"The world ends in three hundred and thirty one years."

If it was a single Zelretch that heard the prophecy, he/she/it might have ignored it. Worlds ended all the time. It was nothing worth paying attention to.

Except it wasn't a single Zelretch that heard the prophecy. A thousand variations of Zelretch heard the prophecy across a thousand different Earths that had developed enough thaumaturgy for reliable clairvoyance. That was worth paying attention.

For the next twenty four hours straight he/she/it leveraged every Magus-Zelretch across every populated Earth to seek out seers, prophets, super-computers, anything that was capable of advanced foresight and calculation. The answers received were not good.

There was no safe haven. The catastrophe would reach every populated world Zelretch had access to.

Three hundred and thirty one years are optimistic. Just as likely, the world would end in a matter of decades.

The parties responsible, these Entities, are currently near Pluto's orbit and approaching Earth at a pace exceeding the speed of light.

The Entities were capable of Second Magic.

The latter, more than anything else, forced him/her/it to take action. There were plenty of heroes, plenty of organizations across the multiverse that would respond to the coming End, but none of them could wield Second Magic, Zelretch knew. After all, he/she/it was the one who inserted mental blocks into anyone that came close.

First came the matter of understanding what exactly he/she/it was dealing with. For that he/she/it reached across dimensions to find xenobiologist-Zelretch, psychologist-Zelretch and philosopher-Zelretch, subsumed them and reconfigured the resulting existence into Counter Guardian-Zelretch along with the knowledge of the threat to humanity's existence. Spacial Transportation, even to outer space, was a child's game for the Second Magician.

Counter Guardian was struck from existence the moment it appeared near the Entities, not just the body, but Alaya's very records, in every world the copy of a Guardian existed in. Not good, but not entirely unexpected. Not even Alaya could counteract Second Magic.

For his/her/its second attempt, Zelretch found another Counter Guardian, one capable of surviving slightly longer. This one was not a copy of Zelretch, so he/she/it had to negotiate. Fortunately, alternate versions of said Counter Guardian from across the multiverse provided enough insight into the Guardian's mind that negotiations were as swift as they were successful. EMIYA would be erased from Alaya's records, ending his tenure as a Counter Guardian. Zelretch allowed themselves a slight smirk. He/she/it loved it when the problems resolved themselves without any energy expenditures from Zelretch himself/herself/itself.

A short jaunt across dimensions let him/her/it encompass several useful versions of Emiya into EMIYA: one with an Unlimited Shield Works reality marble, one with Mystic Eyes that let him grasp workings and history of living beings with a single glance, and one that knew how to activate Avalon's full defensive capabilities.

"You're a real bastard, you know that." - Muttered EMIYA.

"The headache should pass momentarily." - Zelretch answered distractedly.

"That's not what I'm talking about." - Counter Guardian replied darkly, watching another body of Shirou dissolve into particles, as the matter was dissolved across worlds and digested for energy. That was, after all, the most efficient manner of subsuming a person's existence, making up for the energy expenditures incurred by dimension travel.

"And here I though you wanted to see Emiya Shirou dead." - Zelretch said, amused. - "Well, it doesn't really matter in the end. Off you go!"

Launching the Counter Guardian into the orbit from the ground, instead of just materializing him in the target location, was a cunning strategy designed to disguise EMIYA as a local, thus letting him get closer to the Entity that chose this dimension as its destination. Any entertainment Zelretch derived from listening to the former Archer swear was purely coincidental.

The Entity struck. Archer activated Avalon's Bounded Field, shielding himself in the absolute protection of the realm of the Faeries.

It took the Entity a little over a second to adapt, find a counter and respond. Avalon shattered; the realm of faeries sealed away by a dimensional barrier, the Noble Phantasm obliterated without a trace, the protection nullified with as much effort as it takes to swat a fly. EMIYA has glimpsed the Entity's true form for but a second before he was erased from Alaya's records.

It was enough.

Zelretch gathered the information received from his/her/its agent and departed this dimension a moment before the Entity struck, leaving behind only the body of the Zelretch he/she/it borrowed. Said body belonged to a young black doctor from a dimension without any particular value. The loss was negligible.

The information priceless.

The Entities are alien, Zelretch comprehends. Not just Aristoteles such as ORT, but true aliens from far outside the Solar System.

