[Please select a simulation scenario, Host. Current scenarios: Twilight of the Gods, Land of Spirits, Land of Trials (Part 2).]
Looking at the three scenarios provided by the Life Simulation System, Ryuya had learned a bit of the essence of guessing the content from the names.
'Twilight of the Gods… could be Greek or Norse mythology, probably another Nasuverse's world.'
'The power of the gods is just slightly stronger existences to me now. Going to this scenario wouldn't yield much gain.'
'Land of Trials should be the world twenty years after Snowfield City. The Root I sealed would probably reappear, and Gil, Tia, and the others should also appear again. In reality, Yukino and the others might be summoned over.'
Considering the situations of Yukino, her sister, Kaguya, and the others, Ryuya felt it better not to involve them in such worlds for now.
As the final choice, the Land of Spirits was very interesting because, in Ryuya's memory, Spirits were one of the Phantasmal Species from the ancient era of Uruk.
Just like the Elves in fantasy novels, the Spirits Ryuya knew were also natural races that loved forests, with branches like Blood Elves, Night Elves, various Elemental Spirits, etc.
Logically, a scenario primarily about spirits should have a difficulty level at most like Rashomon's. But the Land of Spirits was a scenario unlocked only after completing the Fourth Holy Grail War in Snowfield City.
Based on the system's habits, this scenario's difficulty should be high, at least its inherent energy level wasn't low.
After some thought, he decided it would be better to check out the Land of Spirits first.
'System, I choose the Land of Spirits.'
[Confirmed. Opening scenario: Land of Spirits. Please select talents to carry over.]
'I choose Sun God, Earth King (True Ancestor), Ultimate Being, Beast of the Apocalypse, and King of Myriad Races."
Although he didn't choose the Lord of Three Realms ability, the five bloodline talents Ryuya selected could still allow him to sweep through the world.
[Confirmed carried talents. Simulation starting.]
As the scene before his eyes changed, Ryuya found that this time, he seemed to be an orphan again.
There was no helping it.
Given his bloodlines, how could normal humans or other races give birth to him? With the additional abilities of the Beast of the Apocalypse, Earth King, and many others, Ryuya could only be said to descend upon the world as the planet's spokesperson.
So...
[You are born. As the Earth King, you are naturally the beloved darling of the entire world.]
[Surveying your surroundings, you discover this should be the modern world.]
[As the Earth King, you are the spokesperson for the entire Earth. You do not detect the Counter Forces Gaia and Alaya. You infer this world is not part of the Nasuverse's history, just a modern city.]
[Holding curiosity about the world, you attempt to mobilize the magical energy within your body. As a result, you discover this world possesses magical energy.]
["It actually has magical energy? That's a bit interesting."]
[After discovering the existence of magical energy, you quickly absorb it. Utilizing the Beast of the Apocalypse's Self-Modification, you rapidly control your body to grow up, reaching adulthood quickly.]
[As the planet's spokesperson, the King of Earth, you could originally communicate consciously with Gaia. But finding this planet has no consciousness, you can only walk the world, searching for any information you might recognize.]
[Following the world's changes, walking on this land, you discover this world has some legends about wizards. In human cognition, wizards are an evil profession, and they claim these existences are sins hindering human development.]
[Having been eradicating wizards since long ago, by the modern era, wizards have vanished without a trace. Human technology develops extensively. Civilian levels are similar to your modern world, but weapon development seems considerably stronger.]
[Aerial warships, stealth devices, even powered infantry armor, etc.]
[Searching for this world's legends, you consistently fail to find anything about Spirits. After a long time, you even begin to doubt what this scenario is about.]
["Sigh... How long has it been? Why haven't I found the people I'm looking for?"]
[In Tokyo, Japan, sitting on a park bench, having been in this world for almost ten years, you feel a headache coming on.]
[Indifferent to the staring gazes of the people around, you clap your hands, deciding to change methods.]
["Since I can't find the spirits, I'll change tactics and directly scan the entire world."]
[As the Earth King, you certainly have the ability to survey the Earth. But currently, you've only been born for ten years, and your power isn't strong enough yet. You decide to inspect places one by one, searching for any existence different from normal people.]
…
Somewhere on the European Continent, in an extremely remote village.
"Elliot, your turn."
The village was filled with cheerful laughter and happy voices, an atmosphere of prosperity everywhere.
Although the location was remote, this small village had various quite exquisite buildings, not like an impoverished backwater detached from the ordinary world at all.
In the village's small square, over a dozen children were playing together. They all seemed very happy, and it was a place that felt beautiful.
However, with a burst of gunfire, this peace was shattered.
"Found it! It's here! Move quickly, don't give these guys a chance to fight back."
With the sounds of guns, cannons, engines, fully armed mercenaries, along with planes, off-road vehicles, and other light and heavy weapons, instantly surrounded the entire village.
Screams, shouts, children's cries...
Gunpowder smoke and blood, flames and weeping, wails of agony filled the entire village, echoing to the sky.
Attacked inexplicably by a group of mercenaries, the villagers and children didn't know what was happening.
"You evil wizards, go die!"
Gunfire and explosions rang out incessantly. Rocket launchers and bombs were thrown out as if they were free.
