Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

True to his word, Vahn allowed Archimedes to make his case, sitting silently as the man explained the state of his world, the war leading up to humanity's near extinction, the discovery of the Moon Cell, and his awakening as a Security Administrator.

According to Archimedes, mana began to fade within his world shortly after the moon landing in 1969. This was also the beginning of what most people refer to as the 'Era of Modernization', the period where Science and Technology slowly peeled back the veil of Fundamentalism, opening the eyes of society to the 'truth' of the world.

Coinciding with the changing of the times, internal strife slowly split the Mage's Association into several smaller factions. Following their decline, two new organizations, the Western European Plutocracy, and the South East Asian Alliance rose to prominence, functionally splitting the world into two distinct halves.

China, the de facto leaders of the S.E.A.A, managed to dominate the global economy due to their stranglehold on industrialization. Unfortunately, due to poor planning and even worse oversight, the overabundance of plastic and chemical waste ended up leading to a mass extinction of most marine life due to global warming and a sharp decline in the amount of oxygen within the world's oceans.

While the S.E.A.A. was shouldering the blame of the planet's rapid decline, ushering in economic sanctions and the boycott of various goods, the Western European Plutocracy began a meteoric rise due to the fact they had been advocating for 'greener', more efficient, alternatives. They were also responsible for the development of various telecommunications breakthroughs, and, prior to the collapse of the global economy, they had already been developing shuttles capable of exiting atmosphere and traversing space.

With the panic revolving around the planet's rapid deterioration, people around the world turned their eyes skyward, dreaming of worlds beyond. This led to an exponential increase in funding for space-faring technologies, elevating the leading family of the Western European Plutocracy, the Harway family, to celebrity status virtually overnight.

What people didn't expect was, the moment the Harway family rose to prominence, securing a place for themselves at the pinnacle of society, the hopes and dreams of many were shattered in an instant. This wasn't due to any great betrayal on the part of the Harway's, but, after more than a decade of 'unfair treatment' from the rest of the world, various terrorist organizations, with strong connections to the S.E.A.A., began spreading chaos throughout the world.

By the time the truth was exposed to the public, it was already too late, as, on December 25th, 2022, seventeen nuclear warheads were detonated in various world capitals. By the changing of the calendar year, the Third World War had begun, crippling the global economy and leaving millions fleeing for their lives.

While the onset of the Third World War had come as a surprise to many, history recorded that the actual conflict only lasted for nineteen months. In this relatively short period of time, however, an estimated 1.3 billion people had lost their lives, many due to radiation sickness, famine, and the inability to secure clean drinking water. Diseases once thought extinct claimed millions and, even after the war, genetic mutations led to a startling decline in the number of births, decreasing the global population from 8.1 billion to 3.9 billion by 2030.

Due to the acidic nature of the world's oceans, most shorelines were rapidly eroded, pushing what remained of humanity inland. This was when the true 'brilliance' of the Western European Plutocracy made itself known once again, as, in anticipation of the world's decline, they had already prepared various facilities to slowly reclaim the Earth. They publicized the existence of various underground cities, and, to combat the global depression, they even introduced the world's first Full Dive Virtual Reality system, a means of escaping reality and finding purpose in the fantastical world of the NET.

As a result of their efforts, the Harway family quickly became the most profligate family in the entire world. Many even considered them the de facto rulers of the human race, primarily due to the fact that much of the world's infrastructure revolved around their businesses. People began to spend most of their time on the NETs and, integrating the global and digital economies into one cohesive entity. At the same time, the Harway family established a massive space elevator and a colossal space station that was more than 30km in diameter.

While purporting they were making preparations for humanity's colonization of other planets, the Western European Plutocracy completely shut down space travel for other organizations. This was largely due to the fact that, during the previous World War, the vast majority of satellites had been destroyed. Though some argued that they should have access to the same shielding technology that had been developed to protect the Space Elevator, this was considered proprietary hardware and, after the recent World War, the exchange of such technologies became heavily restricted.

What most didn't know was that, following the moon landing in 1969, the Astronauts had found more than just a barren rock waiting for their arrival. They ended up conducting a secret mission into the Moon's 'Umbral Sea', the shadow area of the Moon that was rumored to conceal many a secret. There, they discovered an indestructible Monolith, taking detailed photographs and soil samples before covering up the discovery.

Due to their association with various affluent families within the United States, the Harway family, alongside twelve others, learned of this undisclosed secret. As a result, they began researching the Monolith, discovering it served a similar purpose to the legendary Rosetta Stone. The text on its surface was written in thirty-seven different languages, including many that had ceased to exist thousands of years prior.

The existence of the Monolith, alone, was enough to usher in a completely new era, but, due to its contents, it's discovery was completely hidden from the public. This was due to the fact that, after the message was interpreted, the existence of the Moon Cell became known. More importantly, a small fragment of the same material as the Monolith had been discovered, situated in the center, much like a keystone. After further study, this fragment was revealed to house various blueprints and diagrams, many far more advanced than anything that had been developed on Earth.

Using the knowledge contained within the Keystone, the Western European Plutocracy quickly rose to power during the decline of the Mage's Association. They set their sights on the far future, developing advanced technologies in secret while the world slowly marched towards destruction. It was only once humanity had been crippled, preventing any competition for the Moon Cell, that the Harway family, the leaders of the Western European Plutocracy, moved to claim the coveted 'Vault of Heaven' for themselves.

