POV: Eric Webley

Location: ?

Date: June 1st, 2018

I'm sitting in the back of a V-22 Osprey. I could tell because of the dual-rotor design and the wings. All those movies Jacob showed me are coming in handy. The windows that would be inside are blacked out to keep me from seeing where I am. Before we took off from the last airport, they handed me a huge fur coat that doesn't really fit me too well, and I'm glad they did because I'm freezing in here.

I shiver in my seat, trying my best to steady myself from the turbulence before a voice rings over the earphones they gave to me.

"Passenger, check in?" the voice sounds off.

"Hey- hi! Can you hear me?" I answer.

"Affirmative, we're coming into position to the landing site, we're gonna be just a few minutes out." He says, "Steady yourself, it's gonna get bumpy."

Just then, I feel myself get thrown towards the front of the aircraft. We're slowing down.

"Charlie Sierra Oscar Alpha Tango, come in, break."

"This is your man, do you read me, how copy?" Another voice appears.

"This is Osprey four-two-niner coming in short final."

"Cargo?" The second voice comes in.

"Supplies on board and three souls." The pilot says.

"Oh, another candidate? We're still expecting a few more."

"Yeah, yeah, just give us clearance. It's freezing up here." The pilot says.

"Ok! Ok! Osprey four-two-niner, you have clearance to land at LZ Alpha. Wind 270 at 20."

"Thank you Alpha Tango, Osprey four-two-niner cleared to land LZ Alpha." The pilot's voice rings out.

The helicopter feels like it's standing still by this point. I can feel us slowly descending, until finally the wheels bump into the ground.

"Check in, passenger?"

"Still here."

"Wonderful. We've landed. We'll bring your belongings into the facility and they'll register it and bring it to whichever dormitory they've assigned to you. All you have to do is make a break for the door before you get frostbite."

"And how long would it take for that to happen?!"

"Five minutes, don't worry you have plenty of time."

Before I can get the headphones off, the rear door opens and a flurry of icy wind and snow begins to blow into the cargo hold.

I put the headphones onto the seat and step out into the freezing cold, covering my face from the wind. I look up and see this massive facility that looks like it came out of the Empire Strikes Back. It's a massive semi-circular building with little outposts branching from it. The walls converge into the side of the mountain. I look in front of me and see a door and a woman waving to me to come inside.

I fight the wind and stomp towards her slowly. Eventually she can grab me and help me inside. The door closes and I already start to feel warmer.

"That was torture." I let out.

"Lucky for us, we don't have to go out there." She chuckles, "Welcome to the Chaldea Security Organization!"

I'm reluctant to speak to her. I still don't know what these people have planned for me, or if I'll even like it.

"You're Eric Webley, right?" She asks me.

"Yeah?" I answer.

"Alright cool!" She waves her hand into the air and a transparent pad appears in front of her. She starts tapping it, "Aaaaaaaand… there!" She waves the pad and it disappears, "You're registered and ready to go. I still need you to follow me, though." She passes me and walks through the door.

I step out and see a long hallway. The inside wall is metal with many designs and an icon that looks like a letter C wrapped in an olive branch. The other wall has a bunch of windows looking out over the outside of the facility. I can even see the Osprey and some workers carrying supplies and my luggage. I follow the woman for a few steps. The woman starts walking towards a door, but my eyes can't help but notice a girl with pink hair sitting on the window sill looking out. She looks like she has a little plush toy in her lap.

"Right this way, please!" The woman says as she walks through the door.

"Right! Sorry!" I try to catch up.

I run back towards her and then follow next to her side. A man walks out of a door in front of us wearing a green suit and a top hat.

"Oh! Mr. Lainur!" She exclaims.

He turns toward us, "Ah yes!" He gives a smile, "Amber! And this is… master candidate forty-six, if I am correct?"

"My name is Eric Webley, sir." I tell him.

"Please!" He laughs, "Call me Lev. Lev Lainur." He sticks his hand out to shake mine.

I'm taken aback for a second. He isn't anything like the Sapphires or the tyrannical overlords of Clock Tower. He's… nice!

I catch myself and shake his hand, "It's nice to meet you, Lev."

"It's my pleasure, Mr. Webley."

"Oh come on! Mr. Webley's my dad. Just call me Eric."

"In that case, I hope you find it wonderful here, Eric." He leans back up, "Amber, please show our new colleague here to the medical bay and then the spiritron training area. Log his data and send it to Dr. Roman for a full analysis."

"Yes sir, Mr. Lev." Amber continues down the hall, and I begin to follow her again, "That was Professor Lev. He's the chief engineer that designed SHEBA. It's what allows us to even do what we do here at Chaldea!"

"And what do we do?" I ask.

"You'll see in a moment." She tells me, "We're almost there."

We walk into a room that has many different machines that vaguely remind me of an ER but still look alien to me. This is a magus facility?

"Now if you would, please step over into this machine." She points towards a little pod with a seat in it.

"Oh ok." I get in and sit down. The pod closes and I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable.

"Don't worry, just a little check-up. Just making sure you are healthy and ready to start." She starts typing away at a keyboard, "You're not the first to react like this, so I'm trying to reassure everyone that this is all perfectly safe."

Right. Ok.

The pod starts whirring up and I hear a voice come over the computer's speakers.

"Scanning pupillary response… complete. Cranial nerve scan… complete. Torso X-ray… complete. Scanning magic circuits and mana flow… complete."

I hear a muffled Amber from outside the pod, "Everything's looking good. Ok, we're done!"

The door slides open, and I get out of the machine.

"I'll get this to Dr. Roman. Now, let's see about the master training." Amber gets up from her computer.

"Master training?" I ask.

"Yep. After this, you'll have as much time as you like to get acclimated to Chaldea, but this is important."

"No- I mean you have servants here?" I ask.

"Oh no, it's a simulation. You'll eventually be able to sum-" She catches herself, "I'm getting ahead of myself. You'll be briefed about all of this once the remaining masters get here in a few days."

I'm going to be a master?

"For now, we still need to get you used to dealing with stressful situations and commanding a servant. Come on." She exits the medical room and starts down the hallway again.

We walk into this station with all sorts of instruments and a piece of glass that overlooks a small area, probably the size of a tennis court. There are two more scientists seated and looking at the instruments.

"Here." Amber ties a thing around my chest and underneath my arms.

A scientist turns around and gives her a thumbs up. I guess they're going to monitor me?

"Ok now that platform over there," she points towards a small platform in the back of the room, "will put you down into the action area, where we will keep an eye on your vitals."

I step onto the platform and it starts lowering into the room.

"Please get on one side of the field." Amber's voice comes over an intercom.

I oblige her and suddenly the white room forms into this countryside with a single nearby tree. I'm in the middle of a grass field and sparkling lights appear in front of me. A figure appears, glowing in light. The light gets dimmer and I see it's a man in a gray cloak and hood.

"The servant you've acquired is Caster. This is a generic caster just to get you used to dealing with servants. You'll eventually meet more specific servants. Ok, we'll load up the enemy now." Amber's voice sounds off again.

A large golem appears at the other end of the field. It roars at me.

"Command your servant to attack the enemy." Amber says.

Ok, focus just give a simple command. "Caster, attack!"

Caster lifts his staff. Several fireballs appear circling around him. He thrusts his hand forward and the fireballs soar towards the golem, exploding all around it.

A plume of smoke rises into the air. Fire burns in the small field.

The earth feels like it shakes. The golem sprints out of the smoke right towards us.

"Dodge!" I yell to the servant.

Caster immediately picks me up, and leaps out of the way. The golem slams straight into a tree, tearing its roots from the ground. Caster drops me, and swipes his staff upwards. From his staff shoots a sharp blade of wind straight towards the golem. The huge creature turns to face us, and the attack hits. Chunks of rock fall to the grass.

"Anything else you can do?" I ask the servant.

He raises his arms, somewhat in the same position as a bowman. I see the dew rise off of the grass and plants around us and begin forming into a spike hovering above his staff.

The golem lets out a terrible roar and digs his hands into the ground, tearing out a crater from the earth. The water slowly solidifies into ice and this large hovering spike remains.

"Not yet." I tell the servant.

He waits.

The golem hurls the chunk of ground towards us.

"Now!"

The servant shoots his spike so blisteringly fast that it causes a shockwave in the air. The chunk of earth splits into smaller projectiles.

I only get pelted with light debris that does nothing over get my clothes slightly dirty. By the time I can register what happened however I see the golem right in front of Caster and I with a large ice spike embedded into its chest.

"Caster, protect us!" I command Caster. Caster puts up a quick barrier to stop the golem from destroying us.

The golem slams his arms down causing cracks to form across the barrier. Even the ground seems to shake from its strength.

Ok, calm down Eric. Think. What should I do? What can I do?

I look around desperately for some sort of object or leverage, but there's nothing. We're stuck in Caster's protective bubble.

Come on, Eric, think!

Caster looks back towards me as they hold the barrier. His eyes glow white, and his expression says all that I need to know.

Caster faces the golem again and pushes his hands forward, exploding the protective bubble and blasting the golem with a wind.

The false servant rushes straight towards the golem.

Caster summons a whirlwind around the golem, hovering it into the air. I notice small chunks start cracking off his body. The whirlwind stops and the golem falls onto the ground. Caster summons a massive fireball and throws it onto the golem. The magical projectile sears into the ground, sinking slowly into the earth. Then it disappears.

I notice Caster relax for a moment before looking back towards the crater quickly.

A hand emerges from the crater, the golem climbs back into view, scorched and nearly shattered, but still standing. He raises his arms and slams them onto the grass. Rock spikes thrust out of the earth, headed straight for me.

I feel myself get dragged off my feet. I see Caster kneeling next to me. He pulled me out of the way. He stands back up and summons another spike of ice.

Wait… is he?

I look towards the golem, and I notice the massive ice spike from earlier is still embedded into his chest. The golem already has his arms raised in the air again, ready to send more spikes my way. If Caster misses this or it doesn't work, we'll die.

Caster throws his arms forward. A shockwave.

The golem catapults his arms downward. The spike impacts directly into the center of his chest. The spike digs even deeper into the golem. His arms crash into the earth… but no rocks shoot towards us. The golem begins crumbling before us. Soon the monster is only a pile of dull stones and nothing more. It's done.

