Master Chief Petty Officer UNSC.
One of the many titles held in the military given to the most experienced and veteran soldiers. Not for the faint of heart, requiring time spent on the field of battle and exceptional records to be earned. Only a small percept of the entire military has ever achieved this rank, but it was by far the most well known of them all.
All thanks to the achievements of one man. Or at least, something resembling a man. Not many knew his name, other than his callsign of 'Sierra 117' and the title of his rank: Master Chief.
He was a legend to those everywhere. Even as mankind had already established past the surface of Gaia and colonizing the other heavenly bodies, he remained known to all of them. His achievements and exploits as the greatest of soldiers bolstered him through history as the finest warrior humanity has ever known.
When their backs were against the wall against the alien invasion of the Covenant, he was the one who they rallied behind. He was their beacon of hope and something to aspire to when all the cards were down.
Even the entirety of the military, their enemies, even those who were jealous of him, admitted that he was certainly everything they aspired to be. Courage, strength, leadership... he had it all. Talents that were thought to be possessed only amongst an exceptional few had combined to create a person like him.
He was their greatest champion, the perfect human.
Although, perhaps a little bit too Perfect.
He was an incredible hero, but people began to wonder just how human he actually was. He was shrouded in that metal suit of his, very rarely speaks, and always seemed more robotic than man. Hell, doing the things he did wasn't something any human being could ever possibly achieve. It was like he was a god in the form of a man.
Though some people actually thought that, he was just the byproduct of millions of years of evolution, genetics, and the power of human engineering. In more simpler terms, he was experimented in a lab and was already selected as the most dominant of all the species.
So yes, certainly not something most people could call human.
Though it didn't matter too much to them. As long as someone was fighting for them, humanity would be willing to overlook many things. Such was the primitive instincts of survival and the willingness of humanity to sacrifice one for the sake of many.
He knew that they were like that. On a base nature, all of humanity was like that. Still, he had been raised for the very purpose of serving them so that was all he ever did. Even after his comrades died and his age began to finally catch up to him, he still fought for the sake of humanity.
Though he tried to be human for the sake of a single person. Up until his death, he desired to truly known what it meant to be human. Still, he wasn't sure if he found it. After all, one who was raised in a lab never could know what it meant to be a human. His life was robbed from him the second he underwent the transformation of a spartan, loosing what could have been his most important years of his life.
Though he never hated the military for it. He believed the path he had been on wasn't a wrong one. He had done many things many would never do and met people he never would have met back at home. Even when the military had ordered him with some... questionable orders, he always felt an innate desire of right and wrong that always pulled him through.
And even if he himself may not have known about he, he himself died as a human.
All those who knew of him, believed it to be so.
Though it seems like his work was never done, even in death. He just couldn't catch a break, could he? All he wanted was some peace for a while and perhaps some emptiness. Not this glowing ball of light that shone in front of him.
Indeed, it was a golden ball of light surrounded by pillars that looked to be of ancient design. From the arrangement, he was sure he was in some kind of pantheon or temple of some sort.
"So why is it that I am here?" He asked in his usual monotone voice. "Has God come to judge me?"
At his voice, the temple rumbled and a female voice replied to him.
"Heavens no. The gateway to Heaven isn't here, I'm afraid. I just can't let you go just yet."
The chief cocked his head. Though he did find himself wondering what exactly was in front of him, he'd seen crazier things before. "Then why is it that I am here? Are you a forerunner?"
"Forerunner? No. I am not some paltry invention created by aliens. No. I was created by you, 117."
"By... me?"
"Well, not really, though you are the only human in your world that has ever come close enough to me. Soldiers always were the ones who sacrifice everything, but you... you sacrificed more than humanity has ever done before."
"Duty called." John said simply.
"Did it? Did it really? I think we both truly know the answer to that. After all, I have been observing you for quite a long time. Ever since you were born, actually."
His eyes narrowed. "Who are you? A goddess? How do you know about me?"
"In a sense, you could call me a goddess." The voice rumbled, oddly sounding amused about the whole situation. "Though I am not like those gods you read in your books. I am one created by humanity's own hands. I embody their will to survive and the will to carry on. You may call me Alaya, the force that protects humanity from all world ending threats."
"A being that protects humanity from world ending threats?" A slight scoff rang in his voice. "If that's the case, where have you been when the covenant attacked? Or the flood? Or the Prometheans?"
"I was with you on the field of battle." The deity responded. "Each and every soldier, scientist, doctor, commander who ever took place in the battle were there felt me at some point in their campaign. Most of the important decisions your council ever made was pushed by me, even if they didn't know it. What they did the rest of the time was up to them."
"And what about me? Were you involved with me?"
"Your creation was just one out of seventy-four other candidates. I hadn't expected the results to be as good as they were, or even the later spartans for that matter. Surprising how science can trump magecraft in this day and age."
