The Great Collapse of 1970.
It was an event that the whole world wasn't aware of, and only those magicians of ancient lineage have knowledge of such great catastrophe. In 1970 a ritual was performed in a rural city in England. This ritual set off the depletion of the Earth's magic, Mana, that filled the atmosphere.
Mana, the energy required to carry out large-scale magic, has dried up, and real magic has been lost from Earth. Thus, the era of "magic" has drawn to a complete close. The magicians of old, having cut off from their mana and fearing their demise from center stage, turned to modern science in order to survive. In 1973, a magician discovered the existence of Information Dimension, a concept that was first introduced by a mathematician in 1959, and a new form of magic called "Eidos Rewriting" was founded.
The ability to modify a target's phenomena by modifying its Eidos—the information body of a phenomenon—through the use of old casting methods through spell chants, magic tomes, magic circles, hand seals, and talismans became what is known as Ancient Magic and the magicians of the old who adopted the magical theory of Information Bodies hence were christened as Ancient Magicians.
The new form of magic was kept a secret to the entire world until an incident in 1999 made the entire populace and various governments of other countries aware of this supernatural phenomenon. Hence, it gave birth to a worldwide race between nations to procure individuals that would have the abilities to execute such supernatural phenomenon through science.
Modern Magic and their practitioners, Modern Magicians, then came into light. Since then magicians were then integrated into society after magic was introduced to the whole world. With Magicians ushering in their respective societies in modern times, the meaning of Magic became synonymous with Technology.
This is only one of the infinite possibilities of the world where the Great Collapse of 1970 refers solely to mana depletion and the disastrous pole shift didn't occur at that time for reasons unknown.
This was a world defined as "a world within the stability" despite the ongoing crisis littered on its surface caused by humanity themselves. As the humans of Earth were busy indulging themselves in their petty squabbles for power and prestige through the use of magic, a sudden, instant, and unprecedented event stirred within the Moon...
XXX
— So it is said.
Holding a small, weak sword, he broke a large, strong wall. The crown of victory is beyond the end of the seven seas. With uncounted rewards and punishments in hand, he fought to the end to survive.
That process itself is his chief proof.
He runs, traverses, and break his way through everything to succeed. He looks fondly on the destruction that is his last repose.
— The night of his end had come.
"I wish to live."
His journey had already come to an end. The one who whispered his own human wish is quietly breaking into pieces. The Moon Cell, the Eye of God, transform the future according to the wish of the one who obtains it. That function wasn't available for someone as an irregularity as him.
It was inevitable. Yet, he expelled his yearning that dwells in his heart despite knowing that nothing will change.
A smile graced his boring face. His Servant would surely chide him for his decision. Well at least, he can reminisce about the bond he had shared with her even with his short, short life of his.
Good night — the sound of eyelids closing.
Sleep well — the sound of light going out.
…Please, be at peace. The observational device is again becoming the dreaming device it once was.
— Thus, everything end—
XXX
In the beginning, there was darkness.
And then God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.
The luminosity was too bright, too intense for one Hakuno Kishinami that he can't help himself but let out a whimper of discomfort as he tried to open his hurting eyes. He felt...sluggish as if his entire body had been thrown around like a rag, and the pain that accompanied it was that he was being torn into pieces, forcing him to grit his teeth while trying to wash away the cramped sensation through sheer will.
Not to mention that his ears hurt a lot as if the air in his eardrums had been sucked out.
After a moment, the pain that coursed through his body then subsided along with the blurriness that hindered his vision. The image of an unusual white-painted ceiling was the first thing that came to his view before the sensation of a cold yet rough texture against his back greeted him. The cold yet breezy air began to caress his skin, sending some slight shivers that made his tiny hairs stood up from the sudden chill.
A pair of hands then pushed themselves up as Hakuno forced himself upright, prompting him to sit square on what looks like to be some kind of a mat. Looking around, it appears to be that he was inside an aircraft cabin, judging from the cabin sidewalls, overhead luggage bins, and airline seats covered in some extravagant leather covers.
The next thing he did was to check himself: a black T-shirt with a white smiley face pattern on the front and a pair of short brown pants garbed his body thoroughly, and a pair of black socks and leather shoes encased his feet. Strange, since when did he change his long pants for shorter ones?