"Great job, Eric!" I hear Amber's voice ring out over the intercom as the grasslands turn back into a blank white room. Even the dirt on my clothes starts to disappear. The caster servant looks down toward me, but he too soon fades away, "Not many new masters have passed the combat proficiency test!"

I didn't do anything, though. I just sat there and watched as my servant did everything for me. Maybe I'm just not cut out.

"Well, all of the formalities are over! All we need to do now is show you to your room. Go ahead and come back up to the observation bay." Amber's voice waves me up.

I stand up and step back onto the elevator. It starts rising back into the observation room. When the platform gets to the top, I see Amber get up from her chair and walk over towards me. She disconnects the apparatus I had strapped to my chest and puts it away.

"We have all the data we need to make an accurate file on you. Now follow me, I'll show you to your dorm." She starts to walk out of the room.

I take a look at the other scientists and see them making notes onto their computers. I follow Amber out into the halls. We make our way through the neat corridors and into another large hallway. Several people are walking the halls. I see people in dark uniforms, some just wearing casual clothes, and some that are dressed formally.

This place is huge.

I notice a map on the wall and I notice the words 'greenhouse' that take up quite a large portion of the facility.

This. Place. Is. Huge.

"We're passing the cafeteria now." Amber signals towards a sliding double door that's closed, "Lunch won't be for a few hours, so once we get you to your room, you'll have plenty of time to do whatever you want."

We continue and she walks through a door on the side of the hallway. We come to a set of stairs. She starts walking down and I follow.

"The dormitories are on three different floors to allow for all the staff to have comfortable resting quarters, and that includes you." She tells me as we walk through to the floor below the cafeteria. I see a few faces going about their day as we maneuver through the halls.

Amber and I stop once we see a door with '318' on the door face.

"This is your room!" She says with a smile.

The door slides open, and I see a blank room with my luggage sitting near the bed.

"Ok, well I'll get out of your hair now!" She starts to walk away, "Have a good day."

"Thank you, Amber!" I call out to her, "You too!"

I start to explore my room. I see a dresser, closet, bed, a bowl chair, a nightstand, and a… coffee machine? Don't know how much I'll use that.

Well, time to get acquainted with this place. Starting with the bed.

I plop onto the bed. I slowly sink into the mattress. Exquisite.

I sigh, "I can't believe I'm in Antarctica. This honestly feels like a dream. I wonder how everyone back home is doing."

I take off my brown jacket and drop it onto the bed, next to me. Immediately I see something wiggle around in the front pocket.

"Wait a minute…" I reach my hand in and pull out a spider roughly the size of my palm, "Heidi?"

She looks up and wiggles her palps at me.

"What are you doi- did you sneak into my jacket while I was packing?!" I ask.

She pauses and sits in my hand.

I put her on the nightstand, "I thought dad was watching you."

Heidi is my familiar. I got her years ago after… everything.

She spins around and looks back up towards me.

"We can't. Lunch isn't ready yet."

She plops down onto the top of the nightstand.

"Calm down. It's not like you need food anyway." I get up from my bed and start to unpack my clothes from the bags.

I open the closet door and see that they already have hangers in here for me to use. How considerate.

After putting my jackets and shirts into the closet, and putting all my other clothes into the dresser, I start to walk towards the door until I hear a quiet scratching come from the nightstand.

I look at Heidi and she stares right at me and starts to scratch even faster.

"God, dad's gonna be looking all over the place for you." I mutter under my breath, "Fine." I walk over to her and open my jacket pocket, "Come on."

She crawls into my pocket and sits tight. I walk out of the room. Well, let's see what this place has to do.


POV: Kaizer Lee

Location: Outside Chaldea Security Organization

Date: June 2nd, 2018

The rear aircraft door lowers. I walk off the helicopter and I feel a strong wind blowing into my side. I look around and see mountains of snow and ice. I face forward and see a woman waving me inside.

Antarctica. It's at least one of my few guesses.

I walk towards the woman, and into the building.

As I enter the lady closes the door behind me, "Phew! Ok! Welcome to the Chaldea Security Organization!"

I take off my coat. That's when the woman notices my church garb and the cross I have around my neck. She's immediately put off and defensive, I could see how she recoiled slightly and changed her stance.

"It's nice to meet you." I say as politely as I can, "My name is Kaizer Lee."

I can see her relax a little, "Well… ok. I wasn't expecting that." She sighs, "Well! We need to get your medical information!"

"My medical records have been sent straight to the head doctor. There is no need to make another analysis." I tell her.

My condition needs to be held secret, only the head doctor should know.

"Oh! So that was your file we received! Yes, Dr. Romani has already looked at the file and made his conclusions!" She says with a smile.

"Good. Also, may I ask your name?"

"I'm Amberlie! Everyone just calls me Amber, though." She tells me.

"Will I be able to go to my room now?" I ask.

"One more thing we have to do! Please follow me!" She walks into the hallway and I follow.

She leads me through the corridors until we eventually reach a room with computers overlooking a small area with nothing in it.

"Excuse me for a moment," Amber straps a small device to my chest, "This will monitor your vitals and stress levels while inside the chamber."

"What now?" I ask.

"Please step on that platform over there." She points towards a small platform.

I step onto it and it lowers me into the room that Amber and her team are overlooking. I step out onto the floor.

"So this is a simulation to see how well you can command a servant. We will give you a random class, and a general representation of the servant will appear. It isn't a real servant, but it will help us get an idea of your capabilities." Amber's voice rings out over the intercom.

"Is Chaldea creating a grail war?" I look up towards the observation area.

"N-no! I can't go into your job very much right now because the director will be briefing you along with every other master that will arrive in a few days!" She says.

I can see that a question like that from an executor was more than enough to shake their nerves, "I'm sorry if I scared you. I just had to ask."

"It's ok! It's only expected that you'll be confused about some things here!" Amber says, "Now let's see…"

The white room forms into a grassland and I see a servant appear in front of me, glowing a brilliant light. After the brightness dissipates, I can see a man, kneeled over with chains attached to the ground. He is very skinny and has very long white hair.

"Oh? Avenger-class?" I hear Amber's voice over the intercom, "We've only had one extra class servant appear in these simulations! I guess the past director put another class into the database! Well, it's no matter, let's keep going!"

I see, on the other end of the field, a large rock golem appears and roars.

"This device, will it restrict my movement?" I ask.

"Nope! It's just to show us your situation while the servant fights!"

"Good. I will join my servant in this fight." I tell her.

"I… you know you don't have to, right?" She says.

"I'm not one that sits on the sidelines. Avenger attack!" I command.

I see a cloud of dust shoot up behind Avenger and he blasts forward. I run close behind him, trying to keep a good distance between us. Avenger gets to the Golem's side and launches himself into the air. He spins and catapults his chains straight onto the golem.

I jump over the stunned golem, looking for any sign of weakness. If I can find a significant wound, then that means we can penetrate the armor of the golem, attacking its core and killing it.

Avenger lands in front of the golem. The golem punches, but Avenger flips out of the way and slings his chains upward, sending the golem back.

"Avenger, focus on the chest!"

I hear Avenger let out a terrible scream. Avenger leaps straight towards the golem. The golem winds up a punch and slams the servant away. The golem lands right next to me, causing me to stumble. Avenger flies through a nearby tree and I see dirt fling into the air as he gets drilled into the earth. It winds up a punch and hurls one at me. I jump upwards. The golem's fist fires into the ground beneath me. I land on his fist and throw three black keys straight into his chest. I flip backwards onto the ground.

"Sanctus Levior." I say the spell. The Black Keys explode. The golem stumbles and falls onto its knee. As the smoke clears, I see a glowing core.

"Avenger! Destroy my enemy!" I command.

I can feel a shockwave as suddenly my servant fires straight past me and whips his chain straight into the side of the golem. The opponent gets thrown into the dirt nearby. Avenger leaps into the air, his chains now glowing red hot. He winds up an attack and releases a vengeful screech. He flips himself and catapults his chain straight into the golem's chest, exploding it.

Avenger lands on the ground, kneels down.

"Thank you Avenger." I say to the servant.

The servant looks at me, his hair mostly covering his face. But through the mane, I can see one glowing eye.

Soon, the environment reverts back to the plain white room and my servant has disappeared. I pick up the hilts of the black keys, and put them into my jacket as I step onto the platform.

As I ascend into the observation room, I am met by shock from Amber and the scientists.

"Wow…" Amber says with wide eyes, "I uh… You outperformed the other forty-six candidates. The only ones you haven't were already assigned to Team A."

"Interesting." I take the device off my chest, "May I see my room now, please?"

"Oh- Yes! Right this way, c'mon!" Amber jumps out of her seat and walks out of the observation room.

I follow her through the corridors once more. As we make our way through, I can see some magi making double-takes and stepping away from me. I understand that I may not be welcomed here by the majority of staff or other candidates.

We walk down a set of stairs and into an empty hallway, this time there are many doors lining the walls.

"This is it!" She stops outside room number 296, "All of your luggage and items should be inside!"

"Thank you, Amber." I give a small bow, "You've been nothing but hospitable to me since my arrival. Have a good day." I walk into my room.

"Oh! I- thank you! You have a good day too!" She walks off down the hallway.

My door slides closed, but before it fully shuts, I hear a strange noise come from the hallway. I open the door and walk through again.

I look around, seeing if I could locate the source of the noise.

I don't see anything.

I start to make my way back inside my room, but just then…

"Fou! Foouu!"

I look down at my feet and see a very small and very… strange looking creature.

I pick it up and start looking it over. It has big ears, pure white fur, and small purple eyes. It roughly reminds me of a squirrel-dog hybrid.

"Fouuuu?" It tilts its head at me.

"What are you, little creature?" I ask, "What is your name?"

"Fouuu!" The creature barks

"Fou it is, then." I stand up and place the creature on my shoulder.

"Fou?" I hear a person call out, "Where are you?"

"Hm?" I look and see a girl appear to my right. She has short pink hair, glasses, and a grey sweater.

Her eyes meet mine. She seems… like me?

A silence passes between us.

"I…" She speaks softly.

"Is Fou yours?" I ask her.

She perks up, "I wouldn't say he's mine, he's really a wandering creature. But I do take care of him." She says shyly.

"Kyu!" Fou lets out.

"He seems to like you." She looks at Fou.