"Magecraft?" His eyes narrowed. "Like magic?"
"A long time ago it used to exist. It doesn't anymore in your world." The orb flickered. "Why do you seem so suspicious? Science is just another form of magic if you think about it. Science is just a bit more versatile in use though." The goddess paused for a moment. "Anyway... the reason why I have appeared before you now is because I am here to offer you a job. A job only people like you can handle."
John's head lifted. "A Job? What kind?"
"The one with the life of humanity at the stake." Alaya replied.
"From what? Another invasion? Another Covenant uprising?"
The remnants of the Covenant did some small uprisings around the colonies to upheave the balance of power, but they were usually very small and insignificant. The last major attack they did, however, had nearly reignited the war between the Sangheli and humanity. If the same thing was happening again...
"No, not from external threat and neither does it concern with your world. It lies with a different one. The same, but not similar. A parallel world of earth where the covenant do not exist and humanity is still in its early stages of scientific advancement. Well, at least compared to your time."
The super soldier remained silent. A parallel world? He had briefly heard of such things from scientists and theorists who would often go on lengthy debates in hearings or television to discuss the possibility. These things had been noted as stupid and baseless, something as inconceivable as creating an infinite source of renewable energy. Space warping was believable. Going between dimensions and worlds? Not so much.
He himself didn't really believe in their theories too much either. Now, he was being confronted by a deity created by the will of humankind who was telling it directly to his face after he died.
And strangely enough, he couldn't feel an ounce of a lie.
"I know it seems quite hard of you to wrap your head around this, but it's true. In this other world, magecraft still exists but is kept away from the prying eyes of the public and masses. Even then, there are still large amounts of mages around the world who control the governments subtly from behind the scenes. This allows them to maintain their secrecy by using the governments to withhold information from the public."
"And that's the threat?"
"No. I don't care if they take control of their governments. That's just a little bit of groundwork so you can understand what these people are like. The real problem begins in the year of 2016, where the mages have established a security facility that was designed to ensure humanities survival by looking into the future and the past."
"Time travel?"
"Essentially, yes. However, it seems they've hit a bit of a roadblock you see... It is a little bit hard to explain unless you see it for yourself. The real question is if you are willing to do so."
The chief grunted. It was a dumb question and he knew that the goddess was just saying that to be rhetorical. Even if he was dead, old, and tired, he would still grasp at the straws to serve humanity if they needed it. Now that he's been offered a deal like this...
...There's no way he could refuse.
"I'll take your silence as a yes. Splendid. That is much more easier than me forcing you there myself." The orb began to glow brighter, forcing the super soldier to shield his eyes. "Information will be given to you when you are finally summoned and then you shall finally understand the threat that you face."
"I'm old now. You expect me to go out like this?" He grumbled, gesturing to his previously blonde hair which had turned white over the years.
"Worry not. You shall be summoned in the prime stage of your life, where your abilities are at its closest to your highest potential. To them, you shall be an unknown heroic spirit. Though I name you more than that. You shall represent the forgotten soldiers and those who fall in the line of duty, a concept not having been embodied by anyone else. Congratulations, Spartan. Your name shall be recorded in the Throne of Heroes for all eternity."
And as the light died down, the chief was gone along with the space around him as he was sent away to wherever he was needed.
Chaldea central facility was the observatory designated to protect humanity, built the the amassed funds of one of the richest mage families of 2016. Located in a separate space that was cut off from the main world through numerous displacement magecraft, it is only known by only the most high-ranking mage officials such as the lords of the clocktower and the headmasters of Atlas.
Though it certainly hadn't been expected to be activated so soon after its establishment, humanity has begun to face a crisis unlike any other.
The complete eradication of human order throughout history. The optical lenses of SHIVA have detected anomalies placed throughout history, disrupting human order and making a complete mess on the present.
Chaldea hasn't been affected due to being outside of the time-axis, but the outside world was a different story. Whatever has happened, the earth has burst into flames with the death of humanity soon following. Only by fixing the anomalies can they ever hope to fix the present and save the world.
And to do so, they needed the help of those who had long passed. With the use of a complicated summoning ritual that was used in a certain war, the facility was capable of summoning heroic spirits, heroes who have transcended humanity through their myths and legends. Though they are only able to summon a small fragment of a heroic spirit, they were still more capable than anyone on earth.
Though they still needed a leader to lead them. They were all quite rambunctious and unique, differing from each other to the point where they needed a tether to lead them and keep them united.
And so, they bound themselves to their masters.
Gudao and Grace, the only two masters the facility currently has operational with the others having been put into cryosleep after an incident which left most of them for dead. Despite being inferior in magecraft compared to the other candidates, they were by far the ones with the greatest master potential.
