Warning: This fanfic dealt with probably controversial themes and you may find it not suitable for you. If you still decide to read, then stay strong and brace yourself for what you are about to read. This story here happens in Arc 2 and thus may contain some spoilers.
-By the way, the early chapters are written when I barely have any skill so excuse my horrendous writings ability and you can instead jump to a later chapter if you find it unbearable. It's vastly improved there by then.
+Iron Cross Edition. Beginning chapters rewrote for better consistency
"I died in hell, and they called it P $$#&!& ! " *only inaudible static remains*
- A nameless soldier
"You know only the real meaning of peace if you have been through the war"
-Kosovar
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Chapter 1: Beginning of the End
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Berlin Offensive |16 December 1945|
"Listen here, everyone... We have made it this far..." A muscular well-spoken man, wearing a red beret and army suspenders along with assorted military supplies.
"We have all made it this far and we're not going to be able to turn back... We all know what is going on in each others' minds and for heaven's sake that we are not going to stop until we reach that bunker, all of you hear me?" The man said as he turned around to see his squad.
"Yes sir!" All of them shouted in unison. A squad of roughly 50 personnel, hastily built from multiple squads that were wiped from previous conflicts. Some of them joined the war later than others, but, strangely, the leader has survived right from D-day until this very end. Some even commend him for his unreal tenacity against surmounting adversary.
As they moving through the street and begins the final operation. They have expected to confront any soldiers at any moment, but instead, all they were greeted with is an ominous silence that emanates the whole sector so far. So many of their previous conflicts were filled with flying bullets and chaos. Not only that but they also include geographical-altering destructions that inflict a huge amount of casualties whenever they happen. It is either that or nothing is happening. Or perhaps, they have already fallen into a trap that they are not even aware of.
The sounds of gunfire can be heard from a distance. Colonel Pierce, the man with his red beret. He managed to discern that it is most likely the sound of small arms, most likely an SMG. However, he felt that something is wrong with it. He made it this far, if anything can even discourage him at this point, it is would be something completely supernatural, and yet...
"Hold..." Colonel Pierce commanded his squad to stop moving so that he can assess the situation even more.
"Help!-" A scream came as fast and silenced just as fast.
"Something isn't right here. Everyone, get into the buildings and hide. Don't make any noise or disturbance, you heard my words?" Pierce said as he commands his squad once more.
Without any hesitation, everyone immediately moved into the buildings and hide, hope that they won't be noticed.
The sounds of gunfire draw close, he heard the screams and running footsteps nearby. But something is really wrong here, the screams are instilled with dreads and hopelessness. The one that came from one-sided slaughter and he has already known it too well to discern, they don't even need to see to know what is going on, the emanating aura of dread alone tells the whole story already.
Pierce braced the ground to feel for any nearby movements. As he can hear the footsteps outside and a conversation in a foreign language, it must have been the enemy. They were speaking about something and suddenly, he hears their footsteps getting closer to this location. Realizing that he must do something or die, he then decided to take the initiative and waited by the blindspot of the doorway, they won't know until they passed through it. And by that point, it is too late for them either way.
Pierce can feel the presence of somebody getting closer. Timing his moment carefully, he quickly strangled the enemy soldier by the neck. As he thought, it was a German soldier that he could tell based on the uniform and the weapon they carried, which is an MP40.
The strangled soldier tried to struggle but Pierce's raw strength alone overpowered them as they start to lose more of their grasp on their life. Pierce quickly tries to take hold of the MP40 in an attempt to disarm the soldier.
And just as he thought, the enemy soldier didn't come alone, for another soldier appeared from the hallway opposing him. Instead of acting calm and rational they immediately open fire on Pierce despite having that the hostage that Pierce took hold of. Acting upon his instinct, Pierce held the trigger of the MP40 at the enemy soldier in the front. As soon as a single bullet impact the soldier's body, chunks of their body are ripped apart from their body. And unfortunately for the hostage that Pierce took hold of, a stray bullet impacted their body, and the hostage's entire innard completely mashed into indiscernible piles of blood and guts.