"It seems he does." I scratch Fou's chin and he almost purrs, "Would you like him back?"

"He can stay on your shoulder - if you'd like." She says quietly.

"By the way, I never got your name." I say.

"My name is not important." She replies meekly.

"Every name is important." I tell her, "It defines us, and allows those close to us to know us. My name is Kaizer Lee."

"…" She sits on her words for a moment, "Mashu Kyrielight."

I try to smile, "It's nice to meet you, Mashu Kyrielight." I look around the hallways for a moment, "You know, I was about to work on getting my room ready, but I also would like a guide to show me around the area. Would you like to join me, Mashu?"

She blushes a little, "I… I would like to, Senpai."

"Senpai?" I begin to walk down the hallway with Mashu.

"Yes." She says, "You are technically my superior. Therefore, you are my senpai."

Hm. I don't mind that title.

We wander around Chaldea, looking at the various lounges, research rooms, and even the greenhouse. She eventually leads me to a place that she says is probably her favorite spot in the whole facility.

"This is it." She says.

"It's a window." I let out.

"I want to go out there and see the skies one day. See the outside world." She tells me, "This is the closest I can get right now, though. This place, Chaldea, it's my home, but I almost feel…"

"Trapped?" I ask.

She silently looks into my eyes before slowly looking out the window again, "Yes…"

"I understand." I sit down on the window sill, "I know that feeling too."

"Fouuu." Fou whines.

"I'm sorry, Senpai. At least… at least we understand each other." She sits next to me.

This girl is… I don't know how to put it. We're different, but we're similar. Amazing… that's the word. This girl is amazing.

"Fouu?" Fou makes a small noise.

"Oh! We still have the cafeteria to see!" She stands up and begins walking down the hallway.

We begin making our way through the corridors towards the cafeteria. We round a corner into a hallway and continue down it.

As we begin nearing the cafeteria, Fou climbs down my shoulder and starts heading the other direction.

"Fou doesn't like large groups of people. He tries to stay away." Mashu lets me know.

"Does he tend to only stay around you?" I ask.

"Yes actually, and now he's starting to like you too!" She says, "He's a mysterious creature."

"I have to agree with you on that" I say.

I continue to follow her through the corridor.

"By the way, Senpai, are you a part of the church?" She asks.

"Yes. I am." I answer, "I'm part of a small sect. I get sent on a few missions with either my siblings or with other members of the church. To be honest with you however, I don't really feel like I am a part of the church."

"Why not?" She looks at me.

"I'm mainly in it because of my family and a debt to the church." I continue walking with her.

"You have family?" She asks.

"I have eight adopted siblings, along with my birth mother, and our leader of the sect." I tell her as we enter a smaller corridor.

"How are they?"

"The four young ones are very energetic. The other four are around my age, and they feel like partners to me. They typically go on missions with me and they assist me very much. My mother is the one that watches over us all. She is very kind and patient. The leader of our small sect, Father Windhelm, does his best to take care of us and make sure we're successful. You could say he's a grandfather maybe."

"They sound wonderful." Mashu says, "I guess I could say that Chaldea is my family."

"Then I hope to meet them all soon." We enter the hallway.

"This is the cafeteria, it's already lunchtime. Would you like to go eat?" She gives me a warm look.

I try to form another smile, "I think I wou-"

The door slides open and a short person gets thrown into me, knocking both of us down.

"Senpai!" Mashu kneels next to me.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" The person says to me, "Are you alri-" He stares at my cross necklace.

I dust myself off, "It's okay. I'm fine, thank you."

He stands up and takes a few steps back, looking nervous.

"You hear me, you scum? Go back to your barn, you traitor." This bigger English magus steps out of the cafeteria.

Clearly the person that ran into me was trying to run from this larger magus. He seems hostile. I need to neutralize this situation. I'll try to do this peacefully since a full fight may get me into some trouble with my superiors.

I stand onto my feet, "Bullying someone isn't right."

The bigger magus turns towards me, "Church boy, eh?" He laughs, "How about you just keep going on your way, and I'll get this little bastard out of your hair."

"You should solve this situation more civilly." I say.

His expression changes to one of annoyance, "Right." He begins walking towards me cracking his knuckles, "We'll need to sort this right out the-"

I plant my fist into his stomach, and he keels over.

"'I do not know what it is like to hit a man twice.' Li Shuwen." I pull my hand away and the magus falls to the ground. I may have overestimated him.

The crowd of people stand, shocked at what they had just seen.

Mashu's eyes are wide, looking at the mage on the floor.

"Mashu, would you like to get food and eat elsewhere?" I ask her.

She simply nods and we walk inside to get our food.

After we grab a meal, we head back to the window. As we eat, we look out into the snowstorm.

"I apologize for the scene earlier." I tell her.

"You tried to be peaceful. I'm just glad you weren't hurt." She says.

I can hear someone walking towards us. I turn to see the person that had been thrown through the door. He has unkempt brown hair and green eyes. He seems to be wearing a brown overcoat and a buttoned shirt.

"Hello." I begin.


POV: Eric Webley

The guy just walked in? Not even another word?

I look down at the guy that threw me through the door. He's still writhing on the ground.

Soon the church guy and that pink haired girl emerge again and go back towards the windowed hallway.

I look back over towards the guy's posse, and they start eyeing me down.

"Oh crap."

"No way out now, traitor." One of them says as he runs towards me.

He throws a punch, but I just narrowly dodge it. I grab his arm and disable his mana. He throws another punch, but he stumbles and falls onto his butt.

He looks up at me, "What the hell?!"

"Gotta go!" I turn around to run away.

I get grabbed by one of the other guys, and Heidi crawls out of my pocket.

He shakes me by my shirt collar, "You're gonna pay for that little stunt you jus- HOLY SHIT A SPIDER!"

Heidi bites him, and he lets go of me and screams, grabbing his hand in pain.

The last one tries to punch me, but I duck underneath him, pick up Heidi and run straight for the door that executor went through. They're not gonna follow me there.

"Come back here you coward!" One of them yells at me.

Not with that attitude, I won't.

I put Heidi back into my pocket and catch my breath in the hallway. I can either go back through those guys, or keep going down the hall and risk running into that executor again… Guess that's not really much of a choice, now that I think about it.

I walk down the hallway and poke my head out when I get to the intersection. I see the executor and the pink haired girl sitting on the window sill, eating their lunch.

The nearest staircase is over there though, and I really don't feel like having to walk around half the facility just to take some stairs.

Ok maybe I can just walk past them. Hopefully he doesn't talk to me.

I walk down the hallway, trying to avoid eye contact or looking conspicuous.

"Hello." I hear his voice.

Oh crap.

I look over towards them, and the executor is looking straight at me. He has bright blue eyes, black spikey hair, and he's wearing his dark church clothes.

"Are you ok?" The girl asks me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I start slowly inching my way towards the staircase.

"Before you go, there's something I need to ask." He looks like he's analyzing me.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"What did you do to cause so much havok?" He asks me.

Says the guy that incapacitated someone right outside the lunchroom.

"When I got here yesterday, they found out that I was from America. They started talking crap about my family, so I said a few things that they didn't like." I tell them.

"That seems reasonable." The executor says.

"Why do they call you, 'traitor'?" The girl asks me.

"Wh- you don't know?" I stop in my tracks.

"I was raised here. I've never heard about much from the outside world." She tells me.

"I was raised in the church." The executor mentions, "I don't know much about magi politics."

"Ok, so…" I walk over by them and sit on the ground, "When the new world was discovered, a bunch of magus families fled to the Americas trying to flee Clock Tower's tyrannical hold and influence. When the American Revolution hit, the Aphelion family started the New World Ministry to oppose Clock Tower and protect the west from their influence."

"And they still hate you for all of this?" The girl asks.

"Well, since then, the NWM collapsed and the Aphelions died. So now Clock Tower is making up for lost time. That's actually why I'm even here in the first place." I tell them, "They sent me a letter saying that I was going to be taken somewhere and there wasn't anything we could do about it."

"I'm sorry." The girl says quietly.

"I have a proposition for you, mage." The executor looks at me, "Since you are not welcome by those other magi, how about you sit with us during meals?"

I look at them both, "Really?"

"Of course!" The girl says.

"Oh," The executor thinks for a moment, "We haven't even introduced ourselves. My name is Kaizer Lee."

The girl stays silent for a moment, but Kaizer puts his hand on her shoulder.

She breathes in, "My name is Mashu Kyrielight."

"Kaizer Lee and Mash Kyrielight." I say.

Kaizer starts, "I think you mis-"

"Yes, that's right." Mash talks over him.

"It's nice to meet you both. I'm Eric, Eric Webley."

Mash smiles and Kaizer gives me a nod of acknowledgment.

Sitting here, with these two. We're just a weird group of characters, aren't we? Oh well. These two are actually pretty nice. You know, this whole thing might not have been so bad after all…


POV: Nathaniel Moon

Location: Chaldea Security Organization, Medical Bay.

Date: June 4th, 2018

Jesus that took forever.

"I thought you already had my files from Clock Tower?" I say.

"They only gave us the blood test to see if you were eligible for what we call, 'Rayshifting'. Apart from that, we didn't have much else." Amber tells me.

"You couldn't have just asked them for some files?" I ask her.

"The only files they had on you officially were taken years ago, so they wouldn't be very reliable in more specific areas." Amber says, "But now that that's over, we can get you to the combat training exercise!"

"Combat?! Ha! Buckle up Amber, because if there's one thing I'm a professional at, it's ass-kicking." I crack my knuckles.

"I'm glad you're so confident! It's only expected of a freelance agent like yourself." She leads me down the hallway and into this room with computers and a window looking over a small court, "Here!" She straps something onto my chest, "Now this will-"

"Yeah, yeah let's get this show started." I step on a small platform in the back of the room that I assume is important.

"I- well-" Amber stumbles on her words.

"Starting combat sim." One of the scientists says.

The elevator starts lowering and I see Amber just sigh in defeat and take a seat at her desk.

I walk out into the court, which has now turned into a grassy field.

I see a beam of light appear in front of me, a knight stands ahead holding his sword in front of his face.

"Saber class servant!" Amber's voice rings out, "Some dispute that this is the most powerful class, but I'm more of a Lancer fan."

A rock golem appears in front of me new pal and I.

"Oh, you've fucked up, Rocky." I laugh. "Saber! Let's do this."

