Arknights' Lock of Heaven

It seemed like the demons were about to attack at any moment, leaving Xia Yu both amused and exasperated.

Actually, if they were just derivatives, Storm Borde would be perfectly capable of protecting themselves. Xia Yu had told them that, but perhaps because they had faced so many major crises in the world of FGO, they had all developed a habit of doing so.

Never gamble on a seemingly insignificant probability if there is even the slightest chance. On Earth, they have no choice; if they don't fight, human civilization will perish.

Now that they are in a foreign land, they naturally want to avoid any crisis as much as possible.

Well, I guess it's a habit I developed because of all those weirdos and monsters in FGO.

Look at the level of crises they handle normally.

Let's leave aside the chaos of the singularities and talk about the Lostbelts.

The first Lostbelt—the Permafrost Empire—is alright; compared to the ones that follow, it's utterly unremarkable.

The second Lostbelt—Ragnarok Online: The Age of Ice and Flame—is where the difficulty begins to increase.

The Third Lostbelt – The True Kingdom of Human Intelligence – is absurd; Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall all the way to outer space.

The Fourth Lostbelt – Creation, Destruction, and Reincarnation: Yuga-Kshatriya, an Arjuna who unifies Hindu mythology…

The Fifth Lostbelt – Atlantis, the Colossus of the Age of Gods, a Greek pantheon that defeated the Planetary Vanguard…

They're all bastards!

Those who have been tempered by such crises immediately decided to change locations upon hearing that the north was the territory of demons.

Chaldea's entire fortune is currently tied up in Storm Borde; if anything unexpected happens, it will be all over.

In times like these, someone is always needed to lead the way, and Fujimaru Ritsuka volunteered, so the two began this emergency rescue.

Actually, there were better ways to carry her flying, but she just jumped onto my back.

"I don't even know your name..."

In a world where it was just the two of them, Fujimaru Ritsuka finally let go of her burdens and confided her grievances behind his back.

“It’s my fault,” Xia Yu sighed helplessly upon hearing this, and said, “At the time, I thought that if I could survive, I would naturally tell you, and if… it wouldn’t work, then leaving Jin Gu in your memory would be a good choice.”

He had no choice. That suicide plan was just a gamble on whether he could get into Valhalla. After all, even Jeanne Alter got in, didn't she?

“But the plan went wrong, and for some reason I ended up in this world,” Xia Yu said softly. “I thought we would never see each other again in this lifetime.”

“Kingu, no, Natsuyu,” Fujimaru Ritsuka buried her face in his shoulder upon hearing this, “You bastard!”

“Yes, I am an idiot,” Xia Yu said helplessly. “It’s all my fault.”

"..."

Xia Yu could feel that as soon as she finished speaking, Fujimaru Ritsuka's hand that was gripping her shoulder tightened instantly.

“We’re not going to die without you,” she said softly, her voice trembling with a hint of tears. “Ishtar, Ereshkigal, Quetzalcoatl, Gilgashmere—there are so many people, and they’re all better than you!”

Why must you... go and die without saying a word?

"We've only known each other for two months, is it really necessary for you to do that?"

She cried out, "How desperate are you for love! I only approached you with ulterior motives, I didn't have to do that..."

And what about you, Ritsuka? How much do you crave love?

It was only two months of mutual exploitation, so why do you feel so much guilt about my death?

At this moment, Xia Yu realized how deep a scar she had left on a young girl's heart.

From her perspective, she approached her with ulterior motives, and despite their mutual hostility, they spent two months in tacit understanding.

Then, the great battle broke out, and I appeared at the most critical moment, standing between them and Tiamat, and finally sacrificed my life to buy them precious time.

Undoubtedly, this scene left an indelible wound in her heart.

She is such a gentle person.

“Yes, it’s all my fault,” Xia Yu said frankly. “Actually, I didn’t sacrifice myself for you, or rather, I don’t deserve those two words.”

“My actions were driven by my own purpose. I cannot accept the possibility of perishing along with the Singularity… So, perhaps it was a desperate measure, but I gambled all my previous hopes on Valhalla.”

