Chapter 7: Situation Review / Strategy Meeting
Shirou, whose magical energy had weakened slightly but not noticeably, didn't focus on that issue, instead asking: "Are you alright? Is anyone injured?"
Clan Calatin shook their heads one after another. In the end, that massive, grotesque entity hadn't even managed to touch them once.
Sigma took inventory of his clothing, and after a slight delay, replied: "No injuries. However, I believe my ammunition is just about depleted. I think my combat effectiveness will drop significantly, and my operational capability is very weak."
"Understood," Shirou acknowledged lightly.
Then, he turned toward John and the others, asking simply: "What do we do now?"
'Wait, we almost thought you were the one in command.'
Even though he had suddenly launched an attack and then asked what to do next, they had no idea how to answer...
Faced with this subtle scenario, the members of the agency twitched their cheeks.
With both Clan Calatin and Shirou remaining silent, and the two sides facing each other in wordless impasse, Sigma tentatively stepped into the middle.
"I think the best method is to first put some distance between ourselves and the skeletal remains, find a location, and hide inside a building to exchange intelligence. I don't know your situation, and I'm afraid there are a few things I can't wrap my head around that you might be able to figure out."
Shirou and Clan Calatin exchanged glances, then looked at Sigma together.
Just as Sigma was adjusting his collar in discomfort, Clan Calatin displayed expressions of having been reminded and coming to their senses, while Shirou gave a thumbs up.
"That's a huge help."
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Finding an empty pizza parlor took nearly ten minutes.
Having said that, most of the time was actually spent moving far away from the fallen skeleton, preventing it from reviving or signaling enemies. Once they judged they were far enough away, Shirou and the others just found a random fast-food restaurant filled with empty seats.
The three groups sat in their respective spots, falling into a brief silence as they didn't know who should speak first.
Finally, Sigma was the first to ask: "Were you also swept up by the black fog, and upon coming to your senses, discovered you were already in the fake Snowfield?"
John, representing Clan Calatin, expressed agreement, and Shirou followed with a nod.
"Then our situations are all the same. It can be deduced that the method of entering the fake Snowfield is the black fog."
Sigma supported his forehead in contemplation, thought for a moment, and said again: "Allow me to ask another question. Emiya, were you together from the beginning, or did you meet up after you regained consciousness, just like you did with me?"
"The latter. I went to the Central Hospital on my own initiative, while John and the others remained there to guard the hospital," Shirou answered clearly.
"In that case, if I were to reason it out, I would think that separating us was an intentional operation by the existence that released the black fog. It seems indifferent to our life or death, so it paid us no mind at all, yet it still carried out an act that, based on the previous viewpoint, was superfluous. This is very suspicious—it's as if it wanted to keep us from 'spoiling its plans'."
A clear and logical deduction.
Sigma was conducting a situation review that could clarify the battle situation. However, based on the clues presented by Shirou and Clan Calatin, this was the limit.
On the many tables near where Shirou and the others were sitting, although there were no ghost-like humans, set meals—starting with pizza, salads, or roasted wings—were laid out everywhere. Some were perfectly intact, while others were presented as having already been half-eaten. But no one had the heart to touch the food of unknown origin.
Still, everyone had thought... the scene was as if they couldn't see the customers, and the customers couldn't see them, yet the customers still ordered their meals normally of their own accord.
"Sigma, you're really reliable. Should we exchange information for deductions in the future?" Shirou said, half-jokingly.
"No, in normal times I would have simpler methods of obtaining information, but right now I cannot connect with those methods, so I truly don't have much I can do." Sigma averted his gaze, seemingly speaking with a hidden meaning.
He lowered his eyes in a detached manner.
"By the way, why did you end up with the giant skeleton?"
"I'd actually like to know the answer to that myself."
Sigma tapped the tabletop with his fingertips, creating sound to help himself recall: "Everything was normal around me at the time. However, I just felt the atmosphere shift. Subsequently, a massive number of demonic beasts suddenly surged out near that park.
Although I felt like 'Ah, I'm going to die,' they didn't seem to notice me, and instead ran together out of the park, which appeared empty to me. If it had ended there, it would indeed have had nothing to do with me.
But after that, that skeletal giant was generated on the ground. A black fog appeared out of thin air and turned into the shape of a skeleton; immediately after, it took form within tens of meters of me."
'Sigma witnessed the generation process of the giant skeleton?'
The question that had been puzzling Shirou and the others—how the giant skeleton appeared—had been answered by Sigma.
"Black fog?"
"Yes, fog or mist-like things," Sigma answered without reservation.
The black fog that engulfed the explosion at the Central Hospital in the real Snowfield; the "black shadows" which were essentially black mist distributed throughout the fake Snowfield; the giant skeleton, towering like a high-rise, was still composed of black mist.
...No matter how one thinks about it, there are only bad premonitions.
Spreading like the Bubonic Plague. A sinister, terminal fever.
Perhaps it will spread, permeate, until the empty end of everything, and depending on the situation, infect the whole world with "death."
It began to make Shirou's skin feel feverish as well.
"After that skeletal giant suddenly appeared, it seemed to have no target and stopped in place, motionless. But before I could even retreat, it started attacking me... you all know what happened after that."
Sigma spoke without emotional fluctuations.
"Understood. I fully realize how difficult it was for you to stay alive."
It was always Sigma who was unlucky; one would pray that this child might be luckier in the future.
But regardless, Sigma's experience added additional clues.
"... 'As if chasing something,' it generated suddenly, then headed in a definite direction, huh."
This was the deduction that could be drawn from the clues Sigma provided; Shirou took the initiative to say it out loud for him.
The two clues did indeed fit together. In the end, the only thing unclear was the true identity of "something."
—Should such an inexplicable event really be happening in the fake Snowfield?
The doubts of the past resurfaced in his heart.
It seemed that the gears that had shifted were operating quietly alongside the distorted noise...
A foreign object had mixed in and had begun to take shape between the gear teeth.
The truly fatal aspect was that the fatal flaw could not be identified; this fact lay right before their eyes.
"The situation might be more urgent than we imagined... Let's pick up the pace," Shirou warned.
Whatever was happening in the fake Snowfield, they needed to grasp more intelligence.
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