I feel a gust of wind as Saber charges forward and stabs his sword straight into the golem's chest. He rips it out, jumps over the monster and slashes across its back. Looks like he could use a bit of assistance.

"Hringdu." I throw out an ether clump and it starts to form into a polar bear.

The bear lets out a beastly roar and charges straight towards the golem.

Saber turns back towards me. He rolls out of the way of the bear.

The golem catches the bear and struggles to hold it back. They slide across the ground, digging their feet into the earth.

Saber runs around, and goes for another stab. The golem swings the bear around and bats the servant away with it. It chucks the bear straight towards me, but I jump out of the way.

Saber leaps onto the golem. He slices the head, chest, shoulders, and knees as he slides down the front of it. The golem tries to grab him, but Saber thrusts his sword straight into the golem's arm, completely obliterating it.

The bear runs straight past me. The golem swings its remaining arm at the bear, but he bites it and throws the golem into the ground. Saber throws himself over the bear and stabs his blade straight into the golem's back. The golem punches into the floor and a mound of boulders shoot out from around him. Tossing the servant and the bear back.

The golem rises to its feet and stares down Saber. It digs its feet into the ground and raises its fist.

Saber raises his sword leveling the blade across his forearm, pointed straight towards the golem.

The golem throws his fist forward. Saber thrusts his sword straight at the golem. Suddenly I see a wild burst of wind appear from the tip of Saber's blade. It launches the golem onto his back as he craters into the ground.

"Hell yeah Saber!" I say, "If you want a drink after this, I'll buy."

Saber looks back towards me in a way that I can only assume means that he's down for that.

The golem climbs back onto his feet with bits of his knee, chest, and shoulder falling onto the dirt.

"Still kickin?" I laugh, "Polar and Saber! Let's end this." I command.

Saber and the bear charge straight for the golem. Just as the bear reaches it, the golem uppercuts the bear straight up. Saber nearly slices the golem, but it grabs him, spins around and punches the bear as it was falling. An explosion of dirt plumes out as Saber and the bear fly straight through the small hill holding the tree. It looks straight towards me, and I can see one thing.

It. is. not. happy.

Well I might as well put on a show.

The golem walks straight up to me, and I don't even flinch. It winds up it's boulder-sized fist for a punch.

Amber's voice rings out, "STOP THE SIMULA-"

"STYRKING!" I bring my fist up and punch into the golem's fist.

A dust cloud explodes from the impact.

"Hello?! Are you ok?! Francis, get medical assistance now!" I hear Amber's voice.

The dust begins to clear, only to reveal my fist clashed with the golem's.

"What?" I hear Amber mutter.

I let out a chuckle, "Feeling invincible yet?"

I hear a beastly roar as the bear grabs onto the back of the golem. The bear throws and shakes it, bringing the golem to the ground.

"MÖLBROT!"

The bear begins to glow a light blue hue before exploding into a huge chunk of ice, freezing the golem in place.

"Saber." I say, "It's all yours."

Saber walks onto the top of the golem's chest. He stares down at the golem for a moment. He gives a small salute before raising his sword. It glows a golden light. The sword drops, cleaving the golem in two. Saber steps off the golems body.

He looks at me.

"Thanks for the good time. See ya around, bud."

He merely nods at me, and puts his sword on his chest.

He fades away along with the grassy plains, the golem's frozen body, and the destruction that lay behind.

I'm left in the white room. I look up towards the observation deck to see Amber and her colleagues' stunned faces.

"So!" I call out, "Did I pass?"

"Why is it that the last two masters we get are the most destructive?!" A surprised Amber rings out over the PA system.

"I'll take that as a compliment!" I walk over to the platform and it raises me up towards the observation deck. I take off the device that Amber strapped onto me and hand it back to her.

"Ok- wow- well… Now that we've done that, allow me to show you to where you'll be staying!" Amber leads me down the halls and corridors and stairs towards the dormitories of the building.

"Here it is!" She says as a door with '369' opens to reveal my belongings, "This is where you'll be resting during the course of your time here."

"Cool." I say.

"I would suggest you take the time to learn your way around the facility however, as we will begin business tomorrow when the director briefs you all on your task." She tells me.

As much as I'd love to meet a bunch of raving arseholes, I'd rather get acquainted with my new bed-

"Hey Amber." A short guy appears from behind me in the hall.

"Oh, hi again Eric." She gives a small wave to him.

"Who's this?" He asks her.

"This is the final master that we were waiting for. His name is Nathaniel Moon."

"Moon? I've never heard of that family before."

"Nah." I try to walk into my room, before Amber cuts in.

"Wait, don't you think you should introduce yourself?" She asks me.

"Not particularly."

"Rude." Eric spouts off behind me.

I turn around, "You don't get to have a say in my behavior. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Goodbye."

"What did I even do?" He asks me.

This fucking kid.

"Listen. As much as I just wish I could talk to some wee entitled boy about his corrupt family and all of the wonderful achievements they've accomplished for their magecraft, I'd rather bash my brains into the side of a desk."

"YOU WH-"

"YOU WILL NOT RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!" I snap at him, and he immediately backs off, "I've had to deal with your type for all of my life. You want to look like you're the big shot, like you're above everyone else."

"Just shut up." He grits his teeth.

"You're not the one giving orders anymore." I tell him, "Fuck off, kid."

I walk into my room and Amber follows me. The door closes behind us.

"Um- Nathaniel, I don't think that's how you should treat your fellow colleagues."

"Amber, I know how they work. I've been hired by more scumbags than you could even count. They want to control everyone and have them bend to them. Not me."

"You didn't even give him a chance." She tells me.

"All I told him was that I didn't want to speak to anyone, and he immediately started criticizing me for it." I point at the door, "He didn't give me one."

Amber sighs, "Just please approach other people with more acceptance." She walks towards the door.

"That goes two ways." I say as she leaves my room.

Arsehole. That little wank reminds me of Malaby all over again. I've gotta set up my room, and then hopefully I can get some good food.

I pull my chest over towards the dresser and use it somewhat as a desk. I pack my ether clumps into a drawer, and sort my animal materials into categories and file them in. After getting done with all that, I put all my clothes in the closet. And finally, I relax and lie down on my bed. That is until, I notice one more thing that is protruding out of my bag. The rusty hilt that Waver gave me.

Not now. I need to keep this hidden from everyone. Can't just go around flashing a sword to everyone.

Well, I don't suppose sitting around here any longer will do me any good. I gotta stretch my legs a little bit.

I walk outside of my room and try to see if I can learn my way around the place. There is a good amount of people walking the halls. I check my phone. I still need to text Kairi and tell him I made it safe.

No reception… great.

I bump into a smaller girl, a little shorter than I am. She's blonde and has blue eyes, and she's wearing a suit with a fedora on her head.

"My bad, sorry." I keep walking.

"My bad? That's all you have to say to me?" She turns around, insulted.

Ah. She's one of those magi.

"You should be groveling at my feet, begging me for my forgiveness." she announces to me.

"What? I said I was sorry."

She scoffs, "I, Corinna Emparanza, the heir of the Emparanza family! I have you know my family has the apex of wealth concerning any mage family in all of Italy."

"Cool." I continue walking.

"Now just you wait!" She runs back in front of me, "Just who do you think you are!? First, you beat me and batter me senseless with your insensitive shoulder," people are starting to look at the disruption this girl's causing, "then you dare to walk away without so much as a fitting apology?"

I raise my voice at her, "Listen, princess, I don't care how much money your dad's got. Leave me alone."

"You dare speak to the Emperanza heir that way?!"

"Oh my g- why is it that everyone here just wants to get on my nerves?! I'm just walking down the hallway! I apologized to you! Accept it if you want, I don't care! Now leave me alone!" I yell.

Everyone pauses as I continue down the hallway without a peep. All the magi here just go on and on about how much better they are compared to anyone else. I can't stand them.

I walk down the hallway and see a few people walk into a room, I can see a vending machine inside. I walk into the room and see it's a lounging area with some seats, tables, drink machines, and plenty of room for any get-together.

I see a bunch of other people, some magi, some just regular staff. I decide to get a drink from a nearby vending machine and I overhear some talk from a couple of folks.

"You hear what that church guy did to Clarkson yesterday?" A girl asks.

"Who hasn't heard about that?" Another girl says, "I watched it happen."

"Really?!" some other dude asks them.

"Yeah, he just punched the guy, got his food, and left."

"Honestly, the guy deserved it." The girl says.

Y'know what? If I find him, then maybe I'll never have to speak to those narcissistic arseholes again. If I can convince a few people we're friends and everyone will just ignore me. That is perfectly fine by me.

I wait around for a few more hours. It's dinner now. I decide to go ahead and get my food while trying to keep an eye out for that church guy.

"Hey there," the man at the food bar says brightly, "What can I get you?"

"You don't have any Guiness here by chance, do you?"

The guy looks shocked for a moment, "Uhhhh…"

"I'm joking, give me a pepsi. And can I have a uhhhh…" I take a look at the menu, "Turkey sandwich?"

"Sure, let me get that ready for you! Please stand over there and wait for the food." He tells me.

"Sound." I stand by the bar, and look at my phone. Still no reception. I don't know what I expected.

Just then I hear the roar of the cafeteria slowly die down to only a few conversations. I look up from my phone to see a guy wearing dark church garbs and a girl with pinkish hair.

Looks like I found my man.

The church guy walks straight up to the bar, "Chicken sandwich."

"Y- you got it." The server starts getting some stuff ready, "Please wait over there, please."

I glance up towards him as he walks over and stands next to me.

"What about you?" the server asks her.

"I would like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, please."

"You got it. I'll get it right out." He starts working on the three sandwiches as soon as she begins to make her way over to us.

I can tell he's looking me over, analyzing me. A bit of me wonders what he's thinking.

No words pass between us, but when I look up from my phone, I can see the magi looking his way with nervous glances.

The guy walks over and puts a sandwich down on the countertop and makes his way back towards the cooking station.

I pick it up, "It's yours." I hold the sandwich out towards him, "I got turkey, it's chicken."

He takes it from me, "Thank you."

"What's your name, guy?" I ask him.

I can hear a few whispers once I ask that ever so important question.

"Kaizer Lee." He responds.

"Nate." I stick my hand out to fist bump him.

