Chapter 174: Human Order got kicked away? Do you guys have any clues?
"Yo, I'm really not dead yet..."
Ethan stepped forward in front of everyone, scratching his head as he spoke.
"————————?!"
Immediately, everyone's face showed extreme shock.
Just as Mash was about to rush forward, Mordred hurriedly raised her hand to block her.
Mordred glared, watching Ethan warily.
"Who are you?!"
"Huh? Mordred, you don't recognize me?"
"Stop right there!!!"
As Ethan was about to take another step, the murderous look in Mordred's eyes forced him to stop.
"Our Master has already been swallowed by the black mud. What are you? Could it be an illusion created by that holy thot?"
"..."
Ethan fell silent for a moment.
Indeed, from their point of view, he was suddenly swallowed by the black mud, and then just as suddenly appeared in front of them again…
It was definitely a bit suspicious.
But no worries, he just needed to explain clearly.
"Ya, I told you it's me, don't you guys recognize me?"
Ethan's gaze swept over each person's face, and it seemed there was a hint of wariness in everyone's eyes.
"CLANG——————!!!"
The Clarent in Mordred's hand flashed with a cold gleam!
"If the black mud can create Servants, then of course it can also turn into a Master. I've seen through you, you fake!!"
"I'm a fake?!"
Ethan was dumbfounded.
He truly hadn't expected this.
That there would be a day when he had to prove that he was himself…
Just as Ethan instinctively began rummaging through himself for something that could prove his identity, a small creature suddenly darted up onto his shoulder.
"Fou?!"
They saw the fluffy creature — Fou — sprawled on Ethan's shoulder, then rubbing its face against his cheek, sniffing him up and down cautiously.
By the way, it even used its soft paws to search all over Ethan's body, then turned its head and gave a firm nod toward everyone, accompanied by a clear confirming cry:
"Fou, Fou Fou!!!"
After receiving confirmation from Fou.
"Senpai——————!!!"
Mash, with a face full of joy, rushed to Ethan.
"Senpai, it's really Senpai!!!"
The corners of Mash's eyes even seemed to glisten with tears, her face completely overflowing with happiness.
"Hmph, I knew it, you're not that easy to kill…"
Jeanne Alter crossed her arms, looking at Ethan, deliberately turning her head away.
"That's such a relief, Master isn't hurt."
Popess Johanna also let out a sigh of relief.
"Yo, Master!!!"
Mordred immediately stepped forward, giving Ethan's shoulder a hard slap.
"I knew you'd be fine! Even if you were swallowed by the black mud, I always believed you'd come back!!!"
"...If you hadn't almost unleashed your Noble Phantasm on me, I might actually believe that three-tenths."
Ethan gave Mordred a look of complete distrust.
"Ahahaha, I was just messing with you a little, Master, don't be so petty."
Mordred laughed loudly, giving Ethan's back a few more strong pats.
"Cough cough..."
Inwardly, Ethan sighed.
This ahoge family's way of joking around really was a bit too hardcore — do the Round Table knights always pull out their Noble Phantasms when they joke with each other or what?
"Master, this person is…"
Very quickly, Johanna noticed the Heroic Spirit standing behind Ethan.
Earlier, everyone had assumed he was just a Shadow Servant and didn't pay much attention, but now the strong aura radiating from him had drawn everyone's gaze.
"Everyone, my name is Noah."
Noah smiled as he looked at them.
"Noah? As in the Noah from Noah's Ark?!"
Mash asked in disbelief.
Ethan pointed toward the Noah's Ark he had ridden back on, making Mash's eyes go wide with shock.
"So it really is Noah!!!"
Suddenly, from Mash's communicator bracelet, an image of Dr. Romani appeared with a face full of astonishment.
"You're the patriarch of mankind mentioned in the Old Testament — Noah?!"
"Doctor, if you were already there, couldn't you have shown up a little earlier…"
Ethan looked at Romani with clear dissatisfaction.
"I just managed to reconnect too, you have no idea, inside Chaldea right now everything's a complete mess."
Romani looked utterly exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes growing deeper.
It was clear he had been working very hard.
"I want to know a bit, during the one day you were disconnected from Chaldea, just what exactly happened around you?"
"————————?!"
After hearing Romani's words, everyone except Ethan and Noah was stunned.
"We... were disconnected for one day???"
Mash stared at Romani's image in disbelief.
"Doctor, what are you talking about!"
After all, in her perception, that moment just now couldn't possibly have lasted a whole day.