Even after the opposing soldier has fallen, he couldn't let go of the gun for a few seconds and watches as those 9mm bullets tore through cemented wall effortlessly. Pierce sits down to the ground in horror and realization of what just happened. He looked at the mutilated bodies of both the hostage and opposing soldier, not even he would wish this upon his worst enemy. He then shuddering in the realization when he saw this is what happened if they got shot by their own armaments then what would it be like for his ally soldiers who fell victim to them? A single handgun bullet has the power of a 50. cal, just what did they invent or discover to enable such monstrous firepower like this!?
Bracing for whatever the sight might be, he looked outside and the scene before him can't be described with any words at all. Their body parts are scattered, can't even tell which belongs to who at all. Chunks of meat and blood scattered the whole place like red paint on an empty canvas, like small islands within an ocean of blood. He braced for this moment and tried to suppress the dreading feelings that are swelling up inside, if this is his reaction then others would faint instantly.
Suddenly, the intercom blaring up, the beret-wearing man pick up his, and on the other side of the communication is chaos and gunfire, the operator screaming at the top of his lung: "All units, retreat! Those soldiers, their armament suddenly become too powerful, they're tea-" The communication was cut off after that, leaving behind a dreadful silence that unnerves everyone.
"What the hell...". Suddenly, they heard a close by firefight and see a fight between a battalion and a squad of enemy soldiers. What they seeing is unbelievable as they seeing the soldiers tear their allies apart with just their submachine gun and those poor souls on the receiving end soon turn into gore and splatter on the ground, a nauseating sight that no one could ever erase from their memories. They quickly hide away once more and hope that neither any of those soldiers notice them. Soon, even the sound of footsteps disappears and what greets them once more is the sound of silence.
He realized none of his team armaments could even kill a single soldier of the enemy. It is either back down from the fight now or die in vain.
"Colonel Pierce, what do we do now?" a soldier asked. All the morale they have is gone, there is no choice left other than flee or suffer from the same fate of that battalion. let a sigh then decided they'll have to flee, proceed right now is like charging at a meat grinder. In other words, insane.
"We have to fall back and assess the situation. We can only fight fire with fire, if you don't have their weapons, back down now. Don't fight an impossible battle if you can avoid it." Pierce said as he looked at the bloodstained ground where conflict just unleashed.
The squad silently looked at one and another and unanimously agreed that they have to fall back for now. They need more intel of what's going on, they can't just simply run in and expect not to get blasted into pieces.
It's dreadfully silent... So much that even Pierce can feel that it is painfully wrong. Sensing something familiar yet so wrong that he just simply not having an idea of how to put them into words. One expects war to be loud and full of bloodshed and chaos but this is something entirely different. Never has been a battle felt so... empty...
"Let us move through the buildings, whatever it be, it is far better than continue on this road. We might get ambushed by another squad of those soldiers..." Pierce said as he and his squad enter the closest building and proceed to dig their way through, using them as a cover from the enemy's sight.
"By the way, Colonel Pierce? Can I ask why a colonel fighting on the front with us? Aren't you supposed to be at the furthest at the backline to devise tactics and battle plan?" A soldier in his squad asked.
"Good question. In reality, I felt like my title of Colonel is too awfully quick. So much that I felt like I couldn't adjust myself to be such a thing. I mean, I have literally gone from mere private to colonel in just a few years alone, fighting from D-day until now. But to make it worse, I felt like my promotion has to do with some sort of ulterior motives of the even higher-up." Col. Pierce explained his situation to his assigned squad.
Almost no one in the military is ever honest that much to himself, and yet this man here just told his whole background while they were at it. It's hard to open oneself to another but he just opens it all to his squadmates.
"So uh... Colonel? Where should we go now?" A soldier in his squad asked him, his body shaking from the dread of what may befall upon him and those around.
Many options played out in Pierce's mind but in the end, there is only one feasible answer that he managed to select. Others are just too unreliable or flat-out impossible to do.
"We'll return to the closest temporary outpost. We were only on the fringe of the city, it can't be too difficult, right?" Pierce said as he looked at the MP40 that he stole from his enemy.