He hesitates for a moment, and after what seems like the longest pause in his life, he gives me a fist bump and I can only imagine that was the most uncomfortable he has been since he's gotten here.

I give a small chuckle, "Not too familiar with those are you, Jeremiah?"

"My name is actually Kaizer. I had just told you." He says in a very confused way.

"You're good fun." I give a small laugh.

"PB and J." The guy hands the sandwich to the girl, "and turkey." He hands the last sandwich to me, "And here's your drink." He hands me a styrofoam cup.

"Cheers." I say to him

Kaizer and the girl start to leave the cafeteria.

"Where are you two going?" I ask them.

"We actually have a spot where we eat meals." He mentions, "Tell me, would you like to join us?"

"Sure why not?" I follow them towards the door through the rows of hushed magi.

As soon as we exit the cafeteria and the door shuts, I immediately veer off from them.

"Where are you going?" He asks me.

"Back to my room." I respond.

"Um, I thought you were going to eat with us." The girl asks me.

"Can I be honest with you two? I just wanted those bastards to leave me alone. Best way I could think of was to make them think we were friends."

"You know that may cause more problems, also that is quite rude." Kaizer says to me.

"Hey, listen, it's nothin personal. I just didn't want the magi breathing down my neck while I was here." I tell them, "You can go off to your eating spot, I can just go on my way."

"Lone wolves do not exist," Kaizer tells me, "And if they do they don't last that long. That's what the father of my sect told me. People who work alone don't last long."

"Been doing it all my life, pal." I take a bit from my sandwich.

"Then why do you smile? You must have a reason for it." He says with a blank expression.

I check my phone again. Still no reception, and no way to message Kairi.

I sigh, "Alright you've made your point, lead the way."


POV: Kaizer Lee

Nate is leaning against the wall next to us, eating his food.

His blonde hair is a bit messier than what you'd typically find on a high class mage, they typically groom themselves well, but Nate seems to have a stubble on his face. His clothes are not something you'd see on traditional mages as well.

"You know, you never told me your last name." I point out.

"Ah. My full name is Nathaniel Moon. Friends call me Nate, though." He says in his Scottish accent.

"I see." I say.

"Oh! I forgot to introduce myself." Mashu says, "I apologize, Nate-senpai."

Nate nearly chokes on his sandwich, "Nate-fucking-what?"

"What?" She tilts her head a little.

"It's fine, she sees you as her superior because you are her elder." I tell Nate.

"I'm not that old." He says.

"Anyway, I am Mashu Kyrielight." She tells him.

"Mah-shew." He repeats back to us, "No wait, Mah-shoe. Nah wait- screw it I'll just say Mash."

"That's okay!" She perks up.

"So why did you join Chaldea?" I ask him.

"Why? To get away from Clock Tower. At first I saw this whole thing as a scheme to kidnap me somewhere, but now that I'm quite literally on the other side of the world from those bastards, I think I may enjoy it."

"By any chance, would you be a freelancer?" I ask him.

"Yup. Why?" He takes another bite of his sandwich.

"Well, your build, attitude, appearance; it all tells me you are not a traditional magi, but you instead work in another business." I tell him.

"You've got keen senses then." He laughs, "And let me guess, you're an executor."

"Correct." I tell him.

"Figures." He laughs, "You got a black key on you?"

I pull out the hilt of a black key.

"You know, I didn't think I'd actually meet someone I could relate to while I was here." He tells us.

"What do you mean?" Mashu asks him.

"Well I just assumed it would be a bunch of posh magi that got sent here. With you, though, it's pretty cool talking to you."

"Thank you." I reply.

Something I have just noticed. I don't know how long it has been on my face, but I feel myself smiling a little. Huh… what a strange feeling.

"I feel like we may have forgotten to mention something." Mashu grabs her chin.

"Hey guys." Eric walks around the corner, "They ran out of ketch-" He immediately sees Nate.

"Oh, hello Eric-senpai." Mashu greets him warmly.

"Hey, Mash." Eric doesn't take his eyes off Nate, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Eric, that's quite rude." I say to him.

"Kaizer, this is the Scottish guy I told you about earlier." He tells us.

Mashu and I both look over towards Nate. He's still eating his sandwich, eyeing Eric down.

"Why don't you let bygones be bygones, then?" I ask Eric.

"Not happening." Eric replies.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd like that either." Nate says.

"Well the both of you are invited here, as long as you don't cause a scene." I tell them.

"Yes, your highness," Nate says sarcastically, "Lord Ruler of Chaldea."

"This is Mashu's spot. That would mean that Mashu is technically the queen." I tell him.

"Eh?" Mashu looks at me and blushes, "Senpai what do you mean by that?"

"Well this is your home, Mashu." I turn to Eric and Nate, "And we should all be civil, while we are guests here."

Eric sits next to Mashu on the floor, making sure to keep Mashu and I between Nate and himself.

We eat our food for a moment.

"So…" Eric breaks the silence, "Nathaniel."

"Yeah?" Nate responds.

Eric takes a bite of a small burger, "Do you always talk to people like that?"

"Fuck you."

"Please, you two. Be civil." I ask of them.

"Um, Nate, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Mashu looks towards Nate.

Ah… I see what she's trying to do.

"Wait, 'Nate'?" Eric asks.

"Yeah, my friends call me that. You call me Nathaniel." He says.

I take a look at Eric and I can see him getting angry.

"Nate." I give him a look.

"Fine, fine." He backs down, "What would you like to learn?"

"Tell us your history with Clock Tower." I request.

Nate immediately rolls his eyes, "Well, they paid me. Everything else isn't a very good time."

"You worked for Clock Tower?" Eric asks.

"Trust me, I'd rather have not. Fuckin arseholes try to rip me off at every turn." Nate goes on.

"Trust me, I get it." Eric says, "I understand all too well."

"Like have you ever been told to go to the fuckin dirtiest, smelliest shithole in Moldova only for the fuckface to try to short change you by a couple of thousand?" Nate asks.

"Thousand?" Eric asks.

"THAT'S WHAT I THOUGHT TOO! THAT'S ANOTHER FUCKING FLIGHT HOME!" Nate gestures towards him.

"The only reason I'm even here is because Clock Tower basically told my family that they were going to take me and that we had no options in that." Eric mentions.

"Dude, that happens all the time." Nate says, "All the fuckin time man, I can't stand them-"

I look over to Mashu while Nate and Eric continue talking among themselves, "Good job." I whisper to her.

"I didn't think it would be this effective." She whispers back.

Then we hear a noise from down the hall, "Fou!"

"What was that?" Nate turns around.

"That would be the wandering creature of Chaldea." I answer.

"What, like a mascot?" Eric asks.

Fou emerges from around a corner and runs towards us.

"What the hell?" Eric and Nate say simultaneously.

Fou runs through Nate's legs, and then jumps onto Eric's face and then bounces onto Mashu's lap.

"The tiny squirrel thing is weirding me out." Nate says, unable to take his eyes off this new creature.

"At least you didn't get a paw in your eye," Eric holds one of his eyes, "That thing is real?"

"Yes." Mashu replies, "His name is Fou."

"I thought he was some doll." Eric says.

Nate picks Fou up and starts looking him over, "You have a small bit of canine properties, but also a few rodent ones as well. What are you?"

"Fou!" Fou barks at Nate, "Kyuuu!"

"Fine I'll put you down. Jesus." Nate puts Fou back in Mashu's lap.

Eventually, meal time is over and people return to walking the halls of the building. We've all finished our food, but we've still sat here talking amongst each other all the same.

"Mashu, I do want to ask you one thing." I bring up, "This briefing tomorrow. What is it?"

"Oh come on, Kaizer, you really think she'd know?" Nate says.

"I actually do know. I'm a part of Team A." Mashu says.

"You're what?" Eric asks.

"Team A is the team that is going to spearhead tomorrow's operation." Mashu says.

"No offense, Mash, but you don't strike me as the person to spearhead something." Nate says.

Mashu looks towards the floor, sadly.

I give Nate a sour look, and he backs down.

"Anyway," Eric chimes in, "What even is tomorrow's operation?"

"The preservation of human history." Mashu says quietly.

Silence falls on all of us. Eric, Nate, and I exchange looks before refocusing back onto Mashu.

"Excuse me?" Nate asks.

Mashu goes on, "We have a machine called Chaldeas along with the Sheba lens. Chaldeas is a replica of the planet Earth's soul. As long as there's light, then humanity is guaranteed to last another hundred years. But the light soon began to die out. From the calculations, it was projected that all human life will be ended by December, 2018."

No one dares speak. All of life on Earth?

"What's the cause?" I ask.

"We've only just discovered it. Spatial Singularity F. It is located in a small city in Japan named Fuyuki. From what we can see with the Sheba lens, the entire settlement is in flames." She tells us.

"Jesus fuck…" Nate mutters under his breath.

Eric remains silent.

I stand up, "I'm going to help any way I can. I'm going to put everything I have into this mission."

"I'm right there with you." Nate says, "Not on my watch." he looks down towards Eric, "What about you, second rate?"

Eric stands up, "No freaking chance I'm letting that happen."

"I'm very happy I met you three." Mashu says quietly, "I find you so different from all the others here." She gives a warm smile, "You three are the most human."

I honestly don't know what to say. I don't consider myself…

"Oh," A voice catches all of us off guard, "There you are."

I turn to see a man in a green coat and hat, and a chill runs up my spine. I cannot explain why I feel like this.

"Oh! Professor Lev!" Mashu turns to face the man.

"Oh, hey!" Eric says, excitedly, "It's great to see you again, Lev."

"It's wonderful to see you too, Mashu and Eric." He nods towards them both, "Ah. I also see that master candidates forty-seven and forty-eight." He tips his hat, "My name is Lev Lainur, or simply Professor Lev. It is very nice to meet both of you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Professor." Nate says, with a smile.

"Yes… It's good to meet you, Mr. Lev." I let out.

I notice Mashu's and Eric's expressions change. They look at me somewhat… concerned.

"Ah, yes. Mashu, you have a meeting with Team A and the Director immediately." Lev tells her.

"Oh! Yes, Professor!" She starts to walk down the halls, but turns around to give us a wave.

We all wave back, and she turns down another hallway.

"I must be getting ready for tomorrow. It was nice meeting you two," He extends his hand out towards Nate and I. We both shake it, "It was good seeing you again, too, Eric." He turns around and walks off.