A pair of brown eyes glimmered in confusion as Hakuno Kishinami investigated his hands. The red tattoo that was supposedly etched on the back of his left hand, the Command Seals—the proof of him being a Master—was now gone without a trace. Yet on his right hand, a strange golden ornate lay attached to his ring finger.
The Regalia.
The lad had to blink, how did he have knowledge of the name of the ring that adorned his finger? He had to blink once more when it dawned on him that his hands were small than the last time he saw them. And why is that he feel lighter than usual?
Did he lose weight?
While his mind was still plagued by such puzzlement, he chooses to push those thoughts aside as he closed his eyes. He focused inward, his entire focal point diving deeper within himself trying to discern something that was a core part of him ever since he became aware of it.
Magic Circuits.
It was akin to a nervous system, residing in his soul and given physical expression through the body as it stretched outward. They are pipelines used to convert his Od—his Life Force— into magical energy or Prana which then acts as fuel to enact mysteries or spells. Through his inspection, Hakuno found out that there was nothing wrong with them and were in perfect condition.
Though he found it odd that they were, how he should say this, feel more exotic than what he imagined them to be.
"How did I end up here anyway?" He asked himself as he stood up on his feet.
As far as he remembers it correctly, he was floating in a spiritronic-riched sea inside the Moon Cell's core waiting for his entire existence to be deleted. But here he was, breathing in an environment that felt like wasn't part of Moon Cell at all. What in the name of Moon Cell is going on?
"Wha—Hey! How did you get here!?" A male voice erupted from behind, prompting the brunette to turn his head in response.
He immediately recognized it as Mandarin. Wait...how did he know he was speaking in Mandarin? And why is it that he easily understand him as if he knew the language like the back of his hand?
It doesn't make sense!
A few meters away from where he stood was a middle-aged man with slanted eyes angled upwards with a beer belly clothed in shady clothes; formal and tidy. His face was portraying a scowl that was borderline antagonistic, furious, yet bewildered. The man wasn't alone though. There were other men, all having heights that towered his own and builds that made him look scrawny, staring at his direction from there respective seats.
Some of them have beards while some were bald.
The brunette's body tensed, his fingers twitching in instinct upon noticing the metallic tubular objects holstered on the men's waist. Danger... His mind was telling him and Hakuno's demeanor suddenly turned a hundred eighty degrees. Gone was the physiognomy of one who was distraught, only a gaze of preparedness, stern, cold and yet calm plastered all over his countenance.
His fair share in the Holy Grail War and the experience that he had accumulated over the course of the death game somehow taught him to be on high alert in face of danger. He wasn't sure of himself whether he was inside Moon Cell's SERAPH or not, but what he was sure of was that the malevolent presence known as "peril" was now currently staring at him, face to face. From within his body, his Magic Circuits immediately did its job converting his Od into Prana and there was a good reason for this.
One of the men had already reached for his firearm, picking it up from his holster and aim the damn thing in front of him in a blink of an eye. However such movement was too sedate, too lead-footed for someone like Hakuno, who had been in frontlines where people in myths and legends duke it out in blinding speed that surpasses the realm of men for too long, that before the guy could pull the trigger the brunette had already cast Shock from his fingertips. A yellow burst of electric-like sparks encapsulated the man, making him convulse violently as if he was experiencing an epilepsy attack.
His voice of pain escaped from his mouth in an incoherent manner which resonated within the entire cabin. The man's body went slump, plummeting down towards the carpet floor. A loud thud echoed, followed by roaring gunshot and Hakuno, having caught the path of the bullet with eyesight, slightly moved his head to the side. He heard the bullet hitting the wall behind him and went pass through said wall.
Brown irises immediately spun, tracing the surface where the projectile landed and the brunette could only click his tongue when he realized that he was standing right in front where the pilot's chamber was.
"T-That kid is a magician!?"
"How can he cast magic when the plane is filled with Antinite!?"
"Tch. Put a bullet through his body!"
"Hey, wait!" Hakuno tried to reason out but was forced himself to cross his arms up in a guarded manner and invoke Gain Constitution which made the hail of bullets like pieces of paper being thrown towards his reinforced build, bouncing off as if his whole body turned into a suit of vibranium armor.
