Arknights' Lock of Heaven

“Let’s change the subject,” she said, picking up a report. “This is a report from the partisans. Although most of the routed soldiers escaped back to the front lines or Prostov, some of the hundreds of thousands must have panicked and run in the wrong direction.”

"Many of our compatriots who have recently traveled have discovered traces of deserters near the base. There aren't many of them, but they are still a potential threat."

"Send people to arrest them, and beat them if they resist," Xia Yu gave her a strange look. "I don't need to teach you that, do I?"

“Of course, that goes without saying,” Frostnova said helplessly, “but we just have to go through the formalities and report it.”

"Let me see, next up is... a reception from the expert team of the Ursus Academy of Sciences. Speaker Witt and the Emperor drafted an anti-discrimination bill against infected individuals for us to review first, and they also sent us the construction plans for the first batch of eco-parks..."

"There are also cooperation applications submitted by several companies in Ursus, a list of the second batch of aid supplies and personnel from Kazimir, uh, what's this? A business contract from Victoria? To purchase warships? Signed in the name of Regent Theresis?"

"Tell him to get lost," Xia said succinctly.

“I think I’m really going to die from overwork,” Frostnova sighed as she tossed the contract into the trash can and looked at the huge pile of documents in front of her.

Meanwhile, in a distant, unknown land.

"There are only a limited number of magicians who can accept the education of the Wandering Sea."

“I know, I heard that they only recruit once a year, and only one person is selected from them.”

"But the qualifications required to become one of our fellow countrymen are actually not many," the magician said slowly, looking at the purple-haired girl (?) in front of him. "You only need to be present when the door opens. Anyone who is mysterious and shares the same fate can do it."

"And now, the gates to the Wandering Sea are open, Sion Eltnam."

Sion paused for two seconds, then declined his offer, saying, "Thank you for your kind offer, but I have some matters to attend to here."

"Don't worry, I will handle the closure perfectly. Please go back with peace of mind, Fabro Rowan."

“I see. Then I’ll leave the cleanup to you, Sion,” the magician said, looking at the person who had refused him. “The Wandering Sea is not lending its roof to Chaldea for protection.”

"I'm just giving you a chance, Sion, a chance for your plan that can only be described as wonderful."

The purple-haired girl (?) remained silent upon hearing this.

"Have a safe journey, Sion Eltnam, and enjoy yourself... no, proceed as predicted."

"Born of the black earth, she is like a solitary bird soaring in the underworld."

After saying that, the magician went back behind the door.

"That's strange. I have no connection with birds or the underworld," Sion muttered to himself. "But these things will become clear sooner or later. Now it's time to get down to business!"

"It's so pointless to be destroyed unilaterally! Since we're going to be destroyed anyway, we might as well just self-destruct!"

"Then, let's see the resilience of the [Alien God]!"

Storm border.

Captain Nemo watched as the Wandering Sea islands, subjected to an irresistible gravitational attack, were gradually sucked into the sky. After counting the number of people, he waved his hand and entered the Imaginary Submarine to escape the impending self-destruct attack.

"Everyone, take your seats!" Captain Nemo, though not tall, exuded an imposing aura. "Professor, maximize the ship's defensive output!"

"The dimensional drilling time flow moves from the bow to the stern, utilizing the gap reaction force as acceleration! The most critical emergency departure in history is about to begin!"

Upon hearing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka and Mashu exchanged a glance, and then immediately and tacitly grabbed onto everything around them that they could hold onto.

"Triston engines, four running in parallel! Storm Border, set sail!"

With a flash of white light, Storm Border vanished from the Sea of ​​Illusion and plunged directly into the Imaginary Space.

Then the magician's sacred site crumbled in an instant, and exploded directly on the face of the alien god in the sky!

Meanwhile, in an unknowable dimension, a ripple disturbed the imaginary space.

Under its influence, the storm border unknowingly deviated from its intended course.

484 One piece of good news, and more bad news

boom!

In the far north, a white floating ship emerged from the void and then crashed into the snowfield.

"So? Did we manage to escape?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka rubbed her forehead, stood up, and reached out to pull Mashu up. In the violent impact, she and Mashu had bumped foreheads.

Unlike the novice magician she was at the beginning, and the resolute yet slightly cunning Master in Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia, she now exudes an aura of shrewdness and competence.

"The good news is that the [Alien God] hasn't caught up," Captain Nemo said with a troubled expression, using his Noble Phantasm, the Nautilus, to survey the surrounding environment. "Our ship has now left the North Sea."

“Since there’s good news, there must be bad news to follow, right?” The new director swayed as he got up from the ground. “I remember there wasn’t such a big impact when we jumped out of the imaginary space before.”

“Yes, your memory is correct,” Captain Nemo shrugged, his expression hesitant. “The bad news is we’ve crashed…”

"Judging from your expression, Captain, there must be more bad news than this," Fujimaru Ritsuka said, her ability to read people was top-notch.

"Well, I can't confirm this news. We need to continue investigating. In that case, I hope everyone is alright," Captain Nemo changed the subject.

