Sorry for this, but a quick note to everyone before you start reading: If you leave a review with a question, but it's a guest review, I won't be able to answer it without putting that sort of thing before the chapter. I'll do it once, because that's my fault for not letting you know.
Unknown Guest asked: "Is Daniel's last name Müller a Battlefield V: The Last Tiger reference?"
Answer: No, it isn't. I never played that game, the only one I ever touched was 3, and that didn't last long either. Müller is one of the most common German last names, and I only chose it on a whim. There's no reference to it.
While the initial shock of summoning a heroic spirit had settled down, I still felt trepidation at the events that were yet to come. I actually had no idea, or even a guarantee that Emiya would go along with my plan. For all I knew, he could have shadowed me. There was a slight tugging sensation that emanated deep from within my core that told me of my contract with the counter guardian, but further information was lost to me. A result likely born of my inexperience with the magic of Fate.
Furthermore I came to the realization that I had never actually introduced myself to Mash. While we had the brief encounter with Lev Lainur, that exchange had me labeled as 'Mr. Müller' most of the time, and I wasn't able to recall if I had ever heard Mash call me something other than her Senpai. My gut told me 'Müller' was the closest thing to an actual name she had addressed me with. That's something I would have to rectify as soon as I saw her again.
The automatic door to my room, number 48, slid open with a slight hiss, and the faint smell of strawberry cake invaded my nostrils. It would seem I had found the person I was looking for. Dr. Roman seemed totally caught off-guard by my sudden appearance, as he sat cross-legged on my bed in front of a laptop – a plate with a half-eaten slice of cake next to it. As soon as the door had opened, the poor man removed the fork from his mouth and went to close his laptop. I swear, if this man was texting inappropriate things to Magi Mari from my bed, I would personally wash the bedsheets.
"Okay, I'm in here – Wait? What?! Who are you?"
It took a moment for the man with the strange hair color to turn around. He probably expected someone else to come looking for him, and his resigning tone quickly changed to become shocked that someone unknown had caught him slacking off.
"This is an empty room! It's where I slack off! Who gave you permission to come in?"
"Well, this is apparently my room."
"Your room? This place? Oh...", realization set in on his face, as his hand instinctively went to the back of his neck to rub it soothingly, clearly embarrassed by the fact that he was the initial intruder. Honestly, I couldn't blame him. If I had to deal with some of the people here I too would probably retreat to the unused rooms of the facility.
"I see, so one of the last ones finally showed up, huh? Well, nice to meet you, Daniel Müller. Didn't think I would run into you like this, but let me introduce myself again."
I gestured for him to go on, unlike Lev Lainur he at least instantly recognized who I was.
"I'm the head of the medical department, Romani Archaman. For some reason, people just call me Dr. Roman. I don't know why, but it's easier to pronounce, so go ahead and call me Roman. Fact is, Roman has a nice ring to it, no? It sounds cool and vaguely sweet."
"Will do, Roman. I want you to call me Daniel then, or Dan, for short. That's what my friends call me, anyway."
After our mutual introduction Dr. Roman's gaze traveled to my fluffy companion, who stared at the soon-to-be head of Chaldea. I had assumed that Fou would make himself known verbally, but the being silently sat on my shoulder without an expression on his cute face.
"On your shoulder – is that the mysterious creature I've heard so much about? Whoa, nice to meet you! Mash told me a lot about him, but I didn't really think he existed..."
Apparently, Fou was some kind of hide-and-seek expert, considering that Roman had never seen him before, compared to me who woke up to Fou licking my cheek. How did he find me in the first place, I wonder. For a moment I considered lifting my left arm to check for a foul odor that might occur when one doesn't take a shower for longer periods of time, but I wouldn't want to make a fool out of myself. Let's just hope I don't reek of 'German Engineering straight out of Bed'.
Roman stepped closer to myself after moving from his position on the bed. I had expected him to be taller, to be honest, but the man stood around 1,70 meters tall (5 feet 8 inches), thus being a fair bit smaller than I was. Having tall parents does that to you. With my 1,87 meters (6 feet 2 inches) I was a good bit taller than most people regardless.
"Hey, why don't I teach Fou some tricks?", he outstretched a palm towards my companion, "If you do well, I'll give you a snack. Okay, shake hand."
"Fou."
The look on the doctor's face was akin to something you would see on an old ladies' face if you were to decide to kick the puppy. Utter dejection. I had to stifle a laugh at that. Roman was always played for laughs in the game, but seeing his expression shift so dramatically was so much better. Considering the topic of Roman being the butt-monkey of a lot of jokes, I at least made my goal to break the record of being forced to laugh at his misadventures throughout the story. If there was no other way in the end, then he would be the one offering up the ultimate sacrifice for the rest of us. The least I could do before that, in case I fail at saving everyone, was to make sure I treat this man with the respect he deserved. Don't get me wrong, I am a sucker for misfortune. Schadenfreude is a German word, you know? Of course I would be laughing at some of the more outrageous scenarios, but never kick a man when he's already down, and poor Roman would be up shit creek without a paddle real soon.
"He gave me a really pitying look and then completely ignored me...", for a moment I shot Fou a chastising look, but before I could console the man in front of me, he caught himself, "A-anyway, I think I get what's going on. You're the rookie who just got here then got on the Director's bad side?"
"Not my finest hour, I admit."
"Then you and I are alike," Roman laughed. "Just so you know, I got yelled at by her too."
I couldn't help but agree. It wasn't unlikely that Olga Marie would berate Roman for his carefree attitude all the time.
"You know the Rayshift experiment's about to start, right? The entire staff's been sent to help out. But since my job is to look after everyone's health, I had nothing to do. The machines are more accurate at reading the vitals of the mages who are in the Coffins. The director said, 'When you're here, Romani, everyone slacks off!' then she threw me out. So I've been sulking here. But that's when you showed up. This is what they called a blessing in disguise, right?"
Humming an affirmative, I let the doctor continue.
"Since we both have nowhere to go, why don't we spend some time and deepen our friendship!"
Actually, his words had inspired me to do something else entirely. Roman would be a trusted ally for the foreseeable future and one of the members of Chaldea I could completely rely on, so including him in my plan to rescue our co-workers seemed like a good idea. He's the head of the medical department. I wasn't sure about his doctorate or his skills when it came to medicine, but he could at least operate the medical facilities after the bomb had exploded. Any wounded individuals could receive immediate medical attention from him. With my mind made up I began straightening myself for another inevitable showdown.
