"There."
Naruto pointed at a specific part of the map, one spot that was out of the way from all the other civilizations. On one side were structures that were unmistakably pyramids of ancient Egypt. On the other side of the desert was a massive city of diamond that had some kind of force field around it. And between them was a large line of mountains, acting as the border line that kept the two of them apart.
The space he was pointing to was above all of them, in the part of the desert that wasn't peppered with shacks or inhabited. It didn't help that the place was on fire and there seemed to be ruins of some sort laying around.
"Ruins of some sort." Dr. Roman pointed out the obvious as he zoomed in. "Though they're nothing like that of this time. They're more modern, but it's clear that it was a facility of some sort. I'm also detecting a much larger section under the surface, which must mean that this was some kind of underground bunker." He frowned. "Hold on..."
"What is it?" Naruto asked with a curious look as he watched the doctor work. He was trying to keep up with what the man was doing, but he couldn't understand any of the numbers or variables that were scrolling across the screen at a rapid pace. He could discern some key words like mana and Od, but that was about it.
"Just as I thought." Roman said as a yellow line drew a boundary around the burning area. "This is the first time I've ever seen something like this, but there is no doubt about what it is. These ruins are part of another time, or to be more exact, from our time."
"2016?"
"2004 to 2016 I believe." Roman estimated as he placed a finger on his chin with a thoughtful look. "Although I can't seem to get an actual read on the building. There's some kind of powerful magical wards and enchantments around the place that's blocking our sensors."
"A magical facility?" Naruto suggested, having heard of things like that.
"A very likely guess." Roman nodded in agreement. "Although I do not know which one it could possibly be. I haven't been to any other magical societies other than the Clock Tower, though I am sure we can rule out that place. It has some powerful enchantments, but it's mostly above ground and never really had to worry about security since they had the military under their thumb."
"I have an idea."
The two of them looked towards the entrance to find a young man with long black hair that reached past his shoulders. Atop his face was a pair of glasses that rested at the tip of his nose, giving him the impression of a strict professor at a college academy or more likely, a businessman if his suit was any indication. In his mouth was a cigar, a brand of which Naruto didn't notice. It wasn't like he was a fan of smoking, but he was pretty sure that most cigars didn't have a drago insignia on the side of it.
"Hello Lord El-Melloi II." Roman greeted the former professor of the Clock Tower as he walked into the room. "It's good to see you. Also, you know this room is a non-smoking area."
The man sighed before grabbing the cigar and throwing it behind him without looking, easily landing the relief item in a trash can outside. "Yes, yes, I know. But on to the main point. You're curious as to what that place is, correct?"
"Details would be appreciated." Naruto admitted, not really that in touch with how magical society worked nowadays.
"Then you're lucky I'm the one taking Tesla's place today." El Melloi II said as he strolled over and took a look at the map in front of them. As he did so, Roman and Naruto silently let him pass to do his work.
Naruto found it quite surprising that the man remembered him from their past war in Trifas. Of course, he was generally surprised to find him in Chaldea at all. Apparently the man was acting as the most compatible host of the famous strategist Zhuge Kongming. He had simply been summoned that way and nobody knew why, but it was possibly because the heroic spirit didn't want to actually help them physically and only decided to give the professor his powers before leaving.
He was impressed that the man was able to house such a powerful heroic spirit, albeit very briefly. While not strong physically as usual of the caster class, the man was a strategic military general that was able to defend his smaller state from the assault of one of the largest armies at that time. Even in death, the man was still able to outsmart his opponents one final time.
A strategic genius from an age before him. He would have been pretty excited to meet someone like that, but he knew how politicians could be. Danzo was a great example of that.
He shivered.
That being said, Waver had already finished scanning the area for whatever it was that he was looking for. Nodding in satisfaction, he turned to them and took out a small pointer from his pocket before pointing it at the center of the yellow circle the map had created.
"Judging by the bunker like design of the facility and the nearly fifty century old protective wards, I can almost guarantee that this place was formerly the magical facility of the Atlas Academy."
Naruto's eye brows scrunched up in confusion while Roman's eyes widened in surprise.
