Chapter 320: Where It Begins

In the future.

"What—?"

Ritsuka Fujimaru is in the midst of fighting [The Spider] when a stranger appeared. She was wearing a strange magenta combat suit. With a single 'kick', or so she calls it, she banished it.

It is a ridiculous sight. It was a sight out of a sentai show. What's more ridiculous is that it truly happened in their eyes. Everyone—be it the staff from Chaldea or Ritsuka and the servants—went silent.

Click.

A card flew out of her [Neo Decadriver]. It cancelled her transformation, showing an orange-haired woman in a trench coat. Her red turtleneck complimented her black coat, making her seem more mature. An aurora curtain showed on her behest.

"You are..."

Ritsuka had a strange feeling. When he looked at her, she feels very familiar. He is sure he hadn't met her before, yet this striking familiarity couldn't leave his chest.

"It doesn't matter." She replied. "That guy... I understand him now."

She, Ritsuka Fujimaru (Gudako), was supposed to be dead. She failed in her mission to save the human order and lost everyone. When she held expectations that they could cross over the final hurdle, they were defeated by [The Spider]. Every single possibilities were broken as she lost everything.

(A/N: She came from the April Fools event.)

However, one meeting changed her fate.

Gudako looked at the [Master] in this world's timeline.

"Good luck."

She stepped into the curtain. Inside, there was nothing but a blurry gray world. It is akin to the fog from [Mysteries], but it came from a different source.

Gudako was surprised to see someone inside it. A gothic girl sat cross-legged on her throne of shadows.

"You work hard."

"I need to." She replied. "I'm following our agreement."

"...I am surprised how I missed your meeting."

Seeing Kuroneko laugh, Gudako went straight to the point.

"What do you need?"

"Your help."

Hearing this, she wasn't surprised.

"I will do as per what we talked about."

"Well, I'm glad with that."

Kuroneko stood up. The throne she was sitting dissipated.

"Wait."

"What is it?"

Gudako briefly hesitated before asking:

"When will it come? He... He didn't mention anything about it."

"That is completely normal. Shiro couldn't have mentioned it to others considering the lock."

Back then, they were preparing for a grand 'battle'. While this happened, Shiro somehow met with Gudako and made an agreement.

"If we knew it'll happen... Nevermind." Kuroneko shifted the topic to her question. "In his words, it's 'something you'll know'. There's no need to worry."

"Alright."

When Kuroneko left, Gudako was stuck into deep thoughts.

"That man... What did he think back then?"

*****

In the control room, Shiro waited for any abnormal parameters. It's his turn to watch out for any abnormalities; on the off chance Goetia strikes first. The others are already waiting for that moment.

"Yawn..."

Shiro stuffed a lolipop to his mouth. It is a candy used to clear his mind over. Most of the time, it should be saved as a precious resource, but Shiro and his millions of points gave him a lot of it. His random spin results were nothing short of lucky.

"Davinci-san."

"Shiro-san? You're here!"

"Finished a research just now?"

"The research direction you gave is re~ally helpful."

Seeing her act 'cute', Shiro deadpanned. He knew how Davinci used to be a guy; that he's now inside a female homunculus' body. He didn't do any of this while he acted as 'Tail White', yet (s)he did!

"Ahem. I didn't know you are visiting."

"Sorry 'bout that. I got quite bored and decided to see how things are in this place. Want one of these?"

"Sure."

Davinci thought it is a normal lolipop but she was wrong. When she placed it to her mouth, she felt all of her accumulated fatigue disappear.

"Is this..."

"Just a special candy. I also give one to Romani whenever he pulls off consecutive all-nighters."

"So that's why he looks energetic!"

She discovered Romani's secret to his all-nighters without the use of energy drinks.

Rumble-!

Suddenly, Chaldea shook. Davinci nearly lost balance if not for Shiro holding her arm.

A series of alerts showed on the screen.

"Romani will be busy now." He muttered.

"...Yes."

It looks like Goetia chose to strike first.

*****

Imaginary Number Space.

It is a dimension that exists inside the [Reverse Side of the World]. It is extremely distinct from the [Real World]. It could not be easily perceived.

In such a place, it is where the [Temple of Time] is located.

"The promised time shall come."

From the [Clairvoyance] in Solomon's corpse, Goetia saw everything. From the impact of Age of God's end until the deeds done by humanity.

Goetia saw how pitiable they could be. There was not one moment where humanity lived without disharmony. They are holding themselves back. They are also the cause of their inevitable ruin. When everything was over and the bleaching of pan-human history came, humanity will be done for.

That's why he took a heavy responsibility—to turn humanity into a better race. For that to happen, the current humanity has to go.

"Solomon..."

Goetia saw the possible futures with [Clairvoyance]. Every single time, he saw his plan coming to a success. Chaldea couldn't prevent him due to the temple. As long as it stands, he along with the other demon gods will be revived. There is no way to circumvent it with the current power of Chaldea. They aren't the same Chaldea with the Extra classes in the future.

"How strange."

He was expecting a resistance when they found out about everything, yet nothing happened. Chaldea took its time to rest instead of rushing straight to him. In that case, he chose to take the initiative.

"You are not like this."

Nevertheless, the ones who sought him arrived. They made their way to the throne with cautiousness. They are a pair of man and a girl—a Master and a Demi-servant.

Seeing this, Goetia knew it had started.

*****

Future.

"Sigh... This might be fate indeed."

Romani lowered the cup of coffee to his table. Even after years had passed since he joined the chat group, he is the same overworked guy as before.

"Never use your final Noble Phantasm. We'll find another way to this."

That was what Shiro said before being backed up by others. Nobody wanted Romani to disappear for good, just like his original self. They have more options to choose from thanks to the chat group.

"For me to not use it... Maybe he knew at that time?"

Looking at the complete ten rings on his fingers, many thoughts ran past him. Upon reaching the highest rank, Beyonder, he is no longer affected by this reality. The ten rings he planned to use for [Ars Nova] remained untouched due to everyone's joint efforts. He no longer had to erase himself from existence to defeat Goetia.

It is simply an anchor of his memories to look back.

"Man... We didn't know what was on your mind at that time. Speak about being mysterious."

Aside from his wives, nobody guessed the events of that day.