"Actually, Romani Archaman. There's something I need to tell you."
The carefree man instantly went rigid as I assumed my most commanding persona.
"I have knowledge that a bomb will be going off in the command center in a few minutes. I am not the one responsible. The perpetrator is Lev Lainur. I have managed to summon a heroic spirit on my own, because I attempt to rescue as many as possible. The archer I summoned has his... methods... of trying to ensure the safety of our fellow staff, but in case something goes horribly wrong I need to have you nearby and ready to treat any hurt in the resulting explosion."
Bracing myself for a disbelieving reaction I closed my eyes. To my surprise the shouts and questioning of my knowledge didn't happen. Instead Roman seemed to be frozen in shock. I snapped my fingers in front of his face for good measure. This seemed to do the trick as he visibly relaxed once more, with a nervous chuckle he began rubbing his neck again.
"My, my, Dan. That's a vivid imagination you have. Are you experiencing some additional side-effects from the training?"
"I am not kidding, Solomon. There's a bomb planted beneath the feet of Olga Marie, if it goes off, Chaldea's staff will be reduced to a measly number of 20 people. We need to act as soon as possible!"
Completely losing my composure I addressed Dr. Romani Archaman by his original name. King Solomon. To rescue the most people I had to stop pulling my punches. Further explanations could be provided once the attack had been mitigated. The man had to believe me. There was no time left to dally, there was never a specified time given when the bomb would explode. Since I didn't know the exact moment, I had to trust whomever I could to help me with this. Emiya wasn't one of the people most suited to deal with a bomb, but I placed my trust in his abilities to detect the bomb and perhaps deploy some kind of defensive measure like Rho Aias, or even Unlimited Blade Works to save as many as he could. Because if that wasn't the case, I needed Roman to be nearby before the bomb went off, because when it did in the game, we were still chatting in my room. Can't have that this time around. Pleasantries had to wait.
My words seemed to have an impact on the grand caster, who adopted a stern face. I could see the questions floating around in his head. How had I known that he was Solomon? Was I another enemy? Could he trust my decision?
"Very well. It seems that we have to cut our chat here short, if what you say is true. I had seen something coming. But this soon? Alright, Daniel. You stay here. I will hurry over to the med bay and make sure everything is in working condition for the scenario you just proposed. But we will talk after this, understood?"
I didn't answer, but merely stepped out of his way as he began running out of the room. After a few meters he stopped as his communication device, which I had yet to see rang out. A holographic picture of Lev Lainur appeared who said something to the doctor I couldn't make out from the entrance to my room.
I cursed under my breath. If my memories hold true, then there was less than two minutes remaining before the bomb went off, based on the fact that the conversation was one of the few times the story gave an insight into Chaldea's size. Within two minutes one can reach the command room from the infirmary. A few German words of choice flew forth from my mouth. I remember Roman saying it takes five minutes from my room to the command central, no matter what.
The doctor had terminated the conversation with Lev Lainur and turned to face me.
"Run!" I shouted, "We have less than two minutes left before the bomb explodes. Hurry!"
I began sprinting myself and felt Fou's little claws dig deeper into my uniform as we rushed along the great hallways of Chaldea. Roman was ahead of us, clearly not used to running long distances. Even I wasn't but this was an emergency.
"Emiya. Can you hear me?"
The archer should be somewhere in the command room by now, readying himself for what's to come. Having no clue of magic I had to improvise communication with my servant. Thinking about it with all my willpower would have to do it for now.
"Yes, Master. I have determined the location of the explosives. There's 50 seconds remaining before it goes off."
"Can you deploy your reality marble? Or will Rho Aias contain the explosion?"
"Rho Aias is a conceptual defense against thrown weaponry, Master. I don't think it would do much."
"Well, then deploy Unlimited Blade Works! Prepare your aria, it takes some time to finish it!"
"Very well."
I lost my footing for a moment and fell flat on the ground, sliding a few centimeters on the metal floor before stopping. Romani had heard my yelp and stopped to turn around. He had a look of concern on his face. Fou was angrily barking at me from the position he had landed.
Fuck me. I didn't even think about how much juice it would take out of me to supply Emiya with enough for his Noble Phantasm. My veins felt as if on fire, my blood boiling beneath my skin. The pain was unbearable, but I had to endure it.
Gritting my teeth and clenching my eyes shut didn't do much to soothe the inferno I felt within me. This is why you don't play with magic you don't know anything about. Among the excruciating pain of my body I could make out Roman's concerned shouts for my well-being.
"Fly... you fool..."
Yes! Despite feeling like being dropped into a volcano I managed to quote pop culture. Hoping the doctor would catch my drift, I went back to suppressing the agony of being drained of prana. If Emiya felt like this whenever he cannibalized a nerve, I would have to up my respect for the absolute madman. Being burned to death was one of the most horrifying ways to die along with drowning, and I could possibly understand why at this point.
That's why the grumpy archer had sounded so damn cocky when he accepted my request. The damn asshole knew I would be writhing in pain the moment he deployed his broken world. Gramps, why couldn't you respond to my summons and Azrael Lev, the bomb and all problems Chaldea would face today?
I hoped for a spooky voice to sound in my head, telling me something along the lines of "Thou wish shalt be granted, Contractor." but alas, no such thing happened. Instead I felt the lights go out and heard Roman yelp in the distance.
Soon after the light flickered back on, as a powerful quake shook the structure beneath me. The bomb had gone off. Emiya better had saved them, or I would make him kill himself with my command seal. That would be an overreaction, but at the moment I didn't care.
"Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and the Central Command Room. Central Area's containment wall will activate in 90 seconds. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once."
Damn it! I had totally forgotten about that. Shit. I had to hurry to the control room, or else I would be locked out of the rayshift! My body had gone numb from the pain, but I had to press on! I had to reach Mash!
Fou kept barking at me in a warning tone as I began to get up from the ground. The drain on my prana had ceased to be, leaving me to feel like an empty husk. A dried up corpse of a man, who would shamble his way towards a room that would spell death for any who where caught in the incinerating flames of Lainur's plans. With a roar of pain and determination I rose to my feet and began wobbling down the hallway.
How much time had passed since the bomb had gone off?