"Let me explain."
Ethan sighed, then recounted everything that had happened after he was swallowed by the black mud.
From the moment he fell into the illusion, to his escape from the terrifying demonic beasts, and discovering Captain Nemo.
Then, when Ethan mentioned that he was saved by Draco after finding Captain Nemo...
Only at that moment did everyone suddenly realize — Draco, who should also be here, had disappeared at some point?!
"It's fine, she was also rescued from that strange space along with me, she's on the ship now."
Ethan quickly explained.
"Didn't expect to be saved by you, what a disgrace for me…"
Just as Ethan clarified that Draco was safe, Draco's petite figure slowly stepped down from Noah's Ark.
"You're really that eager to save Evil of Humanity?"
Draco walked up in front of Ethan, glaring at him with a venomous look.
"Well, you did help me once before, so of course I had to return the favor."
"I helped you merely on a whim. When my Beast horns mature, whether it's you or Human Order, in the end, you're all just food for me!"
After that, Draco's gaze shifted to Noah.
"Didn't expect you to be here."
"I didn't expect the Beast I was supposed to destroy would now stand on humanity's side."
Noah's words shocked everyone around them.
The Beast of Sodom before them was once the very being Noah was entrusted to eliminate?!
"Originally, the apocalyptic great flood caused by Beast VI/S was meant to be erased using my Authority, which is why I was granted the Grand Class Saint Graph."
Noah explained.
"Never thought a useless Grand of the Rider Class like you would get tossed into this era."
Draco crossed her arms, looking at Noah with clear displeasure.
"Perhaps this is what people call fate. But I didn't expect you to be conquered by this boy — that's quite rare."
Noah smiled as he said that.
"Watch your mouth! If it weren't for you pulling me out of that dream, I would've already torn you to pieces!!!"
Draco's entire body radiated a dangerous aura.
Yet Noah maintained his gentle smile, seemingly without any malice.
"Hey! Everyone, calm down already!!!"
Ethan squeezed between the two of them, temporarily stopping their meaningless quarrel.
"To be honest, I'm a bit confused here… Noah, why did you turn into Captain Nemo? And you even seemed to have no memory of yourself."
Facing Ethan's question, Noah smiled and looked toward Draco.
"It's truly shameful. I was originally summoned as Grand Rider, but I was torn apart by the larva of Beast VI/S and was even thrown into the cracks of the time stream."
"EHH?!"
Ethan and everyone around couldn't help but exclaim in shock — even Heracles, who was usually silent and expressionless, showed a clear reaction.
Everyone was stunned that a Grand Servant could be directly eliminated by a Beast like that.
But what surprised Ethan wasn't that Noah was defeated by Draco…
It was — so Noah had actually been summoned all the way back in the second Singularity?!
Didn't that mean the Counter Force really had intervened?!
"Didn't expect that shattered saint graph I tossed away like garbage to actually survive. Truly, a Grand Saint Graph is no ordinary thing."
Draco spoke with scorn.
"Then why did you end up like that?"
Ethan suddenly remembered the image of the frail Sailor Nemo, always trembling in the dark corners.
"Because my saint graph had been destroyed, before completely vanishing, I summoned Noah's Ark and headed toward the nearest world. After that, I entrusted my remaining power and saint graph into a Servant that Jason had summoned."
Noah spoke calmly.
"But I didn't expect that Medea would use the Holy Grail to wish for the destruction of the world, causing the Grail to summon a Foreigner. She intended to use me as a sacrifice to summon her 'Mother.'"
At this point, Noah lightly shook his head.
"Originally, that one was a Saber, and the saint graph was stable… but even he himself didn't realize that another version of himself had long taken control of the body."
So Molay had already begun the plan to summon the 'Goat Mother' that early… which was why Noah ended up sealed in the form of Nemo, trapped in that space.
"I essentially existed only as a Phantasmal Spirit. After being stripped of my power, I fell into the weakest state — I wasn't even qualified to be called a Servant anymore."
As he recalled everything, Noah seemed a little emotional, but his gaze quickly shifted to Ethan.
"Yet, unexpectedly, in that desperate situation, I was saved by a Master — not only that, you helped restore me to my original form. Truly worthy of the title 'the last Master of humanity' fighting to save the Human Order."
"That… was just coincidence."
Faced with Noah's straightforward praise, Ethan bashfully scratched his head.
Originally, he had only planned to summon the Captain for some backup — who would've thought he'd end up calling forth the Grand Rider.
