Lostbelt 1 Summary: Section 22 (END)

Section 22: Imperial Princess of the Beast Country (Part 2)



Kadoc:
Ugh…!? No matter how you look at it, we’re stronger…
We should be stronger, so why---!


Billy:
This is the difference in seasons passed. Or perhaps you could call it experience.
Well, then. Will you come quietly?
I’m going to warn you just once. There won’t be any mercy.
I didn’t have much to do with mages in life, y’see. If you try anything funny, I’ll shoot.



Kadoc:
…Not yet. It’s not over yet!
I promised to make her Tsar! If this world was no good, we would build another world!
And in that distant world, she would become Tsar! I can’t give up! I absolutely can’t give up!
Even I should be able to do it, like you did!



Kadoc begins to glow.



Billy:
---Okay.


Kadoc:
I still have a card left in hand…! This Great Command Spell, Siriuslight---!



---No matter what Kadoc Zemlupus does, it is too late.

The time it took for Billy to pull the trigger was less than a second.

It was impossible for anything to be done within that time, even for a Crypter.

And so, this ending was inevitable.



Anastasia takes the bullet meant for Kadoc.



Anastasia:
…I’m… bad with guns…


Kadoc:
This can't be… Anastasia! What are you doing!?


Anastasia:
…You’re such a dummy, Kadoc.
If you die, I’ll die too.
Since I’m a Servant, that’s only natural, right?


Kadoc:
Wrong!
I still have the Siriuslight! The special authority bestowed only to the Crypters!
As long as this Great Command Spell paints over a new world, you can…!
Turn everything around, and win… we can win!


Anastasia:
You’re really foolish… there is no meaning in a victory such as that.
I am the legitimate successor of the Romanov dynasty, Anastasia.
It is nothing more than an act of theft--- not something that could be called victory.


Kadoc:
…Even so…


Anastasia:
I won’t let you martyr yourself. I won’t let you self-destruct.
Calm down, Kadoc… I believe.
I believe that no matter how mistaken your choices are--- you will do the right thing to do.


Kadoc:
…No, I can’t.
No matter when, no matter where, all I can manage is just to regret what I should have been able to do.



Anastasia:
…Embrace those regrets and live, Master.
I… will surely not be able to do this a second time… something like throwing myself in front of a bullet.
Alright? I didn’t help you because you excelled at anything.
It was because I believed in you, and as a Servant, that’s the natural thing to do.
…Please… think of it… as an honour… You are really… so cute…



Anastasia vanishes. Before Kadoc has time to react, Billy knocks him out with a blow.



Billy:
Is this fine? Though if you order it, Master, I will kill him.


Guda:
Thanks, Billy.


Billy:
You’re welcome, Master. Playing a role such as this is my job.


===


Gordolf:
H-Huh… that damned Servant… she helped her contractor at the very last…
Although she was the one who destroyed my Chaldea, I’ll rate her well just on this.
Still, this is a great achievement, Guda! Kadoc Zemlupus has been captured alive!
Well, tie him up and bring him along in the Shadow Border. Let’s have him confess everything---



The ground begins to shake and Gordolf goes pale. Da Vinci alerts you that an immense amount of magical energy has been detected from the Fantasy Tree.



Da Vinci:
It’s an absolutely amazing amount of mana! On the level of that of the Age of Gods, close to that of True Ether! As if the planet’s Human Order has been rolled back, returning under the dominion of the gods…!
I’m not exaggerating, at this rate the world might be overturned, okay!?



The Fantasy Tree has started to activate. Holmes tells you that you must cut the big tree down before it fully takes root.



Guda:
Isn’t that a bit impossible!?


Gordolf:
Even if it’s impossible, you gotta do it, you idiot!
You came back from having those dead eyes to defeat Kadoc! Don’t give up here!
If you can’t do it we’ll all be annihilated, erased as being useless without any records of us left behind!
The prestige of the Musik family won’t end here! It can’t be allowed to rest eternally in this northern country!



Da Vinci pushes aside the issue of the Musik family’s prestige, and tells you she’ll give you as much support as she can. She transfers all of the remaining magical energy in the Shadow Border to your Servants. With this, you should be able to fight in the air.



