I greedily drank the last drops of my soft drink. I wanted another, but couldn't be assed to go get it, so I simply left the bottle on a windowsill and sat on the floor. Mash was standing nearby, not wanting to be caught unprepared in case anything happened, though she did grab a Fanta and was now midway through with it.
I gave a tired smile and sighed. I was safe with her, so I could afford to let my mind wander, though I would have preferred to just keep moving through the Singularity without giving any thought to anything that happened around me. It would have saved me from the nerves.
With nothing better to do, I decided to look over at my plans in the long term. Focusing on that seemed like it'd be better than worrying about what I could do or couldn't.
At one point, I'm sure I was welcoming the idea of not having to fight. Sure, being a janitor was a bit demeaning, but I liked the idea of not sticking my neck out; I could do without opening myself to being gutted like a fish by any number of things.
But much as I'd love the prospect, I'd have to fight. If I wanted to do that I would need to find a way to be less useless though. Mystic Codes could help bridge the gap a bit, for sure, but they could only do so much. Studying a magecraft was a definitive must, though I was doubtful I could do anything of note without being an absolute freak of nature or belonged to a line of distinguished magi. Fun fact: I was neither of those.
Maybe brushing up on myth and history would be actually kinda productive. I didn't know who I could end up meeting as a Servant, either on our side or as an enemy, so being able to piece together their True Name from clues they drop and know the gist of their story from it would be a good thing in the long run.
Getting up, I heard and felt my bones give a satisfying crack. Turning to face the window, I gave a sigh as I looked at the trees outside.
"A forest, huh…?" I muttered.
"Master?" Mash turned to face me as she caught onto my voice.
"Ahh, sorry. It's nothing," I responded sheepishly "I'm just kind of surprised we're in a forest. Especially one like Yellowstone."
"Really?" Her eyes widened in surprise. "Weren't you briefed when you were recruited, Master?"
"Just the bare bones of the operation." I shrugged and gave a sigh. "The future after 2018 suddenly disappeared, yadda yadda yadda, an unobservable zone in time that might be the cause...yeah, I didn't get told it'd be here..."
"I...I see," The pink haired girl replied with her head down. "Umm...have you been to a forest before?"
"I have, actually," I answered as I scratched the back of my head. "Not as often as I'd have wanted to, and it's been literal years since then, but..."
"What was it like?" She asked.
"Like, as a whole? I never delved deep into it, just stayed near a certain area," I replied bluntly. "I got no worthwhile experience when it comes to navigating around one, I would have probably led us around in circles or something equally stupid if we had left."
Mash kept quiet at that. I wondered if I had said something wrong, but I couldn't tell. Not feeling brave enough to press the issue, I simply sat down once more, waiting for communications to be restored.
And wait we did. After a long while, I went for another bottle and shortly after I came back, I heard some a crackling sound.
A couple meters away from us, the air was tinted blue and an image began to form. Chaldea's logo came into view, although it was blurred and distorted by static.
"Is this it?" I asked the girl and received a nod in response, so I left the unopened soft drink next to the empty bottle.
After a bit, the image came into focus and was then replaced by a projection of two people. Doctor Roman and Director Olga, both completely unharmed.
I let out a sigh of relief at their sight.
"Doc Roman, Director," I said. "Thank goodness you're alive."
"You!" Olga practically screeched, making me step back. "Why are you there?!"
I waited for a bit to see if anyone interjected, but seeing how no one did, I replied with a sigh. "Bad luck, poor choices, coincidence, poorer life choices..." I listed off. "It's a long story, can we save this for later?"
Before the albino could snap back at me, Roman cut in. "Umm, that might be a good idea. You haven't set up the summoning circle from what I can see."
"We couldn't set it correctly," Mash answered. "We will need help for it."
Olga stopped and looked at the mess I had made on the floor. She grimaced in outright disgust.
"What the hell is this?" She asked with narrowed eyes
"Shit, from the way you're looking at it," I deadpanned as I rolled my eyes. "Can you please help us make it not-shit?"
"Alright, you neophyte!" she yelled in exasperation. "Start by cleaning up this travesty you call a circle!"
"Kaaaaaaaay," I drawled. "Lemme get a mop, I saw one in the kitchen."
The woman was clearly annoyed by my response but refrained from giving a reply, so I went to the kitchen and returned with a wet mop and some rags. Mash couldn't help but look a bit worried because of my personality clashing with the Director's.
