Chapter 266: Alter: Oh no, I've become a substitute?
"So the Singularity we fought so hard to stabilize… cracked like that from a single faceplant?"
After a long silence in Chaldea's central control room, Da Vinci finally exhaled and came back to herself.
It was absurd, yet it was also undeniably real.
One could only say… as expected of a saint from the earliest centuries.
She drew her eyes away from the human order observation system called Chaldeas and glanced sideways.
"Romani? Why are you so pale?"
"It is nothing."
Romani shook his head, forcing the corners of his mouth upward.
"Your hand is shaking, Doctor Roman." Da Vinci tilted her head, a strange little smile tugging at her lips.
"Really. It is nothing." Romani's smile was stiff, and his chest felt tighter by the second, because he had realized something he absolutely did not want to realize.
The Lord's incarnation on this worldline was his Main body.
Still, he swallowed the turmoil down. No matter what, Rowe was inside the Singularity, not inside Chaldea. There was still distance. A buffer.
"Even if the Singularity fractured, it will repair itself quickly." He straightened his expression and stared at Da Vinci as if seriousness alone could carry him across the gap. "Do not underestimate the world's restorative force. If the root cause is not removed, then even if the Singularity shatters a thousand times, it changes nothing."
Da Vinci blinked.
"Your hand is still shaking."
"…!"
Watching Romani's expression, like he had swallowed something rotten and was trying to smile through it, Da Vinci finally laughed out loud.
She studied him for another moment. As Chaldea's Number Three Heroic Spirit, she knew Romani Archaman carried secrets. Too many.
He had been a close friend of the former Director. He was an elder figure to the Director who died at the hands of the traitorous deputy. He had been in Chaldea longer than even she had, longer than the Number Three Heroic Spirit.
He looked ordinary.
Yet Da Vinci's instincts as an artist were never wrong. Something about him did not fit the frame.
However…
"Now is not the time to pry." Da Vinci raised her coffee with a light smile. "You are right. We cannot underestimate the world's repair."
Then her gaze sharpened.
"And we cannot underestimate our last Master, Miss Fujimaru either."
"What is more…"
"This time, we have an absurdly powerful helper."
She blinked again, playful now.
"We will be fine, won't we?"
Romani's smile finally relaxed by a fraction, and they both turned back to Chaldeas.
On the shimmering globe, the cracks were already fading. The jagged black lines that had torn across France were being filled by sand like motes of light, patching the fracture from within.
"The speed is faster than I expected," Da Vinci murmured.
"It is beyond what should be possible based on the previously measured Human Order Foundation Value," Romani said. Human Order Foundation Value measured how deep an event or era was carved into history. The deeper it was, the more the world cared. The more it would resist distortion.
"Is it because of that saint?"
"Maybe," Romani answered.
They did not know.
But as support staff, there was only one thing they could do now.
Hold the rear. Keep the line steady. Give their Master everything she needed.
…
The world repaired itself.
In fifteenth century France, the black cracks spreading across the plains slowly disappeared, sealed by the world's own correction like countless grains of light packing into a wound.
To be honest, though, this was not something Rowe had expected.
He had expected to fall.
He had not expected the Singularity itself to be this fragile.
It was true he had descended in his Main body, but after forging the seven deadly sins and stripping away the bulk of his power, he was in a state of high offense and low defense.
At any time, he could summon the crushing weight of the Origin Universe's infinite worlds.
At any time, anywhere, he could manifest the seven deadly sins, command a corner of the Origin Universe, and sever whatever stood in front of him.
The current Origin Universe had already completed a genuine leap in specification. If the seven deadly sins were all in his hand at once, even if Chaos at full strength descended, Rowe was confident he could fight it head on.
Because the seven deadly sins were him.
Not borrowed.
Not external.
Not something that could be snatched away.
But his Main body was still human shaped.
The Primordial Human was powerful, yes, but normally he should not be able to punch through a world just by falling.
No matter how powerful, he was still, in the end, a man.
Which meant this Singularity was simply too thin. Too brittle. Too shallow.
Fortunately, Rowe had long since become used to surprises. He accepted it without much emotion.
"It is good that the world's correction is strong enough."
Under the blue sky and blazing sun, Rowe stood up, brushed dust from his knees, and looked at the plain now restored to normal.
His fall had not left a lasting wound on the world's essence.
Most people would only remember a tremor. A moment of fear. Nothing more.
"Cough, cough…"
A low cough came from nearby. As dust dispersed, Mash and Ritsuka emerged.
"Senpai… are you alright?"
"I am fine." Ritsuka exhaled hard, then looked around, eyes sharp. "How about you? And where is that one?"
"Fou."
Mash still held her shield. Fou perched on her shoulder. Her tight combat suit clung to her graceful frame, now coated in dust. But she seemed fine.
The impact had looked catastrophic, yet being close to Rowe meant they were inside the eye of it. Mash's shield had held. They were only disheveled.
Ritsuka behind Mash looked slightly better, but her white Master uniform was also dusted over like it had been dragged through rubble.
After confirming they were fine, both of them looked at Rowe.
Rowe looked back.
"Are you alright?"
"I am fine," Ritsuka said at once, then immediately protested. "But you were terrifying, you know?"
Fou raised a paw and chirped as if adding his own complaint.
Mash tugged at Ritsuka's sleeve.
"Senpai… Mr Rowe was helping us."
Ritsuka knew that. Fafnir being handled by Rowe was a major obstacle removed.
Still, she tilted her head, lips curving.
"It was really scary."
Mash did not refute that one. It had been terrifying.
"So, as compensation," Ritsuka said, lifting her chin with shameless confidence, "please help us repair the Singularity."
It was not compensation. Not truly.
