring to their world's version of Zygarde? ]
[IndoorElm: A literal living world… there are theories about that but I didn't expect we would find possible proof of it. ]
[Mighty1Oak: It's too soon to tell, let's shelve that question for another time. ]
They are places at major turning points in human history. As an example: 'What if penicillin wasn't discovered? What if Christianity never caught on? What if the US and the Soviets pressed the button and went into an all-out nuclear war?"
That last one caused Ritsuka to gulp in fear.
[It still boggles my mind that humans could create such horrific weapons of war. ]
[Just_N: It's not surprising at all to me. Humans as a species are all the same, no matter the world. ]
[Wasn't christianity that one religion that vilified our world for being the work of evil and corrupting the minds of the youth? ]
[SoniaYampers: Yeah they were. And they are a major part of Earth's History across the entire globe. ]
[Just_N: Hypocrites, the lot of them!! Pokemon are not evil, humans are evil!! ]
[I can see why it would be an issue if it never came to power. ]
"These kinds of moments in history were exactly what Lev and his conspirators targeted in order to bring human history to an end. And they succeeded by using Holy Grails. I don't need to tell you what a magical wish-granting device can do in the wrong hands, do I?"
Ritsuka shook his head.
"Now then, you've already cleared one Singularity, but if we wish to restore humanity to normal, all seven must be cleared—just you, Mash, and whichever Heroic Spirit decides to lend their aid."
[No… No way. He barely survived Fuyuki and now they want him to do that shit 7 MORE TIMES?!!]
[Man, all this time we treated Fuyuki like it was the the all end all. Turns out it was just the tutorial. ]
[Madness… utter madness…]
[But it's the only way to undo the damage Lev did. So it's not a choice. He HAS to do it, or else he's dooming his entire planet.]
"I apologize for pushing all of this on you, Ritsuka, but we are out of options. You are quite literally our only hope. If you don't go and undo these Singularities, once December of next year comes, we'll be next."
[The-Undefeatable: oh great and it comes with a deadline, I feel sick just thinking about it… that's too much responsibility, even for me.]
"That is why I must ask you." Romani's tone shifted drastically, the somber and childish Romani was gone. The way he stared down Ritsuka made the Last master feel like he was staring down a king.
"Master Candidate Number 48, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Do you have the resolve to shoulder the burden of saving humanity?"
The eyes of the occupants in the room all focused on Ritsuka, many of them antsy about how the public applicant would respond.
The young man's eyes were hidden by the shadows of his bangs, the weight of responsibility perched on his shoulders like a giant buzzard on a brittle tree branch.
After a beat of silence to process his thoughts, he spoke.
"You're asking a lot from just a single person, Doctor."
"I am. "
Ritsuka clenched his teeth, "A person who has, up until this point, only been a normal guy who likes goofing off with his friends, playing video games, and watching anime when he should be studying for his exams."
"I am aware, but even so, I ask again… do you have the resolve to save us all?"
"No. I don't."
[Welp. That's all folks. It was nice knowing ya. ]
[Gudao WHAT THE HECK!!? YOU CAN'T JUST GIVE UP NOW!! ]
[Lame. ]
[I can't defend this. Seriously Gudao WTF?! ]
The group fell silent, the weight of Ritsuka's words causing many to lose hope, and a few of them quite angry for his admitted cowardice, but that changed when he spoke up again.
"But… just because I don't have the resolve to bear that responsibility, doesn't mean I will stand by and let everything go to ruin."
"I hate it. I hate that it's all come down to this…" He stared defiantly at Romani. "But if no one else is left and I am the only one who can do it, then I will carry that burden if it means I can bring everyone back!!"
[Geez you really had us going there Gudao. For a second I thought you were going to throw everyone under the bus. ]
[Woah. Gudao is so cool. ]
[DragonMasterLance: *nods in approval* well said friend. ]
[__Red__: :Motivated Ash Emote: ]
"Thank you. With those words, our fate has been decided."
Then he stood up again. "To all Chaldea staff! From now on, I, Romani Archaman, am officially taking the role of Director of Chaldea!! We will act on the plans of the previous Director, Olga Marie, and fulfill her mission for the continuation of the Human Order!!"
Ritsuka watched in awe as Romani continued his speech, a speech about defying history, protecting humanity, and most importantly, to fight.
To fight for survival.
To ensure we can save humanity.
And to take back the future.
The morale of everyone in the room was now in high spirits, the fires of defiance lit bright by Romani.
Which was why the ping sound from TTS threw everyone off guard.
[GudakoBot: Prologue Complete!!
New features unlocked!!
Viewers can now contribute money to send a crate filled with food supplies and medicines for Chaldea's use!
The amount and quality of food items are determined by how much money is accumulated over time. The higher the amount paid, the more—and better—items they receive. The maximum quantity of food that can be sent is a one-month supply.
Note: Food items are chosen at random and vary depending on the time of year. Don't expect any non-food or non-medical items to be included here.
Heroic Spirits who have formed a full contract with Gudao can now join chat!
Welcome to the stream {MashuMellows}!!
Additional rewards will be dispensed during the next summoning. ]
A second translucent white box suddenly materialized beside a stunned Mash, who could only utter a single word upon receiving this new power:
"Eh?"
___________________________________________________________________________
New Chatters:
IndoorElm = The official pokemon professor of the Johto Region. He specializes in pokemon breeding and taking care of eggs. Usually too busy to watch Twitch but after it became a treasure trove of knowledge due to Gudao's influence, he has kept the stream open at all times on a separate monitor.
AltariaFloof = An alternate twitch account of Lisia from ORAS. Wallace's niece. She is Hoenn's top contest idol and has many male fans. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask) for them, she has little interest in men. The few men she is interested in have to be either cute or feminine looking in order to catch her attention. None of her fans know this, as she tries her best to keep this side of herself hidden from the public eye, even though most of her fans won't really judge her for it.
Just_N = Natural Harmonius Gropius from Black and White. Although he prefers to be called N, he doesn't have access to a computer, but was aware of Gudao's stream for years due to Hilda's influence and has dropped in from time to time to see brand-new creatures. Ultimately, he grew to despise humans from Gudao's world more than his own after he saw(and heard from the animals themselves) how they treated their wildlife.
He stopped caring for Gudao's stream and continued to wander the world. Just like the events of the game, he has a Reshiram, but due to living in the wilds, no one is aware he has one.
It wasn't until recently that he found himself in Gudao's chat again. This time, he couldn't escape it due to a holographic screen and text following him everywhere.
So he does his best to ignore it, up until he deems it necessary to put his two cents in.