Chapter 408

Everything happened so fast.

I didn't know how I felt myself, but at this moment, I think Jeanne took precedence. She wasn't crying anymore, but she was still not willing to move and I didn't move to make her.

The Rayshifting procedures took a few minutes to properly return the people who used it, so it wasn't too surprising that no one had stormed the room thus far.

I just sat there silently rubbing her back, letting her feel comfortable.

Raikou sat at my side, as we literally were situated on the ground. Mozart was slumped against the wall, looking utterly exhausted.

I felt bad that he was the only one I grabbed. I don't know who else survived, maybe Siegfried? But in that moment that I had, he was closest, and I just did what I could.

Even that victory still felt like a loss.

And I still don't know what happened? Where are we supposed to go from here?

{You're on limited time.} Musū Tengai spoke up in my mind. {Enter your inner world, it will be easier to explain.}

That didn't sound ominous at all.

"Jeanne." I whispered.

She shifted, rubbing her eyes and sitting up. "I'm okay." She said, forcing herself to smile. "It's not my first time losing someone. Even if it was my fault…"

"No." I immediately rejected her. "I'm the one who let her use the Spear. I'm the one who didn't stop her and grabbed you. I'm at fault, not you. If you want to, you can hate me for what happened." Jeanne was someone who would blame herself, martyr herself if the situation called for it. She was so quick to be willing to sacrifice herself, I would rather she hate me than feel like it was her fault.

"I couldn't hate you." She spoke softly, adjusting herself so she wasn't leaning on me entirely anymore. "Do you know what happened?" she asked.

The others perked up too.

"Do you know what happened?"

She shook her head. "I only know that role I was supposed to play…."

"I have a way to find out, give me a moment." I adjusted my posture, so I was sitting cross legged and put my Zanpakutō across my lap.

The meditative process that allowed one to sync up with their Zanpakutō.

I evened my breathing, and cleared my mind of all the stray thoughts I was feeling.

I felt the wind gently sway my hair and the taste of salt in the air. I opened my eyes to see the vast ocean extending to the horizon.

"Where I took Jinn on our first date." I muttered. "I didn't think this would be a place stored in my soul."

"If you could recall the stretch of sand and water so quickly, then does that not indicate that it was something you cherish enough to keep close?" Musū Tengai Stood at the edge of the tide, the water barely missing his feet as it came and went.

Yeah…seeing Jinn experience something like this for the first time was a memory I would always cherish.

"You have some explaining to do." I wanted to cut right to the chase. "You said I'm on a time limit, what does that mean? And how much of said time do I have?"

"Peace." He held his hands up. "Inside your soul, you can experience things quicker, as you know. I would say you need to leave this World-Line within the hour to be safe."

I felt my hands ball up. With a shout, I punched the ground. The sand went everywhere, forming a large crater.

I was pissed, after everything that happened, I think it was simply the straw that broke the camel's back and I lashed out.

"Fuck me." I fell to my butt.

"It's better to release that stress than to keep it bottled up. At least there will be no damage done here." He offered.

"I'll worry about that later, please just tell me what's going on."

"First, let me ask you. What is a Miracle?" He looked out towards the Ocean.

"I…..I'm not quite sure to be honest. Academically, I can point out the definition, but that's rather mundane. And even supposed Miracles that were recorded in texts and stories are things that could happen without Divine Intervention, let alone Divine Authority."

"Yet you put your faith in this Miracle succeeding?"

"I trust you." I said simply.

"Thank you for your trust, it was not misplaced." I could vaguely make out the edges of a smile on the corner of his face. "To answer, it's…difficult."

"How do you even know all this when I don't?"

"I have spoken with the presence within the spear on a few occasions." He answered.

"….right, both weapons." I was skeptical. "Go on."

"Do you recall the story of Moses parting the Red Sea?"

