You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

"Huh? You don't know?"

Ibuki paused for a moment, then realized: "So, you weren't originally bound to Chaldea, but were summoned in an emergency... That makes sense. To resolve the current predicament, we can only rely on a cheater like you."

Ibuki has completely regarded Iori as Susanoo. In her mind, Susanoo is undoubtedly a god-king level powerhouse (although in terms of fame, he is far inferior to Zeus and Odin). Even if he is restricted by his spirit origin and cannot exert his strength, he should still be able to save Chaldea from the clutches of the dark forces.

In addition, she had never heard of such a powerful being in Chaldea, so she tended to believe that something like the Counter Force had actively summoned Iori.

Iori, however, noticed a point in her words:

Anonymous Spirit Origin! Proof of a Hero!

This is not a badge or title, but a real material resource in FGO.

The former is similar to a pity system, like hero shards in Tencent games, which can be redeemed for the desired character after accumulating a certain number. The latter, "anonymous," means that you can redeem any Servant.

As for the Hero's Proof, it is a kind of enhancement material. It is a common item in the game, but it has a very high level of sophistication in reality.

"Do you know how to use this?"

Iori pulled out two Servant cards from her spatial storage.

"Of course, this is Chaldea's most precious resource."

Ibuki said earnestly, "Each of these cards is equivalent to a complete Spirit Origin. As long as you have a 'Hero's Proof,' you can summon the corresponding Servant. This summoning process does not require Spirit Veins or Magic Circles..."

After a long explanation from Ibuki, Iori gradually understood what it was all about.

Simply put, using it will summon an additional Servant-level combatant to assist you in battle, while the Hero's Token plays a similar role to a Sacred Relic, but it will only summon the corresponding hero and will not summon "off-target" heroes like ordinary Sacred Relics.

Targeted summoning of Servants—this is definitely Chaldea's cutting-edge technology; even the three major organizations of the Mage's Association probably don't have this kind of technology.

"I can teach you how to use it. You now have two anonymous spirit origins, which can summon two Servants to help you in critical moments. But without artifacts... what exactly will appear is up to fate."

After Ibuki finished speaking, she nodded, pondered for a moment, and then looked up at Iori calmly: "Can I ask you something?"

"Please say."

"How is our Master... Fujimaru Ritsuka doing now? Have you run into her?"

"I'm sorry, I know nothing about this."

Iori shook her head and said frankly, "I haven't seen her since I came to Chaldea... I hope she's just hiding, but to be honest... something must have happened to her."

"That would be absolutely terrible. If I were kidnapped by the mastermind behind this, the person capable of such a thing is definitely beyond my capabilities..."

"Well, in that case, there's only one thing I can do."

Ibuki grinned at Iori: "Being eaten by the Yamata no Orochi is naturally unacceptable, but if it's for the sake of saving Master—"

Please cut off my head!

Chapter 290 Fragments from Another World.

It feels weird.

Ibuki-dōji demanded that Iori cut off her head... Such a request is unheard of, but upon closer inspection, it is quite reasonable.

First of all, Servants like Ibuki-dōji don't care about life and death at all. The reason they are unwilling to be devoured by Yamata no Orochi is out of consideration for their self-esteem, not simply out of fear of death.

For Servants, if death is meaningful, then there is nothing to hesitate about; they should accept it calmly. There are countless Servants who make this choice in the Holy Grail War.

Furthermore, all Servants in Chaldea are recorded, so even if their Spirit Origin disappears, they can be summoned again in the future without any difference. Heroic Spirits are, after all, immortal beings; their Servant bodies are merely consumables.

After the battle with Orochi, Ibuki-dōji no longer had the power to accompany Iori to the next level. The curse seemed to be permanent, and it wouldn't disappear even if the Lord was defeated.

Moreover, even if she forced herself to go to the next floor, the result would be the same if she encountered other floor owners.

Currently, it seems that the only one in Chaldea who can turn the tide is Iori, who is unaffected by the slot machines. As for why Iori is the only exception... that remains a mystery.

If, as Rama said, it's because Iori belongs to the "non-orthodox Heroic Spirits," then that doesn't seem entirely accurate. There are several such Servants within Chaldea, such as the Emiya family, and the extraterrestrial-class Servants.

So far, Iori hasn't seen those Servants. If it's not because Gudako was unlucky and didn't pull them, then there must be another reason!

Ultimately, it seems that we can only rely on Iori now.

Ibuki-dōji was very decisive and faced death without any hesitation, which greatly shocked Iori.

Her blood flowed onto the blade of the Kusanagi sword, but instead of dissipating into light particles, it was absorbed into the blade. The steel blade seemed to come alive at that moment, greedily licking the blood of the dragon and snake.