The Entities are gods, Zelretch realizes. Not petty divine entities that exist on certain versions of Earth, but true semi-omnipotent beings, limited only by the energy they are unwilling to expend. The only reason he/she/it managed to find out as much is because the Thinker Entity is distracted and the Warrior Entity did not see him/her/it as a threat.

And, above all else, the Entities are vulnerable, Zelretch knows. They've already shed over ninety nine percent of their being, their Shards, and continue to do so even now, leaving only the Shards most crucial for their survival.

That is not to say that they are weak, not to say the Entities couldn't crush entire worlds in seconds, but at that moment they were more vulnerable than they would ever be. If there ever was a moment to strike, it was the moment the Entity struck the planet.

There was no moment to wait, no time to assemble a team of strongest combat-oriented variations of Zelretch. He/she/it grabbed the Jeweled Spear, more stable, more versatile, more powerful than the Sword, and prepared to transport himself/herself/itself to the target reality. As a afterthought, Zelretch copied the mind of the Zelretch he/she/it was currently using. After all, there was no way for this body to survive the coming devastation and this Zelretch had a tendency toward happiness. It would be beneficial to Zelretch as a whole to have a happy Zelretch whose happiness he/she/it could borrow.

With a brutal application of Second Magic, Zelretch moved to the Entity's destination, expecting to come out guns blazing... and found himself/herself/itself somewhere else entirely.

"What the hell..." - He/she/it muttered, trying again, then again and again with the same result.

The conclusion was undeniable – the Entity blocked off the Earth where it landed.

"Damnation." - Zelretch stated almost calmly. He/she/it should have expected this. It was too easy. EMIYA's information showed that the Entities have gone through thousands of reiterations of their Cycle, so of course, they would have stumbled upon this issue sooner or later and devised countermeasures.

Zelretch tentatively pushed against the barrier, but it was futile. If it was just the issue of brute strength, he/she/it could have drawn upon the might of a thousand dimensions, using the Spear to channel the power of a thousand, a million dimensions to rip the barrier apart.

Alas, the issue was not the power, but the system itself. Every thaumaturgical system he/she/it had access to was devised on Earth and used Earth's logic and common sense. The dimensional barrier Entities have established suffered no such drawbacks, drawing upon the knowledge of a thousand civilizations with histories and ideas that humans could not even conceive of.

Perhaps, no, certainly, Zelretch could unravel the barrier with careful study, with a dozen versions of Zelretch working together and drawing upon the genius of magi from their worlds, but it would not be a swift process. Years, probably even decades, would pass until he/she/it could carve through the barrier, and by that time the Entity would establish its avatar and be able to enforce its will across every dimension, becoming nearly unbeatable. The time of vulnerability will pass.

This was a checkmate.

With a sour taste in his/her/its mouth, Zelretch turned away from his failure. Nothing more to do here, except send the data to Atlas and its alters, hoping they develop a powerful enough weapon to make a difference.

For lack of other options, Zelretch sought out the second Entity, the smart one. Most likely it was futile, he/she/it acknowledged. Undoubtedly, it has already established itself on the planet and blocked itself with a similar barrier, but it would not hurt to check.

Seeking out the correct world was always the hard part of interdimensional travel. While parallel dimensions were not quite infinite, their number easily exceeded the number of particles in any given universe. Infinite was not the correct word, but humanity had yet to develop one to account for the number so large.

To make things harder, the Entities put up a number of dimensional barriers, trillions upon trillions, to block out every world where they left a Shard, blocking established paths, severing shortcuts and throwing the currents, eddies and flows of the inter-dimensional sea into a chaotic maelstrom. Traveling was about as easy and as safe as navigating a dinghy through unknown waters in a storm. Countless Zelretch have perished seeking out the desired dimension, making a dint even in his/her/its nigh infinite reserves.

Finally, finally, almost three days after the landing, Zelretch had found that trail of breadcrumbs that the Entities left to mark their territory, discouraging other members of their species from intruding. To his/her/its surprise, the dimension was not blocked away. As a matter of fact, it already had an interdimensional portal open.

"This is a trap." - Atlas-Zelretch noted clinically.

"Undoubtedly." - Dragon Mother-Zelretch rumbled.

"We're going anyways." - Priest-Zelretch sighed.

"That's no reason to be foolish." - Multifacted scarlet saphire-Zelretch signaled.

Zelretch nodded, acknowledging that he/she/it was right, as always. It was a casualty of being composed of a nigh-infinite number of beings intelligent enough to reach Second Magic – at least one Zelretch was always right.