"Atlas? The magical institute? the one in the mountains?"
"Small description, but basically yes." Waver shrugged like a regular professor who had given you an 'okay' answer. "Atlas Academy was in the Atlas mountains, yes, but it's a lot more than that. It's one of the oldest magical institutes and one of the most dangerous for their... odd tendencies."
"Odd tendencies?" Naruto frowned, not liking where this was going.
"They're alchemists. The oddest of the odd. Unlike others, they didn't care much about surpassing themselves and getting stronger. Rather, they created ideas and objects that had the ability to surpass them." Waver explained, adopting a lecturing pose subconsciously.
"'We have no need to be the strongest. We create that which is the strongest'. That's one of their more famous quotes, right?" Roman asked, somewhat surprised at himself for remembering something like that.
"Indeed. I believe it was said by one of the late directors." Waver said with a satisfied nod. "That's also their most central dogma for all Atlas alchemists. Following that kind of principle, the academy has given birth to an arsenal of lethal and dangerous weaponry. In the world of magic, they are called the Seven Taboos. it was said that they had created seven weapons with the power to destroy the world before realizing their own limits, and sealed them away. No one knows who created them or why, but they're several of the most coveted treasures they have."
"Doomsday weapons." Naruto noted, uncomfortable with the fact that humanity had been creating things like these and he hadn't known about it.
"Exactly. The place is the biggest stockpile of mystic codes and magical objects without equal on this earth. Though if anyone was to be honest, the place was just a highly volatile junkyard. The alchemists had mostly created mystic codes, deemed them failures, and tossed them in the basement to let them form into a horrifying mound of weapons." Waver shrugged. "That's enough firepower to put the explosion of the Nuclear bomb to shame. The clocktower kept an eye on them, but we barely got any outside activity. The true party..."
He zoomed in the picture, revealing some barely noticeable staircases that were half-buried under the rubble.
"...Is under ground. Those staircases should lead you directly to the lower levels without a problem. I highly suggest we should get a servant to check it out. If someone decided to ransack the place they would have access to an unlimited source of weapons, which Atlas itself has worked hard to protect."
"But I don't believe there's anyone who can go right now..." Roman muttered as he placed a perplexed hand on his chin. "And communications are still down so I can't get the squad to check it out. Besides, they already seem to already have their hands full to be burdened with such a task right now."
"Perhaps Nero could go. She's been dying for some action."
"She's too curious for her own good. The second she gets there the entire place is going to go up in flames."
As the two continued to talk and come up with potential possibilities and the best way to tackle them, Naruto raised his hand up and cut his way through their conversation.
"I could go." He offered, causing the two of them to pause and look at him.
"Go?" Roman echoed with a confused look. "Didn't you say that you couldn't go because you'd basically be causing a time-crash? What's with the sudden change of mind?"
Naruto shrugged. "If I limit myself to the standards of a normal human, I'm sure I won't effect the singularity too much." He suddenly kicked his feet bashfully. "And the reason I didn't go with them was because I am kinda... out of practice."
"Out of practice?" Waver raised an eyebrow. How does a god get out of practice?
"I've been out of it for a really long time." Naruto said as he scratched his head. "I mean thanks to my powers, I don't really have to try in fights as much any more. Without them, I'm not sure how much I would fare in a real smackdown." He paused. "Well, I can testify that I'm way higher than most of the average servants in terms of skill. Maybe as martially good as Scatty. I'm pretty sloppy though. Other than that, I think I'm ready."
"You sure? I don't think we can leyshift you out of there once you go beneath the surface. The magical wards are interfering with the system." Roman warned.
"This seems like a good time to get back into action. The last thing I need is to find myself stripped of my powers and not be of any use on the field." Naruto said with a crack of his knuckles. "Fire the machine up Doc. I'll be leaving right now."
"You haven't explained how you were going to limit your power." Waver reminded, a slightly curious look on his face. To answer him, Naruto rolled up his sleeve and revealed markings resembling a tattoo that slightly glowed with power.
"These are power limiter seals." Naruto explained, pointing to the complicated engravings. "There are at least 13 different seals designed to restrict my power and prevent me from leaking energy. Gaia usually gets mad when I don't try to keep myself in check, sort of a compromise me and her have that allows me to stay on earth for as long as I want."
