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TYPE-MOON Academy.
"I heard there was a huge lightning strike in the mountains last night!"
"Huh? I thought it was a gas explosion?"
Though the incident had been quickly swept under the rug, something that conspicuous couldn't just vanish without a trace. The students at TYPE-MOON Academy were still buzzing about it. As long as the Mystery wasn't publicly exposed, however, it was considered a successful cover-up.
After a brief chat with Souji at the school gate, where his "elder brother" spending the night at a girl's house resulted in Souji's dramatic, heart-broken lament that Ryoji was becoming an unfaithful playboy, Ryoji and Aozaki Aoko walked the rest of the way into the high school campus together.
"Knock knock... BOOM!"
During the morning rush, Ryoji left his classroom and strode toward the faculty building, knocking on the door of Scáthach's office.
"Come in!" Her sharp, commanding voice rang out.
Ryoji opened the door and stepped inside. In the corner, his gaze immediately snagged on that familiar weapon rack.
Right. He really should have guessed it last time.
What kind of teacher, after all, openly keeps a full rack of lethal weapons in her office?
She must have used some kind of cognitive interference Magecraft on it. Only Ryoji, thanks to his Brave Sword Heart skill, was immune to the effect, letting him see the collection clearly. Aoko, standing beside him now, didn't seem to notice anything odd about the metal frame at all.
"Good, everyone's here."
Scáthach set down the papers she'd been grading, leaned back, and stretched her graceful form. Her eyes, full of an unsettling interest, settled on the two of them.
"Let me ask you both first... You... no, Aoko, after losing your memories from last night, you didn't fall back into confusion, did you?"
Ryoji turned to look at her, equally curious about the answer.
"No," Aoko sighed, her voice laced with frustration. "I don't know why, but ever since I used Magic last night, I can feel that something about this world just… doesn't fit. Everything feels slightly off."
"Good," Scáthach nodded in satisfaction, then shifted the focus to the reason she'd called them here. "It seems both of you have qualified to participate in the 'Selection.' So, I suppose it's time I tell you the truth of this world."
Selection? Ryoji instantly zeroed in on the word. Aoko's eyebrows lifted, she'd caught it too.
But the next revelation struck them far harder.
"In short," Scáthach said calmly, "this place is a Singularity."
Huh? Un? Un un??? A Singularity?
As in, the Fate/Grand Order kind of Singularity?!
Ryoji's mind raced through the concept: A Singularity was a distortion of the proper timeline, a "wrong world" separated from the normal flow of history. A deviation so large it could cause the collapse of Human Order.
Scáthach patiently explained the concept in full detail. Aoko frowned, her brain cells burning as she struggled to comprehend these foreign, terrifying ideas.
But when phrased like that, it terrifyingly made sense. A Singularity was, by its very nature, an abnormal world. And in an abnormal world, everything abnormal becomes normal. Even Heroic Spirits turning into ordinary humans suddenly fit perfectly within the realm of possibility.
Wait. Ryoji remembered a special event Singularity where Heroic Spirits ended up in Japan's Warring States period, competing under unfamiliar identities. Souji herself probably came from that very event.
"If this place is a Singularity, then why has it lasted so long?" Though he understood the concept, Ryoji couldn't stay calm.
He had been born here. He had lived in this world for fifteen years, raised by his mother, Minamoto no Yorimitsu. Did that mean this Singularity had already existed for more than a decade? Any harmful Singularity should have long since been repaired by Chaldea, and the harmless ones corrected naturally by the world's temporal-restoration forces.
For one to last this long was, by all logic, impossible.
"That's only true for Singularities the planet doesn't need," Scáthach said, leaning back comfortably in her chair, clearly enjoying his confusion. "They are repaired precisely because the planet doesn't require them. But if a Singularity comes into being because the planet itself willed it, do you really think it wouldn't persist?"
Ryoji was stunned into silence. 'That… actually sounded plausible'.
"So, Sensei, you mean to say, Earth itself created this Singularity?" Aoko had caught the crucial point, her beautiful face tightening in alarm.
"Not exactly." Scáthach waved a finger. "The Counter Force merely acknowledged this Singularity's existence. The one who actually created it… is someone else."
She paused, letting the weight of the statement settle.
"In fact, the very person who forged this Singularity is currently in hiding, right here, within TYPE-MOON Academy."
The one who created the Singularity… and is now hiding here…
Ryoji's mouth felt stiff as he spoke the name: "Romani Archaman, no… Demon God King Goetia?"
He remembered that orange-haired man he'd met in the infirmary. His cold, detached demeanor was nothing like the original Romani. Ryoji had suspected then that it might be Goetia wearing Romani's face, but the man had been far too dangerous to even approach.
"Oh? You know quite a lot, Ma~!" Scáthach looked surprised, giving him an intrigued glance.
Aoko, meanwhile, was completely lost. Demon God King? Who's that? Sounds kind of cool though…
"Then how did he convince the Counter Force to approve it?"
"That, I don't know. If you're curious, you can always go ask him yourself." Scáthach shrugged, clearly unconcerned.
Ryoji immediately shook his head like a rattle. Only an idiot would go digging into Goetia's secrets.
"Still," Scáthach continued, her expression sharpening, "while I don't know what methods he used, I do know his objective."
She straightened her posture. Even her previously disinterested gaze now burned with excitement.
"He intends to conduct a grand-scale Selection, to choose this planet's Ultimate One!"
(End of Chapter)
PS- Hey Guys I have picked up 2 new fanfictions
New Fanfiction— 1. One Piece—Maxed Out Conqueror's Haki!
2. One Piece—Master Of Devil Fruits