Seeing this, Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped asking questions.

"Da Vinci, Holmes, do you have a question?"

"Speaking of the matter," Holmes said thoughtfully, "what happened to the [Alien God]? When he escaped, I thought I saw a bright flash?"

“That was the Wandering Sea’s, no, it was Sion’s counterattack,” Little Leonardo da Vinci replied. “Just like how the Alien God compressed ultra-high density mass to create a gravitational field, she compressed the Wandering Sea to an extremely small size and then used that energy to bombard the Alien God.”

"So that's how it is," the new director exclaimed upon hearing this. "They won't be killed for no reason. They truly deserve to be called alchemists from the Atlas Institute."

"But what should we do next? Can she come back? If she's not here, we can't repair the Storm border, and we can't use Trismeristes to formulate battle plans, right?"

“There’s no need to worry about that,” Sion suddenly appeared from behind the group. “The Spirit Particle Calculation Device has already been installed on Storm Border. The previous project was started for this purpose.”

"Wow, the flying warship carries a giant computer, it has a unique kind of romance."

“Phew, Miss Sion,” Fujimaru Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

“Yes,” Mash said with relief, “I believe everyone thinks so. We are very happy that you have returned safely. Thank you for your hard work in the evacuation of the Wandering Sea, Miss Sion.”

“Thank you for your concern,” Sion said with a smile, then turned to Captain Nemo, “but I think we have more important things to do now.”

"Is it that uncertain news?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked immediately upon hearing this.

"...Our original plan was to escape the North Sea by using imaginary number submersion, then fly towards the center of Eurasia, then head east to the Pacific Ocean, and finally to the Americas."

“But I… sigh,” Captain Nemo stammered, seemingly unsure how to describe his current situation, “you’ll have to see for yourselves.”

After he finished speaking, he restarted the screen in the command center and switched the view to the outside of the ship.

Although the surrounding area was desolate, the patches of green under the heavy snow were still full of life.

Without a doubt, this is a snowfield.

The question is, after the Earth is wiped clean, where could such an environment still exist?

"Have we accidentally stumbled into some Lostbelt? Or a Singularity?" Fujimaru Ritsuka was the first to ask.

“If that were the case, the captain wouldn’t have hesitated so much,” Holmes said thoughtfully. “It seems the situation is worse than that, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Captain Nemo sighed, “Let’s talk about the reason for the Storm Border crash. Although everyone’s impression should be that it only took a moment, it seems that we drifted in the imaginary space for much longer than the time we actually felt.”

"All the magic stored on Storm Border was exhausted, which is why we fell straight down."

“That sounds like there’s something even worse,” Holmes commented.

“Yes, we can’t replenish our magic,” Captain Nemo said with a bitter face. “This place… is very strange, very strange. There is no magic in the atmosphere… instead, there are some strange particles floating around. The professor is already analyzing them. These things… give me a very bad feeling.”

"..." Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Without replenishing their magic, the ship would be paralyzed in this desolate snowfield. Worse still, without a magic supply, the heroic spirits might...

“Now it’s my turn to step in. Well, it seems we really can’t do without me,” Miss Sion said with a smile. “Cheer up. As is the good habit of an alchemist, I usually prepare many backup plans.”

"Although most of them are unusable, it seems that my two magic pools that I've stored up can finally come in handy!"

"Of course, there isn't much magic inside. It can sustain the consumption of the heroic spirits for three months, but Captain Nemo still makes up the majority of the cost."

"If you want to use this magic to make Storm Border take off... I can only say it can fly, but only for a short time."

“Then it seems there’s no other choice,” the group exchanged glances. “Ritsuka, Mashu, we’ll have to ask you for help again.”

Currently, the only ones who can be mobilized are Ritsuka, the Master, and Mash, the Servant.

Servants like Sherlock Holmes and Leonardo da Vinci had to minimize their magical energy consumption due to their limited resources.

"Come to think of it, we don't seem to have ever encountered a problem with mana shortage before," Fujimaru Ritsuka said optimistically to Mash with a smile. "We haven't encountered it from singularities to Lostbelts."

“Well, I’ll get the Ortenaus exoskeleton armor working as soon as possible,” Da Vinci said, looking at Holmes. “I think you should stick with them. I’ve looked at the data the captain provided… this place… no, the situation is probably more serious than we thought.”

“We need your brilliant mind, while Sion and I will stay on the submarine to analyze those strange particles.”

“It’s a pleasure to travel with you again,” Holmes winked at Ritsuka.

“This lineup gives me some bad memories,” Fujimaru Ritsuka complained upon hearing this. “It seems like we were in the second Lostbelt, and it was also a snowy place.”

“I was badly beaten by Siegfried back then,” Holmes laughed heartily. “I hope this mission goes well.”

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

As news of the upheaval in the snowfield reached their homelands through embassies and spies across Ursus, their allies were truly astonished.

The one who gloated the most was Kazimir.

Although we lost people, a lot of people, it wasn't as bad as it seems compared to other fleets, which consisted of over fifty warships and hundreds of mobile combat units!

Gone!