"Really? I would have thought that you'd gone to the other side of the world where all the other elementals were said to exist." Roman said, interested in the topic of where the gods had gone after worship began to wane. He had asked Artemis about it once, but the goddess was way to ditsy to properly give him a simple explanation.
Oh yeah. They also had goddesses here. Apparently they could hijack servants and invade the world in a limited form. Go figure.
"Pretty much all of them did." Naruto shrugged. "They're all pretty old. Mean included. We all have to follow a specific set of rules that Gaia imposed on us so that we don't go around and mess up the balance of the universe. I'm not limited to those kinds of rules, though. I'm just special that way."
"What's different about you? Granted, history places you as one of the most middle aged gods but that doesn't make you any different." Waver noted.
"Well, I wasn't a god from birth you know? I was just a regular human. Granted, I had special circumstances, but I was simply just a fairly powerful human being from the get go. I only became a god later when I reabsorbed the tailed beasts and achieved a perfect state of divinity. So you can say that I'm sort of... out of the loop."
He held up his finger. "Of course, the other gods have a way of bypassing this rule but rarely ever do so. Take Artemis for example, she simply hijacked the summoning of Orion and entered this world as a spiritual body that was several levels lower as compensation to abide by the rules of the world. If she hadn't done so, I doubt anyone looking upon her would remain standing. Their true forms are nothing to scoff at."
"And you're sure that you'll be okay?"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. I will. Just fire up the machine."
Waver and Roman glanced at each other before shrugging and began preparing the machine to launch. As the machine began to hum, Roman typed in the coordinates while Naruto headed towards the coffins for leyshifting.
"Just so you know... The desert is going to be messing with the communications. Until I can find a workaround, you'll be on your own like the rest of them."
"I'll link up with them." Naruto promised as he zipped up his jacket. "I'm a great sensor, so I shouldn't have any problem finding them. Once you get back in contact I'll let you know what I found."
Roman nodded and gave Waver the thumbs up. Nodding, the magus flipped a switch and the process began. As the machine powered up, the room was illuminated in a flash as Naruto disappeared within through space and time.
Naruto opened his eyes and found himself directly outside the ruins Waver had pinpointed on the map. He breathed a sigh of relief. For once, the Doctor managed to actually get the correct landing zone this time. If it wasn't for the fact he had been told many stories about the doctor's 'ley shift screw ups', he wouldn't have been very tense.
He moved quickly. Not only was a sandstorm about to hit, but he also felt his shinobi instincts take over. Right now, he had to make sure that he wasn't seen by anyone. This place was far out of the way for anyone to accidentally run into. Thus, whoever is here knew exactly what the facility was.
Moving the small amounts of rubble with a slight amount of effort, he made a small opening for him to get through. Crawling through, he found himself greeted with the flickering lights of magical lamps that lined the descending cavern.
"And I thought Orochimaru's lab was creepy..."
He descended the stairs and found himself into a passageway that began splitting off into several other hallways. Narrowing his eyes, he looked for anything inconspicuous. Waver had told him that the place was a magical facility. And if it was anything like Orochimaru's, there was no doubt going to be a lot of traps lying around to prevent anyone from getting in. Probably a bunch of pressure plates or some-
He suddenly spun around and drew a kunai, stopping it a few millimeters away from the neck of a man who looked... British? Maybe. He had no idea how the man had managed to get downstairs without him hearing. His clothing consisted of a simple black suit with matching black suit pants. His hair was a dark shade of blue, and his skin was extremely pale. In his hands was a small smoking pipe like the ones they would use commonly in old England.
Despite the kunai at his neck, the man just smiled.
"You might want to watch your left. You nearly stepped on a pressure pad."
Naruto stared at the man as he processed what he had said. Without taking his eyes off him, he moved his left foot out and felt around for a bit until he felt something click under his toes.
A bolt of light suddenly shot out of the wall, flying past them and causing a small scorch mark on the wall behind the blue haired man.
"Told you so."