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He could've just dodged the bullets if only if it wasn't for the fact that the cockpit was right behind him, the area responsible for the operation of the entire aircraft, and if the chamber was heavily compromised then every one of them will dive below towards who knows where. Heck, even the brunette has no idea whether it was ocean or land below them. Crashing into either isn't even an enticing idea at all!
Some of the live slugs that bounced off from his magically enhanced body ricocheted all around the cabin, turning all those projectiles in a fancy as it wreaks havoc in the entire cabin. Windows were being broken and the compressed air inside the compartment suddenly rushes towards the broken gaps. One of the gunners let out a grunt as he fell down on the floor when he got hit by a wild bullet that instantaneously drilled through his forehead while the other hombre reached for their throats as the oxygen inside plummeted to lower levels, releasing incomprehensible audible noises.
Yes, he felt it too. The breathable air inside was thinning fast at an unbelievable rate and Hakuno could only hold his breath as long as he can. Seeing that the men were in a fancied distress due to lack of oxygen, he deduced it was the best time to knocked them out. Magic Circuits rushed like adrenaline as the converted magical energy went through his feet, and the brunette was ready to execute his movements when something unexpected happens.
He began to float in mid-air.
"Did the pilot got hit by a stray bullet!?" He asked mentally as his tiny arms, which still puzzled him by the way, reached for the punctured ceiling above his head, grasping for some leverage that would help him stabilize his body from the sudden change of environment.
Hakuno realized that the plane was on a free fall, he even understood, even imagined that the craft was becoming an accelerating coffin falling from the sky towards the surface. The brunette was quick on both of his feet and mind, turned around towards the sealed door that separated the cockpit from the passenger's area and took a peek from the glass window gap. His eyes darted towards the pilot's window where he can only see a deep blue shade showcasing on the aircraft's front pane.
"We're heading for the water, alright."
With that in mind, Hakuno had already decided to thrash the door by infusing his strength through a certain spell and try to control the plane by piloting it himself, which was very logical in the first place. He has no experience in flying the damn thing but he'll wing it on the fly. Positioning himself, he was about to use a Code Cast when something caught his eyes.
It was a girl with jet-black wavy hair dressed in some fancy outfit, floating within the cabin with her back almost arched as if gasping for air to breathe. What stood out, however, was the state that the said girl was in; hands tied at the back with black metallic cuffs and also her feet, and a gag covering her mouth. It didn't take a while for Hakuno to realize what the men had done through the girl.
It was an outright kidnapping.
Seeing the anguished state of the female, the brunette put his arms towards the cockpit's door without any hesitation and expelled an amount of magical energy through his palms with the aid of his Magic Circuits. It was a borrowed artistry, an adeptness that he tried to imitate using his memory back when he encountered a Master with a Servant that expels flames through his body like a propulsion engine. Of course, he can't expel flame-infused Prana through his palms.
But even so, a burst of pure Prana can also induce some force to push himself. Hakuno then propelled himself as soon as magical energy exited between his palms. With a careful and calculated flight projection, the brunette flew towards the girl and immediately grabbed her with a perfect timing. He then positioned his right foot to the side and expelled some Prana through its sole, slowing him down while using that said limb as a thruster to dampen his acceleration.
"Sorry Leo, but I have to borrow your Code Cast for a second."
Embracing the black-haired girl tightly in his arms, the brunette raised his right hand against the cabin's center aisle. Prana then instantaneously circulated through his palm as he flings Bomb, a Code Cast that was originally from one Leonardo B. Harwey. The next thing that happened, everything was clouded in an ear-ringing blast.
And the private jet that was plummeting towards the ocean was then torn in half by a magical explosion.
XXX
"Well, that explains it..." Hakuno muttered under his breath, his eyes gazing at the blue dome that welcomed him along with one luminous silver platter hovering above on one spot as if it was waving at him while saying "Hello, old friend".
Just to make a clarification, he was falling from the sky towards a body of water with a tied girl in his arms and his back facing against the vast blue surface below. He had blown up the aircraft that was carrying them earlier with Code Cast: Bomb alongside with the people who he assumed to be kidnappers of the girl that he was currently secluding in his forelimbs. Around them were the various pieces of defiled junks of the obliterated craft, descending downwards to the watery oblivion.
