Book 1: Records of Magus Killer – Chapter 18 - Fall of Earth (Patreon)

After the wedding, Kiritsugu had a meeting with Kudou Retsu, the Patriarch of the Kudou Family in one of the sealed rooms at the Yotsuba Man

After the wedding, Kiritsugu had a meeting with Kudou Retsu, the Patriarch of the Kudou Family in one of the sealed rooms at the Yotsuba Mansion, as this was a perfect opportunity.

Usually, all movements of Ten Master Clans and other high-ranking members of the Hierarchy were under the watch of everyone, as Clans eyed each other warily, and now Kudou Retsu went to attend the wedding of Yotsuba Maya and Emiya Kiritsugu, so it was a perfect opportunity to have a talk.

"Before we start our discussion, I want to show you something."

Kiritsugu stated as he gestured at the huge television on the wall as they both sat down.

"This video was made one month ago in some remnant African republic or whatever it is now."

He then pushed the play button, and the TV lit up and started playing the video.

It played out a security tape from some small city in the south of the African continent. It was a half-destroyed city where people lived in slums and were just recycling the ruins of normal buildings to build themselves shacks or live in tents.

Suddenly, a huge Magic Circle lit up around the entire city as it glowed with malicious crimson light as a middle-aged man with white hair and red eyes, wearing a victorian suit, stepped out of the Magic Circle.

He looked around for several seconds before lifting up his cane and activating Magic Sequence as the entire city exploded into a sea of flames.

Kudou Retsu was barely able to maintain his calm expression as he watched that unknown man in the video cast Strategic-Class Magic by just lifting his hand.

After he cast another Magic Sequence, which had an unknown purpose, the connection was cut.

"What was that?"

Retsu asked with a grave voice.

"That was a Dead Apostle, probably just some new advanced one, because he looked rather weak compared to what is recorded about these creatures."

Stated Kiritsugu, as Kudou Retsu nearly got a heart attack, hearing calling that man in the video weak.

"Dead Apostles are evolved form of Vampires apparently, and even weakest is comparable 4th Order Magician. What you just saw was one of the Dead Apostles arriving at our world; unfortunately for the Planet Earth, this one Dead Apostle is just an insignificant ant, compared to true masterminds who are eyeing this planet for their own gains."

Explained Kiritsugu slowly.

"What exactly is happening with our world."

Kudou Retsu questioned, while Kiritsugu just smiled, as the man wasn't called Sly Warlock for nothing, and immediately caught up that something terrifying was happening in the shadows that normal people could not see.

"When the Magic appeared once again in the world, did anyone question why? Why have Psions and Pushions started recovering, and how did the Psionization come into effect? The thing was, Magic always existed in the world. Ancient Magicians and their legacies are proof of that, but why did our civilization forget about the existence of Magic, and it only resurfaced something around fifty years ago?"

Kiritusgu put up some important questions in the play.

"Some people did, but it was never important for us. When we first discovered the return of Magic, everyone was thinking just about how to become more powerful and develop new weapons and other things related to that."

When the Magic resurfaced, everyone was focused on its development rather than asking what was happening to the world and how is it possible that Magic had resurfaced.

"You know, when the Psionization began, something that is called World Barrier stated, crumbling down. The World Barrier is an invisible wall protecting our world from others, meaning nobody can enter our world, just like none of us can leave this world. While it may seem bad for us, in truth, it was meant to protect Earth. From available records, around 14,000 years ago on Earth, there existed a magically advanced civilization called Lemurian Civilization. During that time, Earth was a magical world, with high psion density and paradise for Magicians and related professions. We don't really know what happened, but the Imperial Records of the Yamato Family said that Lemurians did some experiments, which basically crippled the Earth's ability to produce Psion, which during the 14,000 years resulted in what Earth has become and, of course, Lemurians and all of their civilization mysteriously disappeared so that not even their cities or legacies remained. Now, after 14,000 years, another event happened. The cataclysm, as something made the Earth's damaged system, heal once more, and thus the Psionization came into effect."

After that, he made a slight pause in his explanation.

"And the waves of Psionization created cracks in the World Barrier, and soon enough, with the rising Psion and Pushion Density, the cracks became bigger and bigger, until the Wall started crumbling down, and right now, as we are speaking, it is constantly breaking down."

He looked seriously at Kudou Retsu.

"And this means, because of Earth's broken legacies and stopped continuation of magic, our Psion-rich planet is a nice target for those who want to take it for themselves, and we are too weak even to defend ourselves, right?"

Kiritsugu nodded as Retsu asked the right question.

"Indeed. Because of the broken continuation of Magic, probably the best Earth can produce within the next two decades when the barrier would be broken completely is peak 4th Order Magician. Unfortunately, based on information I managed to obtain by capturing some cultists and their leaders, 4th Order Magicians are just stronger cannon fodder in this situation. Real powerhouses are Transcendental Beings with world-destroying powers, so our only choice is to leave for a new world. When the barrier is gone, we can use several hours' timelapse to escape through the Dimensional Gate to a new world, where we can begin anew."