Eric turns back to face Nate and I, and Nate starts wiping the hand he shook Lev's with onto his shirt.

"Really?" Eric asks, annoyed.

"What? He's sketchy." Nate says.

"I have to agree with Nate on this." I add.

"See, Kaizer agrees." Nate gestures towards me.

"Something isn't right with Professor Lev. My senses are pretty good and a chill…" I try my best to put it into words, "I do not trust him."

"Wouldn't bet my life on him." Nate adds, "I don't need a sixth sense to tell you that the oversized leprechaun is shady."

"You two are overreacting!" Eric says, "He's nice! Genuinely nice!"

"How would you know?" Nate asks him, "What's he done for you?"

"He's one of the first people I met here and he welcomed me with open arms! He's one of the only people to not try to break my jaw for being 'a traitor'. He also didn't insult my family and belittle me." He sets his eyes on Nate.

"Ah, good for you then." Nate lets out sarcastically.

"Let's just leave this for tomorrow." I say, "I need to lie down."

"Yeah, are you ok?" Eric asks me, "You went kinda… cold there, for a second."

"Have you ever had all of your senses go off in a millisecond?" I ask him.

"Probably not." He replies.

"Whatever." Nate starts to walk away, "I'm going to see you two tomorrow. I've got an executive meeting with my bedsheets."

Eric turns towards me, "Is it weird that I still can't stand that guy?"

I start to walk down the hall towards my room, "You just need to know each other more. Goodnight, Eric."

"Yeah," Eric says offhand, "Night." Eric starts to walk towards the stairs. I don't think he believes me.

Lev Lainur… What are you hiding from us?


POV: Mashu Kyrielight

Date: June 5th, 2018

It's early morning. I make my way through the halls of Chaldea looking for room 296. I decided that I should make sure my senpais are awake and ready for the day and the briefing. If I must be honest, I did not expect that there would be people here that I felt the need to check on.

It should be somewhere around here.

I find the room, and go to knock. Before my hand can make contact, the door slides open and I see Senpai looking down towards me.

"Good morning, Mashu." He tells me.

"Good morning, Senpai!" I take a step back to allow him to access the hallway, "I see you came to wake me up again."

"Yes. I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for today." We start walking through the halls.

"There was much to think about last night."

"Are you worried?" I ask.

"I was taught never to worry." He sounds serious, "This mission may be the deadliest I have been on if what you told us is true."

"What do you mean you weren't taught to worry?" I ask.

A small moment of silence passes before he speaks again, "I'd rather not go into such things right now, Mashu."

"Oh…" I feel bad for even mentioning it, "Sorry, Senpai."

"No. It is fine. Let's just keep going."

"The other twos' rooms are upstairs. Let's find them and make sure they're ready for the briefing." I say, veering off into a stairwell.

A nod of approval from Senpai allows me to lead him into the dorms above. We turn down the path laid by Chaldea's corridors until we stop outside room number 369.

"This is Nate-senpai's room." I announce to Senpai.

He reaches forward and gives three solid knocks on the door. Soon it slides open and we see Nate-senpai wearing a tank top shirt.

"What do yo- oh it's you two." He leans against the frame of the door, "What do you need?"

"Mashu came to check up on us and make sure we're ready for the day." Senpai tells him.

"With everything you said last night, of course I'd be ready. I'm not letting anything distract me." He says, he pulls a drawer from his dresser and stuffs something into his jacket.

"What was that?" Senpai asks.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

"I'm only asking out of curiosity." Senpai waits.

"There's still Eric-senpai we need to check on." I mention.

"Ugh." Nate sighs, "That guy."

"You two seemed quite talkative last night." Senpai says.

"I started venting about Clock Tower. That doesn't mean I like him." He turns around into his room, and grabs a few claws and teeth, stuffing them into a satchel, "Let's go get him I guess."

We walk around the hallway until we get to Room 318.

Senpai knocks on his door. No answer.

"Hold on," Nate-senpai steps forward and bangs onto his door, "Rise and shine, moron!"

We hear a muffled groan come from the inside.

"Is Eric-senpai not feeling well?"

The door slides open to reveal a very tired-looking Eric.

"Unbelievable." Nate remarks, "End of the world, and you're snoozing away."

"Eric, you should really get a good night's sleep." Senpai told the sleep-deprived Eric.

"I tried…" He slowly turns around to go towards his closet, unveiling a massive spider crawling on the back of Eric's shoulder.

"Eric!" I scream, "On your back!"

"Holy shit!" Nate-senpai exclaims

Our sudden outburst wakes Eric up and he jumps a little, "Ah! What?!"

"Eric, don't move. I'll exterminate it." Senpai steps forward.

Eric reaches around and takes the spider off his shoulder, and he looks back towards us, "Oh, it's just Heidi."

"Oh you're weirder than I thought." Nate remarks.

"Familiar?" Senpai asks Eric.

"Yeah. I don't see an issue with this." He puts the spider onto his dresser and walks over to his closet, "I'll be out in a second, just… I don't know, sit tight?"

"We shouldn't be having to 'sit tight', spider boy." Nate leaves the door and leans against a wall.

Eric looks at Senpai and I and mouths the words 'I hate him.'

"It's fine Eric, we'll wait." I step out into the hallway to wait with the others.

The door closes and we're left with a small silence as we wait for Eric.

"Such a fucking child, he is." Nate mutters.

Senpai speaks up, "It's fine. We have time until the briefing starts."

"Honestly, whatever you two see in him, I do not." He leans back, placing his hands behind his head.

"Fou!" a noise appears from down the hall, "Kyuu!"

"Ah, the final member of the group." Senpai remarks.

Fou runs over to us and I pick him up and carry him in my arms.

"Still a wee mysterious thing aren't you?" Nate-senpai looks at Fou.

The door slides open and Eric emerges wearing a button-down shirt and khaki pants.

"Alright so now that droopy's out and about, where are we going?" Nate-senpai asks.

Eric lets out a few mocking murmurs towards Nate.

"In the lowest level of the upper half of Chaldea, there's an elevator that will lead us to the mission and command area of the building." I tell them.

We make our way into the lower levels and find the elevator down. We step into the elevator. It has a glass pane opposite the doors. We're faced with a concrete wall in front of us.

I press the button to descend to the lower section of Chaldea, and the elevator begins to move.

In a moment, the elevator enters the main generator room and we can see the superstructure through the window.

"Woah." Eric sounds off in amazement.

"It's bloody massive." Nate says quietly.

We descend into the command wing of Chaldea and the doors open behind us. We walk into a large hallway with tall ceilings.

"We need to get to the observing bay." I tell them, "Follow me, please."

We make our way to the observation room, and in it we see 4 rows of seats and Director Olga Marie standing above the chairs in her black and gold director's wear. The three go to sit in their spots.

"Welcome to the Chaldea Security Organization!" She belts to the audience of masters, "I am Director Olga Marie Animusphere. All of you have been discovered and chosen from around the world for the rare talent that you possess. By 'talent', I mean the potential to do a Spiritron Dive. You possess the magic circuits and the qualifications to become a Master. That being said, it's a special talent, but you yourselves are not special people. Make yourselves aware that you are no more than tools whose sole purpose is to protect humankind's history."

"What did she just say?"

"The gall!" One girl mutters, "How dare she!"

"Just who does she think she's talking to!?" Another guy tells his friend.

Another girl speaks out "I didn't come all the way from Italy just to have family name-"

"SILENCE!" Olga snaps at the masters, "If you don't like what I have to say, leave Chaldea immediately! Have fun making the six-thousand meter hike down the mountain." No one budges, "Fine then. Now, first thing's first. I have received reports of disorderly conduct amid one of the Masters." She scans the crowd and points at Senpai, "You! The representative from the church! For that little fight of yours, you will be thrown out of this mission! Do I make myself clear?"

Senpai simply stands up, "As you order ma'am." He begins to walk towards the door.

"Good. At least he can follow orders correctly. Let's see if the rest of you will live up to that standard!" the Director continues briefing the crowd.

I rush to follow Senpai and we exit the room together.


POV: Kaizer Lee

The doors shut behind me.

"Why did you follow me, Mashu?" I ask her, "Shouldn't you be listening to the briefing?"

"Why didn't you make your case? He was going to try to harm you if you didn't do what you did." She tells me.

"Honestly, to get it behind me. If I argued the case, I may have been in more trouble than I already am."

She falls silent.

I pat her head, "Do good out there. And please, watch those two's backs."

She quietly nods and makes her way back into the briefing.

I turn around and walk down the halls towards where the elevator is. I step into the elevator and hit the button that takes me back up to the residential area of the facility. The doors open and I am met with a group of people, looking to step onto the elevator.

The presumable leader of their group is a man that has long blonde hair and blue eyes. I don't have to look far to realize he's a powerful magus. The way he stands. The way he presents himself. The way he leads. It reminds me of nobility, yet I somehow don't sense any pride.

"Hm?" He looks me over, "I assume you're the executor from the church. So those rumors are true."

"My name is Kaizer Lee. Yours?" I introduce myself.

"My name is Kirschtaria Wodime. Leader of Team A. It's very nice to meet you." He smiles politely and extends his arm to shake my hand.

I shake it and I look over the rest of the team members.

"Are you sure we can trust him?" A girl with an eyepatch asks him, "I mean, he's an exe-"

"He's part of the team. He can be quite an ally right now. So do not judge a book by it's cover, Ophelia." Wodime says.

She seems like a paranoid person. She doesn't seem to trust a lot of other people.

The next one I notice is a guy with bright pink hair approaching me. He reaches down, grabs my hand, and shakes it vigorously.

"My name is Scandinavia Peperoncino. Nice to meet you, church boy." The only way I can describe this man is like someone from that manga series I've read, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Also what did he call me?

"I think you broke him, Scandinavia." I look over to the guy with glasses.

This guy… just feels completely sinister. He looks borderline evil, almost as bad as that feeling I got with Lev.

"Beryl Gut. Nice to meet ya!" He smiles with his eyes closed. I can see straight past his facade. He cannot be trusted.

"Nice to meet you." I tell him, "And to you too, Scandinavia. I didn't mean to appear rude, you just took me by surprise."

"It's quite fine! Oh! Let me introduce you to the rest of us." He says.

