Incarnation of Creation
Chapter 1 - The Second Demi-Servant
I blink, glancing towards my sister who had the same stupefied look on her face as the two of us stared at the girl currently in front of us. She had blazing rust-colored hair, and droopy golden eyes that were there due to her lacking sleep than naturally looking like a sleepycat. She wore one of the mass-produced Mystic Codes given to potential Master candidates, which meant that she was important and integral to the survival of mankind.
Unlike us.
Still, as droopy-looking as she was, there was still this comforting and accommodating air around her. And I think that it was due to that sort of aura that we felt at ease around her. Unlike others, she looked at both of us as a person...
...Well, as much as a person who just came out of the simulation, but we're going here by instinct, alright!? And our instincts have never been wrong-!
"Fou!" A cute little cry came from Chaldea's mascot as my sister couldn't help but release a squeal, watching the cute and fluffy (not that I'd mention that to my sister in every day of the year for I don't want to be paraded around like a madman for liking cute animals) Phantasmal Beast speed up at the sight of the droopy girl. One might even call it fascination.
And I do think that anyone doesn't want the fascination of such a Phantasmal Beast, especially as the cute little furry guy was now lapping at the girl's black leggings, "Do you think we should stop him?"
"I think we should", my sister replied back whilst shooting a thin smile towards me as she slowly pried the Phantasmal Beast off the girl in front of us and raised her voice to wake the person in front of us from their slumber. Of course, it's not like a change in a few decibels would do the trick, but still...! "Hello? Hello? Are you fine, by any chance-?"
"Hwah!?" The girl in front of us screamed as her golden orbs shot awake, immediately surprising my sister as she quickly hid behind my back, as per usual, "H-Huh? W-Where am I?"
Her golden orbs focused as she immediately took in her surroundings, the wonderful backdrop of steel gray, snow white, and shadowy black greeting her befuddled senses as her gaze eventually fell onto us, "...Who are you guys?"
If I were like my sister, I would first look around before finally replying to the girl's words, but I knew that the rest of the staff are up and about getting all ready and giddy about the testing of the first Rayshift. Come to think of it, what is she doing here then? It's kind of impossible to be that woozy for a long time after the simulation ended, right? Or does she have some kind of trouble in her stomach? "My name's Merlin."
I silently nudged my sister behind me, with words silently being exchanged in a second as she stepped out from behind me and bowed slightly towards the redhead in front of us, "Nice to meet you. My name is Mash."
The two of us held the Phantasmal Beast in our hands and showed it towards the redhead, with my sister and my voice syncing at the topic of introducing the furry furball towards the girl in front of us, ""And this is Fou.""
"Fou!" The creature yipped as the redhead's eyes widened like saucers, her golden orbs of light glinting like they had seen God itself as she tentatively reached out her arms to touch the squirrel-like creature.
"O-Oh my God..." The redhead's voice trailed off as she let out a squeal, quickly grabbing the Phantasmal Beast from both my sister and me as she crooned and hugged it tight against her sizeable bosom.
...Stop pinching me, sister. Actually, how are you reading my thoughts right now? Are you a magus and you just didn't want to tell me because I would feel left out? "I-It's so...it's so-"
"Cute, right?" I offered as the redhead immediately nodded at me and gave me an earnest smile, one that was enough to make me blush at the sight of it... Ow, stop pinching me, sister!
"Cutest in the land!" The redhead squealed as she snuggled the Phantasmal Beast closer to her, and I could see that it was clearly trying to bury its head deeper into her chest. Wow, immediately taking up the chance to snuggle up to a woman's chest, huh? I wonder who picked you up before Chaldea in order to turn you like this...
A few seconds later, the Phantasmal Beast apparently had enough as it quickly jumped from the redhead's chest and into my arms, snuggling up to me while its ears perked up to listen to every word that we were saying. Seriously, who picked this furball up before us?
"So, where am I?" The redhead said after finally dumping the last of the dopamine out of her system as she gave both me and my sister a look, which I reciprocated by casting a surprised one at her - one that my sister had written on her face, no doubt.
"Huh? You don't know where you are?" My sister said with a tilt of her head as I felt the Phantasmal Beast in my arms shift its weight, "Um...Shouldn't you be going to the Master orientation right now?"
The redhead blinked at both of us before she opened her mouth to reply, "...What orientation?"
Me and my sister could only give a sad sigh as we stared at each other for a second first before moving our gazes towards the redhead, who immediately took a step back in confusion, "...Wait, seriously?"
"Looks like you two are having a hard time with our newest recruit", an ephemeral voice echoed behind us as me and my sister both turned around and met with a man in a green suit, "Did they ask for Central Command or something?"
"It seems that she couldn't remember that there was an orientation for Masters coming up any minute now, Professor", my sister said with a sigh as the aforementioned Professor quickly glanced my way, my lips pursing on instinct as I slowly moved to the forefront to protect my sister. There was always something about the man that ticked me off for some reason, but whether or not it was just my animosity for mages in general or because of something deeper was just my guess.