No matter how conservative he could or how tactical he is, 50 men can't fight against an army armed with something even far worse at all. The best he could do is to guide his man away from the doom they are about to head towards.
And so they continue this journey as they continue to move as silently as possible through the structure of Berlin itself. They need to rendezvous with the main army before they do anything rashly afterward. Well, that's the plan they have but they soon realized just how far out of scope this whole situation has become.
...
6 hours later of hiding and stealth
...
There they have arrived at the closest outpost that they knew and of course... they knew that they were too late... As they heard the screams that echo into the night, it wasn't even a fight, just an indiscriminate massacre.
Allied soldiers fell against them like grass against a lawnmower. As their armaments rendered borderline useless against the mystically enchanted Wehrmacht soldiers. Even armored units were hopelessly destroyed as an extremely muscular mutant, wearing a Kaiser helmet for identification just smashed a tank into a pile of scraps with a single swing of its arms. It then hurls the scrapped tank itself towards any allied soldier attempt to run away.
Many attempts to use anti-tank weaponry against this overwhelmingly powerful threat and yet they scarcely make a big enough difference against such an overpowered enemy like this.
Many soldiers who attempt to escape the camp soon find themselves surrounded by the Wehrmacht and executed on the spot. Even when faced with impossible odds, the command still has the arrogance to try to send more men towards their doom, thinking that it will somehow fix the problem. Even though the situation is already beyond hopeless already.
Radio operator trying to call for help only to realize they have been isolated and cut off and soon the operator would follow that shattered hope of his into hell, engineer and tank operator trying to use tank against those things, but it also bears no fruit as that thing throw the said tank at those who still stand.
Standing at a distance away from the chaos that unfolded, Pierce's squad all clamming up in silence. The destruction still going on, not believing the hell that's unfolding in front of their eyes.
Despair, hopelessness... all of those things are all just pure understatements now...
"Pierce... is this our end?". A soldier opened his mouth and said.
As hopeless as it is, he would rather suicide right now, but something in his heart keeps telling him that he shouldn't die right now, something deep inside his own heart as it beat in unison with his will. His mind and spirit keep contradicting each other, a second of it felt like an eternity.
He is stuck in a dilemma within himself whether to die or keep carry on. In his moment of eternity, his spirit overrides his mind as he utters his word: "No... We will carry on.". All of his squad breaks off their own uncertainty when he said his word.
"All of you, get to the supply depots, get any rations, ammunition, medical supplies as much as you can, prepare to drop them off if it's going to get you becoming their target."
The squad, their hearts, and wills in unison all together rush in supply storages." Pierce commanding the rest of the surviving units.
"But how do we intend to fight them back if they found us?!" A soldier asked Pierce.
Pierce simply show the guy the MP40 he got much earlier in the day, the soldier realized that there might still be some way to fight back, it is just going to be a really steep uphill battle but not impossible. Just that there is no room for mistake. As long there is a way to take their weapons, they might still be able to fight them back.
And that moment, pretty much everyone working with Pierce without asking a single question or repent, that just shows how much charisma the man has for himself.
Silently moving through the veil of the night, they managed to reach for a close-by depot, letting the sounds of chaos drowning out their activities, these soldiers managed to reach their destination.
"What are y'all twats thinking!? This is an order, get out there and stop this madness!". The commander yelling at Pierce, seemingly somehow managed to find himself here in this place.
They don't care anymore, they are already sicken of him for many reasons, especially when failure is the only sure thing to happen right now. They wonder how he became the
commander of this platoon in the first place. After that, they flee out of the warehouse.
The commander is still mad about it and he forgot that the ground was trembling, and the iron door burst open and that monster staining with blood is staring at him, seeing him as if he is an appetizer after lunch, the general collapse in fear, his face turns white as he sees that thing. He finally understands the fear of his men when they were faced with that thing. He can only let out a scream before he just a splash on the ground.
The screams of despair can still be heard from afar, Pierce's squad has escaped completely unseen by their enemies while leaving behind the blazing ruin of their base. Their future is now only drawing a blank as from this point onward, only those who were left would ever tell the world of what happened.
