Wu Ling followed Mash Kyrielight to the control room. Along the way, he learned what had happened in this world.
In this version of history, Chaldea's early operations and their passage through the Fuyuki Singularity had unfolded much like the version Wu Ling knew. The divergence began at the First Singularity.
Perhaps this world could no longer be called a Singularity in the usual sense. It looked more like a belt formed from countless Singularities. But unlike a Lostbelt, which developed vertically along its own history, this belt connected parallel worlds horizontally. For now, Wu Ling decided to call it a Singularity Belt.
For example, the first Singularity Belt still took place in the Hundred Years War of the Evil Dragons. The location and main incident had not changed, but the enemy side had split into three. One was the original version, where Caster Gilles controlled the Holy Grail and created Jeanne Alter. One was a version where Jeanne Alter herself possessed the Holy Grail and allied with Gilles. One had Gilles alone, without Jeanne Alter.
The enemy side had tripled, but because the land itself was still the same, the Servants summoned by the land were still the same few. Their number had not tripled to match the enemy.
Worse, all three enemy factions understood tactics. They first chose to drive out or destroy Chaldea, then settle their own conflict afterward.
The result was obvious. Even though Fujimaru Ritsuka adapted faster than she had in the original history, that overwhelming situation was not something she could solve.
Afterward, Chaldea explored two more Singularity Belts. Each was worse than the last. The Roman Singularity Belt was almost a brawl between every Roman emperor in history, including several versions of the same person appearing at once.
When several parallel versions of the same individual met, only one could survive.
After those two Singularity Belts, not only had every land summoned Servant been wiped out, even the Servants Chaldea had summoned directly had sacrificed themselves to cover Fujimaru Ritsuka's retreat.
Then Fujimaru Ritsuka returned to Chaldea, and Wu Ling was summoned.
Wu Ling could guess part of the reason for the difference from the original story. Based on Mash's explanation, plus the bands of light he had seen while traveling through the gap between parallel worlds, Goetia had most likely attacked parallel worlds.
Goetia, as an Evil of Humanity, possessed Independent Manifestation. It could appear alone in the present world and had resistance against parallel world interference, time reversal, and similar attacks. That resistance was also known as resistance to death by fate. In simpler terms, across countless parallel worlds, only one Goetia could exist.
Goetia's Incineration of Humanity would already affect some parallel worlds. Parallel worlds were like two straight lines that never crossed, but if both lines existed on the same sheet of paper, the paper still confined them. Goetia began changing history from the origin of humanity. That was the same as burning the edges of the paper. Some parallel worlds, and the worlds that branched from them later, would be affected and disappear.
But there were always exceptions. From what Wu Ling knew, worlds such as the Tsukihime side, and the world related to the Fate strange Fake preview he had once seen, had not been affected by the Incineration of Humanity.
He still remembered that Fate strange Fake also had an Ishtar. Unlike the FGO Ishtar, whose mind was mainly shaped by Rin Tohsaka, the Ishtar in that world was dominated by the goddess Ishtar herself. The reason the Ishtar of the Seventh Singularity could not find the Bull of Heaven was supposedly because the Bull had gone to that goddess Ishtar's side.
From that, Wu Ling could draw one conclusion: during the Incineration of Humanity in FGO, that parallel world had not been affected at all.
The original Goetia probably did not attack parallel worlds because it already had enough energy and did not need to interfere further. This time, for some unknown reason, Goetia had begun interfering with parallel worlds. That interference had created these so-called Singularity Belts.
No matter what, the ending still had to be defeating Goetia. The difference was that this time, Chaldea would have far fewer Heroic Spirits helping them. That was his job. The Throne of Heroes inside him had connected to the real Throne of Heroes. As long as he had enough catalysts and magical energy, he could summon without limit.
Once Wu Ling reached that point in his thoughts, his goal became clear. The original history had been saved by so many Heroic Spirits. If they could do it, he had no reason to fail.
While Wu Ling clarified his task, Mash brought him to the control room door.
The door slid open. The sound drew the attention of Doctor Roman and Da Vinci. When they saw Wu Ling behind Mash, Doctor Roman's eyes filled with enthusiasm, while Da Vinci looked at him with the gaze of someone studying a new experimental sample.
"Doctor, Da Vinci, this is Mister Wu Ling. He comes from a parallel world, and he is a Demi Servant like me..."
Mash poured out everything she knew about Wu Ling in one breath. Wu Ling did not mind, but Doctor Roman and Da Vinci looked surprised.
What surprised them was not Wu Ling. It was Mash.
Mash had a somewhat outgoing nature, but she was also timid and poor at expressing her feelings. Most of the time, she gave people a cool, quiet impression and rarely wasted words. Now she was smiling and speaking so much for someone she had known for less than an hour. That alone proved Wu Ling already held a special place in her mind.
After hearing part of Wu Ling's information from Mash, Doctor Roman stood up, shook Wu Ling's hand, then looked down at the papers in his own hand.
"Mister Wu Ling, I know this is rude to ask the first time we meet, but the situation is serious, so I have to ask. Why are there so many Servants inside you?"
"So many?"
Mash tilted her head and looked toward Wu Ling. She knew he was a Demi Servant, but she did not know which Servants were inside him.
Then she remembered what Wu Ling had told her earlier.
Acknowledged by him.
Since Wu Ling had called the Servant inside her "him," did that mean he knew who the Servant was? If so, she might finally learn that Servant's True Name.
Mash looked at Wu Ling with quiet anticipation and waited for his answer.
Wu Ling had no strong objection to Doctor Roman's direct question. When someone met an unknown Servant for the first time, learning their True Name was only natural. And because of Wu Ling's own unusual state, he did not care about having his True Name exposed.
"Why are there so many Servants inside me? You could call it a coincidence, though many things happened. In short, because of those events, I became a King of Heroic Spirits, a being the Counter Force seems to have prepared for this situation."
"King of Heroic Spirits?" four voices cried at once.
Wu Ling followed the fourth voice and looked toward the door. A red haired girl stood there, and Wu Ling happened to recognize her.
He stepped forward and greeted her.
"Hello. You must be Fujimaru Ritsuka."