Shinji Matou at Your Service

"Restore! Restore! Restore! Restore! Restore!"

The vampire, divided into more than ten pieces, screamed in pain, desperately trying to regenerate. However, there was no sign of the separated parts coming together; blood continued to ooze out, and it seemed on the verge of collapse.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible! Why can't I recover? Why? Why?"

"Because this scythe is not man-made, but a Noble Phantasm born from a heroic legend. Its name is Harpe, and wounds inflicted by this scythe cannot heal. For certain reasons, the great hero Perseus lent me this Noble Phantasm, giving me a chance to access the Third Magic. Disappear, for from the moment you became a calamity, this world had no place for you."

Confirming the enemy couldn't recover, Shinji's pressing stance relaxed a bit.

Hearing this explanation, Zephia seemed to give up struggling. His scattered body sprayed blood as it melted.

"Is that so? It's useless, everything is... kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee..."

With only his head left, the laughter grew sharper, increasingly inhuman.

"So, everything was pointless? Indeed! Kee kee kee kee! Already brainless! Already monstrous! Already mindless! Already dead-brained! Kee kee kee kee... kee... kee... Indeed, flawed! Indeed, defective! Indeed, regrettable! Kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee kee!"

"I don't know what you saw, but humans are such beings—flawed, unstable, brainless."

Shinji sighed, snapping his fingers behind him. A blue magical barrier enveloped Arcueid, isolating her senses of smell and taste.

By now, Zephia's body had completely melted into blood, the blood he had stored from his hunts in the city. All of it was released due to Shinji's cuts, mingling with the chaotic spirits and sharp, intermittent sounds.

"Hee hee hee~"

Sticky, sticky, sticky, sticky!

"Ha ha ha~"

Gushing out, gushing out, gushing out!

"Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood! Blood blood blood blood!"

Flowing, flowing!

"Ah~ these blood drops~ these blood stains! This lifeblood flowing to the ground!"

Blood flooded everywhere, quickly covering the entire floor and spreading madly outside the building along the battlefield's destruction, like a river of blood.

In the river of blood, the only clean spot was where Shinji, wrapped in Servant Body, stood. He looked up at a nearby building position and asked.

"Zepia, what do you seek?"

"What am I seeking? What do I desire? Ah, I remember now, I want change."

The meaningless muttering and shouting stopped. The vampire, with only his head left connected to the blood sea, spoke intermittently. His face was indistinguishable, replaced by a simple mask with three curved lines representing eyes and a mouth, both crying and laughing, looking so ridiculous and pitiable.

"I saw it. You, also pursuing magic, will sooner or later see that result too—that unchangeable thing called extinction. In the past, the ancestors of Atlas sought a stable world by trying to read the future to manage the world, but... the future they saw was extinction."

"Zephia, where do you seek?"

Second question.

"Think! Think! Think!"

"Think! Think! Think!"

"Think! Think! Think!"

"Simulated various methods, tried all means, devised countermeasures. But the more efforts made, the more futile it became... the future only cruelly added more terrifying endings, making us lose heart. Seeing the future of extinction, the alchemists of Atlas crazily challenged the future, and eventually went mad."

Yes, they all went mad. Every head of Atlas who had challenged the future went mad without exception.

"So, I finally believed that unless I became a vampire to enhance my abilities, there was no other way but to reach the Sixth Law."

Crying and laughing, the reason for the twisted face beneath the half-crying, half-laughing mask was revealed.

"Zepia, where is the end?"

Third question.

"I just want a future that can't be calculated."

On the brink of disappearance, his original wish resurfaced.

"Then calculate once more, alchemist. Calculation is merely deriving results from existing data. Even Atlas, with countless secrets, can't collect all the data of the entire planet. Even if all data is collected, there are parallel worlds and mysteries beyond the planet. You are just looking at the sky from the bottom of a well you drew, not knowing the sky is far broader than you imagined."

"The Second Magician is still constantly trying, constantly filtering, introducing variables. Besides him, others are also continuing their efforts. Myself included, and even the whole world, are their attempts."

"Include all these variables and calculate again. The Second Magic, the Third Magic, the Eye left by an alien super-civilization on the moon 400,000 years ago, the prototype of the Atlas central computation device, U.O., Gaia, Alaya, and many more known and unknown mysteries—include them all. Even if there was a previous assumption, as long as there is a slight deviation from that assumption, the result might change."

Shinji's words seemed to carry some mysterious power, shattering Zepia's mask and bringing a hint of clarity to his increasingly muddled eyes.

"The simulations of Atlas are far more complex and perfect than you think, but the direction is not wrong. Endless unknowns and variables? Very well, then I will use my remaining resources to predict once more."

"Exclude the defective areas, re-segment the thoughts, concentrate data in the first area, update in real-time in the second area, process calculations in the third area, and summarize and verify in the fourth area... The future simulation begins..."

"Read, read, read!"

...

"Defect, defect, defect!"

...

"Complete, complete, complete!"

...

"Import, import, import!"

...

"Simulate, simulate, simulate!"

...

"Prove, prove, prove!"

...

"Warning, warning, variable conflict! Error occurred! An error occurred!"

"Initiate emergency plan, isolate the first area, abandon the second area, compress personality to open the fifth area, transfer all resources to the fifth area..."

"Conclusion! Conclusion! Conclusion!"

"No change! Nothing has changed! Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless, meaningless!"

The results of the calculations had a tremendous impact on Zepia. The brief clarity faded, and even his final head began to be assimilated by the blood sea.

"Kee kee kee kee! Kee kee kee kee! Eat! Eat! Eat! Eat! Devour even the marrow!!"

"Redemption is impossible, entertainment does not exist."

"Boring, boring, boring! Humans are truly boring! Boring, boring, boring! Self-destruction is inevitable!"

"Hee hee!"

"Hee hee hee hee!"

"Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Eltlam, the longest-lasting head of Atlas, seemed unable to escape his destined end, completely descending into madness.

PS: Most of the big shots in Typemoon verse are trying to find a way to prevent the future Land of Steel.