It was clear that the longsword in his hand had become more powerful than before. After successively slaying Orochi and Ibuki-dōji, the strength and divinity of the sword would rise to a new level. Combined with Iori's powerful magic output, it could probably have the power to fight an army or even a city with a casual swing!

At this moment, he was in the "elevator," closing his eyes to rest and recover his strength, while also digesting his insights about the "Orochi's Raging Waves."

Just as he was slaying the Yamata no Orochi, he unintentionally or naturally connected with a certain consciousness, and once again received martial arts and mysterious infusion. A lot of information appeared in his mind, and this time he retained a lot, which was clearer than before, and his understanding was also smoother.

He had a premonition that if he could find the time to properly organize it, he could truly make this skill and artifact his own, and even develop it into a school of thought, just like "Shooting a Hundred Heads".

Of course, that's all for the future, and there's no rush. Right now, his main goal is to deal with the mastermind behind the scenes and save Chaldea!

With this belief, Iori opened her eyes and calmly walked out after the hatch opened.

The scenery was different from the previous two levels; it was a thick gray fog, with the outlines of huge and cold buildings appearing and disappearing in the fog, vaguely indicating that this was a post-industrial era.

"Such thick fog...is this London?"

Iori looked around, trying to recall the appearance of the singularity from his memory, but unfortunately the scene in the game was too different from the real world. Although he judged that this was London, he could not be completely sure.

The thick fog carried a faint magical power, obstructing Iori's vision. Even he could not see very far, and he could not see a second person besides himself, nor could he sense the existence of any other living beings.

So he wandered alone on the desolate street, and half an hour passed without seeing any enemy or follower. His only gain was seeing London Bridge on the road, which confirmed his location.

"Although it's a singularity, it's far too quiet. Can't we find any humans or ghosts?"

If Iori remembers correctly, the London Singularity should have many ghosts, dolls, and other enemies, and a lot of them, but he hasn't seen a single ghost yet, and he can't help but wonder what's going on.

This eerie and deathly silence... it's just like a game instance after the servers have shut down!

Of course, as a Shinigami (death god), Iori is not afraid of so-called supernatural events; even if a vengeful ghost does appear, it is within his jurisdiction.

But this scene is truly unusual...

Despite finding no clues, Iori didn't give up. He followed the route he remembered and made his way towards the clock tower. Fortunately, he had been summoned by Sera in London during the Romanian War, so he already knew the location beforehand and wouldn't get lost.

However, he was disappointed once again. The clock tower was also devoid of any life. Whether it was the buildings on the surface or the ancient tombs below, whether it was human magicians or the mysteries sleeping underground... they had all vanished.

Something's happened—Iori's heart tightened.

This has gone beyond the realm of the unusual!

It's important to understand that while the Mage's Association may be quite weak, it doesn't mean it's full of useless people. In fact, it has many powerful figures. The reason it's often used as a stepping stone in various timelines is mainly because those people don't really care about the association.

Besides the "sweeping monk," the clock tower itself has a very peculiar geographical location. It is situated on a super-huge mausoleum complex, which not only contains ancient magicians and heroes, but also many mysteries from the age of gods. In the deepest part, there is even a huge power that can destroy the world!

In the London Singularity storyline of FGO, the Clock Tower was easily wiped out by a few Casters, but that only eliminated the ordinary magicians in the surface building, without dealing with the things in the underground ruins at all—which would be extremely troublesome for the Servants!

But now even the ruins are empty!

In other words, the distortion of this world is even greater than that of the original singularity!

There were no humans, no animals, no spirits... nothing but endless demonic mist and a vast forest made of steel and cement!

...This is bad.

Although he hadn't encountered any danger yet, Iori already felt a strange tension; things seemed to have gone beyond his expectations.

"Could it be that this place isn't actually a singularity?"

After wandering around for most of the day, Iori arrived at the highest point of London Bridge and coldly surveyed the dead city.

He closed his eyes, fully opening his senses, and carefully searched for every trace of even the slightest magical anomaly in this world shrouded in magical mist.

He tried for a long time but got nothing. Then he suddenly opened his eyes. Although he didn’t sense anything, he suddenly raised his head as if by divine inspiration and looked at the gray sky.

Intuition... something there was drawing him in!

"The Clouds of the Sky!"

A gust of wind blew up, stirring up a vortex of demonic mist that transformed into a tornado that reached the sky, stirring up the heavy clouds that seemed to be sealed with lead. Iori's figure flashed and flew to a height of a thousand meters. Inside the tornado, she continued to ascend, manipulating her body to climb higher and higher. Soon, she broke through the clouds that blocked her view and arrived at the unobstructed boundary.

He was stunned.