The current position he was placed in, which was him plummeting to the ground without any sort of parachute or things alike, was in all sense dire but it didn't strike a cord of fear nor distress to Hakuno. Rather, he was exponentially filled with bewilderment and elation. Bewildered by the fact that he was now outside the Moon and was now on Earth which was nonviable in every way possible. Elated by the point that his wish had been granted despite his irregularity in some form of unthinkable miracle.
Another thing that grasped and burst his bemused expression outward from within was the rich atmosphere he was in. He wasn't talking about the air that was brushing his entire frame, causing some minor resistance as he plunges down towards Earth's lithosphere. It was more about the abundance of particular specks that was very familiar to him, that he didn't even manage to notice it in the first place, and now he was literally drowning in this vast invincible ocean made up of these quantum particles.
Spiritrons and Virtual Spiritrons; one was the essence of matter that made up a soul and other was the magical exclusive term for photons. Both of which are vital for Spiritron-Hackers like him. To think that these splinters which he thought only exist within Moon Cell alone also exists in the real world...
He was more surprised than he can imagine.
Now he thought about it, something like this should not astonish him in the first place. The Moon Cell simulates the environments that it observed within its own territory by literally creating a reality or a world in its domain. And if he took account what his Servant taught him about the world outside Moon Cell, then that means that the planet was also generating a "world" that humans living within its area perceive as "reality".
In other words, a Reality Marble powered by the planet itself.
"Wait... my Servant was Assassin, right?" Hakuno thought as another expression of confusion marred his face.
If he remembered it correctly, Assassin was the Servant who accompanied him during the entire duration of the Holy Grail War. But why is it that his mind is being flooded with memories of a female Classless Servant...?
No, it was a female Saber...
Hold on, it was a female Lancer...
...That wasn't right, it was a male Archer...
...Um, a female Caster...?
Berserker...?
His eyebrows furrowed as various snippets of images flushed his consciousness, some of which he didn't recognize yet at the same time was very familiar to him as if it was written all over his existence. He shook his head, choosing to push aside those conflicting thoughts at the back of his mind for a moment and focus on the situation at hand. He raised his right hand, which was wrapped around the girl's back, and stretched it out in the open.
"If my suspicions are true then, this should work..."
His Magic Circuits then flared to life as the conduits started to convert his Od to Prana. Said refined magical energy then traveled to his fingertips and using such otherworldly zest, Hakuno then interacted with both of Virtual Spiritrons and Spiritrons that were already permeated in the environment. From such interaction, a holographic console with a diamond-shaped display terminal materialized in front of him.
Upon seeing the familiar conjured interface, the brunette mentally made a fist pump. He then worked his way by dancing his fingertips across the holographic keyboard, typecasting almost 124 words per second. Various scripts or characters, which he called "moonrunes" swiftly displayed on the display terminal in accordance with his typing speed. This category of adeptness would appear mindboggling for others however for a Spiritron-Hacker like Hakuno Kishinami, something like this is just mundane for him.
In a span of 3 seconds, the brunette had already finished encoding the appropriate wall of moonrunes. He then immediately typeset the coded instructions before applying his magical energy. The terminal display alongside with the holographic keyboard then vanished in thin air in motes of light and within seconds, his and the girl's body was showered in a cloak of refined magical energy making their acceleration to descent decreased exponentially until they came into a full stop.
Seeing the product of his work, he sighed in relief as he vertically floats in midair with his feet already pointed to the surface below.
What Hakuno did was that he just activated the Code Cast that he created just now; Flight. As the name of the Code Cast implies, it's basically a program, Spiritron-Hacking speaking, that allows the user to fly in the air. The process which he was typing frantically was just him creating what people would call a magic spell via programming.
In order to create the Code Cast: Flight, the Wizard had to consider various things; reversing the effects of gravity, movement in the air, breathing and temperature problems brought by high altitude and other factors that would pose a hindrance to the user of the spell. By coding myriad scripts addressing each respective "hurdles" through the use of Prana and arranged it in a specific program, the brunette had crafted a Code Cast that would allow him to traverse the air like most magicians of the old had achieved since ancient times.