"I suppose, though I won't question the validity of it in this situation. But it doesn't seem particularly….praiseworthy. I could do that with my Authority, as could any God with a similar Authority. Hell, I could do it with some time and effort through purely magical means. And I'm pretty sure the same could be said for mundane means, granted that would take much more time and effort."

"Yes, yet it is recognized as a Miracle. And I will tell you that it was in fact a Miracle."

"Sounds contradictory."

"Yes, but understand the circumstances." He held a hand up, and the ocean churned. Starting from the place he stood, the water began to separate, a line forming all the way to the horizon. "The people of Moses were fleeing from the Egyptians after The Biblical God engaged the Egyptian Gods. Why did the Egyptian Gods that were suffering under his wrath not simply collapse the waves upon his people to spite him? Or a plethora of any other creative ways to end but a few mortal lives?"

"I see your point, it's odd. Regardless of how strong Big G was, it's strange that the Jews of Egypt escaped wholly unscathed…."

"A Miracle is not a Divine Authority; you can even say it's a step further. Divine Authority is the allowance of a Divine Being to change the world, to bend it to their will. Zeus commands the sky, he is allowed to bring about storms, to rain lightning, to alter the weather at his discretion. Amaterasu is the Sun, as seen in the past, she can take away Japan's sunlight."

"I get it, I understand how Divine Authority works in a general sense."

"A Miracle is a statement of Fact. It's telling the world that this is going to happen. Past, Present, Future, it happened, it's happening, it will happen. Even if something is impossible, it will happen if ordained. It is an action in line with the concept of Primordial Creation. There is a reason that True Magic is compared to Miracles. Your method of traversing through World-Lines, you are not asking for permission, you are telling the world that this is where you are going and it happens. As such, you can recall why Meridia was so surprised when you decided to 'peek' at her."

"…..there has to be some downside or some ceiling, otherwise he wouldn't be in the state he's in."

"Of course, nothing is unbeatable." He shrugged. "But I doubt you want to waste the time to discuss that fully."

Seeing the state the Spear was in, it's not hard to guess that a true Miracle wasn't something simply done on a whim.

"Moses didn't simply part the Sea through God's will, did he?"

"No, the true Miracle was something more. It was that Moses and his people would escape Egypt unmolested."

"Why Holy Power? Why couldn't he take my Magical Energy? Or my Divinity?"

"Well, some of it was taken, but he was not in a state to use a Miracle, he needed more Holy Power and the Saintess carried a significant amount with her. Even the….other one who rejected God still was a part of the original."

"But why Holy Power?" I pushed.

"What do you think Holy Power is? And not in a general sense, but what separates the Church's Holy Power from, say, your Dawnbreaker? Both are Holy, are they not?"

"The intent?" I questioned.

He shook his head. "Many Gods have 'holy' abilities. Fire Gods with their Holy Fire, Meridia with her Holy Light, yet they don't operate at all like 'Holy Power', do they?"

"No." I pursed my lips.

"Holy Power….you can consider it derived from the closest approximation to what can be called the essence of Creation within the Abrahamic Cosmology. You can think of it this way, Holy Power is equivalent to Modern Runes when they are compared to Primordial Runes. As such, the presence within the spear required enough Holy Power to perform a Miracle."

"Okay." I breathed out. It was a lot of new information to suddenly have dropped on me. "Okay, I'm following. It's not groundbreaking. I'm sure I could have deduced this if i had posed the question earlier and was given time to think it over. And I'll give it more thought later, but the mechanics are less important right now. What happened to Solomon?"

"That….I believe I can take a good guess based on the few words exchanged in the last moment." Musū Tengai, moved his arm and the ocean collapsed back onto itself. "The one we fought was not Solomon."

"Obviously, I'm just calling him that because it's easy."

"He's known for his 10 Rings, items of great power bestowed by God, and a Clairvoyance that allows him to see past, present, and future. If I had to guess…..I believe the Miracle removed his ever appearing in the Singularity from his end."

"….pardon?" I blinked.

