Thanks for the invitation. I'm in Type-Moon, inheriting the legacy of Zi-O.

—Then, the sea was parted.

Literally speaking, the sea surface where Nencho, Skadi, and Specter stood was cracked several meters long by Skadi's sword.

Seawater kept pouring into the crack, and at the same time, the incredibly agile Skadi and Specter both charged forward with their weapons raised.

"--Goodbye." Turning the driver at his waist, Nian Zhuo once again condensed a dazzling fireball between his hands.

"Finish Time!!" Nian Zhuo's crimson magic surged into the fireball in his hand, making it shine even brighter.

Like a small sun.

"Wizard Flame Fire Breast——!!"

The fireball erupted, forming a continuous column of fire.

Skadi should have been the first to be hit.

"Ah!!!" However, Ghost Shark stood in front of her, using its broken saw blade to withstand Nen-cho's pillar of fire, but she quickly let out a mournful cry as she was scorched by the flames.

"Now, Skadi! Quick!" The words trailed off intermittently as the crimson markings on Specter's body faded rapidly.

"--Hmm!" Skadi nodded solemnly, dodging Nencho's attack without any hindrance, while Specter drew all the firepower onto herself.

"Leaping Wave Strike—!" Several layers of deep blue patterns and ripples reappeared on the greatsword, Skadi's silver hair fluttered as she slashed heavily towards Nian Zhuo's neck.

On the other side, the red markings on Ghost Shark's body, which had been enduring Nen-chou's attacks, finally disappeared.

He swayed, his crimson eyes lost their luster, and he collapsed to the ground.

Nian Zhuo, on the other hand, withdrew the fire pillar attack the instant before she lost consciousness.

On the other side, Skadi, taking advantage of the only opportunity created for her by Specter, slashed at Nencho's neck.

However--

A blazing, bright ring of fire enveloped Nianzhuo's body.

The greatsword, entwined with deep blue patterns, struck the ring of fire, instantly creating a violent impact.

The immense force even reached the seawater beneath their feet, surging outwards at an even faster and higher speed.

"Ah~" Ritsuka, Mashu, and Drake, who were not far away, were all affected.

Fortunately, Drake reacted quickly and adjusted his direction, otherwise the two of them might have been swept away by the surging waves.

In the center of the battlefield, Skadi and Nianzhuo's fire rings continued to clash.

"Give it to me—!" The deep blue patterns on his body flashed intermittently.

"Break through—!!!" Biting her lip, Skadi's eyes were fixed on the ring of fire.

"Crack—" A shattering sound, like shattered glass, spread from the ring of fire.

Finally, after shattering the ring of fire, the greatsword continued its slash towards Nian Zhuo, who was located in the center.

However, it was blocked by his finger.

"...Thank you for your hard work." Looking at Skadi in front of him, Nian Zhuo did not hold back his praise.

His clothes were tattered and torn, and he was covered in wounds.

As the surging lament ended at the last second, the girl finally succumbed to exhaustion and fainted.

Her eyes were tightly closed, and her silver hair was spread out like a fish.

"Sleep well." From somewhere, Skadi's original hat was taken out and placed on the girl's head.

Skadi - Coma, Specter - Coma.

"Hey, are you there? Tsukasa Kadoya."

Facing the empty sea, Nianzhuo calmly uttered a name.

Temporarily come to an end

"You're here, right, Tsukasa Kadoya?" Looking at the gradually flowing seawater and Skadi and Specter 2 lying unconscious in front of him, Nencho did not hesitate to flip the gun and pull the trigger behind him.

"Thump—!" The bright red energy was split in two by the slender blade.

Just as Nian Zhuo said, before he knew it, the crimson knight was already standing behind him.

"...How did you find me?" Decade wiped his longsword and looked at Nencho with curiosity. "Or rather, who exactly are you, possessing a Zi-O power completely different from Tokiwa Sougo's?"

“In the past, people always asked you who you were?” With a smile, Nian Zhuo, who had his back to Decade, hoisted Skadi and Specter onto his shoulder. “I am a human named Nian Zhuo, nothing more.”