Would I make it in time?
Had Emiya succeeded?
I asked myself a lot of questions while shakily making my way towards the control room. I had to be decently close by this point, as the smoke grew thicker, and I could hear the roar from the flames.
"Containment wall will close in 40 seconds. Those remaining in Central Area, evacuate immediately. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once."
There! The huge entrance to the control room! I could see it! Being this close to my destination, I forced myself to quicken my pace. I had to reassure Mash. All around me the black smoke billowed into the hallway and made it's way towards the ventilation. The world grew quieter as I saw Mash under that stone. Roman had appeared in my vision, trying to stop me. His clothes had become singed and discolored by the amount of ash he must have dug through. But I pushed forward.
"Generator operation stopped. Power level critical. Switch to the backup generator, error. Please make switch manually. Containment wall will close in 20 seconds. Those remaining in Central Area, evacuate immediately. All stuff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once."
Roman shook his head before letting go, heading back out into the hallways.
Debris fell from the skies. Flames licked at my feet. I didn't see any bodies outside of Mash, and the coffins with the masters. Chaldeas remained in the center of the room, unperturbed by the catastrophe, though it's blue light had long gone dark.
"System switching to the final phase of Rayshift. Coordinates: January, 30th, AD 2004, Fuyuki, Japan.
Laplace's shifting protection established. Singularity's additional factor slot secured.
Unsummon Program set. Please start final adjustments."
I didn't care for the announcement. My eyes were glued to Mash's form. She was lying on the floor, a chunk of wall on her lower half. Blood poured down her forehead, as she looked at me with half-lidded eyes. I had seen this scene before. I had known what would happen. Yet still the cruel fate of my Kouhai shook me to the very core.
"Oh..."
The lone, violet eye of the girl fixated itself on me. It was a haunting experience, seeing those dead orbs stare at me, resigned to their fate. I knew the Rayshift would fix all this, but I honestly can't say I will come out of this whole ordeal as a sane person. Seeing someone you know, albeit one-sided, die in front of you is a gut-wrenching situation. She must have seen my pained face as she began to speak.
"That's right, thank you... For your understanding. Please, Senpai, you need to... get out of here."
A mechanical whir followed her weak command as Chaldeas returned to it's glowing form once again. But instead of the soothing, digital blue light it should be showing, it glowed in an angry orange, with darker highlights of red. Looks like it is time to commence the Grand Order.
"Warning all observation staff. Chaldeas' state has changed. Now rewriting Sheba's near-future prediction data. Unable to detect the existence of mankind 100 years in the near-future on Earth.
Unable to confirm human survivors.
Unable to guarantee mankind's future."
"Chaldeas... has turned bright red... No, never mind that-" Mash's struggle for words was interrupted by another announcement.
"Central Area, sealed. 180 seconds till internal containment procedure."
With labored breaths Mash solemnly made the situation clear. We wouldn't be getting out of here. We had been shut in. The doors are sealed. I stood there, head lifted to look at the imposing form of Chaldeas, hovering among a sea of flames.
"We are going to make it, I promise." Rayshift us already! I'm not ready to die!
"Coffin Vitals: Masters; Baseline not reached. Rayshift requirement not met. Searching for qualifying Master... Found."
"Candidate number 48: Daniel Müller reset as Master."
Wait a minute, reset?! What about Emiya?! Do I get reset as a Master or something? What about my heroic spirit? Is he going to be unsummoned. If so, what the heck is going to happen to all the people in Unlimited Blade Works, will they just 'puff'-evaporate?!
"Unsummon Program: Start. Spiritron Conversion: Start."
"Um... Sen...pai? Would you mind... holding my hand?"
I looked down to see Mash slowly turning into golden motes of light, slowly drifting upwards into the air to mingle with the sparks from the flames. I knelt down in front of her, stretching out my hand. Couldn't deny that usually meek voice when it's filled with so much sorrow.
"Rayshift starting in 3... 2... 1..."
"All procedures clear. First Order, commencing operation."
Here's a hint for all the nice people out there. Broken slabs of concrete make for a horrendous resting place. This goes double when the concrete is a comfortable temperature of sizzling your buttocks. If your name is Lev Lainur, Matou Zouken or Kirei Kotomine, you can have a blanket made from an iron fence for all I care.
After experiencing my first actual rayshift into a singularity, I blacked out. Like a proper protagonist, if I do say so myself. Summoning a servant, getting drained of prana by said servant and then running down a hallway makes faint on the spot once out of immediate danger. Whoever said humans were distance runners and hunters that whittle down your stamina clearly had not factored in your lazy 21st century corporate slave. In movies we are comedy relief, gawking as the catastrophe moves in on us for a funny, yet tragic shot. Coincidentally, Fuyuki looked like someone had decided to drop all sorts of bombs, before turning full time arsonist. Roughly 55 percent of the walkable surface was doused in flames, which raised the temperature in the surroundings to a warm temperature of 'my eyes are boiling, send help'.
Remember how I made snarky comments about Fou smuggling itself on rayshifts like some stowaway on the sinking Titanic? Clearly the little bugger had managed it for the first time, because for the second time in my short experience with him, he thought waking me up with licks was a good idea. If it wasn't for Mash threatening to kill me, I would have probably rested for a few more minutes. Honestly, if I didn't knew that the girl was pure as snow, I'd say she had some kind of split personality. Mash and Smash. Like Jekyll and Hyde, but less wimpy and, or deranged, depending on the current personality. So for my own amusement, I deadpanned her by asking if she truly said she would kill me if I'm not going to wake up.
For the first time after meeting her in person, Mash had the decency to be bashful. She turned her head to the left by a small degree, her face ever so slightly redder.
"That came out wrong. What I meant to say was, 'you're going to be killed.'"
I nodded sagely at that, holding a hand to my face.
"Yes, indeed. Mash I am German, not gullible."
Well, enough of lazing about. You can bet that my highly untrained posterior had been sufficiently roasted by the blazing streets of a ruined town. I hauled myself up with the help of some stone that was around a measly 50° Celsius and began dusting off my Chaldean Uniform. I hope to one day lift the secrets regarding the mysterious disappearance of my own clothes and who dressed me in my unconscious state. But right now we had bigger problems. Mash turned around and introduced me to a bunch of skeletons, dressed in tattered remains of clothes, armed with swords.
