That was an interlude that occurred before departure. Unlike Emiya Alter, who preferred to act alone and leave as he pleased, Alaric stayed in the church for other reasons, exchanging information with Fujimaru Ritsuka before their departure.
Or rather, it was Meltryllis whispering to her.
Regarding this member of BB's Sakura-themed squad, Alaric felt not only curiosity but also an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen her somewhere before.
Not only was Alaric observing Meltryllis, but Meltryllis was also observing Alaric.
To meet him again in this world was an unexpected event.
Despite some differences from the impression she had of him, his essence remained unchanged—he was still himself.
He was the one who had participated in the Moon Holy Grail War, only to leave without a word in the end. Records of him remained in the Seraphic Gate of Mooncell.
The Seraphic Gate had seven layers of barriers. The sixth layer, 404 Light Years, was an infinite distance that could not be traversed even in countless centuries. The seventh layer was a circular spiritual particle barrier capable of shielding eight dimensions.
… That place was a forbidden area, accessible only to the ultimate victor who was allowed to evolve.
Perhaps only BB and Kishinami knew the final answer.
But that was a matter of the past and should not be pursued now.
There were more pressing matters at the moment—
After hesitating for a while, Meltryllis spoke: "Don't forget your magecraft. Be cautious here."
Alaric, rubbing his chin, looked at Meltryllis with a gaze full of surprise.
Not to mention how she knew about his limited resources, what stood out even more was Meltryllis's attitude.
It didn't feel like it was her first time meeting him, nor did it feel like she had seen him in the past like BB had. Rather, it felt like she was relaying a message.
And as for his magecraft—
Alaric was still working on his research: the magecraft-ization of Noble Phantasms. Thanks to Chaldea's assistance, there had been significant progress, but it remained incomplete.
If he couldn't fully understand something, he couldn't replicate it as magecraft.
Realizing this, Alaric gave up on diversifying his research and instead focused on refining a few pieces of magecraft that were already taking shape. With Chaldea's vast computational power aiding his calculations, he had indeed made great progress with those Noble Phantasms.
But what use would they have in this deep-sea oilfield base?
"Who told you to tell me this?"
Glancing at the church and sensing no gaze directed at him, Alaric chuckled. "If I had to figure this out on my own, something would go wrong."
He hated riddles the most—why couldn't people just speak clearly?
"I don't know. That's your problem, not mine."
Shaking her head in denial, Meltryllis gazed at Alaric. He continued to emit an aura of vitality as if time could never decay his soul. Unlike magi who used magecraft to prolong their lives but inevitably fell into decay, he seemed almost immune to such a fate.
Was this near-eternal life and will begin to show itself at this moment?
If it were the version of him from back then, the current situation would probably be resolved effortlessly, wouldn't it?
But why was it this version of him—
Meltryllis had never seen such a weak Alaric before. The brilliance he had displayed in Mooncell, capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with other powerful beings, was now completely absent. All that remained were the basics.
Without a doubt, this was the incomplete phase of Alaric as a human.
Was she… participating in his growth?
A strange thought stirred in the girl's heart, and the realization of this gave her a sense of nervous excitement.
A subtle, playful smile appeared on her face.
Alaric instinctively stepped back, confused by Meltryllis's sudden, almost obsessive smile.
He had the distinct feeling that she was thinking about something unsettling.
"So, do you have anything to tell me?"
Alaric had figured it out—Meltryllis was hiding some incredible skills, ones he was completely unaware of.
Meltryllis, despite being part of the Sakura Five, was flat-chested, which he found especially tempting to mock.
(Although Meltryllis herself claimed she had discarded unnecessary fat in pursuit of the ultimate aesthetic form.)
Her steel legs, in contrast to her sister's enhanced upper limbs, were strengthened to extreme levels in her lower body.
Though petite, she possessed astonishing combat prowess, excelling in incredible speed and elegant kicking techniques, overpowering even first-tier Heroic Spirits.
Her steel legs could unleash vacuum slashes and shatter the ground with a single blow, although they were ineffective against soft and slippery objects.
She also possessed an EX-level ability called Melt Virus, a unique skill inherent to the Alteregos known as id_es.
It was an evolved version of the skill: Absorption, a cheat-level ability for energy absorption at its highest level.
It allowed for absorption, copying, and downgrading of anything physical—organic or inorganic.
However, intangible things like spirits or skills, while meltable, were difficult to convert into something that "belonged to her." They could only serve as pure nourishment.
Thus, what could be converted by Meltryllis into something "belonging to her" was primarily experience points and capacity.
Beyond numbers and abilities, what Alaric was more concerned about was the information Meltryllis possessed.
From the testimonies of Fujimaru Ritsuka and Gawain, Meltryllis had appeared suddenly and voluntarily requested to become Fujimaru Ritsuka's Servant, pledging to help her achieve ultimate victory—a mysterious Servant.
This couldn't have happened without reason. What was the source of all this? Alaric wanted to find out.
But when Alaric questioned her, Meltryllis simply replied: "No, I have nothing to say to you."