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, slightly loosening his grip on the man. It was obvious he wasn't here to kill him, but something unsettled him about this man.
"Why isn't it obvious? My clothing, my manner of speaking... does it not ring any bells?" The man asked with mock hurt, but it was clear he didn't expect him to know.
"Just get to the point. You're clearly British, possibly around the mid eighteen-hundreds if I were to wager. I don't personally know anyone else who would be born during that time besides Jack. And you're clearly not a loli."
"Quite the acute deduction, Mr. Maelstrom. Missed a couple clear details, but it's mostly there." The man said with a shrug as he tipped his pipe towards him in acknowledgement at his bewildered look.
"Wait, ho-" Naruto began.
"Do I know your name? Simple deduction." The man shrugged as he sauntered around him, eyeing him up and taking in details. "The weapons you use are that of a shinobi, limiting you to that of Japan. You also match the description of certain lost manuscripts that describe a man of your stature. Blonde hair, the sacred spiral, and whiskers like a fox... No heroic spirit could mistake such a description. A trivial deduction." The man declared with a shrug. "As for who I am, i'll just say it for simplicity sake. I am Sherlock Holmes, The Great Detective of Baker Street."
Naruto's eyes widened. Now he felt like a complete idiot. There weren't many british heroic spirits who would take on an appearance like this. The ones most likely would be those of the younger era. The last several years before heroes vanished.
His voice wasn't very haughty either. Most of the servants from Britain had some trace of royal or formal tone in their accent. This man had none of that whatsoever. In fact, his tone was sharper and much more informal.
"Although I guess it can't be helped that you don't notice me. I don't show up much." Sherlock said with a shrug. "Being in the spotlight isn't much of my thing. I only solve cases, but even those have been boring lately. I mean, the murder of a prime minister? B-O-R-I-N-G!"
"Then why are you here? A magical nuclear shelter is your idea of a vacation?" Naruto asked, holstering his kunai as he gave the man a skeptical look. "Spill it."
"Well, as I was saying, the cases I've been getting were quite boring lately. I had almost given up hope that I'd get anything, but lo and behold, I have been visited by an interesting client to solve this wonderful mystery!" He paced back and forth energetically. "Yes... The greatest murder mystery ever produced. How can something like the death of humanity even happen? Why would the legendary king of magic be the culprit? So many things just don't add up and I'm going to unravel this wonderful tapestry!"
Naruto stared at the man with a frown. "Okay... but that doesn't explain why you're here."
"Knowledge. That is why I'm here." Sherlock replied as he stopped his pacing. "What I require to solve this mystery is down here in the catacombs of the Atlas facility. That is why I'm here. I would go and get in myself but..."
He gestured to himself. "My form is weak right now. Traveling between timelines are quite hard on the body. As such, I deduced that someone else would eventually come to this facility to investigate."
"So you're saying that you were waiting for someone to clear the way for you." Naruto summarized with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, isn't that why you are here? You have no doubt made contact with Chaldea. Whatever is inside here is also of your concern." Sherlock pointed out. "We can both help each other out. You clear the way, and I'll follow.
Naruto sighed and rubbed his head. He came here to do just that anyway. No big deal having someone tag along. Although it meant that he'd have to deal with protecting him since he couldn't fight in his current state.
"Fine. Follow me and stick close. I like my meat shields within grabbing distance." Naruto said as he took out a kunai and began walking down the hallway.
"Certainly! You just focus on protecting me and we'll be all good to go!" Sherlock exclaimed with a grin as he followed Naruto.
"I wish we were back at the oasis..." Gabby muttered as they trudged through the desert, having already decided it was time to leave the shelter behind to explore.
"Be patient, Gabby." Medea chided as she walked beside her in a calm manner. "We're almost there. Near the pyramids. We can stop when we get there."
"But that's a problem. There aren't supposed to be any pyramids in this era." Da Vinci explained as she monitored her device. "My only guess is that either a servant created them or another singularity is bleeding into this one."
"Let's just hope they're friendly." Gudao said as they continued to trudge on through the sandstorm.
"Mas-rs!" Emiya suddenly called from the flank. Turning around, they found him trying to tell them something, but the sandstorm was carrying his voice away. Judging by his expression, however, it was probably not good.