"Um, I was confused because everything happened so quickly. As much as I want to gather our thoughts, please look straight ahead."
As if on cue one of the skeletons dropped it's jaw at an impossible angle, probably due to the lack of muscles and screeched something that sounded eerily like someone saying 'giga!'. How the hell these skeletons made those sounds, I had no idea. Mash on the other hand went into some kind of analysis regarding their linguistic communications, before flatly stating that talking to them would be impossible and their intentions hostile.
"Master, your orders, please. You and I will overcome this together!"
I signaled an okay and began to take in the skeletons in greater detail. Those were normal human remains. At least they appeared to be. They had the same built as those model skeletons back in school, though some of them missed an arm. Or a jawbone.
"Mash, this is simple. If possible go for buster attacks to the torso, or quick and arts attacks against their weaker bones and joints. They can't hurt us if they can't close the distance. And when you are missing a pair of legs, you won't catch up to us regardless."
Once I finished my plan of attack Mash went into motion. The shielder quickly went for the nearest of the five skeletons and drove her shield forward in a brutal ram. The skeleton gave in under the sheer force of having a metal shield rammed into you by superhuman speeds. From my angle I could only see the head of the poor pile o' bones fly off over the top of the shield, as the torso splintered under the gargantuan force, crushing the spine in a swift motion.
"To your left Mash, use a quick attack!" I ordered, seeing that one skeleton attempted to avenge their fallen brethren by cutting Mash open with their sword. In a fluid, albeit unpracticed motion, Mash whirled around and drove the lower point of the shield between the ribs of the undead, bisecting it before it could strike. The momentum of the swing carried Mash around to barely let her block an incoming strike from another greedy skeleton. Recovering from her blunder, Mash quickly overpowered the skeleton, breaking the deadlock before slamming her shield into the ribcage of her adversary, breaking bones with a sickening crunch.
The other two skeletons were quickly dispatched as well. They were too far apart from the beginning and haven't maneuvered around in a timely fashion to flank the girl. She quickly beheaded one of them with her shield before jumping and crushing the other below her.
If these were humans, and blood came in more colors, it would have been a spectacular explosion of art, but instead, the sound of bones being ground to dust could be heard among the hungry blaze ravaging the surroundings.
"Nice job!" I exclaimed, genuinely happy that we didn't get beaten by a bunch of bones. Mash exhaled sharply at that.
"I had my worries, but we made it somehow. Are you hurt Senpai? Does your stomach hurt, or does it feel heavy?"
Ever the considerate Kouhai, the girl put my own safety before her own. But I quickly let her know that I was in fact, perfectly fine. My stomach on the other hand, was pretty empty. I hadn't eaten anything ever since the simulation, and who knows how long it took for me to even arrive in Chaldea.
When Mash finally returned to my side fully, I took in her form, before an evil grin spread on my cheeks. The job of the upper classman is to embarrass their lower classmates, isn't it?
"Mash, by the way, what's with the skimpy outfit? For armor, it appears to not be very practical. You're exposing a lot there."
The poor girl lit up like a light bulb at my statements, moving the shield so it covered her from my teasing gaze.
"I transformed into this. I couldn't protect you wearing Chaldea's uniform."
"Well, I approve in that case."
To further embarrass her, I gave a cheeky smile and a thumbs up, when something beeped on Mash's shield-arm. She moved her other hand behind her shield, still denying me an opportunity to finally make out what Chaldea actually uses to communicate.
"I finally got through! Hello? This is Chaldea Command Room? Do you read me?"
The voice of Roman rang through the streets, clearly stressed from the events. I could see the faint shimmer of a blue holograph coming from behind the shield and moved myself to get a closer look. Soon I saw the face of the panicked doctor on a holographic image projected by a small bracelet.
"This is Mash Kyrielight, a member of A Team. At this time, I've completed the shift to Singularity F. My sole companion is Müller, mind and body both intact. Rayshift compatibility, Master compatibility both satisfactory. Please register Müller as an official researcher."
In response to the call from the man Mash began to summarize our situation in a business-like fashion. I would have botched that horrendously, so I tried not to interfere in the state of affairs like a good rookie should. That was my plan, until Roman shifted the conversation to me.
"So... Daniel also got dragged into the Rayshift, huh? I'm impressed you didn't 'lose your existence'. I'm really glad." He paused for a moment. "Also, Mash... Of course I'm glad you're safe, too... but what's up with that outfit. It's shameless! I didn't raise you to dress like that!"
"You see, Doc. Mash transformed to keep me safe. Don't blame her for taking drastic measures that exponentially increased my lifespan."
I already embarrassed Mash. You may be something like a father, but I already did the job. Read the mood in the room. Isn't this on the official Chaldea channel for voice communication? Sheesh.
"Please be quiet, Doctor. Please check my condition. I think you'll understand the situation better."
A few seconds of silence were interrupted by the astonished shouts of Roman. He began listing all her advancements in her various parameters as they both came to the conclusion that Mash had turned into a Servant. With a calm look in her eyes Mash admitted that she survived the whole ordeal in Chaldeas by fusing with a Servant. She herself didn't remember how it happened, but I certainly know. Thanks Galahad. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten. I'll make sure she has her Lord Camelot unlocked before we go to the Camelot Singularity and meet your womanizer of a father.
I droned out their further speculations and discussions regarding her fusion with a Servant. I didn't care for the details, as it was very clear to me in the first place. Instead I surveyed the surroundings as the two of them kept talking. From where I stood I could clearly make out what had been the main road once, leading to an intersection from which you could cross the river. This also meant that we would meet Medusa Lancer there. And Caster Cu. In my mind I jumped in joy. While Caster Cu was clearly a step down from his badass lancer form, but the man in the robes would still be the same dog. This only left one question though...
"Emiya, can you hear me?"
Upon my call the red-clad archer manifested next to me from his spirit form, a mocking smile on his face, as he rested his back against a slab of concrete jutting out from the ground. He had his arms crossed and eyes closed in a manner that made me want to let out my frustrations on him.
"I'm here, Master." he replied in a sarcastic voice that really rustled my Jimmies.
Mash seemed alerted by his presence and assumed a rudimentary combat stance, though the other servant didn't seem to be threatened in the slightest as Roman shouted something about a potential enemy. I quickly turned to Mash, holding my hands in a placating manner, signaling that the fellow servant wasn't a danger. Yet.
