Late at night.
After finishing their business, Ritsuka and BB left the room.
Inside, Shou was sound asleep, with Olga Marie and Mash sleeping peacefully on either side of him.
Ritsuka smiled at the sight, then closed the door and walked out.
Walking down the hall with BB, Ritsuka entered a certain room.
BB's private room.
BB and Ritsuka sat facing each other, and BB took a drink out of the fridge.
"We're finally at the starting line. So much has happened, hasn't it?"
"You can say that again."
BB poured the drink into the glass Ritsuka was holding, then poured her own and they made a toast.
Taking a sip, Ritsuka smiled happily.
"It's such a relief. To be able to see Mash so purely in love."
"Aren't you a little disappointed? It was your first love, after all."
"First love is just first love. Look, we're so happy together right now, aren't we? We're with Mash, so what's the problem? I actually think this is the best possible outcome. When you think about the old Mash, this is so much better, right?"
"The previous Mash, you mean."
BB recalled the corrupted girl who was once Mash.
"The slut who used to be Mash Kyrielight, trained to that man's tastes."
"Exactly. Compared to back then, isn't this so much better?"
Ritsuka smiled as she reminisced about those worst of times. Compared to then, this was paradise. In a way, it was the ideal environment for her.
"How's that guy doing now?"
At Ritsuka's question, BB set her glass down on the table and let out a smirk.
"He's playing around in the Singularity, clueless as ever. He looks very happy."
"That pisses me off a little."
BB was observing everything in the Singularity. He had subjugated Atalante and was now living it up after taking over some rural village by force.
How could one take over a Servant's contract? Atalante clearly had a Master. But this world operated on its own convenient logic.
It was a world that revolved around men like Ryuuji.
"The special rules of this world defy all common sense. It's not for nothing that you called it a world like an ero-doujinshi, Senpai. By subjugating a Servant, he usurps their authority. In a way, it's similar to Rule Breaker."
"It's the worst. The rules of this world. I honestly still don't get it. Shou seemed to understand it easily enough. That women are fundamentally weak, but not weak to everyone. Weak to some men, but not to others. I don't understand the criteria."
"Well, it's fundamentally based on ero-doujinshi logic. Using the France Singularity as an example, someone like Georgios would be about as strong as the women there, or maybe a little weaker. After all, a good person like him is the type of man who gets stolen from."
BB spoke, pointing to a hologram of the Servants from the France Singularity that appeared in mid-air.
"For villains like Vlad III or Sanson, the criteria are a bit ambiguous, but you could say they're at least average. They aren't main characters, though. On the other hand, a top-tier supporting character, almost a main character, would be Phantom. The Phantom of the Opera—in a way, he's a symbol of pure love."
The Phantom of the Opera, who fanatically loved a woman named Christine, is also a symbol of pure love. Because his story is so deeply tied to romance, he could be considered to possess considerable power.
"Siegfried is the same in that regard. His romance with Kriemhild is also famous, so he's quite decent as well. Mozart, of course, is not. His story of a failed first love is too potent, so he's more the type to have things stolen from him."
"Oh, dear."
"And by Servant standards, the two strongest here are… First, Lancelot. The symbol and representative of medieval NTR. You could say he's one of the best."
"Son of a bitch."
As someone who had been NTR'd countless times, Ritsuka couldn't help but feel immense disgust.
"And then there's Gilles de Rais. According to this world's rules, there are many reasons for his strength, but those reasons are meaningless. He's the type who isn't subject to the rules in the first place."
"Why?"
"It's because of his grimoire. His magic, the magic from another world. He is one who has gazed into the abyss. Since he wields power from another realm, he exists on a higher plane than the rules of this world."
Gilles de Rais wields an otherworldly power through the Prelati's Spellbook, which he received from his friend François Prelati.
Gilles de Rais, who wields the power of an alien world known as the Cthulhu Mythos. His Evil Eye of the Abyss skill alone proves that he is an abnormal existence.
