DOTM: Chapter 593/594

Chapter 593: There is Only One Truth

Responding to the summons as a Caster, then turning around and killing the Master who summoned her, and just as she was about to dissipate due to the loss of mana supply, she encountered a kind ordinary person passing by, chose to form a contract with him, and continued participating in this Holy Grail War. This was Medea, appearing before everyone.

She wore a loose but revealing long dress that could not hide her excellent figure, and over it a hooded cloak that wrapped her more tightly and covered most of her face.

"Such a familiar yet unfamiliar outfit."

Ethan looked at Medea, whose face was mostly covered except for the lower half. He had quite liked this style of concealing the face with a hooded cloak back then. He did not do it anymore, and besides, he did not need to hide his appearance in the first place.

"Where is your Master?"

"I will not let him appear in such a dangerous place easily."

"Oh? It seems you are quite fond of your new Master."

Everyone present sized up this newly arrived Heroic Spirit. They already knew this woman was the legendary Medea, but from her appearance, it was hard to judge how dangerous she was.

"Hmph."

"And I can tell you really dislike me? Strange. Have I offended you?"

"No, I simply do not like you. For some reason, there is an aura about you that I find repulsive."

"..."

Although Medea had entered the living room, she did not sit down. She continued to stand there and observe everyone present from a higher position, while also secretly checking the surroundings.

"There really are no traps. This is truly unbelievable."

"There is nothing unbelievable about it. If I wanted to deal with you all, I would not need to resort to such tricks."

Ethan propped his arm on the table, resting his chin in his hand, saying things that made everyone uncomfortable. Yet no one, including Medea, spoke up to refute him.

Who could blame him? What he said was the truth. None of the people present could defeat him. Even if they all attacked together, they could not even break through his Reality Marble, the Mirror Dimension.

"Finished checking? You can let your Master come out."

Ethan had long since noticed that Medea's Master was hiding in the shadows, concealed by her magecraft, but this level of minor trickery could not fool him at all.

Medea bit her lip. She already knew the person in front of her was very powerful, but confident in her own magecraft, she felt she could still do something. She had not expected that her carefully prepared magecraft would be insignificant in the other party's eyes and easily seen through.

Just as Medea was contemplating whether to retreat, her Master appeared.

It was not Souichirou Kuzuki from the original plot, but a young man with an ordinary appearance who looked relatively pleasant. About twenty years old, no different from most young people you might encounter on the street, truly nothing special about him.

After the young man entered, his gaze lingered on Ethan, his eyes filled with wariness and confusion, especially at the first sentence Ethan spoke after seeing him, which shocked him.

"Are you very surprised why I would appear here?"

The undisguised look of surprise on the young man's face quickly disappeared. He smiled and nodded to Medea, then calmly sat down in front of Ethan.

"Yes, I am indeed surprised and curious." The man then introduced himself. "My name is Kazama Ryu."

"Have you always been called by this name?"

"Although it is a coincidence, whether in the past or now, I have always been called by this name."

The conversation between the two left many people confused, but in just a few sentences, both of them had confirmed each other's identity. Especially Kazama Ryu, who realized that Ethan's identity was not simple, and it seemed he had come specifically for him.

"Could it be the Space-time Administration Bureau?"

"No, I was asked by a certain Main God, so I came specifically to find you."

"Main God?" Kazama Ryu's expression became particularly strange, as if he had heard something incredible. "The Main God you mentioned, is it the kind from the Main God's Space?"

"That is right, that kind of Main God."

Kazama Ryu opened his mouth, then looked at the group of curious onlookers around him.

"Can these things be discussed here?"

"I do not really care about such things. Besides, from the moment you appeared here, the plot was already broken."

Kazama Ryu looked at the people around him again, then at Ethan, and suddenly understood why the Main God would send this person to find him. "The Main God thinks I have broken the plot, so they want to eliminate me?"

Seeing Ethan nod, Kazama Ryu stared at him with a forced smile. "Speaking of breaking the plot, it seems you have broken it more thoroughly than I have."