It seemed that what she wanted to share with him had already been said. Any further information wasn't meant to be revealed here.
With that, Meltryllis turned and left immediately, as if not wanting to spend another moment with him, as though prolonged interaction might corrupt her.
Watching Meltryllis re-enter the church, Alaric, still deep in thought, stared at the building.
Though Meltryllis had become a riddle, Alaric wasn't entirely in the dark. He only needed to confirm that the issue with this place wasn't caused by BB.
Psychotherapists, the celestial chamber, countless eyes in the darkness—
All the mysteries lay within the celestial chamber.
His thoughts quickly concluded, and with his next course of action decided, Alaric approached Fujimaru Ritsuka and said, "Do your best with what's next."
"Alright, we'll regroup here later."
Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded. "How about in ten hours?"
"No problem."
With a smile, Alaric walked away, disappearing from Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others' sight.
Leaning against the church door, Marble curiously asked, "Is that man also a Chaldea staff member?"
"Well… not really?"
Fujimaru Ritsuka tilted her head, thinking for a moment. It seemed that Da Vinci, acting as Director, hadn't officially employed Sir Alaric, merely allowing him to act within Chaldea temporarily.
The little incident at the church didn't stop Alaric as he left.
Unlike Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others who advanced toward the head or arms region, Alaric went in the opposite direction on his journey, heading toward the legs region—an area that Fujimaru Ritsuka and the others had yet to explore.
After SERAPH was digitized, the original offshore oil rig base was transformed into a humanoid form, though its fundamental essence remained unchanged.
The Sakura-type monsters encountered along the way were also eliminated by Alaric, allowing him to collect a considerable amount of Sakura Coins.
Until—
"Servant?"
Gazing at the white-haired girl standing not far away, Alaric narrowed his eyes slightly.
That figure, along with the peculiar tricolor sword, was unmistakable—it was Altera.
The great king who built a vast empire. The King of the Huns, Attila, a warrior and king of the Hun people.
A great hero of the 5th century, who dominated an expansive territory spanning from Asia to Russia, Eastern Europe, and Gaul, and was known as the Scourge of God.
It is said that she contributed to the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
The weapon in her hand, resembling a longsword, was the Sword of the War God, though its design seemed to possess a hint of futuristic elements.
The blade said to be composed of tricolor light, could destroy all existence on the ground. Beyond the many legends created on Earth, Altera's true identity was more significant—she was the giant deity Attila, deployed as a scout to devour wandering stars, and she fell onto the Moon as Anti-Cell.
Fourteen thousand years ago, she brought immense damage to Earth's civilization (during the Paleolithic Age and the dawn of the Age of the Gods) and to Mooncell.
For a star-devouring entity, she was one of the destructive devices used to devour Earth's civilization.
Altera was either the brain of the giant deity or a dream.
This type of scout absorbs the civilizations it destroys as magical energy, expanding infinitely in size, and after obliterating the civilization, it self-destructs.
Leaving aside the myth of the giant deity, as a Servant, Altera represented a battle that Alaric had to face with all his might.
But—
"Do you know me too?"
The moment he drew his holy sword, Alaric noticed Altera's gaze and, slightly moved, curiously asked, "BB was like this, Meltryllis was like this, and now you too. Have I participated in the Holy Grail War on the Moon?"
Without responding to Alaric, Altera withdrew her gaze. The Sword of the War God in her hand began to spin, emitting a terrifying energy of tricolor light.
Seeing that Altera did not intend to communicate with him, Alaric didn't waste any words and charged directly at her.
As a participant in this Holy Grail War, it seemed that Altera, like the other Servants, was obeying BB's command to fight.
A fierce battle erupted. However, for the digitalized SE.RA.PH, this was still within an acceptable range.
The tricolor sword light intertwined with the pitch-black radiance, and the sword clashes, tearing through the atmosphere, seemed as though they could slice the ground beneath them.
But the digitalized SE.RA.PH was not so fragile.
With his full firepower unleashed, Alaric did not hold back. Utilizing the power of the Gate of Judgment and the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, Alaric ultimately seized the fruit of victory.
"We will meet again, Alaric."
Before disappearing, Altera smiled faintly and said, "I look forward to that day. We will meet again on the Moon, won't we?"
"Perhaps that day will come."
Uncertain whether he would ever reach the Moon, Alaric smiled and replied, "See you next time."
As Altera vanished, Alaric began examining his surroundings. Strange machinery was placed everywhere. Although Alaric didn't recognize these devices, judging from the lower part of the human body, this area was undoubtedly the legs.
One could call them super-long legs.
Without lingering, Alaric collected the Sakura Coins and continued exploring the surroundings. However, compared to the areas that Fujimaru Ritsuka would eventually explore, Alaric was more concerned with something else.
'According to what that therapist said, there should also be a dual structure here.'
Walking along the photon pathways, Alaric expanded his perception. Despite the digitalized nature of the space hindering his ability to fully extend his senses, Alaric still managed to capture fragments of this human form.
