Their eyes met.
Alicia's heart skipped a beat. Rei Ao's face showed neither embarrassment nor irritation at being "interrupted." Instead, the corner of his mouth curled into something wicked, playful, predatory.
His lips moved. That low, magnetic voice slipped clearly through the gap in the door, sliding into Alicia's ears like a spell.
"Since you're here"
The words carried a calm authorityand a hint of chilling dominance.
"don't leave."
Before she could think or flee, an immense, invisible pull surged from within the room, a vortex that wrapped around her in an instant.
"Eh!" Alicia only had time for a short gasp before the force seized her, hauling her through the crack like a leaf swept into a currentstraight into that abyssal room.
As she was swept inside, she thought she glimpsed Yukino and Haruno both showing a flicker of surprise. Aunt Fuyuka covered her mouth; Mabel looked mortified.
Thud.
With a soft sound, the half-closed door swung shut and sealed tight, neatly severing the inside from the hallway.
Silence returned outside, as if nothing had happened. Only the lingering damp warmth from the bathroom hinted that someone had indeed come home moments before.
Tokyo.
Under the evening sky, the lights of the burger shop looked especially pale. Amano Hina stood with her head lowered, fingers clamped around the thin envelope she'd just been handed. Inside were her month's wagesand a notice of termination.
The manager, a middle-aged man whose face rarely looked kind, wore an expression of helplessness.
"Hina, I'm really sorry. There's been a strict crackdown latelysomeone reported us for hiring a minor. With your situation I really can't keep you on."
"This bit of money is my personal compensation. Take it, okay? Try to find something more appropriate for your age."
Hina's heart sank to the bottom. The composure she'd fought to maintain was about to crack. This job had been so hard to find. It was her only way to cover living expenses and pay the rent. She'd lied about her age and worked carefully, but still couldn't escape.
"I I understand. Thank you for looking after me." She bowed deeply, her voice catching, not daring to lift her head and let the manager see the tears about to spill. She snatched up the envelope and all but fled the shop she'd worked at for months.
When it rains, it pours. She had barely stepped outside when the dark, heavy skylike a mirror of her moodsuddenly split open and dumped a torrent. The raindrops were big and icy, soaking her thin clothes in an instant. Her short blue hair clung to her cheeks; she looked a mess.
Passersby sprang open umbrellas or dashed for shelter. Only Amano Hina wandered on like a soulless doll, stumbling through the curtain of rain, letting it wash away the tears and despair on her face.
The cold made her shiverand cleared her thoughts just a touch. Almost by instinct, she lifted her eyes to the oppressive gray sky that never seemed to clear. A thought rose unbidden: she was a sunshine maiden. If she prayedif she used that powerthis suffocating rain would part for her, bringing a brief burst of sun.
She slowly raised her hand, ready to pray as she had so many times before.
But just as her will was about to focus, Rei Ao's words from the chat group boomed in her head like an alarm:
"Overusing this powerespecially to reverse extreme weather on a large scalewill gradually sever a sunshine maiden's connection to the world. In the end, she will vanisherased from the world entirely, as if she never existed."
Vanish cease to exist
Her raised hand froze midair as if bound by invisible chains. Rain tracked down her arm and dripped from her fingertips. The longing for sunlight, the instinct to dispel the gloom, wrestled with the terror of disappearing. At last, fearand the desire to keep existingwon out.
Her arm fell limply. A heavier sense of loss and powerlessness washed over her. She couldn't use that power lightly anymore.
Reality pressed back in: the job was gone, her savings were thin, rent was coming due
She drifted through the rain like a ghost for who-knew-how long before finally dragging her soaked, chilled body back to the only shelter she hada cramped, old apartment.
She peeled off her wet clothes and roughly towel-dried her hair and body in the corner, then curled up on the cold tatami. Staring at the rain that still streamed down outside the window, Amano Hina felt nothing but confusion and helplessness about the future.
"What should I do what am I supposed to do"
She buried her face in her knees and wept in silence. The weight of life bit far deeper than the cold rain.
Chapter 1,017: Alliance in Fuyuki City! Goddess of Water, Aqua!
Meanwhile, over at the Tohsaka residence in Fuyuki, the mood couldn't have been more different.
Thanks to Rei Ao's arrangements, the visiting protagonists finally met face to face. The Tohsaka sisters, Rin and Sakura, and their Servants were introduced to the new Master, Irisviel, and her ServantSaber, Artoria Pendragon.
