I'm Not A Master, I'm A Director
Chapter 450: Lev — Talking Big and Running Away Feels Amazing
If someone looked you straight in the eye and told you that you were already dead, what would your reaction be?
Normally, unless it was just friends joking around, the answer would probably be a punch to the face.
Of course, there was always the option of quoting Fist of the North Star and going, "Nani?"
But no matter what, as long as you could still feel yourself breathing and walking around, nobody would seriously believe such nonsense.
Director Olga Marie was no exception.
No matter how good her relationship with Lev had been, she wasn't gullible enough to accept being told she was dead.
"Lev, what are you talking about? I'm clearly still alive—"
"—Have you forgotten how the Rayshift system works?" Lev kindly interrupted.
"Rayshifting converts a human soul into spiritron data, separates it from the body, and projects it across time and space."
He smiled.
A chilling, twisted smile.
"In other words, during a Rayshift, the physical body is actually unnecessary baggage."
The smile grew increasingly grotesque.
"The fact that someone like you—with absolutely no Rayshift aptitude—arrived in Fuyuki so smoothly is proof enough."
His voice dropped.
"Proof that your body is already gone."
"N-No... That's impossible..."
Ignoring the tearful director, Lev continued mercilessly, driving the knife deeper into wounds that were already bleeding.
"Without a physical body, you can never return to Chaldea."
His grin widened.
"The moment you try, you'll simply be erased."
"That's not true!"
Olga Marie's denial meant absolutely nothing to him.
After all, who would care what a dead person had to say?
"Still, considering our history together, I'll be generous."
Lev spread his arms theatrically.
"Let me show you the current state of Chaldea."
Above the cavern, the globe of CHALDEAS appeared.
It was no longer blue.
It had turned a deep, burning crimson.
Its blazing light dyed even the Great Hollow red.
Ritsuka and Mash had already seen the reddened CHALDEAS before their Rayshift.
But Olga Marie had been transported to Fuyuki at the very instant of the explosion.
She had never seen it.
And as Chaldea's director, nobody understood the meaning of a red CHALDEAS better than she did.
"You're lying... That's impossible..."
The answer came from Lev.
His voice whispered into her ears like the temptation of a demon.
"No blue signifying humanity's survival."
"Only a world consumed by crimson flames."
"Humanity is extinct."
He smiled.
"Wonderful, isn't it, Marie?"
"This is the result of your actions."
"The ending you've always dreamed of."
"STOP JOKING, LEV!!!"
One shock after another finally snapped the last thread of reason holding Olga Marie together.
Like an enraged bird, she charged at him.
"Director!"
Mash reached out, but Olga Marie moved too quickly for her to stop.
"Lev! What did you do to my Chaldea?!"
"It's not your Chaldea."
Apparently tired of tormenting her with words, Lev casually lifted her into the air and hurled her toward CHALDEAS, preparing to embed her within it.
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"Wow, wow. That's a pretty miserable ending."
Watching the Olga Marie on the screen desperately scream that she didn't want to die, Rin curled her lips into a smug grin.
"Life's unpredictable. Some people are just born unlucky."
"Unlucky, huh..."
For the first time, Olga Marie didn't immediately fire back.
Instead, she let out a quiet sigh.
Rin's smile widened.
So she's finally realized how powerless she is.
"Hmph! What's with that look, country bumpkin?"
Olga Marie suddenly raised her voice.
"And what exactly are you so proud of?"
"If I remember correctly, in FSN you got betrayed by your guardian, then by your own Servant, and finally by your sister."
She smirked triumphantly.
"If we're talking about being abandoned by everyone around you, you're obviously the more pitiful one."
"That was just a story!" Rin immediately protested.
At the same time, she was silently cursing Shinji.
Why had he written her life to be so tragic?
An orphan and betrayed by everyone she trusted.
That blue-headed idiot really was her mortal enemy.
"The version of me on that screen is just a story too."
Olga Marie crossed her arms confidently.
"In reality, there's no way I'd ever be betrayed by my own people."
She puffed out her chest proudly.
"After all, everyone respects me."
"...Are the people in the Department of Astromancy all masochists or something?"
Rin stared at her with wide eyes.
She found that claim extremely difficult to believe.
"Hehe~"
Olga felt a little guilty inside, but she still forced a confident smile onto her face.
"Hmph."
Rin clicked her tongue.
"I don't buy it for a second. You're probably just using contracts and authority to force everyone to say that."
Having caught the subtle flicker in Olga Marie's expression, Rin immediately seized the opportunity to counterattack. She had no idea what the director was feeling guilty about, but that wasn't important.
A weakness was a weakness.
"Okay, okay~ Time out! ⭐"
Just as the two seemed ready to continue forever, the master of stirring up trouble stepped forward.
Merlin.
Since neither side appeared capable of defeating the other verbally, he flashed his usual carefree smile and offered a suggestion.
"If neither of you can convince the other, why not have Shinji make a movie starring both of you as dual heroines?"
He clasped his hands together excitedly.
"Then let the audience decide."
Merlin's grin widened.
"The result would definitely be interesting."
"Very, very interesting."
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Compared to the increasingly intense rivalry unfolding in reality, Olga Marie's death inside the movie could only be described as Europe in 1939.
There was no wave at all.
Even Lev himself, the man who had personally sent Olga Marie to her demise, seemed completely unmoved.
In fact, accidently stepping on a flower would have stirred more emotion in him.
Ignoring Ritsuka, who was kneeling in mourning for the director, Lev turned his attention to the communicator.
"Roman."
"You can hear me, can't you?"
Without waiting for an answer, he continued.
"As a fellow scholar who once studied magecraft alongside you, allow me to offer one final piece of advice."
His smile vanished.
"Chaldea is finished."