Just killing wasn't enough… this group even used some heavy firepower coordinated with special potions in bottles to destroy every corpse on the ground.
"Attention! We must completely eliminate these wizards, leave no trace behind."
Seeming to feel extreme hatred towards the existence of wizards, the leader spoke while started searching for other hiding villagers again.
With the help of thermal imagers and other instruments, they mercilessly slaughtered one life after another. Whether old people, children, women, even pregnant women… none were spared.
Under such an organized, systematic assault, the entire village's people were all killed within tens of minutes.
"Report, sir. We have slaughtered 172 adult males, 187 adult females, 87 elderly, 46 children. Total..."
With their combat uniforms already dyed red with blood, a mercenary reported.
"Good. Do one final sweep of the village. After confirming no omissions, detonate this place."
Letting out a long sigh of relief, the commander issued the final order.
His eyes full of madness, he excitedly believed that now that he had finally killed all these wizards, the whole world would be peaceful and quiet.
With this in mind, they failed to notice that, within a dry well buried under ruins in the village, four children were still alive, hiding.
"Ellen, Karen, don't cry."
"It's okay. We will definitely survive!"
Looking at his two sisters, only seven years old, the boy named Elliot Baldwin Woodman tried his best to fulfill his responsibility as an older brother.
Protecting his family… that was his thought.
Sighing, trying hard to cover the sisters' traces, he worriedly looked at another little boy on the other side. That was Isaac Ray Pelham Westcott, who is one year younger than Elliot and ten years old this year.
"Westcott, you help out too."
Knowing Westcott had rarely interacted with other children since childhood, this eccentric guy was the first to react when the mercenaries came, pulling him and the Karen and Ellen sisters into the dry well.
Finding Westcott showed no sign of panic, that calm demeanor made Elliot somewhat fearful, afraid of this younger boy's thoughts.
"Help? Unnecessary."
Unlike the other wizards' golden hair, Westcott was born with silver-white snow-like hair, seemingly representing his cold and merciless heart.
His quite noble purple eyes held a strange and heartless quality that made one feel cold.
Glancing at Elliot, he didn't speak, just observed the mercenaries searching outside.
'So strange, why am I not afraid?'
Watching the mercenaries destroy the corpses of the villagers, his family, one by one, Westcott didn't expect to feel no fear at all. Instead, he felt an inexplicable pleasure, an excitement upon seeing life extinguished.
'Why am I happy? This isn't right. This shouldn't be.'
As an orphan in the village, Westcott's parents died in an accident years ago. Raised by everyone in the village since childhood, he should be everyone's child.
Yet at this moment, he found the destroyed village beautiful, the dead villagers beautiful too.
'So beautiful, so beautiful.'
'But this beauty isn't enough. Everyone must become part of the beauty too.'
In Westcott's view, humans in this world only had two emotions: pleasure and despair.
Like the yin and yang, humanity's other seven emotions and six desires were built upon these two.
Lacking a correct understanding of his own existence, he was a man who wanted to change the world, change everything around him.
Simply put, Westcott had Kirei's worldview and Kiritsugu's methods.
Perhaps there were slight differences, but generally, he believed the world should be like this.
For example, Westcott enjoyed seeing life extinguished, but he wouldn't kill for his own pleasure… at least not at this age.
Watching the extinguished lives one by one, he understood they were all his family. As pleasure and anger intertwined deep in his heart, he suddenly realized he seemed to have a reason to kill.
'I will take revenge! Absolutely... will not forgive you!'
'It is you who killed my companions. Everyone is dead. If that's the case, I shall embark on my path of revenge in the name of righteousness. On this path, I will kill all who stand in my way.'
Although he didn't want everyone to die, Westcott's paranoid and twisted personality also caused him great pain.
On this basis, he was actually grateful to these mercenaries because they gave him a reason for revenge, a reason to kill.
At this moment, he finally had a justifiable reason to kill, to enjoy what he truly wanted to do.
'From today on, I will live in the flames of revenge, experiencing what I most want to do!'
Thinking this, the corners of Westcott's mouth turned up. This was the most sincere emotion the boy had ever shown in his life so far.
And just at this moment, Elliot, who was telling the young Ellen and Karen sisters not to look outside, noticed the mercenaries had suddenly stopped.
They seemed to have seen something unbelievable and all ceased their actions.
"Westcott, come look quickly. Those people have stopped. What's wrong with them?"
Pulling Westcott's clothes lightly and speaking softly, Elliot found the manhole cover and rubble above them being lifted away.
"Are you... alright?"
Searching bit by bit for supernatural power, Ryuya finally found the last traces of the wizards at this final moment.
Knowing the wizards here were just a group wanting to live in peace, after checking various sources, he saw a few familiar names among the wizards.
'Elliot, Karen, Ellen, Westcott… aren't these four the last wizards in the world?'
'So, the world I'm in is the Date A Live world? The so-called Spirits are the characters from Date A Live?'
Realizing what kind of world he had traveled to, Ryuya pondered what he should do.
Only upon seeing Elliot and the other three did he understand what he needed to do.
It was the spacequakes triggered by the four in the future, that disaster known as the world's most terrifying catastrophe, causing 150 million deaths… the apocalyptic cataclysm.
"The Eurasian Sky Disaster!"