"From his point of view, I do not believe he ever appeared in the Singularity. Your presence was erased from his perception, he never decided to see the fall of Gilles after he lost the Grail. Thus, he will still not bother with Chaldea."

"But….that's ridiculous. The Causality alone –"

"There is a reason it's called a Miracle."

"So everything that happened to us still happened, but he was essentially….removed from all chain of events, his knowledge erased, his vision….blurred so to speak?"

It's not like I expected Goetia to suffer any permanent damage. The presence within the spear didn't have nearly enough juice to pull something like that off, otherwise there'd be no point in me helping it 'revive'.

But even still, what he's saying is absurd.

"If I am correct, then that is a simple approximation of what transpired." He nodded.

I put my hands up to hold my head, looking at the ground. "That sounds simple on the surface, but if I tried to do something similar with you, I would most likely die. There were too many variables….the Casualty alone like I said was far too intertwined. All those people who saw him….." A Miracle? It sounded grandiose, but to see it with my own eyes was….humbling in a way. "The Rings and the Clairvoyance, it used those again him, which made it easier."

"Yes." He nodded again. "Otherwise, it would not have been possible in the state that the Spear currently was."

"We were lucky."

"Very much so."

"We need to leave."

"Unfortunately."

I understood now. The Miracle was….would it be ironic to call the Miracle itself a Miracle? The Rings of Solomon that the thing was wearing were used against it. The God Given Clairvoyance was used against it.

"To simplify it down to the core, my existence in this singularity was essentially obscured to his knowledge." Which was why I had to leave. The longer I stayed, the more likely it is for him to notice me and realize that something was wrong.

If he was made to 'forget' about me, in utterly simplistic terms, if he suddenly was presented a huge reminder by seeing me, then…..it's possible whatever happened could unravel and he decides to nuke Chaldea and I couldn't stop him.

"He'll ignore Chaldea if I'm not around, he made that much clear." I whispered. "I have to leave again."

"Regroup and think of another plan."

I took a deep breath. "Alright, thanks Musū Tengai, I'll head back."

"I will always be here if you need me." He smiled.

I closed my eyes and opened them again, and blinking a few times as now the room was completely filled.

"Master." Raikou hugged me.

Raikou's presence here was much more soothing than she could probably imagine.

"How long was I….?"

"Ten minutes, give or take." Mozart informed me.

It felt like four times that inside, good.

"Schweinorg, you have some explaining to do!" Olga demanded. "But….it's good you made it back." Her expression softened.

Sir Wiggles seemed to agree because he jumped out of her arms and onto my head. Even Fou wasn't giving me a hard time as he sat in Mash's arms.

"Barely…" I took a chance to look around at a lot of faces I hadn't seen in person in awhile. "Roman, Da Vinci."

"Ah, it's nice to see you again, in the flesh." Roman chuckled.

"You may feast your eyes upon perfection again!" Da Vinci pushed her chest out. "You can thank me at any time."

I found myself smiling despite the situation. Even the low growl from Saber was more amusing than not.

"I have to leave again, soon. We're on a clock."

"….explain." Olga's eyes narrowed.

"Right." I pushed myself to my feet. "Solomon, and yes I'm just calling him that for simplicity's sake, he appeared after Gilles was killed and we retrieved the Grail because he simply wanted to see how the Singularity played out and saw me. If I wasn't there, he would have never come and ignored everything."

I met Cu's eyes in the corner, and the look he gave me was one that understood exactly what I meant by that.

"What, you're running away because you think he's going to come back?" Olga scoffed.

"He made it clear that I was the reason he even came in the first place. But it has more to do with what happened after…"

"Do it have anything to do with the Divine Spear impaled in the wall over here." Da Vinci asked, jabbing her thumb at the Longinus.

"Yes." I admitted

"Schweinorg, I have so many questions right now." Olga crossed her arms.