"So it came to that, in the end? That must be the reason why you and Yotsubas are doing everything to gain as much power and resources as possible in preparations for the migration."

Stated Kudou Retsu frankly.

"Indeed, through our power in the Hierarchy, we are not only able to gather resources but also knowledge, technological advances, inheritances, and many, many other things that would give us an edge in the new world."

With the Yotsuba Clan being the strength in the entire Nation, member of the Council of the Nine, and having people in many important places, they were able to gather the resources and technology required to complete the Project Exodus faster at an unprecedented rate.

Basically, their goal was to take from Earth everything that could be taken, and the things easiest taken were information, knowledge, inheritances, technology, and equipment. They were able to recruit many talented people as they were constantly building the Yotsuba Village.

"So this Village or City you are building here is basically a Noah's Ark."

Indeed it was.

The entire Yotsuba Village basically had the most talented, knowledgeable, and powerful people recruited from the whole of Japan, who were all loyal to the Yotsuba Clan.

"With this said, I will give you the same offer as I gave to the Dairenji Clan and Tsuchimikado Clan when my father-in-law started negotiating the Project Exodus."

Kiritsugu stated as he passed a piece of paper to Kudou Retsu and let him read it.

"Practically a vassalisation or death?"

Kudou Retsu muttered, as in the end, the choice was a simple one.

"Of course, as long as the Yotsuba Clan won't mistreat the Kudou Clan in the future, we agree."

Kiritsugu nodded, expecting such an outcome.

He knew that Kudou Retsu was a rational man who knew what to do for survival and when to do it; if not, he wouldn't have survived the War to its fullest and become one of the first magicians after the Psionizaiton.

The conditions of the contract were simple.

In the new world, they would, of course, establish a nation or some form of government headed by the Yotsuba Clan, as they were the strongest mastermind. In exchange for the passage to the new world and advancements in Magic, they would get loyalty from those whom they provided the passage and piece of land to develop.

"So what are our current duties, now that the Kudou agreed?"

The Sly Warlock asked slowly, as now he and his Clan officially became the fourth and probably the final part of the Project Exodus.

"Simple, your task is the same as the Dairenji and Tsuchimikado. Search for the people with notable talent, power, knowledge, or lineage, recruit them, and send them to live in the Yotsuba Village, where they would settle with their families. Another thing is to coordinate with Marshall Yamamoto as we would be building the public Gates for the Military personnel and their families in military areas to evacuate when the party starts. Marshall Yamamoto asked us to evacuate as many of his troops and their families as possible. By our calculations, we would be lucky if we manage to evacuate around half a million people, maybe 600,000 or 700,000 thousand by some miracle from the public Gates."

Kiritsugu stated as he could see that Kudou Retsu was deeply surprised hearing that Marshall Yamamoto was also aware of the Project Exodus and actively collaborated in that.

Though it was not unexpected.

Yotsubas would need as much military power as possible if they were to relocate to another world, as they would need to secure some territory for themselves to live in, and they would probably be securing it by conquest.

By allowing the Imperial Army and their families to leave, they would be obtaining a huge number of followers. Right now, the army was usually compromised with people who didn't have families, as entering the army wasn't attractive for people as they could die at any moment.

Additionally, those with families, they lived near their major military outposts so that the evacuation progress would be fast, hopefully, but that they could still begin the process several hours, and maybe even days, before the Gates opened.

Also, Marshall Yamamoto's request was something he understood very deeply. Even though Marshall Yamamoto looked like a strict, uncompromising, grumpy old man, he was very caring towards his subordinates, and if he had the chance, he wouldn't send their soldiers to slaughter.

"What happened to the Dead Apostle who appeared in Africa?"

It was worrying that such a powerhouse was moving around the planet, unhindered and unmonitored.

"We don't know."

Kiritsugu answered gravely.

"One of our field operatives in the Khaos Brigade obtained this footage, and Africans told that the city was destroyed by a magical accident when some Warlord wanted to expand their territory; those idiots probably didn't even search the ruins of the city and just wrote it off as everyday dose of destruction and slaughter. Dead Apostle probably escaped and right now, he is gathering information about our world. If he is smart enough, then he would return back and pass the information to his Ancestor. If he is not smart, he would remain in our world and try to rise to power."

Stated Kiritsugu as it caught Kudou Retsu's attention.

"Why are you saying so?"

"Blood Species, like they are called, have an extremely strict social hierarchy, and all Dead Apostles fall under some Dead Apostle Ancestor. If his Ancestor finds out that he kept knowledge of the newly psionized world for himself, Ancestor will kill him in a split of a second, even if he was his own son."

After Kiritsugu got his hand at the recording, he did some research on the Blood Species and found some basic information; the majority was on how their society worked and some notable figures among them.

Among the Dead Apostle Ancestors who stood above the ordinary Dead Apostles was constantly one thing... strife.