Of everyone who looked up at the sky, Rin was the one who lost her composure the most.
Strangely enough, her Master was even more stunned—but you couldn't blame her. She was riding the giant rabbit in the sky, much closer to the Moon.
So even from that absurd distance out in space, she still watched the Moon split clean in two.
It was ridiculous. That was how terrifying this Anti-Planet Noble Phantasm was… and how terrifying that Loli really was.
At the same time, Rin decided that Noble Phantasm should never be used again. This time it was a shot into the sky and it cut the Moon in half. If it was aimed at the planet, then it might be able to split an entire continent down the middle.
Unlike Rin, Yoshino stayed calm. Compared to the level of power Mio Takamiya and Requiem had shown, this attack still wasn't enough.
But because Est was acting independently, this wasn't even all of her strength…
Meanwhile, Attila lifted her multicolored sword—only to find it snapped in half. Her noble companion had fallen. She felt a little sad… and completely incredulous.
The sword of Mars had been cut…
And then she began to fade as well. Est's attack had split her body vertically, destroying her core.
That strike was so fast that even with Agility A, she couldn't dodge it.
So she had no choice but to return to the Throne of Heroes, becoming the first Servant to leave this World Holy Grail War…
"First blood!"
Oddly enough, at that moment Est returned to her original Loli form and raised two fingers in a peace sign toward Rin and Yoshino in the sky, like she was waiting for praise.
With that blank expression on her face, Rin couldn't tell if she was joking or not.
Even so, Rin's smile twisted. This wasn't a video game where you get rewarded for killing the first soldier… but with that kind of power, the Foreigner could treat it like one—at least for now…
[Hya~ what bad luck, Est-chan killed Saber of the Green way too soon]
"Eh? Why?"
Rin wasn't the only one lamenting it. Nia's voice rang out again, and with how depressed she sounded, Rin's mouth went dry as she asked that all-powerful Omniscient Caster…
[The war hasn't started yet, and not all Masters have been summoned. Therefore, the World Holy Grail won't count the death of Attila the Hun, and it will summon another Master and Servant to take her place....]
The only factions that were complete were Black and Red, while the Blue and Green factions still hadn't finished summoning their Masters.
So officially, the World Holy Grail War hadn't begun. And with Attila gone from the Saber of the Green seat, the World Holy Grail would summon another Master from a parallel branch to fill the gap…
Which meant Est's victory didn't mean anything…
"Damn it! That's not fair!"
Even though the Moon had been cut in half, at least they'd killed a Servant. That was how Rin had justified the disaster to herself to keep her conscience from snapping—but now it meant nothing. In her heart, Rin cursed the World Holy Grail.
[Hohoho, the world is maaad~]
"Mad?! What?!"
But the bad news didn't end there. Up in the sky, a kind of anomaly formed—a black circle…
The World itself had gone on maximum alert after feeling one of its Moons being destroyed…
Yuki and the other Spirits knew what it was, but Rin didn't. When she looked up, her expression sank.
Nothing good ever came from the world getting angry…
"What is that?!"
[It's a Singularity... Hehehe did we make it? tehe~]
"No tehe~! What's a Singularity?! I need an explanation!"
[Well~ a Singularity is~]
Sub-World Fate Grand Order
Antarctica, 6000 meters above sea level...
Inside a snowy facility, a strange alarm activated, putting the entire staff on high alert…
Weeeooo....weoooo
But that was to be expected. This installation had a purpose: detecting Singularities.
The Organization for the Preservation of Human Order, Finis Chaldea—or simply Chaldea—was a secret agency founded with the goal of preventing the "certain extinction" of the human race.
It specialized in handling temporal anomalies and other existential threats to humanity.
The organization's hidden purpose was the enactment of the Human Order Revision Incident by CHALDEAS, following the Grand Order of Marisbury Animusphere….
A powerful organization that combined Magecraft and science, using observation above all else to preserve humanity's glorious, tenacious history across the ages.
The alarm had gone off. A new Singularity had been detected…
At that moment, in the Central Control Room, a blazing red light—one that should have been blue—flared to life.
A floating globe.
Global Environment Model "CHALDEAS"
Using the soul of the world as its foundation, it was a small, precise model of Earth.
Used together with the near-future observation lens "SHEBA," it made it possible to observe the planet's future.
That was what Chaldea's duty to safeguard Human Order was built upon.
With both CHALDEAS and SHEBA, people could monitor Earth's future and confirm the planet's condition over the next hundred years.
The bright ray over CHALDEAS was the flame of civilization. As long as it continued to burn, humanity would survive, and its future would be guaranteed for the next hundred years. Humanity's path would remain correct and untroubled.
[Sheba detected anomalies!]
In an instant, every screen in Chaldea lit up red, the color of warning.
[Anomaly found!]
[Anomaly found!]
[Anomaly found!]
The nonstop alarm tightened everyone's nerves, and only the frantic clacking of keyboards filled the room.
[Outlier values increasing!]
[Analysis system!]
[Ascension rate 200...230...250...280...]
"Another Singularity?! Wait…"
Romani Archaman, Chaldea's acting director, was the first to recognize what it meant. But as the parameters continued to spike, his expression changed. The deep red grew stronger and stronger, until the light dimmed further and further, slowly vanishing from the globe of Earth…
"Its deviation… reached a level that high?!"
Singularities were measured by their Human Foundation Value and their level of deviation. And yet this one had only just been detected, and its deviation had already reached A+…
That alone was enough for a Singularity to destroy Human Order. And it wasn't just that—this Singularity regularly shifted between an "Event" and a "Lostbelt."
Romani had never seen an abnormality like this before. The shock left him frozen.
But it still wasn't over. The deviation kept climbing. At this rate, not only would Human Order change—the world would change too, and history itself would have to be rewritten.
"No, it can't keep going up!"
There was no other way. This Singularity had to be stopped. If it kept rising, it would exceed the system's parameters and everything would collapse…
"Hey, hey… that's bad…"
Just then, a woman entered the command room. She was unbelievably beautiful—an ideal kind of beauty, wearing a smile that could steal the hearts of mortals, as if a goddess had descended to Earth.
"Leonardo!"
"Mm!"
That woman was, of course, a Servant—and an incredible one at that. An innate genius and Pioneer of the Stars…
Thankfully, Yuki wasn't there. Otherwise he would've definitely shouted "Mona Lisa," tied her up, and dragged her home. In his previous life as a cultural assassin, one of his favorite paintings had been the Mona Lisa, and with a Servant who looked like her, Yuki wouldn't be able to restrain his greed.
But none of that mattered to Leonardo da Vinci, and she had no idea a predator had set his sights on her. If she did, she'd probably commit suicide and return to the Throne of Heroes. As a genius, she'd know that was the only way to avoid catastrophe—but unfortunately, she didn't know. She focused on the globe in front of her and calculated the Singularity's coordinates.
[Coordinates confirmed!]
[Great Holy Grail War, Romania, Trifas...]
---