Setting Out / Monsters

After conducting some other tests on Ritsuka Fujimaru, she was finally freed and left with Mash Kyrielight. Although the subsequent experiments went well, she still felt a lingering fear when she thought about how Mephistopheles had stabbed her earlier.

My chest really hurt just now!

"You seem to have something you want to tell me," Mephistopheles said, looking at Romani who seemed hesitant to speak.

"I've been thinking about it, and perhaps I can tell you some of the less-than-honorable things about Chaldea," Romani said.

Mephistopheles laughed, "Actually, I can probably guess. For example, Mash Kyrielight, although such a being is very good and powerful, the process of her birth is definitely not honorable. Was she artificially cultivated from an embryo, or was she selected from the children of natural humans and then experimented on?"

Romani opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

Mephistopheles laughed, "Actually, it doesn't matter much. There's not much difference. It's all just a trampling on human rights. But given the director's previous caution, I don't think the children are from natural persons. They were most likely conceived through artificial insemination."

His tone was calm, as if he were talking about something very natural.

Romani was silent for a moment, then nodded. "That's right, it's a child born through artificial insemination, with suitable Magic Circuits, plus the child's pure soul. Based on this, a Servant is brought into the child, making the child human, and thus able to be truly controlled."

"After all, Heroic Spirit are superior to humans. Even if they are controlled by Command Spell, they can resist and kill their Master. Then they will return to the Throne of Heroes. This is really an unsuitable weapon."

"From the perspective of a detached leader, this idea makes some sense, but unfortunately, it only makes some sense. There are many ways to achieve the perfect weapon; there's no need to use such a laborious and thankless method. It would be better to modify existing summoning Magecraft, which would greatly improve efficiency."

Mephistopheles made a comment, then sighed.

"And what about the pure soul of a child? The soul is impure from the moment it has a body. Only by isolating the child from this mundane world before it is born can it maintain its perfect state."

Romani was taken aback by these words, then suddenly looked up and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

"A perfect being without original sin, a child of pure goodness before birth—that child holds the true essence of True Magic." Mephistopheles smiled. "Perhaps, such a child could unleash True Magic that would astonish even angels with a mere stroke of a brush."

Romani's mouth dropped open. So, are unborn children really that scary?

"In reality, the process of self-improvement is essentially a process of returning to one's true self, somewhat like going against the grain," Mephistopheles said, changing the subject, or rather, bringing the discussion back to the initial topic. "So, you're saying Chaldea is evil?"

"No, it can't be simply described as justice and evil. Although Chaldea was founded by the United Nations, it is essentially controlled by a family of Magecraft. It is an organization of Magecraft, and they don't care about human rights."

"Magecraft Rather than saying that Marie is an anomaly among Magecraft, her father was a true Magecraft, a perfect Magecraft, at least in terms of mindset."

Mephistopheles understood what the other person meant. Romani was saying that the former head of the family and the former director was a guy who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, and would do things without hesitation even if they went against Human Order.

Upon hearing these words, Mephistopheles suddenly laughed.

"I'm starting to have doubts about Chaldea's true purpose. Is it really for the future of humanity? At least, I don't think the former director's goal was that. He might have had a much deeper purpose, and that purpose could very well have led to the current situation."

As he spoke, he reached out and patted Romani on the shoulder. "So the most likely situation now is that within Chaldea, Lev represents the Demon Pillar faction and has his own goals, while you, Romani, are temporarily on the same side as the Director, belonging to the faction that is openly saving the world."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"As for the former director, he should also be part of a faction, and he probably has a bunch of subordinates we don't know about yet. After all, he's the one who truly controlled Chaldea for so many years. He should have his own purposes and ideas, and it's even very possible that this plan is still going on!"

"But he's already dead!"

Marie is dead too!

Mephistopheles's words startled Romani, and he fell silent.

"Yes, Marie is dead, but she's still alive. Although you helped her in part, I can't just think of it that way."

"Chaldeas protected Marie, allowing her to exist within itself. Considering this... perhaps the former director already knew about this function."

Romani muttered to himself, then suddenly startled.

"Wait a minute, what about those who are still asleep..."

Mephistopheles was also taken aback, but immediately nodded and said, "Let's go take a look!"

The two moved with incredible speed, quickly reaching the Chaldea volunteers who had almost fully recovered from their injuries. They were still alive with the help of life support pods and appeared to be in good health.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that these people have almost no self-awareness; they are merely a group of soulless beings whose bodies still function.

"No need to look anymore, it only has basic consciousness, no soul," Mephistopheles said.

Romani checked several more times, unwilling to give up, but finally gave up and put his hands down.

"It really is like this... Their souls should all be inside Chaldeas right now!"

After he finished speaking, he immediately opened the folder and started typing away.

Mephistopheles glanced at what the other person had written and laughed, "You're really diligent, starting to write a report already."

"This is no small matter; it involves so many people. If something really goes wrong, Marie might have a breakdown."

