Fate: Question And Answer System of Traversing Heroic Spirits

"I see. So, humans from a parallel world actually know about my plan?"

Goetia gazed at Chihiro, his expression laced with amusement. Speaking as if to himself, he mused, "Is this foresight? Or perhaps... some form of magecraft?"

!!!

Chihiro's heart sank.

As expected of Goetia. He figured it out instantly.

Goetia then turned his head slightly. "You, the rat lurking over there—come out. This fabricated world is your doing, isn't it?"

"...Hah."

Realizing that he had been discovered, Shakespeare no longer bothered to hide. Slowly, he stepped out from the shadows.

"You bastard!" Chihiro snapped. "Look what you've done!"

"How is this my fault?" Shakespeare huffed indignantly. "I merely created a scene drawn from your own mind. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself!"

"You dare act so self-righteous after pulling this stunt?!"

"This is art, you ignorant child!"

As the two bickered back and forth, Goetia merely watched in silence, treating the whole exchange like some farcical performance put on for his amusement.

But elsewhere, inside the group chat, a conversation unfolded.

Chihiro: "Well? Any progress?"

Shakespeare: "No, the story is no longer under my control. It seems he's taken over entirely."

Shakespeare: "Even if it was my worst work, it was still my creation. And now it's been plagiarized. I'm... displeased."

Chihiro: "So in other words, you can't dispel your Noble Phantasm anymore?"

Chihiro: "...Oh, come on, you're killing me here."

Shakespeare: "What exactly is happening?"

Chihiro: "No time to explain. We need to focus on surviving this mess first!"

Outside the group chat, Goetia had evidently lost patience with their theatrics. His voice cut through the tension like a knife.

"It's pointless," he declared. "This world has already been sealed by me. Even if you dispel the Noble Phantasm, it won't change anything."

His gaze flickered with intrigue. "And yet... it seems you are communicating through some means I cannot perceive. Interesting."

"...Damn it," Chihiro gritted his teeth.

He exhaled sharply before meeting Goetia's gaze. "So, Old Solomon, what exactly do you want?"

Goetia's appearance was the result of Shakespeare's reckless use of his Noble Phantasm. But rather than outright killing them, he had instead trapped them in this twisted illusion.

Why?

Goetia studied him for a moment before answering, "I am merely... curious. How does a human like you possess knowledge of a plan that the King has spent so many years preparing?"

"...Call it a dream," Chihiro replied, voice steady.

"A precognitive dream? Not impossible."

Goetia's tone dropped into something more ominous.

"But it is unfortunate, human. You and I were never meant to exist in the same world. You should have been able to continue your life unbothered... but now—"

The instant he finished speaking, Goetia vanished from sight.

Before Chihiro could even react, he reappeared right in front of him, throwing a devastating punch straight at his chest.

A heartbeat later, a crimson barrier erupted around Chihiro, intercepting the blow just in time.

Even so, the sheer impact sent him flying backward, crashing violently into the ruins.

Qilin Armor.

A defensive function of the Qilin Seal—even when the armor wasn't actively worn, as long as he carried its seal, it would automatically deploy in moments of crisis.

"...Hm?"

Goetia flexed his fingers slightly, staring at the lingering energy surrounding Chihiro's shield.

"What kind of power is this?"

The power of the Qilin Armor, which was not magecraft, immediately piqued Goetia's interest.

"Be grateful," he said. "If not for this fragile body, you would have been dead already."

"Khack... Then I should be thanking you, huh..."

Chihiro pushed himself up from the ground, clutching his chest. A metallic taste filled his mouth as he coughed up a bit of blood.

He truly did have something to be grateful for. If the entity before him had been Goetia's true form, even with the Qilin Armor's protection, he would have been obliterated by sheer impact alone.

As expected of the so-called Israeli boxing champion...

With no time to waste, he swiftly retrieved several healing potions, downing them in quick succession. The searing pain coursing through his body finally dulled.

Meanwhile, Shakespeare approached with a grim expression. "No good. I can't break through his magical barrier."

He sighed, rubbing his temples. "I should mention, I'm just a playwright. My proficiency in magecraft is decidedly limited."

Chihiro stared at him blankly. "...You are so damn useless."

"Cease your struggle, human," Goetia sneered. "You are trapped, a mere turtle in a jar. Escape is impossible."

"Like hell it is! I haven't lived long enough to die in a place like this!"

Summoning all his strength, Chihiro activated his mental interference magecraft (Onmyōdō), aiming to forcefully break through Goetia's barrier.

Goetia narrowed his eyes. "Hmm… Mental interference magecraft? The kind that manipulates reality through sheer force of will?"

"Fascinating. Very well—why don't you see if your will can overcome mine?"