Da Vinci:
There might be painful thoughts, things that you have to think about, but for now just focus on what’s in front of you!
That mysterious tree which has been overlooking us ever since we arrived in Russia---
We need to ascertain its true form with our own eyes!


Guda:
---Roger that, I’m going!


Mashu:
Yes!
Mashu Kyrielight setting forth to guard the Master, with everyone’s support!
As per Kadoc Zemlupus’s statement, the enemy will be designated as Lostbelt No.1: Fantasy Tree Orochi!
Central heat source located at 5000 metres above ground, beginning to ascend…!


===


You do the battle with the awakening tree itself and manage to defeat it.



Mashu:
The Fantasy Tree’s heat source has vanished! But…


Guda:
Beowulf, you’re up!


Beowulf:
What, no, that’s impossible!? This thing is almost 300 metres around, y’know!?



Suddenly, Mashu notices something standing at the tree’s root. It is the strange woman that was present at Chaldea’s destruction.



Billy:
…Is that… a human? No, but… it’s strange…
I can’t move my finger. It’s as if the desire to shoot can’t well up within me.
Even though I’m someone who can make anything a target for my bullets…?


Beowulf:
….Grendel. No, it’s different. Even though Grendel was a faceless monster, it had a proper form.
But, what’s that thing…? Although we can certainly see it, it does not feel real at all…!



Mashu contacts the Border, asking them to scan the ground 30 metres around the Fantasy Tree’s root. There is something there, and she urges them to hurry.



Meuniere:
Well, we’re monitoring it properly, but there doesn’t seem to be anything that’d spook Mashu---


Holmes:
---No. This is impossible. Nothingness. We cannot see it at all…!?
Da Vinci! Are the instruments working properly!?


Da Vinci:
Yeah. The numbers are correct. The truth is as you see, Holmes.
That they can see it is the truth. It is also true that we cannot see it where we are.


Mashu:
What is going on!? Is it okay if we treat that as an enemy!?


Holmes:
Mashu. It seems that we are unable to observe that person from our end. However, it is definitely right in front of your eyes.
For there is [nothing] there. All manner of reactions that should exist on this Earth, are not present there.
There is just a single human’s worth of [blankness]. A void-like emptiness seeping out into the space around it.
Although machines may not be able to observe its figure, that blankness is indeed proof that something [is there]!


Guda:
Just what--- is----



The strange woman steps towards the tree and touches it. The gigantic trunk begins to freeze over. And shortly after, it shatters. At the same time, the woman also disappears, as mysteriously as she has appeared. In the remnants of the tree, Mashu detects a dense magical energy reading belonging to something akin to a Holy Grail.



Da Vinci:
The Holy Grail… no, an imitation of a Holy Grail…?
Yeah, for now we can’t leave it lying around, and we really should be using whatever we can get our hands on.
Mashu, Guda-kun, I’ll leave the retrieval to you!


Mashu:
It’s alright. Like the Holy Grails we’ve collected thus far, it seems that I can store it in my shield.
Retrieving Pseudo-Holy Grail.



Meuniere confirms that the flow of magical energy in the ground has stopped. There are no other lifeforms detected in the area besides you and your allies. Holmes still seems quite stunned by the inexplicable event that has just happened, but he recovers quickly.



Holmes:
Regardless, the fight is over. It is our victory, Mister Guda.


Mashu:
…Yes. I hereby report the end of combat in this Russian Lostbelt.
…It was a battle in which many things were lost.


Billy:
…Now then. My role’s over too, but…
Seems that there’s something we gotta do before that.


Guda:
I want to bury Patsy.


Billy:
Yeah!



You dig up the earth and lay Patsy to rest.



Mashu:
Master…


Guda:
Don’t lose, he said.


Mashu:
Yes.
…He didn’t tell you to win, but said, don’t lose.
Perhaps Patsy-san understood it somehow.
That our journey will surely be far crueller than it has before.
Chaldea has been frozen, and what we have left is just the Shadow Border.
Above all, this is a journey to destroy worlds.
From now on--- we will not set forth to save the worlds that we encounter, but to destroy them.
All so that our own world can survive.


Guda:
That’s right…


Mashu:
…Yes.