The only thing that I knew about the Professor was that he was someone I'm consciously wary of. It was somewhat biased and prejudiced against a man that hadn't done something yet, but it was better to be safe and sorry rather than leave things up to chance. Besides, my gut told me to be wary about the man, and I trust my instincts a good lot.
"Oh, I see", the Professor said as he put a hand under his chin, feigning a thoughtful expression, "Well, may we at least know your name and what you're doing here, madam?"
"Ah, I'm Fujimaru Ritsuka!" The redhead said with a bubble expression on her face as I couldn't help but smile at her antics... Sister, I beg of you; stop pinching me please. Unlike what most people say, it hurts. "Nice to meet you, uh..."
"Lev Lainur", the Professor said with a thin smile on his face as he slowly turned around and walk away, a quick gesture from his hand urging the three of us to follow him, "Call me Lev, but for the moment, we have more pressing matters to discuss such as-"
"The orientation for so-called Masters, right?" The redhead said whilst tapping her chin with a finger, her golden orbs looking upward as if trying to divine some kind of information, "I heard Mash and, uh..."
"Merlin", I deadpan whilst trying to keep my expression neutral, deliberately ignoring the smiles that my sister sent my way. Hey, just because Ritsuka remembered your name doesn't mean that you got one over me automatically!
"Right, Merlin, about the..." The redhead's - Ritsuka's - voice trailed off as she began narrating what happened for her to end up in an almost-vegetative state when we first met her, but after hearing the full story now, I was sure of what had happened.
The simulation seemed like it took a lot out of Ritsuka, so she promptly tried to return back to her room while half-asleep, but she got lost and was now unconscious by the time that we ran across her in Gate 3...
...Wow. If there were airheads in this world, then I had most certainly met one- Ow! Sister, stop it with the pinching already! I was just joking, alright!? And once again, how can you read my thoughts!?
"You're pretty easy to see through, brother", replied the calm, collected voice of my sister as I- Hey, what do you mean that I'm easy to read!?
My sister once again giggled at my expense, and thus I was forced to suck it up by simply hanging my head low and following her lead. Hey, at least I still got Fou with me as a bargaining chip, so at least I can see some good come out of this.
"Hey uh, Merlin", Ritsuka said, garnering my attention as I craned my neck to look at her, only to find the redhead staring at both me and my sister with a curious gaze. Alright, I guess here we go again... "Are you two twins?"
Both of us nodded with twin smiles on our faces, yet our gestures didn't seem to register to Ritsuka as she yelped in surprise, "Huh!? If you're twins, then why do you have silver eyes, Merlin!?"
I glanced towards my sister, only for her to stare at me with her usual facade of aloofness. Alright, fine, I'll handle it myself since I brought this on in the first place, "A mutation, I guess. It's either that, or I just inherited one of my parent's genes."
"Doesn't it seem uncomfortable for you, though?" Ritsuka said with a tinge of worry as I couldn't help but inherently grimace at her lines. After all, the two of us already gather enough attention with just our shared purple hair. What do silver eyes have to do with this?
"No. No, it doesn't", I said, deliberately withholding the part wherein we were forced to move around just because some psychopath that called itself a magus wanted to dissect us to figure out how we work, "...At first, it's a bit uncomfortable yes, but you get used to it soon enough,"
"Oh...I see", Ritsuka said, her voice tuning solemn as she craned her neck to look away from us, with her side ponytail trying to pick up the faster pace that we were going at, "...I'm sorry."
"You weren't there, so it's fine", I said, my true thoughts on the matter slipping out of my mouth for an instant as I felt a piercing pain from my side. Seriously, was I expecting my sister to pinch me when I did something stupid? Yes. Did I expect her to pinch me now? No. Not at all, since I was just expecting my sister would've just shut me up with a glare and I would've been fine with it. Ignorance is bliss, after all, and I didn't want to break Ritsuka's metaphorical bubble.
"Hmm...I see", Ritsuka said while putting on a thoughtful expression while gazing at us, "Then, what's the cute little fluffy thing supposed to be? And why's it called 'Fou'?"
"Fou is a Privileged Life-form that is allowed to roam around in Chaldea's halls", my sister said with a thin smile on her face as I felt the furball in my arms shift ever-so slightly. Is this guy fishing for compliments? Because I think this guy is fishing for compliments, "Other than that, we don't know much, but he seems benign enough so we keep him here. Actually, now that I think about it, it's kind of weird that Fou immediately got attached to you, senpai. I have never seen Fou do that before."
"Eh, senpai?" Ritsuka said with a tilt of her head as I made myself at home with the convenient distraction coming from Fou. Damn it, that expression is just too adorable on a girl like her! Who raised her to be that cute, anyway!?