By comparison, he had merely taken Souichirou Kuzuki's place. Other than that, he had not participated in the main plot at all, instead trying to avoid contact with it as much as possible, just quietly hiding in a dark corner, learning magecraft, and diligently increasing Medea's favorability.

But the person in front of him? Not to mention taking Heracles's place, it was this person, not himself, who had completely shattered the main plot into pieces. What was this situation? Did the set of Fate/stay night accidentally get the script for Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan?

This situation made him very uncomfortable, feeling all sorts of unpleasantness inside.

"Uncomfortable? That is right. Who told you that you are just an ordinary person with no background and no strength?"

Ethan still maintained the posture of supporting his chin. Even though Kazama Ryu looked furious, he did not care, and even added fuel to the fire, making the other party's anger burn brighter.

However, the next sentence immediately extinguished Kazama Ryu's anger.

"Besides, I broke the plot to confirm something."

"Hm?"

Kazama Ryu suddenly realized that there might be a hidden reason behind this. Looking at the person in front of him, he became curious about Ethan's identity.

Recalling what Ethan had said before, Kazama Ryu realized he might have misunderstood earlier.

"You are not a Reincarnator of the Main God?"

"No."

When Ethan said earlier that the Main God sent him, Kazama Ryu's first reaction was that this person was a powerful Reincarnator from the Main God's Space, who had received a mission from the Main God to appear here.

He had not expected Ethan was not a Reincarnator. Then what was his identity? The Main God would actually seek him out specifically to capture, or eliminate, Kazama Ryu?

"Then you are...?"

"Similar to you, I accidentally passed through this Main God's world."

"..."

Kazama Ryu felt the anger he had just calmed start to flare up again. They had both accidentally entered the Main God's world, so why was this person asked by the Main God to deal with him?

At this moment, he suddenly thought, Ethan's strength was very great. Was it because of that?

"Your strength was not bestowed by the Main God?"

"Of course not."

Kazama Ryu understood the reason. The other party was a powerful existence, one that the Main God did not want to offend. So since both had intruded into this Main God's territory, the other party could receive hospitality, while he had to be eliminated by that same party.

Thinking about it, it was truly unfair, but Kazama Ryu found he had nothing to complain about. He was not a true youngster. He had seen much more unfair things in his previous life. This time was nothing compared to those, only that the price he had to pay was relatively high.

"Even so, I will not just sit here and wait for death."

"You are overthinking it. I did not intend to kill you in the first place."

"Huh?"

Although the people around did not understand many things from the previous conversation, Medea had already judged one thing. This person was her Master's enemy.

From the beginning, Medea had secretly cast several spells to enhance Kazama Ryu's various attributes, allowing him to contend with a Heroic Spirit for a short time, ensuring that her Master would have some ability to resist if the opponent suddenly attacked.

Unexpectedly, these preparations turned out to be useless. The opponent did not want to kill Kazama Ryu. What was this strange twist?

"Because I found that person did not tell me the truth, or rather, she was calculating me from the start."

Madeleine said that her newly created world was polluted before it was even initialized, and to prevent the pollution from spreading, she had even adjusted the flow of time to prevent the impact caused by Kazama Ryu from expanding.

But after he arrived, what he did was much more excessive than Kazama Ryu, yet Madeleine did not show any reaction. Even if she could not descend in person, as a Main God, she should not lack means of communication to remind him.

Yet this place seemed as if it was not Madeleine's world at all. No matter how Ethan messed around, no one reminded him.

If what Ethan did at first was not much, the fact that there was still no reaction after he completely shattered the plot, as if she did not care about him messing around, was quite strange.

Thinking it over and over, the greatest possibility was that Madeleine no longer cared about how this world turned out. So what was the reason she specifically asked him to come here?

He had not interacted with Madeleine for long, and he had not revealed any abilities in front of her, so the greatest possibility was that what she wanted was him. That seemed a bit shameless. Had his charm reached such a level that it could even captivate a Main God?

"Or perhaps, it is this in my hand?"

Ethan sat up straight, glancing out of the corner of his eye at his left hand. This was the only ability he had used in front of Madeleine, prepared at the time in case he needed to leave at any moment.