"I used the spear and with the help of the Abrahamic God, he invoked a Miracle. Essentially, it made it so that Solomon never went to the Singularity. Basically, it's obscuring my existence for the moment."

"But…the Casualty alone…" Da Vinci mumbled.

"Yeah, I said the same thing." I snorted. "It's called a Miraclefor a reason, as was said to me."

"…..are you an Angel, boss?" Samuel asked.

Cu snorted out some laughter. "Nice question, Farm Boy."

Despite the abruptness and humor one could find in that question, a lot of people looked rather eager to hear my response.

"No, I was just borrowing the power of the Spear." I shook my head.

"….and what is that spear?" Hinako asked. "It's giving me some dangerous feelings."

"Isn't it obvious?" Da Vinci tilted her head.

"…..no." Olga huffed.

"It's –"

"The Spear of Longinus, isn't it?" Roman said, staring at it. Why was there a sort of trepidation look on his face?

"As in the spear form the bible?' Ritsuka asked.

"Isn't that one of the most protected artifacts of the Church!? There's no way that's the Spear of Destiny, right Schweinorg?" Olga asked for clarification.

"Um…..yes."

Olga opened her mouth and closed it slowly. "The Church is going to crucify me after we finish."

"….is it a bad time to mention that I'm a Half-Devil?" And I was met with silence.

"Um….am I going to hell?" Samuel asked.

"Don't be an idiot." Olga scoffed. "He's just joking, right Schweinorg?"

"…Father is one of the four rulers of Hell; my mom was human."

"Oh my God, you were telling the truth." Hinako's eyes widened.

Ah, I did tell her jokingly before.

"The Church is going to crucify me." Olga repeated again.

"Oh stop whining." Da Vinci rolled her eyes. "Besides, he's not bursting into flames by holding that Spear, so I think we're fine."

"If the world has not ended, I would be feeling very different right now." Pierre muttered something more in French that I didn't quite pick up on.

"If it makes you feel better, I'm actually on good terms with Big G." I offered.

"Don't call him that!" Jeanne squeaked.

"It's endearing!"

"You're not using it that way and you know it!" She countered.

"The Archangel Michael invited me to become an Angel." I threw out.

"Neeeeh!"

I was happy that she wasn't still…..like she was before. But I wasn't an idiot and it's obvious she was just suppressing it. As she said, she wasn't new to losing people she cared about. She fought in a bloody war, the people at her side were killed all the time.

"For real though, I've never actually been to Hell. I grew up thinking I was human until a few years ago. And Zelretch is my Grandfather – Adopted, so if you have hesitation, then you should know where he stands. And I wasn't kidding when I said I was on good terms with Heaven in general. Holy Power doesn't really smite me anymore."

"I don't know how to feel about this." Olga finally responded. "I'm going to bury it deep down until I have time to process it when the world isn't ending."

"Don't see what the big deal is." Cu leaned against the wall. "My old man is a God. The Witch hiding over there is descended from a Titan or something. Just feels like more of the same really."

"….when you say it like that I feel kind of silly for getting worked up." Samuel scratched his head.

"Nothing changes." Saber stated, nothing else added.

For some reason….that meant a lot to me.

"The Anti-Christ is on my payroll." Olga muttered.

"That's actually some other dumbass." I don't think that soothed her however.

"oooh! Can I get some samples!?" Da Vinci's eyes lit up.

"Caster, cease!" Olga growled.

"Just a little bit of blood, please!"

"Da Vinci, not now!" Roman held her back.

"But why do you gotta leave, Boss?" Samuel asked, seemingly ignoring them.

"CHALDEAS sort of….obscures Chaldea as a whole from forms of Clairvoyance, but it's not perfect. If he sees me, he'll decide to destroy Chaldea. He threatened to do that before when I was about to run. Which meant we were forced to fight, and well….as you can see, the Spear is cracked beyond all hell."

Olga let out a long sigh. "I'm frustrated by your reasoning, but I can't argue against it."