"She likes calling other people as her seniors, even if they're of the same age", the Professor said with a thin smile on his face as my sister slowly shrunk inwards due to embarrassment. Actually, now that I think about it, my sister's weirder than me, isn't it?
...Stop pinching me, sister. I'm holding Fou in my arms. "Though indeed, this is the first time that Mash called someone else 'senpai' in front of others. She's usually more withdrawn than this."
"Well, it's not like I'll be tiring of my sister's antics soon enough- Ow!" I yelped, stepping away from my sister's range of fire as we both glared at each other for completely different reasons.
Ritsuka chuckled as she saw her antics, her laugh coming out like a maelstrom of happiness that I couldn't help but freeze in my tracks, "It seems that every day is interesting with you two here!"
Once again, and I quote: 'Ignorance is bliss.'
"We try to make it a happier place than we can", I said with a shrug as I gave a thin smile towards Ritsuka, "Too much steel and concrete in the walls isn't necessarily a good thing for the people that live here. After all, it's not like everyone could stand being cooped up in a veritable cage such as this place."
"Well, calling it a 'cage' is a bit too far, but I guess it's an apt metaphor for our situation here", the Professor said as the four of us stopped at an important-looking door. Well, not that I particularly cared for such places of power, "In any case, our short little journey ends here. Do you know where you are and what you're supposed to do?"
Ritsuka nodded in response, in which case the Professor smiled, "Then, I'll be leaving you for the Master orientation. Wish you luck-"
"Um, Professor!" My sister yelped, causing the man in the green suit and stop in his tracks as he stared at my sister and urged her to go on, "...Can we attend the orientation as well?"
"Hmm...I think it's fine", the Professor replied with a shrug, "It's not like you would willingly bother the Director with just your mere presence, but you, young man, are a different matter altogether."
"Hey, everyone knew that it was an accident! It wasn't my fault that the hag panicked and accidentally destroyed the locker rooms!" I screamed, desperately trying to defend myself against my sister's skeptical glare and Ritsuka's curious stares, "...Alright, I willingly admit that I stayed up late just for one time, but still-!"
"Just justify your excuses later, kid. If you excuse me, I'll be going now", the Professor said while giving me a knowing smirk and sauntering off to places alone, leaving me to the mercy of my sister and one other person.
"So...What happened?"
""You do not want to know"", my sister and I replied at the same time as we opened the doors towards Central Command, facing the wrath of a hag that called itself a 'director'.
As much as I tried to stay awake during the long, and admittedly bland and boring speech (propaganda), I found my eyes drooping down, which meant that I had garnered the attention of the hag, who was now glaring at me with her hazel brown eyes.
"Kyrielight", her voice was harsh and unforgiving, like the coldness that had swept through the Siberian wastes and stopped any army that had tried to stake their claims of Russian soil, "While your presence here is certainly unwarranted and unrequired, you should carry yourself like your sister does, at the very least. Unless of course you wanted me to wipe you off the face of the earth."
"Of course", I blandly replied as I looked upon the Director of Chaldea with as much 'oomph' as I could muster, "The fact that you dragged my sister in your argument means that you cannot make any valid points about me and thus have to drag in my family members just to have a slight chance of insulting me, which is far lower than what the Animuspheres should uphold themselves to. Of course, I am unwarranted and unwelcome here in this room, but as for your information, my sister dragged me here into this place for reasons known only to her, so I am here unwillingly and not of my own accord. Please dismiss me from this room and I shall quickly follow your orders, Director."
"Then get out!" The hag seethed as I quickly nodded towards the Director and immediately strutted off towards the door, "And take this failure of a Master candidate here with you!"
I blink, finding a sleeping Ritsuka being pushed into my arms as I stared quizzically at the hag, who simply gave me another exasperated sigh, "Take her to her room. I'm leaving her out of her first mission. That should teach her a lesson to not sleep while I'm talking in front here."
"Understood", I replied with a nod, a stoic look crossing over my face as I couldn't help but try to keep myself from squealing like an idiot from looking at a gift horse's mouth. Did the hag not even know what happens to hormone levels during puberty!? Of course not! Even though she already had a rocking hot body, she couldn't even use it to her full advantage because her mindset is still stuck inside a five year old!
"Stop."
I freeze, the order coming from a familiar yet oh-so-far-away voice as I couldn't help but gulp like an idiot when I heard it. My sister, why could you be so scary at the most inopportune of times? "Brother, you're staying here with me. There is no doubt that something would happen to you if you went out with a sleeping girl in your arms."
"Hey, I think you're insinuating something, my dear sister", I said with a twitch in my left eye, a quirk that I got when I was annoyed about something, which of course could be applied to this moment, "Do you seriously think of me so unbecoming that I would force myself on a sleeping friend?"
