As I am checking all of my equipment and preparations for the last time, including going over the emergency measures in my head, I can't help but feel an odd mix of emotions.
The task before me fills me with dread, and elates me, both at the same time.
Yearning for an opportunity to leave this place, even for a mission as dangerous and vital as this, is bound to do that I suppose.
The oppressive reality that I might die in the next couple of seconds if the rayshifting doesn't go as planned is clashing with the anticipation of temporarily being free of the horrors lurking here.
The last checks and rechecks are done, the knight stands at my side, all systems are working as they are supposed to.
I press the button to initiate the rayshift. The countdown begins.
5
4
3
2
1
0…
The world twists and turns all round me, I can feel the vertigo beginning to take hold, my head feels like a balloon in a storm.
I can almost feel my consciousness slip away, but then it stops, and I am lying face down on an asphalt road. A strange heat seems to permeate the air, and I can smell a bit of smoke as well.
As I am getting up, I can see the road split in multiple places in front of me, large cracks running from one side to the other.
There are abandoned cars scattered about and everywhere I look things are on fire, the bright flames contrasting with the night sky, illuminating the entirety of the city that would likely be completely shrouded in darkness otherwise.
The whole city looks like a war took place here, even the skyscrapers in the distance have clearly broken windows, and even seem to be missing parts, as if something took a few bites out of them.
But, after two months of the same haunting sterile steel walls of Chaldea with no way out, even a place like this makes my spirits soar, and the ruined cityscape fills me with glee.
I run my fingers across the ruined hood of a nearby car to make sure this is not just a dream.
Then, I realise that I don't see the knight anywhere near me.
Where did it go? Did it make it along with me? Did it die during the relocation?
I search around for a moment, before I see it next to a car a few hundred meters away from me, ripping a parking meter out of the ground, seemingly keen to use it as a weapon.
Only then does it occur to me that I probably should have tried to check using the mental link first.
I quickly make my way to the knight, wary of any enemies that might lurk unseen nearby.
Along with it, I then make my way into one of the store fronts nearby that the fire hasn't gotten to yet.
The inside of the store is completely dark on account of the lights not working, so I take out a flashlight and continue further inside.
It seems to be a local a convenience store, some of the aisles are knocked over, and some have a number of their products strewn about in front of them, but other than that the place is mostly untouched, no plundering seems to have taken place here.
My eyes wander to the bags of chips, soda bottles, all kinds of alcohol, things that I don't have much of back in Chaldea.
I make my way a bit further into the store, so that even the large knight cannot be seen from the entrance.
Now that I'm not out in the open I take out a tablet from the backpack.
There's no signal from any local satellites or cellphone towers, but I do have a stable connection to Chaldea.
I remotely check all of the data from the monitoring devices in the control room.
Luckily everything seems to be in order, the programs I made to automate the process of the rayshift monitoring seem to be working as they are supposed to, and nothing unusual seems to be happening back in Chaldea either.
Right now I would really like to be able to hide safely in one of these buildings, away from any potential enemies, and command the knight to carry out the mission alone while I monitor it.
However, since I have no idea who or what I am up be against, and given that the enemy might be well versed in stealth or seeking out enemies, I will have to stick with the knight instead.
The monitoring devices in Chaldea might be able to give me a heads up against any incoming enemies via my smartphone, but that isn't much help when I have no way to fight, run or hide without the knight.
I sigh and try to look for the cause of the singularity using the new data I can now gather about it.
I can see multiple 'leylines', rivers of mana flowing through the Earth, all around the city.
According to the research I had done beforehand, there is a 'keystone' for all of the leylines here. It is located in the Ryuudou temple, allowing a mage who controls the temple to have control over all of the leylines in the city, giving them a large amount of mana to use in their plans.
If this singularity is the doing of a mage, they have likely based themselves there..
And even if there is no one there, I might be able to use the mana myself to try and make the search easier.
Well, time to move I suppose.
On my way to the exit, I make a short visit to a tea isle I saw on my way inside, picking a few packages to take with me before I go. A good way to test whether I can take items along with me when I return.
…
Might as well take a bottle of Dr. Pepper and a bag of chips while I am at it.
The streets are quiet, only the crackling of the numerous fires that are raging around the city can be heard, interrupted by nothing more than the footsteps of the knight and myself.
After a short while of walking, I get an alert warning of enemy signatures entering my detection range.
Confirming them visually from afar, they seem to be skeletons of some kind. They aren't wearing any armour or protective gear other than some tattered remains of clothing. Most of them have swords and clubs, and a small number of them has bows.
There is a group of about 10 of them directly in our way, and a group of 3 down the street on our right.
From the few things I have seen of the knight, as well as what the books would have me believe, 10 skeletons should be a piece of cake for it.
But since I don't know what the skeletal warriors are capable of, and would like to avoid any nasty surprises, I order him to take care of the group on the right first.
The moment I give it the mental command, it goes from standing still to running faster than any human in less than a second.
It quickly covers the roughly 700 hundred meters distance between me and the skeletons.
It swings its parking meter once, and a skeleton is blown apart. The other two don't fare any better.
I suppose the knight was really holding back on me when I had summoned it.
The other group of skeletons is dispatched with similar ease. Before most of them have any chance to react they are blown apart, and even those that do react in time don't manage to hurt the knight at all.
As we progress towards the temple, we encounter a couple dozen more skeletons, but none of them seem to even as much as inconvenience the knight.
In fact, I suspect that it rather enjoys this.
As we need to cross the river in order to get to the temple, we make our way towards a large bridge that seems mostly intact by the carnage all around. It's also not on fire unlike most of the things in this city.
Despite that, the fires from both shores seem to be enough to allow at least some visibility to anyone walking on the bridge.
When we are about a third of the way across, my phone buzzes in alert.
A new signature, much more powerful than any of the skeletons, is quickly making its way to the bridge from behind us.
There is no way I can make it across the bridge before it arrives, so I instead order the knight to stand in between me and whatever is coming to us while I figure out whether or not it is hostile.
Soon, I can see a figure running across the bridge towards us.
It seems to be holding a polearm of some kind, but I cannot discern any other details across the distance in the dim light.
It's only when it stops around a hundred meters from me that I can ascertain its appearance.
In front of me stands a tall, fairly muscular Asian man in a strange medieval garb, holding a glaive of some kind. A white orb shines from his armour wrapped in cloth, ending in a tattered skirt, revealing his bare feet. On his back is a large number of weapons ranging from a mace to a trident.
"Hahahahaha, what do we have here, an unknown servant with an unknown master?" he laughs from underneath his turban "I was going to help Rider and Archer fight Berserker, but this might be even more interesting. Namu."
He talks! He might be giving off some hostile vibes, but still!
"He-hello." I fumble with my words after not talking for so long, the gas mask putting even more of a damper on my efforts.
"Um, what happened here?" A bit succinct and clumsy, but at least I managed to get it out in one piece.
"Oh, and why would I tell you that? Especially since I am going to kill you right now."
"Why?"
"Because she told us to kill any masters and turn any servants we can find of course."
"She? Turn?"
"Nothing a dead man needs to know. Namu." he says, readying this weapon
"Can't we resolve this peacefully?" I force my longest sentence yet out quickly in an attempt to ward off the fight.
"No." he says as he charges towards us.