Typemoon: Starting Out as the Lion King's Personal Knight [401] (Patreon)

“It’s actually Kirschtaria Wodime?”

Hearing the name of the one who declared the end, Goredolf couldn't stay calm, grinding his teeth. “The leader of Team A, the brat I was planning to protect, has become so arrogant—”

It wasn't just Goredolf. Ritsuka Fujimaru was also confused and puzzled by Kirschtaria’s declaration.

The end of human history—?

Beeep! Beeep!

The series of alarms interrupted Ritsuka’s confusion, and Da Vinci’s voice sounded over the broadcast.

“[Emergency report from the computer room~ Emergency report from the computer room!

That's right~ It's your one and only Da Vinci-chan here, managing all the submarine's functions alone. Although we’re less than 2,000 meters from the shore, we’re about to run into some big trouble before we arrive.

There are a massive number of Spirit Origin readings ahead—the same Hunters that attacked Chaldea. As for how many—never mind, you should see for yourselves. Seeing is believing, after all!]”

The projected display showed exactly what the submarine was observing—

A sea of slaughtering Hunters, a chilling sight like an army.

Hundreds of Hunters cut off the path ahead. Surrounded by such numbers—

“Why the hell are there so many, damn it!”

Upon seeing this, Goredolf couldn't help but curse, “That's an entire division!”

“Da Vinci, can we break through?!”

Ritsuka immediately shouted, “What about the submarine—”

“The submarine alone can’t break through that blockade~ If we just charge in, we’ll be dead for sure.”

Da Vinci replied, “Holmes, turn the steering wheel to the right—let’s give up on landing, and head for another observation base!”

“I must reject that proposal, Da Vinci. The American base is already unresponsive.”

Holmes said calmly, “You saw it too. The sonar shows nothing.

As long as we stay in Antarctica, we don't stand a chance. If the troops occupying Chaldea catch up, we're finished.

Our only route for survival is to break through that human wall. No matter what, we have to head for the sea.”

Holmes knew that even if they were caught by the Hunters, it would only force Alaric to act.

But they couldn’t pin all their hopes on Alaric.

Since he chose this path, and has a purpose similar to those occupying Chaldea, a divergence with Chaldea is inevitable.

Forcing Da Vinci to stay was likely for this reason.

Holmes, having analyzed much of the situation, gripped the wheel tighter.

Is what Alaric seeks inside this so-called fantasy?

“Isn’t this just a desperate gamble? Stop it, you idiot!”

Unable to watch any longer, Goredolf shouted, “There’s no way we can break through that! And that guy isn’t with us—where would we get the strength to break out?”

If Alaric, who had dealt with the Hunters and even stalemated the princess, were present, Goredolf could believe Chaldea had the power to break through.

But the current situation was clearly wrong—a forced breakthrough would be suicide.

“Even if we did reach the sea, hasn’t the port already been occupied?!”

Goredolf said in despair, “This junk truck will be breached by the enemy in no time, and we’ll all be slaughtered!”

Hearing this, Holmes’ lips curled into a smile. “Miss Fujimaru, what do you think?”

Already sensing something, Ritsuka supported Mash and, after a moment’s thought, said, “When you think of Sherlock Holmes, you think of adventure, right?”

Ritsuka trusted in Da Vinci and Holmes’ wisdom.

If those two were working together, there’s no way they hadn’t considered this scenario.

Which meant there could only be one answer.

“Yes, exactly!”

Holmes smiled. “This is an adventure—a truly extraordinary one! Of course, I don’t mean breaking through that terrifying army of Hunters; this isn’t some dull adventure.

This will be the first magical voyage for humanity!

Moon travel, underground travel, time travel—this is a grand attempt unlike any of those.

If something isn’t defined as existing, then the world cannot be established. Yet that’s a domain we cannot reach.

In other words, we’re challenging the Negative Number World.”

“W-wait, what did you say?!”

Goredolf, proud scion of a noble family and knowledgeable in magecraft, immediately understood the implications of Holmes’ words.

Which made him all the more shocked. “Hey, hey, hey! Are you saying—”

“Da Vinci, give me permission to use the Paper Moon.”

Holmes said to Da Vinci in the control tube, “Even though Atlas Institute never gave us permission, I’m very familiar with how to use that thing.

After all, I secretly read the confidential manual right at their headquarters!”

The information Holmes gleaned from Atlas Institute was far from little.