My sister immediately flushed upon realizing the meaning behind my words, but she still held her ground, "B-Be that as it may, t-there is still a chance that something would happen between you and senpai. Thus it is better to be safe and let her go to her room by herself rather than risk it and be treated to the sight of my brother and senpai, d-d-d-d-d-doing things...!"
...Even my sister doesn't trust me. What kind of person am I to deserve such treatment? "Fine."
Since the redhead in my arms was currently sleeping like a log, I knew that it was almost impossible to wake them up without so much as them trying to knock you in the cheek. This is why I took the safest route that I can take...and threw her right in front of me and immediately retreated a few steps back. "H-Bwah!? W-Wait, what? What the hell!? My head hurts...What's going on!?"
"...Brother, keep on going in this direction, and I'm sure that you would stay single for life."
"Could you please stop saying that I'll never get a love life?" I said in the blandest tone imaginable as I turned my gaze towards Ritsuka, who was still cradling her head. Alright, I didn't expect it to hurt that much, so I guess it's my fault...And my sister's, since she always does that to me when I wake up late, "Ritsuka? Can you hear me?"
"Yeah..." The redhead replied as I couldn't help but sigh in relief. Alright, sensory and motor functions are fine, which is good.
"Do you know where your room is?" I asked with the slightest hint of concern in my tone as Ritsuka nodded in response. Good, it seems like my sister would be taking it easy, "Then, get going. You slept like a log during the orientation, so the Director's kicking you out of your first mission."
"Ugh...That sucks..." The redhead muttered out loud as she grimaced and stood shakily on her legs, losing her balance a second later as she immediately leaned towards my arm and pressed herself against it while pushing herself upward, releasing her grip on me when she already found her balance.
...I was sure that the stone on my face could've weathered an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm without even breaking a sweat, "...Thanks. See you around, Merlin."
"Yeah...See you around..." I replied, my voice trailing off as I made sure that it was in a bland monotone, stiffly walking towards my sister with a grin frozen on my face once I was sure that Ritsuka was already out of the room.
"M-Mash..."
"Please don't say it out loud."
I stiffly turned back towards the orientation, trying to keep myself from exploding spontaneously like a time bomb already reaching the zero mark as my sister sent a grimace my way, no doubt already thinking ill of me like the rest of the men in the room who were looking at me in jealousy along with the...Director? What the hell you hag, go back to sprouting your damn propaganda!
"Kyrielight." Oh come on, what did I do now!? Why does it feel like I'm being exposed to the vast emptiness of space with your tone of voice!? "I thought I made it clear that all romantic relationships are not allowed in Chaldea-"
-Beep.
I blink, glancing towards my sister in the process as she returned my confused gaze with her own, meaning that she had heard the sound that had echoed through the still air of the Central Command Room. The rest of us in the room also perked up, having heard the sound as they immediately began glancing around the place like deer caught in the headlights. Even the Director, the main figure that was always in this room one day or another, was surprised at the sound, and also began looking towards the source. Which meant the sound was inherently alien to this room. The question was: what was causing it?
-Beep. Beep.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, mapping out the room's layout in my mind's eye as I waited for another sound to echo across the whole room, my ears catching the bated breaths of every single individual in the room as I also mapped them out in my mind's eye.
-Beep. Beep. Beep.
My eyes shot wide open, my gaze immediately turning towards the source of the sound as I couldn't help but pale at what I saw. Right where the Director was standing, a loose metal panel was under her left foot, a small gap entering my vision as my breath hitched at what laid within - a slow, blinking red LED that shone with an ominous light, as if almost beckoning me to say the words out loud.
Naturally, I moved as fast as I can while opening my mouth to say the words that I was now sure were rolling of my tongue, my body immediately gripping my sister's body and using myself to shield her from the words that was yet to come:
"BOMB!"
As the others widened their eyes in realization of what had just happened, an orange fireball erupted from below the Director's left foot, engulfing everything and anything in its path as I saw the others who were close to the blast immediately get vaporized, the prided security of Chaldea's walls failing due to an attack from within as I made sure to stand over my sister, who was looking at me with tears in her eyes as if I was already lost.
As the orange flames, licked my back from behind, I could only manage to shoot a smile at my sister, closing my eyes as I let the inferno take me into its massive maw. If I die due to this, then so be it.
As long as my sister is safe.
Flames burned all around me; with the smell of charred flesh mixing with ash for each breath I took as I forced it back out along with my stomach's contents, which promptly sizzled out due to the heat around me.
I tried to move, but each movement of my muscles made me realize the pain of living, with the heated floor searing my bare body in some areas, and fusing my clothes with my skin in other areas.
How it burned, how I endured it, it didn't matter. All that flashed through my mind at that moment as fires burned around me was the thought of finding that particular mop of purple hair that would always belong to my sister. Thus, I tried to move, even as my muscles were strained, burned, seared by the heat around me; I still moved for the sake of knowing that my sister was safe.