At that moment, he almost wondered if he had made a mistake. Why was it that even though he had risen into the sky, the "world" was above his head?

Indeed, Iori, who should have been looking down on everything from high above, is now raising her head and staring blankly at the seemingly endless gray fog world on the other side of the horizon!

Looking at it from another angle, you'll see gray clouds tilting and connecting the two worlds... From a macro perspective, this looks like two parallel planes and one intersecting plane.

Looking at the curved horizon, and then down at the identical scenery, Iori suddenly realized:

This is not a single fragment, but a world pieced together from multiple timelines of "London"!

Why have all the magicians and ruins of the Clock Tower disappeared?

Maybe it's because this is a world that has already been cut (formatted)!

Iori's feeling was right; there really was nothing there, because theoretically it was a world that had been "cut short," even more hopeless than Steel Land!

What to do next?

Hovering in mid-air, Iori hesitated for a moment, but after only a short while his gaze hardened. After closing his eyes and pondering for a moment, he leaped without hesitation toward the world directly opposite him.

He has no leads now and can only rely on his intuition!

Fortunately, there's one skill that's almost been forgotten: [Ariadne's Thread], which allows Iori's intuition to be used to its fullest potential, so she doesn't have to rely solely on luck...

"This is a lie, how could this be... What on earth is going on?!"

The orange-haired girl collapsed to the ground, her pale face showing a suffocating expression as if she were struggling to breathe. Although she was afraid, she still insisted on bravely facing "that".

"This is so illogical, why did it turn out like this..."

Around her was a scene of carnage, the devastated land a testament to the intensity of the battle that had taken place there.

In fact, it was indeed an epic war comparable to legend.

Both sides are superhuman beings, and whether it is a heroic spirit who can take on a thousand men or a corrupted hero, they both have the power to easily sweep across the land. The collision between the two naturally led to the current result.

This was not the first time Ritsuka had led a team to explore a singularity on her own, and her performance was as outstanding as ever, even exceeding expectations. As an "ordinary person" with little combat ability, her efforts were something that would make many people ashamed.

Her courage and perseverance paid off. Although the presence of the poisonous fog was very uncomfortable, with Mash's protection and Chaldea's Mystic Code, she could still move freely without worrying about her life.

She then led her contracted servants to clear out the puppets and ghosts in London, gathered the unconscious citizens who could still be saved, and set up an isolation barrier to protect them. Under the remote support and command of Chaldea, everything was so orderly.

Later, Ritsuka encountered free Servants who were spontaneously summoned. With her excellent affability and natural friendliness, she won over the Heroic Spirits and provided assistance in exploring the Singularity.

They ventured deep into the destroyed clock tower, infiltrated the underground passages overrun by demons and monsters, defeated hostile berserk Servants, and finally found the central mechanism that created the demonic mist.

Although she encountered many difficulties along the way, she overcame them all and made it to the final step.

Just like in traditional adventure stories, the ending always involves facing an evil demon king.

Thus, the mastermind behind creating the demonic mist that turned London into a city of death appeared, and fought fiercely against Ritsuka and her group to achieve their plan. As for the fact that the mastermind later transformed into a Demon God Pillar, it was almost a pre-arranged plot, so there was nothing surprising about it.

Of course, the appearance of new enemies after defeating the Demon Pillar was troublesome, but fortunately, Ritsuka's camp was quite strong and had the advantage of compatibility, so they managed to get through the crisis without any major incidents.

It's finally coming to a perfect end. As expected, the story must have a happy ending—that's what Ritsuka thought until just now.

She was happy about her growth and felt that she could stand on her own and share the burden with the doctor, Mashu and Da Vinci, but reality ruthlessly shattered her beautiful fantasy!

A dramatic and earth-shattering change!

The singularity has not ended. A being that is both extremely distorted and extremely powerful has forcibly descended into this singularity!

Its extraordinary scale, even its mere presence here, foreshadowed the collapse of the singularity's space.

Ritsuka almost vomited after just one glance; the filthy phantom eroded her spirit, seemingly capable of crushing her soul at any moment.

Even the ancient heroic spirits showed expressions of horror without exception.

—Invincible, unmatched!

One should not even entertain the thought of being its enemy, because this is a kind of "phenomenon" that even existence itself cannot comprehend.

Are you kidding...

At that moment, Ritsuka suddenly realized her weakness and powerlessness, and found the common sense she had always held ridiculous.

A happy ending?

Not all stories are so beautiful. In fact, this world is full of tragedy and lamentation, and there are also instances of helplessness and failure.

"How could this possibly happen... Damn it!"

Forcing herself to force a smile that looked worse than crying, Ritsuka's body trembled but she didn't faint. Instead, she remained conscious and looked at the other person.

"You, you... what the hell are you?!"