"As a nobody who helps save the world, I should be able to get a position in the Hall of Heroes, right? That's why I did what I did."

"It may be foolish, it may be blind, but it was the only way I could think of. Yes, I used you again, Ritsuka."

“But you clearly had another path to choose, didn’t you?” Hearing this, Ritsuka stubbornly raised her head. “You could have killed us and prevented the singularity from being terminated. You clearly had countless opportunities to kill me.”

"And then live with a bunch of monsters for eternity?" Xia Yu smiled. "I'd rather die than live like that."

"I won't let you die!" Fujimaru Ritsuka grabbed his collar tightly and shouted fiercely, "Swear that you'll never die!"

"I can't guarantee anything like that," Xia Yu said, both amused and exasperated.

"I don't care, just swear!" Fujimaru Ritsuka unconsciously imitated the fierce expression of another friend who had left a deep impression on her.

“Okay, okay, I swear,” Xia Yu said seriously, “I will never try to kill myself.”

"Hmph, that's more like it," she said, still quite satisfied even though it didn't meet her expectations.

“But Ritsuka, you’ve changed quite a bit,” Xia Yu sighed upon hearing this. “If it were the old you, you wouldn’t have spoken to me so fiercely; you would have been more likely to beat around the bush.”

“…That’s another story,” Fujimaru Ritsuka paused for two seconds after hearing this, then said, “It’s about another very important friend of mine after you.”

"So? Do you want to hear it?"

"think."

"So, it happened in the British Lostbelt, where I met her... the prophesied child, the destined savior, the fairy from paradise—Artoria."

“I should know why she means so much to you,” Xia Yu sighed upon hearing this.

"Don't interrupt!" Fujimaru Ritsuka shouted fiercely again, "Do you still want to hear the story?"

"Okay, okay, I'll shut up."

take a day off

I'm working overtime today, so I'm asking for a day off. (Repeated 7 times)

494 We are all despicable people

“That day, she asked me on the ship,” Fujimaru Ritsuka buried her head in Natsumi’s back, her voice tinged with a hint of sob, “I should be very familiar with this kind of scene, right…”

“I know she’s about to face the wrath of the gods.”

This girl finally revealed the soft heart hidden beneath her seemingly inexhaustible optimism and the steely will forged by harsh reality.

Now, she lies on Xia Yu's back. Here, no one can see her expression, no one can know her weakness. As the last Master in the history of humankind, the last hope, she alone cannot fall, cannot show her weakness to others.

But here, on the back of a long-lost dear friend, amidst the endless snow and wasteland of Ursus...

She could finally vent her feelings without restraint.

"I could only manage a weak smile to comfort her; even I get nervous in situations like this."

Do you know how Artoria answered me?

The sobbing in her voice became more and more obvious.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice was very somber. "She said that hearing me say that made her feel relieved, which meant that it was normal to be nervous."

She trusts me.

"She said that people like her are so nervous that they might accidentally drop their canes or something, and that I would take over the cover afterwards."

She trusted me so much.

"She's very nervous... She's just a half-baked savior, just like me."

"But I can't offer her any more help."

We could only watch her die!

Fujimaru Ritsuka's voice trembled with a hint of a sob, "I even need her to use her life, which was so hard to save, to pave the way for me..."

I am so incompetent.

"Faced with her venting, all I could do was offer dry, empty words of comfort..."

waste.

"Her answer, which was that she would take care of everything herself, was far too unrealistic. Even if she failed, someone would help her."

“The person she was talking about was me. She thought I could do it... but I really can’t do anything.”

Fujimaru Ritsuka's hands, which were wrapped around Xia Yu's neck, trembled slightly. "In Babylon, I could only watch you stand between me and Tiamat; in Britain, I could only watch her give her life..."

As she said this, she tightened her grip on Xia Yu's neck, "I can't do anything to meet her expectations, I can only change the subject."

“I asked her if she had found a reason, which was a question she had asked me before.”

"Why work so hard?"

She said she hadn't found the answer.

Fujimaru Ritsuka slowly confided, "She said she would eventually return to Avalon, she told me not to worry... but... but..."

"This is a Lostbelt..."