"Calm down, Mash. He's my Servant. I summoned him before the rayshift and-" I turned around to face said Servant. "How did it go? Did you manage to do as I asked?"
The archer nodded before opening his eyes and looking at me with a cruel smile. "Didn't think you had the circuits to allow me to summon my reality marble, guess I was wrong. How did it feel?"
"Asshole." I muttered, clearly remembering the pain.
"Anyway. I did as you said, shortly before you were transported to this place I dropped it. The thing is, the explosive somehow managed to manifest itself partially in that space and exploded. Some of the people were caught in the blast. I assume some will have died. Those that survived I dropped off in front of the door for the doctor to carry off with the help of other survivors."
I bowed to the Japanese Servant as a sign of gratitude. While not done in Germany, the gesture surely wouldn't be lost to the man who used to live in this very city.
"So, Master. You still need to explain your... knowledge to me, care to explain? I bet the doctor would love to hear as well."
I gulped and prepared myself for the obvious, but Roman cut in before I could open my mouth. His connection was growing weaker, so he urged us to move towards a set of coordinates at which a leyline could be found. I shrugged at the archer, who let loose a sound of annoyance before disappearing in blue motes of energy. Guess I can't count on him to help in the upcoming fights...
Walking through the burning city of Fuyuki was a tedious undertaking. Since clearly no one was left to maintain the roads or restore them to their pristine condition, the trek to the coordinates was done in an uncomfortable silence as Mash and I carefully moved across concrete so demolished, it was reminiscent of walking along a gravel beach. The ground beneath our boots crunched whenever we so much as moved our feet which sometimes made a stray group of skeletons notice our presence. After the latest scrap with a group of spear-wielding undead Mash returned to me, looking to talk.
"Senpai. We'll be at the point the Doctor gave us soon."
"We should hurry then. I guess I owe you lot an explanation. And by the way, Mash. Please call me Daniel or Dan, if you will. I'm alright with you calling me Senpai, but no one calls me by my last name."
"Alright, Senpai."
"Kya! Wha-what the heck are these?! Why am I the only one that has to suffer like this?!"
Wait. A girly scream in the beginning of the Fuyuki singularity? Don't tell me-
"No~, please come save me Lev! You're always the one saving me, aren't you?!"
Why was the Director in the singularity? Did Emiya not manage to get her to safety? He said he located the bomb, meaning he should have known that it was placed beneath her, making her a top priority to safe. I cursed. While the plan had worked out at least in some way, if Olga had appeared here, then it meant that her body had been caught in the explosion.
"Mash, grab me and bring us closer to the Director. I guess the undead have found her."
With a yelp I found myself in the arms of Mash. Her giant shield had dematerialized to make it possible for her to carry me in a bridal style. Considering various circumstances, such as Emiya's and Roman's incoming interrogation, Olga's appearance in the singularity and the fact that it wasn't a good moment to do so, I would have shed a tear at being carried by a girl a lot smaller than me. There goes my manliness~, so long, hopes and dreams.
Jumping over a barricade of stone we had visual contact on the battlefield. A number of foes had circled around the Director, blocking her escape routes. She had her arm outstretched, pointing a hand at a small group of undead, occasionally firing a magic projectile at them. Gandr, I realized. Mash and me landed in front of the girl, to which she greeted us in the most tsundere manner ever.
"Y-you guys?! Ah, jeez. I have no idea what's happening anymore!"
Once Mash had placed me on the ground, I made myself as big as possible, pressing my fists to my hips, puffing out my chest and letting loose a boisterous laugh.
"It's fine now! Why? Because I am here!"
As I did my best impression of All Might, the skeletons took a collective step back to reassess the situation. My three companions looked absolutely incredulous at my dramatic pose. What? I am a sucker for dramatics. Even the hidden Fou gave me a pitying look as I continued with my over the top laugh.
My attempt at enjoying the situation was inappropriately short when one of the skeletons attempted to skewer me on the blade of his polearm. Mash had dashed in at the last second to shield me from my untimely demise and dispatched the offender quickly after doing so. Maybe this was the wrong time and wrong place to make an epic entrance.
"Mash, go wild. Fight as you see fit. We have already fought a lot of them, you know how to fight them." I said, completely ignoring the scolding looks I got from her for putting myself in danger.
"Don't worry, Olga. They have fallen to my taunt. With us here, you can keep shooting your Gandr at them."
"Who said I needed your help?!" I sighed at her indignant shout. I knew she was going to be a pain, but not this early. Is this how you treat your saviors if they aren't the leprechaun?
In the meantime, Mash was going through the horde of undead with more precision compared to our earlier fights. I could only assume that she had become more comfortable with her current state, as she flung her shield into the spine of an assailant, leaving both halves to fall to the ground, where they rested motionless. The current assortment of opponents wasn't anything to be worried about, and I tried to wrestle a spear from a dead body. The thing gave, but one of the arms still clutched the weapon tightly, making me furrow my brows in disbelief and disgust. I had no intentions of touching the dead, so I changed gears and heaved the spear over my shoulder as if I was an ancient hunter. Eyes locked on of one of the skeletons, I threw the weapon with all my strength, which wasn't a lot, at the target. The staff glided through the air, arm still attached and stuck the torso of my target. For a moment I felt the smug satisfaction of partaking in glorious combat. This feeling of being useful quickly went away when the skeleton wasn't perturbed in the slightest at the spear jutting out from between it's ribs and turned to me.
A red blur shot past me, nailing the skeleton in it's leg, making it collapse on the ground. Olga had fired a shot of Gandr at it before it could retaliate.
"Are you crazy? Mash has it under control and you decide to play with their weapons?"
In my defense, it was a clean throw. Probably the only time in my life I would throw a spear with this much accuracy. If skeletons still had hearts and needed them, I would have killed it. But I relented. Sitting at the sidelines and giving commands was probably for the best, anyways.
My Kouhai had dispatched the rest of our quarries in the meantime and returned to see Olga fuming at me.
"We have won the battle... are you hurt, Director?"
The white haired girl stood quite for a few seconds, composing herself.
"What is this?"
Mash tilted her head at this and I shrugged, not having any clue what she meant by this. We just beat a bunch of enemies. It's obvious, isn't it?
"Director? Ah... it's me, isn't it? I'm sure it's hard to believe but I-" Mash was rudely interrupted.
