Fate: How About a New Savior?

"Thanks for the lesson, teacher!" After finishing the Magecraft class, Ritsuka thanked Shiomi, then left the makeshift classroom with Mash,

"Thanks for the lesson, teacher!"

After finishing the Magecraft class, Ritsuka thanked Shiomi, then left the makeshift classroom with Mash, following closely behind him.

They were headed to the control room next, so the three continued walking together.

"You've worked hard too. Over the past three months, you've built a solid foundation. Even if you can't use formal rituals yet, you'll be much better at handling the Magecraft integrated into Chaldea's Master Mystic Code."

Shiomi slowed down to walk beside them.

Ritsuka had taken everything seriously. It was a temporary responsibility—others could've done it. She didn't have to be on the front lines. Yet she had willingly stepped forward as the 48th Master candidate.

Mash already had plenty of knowledge about Magecraft, but she was so interested in attending the lessons that Shiomi never stopped her from sitting in each time.

"Hehe..." Ritsuka let out a slightly embarrassed laugh, then asked a question that had been on her mind for a while. "So, the magic people usually talk about—is it actually Magecraft?"

"You mean in entertainment or folklore?" Shiomi thought for a moment. "You could look at it that way. But in the world of Magus, Magecraft and Magic are two distinct concepts."

Ritsuka nodded earnestly. "Then what exactly is Magic?"

"That's a big question." Shiomi pondered for a moment. "Simply put, Magic is the ability to make what's impossible for that era become possible. In the early days of human civilization, most Magus were also Magicians. But after the King of Magecraft defined what Magecraft truly was, the scope of Magic became very limited."

He glanced out the hallway window at the dark Antarctic sky and the snow swirling beyond, then continued.

"But in today's world—where, assuming time and funding don't matter, nearly anything can be achieved—there are only five things left that qualify as Magic."

He held out five fingers, and Ritsuka and Mash nodded uncertainly.

Shiomi knew it was a difficult topic to explain and that going deeper would only get tedious.

"Anyway, Magus ultimately aim to reach the realm of Magic, so there's always a chance the number could grow. But with how mystery is fading from the world, that number will probably only shrink." He shrugged.

"Then, Shiomi-sensei, what are the five existing types of Magic?" Mash asked politely.

"Hah, that's quite the question, Mash," Shiomi chuckled. "Even though all Magus know that only five remain, hardly anyone knows the actual details. Even I don't know them all."

He paused, then recited slowly in a tone like poetry:

"The beginning First changed everything.

The following Second acknowledged many.

The resulting Third showed the future.

The linking Fourth concealed itself.

The final Fifth had already lost its meaning."

He spoke the well-known verse softly, then returned to his usual tone.

"Each of the five is a mystery within a mystery. The easiest to explain is the Third Magic. The Holy Grail War was originally designed to achieve it. The ritual system and the wish-granting machine were just secondary features."

...

As they chatted, the three reached the control room.

It was a day off, so only a few were on duty—including Romani, who'd been caught slacking off recently and was now stuck working today.

"Oh? Still cramming after class?" Romani greeted them with a smile, coffee cup in hand.

"Ritsuka was just curious about the difference between Magecraft and Magic," Shiomi said, shaking his head. "But I could only give a rough explanation—I'm not sure if I got the point across."

Ritsuka looked puzzled. "It sounds really mysterious… I don't get it at all."

"That's okay, senpai! I don't get it either!" Mash said in an oddly cheerful tone.

"By the way, Ritsuka, the Mystic Code Da Vinci mentioned is ready. Go take a look, then come back here for a simulated battle to run some aptitude tests," Romani explained.

"Got it. We'll head there now."

The two girls took off toward the opposite door.

...

"So, what do you think, Shiomi-sensei?" Romani asked playfully.

"What else can I say? The Clock Tower sees students every year who don't come from Magus Families but awaken magical aptitude anyway." Shiomi crossed his arms. "And the numbers are increasing. Give it another two hundred years, and maybe the Democratic Faction will run the Clock Tower."

"Wouldn't be so bad," Romani replied, surprised at how serious Shiomi sounded.

Then Shiomi suddenly remembered something. He lowered his voice.

"Just asking, but... if you know the world is doomed, even if you don't know who's behind it or how—why not go to your disciples?"

"Huh?" Romani blinked, caught off guard.

"Don't underestimate my intel network. One of your disciples—Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg—is the current Second Magician. And another, Brishisan, founded the Clock Tower and is still its Director. Don't tell me you've forgotten them."

Romani scratched his head, a bit embarrassed. "You might be right. But I'm Romani Archaman. I don't know what kind of people the King of Magecraft's disciples really are. For all I know, one of them might've been behind the incineration of humanity."

"You don't trust your own disciples?"

"It's not that I don't trust them. It's that I can't."

Romani stared at the monitor, his expression shadowed.

"If I hadn't seen you risking your life to restore humanity with my own eyes, I probably wouldn't have trusted you either."

Let alone entrusting Shiomi with the final ring.

"So you gave up on asking for help from the start… because anyone could be responsible, and anyone could have the power to do it," Shiomi muttered, a deep sense of helplessness in his tone.

But that was the nature of inheritance among Magus. For the sake of a greater purpose, even teacher and student might one day become enemies, all to reach higher mysteries—to reach the origin, the end, of everything.

That was exactly why Romani couldn't take the risk. He had to act alone, trying to stop humanity's extinction in secret—without even Marisbury knowing.

"Then I can't afford to betray your trust."

Shiomi let out a long, heavy sigh.