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Chaldea's Intervention
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Dead bodies... scattered everywhere till the horizon. The sky... bleaks with the color of despair. Rain... fell like the sorrow of those forced to endure this hell.
Memories of the greenness this land once contained are now just the image of the bygone as they were completely replaced by the cruel reality that unfolded. An undeniable destiny that awaits... A wasteland that anyone once has seen will never remain the same as who they were before.
Chivalry, honor... all thrown out of the windows long ago the moment they were replaced by industrialized manslaughter. All for the sake of killing the most as possible. A generation crippled and crumbled... for what purpose?
A soldier... whose clothes were bleached to gray by the passage of time. He keeps moving as he treks through the land of the dead. He keeps wandering with no destination in mind. Forever stuck in this perpetual cycle of torment, all for the glimmer of hope that he will be released from this eternal punishment. He keeps on moving as he abandons everything he carried alongside him, just so that he can delay the inevitable.
He keeps on walking... as the toll of sacrifice becomes far and far greater. Abandon all hope ye who enters here. And soon, he abandons even his reasoning... then even common sense itself.
He keeps on walking... until he finally sacrifices even the madness that kept him going for so long. He soon comes to a stop as he stood straight and stares into the cloudy sky above. As raindrops fell on his face, a face rugged by torment, suffering, devoid of any hope that could free him from this everlasting suffering. He then fell on his back to the muddy ground as his eyes still stare into the dark and cloudy sky.
Soon, he drew his last breath. Joining the rank of the dead of those who have fallen in this place, without a single chance of asking why everything has to come to this. To him... and to everyone else...
And... everything soon turned forever into silence. All is heard no more... For what... for why... A war that changed nothing...
Somewhere in the Wandering Sea
Inside of a large chamber, there are a few people who are working to keep the machinery functioning. Among them, there are two that stand out the most. A little girl who is wearing what seems to belong to Renaissance Era and another is a gentleman in a black overcoat and dubious amount of lenses. They are legends that have incarnated into this world. Bearing the duty of being the vanguard of humanity's last bastion in this bleached world.
Those two... are Leonardo da Vinci and Sherlock Holmes. The two were supposed to pass away long ago in actual history but basic common sense has been thrown out long ago when it comes to this place.
"Hey daddy Holmes, we are receiving a signal of something." Da Vinci said as she tries to get Sherlock's attention.
"Oh please, can you not call me daddy already!? I don't need to draw more ire from my nemesis already, you know!" Sherlock said as he is flustered at how Da Vinci addressed him. Never will he get used to being called as that ever.
"This is a signal of Singularity, at a time like this? Hmm... something doesn't feel right about this one to me." Da Vinci said as she ran basic checks up.
"Well, considering what we are about to face next. I would say that a Singularity like this would just be a child play to our Master. But then again, I shouldn't get overconfident about it and ran over for some basic measurement." Sherlock Holmes said calmly as he then ran the calculation.
As the calculation went on, both of them started to become anxious about how the calculation will turn out. Just even seconds in and it has already deviated even beyond the Camelot Singularity that it was declared EX in importance to humanity's foundation. And then it seems to derail straight into Lostbelt territory and just deviated without stopping at all.
"This is definitely not okay at all..." Sherlock said with a tone of concern in his voice. He is often confident in his capability because he is Sherlock Holmes and all. But if he starts to be afraid then you should be too.
"Should we call our Master, now?" Da Vinci said as she started to show visible worry on her face.
"Yeah... I think we should now..." Sherlock said in agreement.
And here, we found our Savior of Humanity as he is sleeping in his room. His name is Gudao Fujimaru, the Master of hundreds of Heroic Spirits who have followed him out of their respect and the bond they made with him. Their previous facility called Chaldea is now under thousands of feet of ice. Only a few staff members and the new director survived when they were attacked by the Crypters and their respective forces. To make the matter worse, the Mage's Association has the audacity to shut down the FATE summoning system, leaving them defenseless for a good while with limited force and fighting hands.