It felt just like pulling an SSR on a 3sq roll.
"No need for modesty, Master. When I was summoned, I was granted the corresponding knowledge."
Noah extended his hand forward, looking toward Ethan.
"The things you've done were all the right choices."
"If that's the case, then can you tell me — why did Draco say I was rejected by the Human Order?"
At last, Ethan voiced the question that had haunted him for so long.
If it was because he'd made a contract with a 'Beast,' that only happened after the second Singularity, right?
But the communication disruption from Chaldea… had already started back during the Singularity in France.
Back then, he was clearly still an innocent, proper Master!!!
"Rejected by the Human Order?"
Noah showed a look of disbelief.
"Though I'm not sure why you'd think that… it seems you're misunderstanding something."
"No, no, I'm definitely not misunderstanding!!!"
Ethan immediately recounted everything that had happened before — the broken communication with Chaldea, the rayshift disturbances, and so on — he explained it all to Noah.
During the process, Doctor Romani also provided supplementary explanations, so very quickly, the full situation was laid out clearly.
"I see… if that's the case, then it's no wonder you all thought you were rejected by the Human Order."
Noah nodded.
"I think, for the members of Chaldea facing such phenomena, it's only natural that you would speculate you were rejected by the Human Order."
Then, Noah's gaze shifted to Ethan — the one who cared about this matter more than anyone.
"I'm afraid Chaldea hasn't realized one crucial point. It's not that the Human Order rejected you — it's that you yourselves pushed yourselves out of the Human Order."
"The Human Order… we pushed ourselves out of it —————————?!"
Romani's eyes widened, his face filled with shock.
"Hmph, isn't that obvious?"
Draco spoke in a tone of certainty, as if it were the most natural conclusion.
"As long as you're involved with me, the Human Order will, of course, slam the door shut on you."
"Master, you formed a temporary contract with her, didn't you?"
"Umu."
Ethan nodded in confirmation.
"Even though she was once a Beast, right now she's manifesting using a normal Saint Graph. That alone isn't enough to make the Human Order automatically reject you."
Noah immediately refuted Draco's assumption.
"But if Chaldea contains multiple entities in a similar state… then I can't rule out the possibility of what you're describing. Ahaha… though I'd say the likelihood of that is pretty low, yeah?"
Noah gave Ethan a radiant, sunny smile.
At that moment, perched on Ethan's shoulder was Fou, lying flat, while beside him Draco stood tall — and in Ethan's mind flickered the image of a certain "Dickmage" no doubt causing mischief somewhere…
Ah, well, calling Proto-Merlin "Dickmage" was a bit off, since Proto-Arthur didn't even need that…
A cold chill ran down Ethan's back, sweat breaking out, and he nodded stiffly:
"…U-umu, yeah, that likelihood… is pretty low."
"But it's also possible that the Counter Force itself is undergoing changes."
Noah continued, deep in thought.
"It's hard to put into words… but I could feel very clearly that, when I was summoned, an incredibly vast power was interfering from the outside."
"A power capable of interfering with even Alaya?!"
Romani's eyes went wide, unable to believe what he had just heard.
"Could it be… that such a power really exists…?"
Ethan fell silent, deep in contemplation.
Could it be the will of the planet — Gaia???
Just because there were a few Beasts in Chaldea— did the two Counter Forces start clashing with each other already???
This is way too insane...
"Perhaps… the time to lift the veil on the truth hasn't arrived yet. The knowledge I was granted only goes this far. But in the name of Grand Rider, I assure you—what you're doing now is entirely the right path."
Noah placed his hand on his chest, performing a solemn oath.
"Though there are still many unanswered questions, for now, let's just retrieve the Holy Grail and return."
Doctor Romani spoke up, then turned to look at Da Vinci, who was tensely focused on monitoring the data.
"Da Vinci, we should be able to prepare the rayshift for their return, right?"
"…Romani..."
Da Vinci stared fixedly at the data screen, which was fluctuating nonstop.
"I'm afraid… this era hasn't been repaired yet, the singularity point still remains."
"————————?!"
Before anyone could even react, far off on the calm ocean, a massive black whirlpool began to form.
"Sorry about this, everyone——!"
At the center of the whirlpool, a familiar figure slowly appeared.
Molay, in her demonic form, surrounded by grotesque worm-like creatures, floated midair.
In her eyes, an evil light surged and twisted, like a writhing nightmare.
"The sacrificial ritual… isn't over yet!!!"