Yet, a burden that I could not carry was currently laid across my spine, a concrete pillar that managed to trap me in this position that I was in, denying me of any chance to look for my sister in this conflagration.
Hopeless. The situation was hopeless. Here I am, unable to move, unable to find out whether or not I had protected my siblings as what the eldest should've done. Here I was, lacking information, only looking forward to the cold despair of death, with my vision slowly growing dark-
"Merlin!"
A familiar voice made me crane my neck to look towards it, a scream of pain being released from me in the process as I can't help but look at the owner of the voice with pleading eyes. With rust-colored hair, golden eyes, and wearing the mass-produced Chaldean Mystic Code, it was no doubt that she was the girl that both me and my sister had just met a few hours ago.
I didn't question why she was here, yet merely thanked for her presence, because with her, I could finally have the chance of being a proper sibling, "Ritsuka...Please...Mash...Save..."
I did not know how my throat still worked even when I was sure that there was burning gasoline inside of it, but apparently, I still had my voice left.
"No!" The redhead screamed at me in reply, "I can't just save Mash alone; you're coming with me too, Merlin! I can't just leave you here alone to die!"
"Go..." I rasped, my vision already starting to gain dark spots as I forced my cheeks to move and give Ritsuka a smile, "Don't...Bother...Save...Mash..."
A tear fell from her left eye as she gritted her teeth, her knuckles turning white in the process as her lips trembled, "Go...Save...Mash...Time...Running..."
A few seconds later, I watched Ritsuka wipe away her tears with her arm, standing up resolutely and quickly turning her back on me as she searched through the remains of what was known as the Central Command Room, my gaze moving towards the beautiful globe still floating in mid-air directly in the center of the room. Chaldeas was beautiful, pristine as it had ever been once its conception, with the light of civilization shining brighter than the stars themselves, yet marred with a red distortion over a certain landmass. An irregularity in civilization that must be stopped at all costs to prevent it from encroaching onto humanity's future and casing its doom.
A Singularity.
As my vision faded to black, I saw Ritsuka holding a girl with a familiar mop of purple hair in her arms, and I couldn't help but smile as I closed my eyes in resignation.
As long as my sister is safe, I would gladly give my worthless life to whoever wished so.
...
Yet, why am I not dead yet?
'I think that would be my doing, my friend.'
A voice rang inside my head, ephemeral and yet all-too real to be just discarded as a simple trick of the imagination. I tried to open my eyes to at least see who had just spoke to me, but I was only greeted by an endless expanse of black in all directions. I felt weightless, as if I were just a mere thought that would endlessly drift around forever.
...Was this the afterlife?
'No, you're not dead. Well, at least your soul isn't. This landscape that you see here is what's inside of your soul.'
I blink. Where was this voice coming from? What did it mean when it said that this endless expanse of darkness is what's inside of my soul? Am I evil? Empty? Completely empty of attachment as to not have any regrets to die in the first place?
'Do you even want to explore this space? It seems that you're scared to even take the first step. Although, I could understand where you're coming from, since all of us deny a figment of ourselves that signify our darkest desires...But that isn't a reason to completely shut yourself off from others.'
Excuse me for a second here, but who are you? Why are you with me if this is - in your own words, the landscape of my soul? Isn't a soul usually reserved for only one individual?
'...Right, I need to start from the top, I guess. Remember what the bastards that call themselves magi tried to do with your body?'
Of course I do. Do you think that you can just erase a decade of trauma from your mind without getting it wiped from a hard drive- Oh? Wait...you don't mean-
'You think fast, young man. I think we're going to get along in the future, but we need to square things out first. Yes, the Demi-Servant experiment was a success, and I'm a bona fide Heroic Sprit currently sharing your soul. How's that for an introduction?'
...You haven't told me your True Name and Class, though. Are you sure you're genuine and not just some rip-off from some kind of rumors or something? You know, like King Arthur apparently being a woman-
'Alright, alright, I get it, you want to know me, but I'm sure that you won't even know which legend I'm from, so your goal is to figure out who am I and what did I do to get into the Throne. Now, for formal introductions, my name's Bree, and I'm a Ruler-class Servant. Nice to meet you...?'
Merlin. Merlin Kyrielight, western naming sense. Nice to meet you, Bree. So, where do I start with finding about your legend?
'No hints. Figure everything out yourself. Ever heard of a Hero's Journey? Well, you just got through the first part. Now wake up, your sister's in danger. I'll be lending my power to you, so rest assured - you're going to be fine as long as your heart's in the right place.'
Wait, what do you mean Mash is in-
"MASH!"
I screamed, my vision opening with crystal clarity as I rushed forward and reached behind me, unsheathing my dagger in an instant as silver flashes of light shot out from my body, with deadly arcs of silver light cutting apart the skeletons that were attempting to flank my sister, who was busy holding back a veritable amount of them.