And now... for what may look like a last-ditch attempt to fix humanity's foundation. He is tasked to destroy all 7 Lostbelts given by the Alien Gods. It sounds simple but Lostbelt is a timeline whose history has deviated too far away from Pan Human History, thus resulted in stagnation and thus must be pruned away. The Lostbelt Tree planted within each Lostbelt is meant to root them in place so that they will continue to persist into the surface of this bleached world.
But to Gudao however, he remembers being there for those people. And when the Tree of that Lostbelt collapses, he leaves them behind as their existence will also disappear with that tree. But to Gudao however, he is essentially committing mass genocides across the timeline with the blood of billions stained his hand with each Lostbelt that pruned.
So far, six Lostbelts have been pruned and the last one is about to be their final destination. All of them were mental torture for all the Servants takes part in. Some take it in silence while others felt like they live as if they were dead. It was a battle that no one will ever come out the same as before this entire charade. Facing many and numerous amount of Herculean Tasks and insurmountable challenges, they have yet to get a single Chaldean casualty from all of the grueling battles. They felt however that this streak of luck will run out.
However, they intended to make sure that they are prepared for what is essentially tantamount to a suicide mission. Who knows what horror is there behind the final front. So much has happened and so many things could have killed them. And yet, they managed to hold out this long. This second Chaldea base, Novum Chaldea, so far has managed to serve its purpose well.
Gudao woke up in a cold sweat, seeing that dream, and witnessed the soldier in it. Dying not because of anyone but his own despair. It was a grim reminder that seems to go beyond that just a warning value to him.
"Senpai, are you alright?" A girl entered his room and seems concerned at Gudao's disposition. Her name is Mash Kyrielight and she has been with him since day one.
"I'm fine, Mashu... things hadn't gone well in my mind recently. But I can assure you that I'm fine." Gudao said as he heads toward the bathroom so that he can refresh himself up once more. Another day of fighting bitterly for humanity's future.
"By the way, Da Vinci said-" Mashu said before she got interrupted by a broadcast directly toward his room.
"Master! This is an emergency broadcast! I suggest you come to the Rayshift Chamber as fast as you can! Over!"
And just like that, Gudao growled with annoyance. He knew it is his duty and thus he will just calmly do his things before heading over to there. Mash seems to understand what is going on in her Master's mind already and thus take her turn to leave from this place.
It seems that nothing is ever peaceful in Chaldea no matter what.
...
A little while later...
As Gudao runs down the hallway, he noticed that a lot of Servants seem to converge toward that room. Must be a real emergence to have that many Servants heading toward somewhere. When he finally got there, he noticed that majority of his Servants have stood side by side with each other as if they were soldiers and he is their commander in a militaristic sense.
This isn't something that happens often. Because if it is, then it must be extremely serious to warrant such a thing.
"Master, we have found what seems to be a "Singularity"... Normally, I would have just allowed other Servants to deal with this matter themselves but with the way this Singularity develop, I have a feeling that we are stepping into something far greater than how we can imagine." Da Vinci said with a scowl on her face.
"This Singularity seems to be located in Berlin, Germany in the year of 1950. If history has ever taught me anything then anything relates to that year and that place then it obviously can't be good at all. Beside... I tried to tweak the calculation so that the result can be less volatile but as you can see, it is still jumping up and down without stopping at all. I'm not the type of person to add hypothesis to the fact without a good reason so if you see me said this then... you know how bad things have turned out" Sherlock said as he adds to what Da Vinci said.
"And so... I decided to abandon any further attempt at precise calculation and just chalks it up as an EX rank Singularity. I have no need to tell you just how bad it is, right?" Da Vinci said as she then heads toward the monitor in order to initiate the Rayshift.
"I see then... Can we initiate the jump now? It's just a Singularity, right?" Gudao said as he looks at the Servants to see which one to bring alongside him.
"That's what you are going to say but I'm afraid that it's not as simple as you may think". A Servant wore in gold approaches him from behind.
That man is Gilgamesh, the most powerful Servant in terms of myth and age. If he says anything, you heed it with no questions. Unless if he deems you as worthy then he would just double down on his assholery just to show you how much he cares about you. It worked with Enkidu so why not?