They weren't related by any means, often having been mistaken for brother and sister considering how close they were, but they came from two separate families. Unlike Grace, Gudao had never actually been in a very powerful family. Unlike her, who was born into a high-ranking family within the clocktower under another name that was far more grand and formal than the one she usually used. As such, it almost felt like a miracle the two got along as well as they did. Their teamwork was the core reason as to why they were both selected to be master candidates.
After all, commanding an entire legion of servants wasn't easy.
Gudao was a simple young man in his late teens with blue eyes and black hair that was slightly messy and disheveled, having woken up early as to get down to his usual responsibilities. Grace, on the other hand, looked very pristine and much more presentable. Her bright orange hair had been freshly done and there were significantly less bags underneath her eyes unlike her male partner.
Something she always took notice of.
"Paperwork?" She asked, giving him an amused look as he sighed.
"Don't remind me about it." Gudao muttered, rubbing his eyes in exasperation. "The doctor left me with 25% of his own papers and I was forced to finish it for him while he went to the hot springs."
"Well, the doctor has been busy lately. A day of relaxation is something he deserves once in a while." Grace giggled, having seen the doctor in a particularly good mood yesterday. "Though I can hardly say the same for you. You always tend to be busy."
"And you on the other hand are always playing soccer with the rest of the servants." Gudao grumbled, though it sounded more like a whine. "You need to do some work too, you know."
"Oh fie. Interacting with the servants is an important job! Without me, they'd be worried if I just shut myself in my room all day, like a certain someone..." She teased, earning a sigh from the young man. "By the way, are you ready to spin the wheel this time? My roll was pretty good last time, but I doubt we can say the same for you."
"10 sets of black keys... Absolutely useless." Gudao muttered. "Though it seems like Amakusa is happy about it, I still don't like it. We haven't had a new servant in a while and I know there are still more out there."
"Well who knows? Perhaps you may get lucky. God knows we need some right now." Grace said with a shrug.
The duo were the ones responsible for leading the servants of Chaldea, but they were also the ones who were responsible for bringing more in. As they walked through the hallways, they approached the most important room of the entire facility. The room where the summoning of heroic spirits take place.
Scheduled summonings take place usually once per week. Though if they tend to get some potentially bad draws, they'll most likely try it again later in the week.
Though it's meant to summon heroic spirits, the machine was still a bit flawed somewhat. Sometimes it'll pull out random junk such as crappy mystic codes and black keys as a replacement for servants. Usually their luck was good enough that they'd at least summon one servant per roll, but now they haven't been as fortunate as they had been in the past.
Arriving outside the summoning chambers, the pair glanced at each other and nodded before stepping inside to find the staff members hard at work as they prepared the summoning device.
"Sempai!"
The duo turned as a girl in standard issue chaldea uniform ran up to them. She had white hair and lush purple eyes that most certainly felt otherworldly. After all, since when was purple an eye color? Sitting on her face was a pair of glasses, tilted crookedly due to her running.
"Mashu. Good morning." Gudao greeted with a smile. "Are you doing alright?"
"Yes, Sempai. I'm doing fine. I was just helping the doctor and the others set up the summoning system." Mashu said with a smile before she turned towards Gabby and raised her hand in greeting. "Hi Grace-Sempai."
"Hello, Mashu." Grace smiled.
"Mou... You greet her first but not me? Your doctor?"
The trio turned to find a tall man with a childish pout on his face as he stood by one of the nearby consoles which lined up next to the wall. He had a tag hanging around his neck with his name on it and he also wore a lab coat over his green Chaldean uniform.
"Seriously, if it wasn't for me patching you up after all those singularities we wouldn't even have any masters available."
"And don't think we're not happy about that, but you're a total weeb doctor." Grace smirked at his annoyed look. "Seriously, Magi Mari? Sounds like something only an eight year old girl would play."
"You're just saying that because you haven't bothered to hear the wisdom Mari speaks about. She gives some pretty good advice! Honestly!"
"Doctor, don't you think your addiction to that virtual idol is unhealthy? I mean, you've been cooped up lately watching her talk about... whatever." Gudao noted, with Mashu nodding in agreement.
"Yes... You have become quite lazy, doctor." Mashu threw in her own two cents, making the doctor sweatdrop at the verbal assault he was receiving.
"Ahem... Anyway, the summoning chambers have already been prepped for the summoning. All you need to do now is flip the switch and hope that everything turns out alright. If things don't I already have our carts ready to ship off all the black keys that you summon." The doctor announced, earning a groan from Gudao and teasing looks from Mashu and Grace.
"...Thanks doc." Gudao muttered as he trudged over to the switch. Clearing everyone out of the way, the doctor took his position behind the consoles so he could make sure that everything went according to plan.
