"Spiritron Calculation Engine: Trismegistus. Familiar computer spirit: Laplace, capable of observing the past. Earth's environmental model: a projection of Chaldeas. Chaldea sure has a lot of interesting tech."
In Chaldea's equipment room, Daniel carefully observed the massive, strange devices in front of him—the Spiritron Calculation Engine and Laplace. He had to admit, Magecraft in the Moon World was truly impressive. They had even developed a magical version of a quantum computer.
Daniel also possessed quantum technology, mostly acquired from the Honkai universe. However, that was purely scientific in nature. Witnessing quantum computation through Magecraft was a first for him. And when considering the Moon World's history, it became clear that Atlas Institute had this technology long before humanity's science ever reached such heights.
Naturally, Daniel was deeply intrigued. Even though these devices formed the foundation of Chaldea and couldn't be tampered with, that didn't stop him from studying them on the side.
Chaldea's technological level was extremely advanced. If given the chance, Daniel wouldn't mind building a Chaldea of his own. With his current resources and wealth, it was well within reach.
Aside from the Heroic Spirit summoning system and the Near-Future Observation Lens: Shiva—which only worked in the Moon World—most of the tech could be utilized in other worlds too.
The summoning system relied on the existence of the Throne of Heroes. Without it, the system was essentially useless. That said, even if it was presently unusable, Daniel still studied the system in depth. After all, they were in the Moon World. Here, it was highly relevant. And who's to say he wouldn't acquire his own Throne of Heroes someday?
"Human Order Incineration, Lostbelts, Imaginary Number Submersion..."
What interested him even more than Chaldea's existing tech was the concept of Human Order Incineration and the Imaginary Number Submersion system. This submersion tech reminded him of Otto's Genius system from the Honkai world—it was essentially a quantum-space positioning system.
In truth, the Moon World's "Imaginary Number Space" was effectively quantum space.
"I wonder if this world is like Honkai—maybe there's something like a Tree of Imaginary Numbers, with each world being a leaf?"
While the Moon World never explicitly explored this theory, after arriving and comparing it to Honkai, Daniel couldn't help but wonder. The idea of a World Tree had existed for ages—even Marvel had its Nine Realms: Asgard, Midgard, etc. Who's to say there wasn't a World Tree underpinning them too? Maybe they just hadn't observed it yet.
Of course, it was just a thought. While he could investigate further, the reality was that such a project would require extensive time and resources. Otto had developed Genius with the help of the Second Divine Key and the remnants of pre-civilization technology—and even then, it took him years. Daniel didn't have that kind of time at the moment.
His priority was personal growth—traveling to different worlds to hone his power. Once the world had settled and stabilized, then he could pursue these deeper truths.
"I have a question that's been bugging me," Da Vinci said suddenly, pausing her own work beside him.
"Oh? What is it?" Daniel stopped his own research and turned to her.
"Since you can bring people from other worlds here to help… why don't you awaken the other Masters?"
If Daniel had never come to Chaldea, and lacked the ability to freely cross between parallel worlds, Chaldea wouldn't have been able to revive the Masters critically wounded by Lev's bomb. But things had changed. With external resources, reviving them and enlisting their help in saving humanity should be completely possible.
Previously, Daniel had said they couldn't be revived. But now that he'd brought people like Luvia and Rin here, that excuse didn't hold water.
In truth, even without Daniel's interdimensional portal, Rin and Luvia could've been sent into Singularities the same way as Ritsuka and Mash.
"There are several reasons. First, I looked into the backgrounds of these people—almost all of them are orthodox mages from the Mage's Association. You know what their attitude toward Heroic Spirits is, right? If they can't form deep bonds with Servants, they'll never make it through the Singularities. Their attitude toward Mash—even before I arrived—was already obvious."
Orthodox mages viewed Heroic Spirits as mere familiars. This mindset might get them through the early Singularities, but not the sixth, seventh, or the Grand Temple of Time. Deep bonds were essential.
Take Kadoc from the Human Order Freeze—his dismissive attitude toward Mash said it all. But if Mash died, that would basically signal the failure of Chaldea's mission.
And who could guarantee that Fou, the fourth Beast, wouldn't go berserk if Mash were to fall? Even if he didn't attack, if he saw no one willing to sacrifice for her, humanity might face a new Human Evil.
"That's your only reason?" Da Vinci asked after a moment's silence.
"Of course not. The most important reason is that Human Order Incineration is only the beginning. Even if we fix all the Singularities and save humanity, that doesn't mean the world will be at peace. You'd better start preparing for what's next."
Daniel gave her a meaningful look.
"What do you mean?" Da Vinci lowered her voice instinctively.
"Don't you think it's strange? Lev's bomb supposedly killed only Olga—everyone else just got severely injured? Sure, Doctor Roman's quick response helped, but not a single person died? That's… a bit too lucky."
"You're suggesting… there's someone among them..."
Da Vinci didn't finish, but Daniel understood what she was implying.
"I don't know for sure. But just in case, it's best to keep them frozen."
