Fairy Round Table Realm, Poem of Eternal Mist

"...As for who the 'actor' is, we'll find out eventually."

As she rose to leave, her gaze fell upon a thick book half-buried in ashes beside the severed hand. The pages were open, revealing neat handwriting and numerous circled and marked paragraphs.

Koyanskaya picked it up and brushed the dust off the cover. She quickly flipped through a few pages that were highlighted, her gaze lingering for a moment on a few lines describing "script," "eternal calendar merchant," and "behind-the-scenes trajectory."

Snapped.

She closed the book, not putting it back, but rather casually putting it away. The perfect, business-like smile on her face had vanished, replaced by a rare, profound seriousness and contemplation.

What was bound to happen has already happened. The situation seems to have slid into a deeper turbulence that even she found somewhat unexpected. At this moment, any further reflection or action would be futile.

She took one last look at the ruins that buried the wise and the hunter, then turned without hesitation and, with the same elegant yet resolute steps she had taken, disappeared into the billowing smoke and deepening twilight.

The territory of the Wind Clan, atop the high tower.

Delicate silver cutlery sliced ​​through the tender food on the plates with practiced, elegant, and unhurried movements. Aurora sat at the head of the long table, her gaze calmly fixed on the scene outside the window—a land engulfed in flames, smoke, and chaos, the once-fairy kingdom slowly transforming into a hellish landscape of rampant depravity. The sounds of wailing, maniacal laughter, and the rumble of collapsing buildings could be faintly heard through the glass inlaid with magical crystals.

She listened, her expression utterly unmoved, as if it weren't the prelude to destruction she had personally ignited and fanned, but merely a slightly noisy background melody to add flavor to the lunch. The crimson wine in her glass reflected the flickering firelight outside the window, yet it couldn't reflect the slightest warmth in her eyes.

It's time to add some... more significant "setbacks" to those troublesome "protagonists." The foreign magician, and those three chosen children of prophecy, they don't seem to have truly tasted despair etched into their very bones. Those faces, repeatedly breaking free from dire straits yet still bearing unyielding gazes, are really... getting a little boring to her.

They need to understand that some losses are irreversible and unbearable.

She gently put down her knife and fork, picked up a silk handkerchief to wipe the corner of her mouth, and waved her hand softly.

A male fairy from the Wind Clan appeared silently at the restaurant entrance, bowing and waiting.

“You know what to do next.” Aurora’s voice was soft and pleasant, as if she were giving an ordinary instruction.

"Understood, sir." The man's voice was calm and even. "Targets: the Shield Servant beside the foreign magician, and that short lady who is skilled at creation. Eliminate them when the opportunity arises."

“Hmm.” Aurora nodded slightly, her fingertips lightly tapping the table. “Get rid of those two. Ideally… let Fujimaru Ritsuka witness it firsthand, or ‘discover’ it afterward. From what I’ve observed, they are the closest and most relied-upon people around her. I’m curious, when this foundation collapses, how long can she maintain that expression of always wanting to shoulder everything?”

Her words carried a hint of pure, childlike, cruel curiosity.

"Yes, sir." The man didn't react any further; after accepting the order, his figure vanished like mist.

Aurora picked up her knife and fork again and continued her lunch, which had been interrupted for a moment. The hellish scene and sounds outside the window seemed to truly serve as background music to her meal. On the wall to her side, in an inconspicuous place, were two photographs held in place with thumbtacks—Mash Kyrielight and Leonardo da Vinci. At this moment, two decorative small dinner knives were precisely pinned to the hearts of the two people in the photographs.

Clearly, the previous "losses"—such as the sacrifices of Sei Shonagon and Gareth—had not truly shaken the human Master's inner defenses. Aurora understood the key: only by stripping him of what he truly treasured and irreplaceable pillars could she fundamentally... dismantle that unpleasant resilience.

Imagining the possible look of utter despair on Fujimaru Ritsuka's face, Aurora's beautiful lips curved into a slightly satisfied yet icy smile.

***

Camelot Royal City, temporary residence.

As dawn broke, Nokreina's last embers of life were finally extinguished in a quiet, unseen corner. The poison of Morse had corroded her spiritual core, taking with it the last possible piece of information.

Caster stood by the bed, silently gazing at the face that had lost all life, yet still retained a trace of its former haughty features. Her face was expressionless, but chaotic memories surged forth unbidden.

