Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

"No... no, there's one more." The questioner seemed to realize something and suddenly asked, "Alice, if you had the chance, would you practice 'a man's romance' like Captain Zheng Zha?"

"..." Alice paused for two seconds, then glanced at the questioner with the same look she'd given an idiot... no, the look she'd given Zheng Zha. She exhaled softly, her tone light yet resolute. "Please, I'm a woman. Why should a woman try to understand this so-called male romance?"

"Where do extraordinary beings come from, men and women..." the questioner muttered, shaking its head as it left the circular table. It was the last participant to leave the circular table besides Alice, and as it departed, stars fell from the heavens, arriving at the right place at the right time and in the right space.

The powerful have left and stepped onto the stage.

The weak left and went behind the scenes.

The roundtable discussion has now concluded. Following this pause, a new chapter begins.

...............................

"We are in an extremely dangerous situation right now, let me be frank, Fujimaru, Akuta, and Romani, Leonardo da Vinci..."

"It was Leonardo da Vinci's relative."

"Alright, Leonardo da Vinci. We are now only one step away from successfully restoring humanity. But we are also only one step away from utter failure. We are going to lose, and lose decisively and completely. And we still don't even understand what happened."

Inside the control room of Chaldea, the director, Olga Marie, in her semi-spirit form, spoke solemnly. A rare Chaldea general meeting, held since the restoration of human order began, was taking place in the control room. All Chaldea staff, Servants, Demi-Servants, and two Spirit Transfer candidates were gathered. Every seat was packed—though this was partly due to Hassan's Hundred Faces occupying multiple seats, it also demonstrated the importance the Servants placed on this meeting.

—You see, when Flora was the executor of human restoration, the Servants never participated in Chaldea's meetings. Not even eavesdropping or peeping; they all maintained absolute respect for the privacy of mortals, and couldn't be invited at all. But now…

They're all here.

They were here, as were Fujimaru Ritsuka and Akuta Hinako, who had been prematurely dismissed from their studies in previous singularities and recalled to Chaldea. They, along with the others and the Chaldea clerks, watched as Director Olga Marie spoke eloquently on the podium in the control room, focusing on the enormous projection extending from Chaldea that the director was pointing to.

The projection depicted Mesopotamia, the land where the princess summoned the annihilating cold sun, bringing the world's history to a close—a far cry from the exquisitely detailed projection on the table. This projection was noticeably blurrier and dimmer. As a result, not a single participant could discern the specific changes on the earth. Yet, even without seeing the details, every member present could clearly witness the nine brilliant rays of light shining upon the land.

Seven beams were slightly weaker, and two were extremely strong. Beside those two extremely strong beams of light, there were numerous tiny points of light, resembling stars surrounding the moon.

"Seven spirit origins have reached the level of chief gods, while the remaining two spirit origins have reactions above the chief god level. What exactly they are will not be discussed for now, but it can at least be confirmed that this is Mesopotamia in the 27th century BC, the location of the Seventh Singularity—and nine powerful beings, at least at the lowest level but still of high rank, are waging an eternal war on that land with no mercy. Its intensity is like an active volcano boiling."

Olga Marie said seriously.

"Everyone, we're in deep trouble. Although we don't know exactly what's going on, that land is currently engulfed in war under the will of many gods. Unlike the Americas in the Fifth Singularity, Mesopotamia is not a large physical region. According to 'Sheba's' calculations, every space within the entire Singularity is filled with the will of the gods, and wherever the Masters descend, they will be directly drawn into the battlefield between the gods."

She paused, then looked at Fujimaru and Akuta sitting in the front row: "I trust your abilities, but I don't think directly participating in the God War is a rational decision. Chaldea's support will only be effective after the Spirit Veins and Summoning Coordinates are established. In other words, until then, you'll have to rely on Servants with whom you have direct contracts, and on Mash and Lanling Wang to protect you, until the Spirit Veins are consolidated. And I don't think you're arrogant enough to believe that your Servants can handle such a situation?"

"I...I will do my best!" The first to stand up wasn't the Master, but Mash, who had signed a contract with Fujimaru Ritsuka. Her expression was excited, one hand pressed to her chest. "Please believe me, Director! I will make good use of the power Mr. Galahad entrusted to me, and I will definitely be able to protect my senpai...my senpai!"