Severing his/her/its connection from the rest of Zelretch, a single Zelretch opened a portal to the target reality, close to the one already opened. No doubt the Entity has used clairvoyance and already seen how Zelretch would react, but that was no reason to be careless. With a sigh acknowledging his/her/its mortality, Zelretch stepped through the portal and opened his/her/its mind to the planet's informational field, seeking out the Entity's current location and state.

…

…

"You have got to be joking."

Zelretch checked, double checked and triple checked. Then he/she/it reopened the connection with Zelretch and checked it with a trillion more versions of Zelretch. Just in case he/she/it were compromised, Zelretch considered scouring his/her/its mind of the memories of the last hour and sending a new Zelretch to check things out, but a quick scrutiny of the time elapsed showed that he/she/it already did that, possibly more than once.

The Entity crashed. The semi-omnipotent, semi-omniscient world-eating Entity... crashed.

"Counter Force..." - Researcher-Zelretch started uncertainly.

"The Entity is not human." - Dorm Mistress-Zelretch countered. - "Also, omniscient."

"So this is... Luck? Chance? A mistake?" - Retired-Zelretch questioned incredulously.

"SEEMS THAT WAY." - God Emperor-Zelretch mused. - "NOT THE MISTAKE PART, BUT IT MAY HAVE BEEN A ONE-IN-AN-INFINITY CHANCE."

"We cannot discount the possibility that this is still a trap." - Fisher-Zelretch grumbled.

"That is very possible." - Countless-Zelretch nodded across eight million, twelve thousand and three dimensions. Other versions of Zelretch shifted a little in discomfort. Conversing with a pseudo-hivemind always felt a little awkward.

"We cannot risk coming into contact with the Thinker." - O'Zelretch agreed. - "Too much risk of being contaminated."

"We may not need to." - Sleeper-Zelretch informed Zelretch.

He/she/it turned their attention to what awakened the Sleeper from his slumber. It was a little slip of a girl with black hair, garbed in the simple dress of a farmer. Oh, and she had a multidimensional parasitic growth attached to her brain.

"She's moving toward the Entity." - House Elf-Zelretch voiced the obvious.

"With surprising swiftness and efficiency." - Mathematician-Zelretch tilted his head.

"Statement: She plans to kill it." - AI-Zelretch printed out. - "Conclusion: She will fail. Elaboration: Her progress is due to the Shard. Observation: Entity can affect Shards."

"She. Will. Require. Help." - Spaceship-Zelretch continued the thought of its closest counterpart.

"We cannot do it." - Neko-Zelretch reiterated. - "We can do too much harm if the Entity can affect us via direct or indirect manipulations."

"Obviously, we need someone else." - Archeologist Zelretch concluded. - "Somebody who can be drafted on a short notice, who would not balk at fighting an omnipotent genocidal Entity, who is not too proud to follow directions of a young girl."

"It must also be someone who can't do too much harm on a multi-dimensional level." - Golem-Zelretch worried.

"Hm, I may have someone in mind." - Dead Apostle-Zelretch smirked. After all, this existence has already proven its usefulness against the Entities.

Shirou closed the door gently and closed his eyes. This is it. This was the moment he stepped on the path he saw in Archer's memories. He knew Rin would try to stop him, that's why he was sneaking out. He loved her, he owed her a lot, but... what existence named Emiya Shirou could possibly stay safe here in Clock Tower while people were dying across the world?

"Are you done with your angsting?" - A voice inquired behind him.

"Gah!" - Shirou jumped a full foot into the air, simultaneously trying to turn and summon his swords (they were his swords now, damn it, not Archer's!). - "Who..."

"Zelretch."

"Zelretch?" - Shirou asked disbelievingly, observing his ambusher.

With a sigh, that person waved their arm, summoning the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch out of thin air.

"Satisfied now?"

"I, ah, yes." - He replied awkwardly. It's not like anybody except Zelretch could use that thing, and his Tracing, while incapable of recreating the blade, clearly stated that it was, in fact, the Wizard Marshall's Sword.

"I need you for something, so you're coming with me." - Zelretch stated, opening a portal.

"Ah, I don't know if you know, but I'm kind of, leaving the Clock Tower?" - Shirou half-asked, half-stated. He finally made the decision to go, he snuck out from Rin's room, he wasn't willing to procrastinate anymore. People needed him! - "I'm sorry, but I can't help you with any experiments you're running."

Even if someone like Zelretch took offense, Shirou would not be deterred from his path!

