Fate World.
An elementary schooler named Alaya was tentatively reaching out to a suddenly appearing cat, and the golden cat spirit swiftly slapped Alaya's hand with its paw.
"Ugh..."
"Why is it always faster than me?"
Alaya asked Gaia, who was beside her.
Gaia did not reply, only giving her a look of disdain reserved for cannon fodder.
"Ugh... don't be angry. We've been scavenging garbage for so many years. Who knew this time a Player would actually come to our world and freeload!"
Alaya tried to explain.
The Paradise sending Players in to participate in the game wasn't hidden, so the two of them, as World Consciousnesses, definitely knew. However, since Players and Followers died here every time, and the essence of Heroic Spirits made it impossible for Players to take Followers away, Alaya and Gaia tacitly accepted all of this.
After all, while the Paradise didn't care about Player deaths, Alaya and Gaia loved collecting the corpses!
Like scavengers in the wasteland, whenever they collected a rare Heroic Spirit, Alaya and Gaia would be happy all day long.
But this time, a Player actually freeloaded!
Medea, Arthur, Medusa, and even Esdeath, whom they had only recently acquired.
"Cannon fodder, scoundrel..."
Alaya felt like crying a little.
"We cannot let him go."
Gaia suddenly spoke.
If it weren't for the cute loli voice, it would sound incredibly domineering.
"He already left... Our world's barrier is practically like a pair of white socks worn for two years."
Gaia: "Send Heroic Spirits to hunt him down."
Alaya: "How will they go?"
"When another Player comes in, turn a batch of Heroic Spirits into Followers, send them out, find him, and kill him!"
Gaia spoke with a fierce tone.
"..."
Alaya didn't think Gaia's plan was impossible, just a bit ridiculous. Just as she was thinking about how to refuse this kind of "chicken paying respects to the fox" situation, she realized Gaia had already started implementing it.
"So, who do you plan to send?"
Gaia pointed in a direction, and Alaya looked over and spotted the Land of Shadows.
Gilgamesh was sitting with Scáthach, clamoring that they absolutely must kill Kisaragi Rin.
——
The Americas.
Free Pantheon.
"Mentor, a newcomer has become S-rank."
The hurried voice arrived before the sound of the door opening followed.
This was the old man, but the Mentor he spoke of was a cheerful-looking young man.
"Richard, you should be a bit more composed."
The Mentor released his pen, and the emerald green book beneath his hand transformed into a group of spirits that flew away.
"It seems like the number of S-ranks has increased in recent years."
Letting out a sigh, the Mentor leaned back in his swivel chair, picked up a cup of coffee, and asked the student beside him, "Did you invite him to join the Genius Club?"
"In fact, I already tried."
The old man said strangely, "The machine in the Workshop didn't predict his identity."
"Didn't predict it? Could his sublimation to S-rank be Anti-Prophecy? I remember there are already two S-ranks with this type of Ability; it should have been rejected by the Paradise."
The Mentor didn't dwell on it, planning instead to perform a Prophecy himself.
Although he wasn't skilled at it, and even disliked the supernatural power of Prophecy, his own status was enough to reach the standard of a Sage.
Plucking a beard hair from his student, the Mentor was just about to act when he suddenly sensed something.
"This is..."
He opened his Paradise bracelet, which showed several messages sent by the Paradise.
[Your Nickname Has Been Taken]
[Nickname Has Been Replaced For You]
"???"
Player nicknames are unique. There was only one possible reason for his nickname to be forcibly replaced: the new S-rank had stolen his nickname.
"Is he some bumpkin from the countryside?"
Given his reputation, if this newcomer had a major faction background, they certainly wouldn't have been so offensive.
That meant the newcomer was someone unaware of the implications.
After making a preliminary assessment of the newcomer's identity, the Mentor not only disregarded the minor issue of his nickname being stolen but even planned to find the person and recruit them as a researcher in his Workshop.
Thinking this, the Mentor opened his Player Panel, intending to look at the changed nickname.
[Supreme Evolution - Curly-haired Baboon - lv??]
Curly-haired Baboon: "..."
More crucially, the Player Panel he had just opened was seen by his student.
And Richard was a blabbermouth.
"Mentor, I won't tell anyone."
The old man guaranteed seriously.
Curly-haired Baboon: "..."
After a long moment, the Mentor, now renamed Curly-haired Baboon, took a deep breath, forcibly controlling his murderous intent.
"If you dare tell anyone, Hengyu Workshop will expel you."
The Mentor warned seriously.
"How could I possibly tell anyone?"
The old man looked confused, not believing he would leak such an embarrassing matter.
After standing there for a while and realizing the awkward atmosphere, the old man prepared to leave the area for the time being. The instant he turned around, a strong sense of fatal danger made the muscles in his back twitch.
Looking at the back of his disciple's head, the Mentor sighed and retracted his gaze.
"Curly-haired Baboon... what an unexpected turn..."
The Mentor looked at his wrist, where there was a wristwatch made of green and black.
And the pattern on the watch was an hourglass...
——
"Hey, Kuroki, why are you still here?"
A girl's voice rang out.
"I'm looking for Mr. Yuusuke. I want to ask him if he can stay out tonight."
Kuroki said, his eyes constantly looking around the house.
He found it strange, because Mr. Yuusuke had disappeared.
After searching around for a while, Kuroki still couldn't find his teacher.
But there was nowhere else nearby to go, and Mr. Yuusuke usually only stayed here. Where could he have gone if he vanished?
"Could he have fallen into the mountains?"
Kuroki suddenly thought.
After thinking about it, that was indeed possible.
Just as he was about to search the nearby cliffs, a phantom figure appeared behind him without him noticing.
It was humanoid, large and red, with its two feet floating in the air. Beneath its sharp, paper-cut-like shell, it revealed the muscular human aesthetic.
It stood right in front of Kuroki, yet he walked straight through it as if he couldn't see it.
At this moment, the figure moved.
It floated behind Kuroki, wiped away the hair on the back of his head to create a computer interface, and then inserted a red USB drive into it.
The next moment, Kuroki's eyes changed.
They became like Yuusuke's—calm, yet containing a terrifying gaze that brooked no disobedience.
"The previous person died just like that?"
"Truly incompetent."
"Wait a minute, what's wrong with this vessel?"
"Please, even if people with innate aptitude are hard to find, you should at least find me a normal person. How old is this body? If you rush me to take over, what if I can't even pass the initial trial?"
Kuroki was communicating with the Stand behind him, but the girl beside him noticed something was wrong.
She asked, "Kuroki, weren't you going to look for the teacher?"
"Mr. Yuusuke has already left."
After giving a simple answer, Kuroki immediately returned the way he came.
"Wait a minute, explain yourself!"
"What do you mean, 'left'?"
"Kuroki!"
The girl's voice did not elicit a response, and Kuroki's expression, with his back turned, grew increasingly gloomy.
"Such a bother. Can I kill her?"
"Is she a rare vessel?"
"That was the vessel collected by the previous person. If I kill her, I'll just recollect a new one myself."
Arriving at Yuusuke's room, Kuroki, guided by the Stand, began rummaging through a cabinet and pulled out a black invitation letter.
"Paradise, tsk."
Kuroki vanished.
The Stand remained in place, and only after a long moment did it move again.
It walked to the corner, where there was an inverted "Fu" character, faded and left over from last year.
The Stand reached out to the "Fu" character, and with a distortion, it appeared inside a rental room.
The room was small, and the only items inside were a worn-out desktop computer and a computer desk.
The Stand sat in front of the computer desk, its large red eyes monitoring the screen.
On the screen, there was a large mountain.