Guda:
But, we can’t lose.


Mashu:
Yes…!
Patsy-san said it. We have a duty to fulfil.
It is the duty to protect the Human Order, and the duty to survive---!
…! Master, please look at the sky!



For the first time in a long, long while, the blizzard ceases, and the skies clear up.



Guda:
The blue sky is---


Mashu:
Yes. It’s the blue sky!
The blue sky… that we wanted to show… Patsy-san…!



Beowulf says his farewells, as he has begun to fade away. The same goes for Billy. Billy remarks that he’s made a good king this time around, and that he thinks it’s a flaw of democracy that someone like Beowulf would merely be treated as another one of the many people in power.



Beowulf:
Ha. That’d make me feel much more at ease…
It’s better for me to keep on fighting as a warrior.
…But why is it that everyone keeps trying to treat me as a king, huh.



He disappears with those words.



Billy:
Good night, good-natured Beowulf…. You are more like a bear than a bee, in the end.
Oops, this is as far as I go too.
If there’s a time where you have no choice but to be bad, call for me.
See, after all, I’m the young ruffian king, right?



Billy vanishes too. Salieri, however, remains. Although his role is over, his Saint Graph is refusing to disappear. It’s as if telling him he should see you off. You tell Salieri to stay well. With a wry grin, Salieri replies that there’s no such thing for Servants. Though he notes that he’s like an empty shell right now, who couldn’t be of use in battle.



Mashu:
No! Salieri-san’s piano was of use when we were fighting Ivan the Terrible!


Salieri:
That won’t do. It was just a performance full of anger, with not a trace of beauty to be found.
That is why it could have moved and bound the Thunder Emperor. Because it was unpleasant.
…In the first place, my performances cannot move hearts unless through anger…



Da Vinci asks Salieri to calm down. Nothing good will come of being jealous of universal geniuses and those with godly talent.



Salieri:
Don’t make me laugh. For me, everyone who isn’t a musician is but a banal commoner.


Da Vinci:
Alright, please come to the Shadow Border and I’ll bonky bonk you with this improved staff!


Salieri:
I refuse. I still have a mission to fulfil. I’ll be parting ways with you here.
---So long, Master of Chaldea, and the maiden of the shield.
…Thank you for listening to my piano. As you know, I’m a man who can only spit out hateful things, but…
If you ever need my strength, please don’t hesitate to call for me.
Though, don’t seat me besides that man. I don’t have the confidence to maintain my sanity then.



He walks off, towards Yaga Moskva. Mashu finds it a little lonely, but Salieri was smiling as he went. She figures he must have something he needs to do there.



Gordolf:
Hmph. Even if a third-rate Servant like that begged us to form a contract with him, it’d just be a waste of mana!
Well, we need to regroup quickly! The Border will be heading over to where you are right now!



Holmes notes that the wall of storms that had surrounded the Lostbelt has also disappeared. It seems that the Fantasy Tree had something to do with it after all. With this, it’s clear as to your objectives within a Lostbelt – cutting down the Fantasy Trees.

Now that the Border is repaired, you can finally depart from Russia. Gordolf tells you to come back with the captured Kadoc in tow.



Gordolf:
I’ll treat you to the beef jerky from my secret stash too!


Mashu:
Yes, then we will be proceeding to return now, Gordolf-san!


Gordolf:
Call me commander!


Guda:
Roger that, commander!



Gordolf is surprised at your response for just a brief moment before he smiles, pleased.



Guda:
Let’s go, Mashu!


Mashu:
Yes!


===


In Yaga Moskva, a child asks his father, one of the rebels, if Atalante has disappeared. The father admits that she has, and that he is lost, not knowing what to do now. Salieri passes by and starts recruiting the Yaga to help him. He needs their assistance to move the piano from the Tsar’s palace to the open spaces of the ruined city.

The curious Yaga ask what that piano is. He teaches them that it is a musical instrument – and since Ivan is no more, he’ll use it as he pleases.



Salieri:
---Well then, shall I play?


Yaga (Child):
What do you mean by play?


Salieri:
The piano, this piano.. it is a form of art that only the Tsar has heard before.


Yaga (Child):
Will it hurt?


Salieri:
There’ll be no pain.