He points towards a girl with glasses who appears like she doesn't find me very interesting, "This is Hinako Akuta. The quiet girl in our group."

She only gives me a glance before returning to the confines of her book. I really don't know what to think about her. She's giving me nothing to go off of. I do have a familiar feeling about her, but I cannot place it. I merely nod to her.

"You've already met Ophelia. Don't worry, she'll come around." Scandinavia tells me.

"You shouldn't always just blindly trust everyone!" She tells him.

"This is Daybit Sem Void." He points out a man with spiky blonde hair. He vaguely reminds me of Nate, based on appearances alone. I try to read him, but all I can see is just that. A void. We just stare at each other, and we briefly nod at each other in a sign of acknowledgment.

"And then our youngest member!" Scandinavia says, excitedly.

"Please don't do this to me." A young white-haired guy.

"Kadou Zemlupus. He's quite a nice guy once you get to know him!" Scandinavia tells me with a smile.

Kadou groans at this.

"It's very nice to meet you all." I say to all of them.

"Now that the introductions are finished, I must ask." Wodime speaks, "Why are you not in the briefing?"

"It is my punishment. I caused a bit of a ruckus a few days ago." I answer him, "I attacked a magi because he threatened me."

"Hm?" He looks me over, "I assume you're the executor from the church. So those rumors are true." He lets out a small laugh, "That mage you pummeled, I believe you vastly overestimated him."

"You may be correct, but you can never be too sure. You magi are tricky people."

They look somewhat surprised.

Beryl laughs, "Bad luck, friend."

A terrible feeling washes over me as he speaks. Ignore him for now.

"I am sorry Kaizer, but I'll get you on the next mission." Wodime tells me.

"It's fine, it was just a misunderstanding." I tell him.

"Having an executor on our side could be quite the advantage. Especially if we fight any undead." Wodime tells me.

He's thinking of every possibility of this mission. He'll be a good leader.

"Ah, yes. It was nice meeting you, Kaizer." Wodime says, and they walk past me into the elevator.

What am I going to do now? I could look into this 'Lev' character. I need to find out what that feeling that I felt from him earlier was, and precisely what about him was causing it.

I get to my room. The door slides open and I am met with a man with white lab clothes and bright peachy hair sitting on my bed eating cake. We can't help but stare at each other for a moment as we try to comprehend what's happening.

"What are you doing here!?" He says as he jumps up from the bed.

"This… is my room." I say to him.

"I thought everyone was at the briefing?" He says to me.

"Before we talk about that, what are you doing in my room?" I ask this stranger.

"Well, this is typically where I come to get away from it all y'know?" He rubs the back of his neck, "I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd be back here. Speaking of which, why aren't you at the briefing?"

"Due to an action I made when I first arrived, Director Olga Marie decided that as punishment I should sit the first mission out." I tell him.

"Ah… wait so that whole rumor was true?" He asks me.

"Yes. By the way, my name is Kaizer Lee." I sit in my chair.

"My name is Romani Archaman." He extends his non-cake-eating hand to shake mine and I oblige him, "Everyone just calls me Dr. Roman, though. I'm the head doctor here at Chaldea."

If I am to ask anyone about my suspicions, then I may as well begin with this man, "Can you tell me about some of the staff here at Chaldea?"

"Well there's a lot of staff that the organization employed. You've probably already met Amber. She's-"

I do suppose that was a bit too vague of a question. I'll try to specify.

"What about the professor that wears the green? Lev?"

"Oh! Professor Lev Lainur! He's a great guy! He's the one that made the sheba lens." He continues eating his cake, "Y'know, I actually knew him in school."

Interesting. Even Dr. Roman will claim he's trustworthy. I need to press on.

I continue, "Has Lev been acting stra-"

Roman's communicator begins to ring. He answers it and that's when I hear Lev's voice.

"Romani, there's been a problem with Team A and they need to be checked. Get down to the command room immediately."

"Alright, Lev. I'll be down in a minute," He says brightly and hangs up with Lev. He looks back towards me, "Oh don't worry, I've checked Team A tons of times. I'll sit here and procrastinate just a little longer, haha! Anyway, what were you saying earlier?"

"Has he been acting strange lately?" I ask

"Who? Lev? No, he hasn't. Why do you ask?" Roman asks me.

Do I risk telling him and seem suspicious or leave the questioning for later? I'll leave it for now. I shouldn't make myself a target anymore than I already am.

"I'm sorry, Roman. The church always taught me to be skeptical of magi. I need to abandon that way of thinking now that I'm here in your company."

"Nah, I completely get it. I really hope you're enjoying it here by the way!" He flashes a smile at me, and takes a sip of coffee.

"I will admit it's… different." I tell him, "I like it, though. Besides, I've met friends here and a really nice girl named Mashu."

Roman nearly chokes on his coffee, "Mashu? So you're the guy she mentioned?"

"Are you ok? You shouldn't drink coffee that fast."

"I'm fine! I didn't know that you're the person she told us about!" Roman speaks up.

"Do you know her or-" I couldn't finish my sentence before being interrupted by alarms and flashing lights.

"What is happening? Is this a blackout?" I ask Roman.

"Chaldea doesn't have blackouts! I'll go check it out, you get to safety, okay?" He waits for a reply.

"I'm sorry Roman, but I'm going." I tell him.

"No, Kaizer you have to get out of here-" Before he can tell me no, I channel my mana through my legs and speed down the hallway.

I come across a map of Chaldea on the wall. I see the central elevator inside the main generator room, but also a stairwell that leads all the way down to the command area. I immediately dash towards the stairwell and vault over the protective rails. As I fall, I can see the bottom of the stairwell approaching fast.

"Supplementum!" I reinforce my hand and dig my fingers into the central pillar in the stairwell. I land on the floor and roll to break the fall. I run through the door and immediately notice that something has clearly happened here. The ceiling has cracks in the structure and the floor tiles are knocked out of shape.

I feel another massive shock come from the center of the building.

I sprint through the hallways before I reach these massive vault doors. They open and I see the whole command room engulfed in flames. Nothing but the model of the world, Chaldeas, still stands in the room. There gargantuan support beams collapsed, and the floor itself has shattered and shifted like some kind of earthquake hit the facility. I see debris and large concrete chunks crash into the ground. The roar of the flames makes it difficult to hear anything.

I must find survivors. I step off a tall ledge and run towards the center of the room.

I see some capsules protruding from the ground. I run through and check some of them. They have people inside of them. They're alive, but very badly injured. There's a huge wall of rubble preventing me from crossing over to the others.

Just then, I hear a familiar sound on top of a mound of rubble.

"Fou! Fou!"

"Fou! Where are the others?" I ask him.

The small creature barks at me and starts to run somewhere. I keep up with him until we reach a massive support beam that has collapsed. I see Mashu. Her entire lower half is being crushed by the debris.

I rush over to her. I can't just let her succumb to this pain. I need to save her.

"Senpai, you have to leave." She says, weakly.

I immediately reinforce my arms and attempt to lift the stone. It's scorching my palms but I don't care.

"Senpai, you have to leave before you get locked in here." She says.

I focus every bit of mana I can muster into my arms and I try to lift the stone. The stone doesn't budge. I need to use all of my mana. I need-

"Warning to observation staff. Chaldeas' condition has changed." A voice rings over the intercom, "Sheba near-future observational data will be overwritten. The survival of the human species on Earth for the next 100 years cannot be confirmed. The future of humanity cannot be guaranteed."

I look up at the massive model of the earth, except it isn't blue anymore. It emits a fiery orange hue. It looks as though all of the world is in flames.

"Chaldeas is…" Mashu stares up at the bright orange globe.

"Central bulkhead, closing." A voice rings out over the intercom.

"Don't worry, Mashu. Roman survived as well, he'll get us out of here." I sit next to her, "I'll be right here, Mashu."

"Senpai…" she grabs my hand as tight as she can, "thank you."

I can feel the smoke getting to my head. I've been breathing in too much.

"You can't see the sky from here…" Mashu says quietly, "There's always a blizzard."

I can feel myself starting to slump over, "I promise, Mashu… I'll show you the sky… one day."

She reaches up towards me, her hand shaking sporadically. I cup her hand in mine. I close my eyes. I just realized. There's that feeling again… I'm smiling.

I look down at Mashu and she musters all of her energy into a smile to gift me.

I lie down. I'm getting lightheaded. I feel myself drifting.

I guess I'm smiling for her. I don't mind that…


POV: Mashu Kyrielight

Senpai… he's… he's gone limp. I can't feel my legs… please… someone please help…

"Do you wish to protect him?" I hear a voice ask me.

I look to the source and see a figure standing in the firelight. I can't see his face. He's wearing some form of armor.

"Yes…" I answer, "I want to… protect… Senp…ai…"

"Then use my shield."

"Servant found…" the intercom voices, "Rayshift process beginning."

I close my eyes. I feel something happen.

Senpai. We'll see the sky.


POV: Nathaniel Moon

And with that, Kaizer leaves the room. The Director continues her briefing.

"We are here to protect human history. This is Chaldeas." She points towards the giant globe hovering above the center of the room we're overlooking. The globe spins and we see a bright red dot appear over Japan, "It shows us the light of the world. If humanity is threatened, we will see it through Chaldeas. Using it, we have detected a singularity; a pocket in space-time that falls outside of the events that happen in our own timeline. To put it simply, they are stains, and it's our job to clean them up!"

So that's the threat that Mash was talking about…

"This particular singularity, as you can see, is located in and around a small city known as Fuyuki."

A hand shoots up in the audience, "What's so important about that place?"

"That place is the host of the holy grail wars! There have been too many battles to count over the contents of that cup for centuries now." She looks back to the mage that asked the question, "Now if you interrupt me again, I'll send you out to the executor! So unless you want to get back at him for that humiliation he caused you, then I'd suggest keeping your idiotic questions to yourself!"

"Damn…" I mumble under my breath.

"Trust me, he deserves it." Eric lets in.

The mage lowers his hand and grits his teeth.

"You should expect anything going into the singularity. We may even be going against enemy servants should we rayshift in the middle of a grail war. I must tell you all one more thing before we continue!" She paces around the stage, "We can't just send in forty-eight masters and expect everything to be okay! So from this point forward, you will be split up into teams! We have taken a look at the files of every candidate and have selected those with the best leadership qualities! The team leaders will be given communicators that will be able to contact other team leaders and Chaldea itself! The team leaders are master candidate numbers twelve, twenty-two, twenty-four, thirty-one, thirty-nine, and forty-seven! Stand up to receive your communicators!"