“The Atlas Institute’s Triple Hermes, huh? Detectives really are always so serious.”

Da Vinci chuckled. “But honestly, what are the chances of success? Is the survival rate higher than against that army?”

“The success rate is under thirty percent, and we don’t know where we’ll end up. If you just want to survive under these circumstances, other methods might be better.”

Holmes explained, “But if we think about the future, I still recommend this method—so we can fight those people someday.”

If mere survival was enough, Holmes wouldn’t mind other methods. But for the future, only this was the best choice.

“—Understood.

[Void-Reality Observation Device: Paper Moon], deploying.”

Working with Holmes’ operations, Da Vinci quickly activated the submarine’s true function.

“Deploying logic spell formulae on Shadow Border's external armor. Proof of existence in real space, removed.

Predicting the future—hypothesis of boundary surface proven in 20 seconds;

Reducing spatiotemporal friction in 0.6 seconds.

—Emergency engineering, all green. All right, Holmes, maiden voyage, here we go!

Everyone in the cockpit! Your souls might leave your bodies for an instant but don’t worry, it’s no big deal! It’s just an out-of-body experience!

‘Huh? I’m floating? Why is my body in front of me?’—If that happens, reach out and grab your body quick, and you should survive!”

Da Vinci’s cheerful words sounded like a death sentence to Goredolf.

“There’s no way that’s a proper explanation—!”

Shivering, Goredolf shouted, “You’re basically saying we’ll die once!”

“Fou, fou!”

Even Fou seemed to agree.

“Senpai, I can’t keep up with the situation anymore.”

Even knowing the concept of imaginary numbers, Mash couldn’t help but ask, “But is this really okay?”

“You’ll get used to it.”

Ritsuka waved it off, already used to such wild developments.

“Haha, that’s so like you to say! Then, I won’t hold back—here we go!”

Da Vinci grinned. “What we’re about to do is something Chaldea considered in its early days, but abandoned due to the difficulty and danger.

It’s the opposite of Spiritron conversion—breaking down the Master into spiritrons and sending them into the time-space belt.

Instead, it’s about slipping into the cracks of this world, vanishing completely from reality, and sinking into the Sea of Time.

The enemies attacking Chaldea—cosmic invaders, the Cryptic ones—as Mash said, we have no idea what’s going on.

But there’s no doubt they’re our enemies, the threat that destroyed Chaldea.

To deal with this, we have to touch an even deeper taboo. This is the future we fought so hard to reclaim. How can we let these newcomers ruin it?”

“First, we break through this desperate situation—then we consider fighting back.”

Da Vinci smiled. “Let’s go, Master Ritsuka. This is our new weapon, our new journey—Shadow Border, departing from reality, commencing the Imaginary Submarine—Zero Sail!”

The vehicle vibrated.

The white snow reflected on the vehicle was covered by a gorgeous aurora. The accelerating afterimages were reflected in Ritsuka’s eyes.

The humming of the wheels grew in her ears, reaching a peak.

The Imaginary Submarine Shadow Border began to sink down. The real world peeled away—not the world’s end, but a far more mysterious world, a world that doesn’t exist.

There’s no terrain in the Imaginary Space.

Unlike the binary cosmology of Norse myth, in heresy you often see the concept of primordial chaos.

Heaven and earth, hot and cold, good and evil—all mixed together. The world’s great mother, the primordial chaos, a world of all potentiality. That is what Imaginary Space is: a space possessing a similar, yet different, omnipotentiality.

You could say, primordial chaos is omnipotent because everything is mixed together; Imaginary Space is omnipotent because it is unobservable.

In other words, it's the inside of the human world, the Unobservable Domain.

By accepted physical laws, it’s a place you can’t even glimpse.

So in there, all possibilities can be assumed.

In reality, humans can’t actually see the rainbow vortex of Imaginary Space.

If Imaginary Space is imaginary numbers, and humans are real numbers, then under normal circumstances, real and imaginary numbers never intersect.

Though humans, by the technology of imaginary sailing, can break the rules and interact with imaginary numbers like this, the fundamental severance remains.

That is, the rainbow scenery of Imaginary Space is just the senses misinterpreting imaginary numbers as something visible—an illusion.

In fact, each person sees a different rainbow.

If there were residents of Imaginary Space, they too couldn’t normally observe real humans or the real world.

As long as this severance exists, real and imaginary cannot violate or harm one another.s cannot see or touch anything in the Unobservable Domain.