—Akuta Hinako and her servant Lanling Wang are usually not very talkative, and this time is no exception.

A commotion immediately erupted in the control room, most notably around the Knights of the Round Table. One of the Knights of the Lake, whose name was not known, wore a look of smug satisfaction, as if to say, "Look, this is my daughter." This drew some sarcastic or mocking glances from his colleagues. Then, before things could escalate further, he returned to normal under the stern gaze of a certain flat-chested king.

Mashu remained agitated, so much so that she instinctively tried to transform from her human form into a half-Servant battle stance to express her resolve. However, before she could do so, a hand from Fujimaru Ritsuka pressed down on her shoulder, and she spoke calm and reassuring words beside her.

"Don't worry, Mashu. The director must already have a solution."

Mashu quieted down, lowered her head, and softly hummed in agreement.

Olga gave her an approving look.

“We do have a plan. A direct confrontation is almost certainly a death sentence, but there are other roundabout strategies. Romani, explain the information you’ve compiled to them.”

“Yes, Director.” Dr. Roman nodded, a thick manuscript lying on the table before him. “During your previous journey with… Ritsuka, you and Akuta collected a total of six Holy Grails. You should know the Holy Grails’ effects, and that these wondrous artifacts, crafted by the Magic King, are essentially anchors used to disrupt history. As long as they exist within a Singularity, they can disrupt history, thus maintaining the ‘Incineration of Humanity’ ritual. In other words, as long as the era that constitutes a Singularity hasn’t completely ended and ceased to flow, then as long as the Holy Grails are removed from the Singularity, history itself will help us correct the mistakes made by the Magic King.”

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"In other words, it doesn't matter who the Holy Grail falls into within the Singularity. As long as someone relies on its power, the Singularity will be maintained. Or to put it another way—that is, within the Singularity, the event of 'an individual triggering a change in history through the use of the Holy Grail' is destined to happen and is inevitable."

This is why each of your transfers occurs at a point in time when the singularity has already been created and history has been significantly disrupted. Instead of teleporting directly to the moment the Holy Grail descends, or even earlier, arriving before it descends and seizing it through a surprise attack before any disaster occurs, we cannot interfere with history until the event of 'an individual using the Holy Grail to trigger a historical shift' occurs within the singularity.

"I'll tentatively call this event 'The Anchor.' The problem now is that we've discovered at least two 'Anchors' at the Seventh Singularity! One of these 'Anchors' points to the Holy Grail of the Magic King, but we know absolutely nothing about the contents of the other 'Anchor'!"

He pressed a few buttons on the control panel beside him. The scene of the gods' chaotic battle in the projection then rewinded, returning to a state of peace in Mesopotamia. At that time, the projection only showed a few divine-level spirit origin reactions on the earth; all other information and data were unclear.

"In October of 2656 BC, I detected a massive séance. The divine war we observed earlier was in early November of 2656 BC. Based on some complex observation data, we can determine that the first 'anchor' connected to the Holy Grail, dropped by the Magic King, was before October, while the second 'anchor' of unknown origin was between October and November."

"I don't know if this is a double insurance set up by the Magic King, or a change caused by some unexpected factor that even the Magic King cannot control. But for Chaldea, it is definitely bad news. If we fail to remove both 'anchors' at once, then the erroneous history will be solidified, and human history will become something... unacceptable. And we don't even have a way to descend within the 'anchors's' influence range through conventional means!"

"A singularity within a singularity, is that what you mean?" Fujimaru Ritsuka frowned, somewhat uncertainly saying, "So, in the Seventh Singularity, two uncertain things will definitely happen: one because of the Holy Grail of the Magic King, and the other because of some unknown influence. And if we want to repair this singularity, we must take the Holy Grail and that unknown thing with us?"

“That’s one way to understand it,” Leonardo da Vinci nodded beside Roman. “But that’s not the most insurmountable obstacle. The bigger obstacle is that we can’t simultaneously bypass the timelines covered by these two ‘anchors’ to send you down. In other words, if we were to perform a conventional spirit transfer now, we could only send you after November 2656, which is the era when the nine powerful gods were fighting each other in the small place of Mesopotamia. You would definitely die if you went down, and you might even get lost during the teleportation due to the aftershocks of the divine clash before you even got down.”