"-fused with a servant; a 'Demi-Servant', right? I know that already. What I really want to know is how you won just now!"
She turned to me, jabbing her finger dangerously close to my nose. I felt myself shrinking a bit under her angry gaze.
"More than that. You! You were the one that came late to my lecture! How are you a Master now? You need to be a mage to form a contract with a Servant! You shouldn't be able to become a Master! Why does Mash recklessly go and do what she's told?!"
I was about to defend myself but found that unnecessary when Mash cleared up the situation.
"You're mistaken, Director. If anything, I'm the one that pushed him into the contract. Apparently, Daniel already has a contract with another Servant."
"What are you saying?! What?
With that Mash began telling the fuming Director the story of the events from her point of view, including my connection to the archer who was still lingering around in his astral form, as well as the upcoming interrogation at the hands of him and Roman. Color me surprised when the hot-headed head of Chaldea didn't furiously demand me to explain myself in an instant, but rather took in the information with an expressionless facade, before telling us that the other masters likely didn't make the rayshift, and that we would be on our own from here on out.
"Well that's that. I understand the situation. Müller. Since this is an emergency, I will acknowledge your contract with Kyrielite and the unknown Servant. From here on you'll be taking orders from me."
Talk about taking over the reigns. It hasn't even been ten minutes since we saved her from a dangerous situation and she had already undermined my authority, not that I had any, and took command of me and Mash.
"First, to build a base camp. In times like this, we'll need to find a leyline terminal with an abundance of mana. From there we should be able to contact Chaldea. Then we can figure out what's... what is it Kyrielight?"
"I just wanted to let you know – you're standing on a ray point."
I chuckled when the Director looked at her feet, clearly surprised by the revelation made by Mash.
"Eh? Ah... It seems so. I know that. I knew that all along! Mash, put your shield on the ground. I'll need a Noble Phantasm as a catalyst to establish a summoning circle."
Gacha? My eyes lit up, burning with the zeal of a thousand suns. This meant Gacha, didn't it? Gacha! Gacha! Gacha! Come on, Prez, give me all your Saint Quartz, I'll be taking all thirty of them and summon heroic spirits left right and center. We will have our own private army of super-humans to mow down the other singularities in no time!
Mash turned to me with a questioning look, clearly waiting for my opinion on the matter. It took a few moments for me to realize that. In my head I was already performing summons.
"I guess so. Is that okay, Senpai?"
"Huh, yes. Of course it is. Go ahead."
Summoning her shield, Mash gently placed it on the ground, so that the part of the round table faced the smoke covered skies of Fuyuki. I hoped no other skeletons would interrupt our ritual here.
"This... is exactly the same as the summoning site in Chaldea..." Mash noted.
Of course it was. Chaldea relied on the fragment of the famous round table to summon forth heroes, as the legendary order of knights served as an anchor for heroes, though I questioned myself whether or not the shield itself had any influence on the summons, as one could argue that it would be a marvelous catalyst to assemble Artoria and her knights. My musings were interrupted when Mash's bracelet beeped loudly.
"Test, test. Hello-! Great, it connected again! Good work you two, I successfully locked in your spatial location. We should be able to communicate now, and even supply-" the relieved Roman was rudely interrupted by our newest squad member as she began berating the poor man in the holograph.
"Haa? Who put you in charge, Romani! Lev? Where's Lev? Go get him!"
Not expecting the frustrated Director to pop out into his field of view, the Doctor gave a startled scream, physically reeling away from his own screen.
"D-Director, you're alive? No, that sounded wrong. What are you doing in the singularity?!"
"What do you mean by that! Whatever, where is Lev?! Why are you in command right now?"
Roman shook his head to silence the girl.
"Even if you ask me... I am fully aware that I am not cut out for this role. However there's no other capable person here, Olga Marie. Currently, no more than twenty Chaldea staff members are in condition to help operations. I am overseeing it, because there is no staff higher ranked than me.
Professor Lev was in the control room directing the rayshifts. If it wasn't for Daniel's foresight casualties would be much higher."
From a mere meter of distance I could hear Olga's heart shatter as she heard that Lev 'didn't survive' the explosion. Good riddance, but too bad you would survive because you are Demon God Flauros.
"That... Lev, he... No, wait, hold it, stop. There's only twenty left to operate the systems? How many were wounded? What of the Masters? What happened to the coffins?!" Olga practically shouted at Roman, leaving everyone else to wince at her raised volume.
"All 47 are in critical condition. Our medical tools aren't enough. Even if we had people to help them, they're all-"
"Don't joke with me, put them into cryofreeze immediately! Worry about the resuscitation later, your priority is to make sure they don't die!"
Roman gasped and began typing away at an unseen keyboard.
"Ah! That's right, coffins had that ability! I'll prepare immediately!"
As Roman worked on keeping my fellow master alive for the foreseeable future, Mash and the Director began a talk about the ethics of putting someone into cryofreeze without their consent. I don't know why you would need consent to preserve a life, as I had done earlier today, and it paid off in a small way, but mages apparently don't like that sort of thing. Soon Roman came back to us to finish his report on the state of Chaldea.
"Currently, Chaldea has lost 80% of its functionality. 20 people, including me are doing all they can, around 40 staff have been wounded in the explosion and are currently being treated in the medical facility. We are currently split in our focus to control the rayshift, repairing Chaldea and maintaining Shiva. As soon as communications to the outside are restored, we will get supplies and fully repair Chaldea... but for now, I think we should thank Daniel for his efforts."
Swallowing, I stepped into his vision. Time to spill the beans. Obviously some parts I would have to leave out to make up details, because I myself didn't know the exact details. Honestly, I had no clue what was going on outside of the events of Fate/Grand Order at this stage. The game, along with it's franchise had ceased to exist through the night, and I found myself whisked away to Chaldea without ever partaking in their test.
Something bigger was amiss, because as far as I know, magic, or magecraft as it was called, was a mere product of fantasy, given form by a man called Kinoki Nasu, not sure about the name though. Though apparently, I was able to perform magic, which is strange, considering I, like some others had my... years of blundering about, pretending to be a fantasy character. Hey, when you're a child you sometimes hope that you'll unlock some sort of deep, inner power to become a hero!
