["March? March?"]
[Accompanied by Stelle's voice, March 7th slowly opened her eyes. Only then did she realize she had already disconnected from the Matrix of Prescience Ultima and returned to reality.]
[Rubbing her head, March felt dizzy… She looked doubtfully at Fu Xuan beside her: "Miss Fu Xuan, why did the deduction suddenly stop?"]
["The Matrix of Prescience Ultima halted in that very instant."]
[Recalling what had just happened, Fu Xuan found it extremely hard to believe. In all her years as Master Diviner, she had never encountered such a thing. She asked curiously: "March, from the moment you touched that ice block, I could no longer observe you at all. What exactly happened?"]
["Mm…" March 7th recounted the entire conversation with the Messenger to the two of them in detail.]
["So… it's Fuli? The Aeon connected to my past is the Memory Aeon [Fuli]?"]
["Not necessarily… we cannot conclude that yet…" Fu Xuan rested one hand on her chin in thought. "We can only say it's very likely that an Aeon sealed your memories—but it may not necessarily be the Lord of Recollection."]
["Perhaps what the Messenger meant by 'protection' was a hint that the Lord of Recollection is not the one responsible for sealing your memories. Their intervention was to protect you from being harmed by those sealed memories."]
[Although they still hadn't seen March 7th's past after all this, at least they had captured one clue regarding the Garden of Recollection—not a complete waste. Little March remained quite optimistic about it. After all, there were still many days ahead; she would surely have more chances to uncover her past.]
——
A Certain Scientific Railgun.
The sunset dyed the sky orange-red as the evening breeze brushed through their hair. Misaka Mikoto leaned against the railing, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing a small coin.
"The people from the Garden of Recollection really keep their mouths shut tight. They'd rather forcibly sever her connection to the Matrix of Prescience Ultima than reveal even the tiniest bit of information." Misaka Mikoto gave a slightly dissatisfied hum. "In the end, we still didn't get any useful intel."
"When facing entities that cannot be spoken of, the best approach is silence." Kamijō Tōma glanced sideways at her. "Just from the Garden of Recollection's attitude toward this matter, it's not hard to infer how weighty March 7th's past memories must be."
"…Even an Aeon got involved. March 7th's memories must be tied to something massive."
"Mm, speaking of which, I actually have a question." Misaka Mikoto looked at the third eye on Fu Xuan's forehead in the light screen. "Fu Xuan and the Matrix of Prescience Ultima couldn't help March 7th find her past, and the Garden of Recollection intercepted it. Is it possible… that Fu Xuan's approach was wrong from the start? She shouldn't have tried to start from 'recollection' at all."
"What do you mean?" Kamijō Tōma didn't catch on immediately.
Misaka Mikoto simply rephrased the question: "'March 7th's past hides a secret so great that even an Aeon must intervene'—who do you think would be most interested in this topic right now?"
"Hm…" Tōma lowered his head in thought for a moment, then suddenly thought of someone. "Lady Herta?"
"Exactly. Scientists are basically curiosity given physical form. There's no way she wouldn't be interested." Misaka Mikoto nodded, gazing toward the hazy silhouette of Academy City in the distance.
"The Aeon of Erudition, Nous the Erudition— in theory, They already possess all information in the universe and can solve anything, answer any question. If we had Lady Herta, an Emanator of Erudition, pose March 7th's dilemma to Nous, do you think Nous would provide an answer?"
——
[Not long after Stelle and March 7th returned to the Express, they discovered a letter from the Xianzhou.]
[The contents of the letter were things like "the Inverted Ancient Sea" and "revisiting old haunts"—clearly addressed to Dan Heng. After Stelle handed the letter to him, Dan Heng noticed it bore no signature, nor any specified time or place for a meeting.]
[Faced with such a strange letter, Dan Heng sent Stelle away and secretly applied the Cloudhymn technique to it alone. Sure enough… the original writing vanished, replaced by another line of ink—]
["Five people, three prices."]
[Dan Heng immediately sensed something was gravely amiss and decided to head to the Seat of Divine Foresight to inquire for clues.]
[…]
[The scene shifted—to inside the Seat of Divine Foresight.]
[Jingliu surveyed her surroundings, looking at the Cloud Knights standing as if facing a great enemy. She gave a cold smile: "It's been so long since I left the Luofu, yet the killing intent in this Seat has only grown stronger instead of fading. Quite reassuring."]
[From her words, Yanqing thought she was about to draw her sword. He immediately stepped forward, hand pressing down on his sword hilt.]
["Oh, just words. Little brother, no need to be so on edge. I'm merely reminiscing about old times."]
——
Emiya Residence.
"I thought I'd get to witness her divine technique again. What a pity, what a pity…"
Sasaki Kojirō shook his head regretfully. Although his "Monohoshizao" exceeded three shaku in length and differed greatly in form from Jingliu's sword, the exquisite subtleties of swordsmanship could still offer lessons.
After seeing Jingliu's technique that severed moonlight itself, he had become utterly engrossed in recalling her moves. Now having another chance to witness her swordplay, Sasaki Kojirō was more excited than anyone.
"Witnessing a divine technique comes at the cost of everyone's life here, you know?"
Lancer shook the beer can in his hand. "If that woman truly decides to act, she could probably slaughter everyone except Yanqing in an instant, right? Maybe this kid could barely block a few strikes—but if Jingliu really intends to kill… he won't even make it out of the Seat of Divine Foresight alive."
As he spoke, Lancer's face also showed a trace of regret: "I was hoping to see more of Dan Heng in action, but after he transforms he doesn't even fight up close with a spear anymore—just toys with a pearl the whole time. Sure, that thing packs a lot of power, but I still wanted to see him spar with Jingliu using his spear."
"…I think you just want Dan Heng to die."
Saber shot a glare at the overly enthusiastic Lancer. She recalled Dan Heng's battle with Blade—though Dan Heng had resisted throughout with no intent to fight, it was obvious his Imbibitor Lunae form represented the peak of his strength.
Fighting Jingliu with just one spear strike from the clouds… it felt like deliberately crippling himself by seventy percent just to seek death.
——
[Just then, Dan Heng slowly walked in, stating he had business and wished to see the General. However… sensing the tense, sword-drawn atmosphere in the room, he felt truly awkward.]
[Qingzu quietly reminded him from the side, asking if he still remembered the white-haired swordswoman before him. Dan Heng remained quite calm, simply replied "I don't recognize her," and prepared to turn and leave.]
[Qingzu called out to the departing Dan Heng and began introducing the white-haired woman's past experiences and glorious battle records. But as she spoke of later events, her gaze couldn't help but dim—after all, no long-life species could escape mara-struck.]
["It is said that Lady Jingliu ultimately lost her mind in madness, slaughtering indiscriminately, and became a fugitive criminal who escaped beyond the borders. With her abilities, no one should have been able to capture her. Yet for some unknown reason, she arrived on the Luofu together with a certain suspect disguised as a merchant and declared she would turn herself in to face punishment…"]