As I began to wipe the floor, I spoke up. "What should I use to set up the new circle, by the way?"
Olga considered the question and looked around the room. If there was something useful, I didn't know enough to pick it out. The display cases only had desiccated animal corpses, so it wasn't like we could use their blood or something. Eventually her eyes settled on the Sprite I left on the windowsill.
I braced myself for a derisive comment, breathed in and closed my eyes.
"Use that soft drink," She answered.
What she said instead floored me completely, the betrayal of my expectations was so hard I actually flinched.
"What." I said flatly.
"You heard me!" She snapped at me. "It's not like you have better materials over there, so we'll have to set it twice. First to send something to make a stable circle, then the real deal."
"Alright, but why that instead of water?" I asked.
"The extra sodium makes it a better material than plain water," Roman answered for her, trying to defuse the situation.
"Alright, got it."
I was hardly an expert on the mechanics of magic, so I just accepted the fact without fighting back. The Director shook her head and sighed.
"I can't believe I'm having a complete novice jury-rig a summoning circle with lime-lemon soda during this historical operation," she lamented.
"That's just going to be an absolute joy to write in our report for the Clocktower, isn't it?" I shot back.
The look of dawning realization on her face made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Shaking my head, I went back to work.
I am such a horrible person.
After a good while of messing around, getting snapped at by Olga and encouraged by Roman, I managed to complete the first circle, which allowed the Chaldea staff to send in some magically enchanted chalk. I didn't bother asking what made it special, if it worked, that was good enough for me.
And work it did, the projection gained color and their voices could be heard clearly, almost as if they were right in front of us.
That's when the Director decided to cash in the rain check on my answer regarding why I was here. I didn't want to remember my close brushes with death, so I skimmed over the events and quickly stated the facts. When she asked why I went inside the command room, I blamed it on blind panic and hysteria. The saddest thing was that it wasn't far from the truth.
Then came the time for her to explain the situation on her end. I knew everything was fucked, but I couldn't help but feel shaken by the information because of one simple reason.
It was worse than I expected. Main generator? Busted. Medical supplies? Buried under rubble. Food both in the canteen and as MREs? Burnt to cinders. Senior staff and everyone of higher rank than Roman except Olga? Dead as shit.
Master Candidates? Turned into popsicles until further notice.
Mash's face was twisted in abject horror, tears streaming down her face as Doctor Roman mentioned the current state of one specific Master; Fujimaru Ritsuka.
Four fractured ribs, broken femur, dislocated left shoulder, right arm completely pulped and several first and second degree burns.
I felt bile rising up my throat as Roman listed the numerous wounds. Out of all the wounded Masters, she was the one that got off easy.
I asked Roman to spare us from the rest of the details, a request which he granted without complaint.
"Fuck…"
I slid from my sitting position and put a hand to my face, gripping my head weakly. All the new information didn't bode well for several reasons.
"So what do we do?" I asked while shaking my head. "What can we do?"
"I'm giving it some thought myself," the Director replied with a scowl. "This was a massive blow to Chaldea, both in terms of resources as well as credibility. The Association was opposed to this operation in the first place, so unless we give them results of any kind, they will use this...incident as leverage against me."
"I heard that a lot of the Magi were important nobles," I noted dryly. "You'll need some impressive results."
"Don't talk like it's got nothing to do with you!" she growled. "All of my Masters are either dead or close enough they might as well be, so as much as it pains me to say this, you are the only one we can send in."
I gave a long, loud sigh. "Roger, roger," I said lazily. "I take it the 'result' we need to give is the destruction of this distortion?"
"That...might be a bit too much to ask for," the Doctor interjected "We don't know much about the situation there."
Olga considered our words carefully, putting a hand to her chin and lowering her head.
"What was your name? Newman?" she asked while staring at me, continuing after I confirmed that with my full name. "Doctor Roman is right, you are too inexperienced to handle this on your own, but you yourself said it; I'll need to provide stellar results if Chaldea is to receive any more support, let alone survive all the backlash we'll get once we check in."
She took a bit more time to mull it over, before crossing her arms and giving a sigh of her own.
"We will continue repairs of Chaldea's installations and equipment with our currently available resources," she declared resolutely while staring into my eyes. "In the meantime, you will be working as Master Candidate 49. Your mission objectives are as follows: First, investigate the source of the distortion to the best of your ability. Second, acquire supplies. Third, set the groundwork for a larger operation by eliminating potential threats and scouting locations aside from this one which we could use as forward operating bases. Understood?"