"A young girl is about to fight a monster. If nobody helps her, she will die. Would you not save her?"

Ok, so he could be deterred, Shirou admitted.

"A young girl?"

"Oh yes." - Zelretch nodded. - "The monster attacked her village, killed some of her neighbors and warped others into monsters. She's an innocent girl that has never been in a fight, but she's willing to battle against the monster, to die if it would save others. But she wouldn't, she'll just die, and then the people she's trying to save will die as well. Wouldn't some hero come save her?"

"You don't have to lay it on so thick." - Shirou signed, resigning himself to his fate.

"Go through the portal, get up the mountain. When the girl comes, don't stop her, she's the one who knows what to do. Eat nothing, drink nothing and don't touch the phantom images. Don't use magecraft, I'm not certain how the monster would react to it. Any questions?"

"Just one." - Shirou admitted. - "Why do you look like a talking cat?"

I have to kill it.

The plan formed in Fortuna's mind. The haze of fog still hung over her mind's eye, and it grew worse with every moment. It was the work of the entity, the evil godling, she knew.

Fortuna started walking forward. There were people at the mountain, bystanders. An assorted mix.

Why are they here?

No, was there a way to find out, using this sight she had?

I want to understand why they're here.

They'd come from different worlds. There were gates or doorways here and there. When the entity had fallen, it had left gaps.

They bellowed words in a language she couldn't make out. Warnings. They were too far away to stop her.

A man stepped in her way.

Strangely dressed, with a shock of red hair, he looked worried, relieved and determined. He almost looked like he should be here, like he knew her.

The man said something in a strange language.

Fortuna strode forward anyways. Her special knowledge let her know that the man wouldn't try to stop her.

Step twenty-nine, making her way down into the crater.

She stepped onto loose grit, and her weight did the rest. She coasted down, much like the boys riding down the mud-slick path they'd made in the hill, down into the pond, except she remained on two feet. It was a task only the oldest and most athletic boys could manage.

It was more dangerous here than it was on the hill. There were rocks that jutted out, and outcroppings of deeper roots and plant life that had rained down into the crater in the aftermath of the impact. It was more dangerous, but not harder. This, like scaling the cliff face, was easy.

Everything was easy now. It was disorienting.

The man with red hair followed, moving almost as fast as she did. He did not have her sight, but he pushed on almost recklessly, dodging rocks and roots at the last moment, risking injury all the way. Fortuna told herself she didn't care. Her path was more important.

She advanced into the heart of the gray forest. She was terrified, but the feeling was disconnected from her actions. She only had to recognize the next step in the series. She was aware of the steps that followed…

Until she came face to face with the godling. Her knife was in hand, and she could see a figure before her. A human shape, in the midst of pulling itself together from the examples and experiments that surrounded them.

She set foot on one of those experiments, a raised hand, and used it until she was eye to eye with the being, a matter of feet away.

The being raised its head. She could see its eyes open in recognition.

It's teaching itself how to act like we act. Even this.

She raised her arm, knife held with the point down.

And the gray fog descended on her mind, blinding her. A barrier, a blind spot, a future she could no longer see. Had it set the limitation more firmly in place?

The godling smiled. It knew, because the power she was using was the same power it had used to glimpse the future, to find that particular future where it had the world divided, drowned in conflict.

As far as the godling was concerned, she was blind, as helpless as anyone else.

A voice, from behind her. The man, muttering something in a foreign language.

I want to understand him.

One step. "Forest of Einnashe? No, this isn't it..."

She shook her head, dismissing the strange man and his nonsensical words.

I want to know what I was going to do.

One step. "Stab it."

Fortuna realized she still held the knife aloft.

But where had she wanted to stab it?

Indecision gripped her. For an hour now, she'd been absolutely certain of what she was doing, and now she faced the absolute opposite situation.

Her hand shook. She nearly dropped the little trimming knife.

She might have fallen as the hand beneath her moved if the man didn't catch her. Her power failed her here, too. Because the hand was an extension of the being before her.

It was going to kill her, and then it was going to reclaim the ability to see the future. It would use that power to control the world, then to destroy it.

And she couldn't bring herself to move an inch.

I want to tell him…

The words were alien to her as she spoke them. "I- I can't."

The man helped her stand. Only now Fortuna realized just how much she was shaking.

"I- I have seen visions. Things I was not meant to see, things this… godling wanted to keep to itself. I… have to stop it."