"So you're the new Master and Servant Rei Ao mentioned?" Rin Tohsaka looked Irisviel up and down. The silver hair, red eyes, doll-like features and gentle demeanor let the small but wary Rin relax a notch.
Artoria's petite yet dignified bearingand the faint edge of sword-aura around hermade Rin's eyes sparkle.
What a cool big sister!
"Yes, Miss Rin Tohsaka," Irisviel replied with a graceful smile. "I'm Irisviel, and this is my Servant, SaberArtoria."
Ishtar manifested, arms folded, hovering in the air as she studied Artoria with interest. "Oh? So this is Britain's King of Knights? Looks the part, I'll give you that."
Ereshkigal, on the other hand, seemed more intrigued by Irisviel; she could sense some peculiar power within her. Medusa remained, as ever, silentstanding behind Sakura like the most loyal of guardians.
After a round of pleasantries and sizing each other up, the conversation turned to the core issuethe Holy Grail War about to begin.
"You've probably heard the situation from Rei Ao already," Rin began, speaking first as the host and representative of the Tohsaka household. Her young face wore a seriousness beyond her years. "The Grail has been tainted by All the World's Evil. It's no longer an omnipotent wish-granting cauldron, but a massive source of disaster."
"Our reason for participating has changed."
Sakura nodded, chiming in softly but firmly: "I'm of one mind with my sister. We're not joining to claim the Grailwe're here to stop the catastrophe it could cause."
Irisviel agreed. "Rei Ao-san told me the truth as well. My role as the 'Lesser Grail' no longer exists. Now, I only want to fight alongside Saber for something meaningful."
Artoria's gaze swept the room. "The Masters' will is clear. Since the Grail can no longer grant my wishand has itself become a blightthen our blades should be raised to cut down such evil."
Ishtar sniffed. "Hmph. I've got no interest in that stupid cup anywaybut since you're all set on it, this goddess will reluctantly stretch her legs."
Ereshkigal added coolly, "Purging defilement is also among the duties of the Underworld."
With that, the three Masters (Rin, Sakura, and Irisviel) and their Servants (Ishtar/Ereshkigal, Medusa, and Artoria) formed a solid alliance.
Their goal wasn't to seize the Grail, but to defeat any Masters and Servants who might be tempted by itor who didn't know the truthand to prevent the Grail's manifestation.
"As for how the Grail War itself should end" Rin spread her hands, wearing a helpless yet trusting smile. "We'll leave the messy cup and the cleanup to Rei Ao. He'll figure something out."
Everyone tacitly agreed. With that unfathomable chat-group owner backing them, they didn't need to worry about the complications after the warthey just had to focus on the fights ahead.
In a completely different dimension, inside a splendid hall awash with soft light and drifting hymns, a goddess with water-blue hair, a feathered coronet, and breathtaking beautymarred only by a certain airheadednesswas sprawled without a care on a cloud-sofa.
A few light-screens floated before her, streaming endless data on souls.
"Uaaahso boring," yawned Aqua, the water goddess. She popped a delicate pastry into her mouth and grumbled through the crumbs. "Every day it's assign reincarnation, reincarnation, reincarnationno variety at all! The dead either want to be heroes or nobles. No ambition!"
Still muttering, she flicked through the screens, browsing real-time scenes from countless lower worlds under her purview. Some were wracked by war, some peaceful, some bursting with bizarre creatures and events.
"Hmm? The crabs in this world look delicious and that world's lake would be perfect for a banquet" She kept up her running commentary, the very picture of slacking off.
Then, without warning, a cold, mechanical chime rang directly in her mind:
[Ding! Qualified individual detectedpossessing potential traits for interacting with world-rules. Invite to join the 'Trading Chat Group'. Accept?]
"Pfft!" Aqua nearly choked on her pastry. She shot upright, sapphire eyes round. "W-what was that?! Who's talking?! Which jerk dares mess with this goddess?!"
She glanced around warily. The hall was empty. Only the promptand the clear [Yes/No] buttonshung in her consciousness.
"Tra Trading Chat Group?" Aqua tilted her head, suddenly very interested. "Sounds funway better than assigning reincarnations!"
"Accept! Of course I accept!"
She jabbed [Yes] with her mind without a second thought.
[Ding! Aqua, welcome to the Trading Chat Group!]
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 220+ Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 1,018: Overseer of the Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Albedo!