My records with Fate fanfictions pointed to the one single perpetrator in most of these stories: Zeltrech. But that couldn't be the case. Considering his common description as a massive troll, he would have at least let me know that I was being trolled. To be honest, I never had read up on the man in my time, so I hardly knew if he truly was as bad as depicted throughout the fandom. Since the obvious reason why I found myself in this scenario wasn't the likely reason, and I couldn't be sure about other possibilities, I would have to wreck my head in the future to find an answer.
The theory of the multi-verse seemed like the most reasonable explanation as a baseline for now, as the discrepancies between the world I went to sleep in and the one I woke up in are extreme, if you looked for them. I couldn't dismiss the possibility of waking up in another timeline or universe that closely resembled mine, but at the same time did not. Honestly, I had no definitive proof of the circumstances and coming up with a sensible reason for the events would take time, time that I didn't have, as Emiya stepped out of his astralized state.
Everyone had turned to face me, expecting me to explain how I came to know things that should honestly not be known. Taking a deep breath I began to summarize.
"Alright, I guess I have to tell you now. I'll give the short, but not quite as short version, as we are stuck in a singularity at the moment, and I'd rather not have this be interrupted by any other rude individuals. So sit down, grab a cup of coffee and listen up."
"I have some sort of clairvoyance that allows me to see some events of the future. For example, I knew about the explosives in Chaldea. Before you, dear Director, begin hating on me for not warning everyone, there's a simple reason. You see, the one you know only as Lev Lainur is actually a, I guess you could say phantasmal being? Anyway, he's a Demon God Pillar and his goal, along with his 71 brethren is the incineration of humanity.
With the knowledge I had gathered, I took the test to join Chaldea, hoping to get in. Once I did so, I formulated a plan to ensure most would make it out alive, otherwise we would be down to 20 staff members, including Roman, Me and Mash here. You would have been one of the casualties, Director. Actually, Roman, you said you yourself were surprised by Olga being here. Can you explain?"
"How do I say this, Daniel. Your other Servant had managed to move most of the staff out of the control room, including the Director. Her body is mostly intact and currently resting in the medical facility, but at the same time she is there with you."
"Oh, du Hurensohn. (1)" I cursed under my breath as I hypothesized what had happened.
Everyone but the Doctor had grown quiet as they listened to our stories. Mash tried to keep herself calm from the looks of it. The Director apparently had some kind of mental breakdown, whimpering to herself and Emiya stood there, arms crossed as if taking in the information for now.
If you didn't play the game, let me get you back on track regarding Ms. Olga Marie Animusphere. In the story, she would be directly above the bomb and have her body be so finely exploded, that no remains were to be found, but she still managed to appear in the singularity, where she would foolishly run to her demise after you, Mash and your servants had overcome Artoria Alter. For plot reasons Lev would summon Chaldeas and make the poor girl float into it's core, leading to her existence being erased in one gruesome and painful way I wouldn't even with upon my worst enemies.
Now as far as I knew, you needed to have a body to rayshift, or else the other dead, or masters who had passed would also be rayshifted to Fuyuki. The whole thing is a monumental clusterfuck of artistic license in my opinion, but it now seemed like I was about to explain.
"Thinking about it, it seems like Lev had some kind of way to separate her soul, or psyche, from her body and force it to rayshift. Even to my knowledge she would have been rayshifted here despite possessing a body no longer. But to be honest, that's just a theory right now. I don't know much about the workings of rayshifts, spiritron dives and all that technojazz, but that's my idea."
"Back to my story. I had to play five-dimensional chess with a Demon God. If he would grow suspicious of me, anything could have happened. Maybe I would find myself being suicided – or worse. So I followed my visions, and acted to fall asleep in your lecture, sorry by the way Director, to get booted out of there. Mash had followed me to my room, number 48. Roman will know, but I actually went to room number 50 in order to summon this guy right here." I pointed at Emiya and began addressing him. "That's also why I know your name and capabilities. In my visions, you fought alongside us. I hope that makes sense. But I would trust you with my life."
The heroic spirit seemed satisfied with my explanation and nodded in acknowledgment.
"That would explain it, Master. If we spent time together in your vision, then you probably know a bit about me."
"After summoning Emiya here, I persuaded him into helping me. Apparently he did the most he could to stop the machinations of Lev, as we are more than twenty left in Chaldea, so that's a relief. Then I went to my room and met Roman, persuaded him to help me as well, and rushed back to the control room. And that's that. My visions have been accurate so far, despite my meddling, and I hope to keep it that way, so some additional information I will not give you until the time is right, as the enemy has ears everywhere. I hope you can continue to trust me, as I know you're all good people at heart. Yes, even you, Olga Marie. You might act all tough, but you don't have to. You would have done an excellent job if not for the traitorous Lev."
I patted her head in her stupor. At least if she was to still die, she wouldn't have to scream about never receiving any praise. Good job, me. It appears that everyone has believed my half-truths regarding my knowledge. Some took it better than others, but I digress. A win no matter how small, is a win. One could argue that Roman, or rather Solomon, would still be interested in the complete information I have, but he would have to wait, as I didn't want to lift his secret identity this early on, especially with Mash and the Director around.
It took a while for everyone to gather their bearings. Upon my request Roman had managed to rayshift some supplies to our destination. We now had military rations to eat, water safe for human consumption and a fire extinguisher upon my request. To save our backsides from being thoroughly fried by the hellish landscape, I used the extinguisher on the surrounding flames, while Mash laid out heat-resistant blankets for us to sit on.
In other news, me and Mash had been promoted to investigators for the current singularity, while Roman had been accepted as the current head of affairs over at Chaldea. After some final pleasantries the connection with Roman had been cut, and everyone but Emiya sat down to recover from the stressful entry into the city. I actually had told Emiya to scout ahead. Since I knew who had the grail and where they were it would be a lot easier if he could find us the fastest and safest route to the mountain. I assumed he already suspected that I knew of his connection to Fuyuki, but didn't commend on it further, instead vanishing into his invisible form and disappearing off to somewhere.
As I finished nibbling on some bread Olga turned to face me. This was going to be another lecture, wasn't it?
"Excuse me, Müller, but do you know what this is?" She held up a shiny, spiked gem in her left hand.
"I do in fact. That must be a Saint Quartz. Some sort of gem imbued with the power needed to summon servants, right?" outwardly, I was composed, but internally I was doing backflips. Spare me your lecture, lady. You put three on the shield and stuff pops out.