"You still can't observe the future, can you?"
"You can't establish contact with the outside world, can you?"
"And every staff member sent outside to investigate has failed to return, haven't they?"
Three questions.
One after another.
Each one struck Roman with surgical precision, leaving him speechless.
"It's already been decided," Lev spoke with the satisfaction of a man finally setting down a burden he'd carried for ten days straight.
"Humanity."
"At this point in time..."
"...has gone extinct."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Nobody spoke.
Roman had known the answer for some time already.
But knowing and accepting were two entirely different things.
He couldn't find the words.
Mash and Ritsuka, meanwhile, stared in shock.
They had spent the entire night fighting.
Struggling.
Risking everything.
Yet now they were being told it had all been meaningless.
RUMBLE—!
Without warning, the previously stable cavern began to shake violently.
The ground split apart.
Massive cracks raced across the earth.
Chunks of rock broke loose from above and crashed downward.
"Ara, what a shame. But it looks like it's about time."
Standing calmly upon the collapsing terrain, Lev sighed regretfully.
"What did you do this time, Lev?!"
"No need to overreact."
His tone remained casual.
"The Singularity simply began collapsing after Saber disappeared."
His gaze shifted toward Ritsuka.
The last remaining Master of humanity.
If he died here, everything would truly be over.
With that thought in mind, Lev activated his magecraft.
"Number 48."
"Forgive me."
A massive stone blade formed from the falling debris and plummeted toward Ritsuka's head.
"Your journey ends here, Number 48!"
CLANG!
A gray iron shield intercepted the attack and sent the stone blade flying.
"Mash..."
When her Master called her name, Mash did something she had never done before.
She extended her hand toward him.
"Senpai..."
Her voice trembled slightly.
"Will you take my hand?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Ritsuka reached out and grasped the slender hand.
It was shaking.
Yet he held it firmly.
"Mash."
"To be honest, I don't understand any of this."
"The Director may be dead."
"Humanity may really have gone extinct."
His grip tightened.
"But there's one thing I do know."
His eyes burned with determination.
"We absolutely cannot stop here."
"If we give up now..."
"Then everything really will be over."
The last Master of humanity, Fujimaru Ritsuka, activated his ultimate skill:
[Iron Will].
A man who had never learned the meaning of surrender.
A fool who stubbornly refused to accept defeat.
A human who chose to fight even when all hope seemed lost.
He looked directly at Mash.
"Mash."
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Will you lend me your strength?"
"Of course, Senpai!" Mash answered without the slightest hesitation.
"I will never allow your journey to end here!"
The Servant Mash Kyrielight activated her ultimate skill:
[Protagonist Protection].
As long as she remained on the battlefield, no harm would reach Ritsuka.
"Come, Master!"
Raising her massive shield toward Lev, Mash took a firm stance.
"Please give your orders!"
The atmosphere grew tense.
Weapons were drawn.
Determination filled the air.
A decisive battle was about to begin.
At least, it should have.
"My apologies, but I must take my leave."
Faced with the battle-ready duo of Mash and Ritsuka, Lev chose… to retreat.
There was nothing else for it.
The movie was about to reach its runtime limit, and a certain scumbag director wasn't going to pay him overtime.
Why would he stay and work extra hours?
"Besides."
Lev turned his back to them.
"Even if you survive today, humanity is already doomed."
Step by step, he walked upward.
Not on stairs.
Not on stone.
But on empty air itself.
Slowly ascending into the sky.
"This is a rejection issued by Human History itself."
His voice echoed throughout the collapsing cavern.
"You did not decline because your evolution reached its limit."
"You did not perish through war against another species."
His expression darkened.
"Humanity simply lost the favor of my King."
"Through its own worthlessness."
"Through its own incompetence."
At that moment, the scene shifted to Roman's face.
His expression was one of uncertainty and shock.
Of course, audiences watching the movie for the first time wouldn't think much of it.
But years later, after finishing the entirety of FGO Part 1 and revisiting this scene, people would immediately realize something.
Roman's face was practically screaming:
"I didn't do it."
"It wasn't me."
"Stop making things up."
A flawless three-hit combo of denial.
Obviously, this was Shinji's doing.
The guy absolutely loved this kind of cryptic foreshadowing.
Leaving clues everywhere, speaking in riddles, and making viewers scratch their heads for years.
Shinji firmly believed that one day, some sharp-eyed fan would discover this scene, excitedly share the revelation online, and praise it as proof of Director Shinji Matou's meticulous attention to detail.
And honestly, that was exactly what he enjoyed.
Tricking people with mysteries and having them thank him afterward.
Wasn't that far more satisfying than an ice-cold cola in the middle of summer?
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"Like worthless scraps of paper, burned away without leaving even a trace."
Lev finally stopped his ascent.
Suspended high above the ground, he slowly turned around.
Then, he bowed deeply toward the camera.
A formal, almost theatrical gesture.
"My name is Lev Lainur Flauros."
His black eyes gradually transformed.
Crimson.
The color of fresh blood.
At the same time, his round pupils twisted and split apart into cross-shaped slits resembling the beak of a squid.
There was no doubt anymore.
The being standing there was no longer human.
"I was dispatched to the year 2015 for the purpose of humanity's extinction."
The declaration echoed through the cavern.
Then Lev lifted his head.
"Well then."
"Farewell."
"Mash."
"Roman."
"And..."
His gaze settled on the protagonist.
"The Forty-Eighth Compatible Candidate."
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BZZZZZZZZZT—
The television screen suddenly distorted.
Static flooded the display.
The image warped violently.
Then, everything went black.
"The hell?!"
Aoko let out a cry remarkably similar to a computer novice watching their PC crash.
"Why'd the screen suddenly go black?!"
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Tn: I updated the story once every 2 days, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
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