As for now...

Subtly circulating spatial energy, Ethan found that the walls of this world seemed to have become much thicker, and it would require more energy to leave this world.

"So that is how it is."

(To be continued.)

Chapter 594: Madeline's True Intentions

The living room of the Emiya household fell into silence. A few Heroic Spirits felt as though they had heard something extraordinary, though the specifics were not entirely clear.

Rin and Shirou, on the other hand, were completely bewildered. They had not understood a single word.

"What... what did you mean by what you just said?"

Illya's gaze shifted between the two. She seemed to have guessed something, but was not entirely sure. If her guess was correct, it would completely overturn her understanding of this world.

Another person who cared about this was Medea. She always showed great concern for the Master she favored, or perhaps it was simply easy for romance to develop between Medea and a male Master.

"This Main God you mentioned... what kind of existence is it?"

"Let your Master explain these things to you slowly. It is difficult to make it clear all at once."

"But we want to know too!"

Rin slammed the table hard. Because she used too much force, her palm turned red, and tears welled up from the pain.

"Actually, there is not much to say. You only need to know that an exceptionally powerful existence found a random reason to scheme against me, which is why I ended up here."

None of the Heroic Spirits spoke. They could roughly guess what level of existence Ethan was. This level of matter was not something they could participate in.

Only Rin continued to press, especially because she really wanted to know if she would become a Heroic Spirit in the future. She was still bothered by this.

Perhaps annoyed, Ethan pointed at Illya and Rin. "You will be favored by deities and become special existences possessing the power of Heroic Spirits by serving as vessels."

"Deities?"

"Serving as vessels?"

Speaking of which, Ethan suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to instruct Illya. "No matter what, just remember not to name the bear you carry 'Ethan'."

"Huh?"

Illya, who had always maintained a cold, expressionless face, showed a change in expression for the first time today. She stared at Ethan in confusion, once again doubting whether her Servant's mind was entirely normal because he had answered the summon under the Berserker class.

"Instead of talking about all this nonsense, should you not consider our situation?"

Kazama Ryu had not spoken, but had been quietly thinking, especially after Ethan said he had also been schemed against. He suddenly felt that what he was facing was not an absolute dead end.

Perhaps he could enlist the person before him to fight against that Main God together. This way, he might secure a slim chance of survival. Just as he had said before, even if the power gap was enormous, he would not do nothing and let the Main God kill him.

Anyone hopes to live, let alone someone who had just gained such a miraculous encounter for some unknown reason. He was even more unwilling to be killed just as he was starting.

"What is there to consider? The moment I confirmed this matter, the other party's plan had already failed."

"What do you mean?"

"It means I can leave anytime."

Ethan was certain that Madeline was waiting outside to intercept him when he was about to pass through the wall and leave. However, even if her strength was greater than his, she could not truly stop him.

It could be said that the moment Ethan detected the anomaly before the wall was completely sealed, it already signified the failure of this hunting operation.

"You can leave anytime? You can travel freely between various worlds?"

"Otherwise, how do you think I accidentally entered this Main God's world?"

"..."

Kazama Ryu finally realized how vast the gap between them was, and also understood why the Main God was so polite to this person. Although schemes and tricks were set up, it was not as casual as how he was treated.

He himself was a bug that the other party could crush at any time, while the person opposite was a powerful existence worth expending effort to deal with.

"Then... are you preparing to leave?"

Hearing that Ethan was about to leave, everyone involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief. They were just here to participate in the Holy Grail War and did not want to get involved in such a high-level struggle. In battles of this magnitude, perhaps their true bodies might be qualified to participate, but as Servants in their current state? Forget it. The aftermath of a casual powerful attack from the other party could potentially kill them.

"I guess that person probably will not let me just leave so casually, right?"

"Of course, you are a very rare prey!"

A voice suddenly came from the courtyard. Even to Ethan, this voice seemed a little unfamiliar. Although the voice was the same, the tone and cadence were completely different from what he had heard before.

"I did not expect you to show up so quickly."