Fairies' emotions are pure and direct; love and hate, trust and betrayal, all come vividly, leaving no room for ambiguity. She recalled the absurd beauty pageant in Gloucester, where she was humiliated and kicked out for being "uncool." It was Nokleina who, with a condescending yet not malicious attitude, handed her a perfectly fitting, gorgeous dress. At that moment, she truly regarded Nokleina as a "special being" she could rely on briefly, and perhaps even a potential friend.

who knew...

A warm yet strong hand gently touched the top of her head, stroking her soft golden hair. The first Queen, Liliana, had appeared beside her unnoticed, her ancient eyes holding a gentle wisdom that had witnessed countless hardships.

“Life is unpredictable, and the trajectory of fate often takes unexpected turns, child.” Liliana’s voice was low and comforting. “Don’t dwell on it too much. Ash has already told me the general situation: that Ms. Aurora never intended for the losers to live from the very beginning. Nokleina’s fate may have been sealed the moment she went astray.”

“…I understand,” Castor replied softly, suppressing his complex emotions.

“Ash,” Liliana turned to Morgan, who stood silently to the other side, her expression turning serious, “we need to discuss our next steps. Aurora is currently the most prominent obstacle, and also one of the key figures driving the Vortigern Plan. How much do you know about this woman?”

Morgan stepped forward, leaning closer to Liliana, and lowered his voice: "Your Majesty, allow me to briefly explain..."

The two queens were engrossed in a crucial secret discussion, their focused expressions radiating an aura that commanded respect. Senji Muramasa, Da Vinci, Mashu, and Ritsuka exchanged glances and tacitly stepped back slightly. Such a conversation, involving ancient secrets and top-level strategy, was indeed beyond their ability to comment.

Staying in the vast, oppressive, and heavy-hearted depths of the palace, Ritsuka felt an invisible pressure gradually build up. She took a deep breath and decided to leave for a while.

“Um… Your Majesty Morgan, Your Majesty Liliana,” she began, trying to make her voice sound light, “we’d ​​like to go out for a walk and get some fresh air. It’s getting a bit stuffy staying in the room all the time.”

Morgan, slightly distracted from the discussion, glanced at her and frowned slightly: "Going out? Be careful. Although the royal city is protected by His Majesty's barrier, preventing Morse from infiltrating, but..."

"Safety first!" Liliana emphasized, her gaze sweeping over Ritsuka and her companions. "My barrier can only block Moss, not provide absolute defense. The situation inside the city is unclear, so we must be vigilant."

"Yes! We'll be careful!" Ritsuka nodded vigorously, giving a reassuring smile, and then led Mash, Da Vinci, and Muramasa out of the palace.

Walking south along the deserted main corridor of the royal city, the once-dreamy streetscape reappeared, but was now unrecognizable. The once bustling streets were deserted, shops were closed, colorful flags lay scattered on the ground, and miscellaneous items lay strewn about. Apart from the sound of the wind passing through the alleys and the occasional hollow echo of something falling from somewhere, there was no other sound. Deathly silence weighed heavily on this once most prosperous capital city.

The magical display screen beside him flickered on its own, showing chaotic scenes from other cities. Da Vinci stared at the screen, his usually composed face betraying his shock: "The entire kingdom... is out of control. Look, even the elderly fairies are participating in the looting..."

“It was Aurora,” Ritsuka’s voice was low, her fist clenched. “She completely ignited what was suppressed in the fairies’ blood. Perhaps…”

"There's no 'maybe'!" Senji Muramasa sneered, his eyes flashing with sharpness. "That kind of woman deserved to die. In my opinion, even being torn to pieces would be too lenient for her!"

Ritsuka opened her mouth, but ultimately remained silent. A strange sense of unease, like cold vines, quietly coiled around her spine. She clearly sensed that there was no other living thing in this area besides them… yet why did she feel like she was being pricked by thorns? It was as if a fatal crisis would shatter this deathly silence at any moment.

Just then—a hand, without warning, gently touched her left shoulder.

Ritsuka's hair stood on end! She was the last in the group! Ahead of her were Muramasa, Da Vinci, and Mashu! Where did that hand come from?!

She turned around abruptly!

A strange male fairy, dressed in the attire of the Wind Clan, had silently appeared behind her, a satisfied smile on his face as if he had accomplished a task. His hand was calmly reaching into his robes.

"It's too late, Fujimaru Ritsuka." The assassin's voice was eerily calm. "This 'surprise' was entrusted to me by Lady Aurora."