"Okay then, Gilgamesh... Speak to me what is it that you want to say." Gudao said to Gilgamesh while he is at the most relaxed.
"I too have joined them in identifying the core of the Singularity, while not successful for sure. The thing is that I managed to detect something that worries even me, the King of Heroes. They haven't noticed yet but I'm here to warn you beforehand anyway." Gilgamesh said as he whispers to Gudao while many other Servants tried to eavesdrop in.
"What is it?" Gudao asked as he looked straight into
"Something that is probably far stronger than most of us combined. Something like that is looming over that Singularity in its entirety. And unfortunately that not even I am exempted from that." Gilgamesh said as he actually looked concerned for his Master. If Gilgamesh is genuinely worried then it must be really bad, so bad that it warrants such attention from him.
"Okay then... I shall take your heed then. Who should I take? Assuming that you know what to do, of course." Gudao asked Gilgamesh, hoping that he doesn't just grasp at nothing.
"That would be that Red Archer... as your starter of course..." A voice cut in between the two's conversation.
That voice came from probably the only person that even Gilgamesh doesn't take lightly. Not just because of sheer strength but also literally everything. That person's name is...
Void Shiki
A woman with extremely long and unkempt hair of her, wearing a white-ish kimono that just drags across the floor. It is the form that she is actually the most accustomed to although her form can easily be changed at will. Gilgamesh even felt unnerved by her presence because no one is supposed to have that much power at their disposal at all. If Gilgamesh's strongest attack is kicking a pebble across a few meters then Void Shiki would be kicking the planet straight out of its system in just a blink of a second. And that is still understating it severely many times over.
If Void Shiki said anything as a suggestion. You better take heed of her words as absolute because she actually genuinely care about your well-being to tell you that at the least.
"Master Gudao. Are you prepared? Tell us once you felt like it." Sherlock said as he approaches Gudao.
"EMIYA! I command you to come by my side!" Gudao said as he raised his right hand up. With the Command Seals on his hand glowed in a red light, a Servant from the furthest back leaped toward him without failure. That man is Shirou Emiya, not the strongest nor the best but perhaps the most versatile and adaptable Servant that Gudao himself knows and relies on.
Gilgamesh looked at EMIYA with a little bit of contempt, because while he certainly doesn't respect EMIYA at all, he still has to give it to him that EMiYA stood the highest chance of defeating Gilgamesh. Anymore powerful and Gil takes it seriously and uses his strongest Noble Phantasm on his opponents.
"Faker..." Gilgamesh said in such a low volume of voice that no one heard it... Except for Void Shiki because she is that omnipotent.
And even though EMIYA can't hear what Gilgamesh said just now, he just knew that Gil just talked down on him but he doesn't care anymore. So too is Gilgamesh. Both of them have long transcended such a stage already and thus not wishing to bicker over the dumbest reason.
A woman with glossing blond hair and a man whose hair also had the same color. Both of them are on their combat attires which are their knight suits. They are King Arthur... Yeah... Both of them are... The woman is Artoria Pendragon and the man is obviously Arthur that you know about. They're not siblings exactly but since they were often seen together that everyone just chalked him up to it in which he doesn't seem to mind. They seem to want to talk to Shirou Emiya specifically.
"Hey, it seems that you are chosen for this specifically dangerous mission, are you sure that you will be alright?" The male King Arthur spoke to Shirou Emiya.
"You are talking to the probably most veteran Servant ever, Arthur. I have been with my Master since his first deployment, this will not be too much different." Shirou said as he reassures the two.
"Hurry! We don't have much time left!" Da Vinci said as she calls her Master over.
"It seems that the Operation is about to begin too. May I see you much later..." Shirou said as he then follows his Master into the Rayshift area.
"So everything is set, I assume?" Sherlock said as he glosses over the data.
"Yup... let this Operation, begin!" Da Vinci said before she began the Rayshift process.
"3... 2... 1... Commence Rayshift..."
To be continued in the next chapter.