"As for how I found you... I can only say it was a gut feeling, like you were nearby or something." Carrying them to Decade, Nianzhuo gently placed them in front of him. "Since I've answered your question, then do me a favor."

"Help me send them both back to their original world. You can definitely do that, right?" Nian Zhuo clapped his hands and stated his request without even waiting for Decade's consent.

"...Aren't you going to kill them?" Decade's emerald green eyes stared at the two unconscious women. Even as a bystander, he could feel the raw killing intent emanating from them during the battle. "They wanted to kill you. Is it worth it?"

“There’s no question of whether it’s worth it or not.” Without hesitation, Nian Zhuo looked at Decade with his gaze hidden beneath his mask. “They are the people from that world whom I would have risked my life to save, so I can’t let ‘his’ efforts go to waste.”

"Besides, summoning them must be that 'beast's' intention, right?" Nian Zhuo twitched his lips, still trembling slightly when he mentioned that guy. "Since he made them prepared to kill me, he probably wants me to kill them too, so that I would fall into his trap."

“I won’t let him have his way, so I’m counting on you, Shi.” Removing the driver from his waist, Nencho faced the fully armed Decade with his bare hands.

"..." Silence fell, but Nian Zhuo could feel the gaze that was constantly scanning him from beneath the emerald green armor.

Finally, Decade could only sigh helplessly and summoned a similarly black and white [light screen] with a wave of his hand.

“You’re quite interesting, Nianzhuo.” Turning back to look at Nianzhuo, who was letting out a sigh of relief, Decade’s tone was playful. “So, I’ll do this small favor for you this time.”

"But—" The slender blade flashed, sweeping away a few strands of hair from Nian Zhuo's forehead and bangs.

"I came to this Fate world to observe whether it has the value of destruction." Decade's tone was unusually serious, and he even took out Zio (2018)'s card from a card box on the side, which is also the Zi-O card of Mai Shiranui.

"So, if everything really is alright in this world, I will give this to you." He then took out half of a watch face with a magenta hue from the other pocket.

"So, keep going, Nianzhuo. Let me see what this world is really like." With that, Decade ignored Nianzhuo's reaction and began to lift Skadi and Specter towards the black-and-white screen.

“Based on the ‘cause’ of their summoning that remains on them, we can deduce the ‘effect’ of the world they previously inhabited.” With her eyes closed, she chanted in words that Nenju couldn’t understand, and several threads emanated from Skadi and Specter, twisting together.

Then, the silk thread connected to the black and white screen, and the next moment, it sucked the two figures into the screen.

"Okay, that's all." Decade clapped his hands and nodded to Nianzhuo beside him. "By using the results of that 'beast's' summoning, we were able to deduce the world that the two of us once lived in. It seems that 'beast' also possesses power similar to mine... no, even surpassing mine." Increasingly curious about the 'sinful self' that Nianzhuo spoke of, Tsukasa Kadoya pointed the pink camera on his chest at Nianzhuo.

"Click—" A blurry photograph slowly emerged from the camera.

"Well then, goodbye." With a wave to Nian Zhuo, Decade's figure transformed into countless black and white clones and scattered in all directions.

But for Nianzhuo, the feeling of being watched still lingered.

"In other words, that guy is still watching me from somewhere." Since Shiya also has a Rider Watch, I should also gain his approval.

As if a fighting spirit had surged back into his body, Nian Zhuo smiled and walked toward Drake's ship, which was not far away.

"Oh! Welcome back, Nianzhuo!" As soon as he boarded the ship, he was surprised to see Drake's smile and a hand slapping Nianzhuo's back with great force.

(This sinful little hand, so strong--) Nian Zhuo's only thought was that the value could only be increased by transforming with the driver, and Nian Zhuo himself was just an ordinary person who barely stepped into the threshold of Heroic Spirit with the help of Alaya's guardian.

At least Drake's hand, blessed by the Holy Grail, made him feel... well, somewhat unbearable.

"Welcome back, Mr. Nianzhuo!" Ritsuka and Mashu followed, struggling to peek out from behind Drake and waving vigorously at Nianzhuo.

