Chapter 47: Vivian's Second Playthrough

The main body of the Fairy Kingdom can actually be said to be quite small.

After all, its area is only that of Britain Island.

Driven by that astonishing speed that surpassed modern jet aircraft throughout the entire journey, not even a full circuit of the Fairy Kingdom would take much time, so the group naturally approached the designated destination very quickly.

Not long after.

That gigantic World Tree seemed right before their eyes, faintly visible in the deep dark night, its massive outline like a magnificent wall encircling the world...

Onyx sits at the northernmost end of the impoverished Britain Island, the terminus of the entire Fairy Kingdom, and the nation closest to the World Tree.

This extraordinary mobility made Xia Zhi even more convinced of his decision; indeed, manifesting the Shining Ship Vimana first was the correct choice. Possessing this aerial fortress almost instantly solved the team's current greatest trouble.

Methods such as summoning familiars to pull a carriage for travel—

From now on, can be completely declared a thing of the past.

However, compared to Xia Zhi's relaxed mood, the atmosphere on the ship was slightly oppressive, especially for Vivian and Artoria. At this moment, neither had the interest to kill the other with their gazes; replacing it were faces full of gravity and deep thought.

No matter what grievances existed between them, whatever reasons they had to be hostile toward each other.

But at least on one core point, their feelings were consistent: they both deeply loved Britain, both held a certain deep obsession with this land... no matter what, neither wished to hand it over to others, or let it fall to something else.

Precisely during this return voyage to Onyx, they traversed the Fairy Kingdom's horizon. Even with Vimana's lightning speed, when it cut through the cloud layer in the night sky, they could still get a bird's-eye view of the full panorama of the land below from high above.

The situation could only be described as shocking... almost every place within sight showed active traces of Moss clusters.

Like thick ink-colored stains dripping quietly onto a map, black regions continuously spread, slowly permeating the entire territory map.

The others, though their feelings for Britain were not as deep as theirs, also knew the current situation was extremely severe, so they all chose silence. In the end, no one on the ship spoke anymore... this only made the atmosphere aboard increasingly heavy and oppressive.

"We've arrived. Let's stop here for now. I'll look for a suitable place to land..."

Xia Zhi didn't feel anything particular about it, speaking in a relaxed tone. It wasn't that he didn't know how bad the situation was; he had just learned long ago how to accept it.

Casually selecting an area, he began to steadily control the Shining Ship's descent. This process was a bit of a test of operation, just like driving a car; the truly difficult part is actually parking, especially since he still doesn't have the "Riding" Skill right now.

His current piloting of Vimana relied entirely on learning on the fly and his extraordinary Comprehension.

No matter how talented, feeling that having hands is enough, he inevitably still lacked a bit of experience in this aspect.

As expected, he still needed to summon the third Servant as soon as possible.

—The first choice would naturally be that Rider summoned by Miss Sakura, whose True Name is Medusa from Greek Mythology, making her a fellow countryman of sorts with Medea.

—Possessing Rank A+ Riding ability, her specialty is extremely fitting; she'd be qualified to pilot a spaceship, let alone maneuver this Shining Ship.

Having fantasized a bit about the recruitment of the third staff member, and spending some more time on meticulous operation, he finally successfully piloted Vimana to a safe landing. Though he couldn't drift into position as smoothly as flowing clouds and water, he at least avoided the risk of a hard landing.

With a slight vibration, the Shining Ship landed steadily on the ground in the dark night.

Xia Zhi let out a light breath, then turned his gaze toward Vivian. He saw her biting her lower lip tightly, her eyes revealing a trance and contemplation, unknown what she was thinking, spacing out completely without any action.

"Saber, Caster, please you two go scout the surroundings first, and ensure Vimana's safe concealment..."

The youth turned his eyes toward the two Servants, issuing orders in a calm and natural tone, completely without any awkwardness about displaying a Master's attitude because of their former colleague relationship.

"... Leave it to me."

Artoria let out a long breath, accepted the mission, and having already calmed down, she gripped the Holy Sword in her hand and stepped off the deck, choosing to treat her lifelong enemy as if she didn't exist.

Medea seemed to be thinking about something, but in the end said nothing, and also turned to follow the swordswoman girl off the ship.

"Grand Master, you don't need to act with us. Wait on the ship for a bit. Also, could you trouble yourself to look after Index?" Xia Zhi turned to Tetelot with the request. The latter glanced at the silver-haired little nun and agreed without hesitation.

"Alright, let's go then..."

Having arranged everything, he walked directly toward Vivian, took the girl's hand, and walked off the ship.

Just like that night when he led Vivian escaping from Onyx—

And on this night, he once again led her onto this land of Onyx in the same way.

Vivian said nothing, nor did she subconsciously break free of his hand. On the contrary, the girl gripped him very tightly, as if clutching a reliance and refusing to let go. The force was so great that even an Ordinary Person couldn't bear it.

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The night color was deep.

All sounds silent.