Ritsuka knew Rowe owed them nothing.
She only needed a bridge. A reason that made their relationship feel natural.
Rowe smiled, and his eyes narrowed with faint amusement.
"As expected of the last Master of human order, who stepped into Mystery as an ordinary person and survived for two years."
"You said it is something you need to do too," Ritsuka shot back, then raised her fist. "So let's fight side by side. Do not underestimate us just because we are weak. We can matter when it counts."
Rowe nodded once.
"Then guide me."
"Yeah."
"Fou."
"I will work hard too, Senpai. Mr Rowe." Mash spoke quickly, almost tripping over her words.
Ritsuka was about to add something else, but the ground trembled again.
This time it was not Rowe's catastrophic fall.
It was Fafnir.
The evil dragon had been blown away, buried beneath boulders not far off, and now he was moving again.
A top class dragon at full form could not be killed by one blow. In some sense, he was sturdier than this thin Singularity space with its low human order depth.
Rowe could crack the Singularity.
Fafnir could take the hit.
The boulders overturned. Wings spread. A black storm spun up. Fafnir roared as he rose.
Then he froze the moment his eyes met Rowe.
Rowe appeared in front of him as if he had always been there, cutting off the dragon's instinct to flee.
The roar turned into a low, miserable whine.
Moved?
Cannot move.
Cannot move.
The most evil dragon that had once terrorized myths, a creature that might not even fear the hero who killed it, was almost motionless now.
He had watched Rowe fall and crack a Singularity.
What kind of monster was that?
"You have two choices." Rowe smiled. "Die, or become a dog."
"A dog…?" Fafnir's anger flared for half a second.
"Human."
"Even if you are strong, I am the strongest evil dragon of the Age of Gods. I am Fafnir."
"Do not go too far."
Rowe raised his fist.
Fafnir's tongue slipped out instinctively.
"Woof."
Rowe clapped, pleased.
"See? You are already excellent."
"…!"
Fafnir wanted to swear that was not his choice. That was not him.
It was just… the moment Rowe raised his fist, his brain had gone blank. He had felt, with perfect certainty, that he was not a dragon at all.
He was a dog.
"That is not an illusion," Rowe said, as if reading his thoughts. "In a certain worldline, you really did become my dog."
Rowe's eyes lit with molten streams of light, storms flickering in their depths.
Christ? Holy Son?
No.
Fafnir's heart lurched.
Norse.
Wild Hunt.
King of the Wild Hunt, once an aspect of Odin, later mythologized into a supreme name that transcended him. If it was that one, maybe being a dog was not the worst fate.
No.
I am a dragon.
Fafnir shook his head, trying to shake the thought away.
He spread his wings and rose, lifting his long neck, forcing fury into his gaze, trying to roar.
He said, "Woof. Woof. Woof."
He tried again.
"Woof woof woof."
He tried again.
"Woof."
Then he stopped.
He gave up.
No shame left to burn.
…
"Mash, Mash, did you hear that?" Ritsuka looked delighted for reasons that made no tactical sense. "A dog is barking, right?"
"Fou."
"Senpai," Mash groaned, but she was fighting a laugh.
Fafnir glared, then exhaled hard, and finally spoke in a voice that had lost most of its edge.
"What do you want?"
Softened or not, it did not matter.
He could not win. He could not escape.
However, Rowe did not intend to truly keep him as a dog.
"You are the mark of the Dragon Witch."
"France in this Singularity has already been conquered by her. This land is full of her forces, people who follow in the name of Jeanne d Arc."
Fafnir narrowed his eyes.
"And you want to use me to control the Witch's troops." It was not a question. "With your power, is that really necessary?"
"Yes," Rowe said.
Because Rowe had not come here merely to repair the Singularity.
He had come to save this dead world.
Repairing a Singularity was easy.
Reviving a dead world was hard.
So the Singularity could not simply be repaired.
It had to expand.
Seek life from death.
Ignite the Singularity.
Turn it into the life flame of this world.
That was Rowe's plan.
And Rowe already knew the Dragon Witch, or rather the one who summoned her, would never obey him.
So he would replace her.
He would replace the source of the Singularity itself.
"I know what you want to say," Rowe continued. "The cause must be an original existence within the Singularity. I cannot. You cannot either."
"But someone can."
Rowe looked straight into Fafnir's golden eyes.
Those eyes reflected a figure racing across the distant land like a storm, an iris banner snapping violently in the wind.
A beautiful young woman in black robes and silver armor. A silver circlet on her brow.
Her face was identical to the Dragon Witch who commanded Fafnir.
No.
The Dragon Witch was identical to her.
"Is she…" Fafnir's eyes narrowed. Light glinted within them.
"The real Jeanne."
Fafnir understood instantly.
Jeanne plus Fafnir.
Replacing the Dragon Witch's position would be trivial.
Why had Fafnir accepted the Dragon Witch's summons?
Because she was Gilles de Rais's fantasy. Jeanne as he wished she had been, filled with hatred, made into evil.
What about the one in front of him?
A saint.
And also a sinner who carried the world's sins.
If one spoke of evil, Rowe was the true extreme.
Great good and great evil were always neighbors.
Fafnir's lips, or what passed for them on a dragon, curled.
"So this is interesting, Saint."
Since that was the case…
He would play along.
"Woof woof woof!"
…
At the core of the France Singularity, inside the golden hall, the silver haired witch in black opened her golden eyes.
Unease pressed at the edge of her thoughts.
"Still no return. No report."
"The evil dragon Fafnir…"
Before her stood several figures.
They were not human.
They were Servants summoned by Gilles de Rais with the Holy Grail.
...
[TL: Check out my newly Released fanfic]
[TITLE: Starting in One Piece with Vector Manipulation]