In a way, he might be the most dangerous existence for the female Servants in this Singularity.
"No wonder he was so strong."
Ritsuka had struggled in her past fight against Gilles de Rais. Now she finally understood why.
"Other than them, d'Eon will probably be classified as female. They can change their gender through self-suggestion, after all. Even as a man, they'd be powerless and fall victim. It's happened before. Most of the women will probably fall into his hands."
It was BB's calculation that, in time, all the female Servants in France would fall into Ryuuji's grasp.
"Not that it's any of our business, though."
Ritsuka coolly looked away, as if it had nothing to do with them.
The reason she knew and did nothing was simple. Ritsuka was no longer the pure, kind girl she used to be. With the exception of those she cared for, she couldn't care less if others were corrupted by him again.
Besides, and most importantly…
"They're Servants. So it doesn't matter, right?"
Servants are, after all, just divided spirits. They are summoned as copies of the Heroic Spirits on the Throne of Heroes.
"Yes. We have no intention of bringing anyone over other than the Servants you summon, Senpai. We acquired all the Servant data long ago. It's a rigged summoning disguised as coincidence. Of course, when it comes to male Servants, we'll mostly leave it up to your luck."
Furthermore, the Servant summonings performed by Shou were special.
A special summoning to which the rules of this world do not apply. BB and Ritsuka were simply coordinating it to ensure the female Servants they wanted appeared. Of course, they weren't manipulating everything.
"Parvati was purely Shou's own doing. But I like her a lot."
"She's a kind and good person. And especially~ her appearance gives a sense of kinship, wouldn't you say?"
Parvati was a Servant summoned purely by Shou. Leonidas had been BB and Ritsuka's choice, but she was not.
"We're summoning three Servants. Should we leave them all to your luck, Senpai?"
"I think that's fine. We can always rig the other summons after France."
They planned to perform the Servant summoning in the morning. Of course, Ritsuka was more excited about how Shou would treat them after their real sexual encounter—which he thought was a dream—than about the summoning itself.
"Hmm, it seems another Servant has made contact with him."
"That was fast."
While observing the Singularity, BB confirmed that another Servant had made contact with Ryuuji.
"I hope he plays around with as many of them as possible and gets full of himself."
In response, Ritsuka gave a sinister smile, as if that was even better.
"After all, plunging someone into the depths of despair at their happiest moment is much more dramatic and impactful, isn't it?"
The reason they exiled Ryuuji and just left him be. It was simple. To torment him.
He would act as he always did, chasing immediate pleasure while dreaming of revenge. Breaking his spirit, plunging him into despair, and tormenting him. That was Ritsuka's goal.
One could argue that innocent Servants would be sacrificed in the process, but…
She couldn't care less about that.
Weren't the female Servants of this world all flawed anyway? That's why Ritsuka paid them no mind. In a world like this, caring would only hurt herself.
Meanwhile, in the France Singularity.
The Dragon Witch, in order to find Atalante, whose contract with her had been suddenly severed, ordered a nearby Servant to investigate.
The Servant who set out to find Atalante.
She was now imprisoned.
"Hoo~ Sorry, sorry. I'm late because I went to grab a bite."
And the man who entered the room where she was confined was Ryuuji.
He had subdued her and locked her up, then leisurely went to eat. Tying up a Servant and then casually going for a meal? Normally, that would be impossible. But here, it was.
The handcuffs binding her were ordinary, yet she couldn't break them. Was it because Ryuuji himself had put them on her? A Servant, a being who transcends humanity, couldn't break a simple pair of handcuffs.
"You despicable man. What did you do to Archer?"
"What did I do? I just trained her to my tastes. You'll be next. Right? You're a nun who walks around in an obscene outfit that's practically begging to be fucked, aren't you?"
The Saint of the Waterside, Martha.
She was Ryuuji's next target.