"Unless, using some 'unconventional' method, is that right?" Having let slip twice, even the most oblivious young female Master could sense something amiss. She sighed softly, her eyes immediately hardening. "It's just a matter of some risk. How will I know I can't do it if I don't try?"

“You only have one chance, Ritsuka. This time, you really will die.” Olga Marie spoke, her gaze slightly shifting as she looked at Hinako Akuta, who had remained silent from the beginning and had essentially been a bystander in the previous six singularities. “This teleportation demands extremely high physical abilities. If you don’t possess a certain degree of immortality…”

She didn't receive the response she hoped for. Hinako Akuta, who's been a minor character for six chapters, remains a minor character today as well.

Then, Fujiwara Ritsuka's youthful yet resolute voice rang out.

"Let me go, Chief!"

Section 23. Treble Clef, Anchor and Continuous Particle Transfer

"...Dr. Xiao, could you please explain the specific operating procedure?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka's enthusiasm went unanswered; Olga Marie turned her head as if she hadn't heard her and nodded to one of Chaldea's staff members.

A young man, or rather a teenager, stepped forward. He looked even younger than Mashu, who was still a girl. His hair was neatly styled, showing he took good care of it, but as he stood up somewhat shyly, he unconsciously plucked out a single strand. Perhaps it was some kind of special way of waking himself up.

His name is Xiao, from Middle-earth, and he is a renowned expert in planar geometry and the multiverse hypothesis. He earned honorary doctorates from several prestigious universities at the young age of twelve. In the real world, he is an absolute success—his only flaw is that he only understands the theory and knows nothing about the application of magic.

“I won’t go into the specific theories here. Dr. Roman has already explained the theory of ‘anchor’. This theory, along with the cruel reality of the singularity, dictates that the eligible can only descend at times other than when the ‘anchor’ is in effect. After analyzing the phenomenon of ‘singularity within a singularity’ as Ritsuka mentioned, I discovered a tiny opening through which one can pass.”

“There are gaps between the ‘anchors’, very small, but not nonexistent. In other words, we can place the suitable candidate at the point when the first ‘anchor’ takes effect, and the second anchor is lowered, but the ‘anchor’ has not yet taken effect. Then, a few days before the second ‘anchor’ takes effect, we can retrieve one of the two anchors first.”

"...This sounds no different from before," Ritsuka asked doubtfully. "Isn't it all the same as before: transfer to a singularity, retrieve the Holy Grail, and then transfer to another singularity to do the same thing?"

“This is different.” Dr. Xiao shook his head. “Chaldea cannot interfere with the time period during which the ‘anchor’ takes effect. Just as you could not descend during the Lionheart era of the Sixth Singularity, nor during the North-South War era of the Fifth Singularity. There is one thing that is destined to happen and will definitely happen, and when this second ‘anchor’ is descended, Chaldea will lose its ability to interfere with the Singularities.”

"Losing your ability to intervene doesn't mean you'll stay in the singularity. Instead, you'll be forcibly repatriated, thrown into the spacetime turbulence, or transferred back to Chaldea. In other words, you'll only be able to stay in that land for a very short time, and the journey will end abruptly when the second 'anchor' takes effect. If you fail to remove one of the two anchors within that extremely short time, it means that everything you've done will be naturally corrected by history, and everything will have to start over."

He paused for a moment and said, “You can think of this as ‘three days without end.’ You must find an anchor point during the three-day interval outside the coverage of these two ‘anchors,’ eliminate it, render it harmless, and bring it back to Chaldea or throw it into another place that does not belong to Mesopotamia.”

Not found, start again. Not removed, start again. The chosen one dies, and it's all over. Due to technological limitations, after each failure, Chaldea must conduct another transfer to ensure the singularity doesn't collapse into something else... And this means placing an enormous burden on the chosen one's physical body.

"Can't we rotate players?"