With my dagger quickly sheathed, I immediately pulled out a gun from my holster and dashed forward, flanking the skeletons that were trying to break though Mash's guard as I aimed my sights and fired, a howl echoing from the barrel of my gun as blue-green light crackled out of the barrel like lightning, tearing through the horde of skeletons like they were nothing more than thin air as I quickly heaved a sigh of relief and holstered my gun, idly noting to myself that I still had four more shots before I needed to reload...
...Wait a second; how the hell did I just do all of that?
'I did tell you that I gave you a part of my power, right? You're currently using it to eliminate those skeletons and protect your sister. Still, it was a good call to eliminate them swiftly. Even I needed to withdraw back to a safe distance given that many skeletons.'
You mean that the conversation that we had inside my soul was real!? And how the hell did I suddenly get a dagger!? How the hell did I know how to fire a gun even when I hadn't held one in my entire life!? And I'm pretty sure that all of the guns that I know don't even do such a thing like streak blue-green lightning and blow away a battalion of skeletons in the first place! Actually, what the hell is going on!? Why is the city that we're in on fire? Why is my sister holding a greatshield that's bigger than herself? And why is my sister wearing such a skimpy outfit!? You can't call that armor!
'...Maybe I should've explained some things first before sending you off here.'
Yeah, well looks like someone's finally got a semblance of common sense here! And that was sarcasm, by the way! Why did you just drop me off in the middle of a battle with weapons and skills that I couldn't even begin to understand-!?
"Merlin!?"
Yeah, I recognize that voice belonging to that skimpily dressed figure that was currently making her way towards me whilst holding a greatshield. It was my sister alright, but what's she doing here? "...It's good that you're fine."
"You too", my sister replied with a thin smile on her face as she hugged me, the sudden contact making me squirm until I sighed and gave in and reciprocated with a hug of my own, "When I saw you sprawled out on the floor like that, I was afraid that you were dead..."
Her soft cries echoed throughout the air as I released a relieved sigh and hugged her close, a part of my mind blocking the fact where we were standing on a pile of bones and rotting corpses and the fact that the backdrop was a burning world. There were so many things that I wanted to ask right now, but all of them were stored for now as a single fact was in the forefront of my mind.
My sister, Mash Kyrielight, was safe.
"So...hate to break it to you people, but we still have a world to save, apparently?" Another familiar voice echoed throughout the dead air of the city around us, breaking me out of my thoughts as I gently pushed Mash away from me and turned towards the owner of the voice.
I wouldn't forget that rust-colored hair and golden orbs in a million years, "Ritsuka, you're here too?"
"Well...yeah", the redhead sheepishly said as she held up her right hand, which was now host to an intricate seal emblazoned into her skin, "You can't just fight Singularities as a Master without going into the eye of the storm, after all."
"Master...Singularity...Demi-Servants..." I muttered, glancing towards my sister who had a pensive expression on her face while watching the burning city, "...Ritsuka, let's make a contract. We need to fix this timeline, right?"
"Yeah, but I was supposed to say that..." Ritsuka said with a forlorn expression before switching back up into her usual cheery expression, "Well, let's just shake hands for now."
She held out her hand, and I quickly took it and shook her hand once, an unknown feeling crossing over me as I couldn't help but shudder at it. Was this how a Servant feels when they're hooked up to a Master? "There, the contract's done for the moment."
I released Ritsuka's hand and smirked (wait a second. I don't smirk), "Well, let's get along, Master. Though, I still think that I'm going to call you Ritsuka."
"Y-Yeah..." The redhead said, promptly avoiding my gaze as I saw a light flush adorn her cheeks and Mash please stop pinching me. You're a Servant now, so it hurts like hell, "N-Nice to work with you too, Merlin. Do you know the identity of the Heroic Spirit that made a contract with you?"
The flushing was most certainly weird from anyone's point of view, but I ignored it for now and focused on the matter at hand, "Bree, Ruler-class Servant. Never heard of him before, so not well-known. Absurdly powerful, though, given that a single shot from his gun was enough to obliterate an entire battalion of skeletons."
"I-I see..." Ritsuka said, fidgeting in place as I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her. Seriously, is there something wrong with me? "...Then, he's a hero from the present?"
"...He doesn't have the feel of one, so I'm guessing he came from ancient times. Though, I have no idea why an ancient hero would be carrying around a modern gun-"
'Hey, I made that gun by myself, and by the way, good job knowing that I was from ancient times. Oh, and yes - there are guns back in humanity's past. They usually were a mix of magecraft and science, so purists didn't like them very much. Efficient self-defense tool and anti-monster weapons, I do say so myself, but it seems that I was the only one using them in the first place.'
"-Oh, apparently he says that there were guns back then, it was just people didn't want to use them", I said, cocking my head as if I just heard something from an invisible person, "Weird. You'd think that the people would abuse the heck out of such a weapon, right?"