"Somethings approaching!" Da Vinci suddenly exclaimed as her device began beeping. "Whatever it is, it's fast. Faster than a sphinx!"
"Stay behind us." Kakashi said as he stood in front of them. "Jiraiya, you be the distraction. I'll get on them from behind."
"Why do I have to be the distraction?" Jiraiya complained.
"Because you're the louder of the two of us. They'll be more attracted to you."
"True." Scathach agreed with a small smirk. "You're kind of hard to miss."
"Actually, they don't seem to be phantasmal creatures." Da Vinci cut in, pointing to several small shapes that were running towards them. "They're smaller. Possibly humans from the pyramids."
"You think they see us as invaders?" Gabby asked with concern. It wouldn't do for them to make an enemy of Egypt.
"Better safe than sorry. No killing." Gudao ordered, earning a nod from the servants. As the shapes got closer, the party blinked when they realized that they were indeed not phantasmal creatures. Instead, they were humans who were dressed in black cloaks and running towards them at high speeds. What caught their attention the most, however, was the white skull masks they were each wearing.
"Hassans!"
"But their signatures... They have a servant among them!" Mashu informed, readying her shield. Assassin class servants were quite a troublesome for to deal with. The first chance they get to attack the masters will no doubt be one they will take immediately. They had to be on guard.
As the Hassans got closer, they suddenly began moving into some kind of formation. Leading the squad from the front was a ponytailed blue haired woman who tensed upon seeing them. Her eyes quickly widened when she saw just who was amongst the people in front of them. True, mostly all of them were new to her, but two of them were definitely recognizable.
"Lady Hundred-faces..." One of the men hissed. "It's sir Mordred and some other knight bearing the symbol of the lion king. Your orders?"
"Sir Mordred? Alone without any knight regiments? That doesn't make any sense." The servant replied, quickly scanning the situation. "The others don't bear the markings of the king either. A simple trick. Probably some reserved force to lower our guard."
"Orders?" The Hassan repeated.
"Make an example. If we can't, then we run." And with that, she quickly pulled out several daggers from her belt and threw them at the team.
"Hostile!" Kakashi yelled as he swatted the daggers out of the air. "Everybody on me!"
"Who made you the leader?" Mordred asked as she stood next to him. As she did so, several of the hassans faltered for a moment before resuming their charge. As the two groups ran at each other, they began separating and forcing all of them away from each other.
And luckily for Kakashi, he was the one who got the leader.
"Stand down, Hassan. We do not mean any harm." He said as he took out a kunai and traded strikes with the Hassan, sparks flying as their knives struck.
"And why should I believe that? You may not bear the mark of the king, but you associate yourself with the likes of them. That is enough for met to hate you." The hassan growled as she lashed out with a kick which Kakashi blocked and pushed back, throwing her backwards.
She was good. There was no doubt about that. In terms of skill, she was definitely up there with the likes of the jounin. If it wasn't for the fact that she didn't have chakra, he would have mistaken her for a Suna shinobi.
But there was something he had that she didn't. Something that gave him the edge over her.
The Hassan's eyes widened in surprise under her mask as she found the blade of her knife cleaved in half. Kakashi's kunai had suddenly become swathed with electricity, increasing the sharpness of his blade which allowed it to slice cleanly through her own.
"Surrender now, Hassan. There is still time for us to work this out." Kakashi offered calmly. The Hassan simply scowled and pulled out two more knives, one for each hand.
"Okay... Have it your way." Kakashi muttered as he raised his kunai. As he did so, he suddenly saw a shape out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly, he saw one of the larger men keeping himself out of the fighting. In fact, he seemed like he was trying to avoid being drawn into one. Over his back was a sack of some sort, though it looked too big for food and supplies. It was big enough to hold several spears in.
Or a body...
That bag was important. Whatever was inside it was more important than food. Otherwise, he wouldn't attempt to hide himself. He had no doubt the Hassans could survive on their own. Even with their limited resources they were men of the desert. This was their habitat.