Ethan sighed. He had originally been considering whether to quickly deal with things here and then leave before Madeline could react.

Now it seemed the other party had been keeping an eye on him as prey, preventing him from running away at any time. Madeline actually valued him this much. He did not even know if he should be happy about his overwhelming charm.

"Madeline."

Ethan returned to the courtyard. His shoes were left there. He slowly put them on while observing the slightly unfamiliar Madeline before him.

Unlike the dignified and elegant attire he saw last time, today Madeline wore a short British-style trench coat. Below the hem were two long legs encased in black knee-high boots. The expression on her face and her blood-red lips gave him a completely different feeling.

"Ethan."

"Did you not say before that Main Gods generally do not conflict with each other?"

"I also mentioned that some younger Main Gods must be careful, otherwise they are likely to be taken as subordinate gods by other powerful Main Gods."

"No, you did not say that."

"Is that so?" Madeline's tone seemed slightly surprised, but her expression showed no surprise at all. "Perhaps I forgot? But you know now."

"You want me to become your subordinate god? You do not seem to lack powerful subordinates."

Ethan looked around. This space had been cut off separately. The area centered around the Emiya residence had completely detached from the original world and become a separate small world.

More importantly, the surrounding walls had been specifically reinforced and thickened. Judging from the complex techniques and vast energy contained within them, Madeline could not have created this cage temporarily. This was clearly a precautionary measure to prevent him from seeing through her plan in advance.

"Your talent is very special. The moment I noticed this, I decided I must have you." Madeline seemed full of confidence in her arrangements, or perhaps she wanted to completely subdue Ethan, so she answered his questions with great patience.

"Oh? I did not feel that my ability was anything special."

"Every time you enter a world, you directly create a completely separate, brand new worldline within that world, and naturally form an inseparable connection with this new worldline. This is a very special talent."

Madeline continued her patient explanation, making Ethan understand why she valued him so much.

Whenever Ethan appeared in any world, he would directly open up a new worldline on the original world, and not just a single timeline. It was equivalent to directly copying the original world. Everything and every rule, except for Ethan himself, was indistinguishable from the original.

For example, when Ethan entered the world of Fate/stay night, this world became two. There was the original Fate/stay night world, and the Fate/stay night where Ethan existed.

What Madeline wanted to do was to keep the influence caused by the traverser within the new worldline created by Ethan. This way, she would still get a complete and uncontaminated original world, as well as a new world that had been thoroughly altered by Ethan.

However, Ethan's ability did not just copy the plot of Fate/stay night. The entire Nasuverse contains countless parallel worlds. When Ethan copied, he also copied those parallel worlds as a package. After all, to him, no matter how many parallel planes the Nasuverse had, it was still one world.

"So that is how it is!"

In other words, every world he had been to in the past had gained a new worldline, or rather, a new parallel world, because of his appearance.

"So you want to obtain this ability of mine?"

"Consider how convenient this ability is for a Main God who constantly needs to create new worlds. After finding a new world they like, there is no need to slowly create it bit by bit. I just need you to go there once, and I can get a complete world template. Not only can I save more power and time, but I can even enhance my own strength by analyzing many vastly different worlds."

Madeline explaining in such detail also indirectly showed her attitude toward Ethan. She was determined to get him.

"Furthermore..." Madeline suddenly licked her lips. "I am also very interested in you as a person."

"I must say... I am a little flattered."

Ethan looked at Madeline, who stood there like a queen, looking at him with her head held high.

"You have said so much, but it does not seem to benefit me at all."

The triumphant look on Madeline's face deepened. Ethan's words seemed to reveal a good sign.

"You will become the most special one among all my subordinate gods. You can choose a world as your palace, like this world." Madeline's figure suddenly appeared before Ethan, and she reached out to gently stroke his cheek. "At the same time, I can also let you experience feelings you have never experienced before."

"Sounds good."

Ethan reached out and grabbed Madeline's hand. A moment later, Madeline was back in the middle of the courtyard, as if the moment that had just occurred was merely an illusion.

"But I refuse."

(To be continued.)