Once the Moon Cell had been officially opened, Archimedes had been summoned to act as an Advisor and Security Administrator. When the expedition led by the Harway family arrived, he was there waiting for them, guiding them through the various facilities and informing them of the rules that governed the Moon Cell. Though this ultimately led to conflict, the Moon Cell was capable of producing an endless amount of Attack Programs, laying waste to the Harway family's forces until they ultimately acquiesced.

The only way to gain access to the information provided by the Moon Cell was to 'earn' the right to access it. This was achieved by completing various challenges, the vast majority of which took place in the Virtual Reality Marbles manifested by the Moon Cell's primary control program. As a result, the Harway family began developing Virtual Reality for themselves, both to train their own people while simultaneously preparing 'sacrifices'.

In order to trigger one of the Moon Cell's challenges, an increment of 128 people was required. When the requisite number of people had been gathered, willingly, an event similar to the Holy Grail War would be implemented, pairing each member with a Servant based on the data that had been accumulated by the Moon Cell over the past 4.6 billion years. They would then fight in a contest spanning seven weeks, beginning with a week-long preliminary, to reduce the number of contestants to 128, and six weeks of one-versus-one duels.

Once a victor had been determined, they would be allowed to visit the Moon Cell itself, the large cuboid structure that housed the Main Core. There, a connection to the Root was established and, though not quite on the same level as the Greater Grail, it could grant virtually any desire, so long as it did not involve the destruction or management of the Moon Cell itself.

---

The entire time Archimedes was giving his history lesson, Vahn was peering into the multitude of currents flowing around them. This allowed him to view hundreds of instances of the Moon Cell Holy Grail War, many of which involved participants from the Empire and various other forces that had, somehow, been selected by the Moon Cell's control program. What 'never' changed, unless he went out of his way to allow it, was the fact that he won every single time.

While it inflated his ego quite a bit to know that there were virtually no measures to prevent him from securing victory, the main reason Vahn peered into the various currents was to ascertain the true nature and intentions of Archimedes. He knew the man wasn't being forthright with him, but, instead of interrupting, he just lightly tapped his finger each time Archimedes deflected or footed around an issue.

Archimedes had noticed the 'physical tell' performed by Vahn, but, as exposing the truth would be the same as choosing death, he couldn't simply give up. He kept telling himself that there was no way Vahn could know the truth, unless, of course, he also came from the future. However, due to the authority previously granted to him by the Moon Cell, he had been able to access Parallel Worlds and directly monitor the Quantum Time Axis. A singularity, regardless of whether or not it was in the past, present, or future, would be noted by the Moon Cell's Observational Lens, unless, of course, Vahn came from outside this observational field...

As this thought crossed his mind, Archimedes gradually fell silent, and, though it was almost like putting a gun to his head, he asked, "What do you know of the Umbral Star...?"

Vahn wasn't in the mood to be questioned, but when it came to this particular topic, he couldn't help but smile slightly as he plainly stated, "Less than I'd like, more than you can imagine."

Sensing no falsehood in Vahn's words, Archimedes' expression darkened considerably, even though his face appeared as though all the blood had drained out of it. Then, with a voice that trembled with both fear and anger, he muttered, "Even if you kill me...you can't stop the return of the Umbral Star...you, your Empire, everything...it will all be destroyed..."

Despite Archimedes' remark, Vahn's smile didn't fade in the slightest, as, based on Akasha's past explanation, his designation even gave him authority over Sol, much less a Rogue Star like Velber. Even if this wasn't the case, he was confident in being able to repel, if not outright destroy, the so-called Umbral Star. It had been repelled by various Sun Gods, so, with nearly a thousand years to prepare for its arrival, Vahn wasn't even remotely worried.

Without bothering to dignify Archimedes' words with a response, Vahn turned to the automaton that had been silently observing them from the side, saying, "I believe Archimedes is no longer qualified for his current position. With your blessing, I will be rid of him for you..."

Hearing Vahn's words, Archimedes pulled out a small crystalline baton, causing a black ripple to spread out, similar to a Reality Marble. An ocean of stars began to dot the horizon, but, before he was able to fully activate his Noble Phantasm, Artoria's blade pierced his chest to the hilt. She had been closely observing him, and, though Vahn could have easily intervened, she wanted to share in his burdens whenever possible.

With his Noble Phantasm shattered, Archimedes made a vain attempt at pulling out [Excalibur], but, the moment his gloved hand touched the blade, holy light began to burn him. Immediately thereafter, the automaton seemed to have made its decision, stating, "Archimedes will be listed as an existence that threatens the Moon Cell, revoking his current rights and preventing all future summons. A new Security Administrator will be designated following his deletion."

Following the automaton's words, a red barrier repelled Artoria from Archimedes, dividing the space within the Primary Terminal. At the same time, Archimedes' body began to rapidly flake away, revealing a glassy purple substance that looked like corrupted data. It started from his limbs and the wound around his chest, quickly spreading to cover his body as he bent and, releasing a primal scream in the moments before he was completely annihilated...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Feels like writing satire...','Being able to see the Flow of Fate is incredibly broken xD...','Archimedes' final words, "Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-!!!!"')

(A/N: This is the last chapter for today so I'll let the readers decide. If you'd like for me to actually go forward with the Moon Cell Holy Grail War, let me know. Otherwise, I'll be proceeding with a few other events I have planned, wrapping up the Nasuverse arc over the next hundred chapters, give or take.)

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