Chihiro relentlessly assaulted the barrier with everything he had. Yet, no matter how much power he poured into it, the defenses remained unscathed. Instead, his vision blurred, his head pounded, and soon, blood began trickling from his nose and mouth.

Is it because, deep down, I still believe that breaking through Goetia's magic is impossible?

No—ridiculous!

If he couldn't even shatter a simple spell of Goetia's, then how could he ever hope to defeat him in the future?

"Goetia is just another opponent I've already beaten before I came to this world!"

The mind shapes reality.

A tranquil heart guides the flow of the world. If the heart changes, so too does all else.

If the heart opens, then all paths open.

At that moment, Chihiro's thoughts cleared. All distractions vanished from his mind, allowing him to unleash the full potential of his mental interference magecraft.

And then—

Goetia's barrier shattered.

"...What?"

Goetia's eyes widened slightly in genuine surprise. He had not expected Chihiro to actually succeed.

"Now!"

Seizing the moment, Shakespeare swiftly reclaimed control of his Noble Phantasm, unraveling the story world entirely.

As the fabricated space collapsed, Goetia's form dissipated into smoke.

The next thing they knew, Chihiro and Shakespeare were back in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Shakespeare sank to the ground, utterly drained. Meanwhile, Chihiro lost consciousness on the spot.

"Well done, Caster."

A familiar voice approached. Amakusa Shirou strode over, surveying the scene. He seemed convinced that Shakespeare had successfully defeated Chihiro with his Noble Phantasm.

And in a way—he wasn't wrong.

Shakespeare let out a weary chuckle. "No, Master, you misunderstand."

He gave a bitter smile. "Things nearly spiraled out of control. Frankly, he was the one who saved me."

Amakusa Shirou frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

Before Shakespeare could explain further, Gilgamesh descended from above, landing beside Chihiro.

With effortless ease, he lifted the unconscious boy.

"Hmph. This pathetic mongrel… I have changed my opinion of you."

The King of Heroes gave a faint smirk.

"But unfortunately, the mess you've made is far from over."

BOOM!

Out of nowhere, blood-red flames erupted, engulfing the entire Hanging Gardens.

Every single Servant within the stronghold froze in place.

A dreadful, suffocating sense of impending doom washed over them all.

Shakespeare's face turned pale. "No way—don't tell me he's actually chasing us?!"

Semiramis turned her piercing gaze toward the Caster. "What have you done?"

Shakespeare wiped his forehead, drenched in cold sweat. "I, uh… I may have invited a very dangerous enemy..."

BANG!

A deafening explosion tore through the sky, and in its wake, a figure emerged before them.

Everyone's breath hitched.

"S-Solomon?!"

The Legendary King of Magecraft stood before them.

No—it wasn't Solomon.

It was Goetia.

He had followed them into this world.

---

From within his throne, Goetia suddenly received a flood of returning memories.

Activating his Clairvoyance, he scoured the timelines, searching for something.

And what he found was…

There was only one Chihiro.

That's right—across countless branches of the Type-Moon multiverse, in all recorded timelines, not once had a figure named Chihiro ever existed.

Except for this moment.

That revelation alone immediately piqued Goetia's interest.

Intrigued, he peered into Chihiro's past and future.

His past?

Nothing.

A temporary anomaly. A child abandoned at birth, left at the foot of a mountain by a mother torn between guilt and apathy.

Raised by a priest.

Rarely descended from the mountain, yet somehow, possessed extensive knowledge of matters beyond his time.

Precognition?

And then—Goetia looked toward his future.

And what he saw was—

Nothing.

Or rather—Chihiro's future did not exist at all.

No records. No traces. No footprints in time.

He was like a special exception—an entity that existed outside the computations of the timeline itself.

A singularity.

And then—Goetia uncovered something else.

The existence of a communication group.

A phenomenon that immediately filled him with dread.

No matter how many methods he employed, he could not perceive this group directly.

It was as though he was blind to it.

All he could do was collect clues from the echoes of the timeline.

A group that connected individuals across different worlds and realities.

A force capable of granting its members various artifacts and abilities.

An enigma that could break through dimensional barriers, bringing objects from one world into another.

And yet—it was playing a mere quiz game?

Was he simply outdated?

Or was there something deeply wrong with this entire picture?

One thing was certain, both Chihiro and this communication group were uncalculated variables.

An unpredictable threat that had to be understood or eliminated.

Thus—Goetia descended.

And now—he stood before the Apocrypha world.

"...Humans," he murmured, surveying the scene before him.

"The Holy Grail War is truly disgusting."

Disdain filled his voice.

"No matter the world, humans are always the same."

His crimson eyes burned with cold fury.

"As expected, you should all be erased."

***

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