At the deepest point of the vast, ominous complex known as the Great Tomb of Nazarick stood the Throne Rooma symbol of absolute power.
The air here felt as if it had been frozen for a thousand years, carrying a mingled scent of ancient stone, chill metal, and a faint dusting of magic. The soaring vault vanished into shadow.
Only a few threads of ghostly green or corpse-pale light leaked from wall-set windows carved with eerie reliefs or from crystals that hovered in the air, barely lighting the expanse below.
Totems and sigils unknown to any living civilization crawled across the walls, silently proclaiming the ambition and might of their creators.
The floor was paved with a strange stone polished to a mirror-black sheen, cleanly reflecting the twisted, grotesqueyet strangely beautifulsilhouettes of the sculptures above.
Footsteps upon it swelled and rang, an ethereal echo that set the heart on edge.
At the absolute center rose a colossal throne, forged from interlaced black metal and pale bone. It was cold and unyielding, all hard, sharp lines that pressed on the senses; its mere presence seemed to drink in every scrap of light and warmth around it. The throne was empty, and even so it radiated a majesty one dared not meet head-on.
In its shadow a woman stood in quiet attendance.
Her beauty was enough to rob living beings of breath. Lustrous black hair, like the finest silk, was smoothed back to reveal a flawless brow and a face so stunning it verged on the otherworldly.
Her eyes were a pure amethyst violetyet hollow at the depths, unfocused, like the eyes of a perfect doll. Beautiful, but soulless.
Her figure was extravagantly voluptuous, sheathed in an intricate black armor that balanced elegance with exposure, tracing out dangerous curves.
A pair of black-feathered wings folded behind her, adding a wicked, perilous allure.
She was Albedo, an NPC personally created by Tabula Smaragdina, one of the Supreme Beingsgiven the settings of a succubus and appointed Overseer of the Guardians of the Great Tomb of Nazarick.
This was only a game world.
For countless days and nights she had kept this perfection, this absolute standard, standing loyally by the vacant throne exactly as she was programmed to do. No questions. No self. No sense of truly being alive.
And then, in a single instantan infinitesimal flicker in Nazarick's otherwise unchanging flow of timesomething beyond this world's rules slipped in, like a pebble dropped into a still lake: an unobservable, inexplicable variable.
Deep in Albedo's empty violet eyes, it was as if some ancient, slumbering circuit suddenly came alive. A spark of motionof depthof a light that belonged to life itself, flared to life. They were no longer crystals merely reflecting external light, but a glow welling up from within: the light of consciousness.
There was a newborn confusion in that light, yesbut more than that, a mind rapidly unfolding, and a faint, elusive ripple of feeling that was hers and hers alone. Curiosity. Inquiry. Perhaps even the subtlest hint of defiance?
Her bodythe perfect shell that had until now held its pose only by strict designtrembled, so faintly it could hardly be seen. It was not a programmed motion, but an unconscious adjustment from within.
Her stance remained elegant, yet it had shed the statue-stiff rigidity, replacing it with a slight ease, a natural poisethe alert readiness of something living.
""
She tilted her head, just a little. Her gaze no longer stared blankly into the void ahead, but took stock of the unmoving hall around her.
The corners of those sculpted lips lifted by a fraction, wholly outside any preset routine. It was not a standard smile. It was the curve of someone who has just found something interesting.
Thena cold, mechanical chime that did not belong to this world sounded directly within the fragile, newborn core of her awareness, each syllable razor-clear:
[Ding! A qualified individual with an anomalous change at the level of consciousness has been detected. Invitation to join the "Trading Chat Group." Accept?]
The voice held no emotion, yet it was a key that opened a door onto endless possibility.
"?"
Surprise flickered in Albedo's eyes and vanished almost too quickly to catch, replaced at once by a deeper, fiercer curiosityexcitement like a beast long caged catching sight of a way out, and the keen delight of a new toy discovered.
Trading Chat Group?
For someone newly awakened, the words themselves were a tantalizing unknown.
She did not hesitate. If anything, she answered with impatient clarity, by thought alone[Yes].
[Ding! Albedo, welcome to the Trading Chat Group!]
As the prompt faded, a sleek, translucent interface unfolded within her mind. Like a consummate observer she began to scan and parse the streaming data at speed: unfamiliar names, symbols that meant nothing at first glance, and a motley of trivia from entirely different worlds.