But even as the words left her mouth, she couldn't bring herself to move.

The man said something. Fortuna translated, asking for a way to understand him.

"I believe you. Is this the core of the monster?"

"Yes."

"How do we kill it?"

Not 'how do you kill it', but 'how do we kill it'. Even if her sight let her know better, she couldn't help feeling a little reassured at having an adult nearby.

"Stab it."

"In the heart?"

The being moved again, lurching, growing, flowing. The body bent over, head hanging, arms suspended to either side.

She saw the nape of the neck as hair slowly slid free, silky and straight.

Still unable to bring herself to move, she found her left arm extending, palm down, until the longest finger pointed at the spot in question.

The man behind her gently pried the knife from her fingers. His motions were practiced and sure as he plunged the blade into the spot where the spine met the skull to the very hilt.

The entity moved, and everything around them stirred. A thousand hands, a thousand arms, not all attached to the hands, legs, feet, ears, eyes, faces without features, expanses of skin, they twitched and writhed.

The noise around them faded, the heartbeats going still, the breathing quieting. The movements all around them stopped.

There was only the thing, hanging in mid-air, struggling to form itself and failing. It breathed in rapid huffs, in obvious pain.

It wasn't dead, but it wasn't alive. A connection had been severed in a moment where the godling was most vulnerable.

The man spoke:

"Again? Cut off the head?"

But Fortuna was sure that was it. They'd carried out the last step.

"Are you certain? This is it? One hit?"

She nodded. The man shook his head, muttering something about Zelretch, but he believed her.

"So... what now? Do you need any help getting home?"

Fortuna looked back the way she'd come. Home was gone, tainted. She could find her uncle, but...

"I don't have a home. I will need food, shelter."

The man blinked, a slightly bemused smile spreading across his face.

"I'm suddenly starting to realize just why Zelretch sent me here. So much for traveling the world as a hero of justice... but could I really call myself one if I abandon a young girl without home or family? It all comes around, doesn't it, old man?" - He sighed, still smiling. - "Do you want me to find you an orphanage or do... do you want to live with me?"

Fortuna pointed in his direction, still distracted.

"You. But there's one more thing. I need help."

"Help?" - The strange man almost seemed to perk up at that.

"There's one more of these things somewhere out there."

"That doesn't seem too bad." - The man said.

"The other one won't be splattered on the ground. It will be strong." - Seeing the man still wasn't taking it seriously, Fortuna couldn't help a feeling of irritation. Two steps. - "It will be tougher then Hercules and stronger then Gilgamesh."

"Gilgamesh could destroy the world."

"Yes."

The words didn't mean anything to her, but the man sobered up.

"I see." - He nodded. - "How do we stop it?"

How do we stop it?

The fog blocked out her view of any answer.

Can we stop something as powerful as the beings in my fever dream? How can we stop the Warrior?

Still too close to home.

The indecision gripped her again. When she wasn't acting in the scope of her power, it was all the more difficult to act.

Fortuna frowned. She couldn't be paralyzed like this.

"How- how would we stop any powerful monster?"

The man smiled slightly.

"If you can't defeat it, then imagine something that can."

"A weapon?" - Fortuna tilted her head.

One hundred and twelve thousand, two hundred and two steps.

"We need to persuade Zelretch to act as our transport."

"If you say so, then we probably do. You wouldn't be the first woman, whose instructions I have followed without really understanding." - Agreed the man. - "But first, monster slaying tends to leave the slayer a little hungry. Take it from somebody who knows. So how about we get some food into you?"

Fortuna frowned. The path changed with every passing second to account for her starting it later. She couldn't be certain how much it could change or extend if she waited too much to start.

I want to persuade the man to...

A loud grumbling erupted from her stomach, interrupting the thought. Even with her special knowledge, Fortuna couldn't quite manage to hold back a blush.

Okay, so lunch might not be a bad idea.

"Shirou." - The man extended his hand.

"Shirou?" - She blinked.

"I figure that if we're going to live together, it might not be a bad idea to introduce myself. My name is Emiya Shirou, and I am going to be a hero."

"A hero?" - Fortuna asked sceptically.

"Of course." - The man nodded with absolute certainty available only to children and fools. - "We're going to save the world, aren't we?"

"A hero." - Fortuna tasted the word on her tongue. It wasn't a bad taste.

One thousand, one hundred and eighteen steps.

She nodded with that same certainty.

"My name is Fortuna, and I'm going to be a hero."