"Phew~ That's great." Rubbing her aching forehead, Mary, far away in Chaldea, breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the communication. "I must say, as expected of you~"

"However, there's something I'd like to ask you. May I bother you for a moment? Nianzhuo, Ritsuka, and Mashu." The next moment, Drake, who was smiling, reverted to his usual captain demeanor, pointing at the enemy pirate ship that was constantly turning into particles and disappearing, with some doubt.

"Eh..." Mashu looked in surprise in the direction Drake was pointing. "Um, okay, what is it?"

At the same time, Nencho and Ritsuka's attention was also drawn to the past.

"Apart from the two enemies defeated by Nianzhuo, all the enemies we defeated have disappeared. Do you think this is normal?"

“…Indeed, it’s gone.” Mashu nodded. After all, just now, the last piece of the enemy’s ship plank had turned into particles and disappeared into the sea. She pressed the communicator in her hand, “Hello, Director?”

"Yes, I'm here, just a moment." Mary said, flipping through the report that had just been delivered to her. "Ah~ as expected, pirates in this area should be a conceptual existence."

"Concept...?" Everyone pondered these two words, but didn't quite understand their meaning.

Continue the journey

"Concept...?" The almost identical questioning tone from everyone seemed to aggravate Mary's already aching forehead.

“So you didn’t know…” Mary flipped through the report in her hand, clearing her throat as she did so. “Those vanished pirates were spirits etched into the stage memory of the Age of Exploration. They acted solely to achieve their goals.”

“But… the pirates Mash and I encountered earlier could talk, and they even had expressions and acted just like humans.” Nian Zhuo scratched his head, remembering the pirate captain who had fainted after Skadi and Specter appeared. “Ah… but Skadi must have killed him with one strike…” He exchanged a glance with Mash, whose eyes also contained the same question.

“Hmm, the question Nianzhuo raised is answered here as well.” Mary said, turning a few pages back in the report. “Although they have a sense of self, it is probably completely homogeneous. You could say they are infinite replicas of the concept of ‘pirates in the average sense.’ Although the harm is small, I’m afraid that as long as this world doesn’t correct itself, this obstacle will appear infinitely.”

"...What do you mean?" Well, these technical terms were still difficult for Captain Drake to understand.

“In short, those pirates are like ghosts.” Mash thought for a moment and decided to use a metaphor to explain to Drake.

“Ghosts…?” Drake looked at the flintlock pistol in his hand and shook his head. “No, that’s not right. But the bullets work on them, don’t they? Not just my bullets, even the bullets from these idiots work.”

"Excuse me, let me correct you." Mashu pressed her index finger to her forehead. "Right, just think of them as ghosts with physical bodies."

"Ah, it has a physical form? That's good!" After confirming that he had hit the target information, Drake resumed his nonchalant demeanor. "Good, very good. Absolutely no problem!"

“Yes, that’s right.” Mashu and Ritsuka both nodded, indicating that they understood.

"Then let's move on." Turning the rudder in his hand, the Golden Deer resumed its voyage.

"Fufu~" Fufu was also jumping back and forth on the sail, looking very excited.

Mashu, Ritsuka, and Nencho, three people with no experience in piloting ships, could only lean on the railing next to Drake and gaze at the endless sea.

As for why they didn't get seasick? Anyone who has experienced Emperor Nero's piloting skills would probably find such a journey impossible to evoke fear in them.

"Speaking of which~" Having clarified the general direction, Drake finally had some free time and walked over to the three of them.

"Hmm?" They were all curious, staring at Drake's face, which, despite its scars, was not a major problem.

"So, what do you think is in this sea?" Drake adjusted his crooked captain's hat and gazed intently at the unfathomable ocean.

“If the doctor is right… there really is treasure.” But then Mashu suddenly seemed a little deflated. “However… that means this sea area is equivalent to the Age of Exploration… Miss Drake isn’t the only pirate searching for treasure.”

"Haha, this is really exhilarating!" Gazing at the distant horizon where the sea meets the sky, Drake couldn't help but feel a sense of longing. "Strike first, and you'll be the first to act—it's so simple and straightforward!"

Drake's voice was undisguised, conveying his agreement to his busy underlings below.

“But boss, we have absolutely no leads!” one of the pirates suddenly spoke up.