Don't Come Then

After that, all the technicians in Chaldea were summoned by Olga Marie to work overtime through the night.

Chaldea began conducting an in-depth observation of the now-lightless Chaldeas and reached a conclusion.

"We can confirm that the light of civilization existed only until 2019."

What did this mean?

It meant that humanity could survive only until 2019 and would be completely annihilated before 2020 arrived.

After learning this, almost everyone had only one thought.

"Impossible."

That was right.

Impossible.

If human history was going to disappear before 2020, didn't that mean the next two years—or rather, the less-than-two-year span remaining—would be humanity's final time alive?

How could that possibly happen?

There was no possibility of an economic collapse, nor were there any signs of crustal movement. How could humanity suddenly become extinct?

There was simply no way to explain it.

Leff, however, offered an explanation.

"If the cause doesn't exist in the future, then it can only exist in the past."

In other words, there had to be some point in the past when an abnormality had suddenly occurred, causing this disaster of extinction.

Thus, Chaldea carefully investigated the information from the past two thousand years.

They investigated things that had never existed in history until now.

They investigated foreign matter that had never existed on Earth until now.

An anomaly and a void that had violated the normal order of space-time, influenced the Human Order, and consequently caused an abnormality in the era.

That was a Singularity.

----"Singularity Point F."

This was a Singularity that existed in an era of the past, discovered after all of Chaldea's technicians investigated the history of the previous two thousand years.

Chaldea hypothesized that this was the cause of humanity's extinction.

After learning this information, Olga Marie immediately made a decision.

"Submit a proposal to the United Nations and obtain permission to carry out Spiritron Transfer."

That was the conclusion.

Since Spiritron Transfer was a technology that could travel to various eras and consequently affect space-time, performing it recklessly could cause history to change. Therefore, official Spiritron Transfer required permission from countries around the world.

Once that permission was granted, the Adaptable Ones summoned to Chaldea would become Master candidates one after another. As combat personnel, they would undergo Spiritron Transfer to Singularity Point F.

At that time, the Heroic Spirit Summoning System "Fate" would also officially be activated. They would attempt to summon Servants, allowing the Master candidates to form contracts with them and become true Masters, command their Servants in battle within the Singularity, eliminate the source that had caused human history to disappear, restore the era, and lay the foundation for the Human Order.

"This will be Chaldea's first official operation. Every Master candidate must straighten up and take this seriously!"

"Don't forget that you will be the key to determining whether human history can continue to survive!"

"If you can't correct your attitude and recognize the importance of this situation, then no matter how outstanding your talents are, I won't allow you to participate in the first operation one month from now!"

After throwing these words at the nine Adaptable Ones who had gathered and were currently in Chaldea, Olga Marie turned her gaze toward Luo Zhen.

The anxiety and anger that had once filled that gaze were gone. All that remained was a desperate determination.

Then Olga Marie said this to Luo Zhen.

"If you don't intend to take this seriously, then don't come."

That was Olga Marie's decision.

After leaving those words behind, Olga Marie turned and walked away.

The other Adaptable Ones also glanced at Luo Zhen with looks that carried all kinds of thoughts before leaving the Central Control Room.

At last, Luo Zhen also left under the somewhat worried gazes of Mashu and Roman.

As he walked down the corridor, Luo Zhen couldn't help clenching his fists.

His feelings had been complicated from beginning to end.

Chaldea, underground training ground.

This was a place Chaldea provided for the Adaptable Ones to use.

Although Magi generally possessed workshops of their own and would not easily display their techniques elsewhere, there were still spells that required open spaces for practice and research.

Therefore, Chaldea provided training grounds like this one. As long as an application was submitted and approved, they could be used.

Luo Zhen had already been in Chaldea for quite some time. As Adaptable One Number One, he naturally had permission to use the training ground freely.

At present, Luo Zhen was practicing shooting here.

"Vmm!"

Amid faint ripples, black magical energy gathered at Luo Zhen's fingertips, forming a red-and-black orb of light.

The next moment, the red-and-black orb shot from Luo Zhen's fingertip, tearing through the air like a bullet before striking a target ahead.

"Bang!"

Amid the heavy impact, the target was sent flying.

Luo Zhen continued aiming at each target and firing without pause, knocking one target after another into the air.

No one knew how much time had passed when a voice came from behind Luo Zhen.

"As expected of you, senpai."

Mashu had arrived behind Luo Zhen at some point. Fou was perched on her shoulder, and she smiled faintly at him.

"Your Gandr can already inflict substantial damage, senpai. It's extremely powerful."

----Gandr.

It was a spell passed down from Scandinavia. In essence, it was a curse. As long as the user pointed a finger at the target, it could take effect and damage the target's state of health. Therefore, it was also known as Gandr.

Originally, this spell should have been nonlethal. Although it could cause abnormal physical conditions in the target, it would not inflict direct damage.

However, if it was trained to a certain level, it could directly injure the target.

Since this spell was not particularly rare, Luo Zhen found it in Chaldea's archives and learned it.

This spell was also the only one Luo Zhen had mastered besides the Summoning Arts.

Of course, Luo Zhen had also considered learning other spells.

Unfortunately, aside from the Summoning Arts, his talent in other forms of magecraft was not especially remarkable.

Thus, guided by the idea that trying to master too many things would leave him proficient in none, and that specialization was better than broad knowledge, Luo Zhen learned only Gandr.

After three years of training, the Gandr Luo Zhen used could now inflict direct damage. Its power was comparable to a bullet, and sending an adult flying was no difficult feat, let alone knocking over a target.

Luo Zhen did not let this go to his head.

"Other than the Summoning Arts, this is the only spell I have that's even remotely worth showing off."

Luo Zhen did not turn around. He continued shooting and merely replied with those words.

Watching Luo Zhen like this, Mashu hesitated for a while before asking as if she had finally mustered her courage.

"Senpai, are you not planning to participate in the first operation one month from now?"

Those words changed the atmosphere in the training ground.