"Isn't her father the most serious one? What is Marisbury Animusphere hiding? Why did he do something like this? Generally speaking, people who do things like this are obsessed with something, and they're the kind of people who think they're doing it for all of humanity."

As Mephistopheles spoke, seeing the strange look on Romani's face, he chuckled and said, "That's right, a madman just like Goetia."

Romani promptly shut his mouth, but after carefully recalling his interactions with Maris Billy and their various exchanges, Romani had to admit that Mephistopheles's words made a lot of sense.

"He always felt that humanity was on the wrong path, repeating the same mistakes without learning from them... He believed that if things continued this way, humanity would eventually destroy itself... I also foresaw humanity's future destruction, so together with him, we researched at Chaldea how to protect humanity's future..."

"Clap clap clap!"

That was the sound of applause; Mephistopheles was clapping.

"Good, very good, excellent!"

Mephistopheles laughed, laughed heartily, like someone watching a particularly hilarious comedy.

Romani frowned, wondering why the other person was reacting this way.

After Mephistopheles finished laughing, he sighed, "What a show! Let me put it into perspective. You see, the moment you became human, you saw the future of humanity's destruction, and that's why you need Chaldea to protect humanity's future."

Romani nodded. Mephistopheles was right; that was exactly what he wanted to achieve.

"Then there's Goetia. Goetia chose this path for the sake of humanity. I even suspect that Goetia must have discovered some kind of crisis before choosing this unorthodox path. So what did he see? At least from my current understanding of Goetia, although he's a scoundrel, he really did it for the sake of humanity."

Mephistopheles said, a smirk playing on his lips, "Congratulations on joining the second-party forces. Their purpose is also to protect the future of humanity."

Romani's eyes widened slightly; he suddenly understood why Mephistopheles had laughed so hard.

"Next, there's a third force: Marisbury and his undercover subordinates. According to what you just said, Marisbury is someone who's always worried about the future of humanity, believing that humanity is repeating mistakes and needs a chance to choose. From this perspective, Chaldea's function is indeed very suitable for his purposes."

By this point, Mephistopheles was laughing so hard he was slapping his thigh.

"Look, what a great goal! Using Chaldea to choose the right path and abandon the wrong path. But were there wrong paths in the past, and did they need to be abandoned? Who will judge the so-called right and wrong paths in the future? In essence, this is the same choice as Goetia."

"So congratulations to the third-party force, whose goal is to save humanity's future!"

Romani fell silent. It was truly laughable. All three forces shared the same goal: the future of humanity. However, it was clear that the first two were now fighting each other, while the third might still be hiding, observing and waiting for an opportunity to act.

"Do you know what I found when I went to the Clock Tower in London?" Mephistopheles said.

"What was discovered?"

"The information about Heroic Spirit Summoning, dealing with natural disasters, and the Seven Grand is all placed in the most conspicuous place. Even though a lot of the information should be in different sections, it's all put together. It's as if it's deliberately meant for me to see, or rather, for people who will go there to look for information."

"If it were one of the Servants who were summoned back then, that wouldn't make sense. It couldn't be them. Clearly, the person who did all this in secret was deliberately waiting for the Chaldea people. So now, can you guess who this person hiding in the shadows is?"

If knowing this beforehand required pondering who did it, Romani immediately had the answer in his mind.

"They're from Marisbury's men!"

"That's what I think too. Only the Marisbury people would do that. We may be enemies, but for the time being, they obviously don't want Goetia's plan to succeed. If Goetia's plan succeeds, then the Marisbury faction's plan may fail."

"Therefore, their mission became to help us discover Goetia's purpose and eliminate Goetia."

As Mephistopheles spoke, he watched Romani's gloomy face as he typed faster and faster. In just over ten minutes, a report of a thousand words was written. He carefully read it through, and after confirming that there were no problems, he printed it out, got up, and walked outside.

As he walked, he pulled Mephistopheles along with him.

"You should come too. This matter is really big, and you clearly have more guesses. We might need your help to clear things up!"

Should we tell her now?

Romani hesitated for a moment, but then started walking again.

"She's the director; we can't keep this from her! Even if it's just our speculation right now."

Mephistopheles sighed, "This is no longer just speculation; many things point to this conjecture. Well, if she can't handle it, I'll help check on her. At most, I'll put her into a period of deep sleep..."

Chapter 201 Departure

"I was originally planning to go and take a look, but when I think about how Mephistopheles is going with us now, and Medea is there too, I suddenly feel that it's better to stay in Chaldea," Leonardo da Vinci said to Romani.

Romani frowned. "Then your choice is correct. This Singularity is very strange; it can't even be observed in many places. Your strength isn't great either; if you go, you might be in danger."

Leonardo da Vinci's nonchalant attitude was. "Servants are expendable; they can be summoned again after they die. However, it's true that I'll be more useful if I stay for now."

At this moment, there was one more person standing inside the teleportation chamber than last time; that person was Medea.

This witch wasn't wearing her usual clothes; instead, she was dressed in casual wear. For Chaldea, casual wear and work clothes are naturally the most common types of clothing.

Medea naturally changed into casual clothes, seemingly intending to enjoy her life here.