Yaga (Child):
Will I become full?


Salieri:
You will.


Yaga (Child):
Then do it.


Salieri:
… Very well, I shall begin. The song will be a request from Amadeus.
Should peace dawn upon this world--- he wanted this song to be played.
It might be annoying, but if it’s that genius’s will then I must obey.



Salieri begins to play Twinkle Twinkle Star. He explains to the child that though it was a song of love in his time, in the future, it was a song of stars.



Yaga (Child):
What are stars?


Salieri:
When night comes, you will see them.
Countless glittering, twinkling stars in the sky.


Rebel Yaga:
Even if we see such things… now…


Salieri:
…This Lostbelt will soon disappear. It will return to its original form---
It will return to being a Pruning Phenomenon that did not exist from the start. As if waking from a dream.
A sudden awakening, after many nights. Everything will become as it once was, as if nothing ever happened.
As one who stands on the side of Panhuman History, I cannot give an answer to that despair.
---I can only continue to play this song, until this world ends.
Not a single one of you have sinned, it was just this world which headed in the wrong direction.
…That must be something to mourn. However, there is not one amongst you who needs to shoulder this responsibility.
There is still time until the collapse.
You can take back what you lost, or you can give up.
…Just stop acts that could hurt others. There is no longer any need for that now.


Rebel Yaga:
…Can we listen to this for just a little more?


Salieri:
Of course you can.


Rebel Yaga:
…Such a beautiful sound did not appear in our world.
Aah, that really--- couldn’t be helped.


Yaga (Child):
What’s wrong? Does it hurt?


Rebel Yaga:
It’s nothing. I’m fine.



The brilliantly shining sea of stars. Twinkling, transient life-forms in the faraway distance.

Both the Yaga that knew nothing, and the Yaga that knew everything, raised a cheer of joy at that sight. There were also those who let slip only a sigh of admiration from their lips.

They did not know of those stars as anything more than twinkling things.

The elderly Yaga were stunned, and stared up at the true sky which had been nothing more than tales in myths and legends thus far.

For the people who had continued to struggle to survive in this land of permafrost, it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

It was the brilliance of a future that would never reach them.


===


The Shadow Border arrives at the edge of the Lostbelt territory, and departs. When the monitor comes back online, all you can see is a blank expanse of white stretching out before your eyes. There is nothing else.

Meuniere shouts that it’s no time to be lost for words, and begins analysing the surroundings. The atmosphere outside seems to be similar to the original Earth. Even though all cosmic rays have been blocked, somehow, the light of the sun is able to pass through. It is all quite perplexing to him.



Gordolf:
----(gave up thinking)



Da Vinci says that there’s nothing to be done now but to wait for Kadoc to wake up. He’d know more about the current situation, and first you’ll need to figure out what he knows. Suddenly, Meuniere detects a transmission.



Meuniere:
H-H-H-H-H-Holmes! Da Vinci! Uncle Commander!


Gordolf:
I’m not an uncle!


Holmes:
What is it, Mr. Meuniere? Is it something even more shocking than what we have just seen?


Meuniere:
Yeah, it’s the biggest shock of all! See, it’s a transmission!
A remote signal that continues to be transmitted via magecraft!
We must have been able to receive it once the Fantasy Tree was cut down!



The message is encrypted, but the Chaldea staff deal with it quickly. They begin to read out the transmission.



Chaldea Staff:
[We mages of Panhuman History. We mages of the proper history.]
[We would like to rendezvous to all who receive this transmission]



The message continues.

[This is Baldanders. Right now, we are moving in the North Atlantic]

[We await survivors. I repeat. We await survivors of the proper history]

[Please rendezvous with us at the coordinates we are about to convey]

[This is Baldanders. The Wandering Sea, Baldanders]


Gordolf:
Wandering Sea… the Wandering Sea…!? That!?
One of the three great organizations of the world of magecraft…! The Clock Tower of London, the Atlas Institute of Egypt, and---
The island from the Age of Gods hidden in the northern sea, the oldest pillar of magecraft, the Wandering Sea…!
That--- still survived!?



[…I repeat. We mages of Panhuman History]

[Please rendezvous with us at the coordinates we are about to convey]





--FIN--