A few people, including the Emparanza girl, get up and begin making their way to the front.

She looks them over, "This is only five, where's the last one?"

Director Olga opens up her own communicator and a holographic screen appears in front of her. She scrolls through it and taps a button. A picture of Kaizer pops up on the screen.

"Oh…" Her composure immediately leaves her, "Great." She looks at Eric, "You! You'll take over for him!"

What?

"What?" Eric spouts out, "I- Okay…"

Seriously? That kid? What's she thinking?

Eric makes his way to the front and grabs the remaining communicator.

"Now, everyone! Come follow me!"

She beckons the crowd to follow as she leads us through the halls of Chaldea and outside two rooms. One with a boy's symbol and the other with a girl's symbol.

"This is where you will come to prepare and gather supplies before every mission!" She motions to the lockers, "In the lockers are your uniforms! Get ready and then meet in the deployment area. We'll begin the rayshifting process there."

We enter the room and lucky me, Eric's locker seems to be right next to mine. Wonderful…

I open my locker and see the uniform they have hanging there for me. It's black and white and made from rubber padding and other fabrics. I turn to Eric and he's already taking his clothes off.

I pull mine out, "See this?"

He looks up at my uniform, "Yeah, what about it?"

"This is way too small for me!" I shake it around.

"It looks fine to me." Eric continues changing.

"That's because you're bite-sized."

He scowls at me, "Just put the thing on, stop making it a big deal."

I look around the room as I take off my jacket, making sure I'm away from some of the other magi. I can't be too sure they aren't gonna take the hilt. I lay the jacket onto the bench, making sure to mask the small metallic thud that comes from it.

I take some of my clothes off and try to fit in the uniform. My arms can barely even squeeze through the sleeves. I feel like if I wear these for too long, I'll just end up losing circulation.

I put the outfit back in the locker, "Must've gotten an old file of mine."

"No idea." Eric says, "Just please try to hurry."

I put my clothes back on, "Don't rush me." I walk out of the locker room and see the Director walk around a corner and into the deployment room.

I walk down the hall and see a huge door. Director Olga is standing just on the inside and she immediately snaps at me.

"YOU! WHY AREN'T YOU IN UNIFORM!"

Oh, this bitch…

I hide my anger, "Director Olga, the uniform in my locker doesn't fit me. It's way too small."

"I DON'T CARE IF IT'S A LITTLE TIGHT! GO BACK AND COME BACK TO ME IN UNIFORM!"

"Director, it doesn't fi-"

"Then you're out of the mission!" She starts to turn away.

"What?! No, I'm not out of this!" I yell on instinct.

She slowly turns back towards me and I can see a fire in her eyes.

You've gone and done it, Nate.

"Did you just talk back to me?" She asks.

"I can't just sit the mission out." I tell her, "I have mystic codes on my clothes, it's fine-"

"YOU WILL WEAR WHAT I TELL YOU TO WEAR! IF I ORDERED YOU TO WEAR A BUNNY SUIT ON THIS MISSION THEN YOU WOULD!" She points down the hallway, "NOW GO AND GET A UNIFORM ON OR JOIN THE EXECUTOR!"

She looks over my shoulder. I turn around and see several people wearing their uniforms, awkwardly standing behind me.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! GET IN THERE!" She points inside and all of the masters shuffle into the room, trying to stay out of arm's reach from her.

"It's okay, Olga. I'll handle this." Lev seems to appear next to us, "You just make your way back to the podium to oversee the operation."

She sighs, "Okay, Lev." She starts walking over to this stage.

"Listen," Lev says to me, "I can talk her into letting you out of uniform this once, but you still have to keep a precise tone with the Director. She does not like anyone challenging her authority."

I can't tell if he just doesn't know how to talk to people or if he's just an arsehole.

"Well I don't like her talking to me like I'm some mangy mutt." I tell him.

"I understand, but I must ask you to bear with it. Please go and get ready with everyone else." He gestures towards a platform that everyone seems to be standing on.

I see Lev walk over towards Olga Marie and they begin talking.

I walk over towards the others. It looks like a pool in the middle of this plateau rising above the rest of the room. I step onto it, but I don't sink.

"These…!" the Director yells and pods begin to emerge from the light blue liquid below us, "Are coffins! They are paramount to the rayshifting process! The chances of rayshifting successfully without being inside these machines is poor. So everyone get acquainted with them!"

I begin to get into one when I hear someone stomp up to me from behind. And she has the most irritated expression I have ever seen.

"So you think you're just going to disobey me, now?!" The director questions me.

"Lev told me he'd talk to you about the uniform situation."

"That does not excuse you from disobeying orders!" She points at the door, "Leave."

Sorry, Waver, but I tried to be nice.

"Fine. Fuck it. Have fun on your field trip." I start to make my way out.

The Director yells for me but I keep walking, "STOP! YOU WILL NOT TALK TO ME LIKE THA-"

*BOOOOMM*

I get knocked off of my feet. My ears are ringing. I hit the concrete floor and roll. I look up to see several chunks of concrete falling towards me. I get up and run. They crash into the floor and a piece of rebar flies out of it and lands in my shoulder.

What the hell happened? I look around, everything's on fire. Supports are crashing down onto the floor from the walls and chunks of concrete and stone are falling from the ceiling. I can see exposed wires sparking and the only light in the room is either from fire or Chaldeas, burning a deep orange glow.

I grab the rebar and pull, "AAH!"

I struggle to pull the piece of metal from my arm. It feels like my shoulder is tearing open even more as I dig it out.

I yank the metal from my body, "FUCK ME! AH!"

Stones are falling all around me and the ground is shaking. I touch my chest and activate mana into my mystic code. I can feel my wounds begin to heal. The pain in my arm slowly dies and before I know it, I feel good as new.

"Thank god I put that on there." I run towards the area where the coffins were.

"HELLO! DIRECTOR! ERIC! ANYONE!" I scream out.

I see that the majority of coffins have remained intact. I investigate all of the ones I can, running by them all just to find someone alive. All I see are people that are knocked out… or worse. The roar of the flames is deafening. I thought I heard a voice.

"Hello?! Anyone!" I shout but no one answers.

I run through the maze of coffins, trying to see if any of them are okay. They're all just laying still and bloody. I keep running, trying to find anyone alive. I look into a coffin, and I see Eric, bleeding heavily. Except… he moves…

He slightly opens his eyes and he looks at me.

"I'm gonna get you outta here! Don't move!" I shout through the glass.

"Styrking!"I strengthen my arms and grab the door of the coffin. I pry the door until it flies open. I grab him and try to support him on my shoulder.

"Why did you… save me?" He says weakly in between heavy breaths.

"Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I want to see you dead." I tell him.

I carry him out of the field of coffins and see the exit doors are blocked by a massive block of stone. I can easily jump over that with some reinforcement, but Eric…

"Ok listen, Eric-" He interrupts me.

"No. No. I know what you're thinking. You want to get over the stone and get to the door. I can't make that kind of jump. Not even while you're carrying me. You need to leave. Alone." He stares at me, concerned.

"I'm not leaving you, idiot!" I tell him.

"You have to-!" He winces and stumbles to the ground. He sits himself next to a boulder, using the rock to hold himself up, "You have to."

"Warning to observation staff. Chaldeas' condition has changed." A voice rings over the intercom, "Sheba near-future observational data will be overwritten. The survival of the human species on Earth for the next 100 years cannot be confirmed. The future of humanity cannot be guaranteed."

I look up to Chaldeas and the fiery burn from the globe has only gotten brighter. Eric is staring at it.

"It's over…" his voice sounds brittle.

"It's not over." I tell him, "We'll get through this."

He doesn't even look at me.

"Hey!" I snap my fingers and he shoots his gaze back at me, "C'mon we're going."

I grab him. The moment I touch him, he lets out a painful scream. I let him go and he falls back into position.

A voice rings out over the intercom, "Central bulkhead, closing."

"Crap." I whisper under my breath.

"I'm sorry." He says to me, weakly.

I sit Eric on the ground and I sit near him. "No, we're in this together now," I say to him. "Just try to rest yourself, ok?"

Another voice comes over the intercom, "Master candidates found. Three subjects found. Rayshifting process initiating… Rayshifting process at 10%."

"Well, I don't think that was supposed to happen…" Eric's starting to slur his words, he's lost a bit of blood, "Is it even safe for that to be happening?"

"Doesn't really matter now does it?" I tell him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" He gives me a look.

"Rayshifting process at 40%."

"Look…" He takes off the communicator Olga gave him, "Take it."

"What are you doing?" I ask him.

"You're gonna need it more than I will." He places the communicator in my hand.

"Y'know Eric. You're alright." I tell him.

He cracks a smile, "Shut up."

"Rayshifting process at 70%... Rayshifting process at 80%."

"See you later…" Eric says to me.

"Servant located… Rayshifting process beginning."

I see Eric's eyes widen, "SERV-"

I am blinded by a light. I see something that looks like a whirlpool overcome me and I feel almost weightless. It only lasts for an instant. All of a sudden, I wake up in a forest. My head hurts. It's night but I can still see this huge light in the distance. As I make my way towards an overlook, I notice that the light is coming from a city, completely ablaze. Holy crap.

I hear this loud distant roar come from behind me. I need to get out of here. I make my way back to the crater and that's when I see this castle in ruin. Maybe I can find something there that can help me. All I know is that I need to get out of here.


Author's Notes:

bold=Blackfox

unbold=ScribbleSaint

Sorry everyone! We know we're a little late!

Late is an understatement!

BUT we got it done! Sorry for such the huge delay on everything!

Honestly I don't have much to say apart from that. I mean don't get me wrong I like this new version we made of it, but… yeah.

I mean same here. It's just an improved version of the last chaldea chapter. What do you want from us?

This version is waaaaay better though.

Yeah. It is. I mean now we added some characters, we went into detail…

And the page count shows it. The last version was only like 20-ish pages long. Now it's 80 whole pages.

80 pages and 15 f-words.

Did you really count them?

…yes.

ANYWAY… PEACE OUT EVERYONE!

{DATE: June 22, 2022}