Before he finished speaking, he had already drawn a finely crafted, gleaming crossbow from his bosom. The arrowhead was etched with an unusual dark purple. Without the slightest hesitation, he aimed it at the unsuspecting Leonardo da Vinci in the back and pulled the trigger!

"stop!!"

Ritsuka's mind went blank for a moment in shock, but her body acted faster than her consciousness! Her right leg swept out like a whip towards the back of the assassin's supporting leg!

The assassin lost his balance, and the trajectory of the crossbow bolt he fired deviated by a fraction of a second!

Without pausing, Ritsuka used the momentum of her spin to deliver a vicious elbow strike to her opponent's jaw! The assassin groaned and fell backward. Ritsuka had already drawn her shotgun from her waist, the muzzle almost touching the exposed throat and jaw of her opponent as he leaned back—

"boom!!!"

A deafening roar ripped through the deathly silence of the royal city. The projectile, fired at close range, carried violent kinetic energy, pulverizing the assassin's entire head like a ripe watermelon! Blood, flesh, and bone fragments splattered everywhere.

"Da Vinci!!" Mashu exclaimed at the same time.

Ritsuka threw aside the scorching gun barrel and scrambled toward Leonardo da Vinci. The deflected crossbow bolt missed his heart but pierced deeply into da Vinci's side. Dark red blood gushed from the wound with each weak heartbeat, quickly staining her clothes around her waist and the ground.

"Cough...uh..." Da Vinci's face was pale, his fingers pressed tightly around the wound, but he could not stop the loss of life.

The sound of hurried footsteps approached, and Morgan, Liliana, and Castor, startled by the gunshot, rushed out. Seeing Leonardo da Vinci lying on the ground, wounded by an arrow, all three paled.

“Leave it to us!” Morgan and Liliana reacted quickly, immediately crouching down, powerful healing magic surging from their palms in an attempt to stabilize Da Vinci’s rapidly deteriorating injuries.

Castor's gaze fell on the headless corpse and the crossbows scattered nearby, his pupils shrinking sharply: "Wait! That emblem... it's from Aurora! I saw it in Salisbury before!"

Aurora.

This name was like a bucket of boiling oil poured onto Ritsuka's already boiling rage. The image of Sei Shonagon and Gareth lying in pools of blood at the rebel fortress instantly overlapped with the pale, pained face of Leonardo da Vinci before her. It was her! She had always been the one manipulating death and tragedy from behind the scenes!

The string of reason snapped completely at that moment. Her molars clenched so tightly that they rattled, and a cold, pure, and utterly murderous intent rose from the depths of Ritsuka's heart, overwhelming all other emotions.

"What happened?! That loud noise just now—Da Vinci?! What's going on?!" Director Goldruff's anxious voice came through the communication, accompanied by some static, as if the signal had just been connected.

"Director?! How could you..." Mashu exclaimed in surprise.

"The overall barrier of the Fairy Kingdom is experiencing unstable fluctuations. We've barely established a stable connection..." Holmes' voice interrupted, his usual calm tinged with worry. "I just connected and heard... Ritsuka, what's the situation on your end..."

His words came to an abrupt halt. Through the image, he clearly saw Fujimaru Ritsuka's expression at that moment—those eyes, which always contained both resilience and warmth, were now burning with an almost tangible, cold flame of revenge, her gaze fixed on the void, as if she had locked onto some distant enemy.

Holmeston sensed something was wrong: "Ritsuka, you need to..."

“Aurora!” Ritsuka’s hoarse voice interrupted him, each word like shards of ice squeezed out from between her teeth, “I will absolutely… never forgive you!! How dare you… how dare you—!!!”

"Calm down, Ritsuka!" Captain Nemo's voice was urgent. "Explain the situation! What exactly happened?"

"Don't anyone follow!" Ritsuka abruptly shook off Mash's hand, which was trying to grab her, bent down to pick up the still slightly smoking shotgun from the ground, her movements resolute. "I must kill her with my own hands!!"

"Child! Are you insane?!" Liliana shouted angrily, "Going to the Wind Clan's territory now is simply walking into a trap!"

"Are you expect me to hide here?!" Ritsuka roared, turning around, her eyes red-rimmed. "She's gone after the people most important to me! If I back down, how can I face myself?! How can I face Leonardo da Vinci! How can I face Sei Shonagon and Gareth who are dead?!"

"Senpai!!" Mashu's cry was left behind by the resolute figure.

