-18- The Loss of the Light of Civilization

Not long after, the night began to fall. Inside the room, Rozen felt the full recovery of his magical power and took the laptop that had been lying on his knees. He closed the game interface and stretched lazily. "That's enough." Rozen muttered to himself. Whenever his magical power was replenished, it was the moment he started honing his magical skills. Even after the events of today, Rozen didn't want to neglect this habit. Just as Romani had said, although Rozen was usually lazy, he was extremely diligent and serious when it came to magic. A young man who truly loved the art of magic wouldn't easily abandon such a rare miracle.

"Let's practice a new summoning today. It would be great if I could complete the summoning of the fourth middle-level familiar," Rozen said with anticipation, preparing to get out of bed.

At that moment...

"Hiss!"

The automatic door of Rozen's room suddenly opened with an urgent sound.

"Hmm?"

Rozen was slightly startled and instinctively looked towards the door. There, a girl rushed in hurriedly.

"Fou!"

Fou, lying on Rozen's bed, immediately made a greeting-like noise.

"Mash?"

Rozen was surprised to see Mash in such a state.

"Senpai!"

Mash, who was usually polite, disregarded Rozen and Fou's reactions and rushed over, panting heavily, and gazing at Rozen with an unprecedented expression in her beautiful eyes.

In that moment, Rozen felt a sense of foreboding.

Mash kept panting and staring at Rozen. After a while, she said, "The Lens 'Sheba' detected an anomaly."

Those words confirmed Rozen's foreboding.

...

In Chaldea, in one of the corridors leading to the Central Control Room, Rozen and Mash were running towards the control room quickly.

"Senpai, please hurry!"

"It's... already as fast as I can!"

Mash urged Rozen, who was still panting like a dying dog, and Rozen felt a bit embarrassed to be urged by a girl to run faster.

"Can't help it. Who asked my magical circuits to be so excellent that it affects my physical functions? Yeah, it's not that I'm weak, it's because I'm too excellent..." Rozen tried to console himself as he continued to wobble forward, supported by Mash.

Finally, after passing through an elevator, the two arrived at the Central Control Room.

"The anomaly value is rising!"

"The anomaly value continues to rise!"

"Quick, try to control it!"

"It's not working! It's already exceeded the limit!"

Inside the Central Control Room, a group of staff members who operated the instruments were panicking and some even sounded a bit mournful.

Having received the notification in advance, Olga Marie had rushed over and was now engaged in an intense discussion with a serious expression alongside Lev. Her face was filled with unprecedented anxiety.

In the center of the Central Control Room, the Chaldeas System suspended in mid-air like a giant globe was undergoing an abnormal change.

"...Could it be?"

Seeing the state of the Chaldeas System, Rozen couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The Chaldeas System, which had always shimmered with beautiful blue light and the fluorescence of civilization, was now continuously changing colors.

People witnessing this, including Rozen and Mash, as well as other apparitions who had received the news and rushed over, were whispering anxiously, all staring fixedly at the direction of the Chaldeas System.

"This..."

"Could it be..."

"Is it finally..."

The apparitions who arrived here murmured while keeping their eyes on the Chaldeas System, their expressions tense.

As expected, Romani also arrived there.

"...I didn't expect it to escalate so quickly," Romani said calmly as he arrived at the Central Control Room and gazed in the direction of Chaldeas.

"Doctor?" Mash was somewhat perplexed.

Rozen also turned his head and looked at Romani. After all, Romani's earlier statement seemed to suggest that he knew more about the situation.

Without any hesitation, Rozen straightforwardly asked, "What do you know, big bro?"

Romani looked back at Rozen, sighed as if feeling there was no need to hide anymore, and then spoke.

"In fact, several months ago, Chaldea's observation personnel noticed that Chaldeas was changing colors."

With this simple sentence, Rozen immediately understood the situation.

"It started changing colors several months ago...?"

No wonder. No wonder why Chaldea, which had always been organized and systematic in its observation tasks, suddenly kept summoning the candidates within the agency for simulation battles during this time.

Originally, it wasn't just for experimentation and training, but also because the situation might develop in the worst direction.

Chaldeas started changing colors.

This was not a situation that could be ignored.

After all, the Chaldeas System was a device that presented the status of the entire planet through the Earth Environment Model.

If it showed any abnormalities, it meant there was a problem with the planet.

"Could it be..."

Rozen couldn't help but think of the worst-case scenario.

And this situation was exclaimed by Mash, who had been watching Chaldeas all along.

"Senpai...!"

Upon hearing this, Rozen immediately turned his head and looked in the direction of Chaldeas.

There, the ever-shimmering brilliance of Chaldeas was finally dimming under a desperate struggle.

"————"

The whole Central Control Room suddenly fell silent.

Everyone stared blankly at the now darkened Chaldeas, speechless.

"Th-the light... disappeared?"

Mash's murmured voice sounded distant.

Rozen fell silent as well.

As long as the civilization's fire represented by the Chaldeas System continued to shine, it meant that humanity could live in peace for the next hundred years.

However, once it lost its radiance, it only meant one thing.

"Human history is about to disappear."

That's all there was to it.

Olga Marie gazed at the lightless Chaldeas, her face somewhat pale, but she didn't lose her composure.

"Gather all the Master candidates immediately!"

Olga Marie gritted her teeth and issued an order that concerned the future of humanity.

"I want all the potential Masters from around the world to be concentrated in Chaldea within a month!"

This also meant...

"The battle is about to begin, isn't it?"

Rozen whispered with a complex heart.