Mystery Attacks

"All right, Sister Morgan, I understand. Don't worry. I won't tarnish the Pendragon Family's reputation or affect the relationship between the Flame Kingdom and the Pendragon Family. I'll do my best, so please don't worry."

After hanging up, Artoria let out a breath. The call had been from her elder sister, Morgan le Fay.

It hadn't been a reprimand, but a call to check on her and offer guidance, to tell her what to do.

They had a very good relationship. Morgan le Fay was the Empire's second in line to the throne, far more influential than Artoria, who was well down the succession list, somewhere in the teens.

Artoria had great respect for her elder sister.

That was why the call had left her feeling so guilty. She'd realized she had caused her sister trouble, and Morgan le Fay had even said she would fly to Yingzhou the very next day.

"I really haven't made any progress at all..."

Artoria lowered her head, her spirits sinking. Even her ahoge seemed to droop.

Yet even as she despaired, the girl couldn't help but look up to someone: the Maiden Knight King in the Light Screen's images.

"If... I really had power like hers, maybe I could protect my country and its people..."

"Here, Kiritsugu. I cooked this for you myself, so make sure you eat every last bite, okay? I worked so hard on it, after all. It's filled to the brim with my love for you, Kiritsugu~"

In another room, Emiya Kiritsugu sat at a dining table, staring expressionlessly at the unidentifiable dark cuisine before him, cold sweat streaming down his face. The hand holding his chopsticks trembled slightly.

He looked up to see a stunning face beaming at him.

It was a truly beautiful smile. Fair skin, silvery-white hair, wine-red eyes—everything came together in the figure of this beautiful woman, who was also Emiya Kiritsugu's wife.

On the sofa beside them, Emiya Shirou and Illya had both lowered their heads without meaning to. The two children sat trembling in place, feeling that their mother was truly terrifying right now.

But what could they do? Father, why had you cheated? Even if it was only conceptual cheating in the Light Screen's images, it was still cheating. So if someone had to suffer, why shouldn't it be you, the one who'd done wrong?

That was the simple, unadorned, and utterly boring logic of a dutiful son and daughter.

"I never imagined that in some possibility, you would be my student, Father Kotomine."

In the dining room reserved for special guests, Tohsaka Tokiomi spoke slowly as he looked at Kotomine Kirei across from him.

Kotomine Kirei set down his spoon and wiped his mouth, his manner composed and elegant.

If not for the chili oil and tofu scraps on the empty plate, which showed that he had actually been eating an extra-spicy bowl of mapo tofu, anyone would have thought he'd been having Western food.

To be honest, Tohsaka Tokiomi had almost twitched at the corners of his mouth, but his excellent upbringing kept him in check.

Then Kotomine Kirei said, "Indeed. I was very surprised as well, Mr. Tohsaka. So, what do you think? Is that video footage real?"

Tohsaka Tokiomi pondered for a moment, then nodded. In this world, where there was no supernatural power, he had devoted all his talents to modern academia. He held a master's degree in financial management from Yingzhou University, so he knew quite a bit about certain scientific hypotheses.

"Parallel worlds, altered history, rewritten memories... Any of these incredible things could have caused the stories revealed in the Light Screen's images to be forgotten by the world—including us."

"I don't know much about this myself, but I've read a little. From the perspective of quantum mechanics, altering reality isn't impossible."

Kotomine Kirei fell silent for a moment. "Indeed. From the perspective of quantum mechanics, altering reality is perfectly reasonable. But is there really anyone in this world capable of doing such a thing?"

Tohsaka Tokiomi shook his head. "I don't know either. But the arrival of Mystery has already challenged our worldview. So it's not impossible to accept that even more incredible things might happen."

"The key question is, why would the Light Screen reveal these vanished parts of history? Simply to let people know about them? It's very difficult to understand."

Kotomine Kirei closed his eyes and raised his right hand, taking hold of the cross on his chest. His expression turned devout. "Everything is arranged by the Lord. The great Lord is beyond the understanding of mortals. To use mortal thoughts to speculate about the Lord's will is the height of disrespect and foolishness."

Tohsaka Tokiomi asked, "Are you saying this was arranged by the Lord you believe in?"

Kotomine Kirei: "..."

He gave no answer, but his devout manner said it all.

Tohsaka Tokiomi nodded. He knew there was no point in discussing the matter with the other man. He was an atheist, while Kotomine Kirei was a devout follower of the Church. Their ways of thinking were fundamentally different.

Still, this made Tohsaka Tokiomi realize that using his own reasoning to speculate about the being behind the Light Screen was indeed a little arrogant.

Perhaps, just as the words shown at the beginning of the Light Screen had said, it had done this simply to bring buried history back to light.

It was hard to understand, but just as humanity could not understand Mystery, in this ever more broken world, all people and things beyond comprehension had become part of the natural order.