Ignoring all attempts to dissuade her, Ritsuka gripped her weapon tightly and, like an arrow released from a bow, charged out of the royal city gates without looking back, disappearing into the dust and gloom of the streets and the dim light of day.

A stunned silence fell over the Chaldea command center on the other end of the communication line. Inside their temporary quarters, the people looked at each other, words of advice stuck in their throats.

Senji carefully settled Da Vinci, who was receiving treatment, straightened up, and gazed in the direction Ritsuka had disappeared. A complex understanding flashed in his eyes, which had weathered countless storms. That reckless, impulsive figure was so much like a boy named "Emiya Shirou" from long ago, who had also been driven by anger and obsession.

“It’s too late to say anything now, that child won’t listen.” Muramasa said in a deep voice, casually conjuring a simple longsword. “Mash, you stay here and explain the situation to Chaldea. Caster, come with me. We can’t let her go off on her own.”

"Eh?...Yes!" Caster snapped out of his daze, nodded quickly, and then Muramasa rushed out as well.

Beneath the dazzling, decadent illusion lies a dark abyss that devours everything. Cloaked in the guise of freedom and dreams, it is in reality a cage of absurdity and suffocation. To protect the most precious light in her life, the young girl resolutely turns her back on her companions' calls and throws herself into the flames of revenge. What drives her now is no longer the grand ambition to restore humanity, but the most primal, intense, and dangerous impulse—for the one who gave meaning to her journey and weight to her life, even if the road ahead is fraught with peril, she will burn them to ashes.

Hunting Aurora - Fairy Round Table Realm, Poem of Eternal Mist

"Pat-pat, pat-pat, pat-pat—"

The hurried footsteps, like a rapid drumbeat, pounded across the empty, deathly silent streets of Salisbury, creating subtle echoes. The body seemed to have lost the concept of "fatigue"; no matter how desperately one ran, there was no burning sensation in the lungs, nor the leaden heaviness in the legs. The jaw clenched so tightly one could almost taste the metallic tang of rust; the shotgun gripped in the hand felt as light as an extended limb. Deep within the consciousness, the presence of the magic capsule was exceptionally clear, always ready, waiting to unleash its dormant power with a single thought.

This is wrong. Normally, if I were to push myself this far, I would have collapsed to the ground long ago. But today… perhaps, only the burning flame in my chest is the sole fuel driving this body. Not long ago, the assassin Aurora sent, the poisoned arrow aimed at Leonardo da Vinci… the image repeatedly seared my retina. Not only this attack, but also the fall of the fortress that claimed Sei Shonagon and Gareth's lives, all these things connect to all of this woman's schemes and evil deeds.

Patience? Limit?

No, for Aurora, the concepts of "forgiveness" or "limits" no longer existed. There was only one cold, resolute thought: she had to be completely ended before she could cause any more irreparable tragedy.

The direction of the Wind Clan's territory was her only goal. Just as she focused all her attention on the path ahead, charging forward without regard for anything else—

Whoosh!

A foot wearing a military boot suddenly emerged from the shadows of the dilapidated porch beside her, precisely blocking her path!

"Waaah!"

Ritsuka groaned, instantly losing her balance and falling heavily forward. The rough ground scraped against her skin, sending a burning pain through her. She tried to prop herself up, but several flashes of cold light, accompanied by the sound of wind, pierced her cheeks and the front of her fingers with a "thud, thud, thud," the icy blades almost touching her skin.

“I was wondering when you would ‘pass by’ again, but I didn’t expect you to come to me so soon? Fujimaru Ritsuka.”

A mocking and condescending female voice rang out. Ritsuka raised her eyes with difficulty and saw Koala—the female officer of the Wind Clan who had appeared as a "rebel"—standing in front of her with her arms crossed, a smug smile on her face.

"Look at you, so lost and clumsy... What, that little dwarf named Da Vinci, is he dead already? Now you're like a headless fly, just rushing headlong into the fire? Heh, truly... pathetic and laughable~"

As she spoke, the seemingly empty streets, rooftops, and behind doors and windows magically and silently revealed a dense array of Wind Clan soldiers. Wielding sharp blades, their eyes cold, they formed a woven net, completely surrounding Ritsuka who lay on the ground. The blades reflected the pale sunlight, creating a suffocating jungle of metal.

Kella stood at the forefront of all the soldiers, smug and self-satisfied. In her eyes, Ritsuka, caught in such a tight net and tripped up without any warning, was no different from fish on a chopping board. With just a gentle crushing motion, this troublesome "ant" would disappear completely.