Of the forty-eight Masters—excluding Ritsuka and the seven in Team A—Daniel had no idea who the rest were. But if Team A was already involved in the Human Order Freeze, who's to say there wasn't another traitor among the rest?
"I see. That makes sense now," Da Vinci nodded solemnly.
If Lev could betray Chaldea, anyone could. And now, she understood Daniel's refusal to revive them.
"It's best you do. And from now on, start making preparations. Also—don't tell anyone else about this. Only you, Roman, and Olga Marie can know. No one else."
Not even Holmes. Daniel didn't fully trust him either. He'd only shared this with Da Vinci to help her avoid danger in the future. While young Da Vinci was great, keeping the current one safe was the better option.
—
"That's the situation. I now agree—it's best not to unfreeze them."
In the director's office, after learning everything from Daniel, Da Vinci met with Olga Marie and Roman to explain the situation.
"You mean there's a spy among them?" Olga asked after a pause.
She already knew some of the forty-eight were spies from rival Mage's Association factions. That was unavoidable. But until now, she'd never considered that one might be involved in the Human Order Incineration.
"Director," Roman looked over to her seriously.
"I understand."
Given the situation, Olga Marie had to admit that leaving things as they were was the safest option. The last thing Chaldea needed was another traitor.
As for Daniel, Rin, and Luvia—she had no doubts about their loyalty.
"Just the beginning, huh? This is turning into quite the ordeal."
After leaving Olga's office, Da Vinci and Roman went to the medical room.
"Yeah… Oh, by the way, he seems to know your true identity."
"Well, he's a Magic User. It makes sense. You should hurry with your preparations. Man… I really just wanted to live a normal life."
Roman sighed deeply. He'd never asked for any of this—he just wanted to be a regular guy.
"...Fine. You win."
Da Vinci shook her head as she watched Roman boot up his computer and log into a specific website, then turned and left.
—
"What? Nero's forces are surrounded? Got it, I'm heading over now."
Back in Chaldea's lab, Daniel was continuing his research when Da Vinci rushed in with the report. Nero and her army had been ambushed.
After leaving the Invisible Island where Steno resided, Daniel had returned to Chaldea. At this point in the war, he didn't need to intervene. Their side was already far stronger than in the original timeline.
Before leaving, he had transferred Cú Chulainn's contract to Ritsuka, along with Leonidas, who'd been won over. With these Servants, losing was virtually impossible.
Besides, Daniel could warp to the battlefield at any moment. The main reason he wasn't with them was the travel time—it wasn't worth the wait.
The Roman Singularity revolved around military warfare. Even if Servants were strong, they couldn't operate without an army. Even Jing Ke didn't infiltrate alone—she took advantage of battlefield chaos to assassinate enemy emperors.
Though Nero now knew the location of the United Roman HQ, she couldn't just march in. An army had to clear the path. And armies moved slowly—Daniel didn't have time for that.
Rin and Luvia could use the downtime to train. But Daniel had no such need.
"A trap? Rin and Artoria are sealed inside a formation… Wait—is that the Stone Sentinel Maze?"
As soon as he reached Nero's encampment, Daniel grasped the situation.
After several victories, Nero had grown overconfident. She'd accelerated the pace, aiming to strike the United Roman headquarters directly. But along the way, she encountered a hidden fortress.
Strategically, this made little sense. The surrounding area was a plain. If they had the forces to build this fort, they should've just reinforced their main base.
Because of this, Nero hadn't taken the threat seriously and sent Lu Bu, Spartacus, and Boudica to attack.
It was a trap. The two Berserkers were immediately lured away—without a Master, Berserkers were easy to bait. When Nero realized something was wrong, she dispatched Artoria and Cú Chulainn to rescue them.
Then eight massive stone pillars descended from the sky, trapping Artoria, Cú Chulainn, Rin, Luvia, both Berserkers, and Boudica—five Servants in one fell swoop. An impressive move.
Mash remained by Nero's side for protection. Jing Ke was scouting. Leonidas was commanding troops elsewhere. Otherwise, they might've all been captured.
As soon as the eight were sealed, thousands of soldiers appeared and surrounded Nero's main force. Jing Ke had scouted the area and found nothing—but this world had Servants. There might not be native soldiers, but that didn't stop the enemy from summoning them.
Just like Leonidas summoned his 300 Spartans, this enemy had a similar ability—but with far more numbers. Over ten thousand undead soldiers now surrounded Nero.
"Darius III… the Immortals, huh? As expected of Iskandar's old rival. A true King's Army-type Noble Phantasm."
Seeing the endless tide of undead, Daniel instantly recognized the enemy: Darius III, who had once clashed with Iskandar.
"It'd be fun to watch them fight—though Darius would lose."
His army was strong, but inferior to Iskandar's in both quality and numbers. Iskandar summoned Heroic Spirits. Darius summoned monsters. And while he could summon 10,000, Iskandar could summon far more.
"Nero, may we have a word?"
Despite trapping so many Servants, the enemy hadn't attacked yet. Two familiar figures emerged from their ranks.
"As expected… El-Melloi II and Young Emperor… No, Zhuge Kongming and the Young Emperor."
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