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Chapter 21 - Chapter 21 – King of Knights Tainted by Darkness (VI)

[3rd Person]

Olga's eyes widened as she felt the grip of the top-hatted man's gloved hand around her neck. Even with her confused mind, she raised her hand, forming a small black sphere at her fingertip. However, the shadowy beam was instantly dissipated when Lev squeezed harder, leaving purplish marks on her pale skin. Olga arched backward, a muffled, hoarse moan of pain escaping her lips.

"Wow! You really are pathetic. You're not even as good as a woman..." A sarcastic smile formed on his lips. "But you know what's even more pathetic?" He paused, as if savoring the moment. "You, my dear Olga, are already dead. In fact, to be more precise: your body was completely disintegrated."

His pale fingers sank even deeper into Olga's neck, applying pressure with sadistic pleasure. The director's eyes filled with tears; she couldn't accept the cruel words of that man.

"Your life was cut short the instant the bomb exploded in the command room. Your insignificant existence should have ended at that moment, but unfortunately, the Rayshift carefully transferred your spirit to this singularity, using a body constructed of pseudo-spiritrons." His voice took on a tone of morbid delight. "That means that if you manage to return to Chaldea... you'll simply cease to exist. Your life only exists in this singularity."

Olga's expression froze as Lev held her in place. Mash and Ritsuka mirrored her shock, their faces paling at the revelation.

"I... I'm not dead! I can't be... I have to go back! I need to continue!" She managed to say with difficulty, still struggling against the top-hatted man's grip.

Throughout her life, Olga had never felt capable of replacing her father in the position of Director of Chaldea. She only wanted to prove she could be the director, to be praised or recognized for her efforts.

"Indeed." Lev displayed a condescending smile, as if dealing with a stubborn child. "But this is a sad story for you. How about I show you the fate of Chaldea, to which you devoted your entire life?" The Holy Grail they were trying to recover began to float in the air.

The damaged ceiling of the cave opened, revealing a fissure, as if someone had opened a window. Through this crack, Mash, Olga, and Ritsuka could see the interior of Chaldea once more. The large blue sphere in the command room floated before them, but now burned with a flaming red.

"Look at your madness! Not a single trace of the blue that represents humanity's survival remains. Only a bright, flaming red. That's the result of your mission. Isn't it glorious, Marie? Once again, your incompetence led to tragedy!" He couldn't stop smiling in ecstasy.

"But Lev... why?" Suddenly, Olga's body was pulled toward the ceiling. She struggled as Lev continued to mock her, releasing her neck to watch her being dragged.

Her despair was his greatest pleasure.

"I could kill you, you know? But where's the fun in that? Instead, I'll grant your last wish: to be with your precious Chaldea. Of course, it will be slightly different, let's say it's now like a black hole or a miniature sun. Any human being who touches it would disintegrate at the molecular level!" A sadistic smile covered the traitor's face. "Experience eternal living death!"

The large sphere in the command room glowed with a burning red. Olga Marie looked at the sphere and then at Lev, her eyes widening when she realized what would happen.

"No... No! Someone help me! Please!" Olga screamed in despair, tears streaming down her cheeks as a vacuum force pulled her closer and closer to the fissure. "I... I don't want to die here! I was never praised... No one ever praised me. Why? Why does this always happen to me? No one ever valued me! Everyone hated me!"

Watching the girl sink into despair, Lev almost forgot the damn trouble that Saber had caused him. Even after receiving the Holy Grail, she continued to cause problems by insisting on preserving this era. If she had just behaved, she would have been allowed to live.

Pushing thoughts of that damn Saber aside, he opened his mouth.

"Goodbye, Marie..." Lev smiled, but in the next instant, his smile was interrupted by a kick to his face.

"Dude, you talk too much." Altair retracted his foot, using the traitor's face as leverage, leaping toward Olga and wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her against his body.

"Brando!" Olga exclaimed, clinging to him desperately as the two were pulled toward the burning orb. "I just want to do things right... Since the day I was born, no one has ever accepted me. Is it wrong to want that?" She wasn't in a healthy mental state, clinging to the boy as if he were all she had left.