Unfortunately, it seems like the purple haired hassan has caught on to what he was thinking as she stepped in front of him with her knives poised to strike. Her stance was quite a clear, 'you shall not pass'.
Guess he was going to have to do things the hard way.
"These golems are annoying..." Naruto muttered as he sliced through another robotic golem as it lumbered towards him with a halberd. "Wonder why these defenses weren't outside."
"That's because these things were to prevent anybody from leaving." Holmes answered from behind him. "Atlas was very strict on the 'no leaving' policy. Anybody may enter, but nobody may leave. That's why these halls are designed the way they are. They make it impossible for anyone to escape. Fortunately, I have already memorized the way out of here."
"Least you're useful for something." Naruto muttered as they continued their way down the hallway, bypassing the traps along the way. "What are you looking for exactly? A magic item?"
"Like I said, I'm looking for information." Sherlock said as he ducked underneath a flying arrow that was released from a hidden slot in the wall. "Information that I do not currently have available to me. Deep within the academy is supposed to be a super computer of some sort with information of all things ever since the academy had been created. With it, I shall find the answers that I need. Or at least, part of it."
"And you're sure that it's still operational?"
"Doubts are low. The upper part of the facility had been obliterated, but the lower parts have remained intact. I believe there should be enough power for me to utilize it."
He suddenly paused. "By the way, do you happen to know a Dr. Roman by any chance?"
Naruto blinked and stopped at that sudden question. "The doc? Yeah, I know him. Why?"
"Then let me make this clear." Sherlock said, his voice oddly serious. "I do not trust the doctor."
If it was possible, the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees as Naruto processed what the man had just said. His eyes narrowed at that. He would have doubted it if it were anyone else, but this was the smartest man when it came to analysis.
"And what makes you say that?"
"You'll see when I show you. I'm not telling you that the Doctor is certainly a spy, but I simply cannot trust him with information of my involvement." Sherlock said, his tone lacking of its previous humor. "You understand where I'm coming from, don't you? I'm simply cautious."
"Sure. But explain. Now." Naruto ordered with a commanding tone.
"When we get to the super computer." Sherlock said as he walked past him. "I think it's past this hall here."
Following after him, Naruto soon found himself in a huge dome like structure staring up at the... sky? He frowned. No. It was a man-made sky that had been designed to replicate life above ground.
The area was large enough to build a small city or town. There were trees, rivers, and even small birds that flew around the area. It was amazing to think the place was man-made. Especially when these people seemed like the type to focus more on their studies.
"We've finally made it." Sherlock said with a grin, his old tone coming back. "The central hub of Atlas."
"Where's the computer?" Naruto asked, looking around.
"Right over there."
Following his finger, Naruto found himself staring at a large structure in the shape of an orb with several stone objects floating around it. It was centered in the center of the hub and flickered with residues of mana, showing that it was functioning to some degree.
"Wait... But that's..."
"Exactly. The machine you have in Chaldea is built exactly like this one." Sherlock confirmed as he began walking. "Now then... Let's see if this thing has any more jui-"
"Get back!" Naruto suddenly yelled as he grabbed the man and pulled him behind him. In front of him, several objects flew out of the air and hit the ground in front of them. With a cracking sound, the objects stood up and revealed themselves to be...
"Puppets." Naruto muttered as he brandished his kunai. "These aren't golems. I know these kinds of designs anywhere. Golems magi use aren't made out of wood too often."
"Somebody you know?" Sherlock guessed
"Not many too famous. But..." His eyes drifted towards the base of the machine, where a figure stood over the control board. "I have an idea."
The puppets made a jerking motion and several weapons popped out of each of them in a unique manner. Scythes, saws, kunai launchers, these things were packed with weaponry.
"You came later than expected. He said that you would show up eventually." The figure spoke in an emotionless voice as it continued handling the controls. It was familiar, but Naruto could only briefly place it.
The figure turned, revealing a young man in a familiar red and black cloak. His red hair was messy and looked like it hadn't been combed. His right and left hands remained still. Whenever they twitched, however, the puppets jerked in response.
Naruto's eyes narrowed. How could anyone like him be summoned as a servant?
Seeing his look, the man just sighed.
"You know, I hate being kept waiting."