“It’s difficult. Continuous teleportation means that the chosen one cannot leave the frame at all. Taking on this task means that the ‘connection’ with the Seventh Singularity cannot be broken. Otherwise, the changes you have made will become a reality, making you the third ‘anchor’ that Chaldea has planted into that era—Ritsuka. There cannot be two of you in one era. At least we cannot do that yet. Moreover, we do not have enough resources to carry out such an operation.”

“Once we start, we can’t stop.” Olga Marie nodded, gesturing for Dr. Xiao to sit down. “So we’ve come up with a plan. We’ll have a suitable candidate with good endurance perform continuous transfers until one of the anchor points and its corresponding ‘anchor’ is identified, or even repaired, so that this mutated singularity returns to a normal state like the previous six singularities. Then another suitable candidate will be tasked with repairing the other singularity.”

"The problem now is, Fujimaru and Akuta, who should be the first one?"

“I’ll do it.” Ritsuka said without hesitation, “I am the most suitable candidate with the highest spiritual adaptability, so it is most appropriate for me to do this. Senior Akuta can take care of the other part of the work.”

Olga Marie did not answer, but looked at Hinako Akuta.

—But Hinako Akuta kept her brows furrowed and remained silent.

The air fell silent for half a second. The half-spirit director rubbed his forehead, looking at Hinako Akuta, about to say something but then the words stuck in his throat.

A contract restricts her speech, preventing her from revealing someone's secret. Although to the reincarnators, Akuta Hinako's identity as a True Ancestor is as clear and conspicuous as a flashing sign overhead, it remains a secret within Chaldea—a secret that must be kept. This is because the former Director of Chaldea secured Akuta Hinako's joining and cooperation in exchange for keeping the secret and providing her with a place to stay. And although the old Director is long gone, the contract continues to be passed down through his bloodline.

Olga Marie's half-spirit lowered her eyes.

"Alright then. Fujimaru and Mashu, prepare for continuous spirit particle transfer. Akuta, you're free to act as you see fit. But be prepared to take over from Fujimaru."

"Meeting adjourned. Spiritual particle transfer will be initiated in five minutes."

So, the Servants who had only been bystanders transformed into spirits and silently departed. The staff returned to their posts, and the chosen ones went to the preparation room and their respective rest rooms. Ritsuka seemed full of energy; although she still felt uneasy, she secretly encouraged herself to be brave. And Hinako Akuta…

She remained silent as always, doing little but not much. Like an occasional observer, she led her servant Gao Chang Gong back to her resting room and closed the door behind her.

Perhaps what she did was really inappropriate.

"Chang Gong," she whispered, opening a magical link to her personal servant after returning to the lounge. Through the bond between master and servant, she uttered a whisper that was theoretically imperceptible to ordinary people. "Do you think I'm being a little cold-hearted?"

"...You must have your own ideas." — Her follower, Prince Lanling Gao Changgong, was momentarily stunned, then continued to maintain his spirit form as usual, and in his spirit form, he only maintained a protective posture without showing any extra tension.

“Well, there’s something I’ve never told you. But I think it’s time to tell you now. Chang Gong, don’t you think there’s something strange about Chaldea…?” She sat down on the edge of her bed, picking up a book she never reads, as usual, to hide the subtle expressions on her face.

She continued speaking from the depths of her heart.

“There is something, some invisible force, hidden among us. And it manifests its presence in many tiny details—it tries to influence us, to influence me, to make me act in a direction it desires. In the past, I regarded this as interference from Alaya, but as time went on, I found that it did not seem to be so.”

Beneath the 'girl's' black-rimmed glasses, her clear eyes deepened. She recalled numerous coincidences from long ago—when attacking shield-wielding enemies, her first strike would precisely cut into the shield's structural flaws. When striking spellcasters, random blows would cause their spells to go out of control. When facing barriers, she could break them even with her eyes closed and tapping blindly. When surrounded, she could easily be guided by light or shadow to find the most reasonable way out.

This is too illogical, too deliberate. If someone is manipulating all of this behind the scenes, then it must be a clumsy novice player who is timid and desperately trying to get a perfect save file—and based on her understanding of Alaya as a True Ancestor, that slow-reacting, colossal consciousness could never have done something so meticulous and obviously crafted!