"No, there's nothing wrong with that. But if no one accepts you, I will accept you. If no one praises you, I will always praise you." He said gently, feeling the girl trembling in his arms. "Olga, you did an excellent job. You were exceptional." Altair smiled, running his hand through Olga's long hair and protecting her body with his arm, which was beginning to slowly disintegrate, thanks to the Monkey King's Cloak still absorbing all the damage. Even so, his arm was disintegrating at the molecular level. The only thing Altair could do was trust in his various types of immortality, which, although he had suffered several downgrades because of the tiara on his head, was still his ⟨Pseudo-Perfect Immortality⟩.

Meanwhile, Olga clung to the monkey king's robe.

"Thank you... I-I really mean it... thank you…" she repeated like a broken doll, pressing her face against his chest. Then she looked up and saw the pain in his expression. "Let me go! You have to survive. I'm already dead."

"So what?" He smiled, waving his hand and materializing his staff in his only hand. "Grow!" The staff extended, hitting the ground and launching them both out of the gravitational field, while simultaneously dislocating his arm from the abnormal force of the impact.

Altair spun his body, protecting her from the ground and absorbing the impact as the Monkey King's cloak disappeared, without enough mana to sustain it.

His body hit the ground heavily, beside the group that ran toward him.

"Insolent monkey..."

Two lightning-wreathed arrows crossed the air toward Lev, but he raised his staff, striking the ground and creating a dome of wind that blocked the projectiles.

"Put him in his place, you fool." Raikou looked coldly at the top-hatted man, while from the corner of her eyes she kept fixed on her son.

"Idiot." He opened his mouth, looking at Raikou who stared at him coldly. "Hahahaha! You understand nothing, you fifth-rate woman! At this moment, the entire future was incinerated the moment Chaldea became crimson! Your end is certain. Your era no longer exists. Those magnetic fields might be protecting Chaldea, but anyone outside it will face the same fate as Fuyuki City! Humanity is gone!" His laughter became increasingly mad.

"As if I care." Raikou massaged her neck. "The only thing I care about is my son." Her beautiful eyes shifted to the boy who was missing one arm, being held by Olga. The purest hatred crossed her gaze, firing more arrows that exploded in lightning against the barrier.

"That monkey is useless. I told you: she's dead. She has no body. She can only exist in this Singularity..."

"Man, you talk too much... shut up right now, I'm already dealing with a little trauma." Blood dripped from his nonexistent arm, making his eyes tremble, and the pain didn't help much. Gritting his teeth, he stared at the top-hatted man.

"What do you think you can do against death, monkey?" Lev mocked.

"Of course I can." Altair returned the smile. "I am Altair, but I'm also Sun Wukong. If Buddha gets in our way, we'll write that he's an idiot on the palm of his hand." His smile became even more savage.

"Big words for someone—"

Ignoring Lev, Altair staggered away from the girls and turned to Olga.

"You... open your mouth," he said with effort.

"Al-kun!?" Ritsuka was surprised by the request directed at the director.

Olga blinked, confused, but trusting him, opened her mouth, revealing her red tongue.

"This might seem strange to you." He pulled out a strand of hair from his head and placed it on her tongue. The tongue brushed his fingers, and she unconsciously swallowed the strand.

Ritsuka and Mash exchanged a look, astonished at the surreal scene unfolding before them. Even Lev, in the middle of his villain monologue, widened his eyes.

[Common sense really doesn't suit you, my Al.] Nahida's voice echoed in her partner's mind. [This might work.]

Altair pulled his hand back and found a thin thread of saliva on his fingers.

But in the next moment, Olga collapsed to the ground, clutching her neck.

Her skin tingled and burned as if it had been soaked in melted ether. Her magic circuits seemed stronger, and a red dot appeared in the center of her pupils.

"What did you do?" Lev shouted, realizing something strange was happening.

"I gave her a body." Altair smiled. "If she doesn't have one, then I just have to give her one. A body without a soul that could host a soul. Basically, I made her swallow one of my ⟨Hair Clones⟩, creating a body around her soul. Honestly, I wasn't sure if it would work... but..."

He looked back and saw Olga examining her hands.

"Looks like it worked. I'm a genius..." Instantly his body collapsed to the ground, his consciousness fading.

"I'm going to kill you!" Lev roared.

"Please don't fall in love with me," Altair murmured, on the verge of fainting. "By this Command Seal, I order: destroy everything, Raikou."

Before passing out, he heard Raikou's voice murmur: "Understood, my son." She displayed silent pride.

"«Advance, my loyal servants, my limbs, my armor...»"

Unconscious of the outcome of Raikou's attack or the fate of Olga's new body, his mind faded into darkness.

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A/N: Olga is alive…

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