"If you do, then there's no need to explain them to you, is there? Don't worry about the prana. Chaldea's systems handle the brunt of the energy required for the servants. But since you are our only Master right now, you should go ahead and summon some additional Servants to help us."
My grin must have been massive, because the Director reluctinglygave me the thirty Saint Quartz she had on her. But how could I not be ecstatic about this? That's a lot of free Saint Quartz. Perhaps I would manage to roll-
Then I realized something.
Something horrible.
This was the tutorial summoning. A forced roll of thirty to summon heroes and craft essences from a very limited pool. But while the pool was limited to merely a small sample of the throne, you would get a guaranteed 4-Star Servant. If you were lucky, you could even get two! Perhaps it would be different in a realistic scenario, but it's better not to get your hopes up, because some of the better servants you could summon where absolutely not what I wanted to summon.
With this knowledge my grin had subsided into a smile as I made my way to the shield, Mash and Olga following closely behind me. Perhaps I would manage to summon the servants like I did in my own game? If that was to be the case, then I would have Siegfried and Marie on my side. Two servants, that while not as good in the game, could be very handy to have right now. I spared Olga a glance and formulated a question regarding the more intrinsic mechanics of the upcoming summon.
"Olga, can I put all of them on the shield at once? You know, to summon ten times at once, or do it has to be ten individual summons?"
"How would you fit thirty Saint Quartz on this shield, Müller? For all your visions, you are surprisingly inadequate at managing even the simplest of tasks." I made a point not to react to that insult. "While it is not possible with the current setup, the summoning site in Chaldea would allow you to do so, but don't go squandering the Saint Quartz to fuel some kind of addiction. The summoning system is pretty much a prototype and results should vary greatly from summon to summon, do you understand?"
Bending down, three of the Saint Quartz quickly found themselves placed on the inner circle of the shield. With a short bark of 'summon!' the gems began to glow, split into a familiar ring of lights, only to slowly begin spinning in a circle. As they accelerated into a ring of light, I held my breath. The moment of truth would begin now. The ring expanded into a single larger band of light before collapsing back in on itself. A craft essence. Eh, I always wondered how these things work. As the pillar of prana died down, a lone gold card could be seen hovering above the shield, waiting to be picked up. On closer inspection, it was lined with an array of golden highlights, especially around the edges. The face of it depicted a teenage Shirou Emiya in the process of projecting Kanshou and Bakuya. Well, I had pulled my first copy of the Craft Essence 'Projection'. While clearly not the best of it's kind, it would pair well with Emiya. Kind of ironic, really.
"Well that's not a Servant. Go ahead and try to summon at least one other before we run out of Saint Quartz, Müller. And hold on to that card, will you? Those cards are called 'Craft Essences'. They represent a glimpse of memories from a Servant that can be fused to any spirit origin to strengthen it in a particular way."
Nodding, I placed more Saint Quartz on the shield. Come on, Gacha! Don't do me like this now...
The first four summons were all Craft Essences. To my amusement, two of them had ties to Emiya. I now had Projection, Jeweled Sword Zeltrech, Reality Marble and Ath nGabla to enhance my Servants. While not bad, it wouldn't hurt to actually have some additional Servants in the first place.
The fifth summon was a different story. As the Saint Quartz spun and formed yet another ring of light, it expanded differently this time, separating into three individual lines, before they collapsed in a magnificent pillar of prana. A servant had arrived! While we waited for the light show to die down, I briefly wondered if I had even managed to summon anything. There was silhouette among the leftover prana to be seen! Despair began to set in, and I felt my shitty luck catching up to me, when a childish voice spoke up.
"Hello, Master. My name... Let me see... You can just call me Gil." I sputtered.
Had I really just summoned Kid Gil? As the rest of the pillar collapsed, it began showing the tiny form of young Gilgamesh smiling at us. One on hand, I wanted to jump in joy – finally a servant! And one I knew! On the other hand – It's Gilgamesh, even if it was his younger form, thus limited in power.
"Are you, uh, sure you don't want us to address you by your title?"
"Don't worry, Master. I told you to just call me Gil, right?"
Sighing in relief, I beckoned for the young boy to leave the shield, which he promptly did. As he got closer he began smiling up at me, and I wondered why there was a spark of mischief in his eyes.
"Hm, Master. Why don't you try to summon another one? I will allow it, you know? Something good might happen if you do." I finally felt it.
This is the Charisma the franchise keeps talking about. I felt myself following the instructions I were just given without a second thought and placed another trio of gems on the shield. If the boy with the power to see the future had ordered me to do so, then he surely had good intentions, right?
Unless we are talking about Kiyohime. I would never be ready for her, and based on my experience with the game, I would soon find myself drowning in hazards to my health.
Compared to the previous summoning, the individual sparks of light began glowing with even more radiance, as they changed their color to a golden hue. Excitement flooded me, as they began to show the tell-tale movements of a rare summon. Finally a sign of luck! Considering the mechanics of the tutorial summon, this could be anyone from a select list. In the worst scenario I would find myself with a figure like Carmilla, Elizabeth or Stheno. If that were to be the case, dying would be much more likely. But on the other hand, I could summon my boy Siegfried or even Hercules. Any of these two, and the challenge would be over before it had even begun. Bless RNG, because here they come!
The prana faded much quicker this time, dispersing in a burst of golden light, as it revealed a silhouette of moderate height and feminine statue. She was around Mash's height, perhaps a few centimeters taller. This already ruled out my ideal Servants, but I would take what I was given, but when the Servant stepped out of the circle, I felt something die inside of me.
"I am one of the Tamamo Nine, the Wild Fox, Tamamo Cat! Nice to meet you, my Master!"
Why did it have to be the air-headed one? Give me the sadists instead.
Footnotes:
(1): German for "Oh, you son of a bitch."
So that's chapter two done. If you go back to the basic guidelines in chapter 1 and check the tutorial summon afterwards, you will notice that out of all the servants in there, you can only summon Emiya, Stheno and Tamamo Cat. Everyone else appears in the following singularities. And I am not even quite sure about Stheno. I always get her and Euryale mixed up, so I am unsure whether or not she made an appearance in Okeanos as well. Whatever, we got the Tamamo Knock-Off, which also gives me more excuses for comedy. Anyways, I'm out.