Onyx, once not prosperous but peaceful and stable, at this moment could only be called a dead silence. It was that hollow silence where you can hear the wind blowing across the wilderness, with no other sounds whatsoever.

On the land belonging to the Rain Country, only vast stretches of continuous abandoned buildings remained...

And vast stretches of ruins, broken walls and ashes after burning, all seemed to be silently narrating something.

Under the night curtain, walking through such an abandoned town, Xia Zhi led the stiff-moving Vivian, passing through row after row of housing ruins, and soon arrived before the completely collapsed Royal Palace.

The Four Clans Allied Forces' offensive was fierce, and they did it thoroughly.

The entire Royal Palace was leveled, hardly a few houses left, making one suspect whether, in order to find the Paradise Fairies, they even dug up the earthworms underground and split them in half.

He wanted to find that former library, but after looking around for a good long while, Xia Zhi couldn't find which ruin might be it. After all, his understanding of this town was extremely insufficient; he basically hadn't toured it at all before the Night of Extermination arrived that night.

No corpses.

Not even any remaining bloodstains.

Probably because Fairies are all natural Terminals, existences like "Children of Stone" and "Children of Forest"; after death, their corpses also return to nature, naturally becoming parts of soil, trees, and so on.

Even this entire island, in essence, is piled up from the corpses of countless Fairies.

The situation here in the Rain Country is not hard to understand.

And throughout this entire process, Vivian's eyes were vacant, not uttering a word.

Only through the contact of their palms could one feel the stiffness of her body at this moment; the whole person was like a soulless walking corpse.

Until they reached an open space, looking at the venue that had been intentionally cleared out, and the gigantic Execution Platform built in the middle of the venue, did she finally take the initiative to stop her steps, taking a deep breath.

"That... next I want to walk alone for a bit."

She turned her eyes toward the person beside her, gently withdrew her hand, and said this with that obviously suppressed voice.

"Then fine, I'll just wander nearby. Call me if anything comes up..." Xia Zhi nodded very understandingly. He knew that what she needed right now was solitude, a space that would allow her to express her suppressed emotions.

Soon, only Vivian remained alone at the scene.

She pursed her lips, watching that person's figure disappear from her sight, and after quite a long while, she slowly turned her head, staring straight at that spacious open ground in the distance, and at that cruel facility on the open ground.

This is really easy to understand...

One look and you know what it's used for...

She slowly walked over, arrived at the front of the Execution Platform, tilted her head up to look at this tall facility, slowly tightened her fist, just wanting to say something.

And right at this time, or rather in some imperceptible instant.

The moment the night wind blew past as usual——

Her thoughts seemed to suddenly be stretched to the limit, the world also seemed somewhat distorted, heaven and earth both continuously receding... Simultaneously it also seemed like some messy large quantity of information, just like this, surged from the other end of the time axis.

Through the Soul's link, this massive information directly flowed into her heart.

This is, this is——

Data Transmission from the future?!

Vivian, who already had one experience, reacted, subconsciously a bit stunned, could it be that in this playthrough, she would similarly fail again?

No time to let her think carefully, the massive information bombarded and drowned the girl's thoughts, incomparably chaotic light and shadow, sounds like raging waves layer upon layer, occupying all her thinking, all her ideas.

There were many, many scenes that couldn't be immediately understood, those were unfamiliar scenes one after another——

——An incomparably magnificent city destroyed in flames...

——A giant black dog roaming the earth like a monster, an unmatched Dragon soaring in the firmament...

——Countless Moss spreading across all of Britain, the Island seeming to collapse, peeling off from the level of the World...

And a blood-stained Throne, a tall Execution Platform, reveling Fairies, finally frozen in these mixed Memories, was a sentence that seemed like a powerless mutter, repeatedly narrating something that seemed impossible to understand:

"He died..."

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In the incomparably Splendid Palace, that silver-haired Queen, before the blood-stained Throne, held a Spear supporting her tottering body, while the person opposite was shouting something loudly, blustering and roaring.

But she couldn't hear clearly, just subconsciously muttering that sentence.

"So it's like this... He died..."

"He died..."

A sudden wave of fatigue fiercely surged into Morgan's heart, suddenly seeming to understand something, in an instant, she felt breathing a bit difficult, the Long Spear in her hand also no longer able to support her body's weight.

Knees bent, kneeled on the ground.

Both hands covering face, body began to tremble slightly.

Regret gushing forth, seeming to curse herself, wanting to tear open Morgan's Chest. Stomach acid surging up the throat, heart-wrenching agony. Tears wetting the eyeballs, all completely unable to stop.

At this moment, she finally knew Mab's feelings back then, finally knew why the other party would roll on the ground in pain.

Ah ah, that truly was——

Extremely, extremely intense... As if wanting to tear apart body and mind, hatred and despair.

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(PS: Everyone, Happy Valentine's Day... cough cough, this was originally the planned Fairy Kingdom ending, letting Sister King end with regret and all, but thinking carefully it's not quite right, I'm a warrior of love... just treat it as a silhouette of Vivian's Second Playthrough BE ending)

(Chapter End)