"The people from the past were extremely stuck-up in their olden ways, so progress wasn't necessarily appreciated unless it came from the gods themselves", Ritsuka said with a sigh as she glanced towards my sister, who had laid her greatshield on the ground, "Mash, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to connect to Chaldea, senpai", my sister simply replied as a light blue glow suffused the entirety of the greatshield, a hologram of one of my most favored people popping into existence a second later.
"At last, a connection-!? Huh, i-is that Merlin with you?"
I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the orange-haired man, "Doctor, are you somehow insinuating that I would be that easy to kill off when I'm still not done doing what I'm supposed to do?"
"N-No! That wasn't my intention! I was just...!" The Doctor said as he sniffed, "...I'm just glad that you're alright. Don't you ever die on me now, alright!? You almost gave me a heart attack when Ritsuka said that she found you bleeding out in the Central Command Room!"
"Sentimentalities later, doctor - we need information first", I said as I crossed my arms at the hologram on the screen, "So, where are we right now?"
"You're currently in Fuyuki, Japan, in 2004", the Doctor said after perusing some notes that he kept with him, "It's just an ordinary fishing city in the books, so to make this landscape, something bad must've happened to it in order for it to-"
-Bzzt.
"Doctor, you're breaking up. Ten seconds till connection is lost", my sister said with a rare urgency in her tone, "What do we do and where do we need to go first?"
"You're going to have to hook up on a leyline somewhere around there", the doctor said as static rose from his figure and his voice became more garbled, but his words still registered clearly to me, "Once you connect to it, then we can communicate as much as we-"
The hologram disappeared, leaving both me and Ritsuka staring at my sister's fidgeting countenance as the greatshield lost its blue glow, making me sigh as I turned towards Ritsuka, "Well, let's just do what the doctor says and just find a leyline around here, then we can go request help from HQ."
"Y-Yeah..." Ritsuka said, once again averting her gaze as my left eye twitched, with the pang of annoyance coursing through my veins as I released an exasperated sigh.
"What's wrong, Master?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the redhead as she simply shook her head and quickly went up towards Mash, who simply stared at me impassively like what she'd always done ever since we had separated from that hug a while back.
'If I were you, I'd cast a spell that lets you see what you look like, but you still haven't been converted into a Caster-class yet, so I'll just cast the spell for you: [Mirror].'
A wall of light materialized and coalesced into a lustrous blue-green mirror, my eyes widening upon seeing what I saw as I couldn't help but blink at my outfit.
The main feature was an eyepatch situated over my left eye, though I could still see surprisingly well as if I had two eyes. A coat as black as midnight with blue highlights was worn over a black polo, and a pendant resembling a cross between two wings and a dragon's head was worn around my neck. I wore silver bracers and greaves, both intricately shaped like intertwining branches, with each of the bracers that I wore being studded with three differently-colored gems from topaz to emeralds that were packed to the brim with mana. My lower attire was made out of dark gray pants, with straps connecting the holsters that held my guns to my thighs. But what was the most shocking thing was how my hair and eye color were swapped. Now, I had silver hair that gleamed in the fires of the city, and purple-colored eyes that were as deep as amethysts themselves.
'Yup, this was how I looked before I died. Your Master might've been entranced by it, but what can I say? I've got style.'
I hate to agree with you, but you're right, "Brother, are you sure you'll be going with us? You seemed out of it for quite some time. Let's keep on moving or else we might be facing some more skeletons even when we haven't reached a leyline yet."
"Got it", I replied as I quickly followed after the two girls, quickly catching up to them in a matter of seconds as I can't help but be astounded by a Servant's physique.
But if I had a stylish look on that even made Ritsuka out of all people blush, then why the hell does my sister have some skimpy armor? Just what kind of Heroic Spirit has she bonded with?
I sighed, following Bree's urgings inside my head and simply kept quiet about the whole thing. After all, if my sister wanted to tell me, then she would've done so already.
Still, can a Servant still call itself a Heroic Spirit when they make their contractors wear skimpy clothing like that? My instincts tell me that whoever Heroic Spirit that she bonded with was most definitely a pervert...and sadly, my instincts are hardly ever wrong.
Skeletons that tried to sneak up on us were quickly dispatched by a blast out of my gun, reducing them to nothing more than cinders as the blue-green lightning shredded through their defenses as if it was simply made out of paper. In other times, skeletons had tried to ambush us by entrenching themselves on where we were advancing, but my keen eyesight saw their movements even beyond the range of their bows, giving us ample amount of time to readjust our route and avoid a confrontation entirely.
Overall, we reached one of the major leylines in the area in less than two hours, having fought no more than two companies of skeletons that we couldn't avoid in time while we just mopped the floor with their bone dust.
As soon as we reached the area where the leyline was, however...
"Help! Help! Someone help! Lev...Anyone...help!"