Thus, nothing becomes an obstacle, and no obstacle can be detected.

There’s a shock at the boundary of phase space, but it can be avoided by calculation.

Normally, humans can never accurately observe the imaginary.

A hundred people will see a hundred different things.

And you can’t even confirm if their perceptions are the same.

That's why the unobservability of imaginary entities is ensured, and the inviolability of real and imaginary is absolute.

…

The submarine’s disappearance was seen by Alaric.

Even from a distance, Alaric observed the submarine’s imaginary sailing.

With Da Vinci standing beside him, arms crossed, he understood the means Chaldea used to escape.

"So?"

Da Vinci, arms folded, raised an eyebrow and looked around at the white snow.

At this moment, they had left the Chaldea that the princess had frozen, and hadn’t left with Koyanskaya or Kirei Kotomine.

They had left alone.

Given the circumstances and previous events, Da Vinci could infer that Alaric had made some sort of arrangement with Kirei and the others. The exact terms were unclear.

But Da Vinci was certain: This time, Alaric’s return to Chaldea seemed—

Was to take her away.

Alaric hadn’t appeared during Chaldea’s attack, and had even helped Ritsuka escape—this was beyond question.

The only suspicious point was refusing to leave together and insisting Da Vinci stay.

Da Vinci, genius of all trades, had considered many possibilities, but couldn’t make a conclusion without confirmation.

After all, it had been half a year since Alaric parted from them.

The time Alaric experienced was unfamiliar to them. In other words, Alaric was a new person now.

In such circumstances, even Da Vinci couldn’t make a hasty judgment.

Facing Da Vinci’s question, Alaric, with hands in his pockets, smiled slightly.

“The root of fantasy has already been planted. Now we just wait for it to sprout.”

“So, what exactly is the root of fantasy?”

Da Vinci couldn’t help but ask, “On the broadcast, Kirschtaria Wodime called himself a Crypter. They're the Team A Masters who were released early, right?

Under the guidance of the gods, to erase human history or whatever—”

Unlike the split-off Da Vinci-chan, this Da Vinci with Alaric had access to more information.

That’s why she wanted to know what was really going on.

“The root of fantasy is the seed of the Fantasy Tree.”

Gazing at the dazzling light in the distance, Alaric couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

“That is a miracle, the keystone and focal point of a new myth. Without it, nothing can be established.”

“Fantasy Tree, the seed—”

Da Vinci’s eyes widened. “If that seed takes root on the planet and sprouts, what happens?”

Since it’s a seed, it must grow.

What will be born from this thing that came from the cosmos—?

Alaric began walking; Da Vinci, at his side, waited for an answer.

Soon, Alaric’s softly smiling voice rang out:

“Just as life competes, so does history.

The present is the history of the victors, based on correct choices and prosperity.

That is called the Proper Human History (Pan-Human History).”

“Then—”

Already understanding, Da Vinci said gravely,

“Those like Kirschtaria Wodime, who rebel against Pan-Human History—”

“And the history of losers, based on wrong choices and doomed prosperity.”

Alaric smiled. “These histories, cut off as unnecessary, even abandoned by the multiverse theory, are called Lostbelts.

When the seed of fantasy sprouts, what is born will be a Lostbelt.

By that time, human history will have ended, Da Vinci.”

Alaric stopped, turning to face the genius Leonardo da Vinci.

Alaric’s expression was excited, his voice loud and clear—even the swirling snow couldn’t drown it out.

“Help me, Da Vinci!”

He reached out, fingers spread as if to grasp the world.

“Not for any special reason—just for yourself, for Chaldea, for Fujimaru and the others.”

Alaric smiled. “This is a war unrelated to right or wrong—just for survival.

And the war for survival is merciless. Miss Fujimaru and the others will learn this soon too. But before that, I need your help.”

“Oh? Then, Sir Alaric—”

Holding down her windblown hair, Da Vinci smiled.

“Can you tell me your goal?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Alaric clenched his hand into a fist, laughing loudly.

“To live. For that, I’ll carve away the world, and cut down all seven Lostbelts!

Such a desire is inhuman—more brutal even than a war for survival. But to join this war, I have no way back.

Maybe it was decided long ago—be it the celestial sphere, or myself, or pruning—none of that matters.”

In Da Vinci’s narrowed gaze, Alaric finally revealed his goal.

“I will truly ascend—become a Beast!”