"It can't be helped." Cu agreed. "No point if we just get blown up before we can get going. You said he was ignoring us, we need to ride that out as long as possible."

"Hard to argue when literal God intervened to make this happen." Olga groaned. "This isn't for good, Schweinorg! I am ordering you to prepare for your return. You're the leader of B-Team."

She was still wearing my hat, which was very cute and I couldn't help myself. I pushed it down a little on her head. She let out a cute squeak and flailed her arms in my direction.

"When will you be back?" Ritsuka asked. "Things were pretty hectic, and I can't imagine them without you."

"I don't know, I need to talk to Zelretch and figure out the next course of action. But you guys would have been able to handle this Singularity without me, you did everything perfectly. I trust you all to handle the Singularities if I'm not here."

"We'll make do." Hinako crossed her arms. "We're in a better position than if you weren't here at all. I'd probably be dead, same with the others. We actually know who we're up against with an idea of what to do."

I was thankful for her easing the atmosphere. "I'm not just leaving without doing anything. I made sure Olga's stocked up on supplies." I said, pointing to her hat. "And these are for you guys." I produced a few books, handing them to Samuel since he was closest. "A bunch of spells, some of them I created, some of them just ones I came across. It's filled with my notes and step by step instructions."

"….you're just handing him the secrets to your Mysteries?" Olga gawked.

"You can look at them too, I don't mind." I shrugged. "It's mostly things on the lower end of the spectrum, but useful nonetheless."

"Thanks, Boss!" Samuel was quick to offer his thanks.

"And I guess I should turn Mozart over to you guys." I glanced at the Musician. "Now that I think about it, how exactly would you switch his contract to Chaldea…?"

"…..um…." Roman looked thoughtful. "I don't know if we can? I don't think we've ever considered this possibility. Temporary Contracts within the singularity are one thing, but we never anticipated that a Servant from a Singularity would be brought back."

"Well, I suppose I could rework some of the core systems. Add a redundancy protocol to attach to any Servant with a sequence to check –"

"Absolutely not." Olga cut off Da Vinci. "You are not messing with the Summon System when it's already being held together with what is basically Duct Tape!"

"It's not that bad!" Da Vinci whined. "This is giving me some idea I want to test, Director~"

"Actually….I had to duct tape a few things this morning…" Roman awkwardly shuffled in spot.

"….I react my statement." Da Vinci coughed.

"Well, you have a choice then, Mozart. You can fade and hope to be summoned or you can come with me." I offered.

Mozart raised an eyebrow. "To descend into the bowls of Hell itself." His eyes practically sparkled. "How insidious! I feel the beginnings of inspiration."

"Well, I guess that settles that."

"Wait! What about me!?" Jeanne asked.

"You don't get a choice; you're coming with me."

"B-But!"

"Nope." I yanked her braid. "You have no excuses this time."

"We're going to have such a wonderful time together~" Raikou cooed, wrapping up the Saintess in a tight hug. "So many wonderful new things to teach you~"

Raikou has the right idea. I refuse to leave her again.

"It's best we leave sooner rather than later." I hated it, I hated having to leave again and leave things up to chance in some aspects. "And I would like my staff back."

Medea was in the back and I heard her click her tongue. "Was hoping you would forget."

"Really?" I asked dryly.

"Was worth a shot." She tossed it to me and I happily put it away before pulling the Longinus free from the wall.

It felt so…..weak.

I would worry about that once I got home.

"We'll handle everything until you get back, Boss." Samuel smiled.

"Yes, Senpai! We'll be ready when you get back!" Mash nodded vigorously.

It was….not the best circumstances to say goodbye and it was clear that there was a degree of stress and uncertainty, but I suppose it couldn't be helped.

I was about to say my final goodbye, but Saber's petite hand grabbed at my collar, pulling me down until I was eye-level.

She stared into my eyes for several moments. "You will return."