Looking at Medea, who was leaning affectionately against Mephistopheles, Leonardo da Vinci said, "Speaking of which, this Medea is descending in her true form, not appearing as a Servant."

Romani nodded. "Yes, so her strength is complete. Combined with her understanding of True Magic, she may have already reached the Grand level, or even surpassed Grand."

Since his identity as King Solomon was revealed, he can now speak directly about many things that were previously ambiguous, without needing to try to hide anything to avoid exposing his identity.

No one can predict the extent of power a fully-powered Heroic Spirit can unleash in the process of saving Human Order, but one thing is certain: this power is absolutely formidable and cannot be ignored!

"By the way, how is Mash Kyrielight's health?" Leonardo da Vinci suddenly asked.

"There's no problem. Mephistopheles has already fixed the original hidden dangers. Although she has gone through some battles and a lot of training during this period, she is actually the healthiest among us now."

"After all, she now possesses a near-perfect human body, free from the torment of illness and possessing the resistance of a Servant. Furthermore, she can draw magical energy from the atmosphere and food, making her, in a sense, a fusion of the advantages of both humans and Servants."

Romani sighed as he finished speaking, "If the conditions for their birth weren't so harsh, I even think it wouldn't be a problem for humans to evolve into beings like Mash Kyrielight now. Perhaps this could be a path for future human evolution."

After a moment's thought, Romani continued, "Moreover, I've always felt that there's a certain connection between this form and the Soul Materialization in the Third Magic, like a transition."

In this era where mystery has faded and everything has transformed from True Magic to Magecraft, there exists a power called True Magic, or even the Five Great Magics. The Third Magic of these is the Soul Materialization, which is also the foundation of the Holy Grail War.

Upon reflection, Romani had to admit that the concept of Demi-Servant was, in some respects, a poor imitation of the Soul Materialization.

By this time, everyone was ready, and Mephistopheles, while waiting for the teleportation, looked at Fou in Mash Kyrielight's arms.

The white beast looked outside, also waiting for the teleportation, while Mephistopheles kept watching it. Even though they had spent so much time together, Fou was still wary of Mephistopheles and unwilling to get close casually.

Medea looked at Fou and suddenly said, "This little one is not simple."

Mephistopheles asked, "What did you see?"

"Its status is extraordinary. Although I haven't seen through it directly, I'm certain that its status is extremely high, perhaps even reaching the level of a god," Medea said.

Upon hearing this, Mephistopheles smiled slightly, "Is it based on your woman's intuition?"

"No, that's not true. A woman's intuition shouldn't be able to detect something like that." Medea shook her head. "Even a Servant would have a hard time noticing it, but I'm Heroic Spirit incarnate, so I can sense this anomaly. This little guy definitely has a huge secret!"

Mephistopheles nodded upon hearing this, appearing indifferent. "As long as they don't interfere with our efforts to restore Human Order, it's fine as long as they don't cause trouble."

Medea thought about it and suddenly realized that this made a lot of sense, "That's right, as long as it doesn't cause trouble, it doesn't matter who it is. If it wants to be a pet, let it be."

"This mission is likely to be difficult. Sheba is struggling to keep track of this era; the entire age is in chaos and difficult to judge. Therefore, you must be careful, do not act recklessly, and do not split up unnecessarily, lest you be unable to rescue your companions in time."

Olga Marie was speaking from above, and her words traveled through the communication device to the ears of several people.

She glanced at Mephistopheles and Mephistopheles beside Medea, then said, "Our mission is to restore Human Order and save the future of mankind. Therefore, during work hours, you must keep your mind on your work and not forget your duties because of playing!"

Medea smiled slightly, said nothing, but glanced defiantly upwards.

Mephistopheles, seemingly oblivious to the implication of the sentence, yawned, then lay down in the cabin, looking like he wanted to teleport away as soon as possible.

So, after Olga Marie gave a few more simple reminders, the teleportation finally began. Accompanied by a familiar feeling, they had traveled through time and space to an era that needed repair.

Jerusalem, 1273 AD!

The place they arrived at this time was in a very harsh environment, surrounded by Gobi Desert. Looking up at the sky, they could see a familiar halo gathering above them. That was Noble Phantasm containing the power of a huge number of Excalibur, which was also Goetia's preparation.

However, with the intention of not disturbing the opponent for the time being and to strike at the heart of the matter, Mephistopheles restrained the urge to attack and did not do anything bad to these light bands.

The wind howled fiercely; the desert winds were so violent that if you couldn't find a place to hide, you would surely be buried by the sandstorm.

The enormous skeleton of a monster lay scattered on the ground. The massive bones and their peculiar shapes made it clear at a glance that they were the bones of Dragon Kind. They would also serve as a temporary shelter to escape the sandstorm.

"Let's go, let's hide there for a bit!" Mephistopheles said to the group, and they quickly ran towards the location of the skull, none of them daring to stop for even a moment.

Chapter 202 Monsters

At this moment, Mash Kyrielight examined the communication device more closely and then looked troubled.