...A voice that I thought to be dead could be heard from a spot close by. Naturally, I immediately stiffened, now knowing that there were some enemies that were capable of mimicry, but it apparently didn't deter my sister and Ritsuka in the slightest as they readied themselves to charge against the enemy...that is, if they get past me, "Merlin, what are you doing!?"
"Whose voice is that, exactly?" I said, nudging my chin in the direction where we last heard the voice as my sister gritted her teeth against me.
"Director Olga-Marie Animusphere", Mash said as she leveled a cold glare at me with her purple eyes, "...Brother, I knew that you're on bad terms with the Director, but that doesn't necessarily warrant you to choose whether she lives or dies-"
"Mash", I said in a serious tone as I gritted my teeth as well, gaining my sister's attention in an instant as she immediately grew silent under my gaze, and "You were there with me when Central Command blew up. The bomb that caused the blast was directly under the Director's feet."
"Then, if she's dead, then who was that?" Ritsuka said as she shot me an exasperated look, "Whether or not she is an enemy or an ally, I think we should help."
"Who said I was stopping you?" I said with a smirk (once again, I don't smirk. Is this Bree's fault, perhaps?) as I took my place by Ritsuka's left, "I'm just telling you to be careful. Orders, Master?"
"Mash, draw their attention. Merlin, flank around and see if you can take them out." The commands came quick from Ritsuka as I met gazes with my sister. A second later, we both nodded and sprinted into our respective positions, weaving through the ruined buildings and jumping up towards one of the tallest structures still standing in the area as I narrowed my eyes at the sight of the battlefield, my eyepatch clicking and whirring for a few seconds as I felt my vision lurch forward, a clearer view of the skeletons attacking my sister coming through my eyes as I took out my gun from its holster and aimed, a burst of prana emanating from my body as the gun that I held disassembled itself, and the parts began levitating and moving themselves across the gun in an intricate pattern.
'Don't panic. You're currently - for a lack of better word - "zooming in" right now, and the gun's disassembling itself so that it could fire off the most efficient shot. Just calm down, take a deep breath, and track all the skeletons that you need to kill.'
I simply nodded in response to Bree's words, the parts of the gun that I held melding into a new design as I took in a deep breath, waiting for my heart rate to calm down as I waited for the space between heartbeats.
And I immediately pulled the trigger.
White-hot lightning blasted off the gun's barrel as the recoil was enough to make me lose my stance, the bullet soaring off into the distance at a speed faster than even a Servant can react to as it rent through the skeletons surrounding my sister and the Director, vaporizing every skeleton that it came across and turning bones into dust. A roar echoed throughout the still air of the dead city as the gun that I held in my hand grew uncomfortably warm, with Bree urging me to throw it at his behest as I tossed it some distance away from me, watching as the dull gray core that served as the gun's main mechanism glowing a dull red, then slowly glowed a bright white as it melted through the rooftop that I was standing on like a hot knife through butter.
'Ah, I think these aren't the latest ones that I built, given that you had to throw them away after using them enough times. So, I guess you're going to have to make do with the other one for the rest of the Singularity. I think that they'll only regenerate back when you're out of it.'
Well, that sucks. Though, given the power that this thing has...I think it's much better if I used it sparingly. It's pretty easy to imagine how a person would react to this.
'Well, obviously. Like I said, those are anti-monster weapons. You've got a humanoid opponent, then use the damn dagger, just like I did back when I was alive. There's no need for overkill when you can literally just cut through swathes of them like some kind of lawn mower.'
I nodded just as Ritsuka's voice echoed through my head, wanting me to reconvene while simultaneously asking as to what the hell was the lightning that I fired from my gun.
Quickly ignoring her other question in favor of following her orders, I quickly leapt from the rooftop that I was in and immediately made my way towards her post-haste, tracking her position through the contract that we made as I quickly found her hiding inside a ruined building, with my sister guarding the entrance out front, "Brother, was that your Noble Phantasm just now?"
"No, I'm pretty sure it wasn't", I said with a shale of my head as my sister had a pensive expression on her face. Sure, it may be an integral part of Bree's legend, but I seriously think that as anachronistic as it sounds, that his guns aren't the symbols of his legend. It wasn't the crystallization of his efforts; the symbol of his legacy. I think that it was something more.
...And by the fact that Bree had been ever so silent when he could hear my thoughts, it meant that I was most probably correct. Or that he was sleeping. He seemed to love pissing people off, so I guess that there was a 50-50 chance that he was sleeping just for the heck of it.
The moment that I came into the room where Ritsuka seemed to be cuddling with the Director, my eyes (now a deep shade of purple) met with her amber ones, a scowl forming on both of our faces at the same time as we opened our mouths to speak.
"Hag."
"Pervert."
Truly, it was nice to see that the Director of the organization responsible for humanity's survival was still alive and kicking amidst being (technically) dead and being deposited into the middle of a flaming city overrun by skeletons.
Though once again, she could hold back her sharp tongue better. It was an accident for Christ's sake!