Just as Tohsaka Tokiomi fell into thought, the lights suddenly went out.

At once, a bone-chilling cold and instinctive fear surged through him, making his face change dramatically.

Because this reaction could only mean one thing.

Mystery was attacking!

Mystery: humanity's enemy, a predator of life, and a creation of chaos and madness.

Humanity could not understand Mystery because its phenomena could not be explained by science.

Mystery was a mad mockery of humanity's understanding of the world. It overturned the scientific principles people understood and operated by rules all its own.

One such rule was the clustered effect, which had been named the Mystery Effect.

Its defining feature was that in areas covered by a Mystery phenomenon, modern lights and other forms of electric lighting would go out for no apparent reason.

It wasn't a short circuit, and the lights weren't broken. They simply went out for no reason, then came back on once the Mystery had left or disappeared.

On top of that, everyone in an area covered by a Mystery phenomenon would feel a bone-deep chill and intense, instinctive fear. They would also understand, without knowing how, that Mystery had set its sights on them.

No one could understand it or explain why. It was as if they had encountered an enemy etched into their genes—or as if Mystery were deliberately reminding humanity that it had arrived and that people ought to succumb to fear and despair.

That was exactly what was happening now. Tohsaka Tokiomi felt it, and so did Kotomine Kirei.

Tohsaka Tokiomi instinctively pulled out his phone and quickly tapped the screen to turn it on. He didn't try to switch on the phone's flashlight, because he knew it wouldn't work.

This was one of the things about Mystery phenomena that science couldn't explain: devices that could provide a reliable source of light all failed. Only unstable, dim sources like a phone screen still worked.

Kotomine Kirei took out his phone and tried to switch on the flashlight, but, as expected, it failed. He could only use the dim light from the screen to see.

At the same time, a piercing alarm sounded.

"Warning! Mystery incursion detected! Warning! Mystery incursion detected! All units, take note: evacuate immediately! If you encounter a Mystery phenomenon, follow the safety protocols!"

"Warning! Mystery... BEEP—"

The alarm cut off abruptly, without warning. Only faint static and an indistinct tone remained in the air, adding to everyone's fear.

But no one dared to scream. Screaming during a Mystery attack would only dramatically increase the chances of being targeted. It was practically suicide. Staying quiet was the right choice.

Just then, two members of the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Office came over. They were already sweating cold, but still managed to say with professional composure, "Please come with us. We'll take you to an emergency shelter!"

Tohsaka Tokiomi was extremely anxious, but despite his excellent education, he still asked in a low voice, "What about my wife and daughter?"

"Please don't worry. Staff have gone to find them. Everyone involved in the Light Screen events is being given priority for evacuation!"

Hearing this, Tohsaka Tokiomi felt a little relieved. He didn't say anything foolish about needing to see his wife and daughter immediately. He knew that would only put them all in danger. For now, he just had to follow the professionals' instructions.

As it turned out, Tohsaka Tokiomi had been right. The professionals at the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Office had immediately gathered everyone involved in the Light Screen images and started moving them to safety.

At the same time, the elite combat team had also mobilized, fully armed.

Although the Mystery attack had come out of nowhere, the Strategy Room hadn't fallen into disarray.

Still, the situation had unfolded so suddenly that no one could make sense of it.

Murata Himeko, head of the Strategy Room, frowned and asked her subordinates, "What's going on? Why have we suddenly come under a Mystery attack?"

An assistant standing beside her looked at the specialized tablet in his hands, which displayed real-time data. The moment he saw the figures, his expression darkened.

Then he said to Murata Himeko, "Director, the data shows that this Mystery disaster isn't newly formed. It's one we already know about. Based on our analysis, it should be a level-four disaster: Songstress."

Murata Himeko's face changed dramatically, and her body trembled violently.

Countries around the world currently had their own systems for classifying Mystery, while Yingzhou followed the Flame Kingdom's lead and divided Mystery disasters into seven levels.

The Flame Kingdom had always been straightforward about these disasters. It didn't give them any cool-sounding code names; it simply divided them into seven levels.

Level one was low-hazard. It could cause casualties among ordinary people, but usually not many—just one or a handful.

Level two was hazardous. It could cause dozens or even hundreds of casualties, posing a serious threat to people's lives and property.

Level three was high-hazard. It could directly destroy an entire region.

Level four was city-destroying. It could wipe out an entire city.

Level five was catastrophic. It could destroy multiple cities and kill millions of people.

Level six was nation-destroying. It could wipe out even small and medium-sized countries.

Level seven was civilization-collapsing. Once it appeared, the Flame Kingdom and even the entirety of human civilization on Earth could be destroyed by the disaster.

It was simple and easy to understand, making it clear at a glance how dangerous each Mystery disaster was.

But it was precisely because it was so easy to understand that it made people feel fear and dread.