"Of course." I smiled.

"I will protect them until you do so." She released me.

"It puts me at ease knowing you will."

She twitched slightly. "Yes, as it should." She turned away. "I will await your return and you will be thankful next we meet."

"Take care of yourself." Cu walked up, patting my shoulder. "I'll do my best to watch the kids."

"Got any last minute advice?"

"Hmm." He tapped his chin. "Sixth." He said rather cryptically. "At Least by then." He leaned in with a whisper for only me to hear.

I nodded, only guessing at what he meant by that. He silently handed me my spear without any hesitation.

Anyone would just be dragging it off.

I opened up a portal while I felt we were still safe and the others hesitantly walked through followed by Raikou.

One last smiled and nod, and I followed behind, leaving them to the unknown.

[***]

'Solomon' POV.

Something was….wrong.

I sat upon the Throne of Time, silence permeating the void around me, yet….I felt something amiss.

Why was there this phantom feeling so suddenly?

Raum, Report.

'Calculations within .00047% error margin.'

Good.

Barbatos, Report.

'Beginning final preparations, no anomalies.'

Gremory, report.

'Removing all traces of subject F-118.'

Acceptable.

Even still…..why does this strange sensation still permeate? Was I…. anxious? The thought made me scowl before I squashed it. What force could possibly force such a human emotion upon me? The thought was utterly ridiculous, and I felt foolish for even considering it.

Even so, it would be further foolish to ignore this feeling I was having.

Flauros, report.

'The singularity labeled F-004 has been removed. Processing source of destruction…..Grail has been removed from the time period, Counterforce assault expected and observed. Timeline realigned with proper Human History. Singularities labeled F-005 through F-008 noted no anomalies and progress as expected. Designation Singularity F-009 suffers further degradation and assimilation by entity labeled 'Goddess Rhongomyniad'. Observation has been established, any action has been rendered immaterial and further consideration not needed. Evaluation – proceeding as normal. Singularity F019 –'

"That is enough." I responded, tapping the throne.

Everything was proceeding within considerations. The anomaly Goddess that appeared in the Seventh Singularity notwithstanding, but wholly irrelevant. The nature of her Weapon made intervention a risk unneeded. Priorities aligned, foreign interference by her was not predicted, but caused no overall concern.

However, I was still feeling uneasy and it was beginning to infuriate me.

Why was it as if I was unable to recall something important?

Ridiculous.

Agares, run a diagnostic on the connected hive root.

'Initiating redundancy protocols and infiltration assertion. Full internal scans completed; no outside interference detected. Request further orders.'

"No need, return to what you were previously doing." Why did it persist? "Flauros, report on Singularity F-004."

'….resolution achieved by organization designated Chaldea. Traces of Rayshift alignment detected, probability of extranormal entity interference, .091%. Resolution, destruction of Chaldea would result in an efficiency increase of 1.05%. Request destruction of Chaldea.'

'Alloces rejects this proposal. Unnecessary to focus on insignificant humans.'

'Furfur agrees with Alloces.'

'Malphas in agreement.'

'Caim in agreement.'

'Eligos in Agreement.'

'Buer agrees with Flauros. Chaldea poses miniscule risk, effort to remove requires less than a percentage of resources. Logical conclusion, remove uncontrollable factors.'

'Sitri find's Buer's acknowledgement of Humans to be disgusting.'

'Vapar in agreement with Sitri.'

'Buer merely wishes to remove annoyances.'

'Paimon agrees with Buer. Bugs should be squashed.'

'Ipos remains neutral.'

'Naberius thinks that Flauros should be remade and memories modified. Anger clouding judgment from loss to humans.'

'Flauros argues that he did not lose to humans! Anomaly registered as 'Magician' and 'unknown' factor with resonance with us. Relationship with Chaldea –'

"Enough." I ended the argument between my Demon Pillars. "Ignore the humans, we are nearing completion of our goal. Their stomping around matters not."