After all, Spiritron-Hackers can warp reality to suit their needs. For them, "Reality" is just a playground, a platform that can be manipulated as long as one has the means (through Spiritron-Hacking) and resources (via Prana) to do so. Reality as humans knew it, is just really one giant simulation generated by the planet itself in accordance to its will.
It was something that Rani has explained to him among other things while inside the Moon Cell. He frowned a bit, remembering that the girl who became somewhat a mentor to him alongside Rin in the field of Spiritron-Hacking and various things were now gone. He wanted to save them but at that time he had no capacity to make such a drive into a possible and necessary outcome.
It was a situation that he had no control of despite his abilities as a Wizard/Spiritron-Hacker. He remembered how he can only procure tears as he watched their figures being deleted by Moon Cell. It was also for that reason why he chose to save this girl in his arms the instant he saw her than going with his previous plan on hijacking the plane.
An action perpetrated by his hidden guilt... perhaps.
Speaking of the girl, Hakuno then checked the black-haired female he was carrying and he couldn't help himself but blushed a bit. With how their bodies in such close proximity, the brunette could tell that the lass was pretty endowed judging from how he can feel her womanly assets against his own chest despite being separated by fabric. Not only that, the young lady was pretty attractive too with her pale, smooth complexion and beauty that should only be reserved for a goddess.
The brunette immediately shook his head.
"This is not the time to check some tied up girl." Hakuno mentally noted, taking his eyes off from the girl. He noticed the female's slow breathing and her slow heart rate just by being close to her.
He knew that there was something wrong about her. A normal and healthy human won't give off such low heartbeat unless said person was sleeping, and the lady in question was conscious yet somewhat unresponsive judging from half-lidded eyes. Such knowledge was something that he learned from Sakura while still in Tsukumihara's infirmary. Another bittersweet memory and he forcibly repressed a frown, shoving it down his throat.
It wasn't the time to think about such sad memories.
"Now, I need to figure out is where in the part of the world am I..." The brunette trailed off as he let his pair of brown irises roam around his surroundings.
Sky and Water. These are the only two things he could see and Hakuno felt like as if he was a lost puppy, left alone by his owner in a vast world that he isn't very familiar with. If he was just an ordinary person, he would surely freak out at the situation he was put into. It was a good thing that he wasn't just an ordinary person but someone who can employ feats that normal humans can't.
Looking around, Hakuno had already plotted a course of action; find a land, cure the girl of her current state, and acquire more information about this world. The last part held more priority to him, not that he didn't care that he was lost in a vast field of water and blue dome or for the poor girl in his forelimbs, it's just that this was his first time outside that generated environment procured by Moon Cell. His knowledge of Earth was only limited to verbal accounts from people who actually live on Earth, like Harwey's domination over 3/4 of the world's countries, the depletion of Mana, and other things.
Aside from those, he's drawing a blank.
Deciding on the course of action, once again the Wizard draw out his Prana and activated another Code Cast that was already with him ever since the Holy Grail War. His own Spiritron particles vibrated, humming in wavelength as it resonated with the Spiritron and Virtual Spiritron particles that were already present in the atmosphere. Using his own Prana as fuel, he actuated the program which converted the information held within the quantum specks to what the program was initiated to do.
"View Map." As he let out the words in a soft-spoken manner, a terminal display made itself known to him as it hovered right in front of him.
It was a holographic map, displaying the entire world map inside said rhombus-shaped virtual cartogram and the lad could only whistle. Well, he didn't expect that the spell would show him the entire map of the world. To be fair, he didn't know if Code Cast: View Map would work considering within Moon Cell's environment, it only shows the entire Arena Map, even Dungeons.
He was unsure of himself if such program will work how he hoped for but seeing that it actually did much more than he expected was something that Hakuno was grateful for.
His current position was represented by a blue dot on the virtual cartogram, located on the far east. With a motion of his eyes, the map then zoomed in to his position. He then studied the information that was laid to him by the Code Cast as soon as names began to emerge on the map.
It appears to be that he was on a 180 kilometer-wide strait known as Formosa Strait, a body of water that separates the country of Dahan and the island of Taiwan.
Having studied the map, Hakuno nodded his head as he tightened his grip on the girl and propelled himself through the air in a decent speed through the Code Cast: Flight.
He'll head for Taiwan.