"I don't know the nature of that power, but I can sense that its influence on me is fading. The signs of fading should have appeared precisely when the seventh singularity began to show anomalies. And this may also indicate that the mysterious power is related to another force that is modifying the seventh singularity."

"You mean, besides the Magic King, there are..."

"This is a relatively good outcome. A worse outcome would be that the power influencing us, the power that modified the Seventh Singularity, all belong to the Magic King. That would prove that every move Chaldea makes is under the Magic King's control, and that there might even be spies of the Magic King within Chaldea!"

"So that's why you've been keeping a low profile all this time?" A voice of admiration came through the contract communication, completely unquestioning Akuta Hinako's guess. "Chang Gong is truly foolish; he's never grasped your deeper meaning..."

“There’s no need to blame yourself, Chang Gong. It was my intention to keep this from you. If that interference hadn’t faded, I might have continued to keep this secret. But I can clearly feel that although that power has faded from my side, it still remains in Chaldea. The other party’s intentions are hard to discern, friend or foe is unclear, and we must seize the opportunity to regain the initiative.”

"You mean...?"

“I have a few candidates, excluding Ritsuka and Mash. Among the Chaldea employees, Dr. Xiao, who specializes in planar studies and has researched continuous spirit particle transfer, is a prime suspect. Cheng, who originally held an administrative position but volunteered after the Big Bang to participate in the daily maintenance of Chaldea, and Campaski, the maintenance engineer of the energy reactor—all three of them are highly suspicious. Among the Servants, Mozart is the most suspicious—because no Demon Pillars appeared in the French Singularity, yet he has some kind of ambiguous relationship with a certain Demon in its legend.”

"Chang Gong, I need you to keep a close eye on them and find out what's wrong with them. This mutation in the Seventh Singularity is definitely a major operation. If there really is a mole, they couldn't have kept quiet forever. If not... if not, then everything will be fine. In any case, one of us, Fujimaru or I, must stay in Chaldea just in case. Damn it... if Flora were still here, everything would be solved..."

"..." Her servant fell silent. Perhaps it was because she had mentioned the name 'Flora'. However, the next moment, footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the door!

For a fleeting moment, it seemed as if even the air in the room froze.

Lanling King's spirit body moved rapidly in Jie Chuzi's perception, and after half a second, a message that made her feel a little more at ease came.

“It’s Miss Zhan Lan, the cleaning staff from Chaldea.” Lanling Wang’s voice rang in her ear. “She always comes to clean this corridor around this time. And her heartbeat, pulse, and hormone levels are all running normally. I can confirm that she is just an ordinary person without any talent, and she hasn’t received any information.”

"Is that so... Phew, that's good. Compared to the three who interfered with the daily maintenance of the power plant, Chaldea, and Sheba, a cleaning staff member's problems won't cause any major impact. Anyway, I'll leave this to you, Chōkyō. I need to conserve my energy and get myself in shape... I've been called 'senpai' by Ritsuka-senpai for so long, it's time to set an example for her."

"Please go ahead and do it, Master." Lanling Wang's voice came clearly from within the link. Akuta Hinako could clearly feel that her Servant was much more motivated than before. Indeed, having a stance and not having a stance are two different things, and in this way, she could concentrate on completing her mission.

[I'll help Ritsuka this time. After this matter is resolved, I'll go after Lord Xiang Yu...]

She gently closed the book she had never read before, and made up her mind.

Outside in the corridor, Ms. Zhan Lan, an ordinary cleaning worker passing by, adjusted her glasses. Then, as in the long years before, she continued her daily cleaning work.

At the same time, in the control room of Chaldea, the fully prepared Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mash Kyrielight stood hand in hand inside the spirit particle transfer frame beneath Chaldea. The power holders at the top of the control room exchanged glances and finalized the list of supporters for the first batch of Servants.

The members of the Knights of the Round Table demonstrated strong combat skills and a strong desire to fight alongside them, naturally placing them at the top of the support list. Once Ritsuka, under Mash's protection, successfully establishes the altar and ley lines, they will teleport there immediately to join the battle.

So… Olga Marie glanced at Dr. Shaw, who nodded.

The target: Mesopotamia in the 27th century BC.

Continuous spirit particle transfer, commence!

Section 24, Quarter Beat, First Cycle