"Good luck, Sempai!" Mashu called out encouragingly to Gudao, who nodded in response with a small smile as he placed his hand on the lever. The rest of the staff members and mechanics stepped away from the machine and behind the safety glass that had been set up as a precaution. Grace, Mashu, and the doctor remained behind with curious looks as they watched Gudao's grip tighten on the lever.
He glanced towards the doctor, receiving a thumbs up from the man as he double checked the console. Seeing that he was clear for the go-ahead, Gudao let out a deep breath as he pulled the switch downwards, turning on the machine.
The machine was powered by materials the populace called 'Saint Quartz'. Special powerful rocks that could achieve many impressive feats if a handful of them were gathered together. Using the mana that was crystalized within them, they use it to jumpstart the countless summoning rituals that they have been using over the months.
Humming to life, a white summoning circle appeared on the ground as prana began to crackle and flow. The white orbs that appeared soon after began spinning around the circle. Slowly at first, but then picking up speed as the humming turned into a loud screech.
The prana was immense in the room, causing the light to brighten and tendrils of power to crawl everywhere. The witnessing individuals shielded their eyes from the brightness as the light flooded their corneas.
Then abruptly, it vanished in a blink before exploding into rays of light. Though judging by how much light the machine had emitted this time and the speed of the orbs...
"It has to be a servant..." Gudao thought intently as the lights began to die down.
"Did it work?" Mashu asked curiously, slowly lowering her hands from her eyes.
"Yes! Standard readings of a new servant!" The doctor cheered from his position at the console. "And quite a powerful one at that! They don't match up with the graph of anyone else!"
"Finally... A new servant." Grace muttered with barely pent up excitement. The servants had something special called a Saint Graph, which was unique to them and different amongst each other.
"Though... who could it be?" Gudao muttered as he stepped backwards to stand in line with them to greet the new servant. Could it be a greek hero? A Japanese one? Maybe even from America, but who knows? The summoning system wasn't picky when it came to choosing servants.
As the light began to die down, though, everyone froze as they saw just what was standing in front of them. Out of anything they could have imagined, this was certainly not within their list of possibilities.
For starters, the figure was taller than anyone in the facility and easily standing at a height of seven foot and clad with bulky green armor that wrapped around him like a turtle shell. Underneath that was what looked to be a black bodysuit that was similar to those of celtic servants. His face was also wrapped in armor as well, having been covered by a helmet that held a yellow visor for vision. If one was staring into it, they could see themselves in their reflection.
But what got their attention the most was the weapons. Servants for the most part only carry weapons of the old days like spears, swords, and bows. Weapons that received names of their own and can be just as iconic as their wielder. The weapons that he seemed to be carrying, however, weren't any of those. Instead, they seemed to be guns. Guns of unknown design, but it was still clear that they were guns.
On his waist was what must be a pistol, but it was way larger than the average size of a sidearm. On his back was another gun, though it dipped into the rifle classification of guns. It was designed in a bullpup rifle fashion, with the clip behind the trigger instead of the front.
The figure gave them chills as it stared at them, seemingly studying them without a single word as if judging to see which one he should break in half first.
After a moment of silence, Grace decided that she would be the first one to speak up. She was the most daring of the two masters, always willing to take risks.
And that risk meant getting torn in half by this figure.
"Welcome to Chaldea, servant. It's... surprising to see you." She spoke, careful as to not appear too rude or imposing. "I apologize if it seems a bit rude, but... who exactly are you?"
The figure glance at her, making her freeze in place along with the others. There was something about that figure that made him seem more imposing than any other heroic spirit she had encountered.
This was certainly not a king, Certainly not a politician, and most certainly not a chivalrous knight on the battlefield. No. This was a born commander that lived on the fields of battle. A titan of military discipline that was so polished that it made her feel small in comparison.
And when the figure spoke, she found herself growing smaller.
"I... Am servant Archer. Are you my commanding officer?"
Hey guys! I'm doing something different with this story! Instead of focusing on an anime with a historical Naruto, I'm using a future Master Chief as the basis for this story!
Now, it's going to be a little bit odd to see the Master Chief in an anime regarding heroes of the past, but you have to remember that heroes can be summoned from both the past and the future as long as they have existed. As employed from the counterforce like Emiya, this makes it possible for him to be summoned.
Now, Halo games do not exist in this universe. Instead, the events of Halo occur in a parallel world of Fate where humanity has long since left Gaia for other planets. In the Fate/Grand Order timeline, the halo timeline will not occur at all in the future. And if humans were to leave the planet, it would not lead to the events of Halo.
That's a brief summary, but I plan to explain it more in the next chapter along with a stat-sheet. I plan to give him some unique skills and noble phantasms to allow him to fight against other servants!
So until then, see you in the next chapter! Leave a review to let me know how you want this story to go!
-mpmvirgo1