Although he couldn't discern specific details, the posture suggested it was the front of a human female. If there were a dual structure, then there should be a back as well, right?
As the game administrator who claimed to always keep an eye on them, would BB allow him to go to the back?
Alaric couldn't be sure of this and couldn't place all his hopes on others.
In that case, he would have to achieve this himself.
Judging from various angles and BB's words, it was clear that SE.RA.PH, modeled after Mooncell, was a recreation of the Moon's Holy Grail War.
If the foundation was the same, the only difference would be in scale.
Then, the Moon's "far side" should also exist.
This does not refer to the side of the Moon invisible from Earth… but rather the far side within Mooncell itself. Mooncell's interior is divided into a front side and a far side, an upper portion, and a lower portion, each forming a crescent-shaped space.
On Earth, this would be akin to a vast underground hell.
Mooncell exiled unnecessary aspects of human history and information it could not understand to the far side of the Moon. This made the far side a vortex of accumulated grudges and delusions.
Even in the quantum digital world of SE.RA.PH, which mirrors reality, curses exist.
These curses take the form of malicious information—negative informational activities born of self-awareness.
Examples include malicious incitement, lies repeatedly told purely for profit, baseless yet widely circulated rumors, and other such negative information. When this information contaminates positive truths, it acts like cancer, turning entire communities into negative entities.
In the material world, malicious information is only temporary. However, in the information-based SE.RA.PH, this malicious data becomes an accumulation that corrodes its domain.
Since the dawn of human language and civilization, malicious information has been continuously recorded and discarded on the far side of the Moon. Initially, this malicious information was merely "useless data," but after millions or even billions of years, it became sludge capable of invading reality.
The front side of the Moon records the accurate history of human society.
The far side records the ominous, discarded criminal history.
Both possess equal energy—or perhaps the far side's malicious information holds far greater energy than the front side.
It is said that in the past, an AI once consumed this immense energy and ruled Mooncell, only to abandon its goals in the final stages and sink into the far side of the Moon.
And Photon Crystal serves as the foundation of all this.
From Mooncell itself, one can observe that the Photon Crystal, with a diameter of 3,000 kilometers, is a lunar-sized supercomputer.
It is both the core and entirety of Mooncell.
Including the seven layers within the Moon's interior, this is essentially just "additional storage" for Mooncell.
The Mooncell core is what operates the Moon, observes the Earth, and stores infinite past and future data.
It observes and calculates branching "fates" in real-time by the second and locks them within a box of light—a single-eyed container.
A crystal that traps countless light-years of light and operates using light. Someone once named it as such.
This is the system tree that lays bare the workings of fate—light that can replace and alter the laws of physics with mere information.
Simply put, everything, absolutely everything, operates in the form of light.
From a human perspective, the network of Mooncell is recognized as light. However, to magi capable of converting souls into spirit particles, it is recognizable as information.
If it is light if it is information—
The pitch-black aurora rises. It is not merely magical light; viewed as information or data, it is something that persists in the form of light.
As early as the Mesopotamian era, during the battle at the demonic beast front constructed by Gilgamesh, Alaric was able to release magical energy purely through the hollow Holy Lance Rhongomyniad, converting it into light for destructive purposes without relying on magecraft.
This is one such manifestation.
Ultimately, the power released by these kinds of Noble Phantasms utilizes magical energy to transform into a certain form. For example, the Sword of Promised Victory generates and accelerates light within its blade, creating a light slash that causes a rift—this is magic at the level of gods.
But Alaric's pure magical energy release alone can create light, and after the Holy Grail War, Alaric opened a hole leading to the root of the soul, allowing its contents to flow out.
Even though this forcibly materialized Alaric's soul, this transformation was suppressed by both Alaric and Tiamat.
In the end, this resulted in the current form of light, which is also a manifestation of Alaric himself—a power capable of eroding all things to sustain its existence.
It is akin to the light of the Mooncell network, which is also information.
From Alaric's fingertips, the pitch-black, delicate aurora blossomed and fell to the ground under his gaze, soon vanishing into the photon network.
As if it had never appeared, but Alaric knew it had succeeded.
This offshore oilfield base, Seraphix, was indeed digitized based on Mooncell. However, it is not the true interior of Mooncell.
The power and computational ability it possesses are incomparable to the real Mooncell, coupled with the complete lack of resistance.
Even BB, who holds the highest authority in this virtual spirit particle space, did not intercept Alaric.
Uncertain of BB's intentions, Alaric expanded his output of magical energy. The delicate aurora flowed through the network at an astonishing speed, eventually touching the reverse side of the world.
"Neither humans nor Servants can cross the boundary between the front and reverse sides—only Watchers can freely and automatically traverse it."
This was information that Meltryllis had not disclosed, but to the current Alaric, it posed no issue.
Buzz.
As his consciousness reached out, Alaric, who had completed the inversion of the front and reverse sides, instantly disappeared from his original location. Only BB, with a troubled expression, pouted and muttered, "Ugh, really now, Senpai, you've jumped into BB-chan's hands again. How should BB play with you this time?"