Saving a falling youth. That is certainly the role of a maiden, namely, this would generally be the start of a story of love and hope, where “boy meets girl”! After this, you should be flirting around while trying your best and struggling to correct the singularity! How marvellous, how truly splendid! However! How-e-ver! Too bad! The one that has saved you is neither an earnest young boy nor a pretty young girl! But a suspicious-looking bearded old man!
— James Moriarty
Full title: "Pseudo-Singularity I - Quarantined Territory of Malice, Shinjuku [Shinjuku Phantom Incident]".
After resolving the Incineration of the Human Order, Chaldea suddenly detects a singularity in Shinjuku, Tokyo, 1999 AD. With the protagonist as the only Master on call, da Vinci decides to go ahead and let them Rayshift there to save the world one more time. Unfortunately, a magic barrier interferes with their entry and they end up in free fall above the cityscape before a mysterious man saves them...
Tropes:
- Card-Carrying Villain: Moriarty proudly describes himself as this, his plan to destroy the world is both an attempt to beat Holmes for once and just to see if he truly can destroy the world.
- Cool Old Guy: Moriarty despite being one of the most famous arch-enemies in fiction, is laid back and hilarious when he's lost his memories even if he still has his ruthless streak.
- Crossdresser: Either the protagonist is Disguised in Drag or Sweet Polly Oliver at a formal party they sneak their way into, depending on which gender you picked. The trailer shows that the female protagonist wears the "Fate/Accel Zero Order" Mystic Code but the male protagonist's dress is never shown on-screen.
- The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Lobo muses as he's dying that because he was so driven by his hatred of humanity, he can no longer remember his home, the Currumpaw plains instead now the corrupted Shinjuku is his home.
- Debut Queue: Emiya Alter is added to the summoning gacha after completing the episode.
- The Dreaded: Everyone is horrified by Hessian Lobo with his bark being seen as an universal sign in Shinjuku to run.
- Everybody Lives: Surprisingly, despite the darker direction all of the Servant allies live to the end of the Singularity. The only "exception" is Moriarty himself, who was one of the real villains and using a Memory Gambit and needs to be put down.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Mash joins the Mission Control staff because she lost her powers as a Servant, but she is still playable in-game.
- Good Feels Good: Upon his defeat, Moriarty can't help but admit that his time as the Protagonist's ally was genuinely enjoyable in its own right and not just for the sake of his Evil Plan.
- Headless Horseman: The Headless Horseman shows up, though it's too weak as an urban legend to become a full-fledged Servant and needs Lobo to become a Servant. The party initially thinks that it is in control as a Rider but it's later revealed that Lobo is in control, even before they become an Avenger.
- Heroes Love Dogs: To soften Altria Alter, she's shown to have adopted an adorable white dog in Shinjuku, even naming it and is very defensive of him.
- Home Base: Saber Alter temporarily sets up shop in the basement of a fast food chain restaurant and it serves as Chaldea's base of operations for the protagonist and their Servants in Shinjuku.
- Memory Gambit: Moriarty pulls an impressive one as part of his and Baal's scheme. Both lose their memories in order to play out a role, Moriarty becoming an affable old man that joins Holmes and the Protagonist's side as "Moriarty's good half", and Baal pretending to be "Moriarty's evil half" that serves as The Heavy. Their trap springs when "evil Moriarty" is defeated and their memories return, allowing Moriarty to backstab Holmes and guide his the 7th bullet of Der Freischütz in the form of a meteor, which targets the person most important to him, towards the Protagonist whom he'd formed a bond with. The only thing he didn't count on was the Protagonist defeating him before the meteor could land.
- Mission Control: Mash is demoted to this because the loss of her powers makes it too dangerous for her to go out in the field.
- Morton's Fork: When the protagonist is asked by Altria if they have any food to feed Cavall II, the player has two options: chocolate and an onion, both of which are harmful to dogs and will end up with the protagonist getting berated.
- Mythology Gag:
- Altria references Cu Chulainn's hawaiian shirt from Fate/hollow ataraxia when justifying her change of clothes to match Shinjuku.
- The manga adaptation has Jeanne Alter do Fate's signature "I ask of you, are you my Master?" scene except this time with her asking the protagonist to form a contract with her.
- Out-of-Character Alert:
- "Hassan of Cursed Arm" requests an alcoholic drink from the Archer of Shinjuku, a clue of his imposter status since as a devout Muslim Hassan would abstain from drinking. Unfortuently, the protagonist fails to realize this before "Hassan" reveals himself to be the Assassin of Shinjuku.
- Edmond Dantes naming himself as such, tips off the protagonist that it’s an imposter, since Dantes never refers to himself by name instead calling himself the Cavern King.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Jeanne Alter reveals that she can just casually change clothes whenever she feels like it and this is the first time Servants start wearing outfits besides their three ascension forms.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Altria Alter and Jeanne Alter's rivalry returns but they tone it down because of the protagonist. While they would be happy to murder each other, they instead just take every chance to mocking each other. Altria proudly announcing to Jeanne Alter that she got a Master is even played like a girl feeling triumphant for getting a boyfriend before her rival can.
- Theory of Narrative Causality: Moriarty can't defeat Holmes conventionally because the narrative logic of Doyle's stories dictate that he will always be outwitted by the end. Due to this, his plan to avoid that has him fully assimilate into the party as one of the good guys and to backstab Holmes when he thinks the story has been resolved.
- Urban Fantasy: Notably the one time Grand Order dips into this territory thus far with Servants duking it out at late night and a magical criminal conspiracy taking control of the city.
- Why Are You Looking at Me Like That?: Altria Alter says this on behalf of her dog Cavall II when the others realize Cavall looks a lot like a white wolf, the exact description of Lobo's decease mate Blanca.