While it was hard to meet her gaze, I tried my best. "Understood," I affirmed. "Where do we start?"
"For now, it'd be best if you summoned another Servant. We'll need all the manpower we can get." She crossed her arms and turned to face the Doctor. "Romani, I'm going to get some things from my office, you're in charge until I come back."
"Eh! What?!" he yelled in shock, turning to face her even as she left the line of sight of our projection and probably the room.
"Don't worry doc, just do your best!" I encouraged him "Umm..."
For a moment, I thought of doing something...stupid. My desire to be serious began to clash with the one to give support to the fluffy haired man, but the later won out in the end. It was better to strike while the iron was hot than to wait it out and make it more awkward.
"G-ganbare, Romani!" I yelled while raising both arms in cheer.
Everyone was completely silent. I somehow felt Mash's stare drill a hole in my back out of sheer embarrassment.
"Ahh, I guess I will..." Before I could fully regret my action, I saw the Doctor chuckle and smile, making it all worth it.
After this, he began to instruct me in how to summon a Servant. Thanks to the way the system worked, there was no need for an elaborate chant about "silver and seel, the archduke of contracts", "filling and shutting" or "all virtues of heaven". All that chuuni stuff was unnecessary; Chaldea and the leyline we were siphoning would do the heavy lifting for me, all I needed to do was to feed some of my own prana into the circle and focus on the idea of calling for a Servant.
The FATE system was basically a megaphone directed at the Throne of Heroes, using it meant turning it on and saying "Hey, I need a bit of help here. Y'all mind giving me a hand?" and hoping that someone answered the call. I was sure someone would chew me out if they heard my overly blunt and simplified explanation, but it worked well enough for me.
I took a deep breaths as I knelt down in front of the circle, touching the edge with my palms.
I had my Magic Circuits activated and trained during basic training, and thanks to that I could "switch them on and off" with a mental command. The problem was that said command was unpleasant, to say the least.
If I recalled correctly, Rin felt like she was being cut to pieces or stabbed through the heart, while Shirou felt like a gun was cocking right next to his head, so it wasn't like I was alone in that regard. I'd just have to learn to deal with it.
I breathed in one last time.
"Wake up."
I felt as if something foreign crawled from my torso through my veins, eventually reaching my palms. A soft green glow lit up the path on my skin where the magical energy flowed.
At that moment, I could feel it; the sensation of something coarse wrapping around my neck. I heard the sound of the material as it slid across itself. I clenched my teeth as I felt the thing tense up, firmly grasping me.
Then, the floor vanished.
A loud snap reached my ears as I felt my own weight causing me to fall. The rope dug into my flesh, crushing my throat but outright not killing me. I felt the air inside my body stagnate as I was asphyxiated to death.
Slowly, but surely. Insidiously. Certainly.
The pain increased manyfold. I let out a bellow as my Magic Circuits thrummed with power. The light from my arms became a mere flicker compared to the grand beacon that the summoning circle had turned into.
At that moment, there was an explosion of smoke, blanketing the entire room.
No longer able to stand the sensation, I turned my Circuits off and coughed vigorously as I reached for my neck. I was unhurt, but I still felt like I had rope burns and it was difficult for me to breath in.
After a bit, I heard the clicking of heels and metal close by. Someone approached me, but I couldn't see them.
A hand reached out to touch my back and at the same time, the pain began to subside bit by bit, until it faded entirely from my mind.
"Are you feeling better, Master?" a woman spoke. Her voice seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite figure out who it belonged to.
The smoke began to clear out, so I turned to face the one who talked to me.
Gorgeous was the first word that came to mind when I laid eyes on her. Though she was scantily-clad, it didn't feel like she was improper in any way, shape or form. In her right hand, she held a cross shaped staff. The object seemed to have a hefty weight to it, but she carried it with ease.
I didn't find myself able to respond to the purple haired beauty in front of me, so I just nodded. She took a couple steps back and offered her hand to help me to my feet, which I took.
Once I rose to my full height I noticed she was actually pretty small, although it might have been just my own size that gave me that impression.
"I am Martha, just Martha." The saint that subdued the mighty Tarasque gave a small curtsey. "Let us save the world."
The woman smiled in a way that took my breath away.
