I'm dropping this fanfic; I'll dump the rest of the chapters I'd already completed here today, but fear not; from the ashes of a dead story, a new one shall arise.
If you've enjoyed reading my stuff I'll be uploading a new fanfic, it takes place in RWBY, that I've been hard at work on.
My original Systematic Soul Sorting is also now live on my (Early Access) and Amazon.
So I'll be moving on to my next original as well, and the preview chapters will be uploaded here every Friday in place of SSS. The next chapter drop will be on the 28th of August, sometime before 12:00, AEST.
Enjoy!
Central Control Room, Chaldeas.
March 12th, 2015, 9:58 AM.
A thunderous impact suddenly flashed through the room, rocking everything inside, with a wave of force and fire following immediately in its wake. Blake pushed his reinforcement as high as it could go, to defend against what was obviously a surprise attack of some kind.
Even with his reinforcement at its current maximum level, it still hurt.
The coffin he was in was sent rocketing across the floor of the central control room, before it slammed straight into the wall, shattering most of the outer shell. Blake weathered the pain of the impact stoically as the durable transparent shielding at the top of the coffin shattered into a million pieces.
Blake held his reinforcement up as he dragged himself through the shattered front of the coffin and threw himself to the side. A massive block of the roof smashed into his coffin, flattening it with a screech of metal and glass.
"-central division bulkhead will close in two-hundred and forty seconds." A digitized voice could be heard clearly over the alarms.
Blake's eyes darted around the room, now entirely on fire, looking for the culprit, but there was nobody in sight. There was the sound of a small thump on something padded, and his eyes flicked over to the source, one of the coffins half pinned under a piece of the roof against the wall, with the glass front facing downward.
Blake moved towards it immediately, while he didn't care about these people, he wasn't going to let people who were trying to save the entire planet just die for no reason.
"No mystic code," Blake scoffed to himself, "Fools."
He would have to leverage the piece of the roof to the side somehow, but it was much too large as it was. There was a piece of rebar nearby, so he picked it up in passing before immediately reinforcing it to withstand the force he was about to put it through.
Blake jammed it towards an exposed crack in the material, and the crack raced upwards from the force, three more hits with reinforced strength tore an entire section of the concrete material off in a massive sliver larger then he was.
Blake dragged it off the coffin where it had landed before immediately attempting to shatter another piece off, it took six hits to get off a piece this time, but it was even larger than the first one, almost a third of the entire section.
It was enough to relieve most of the weight off of the coffin, and he went to work jamming the rebar into the barely exposed corner of the shield front that was visible. The thumping hadn't stopped since he began the excavation, and he could almost visualize the person inside trying to kick their way out of the immovable coffin.
He could faintly hear a voice as well now that there was somewhere for the sound to escape, but he couldn't quite make out the words, and he wasn't going to reinforce his ears just so he could hear someone crying.
The rebar finally managed to snag in between the shielding and the metal, and he reinforces his strength as high as he could in a single burst and pushed the rebar again. The coffin flipped far enough that there was a big enough gap for the person to crawl out.
"Hurry up." Blake said evenly, "I want to go find whoever did this."
"Blake?" Gudako's voice sniffled. "Oh, god, thank you."
"Suspension of power output unit confirmed, Insufficient power generation." The digitized voice announced through the room.
"Out Gudako," Blake demanded.
"R-right!" Gudako agreed and managed to squeeze her and shoulders out of the gap.
"Unable to switch to reserve power, personnel, please manually switch to reserve." The digitized voice said calmly.
Blake reached down and dragged her the rest of the way out and away from the precariously balanced piece of roof.
"Bulkhead closing in one-hundred and eighty seconds." The digitized voice stated. "All personnel remaining in the central division, please evacuate from gate two immediately."
"What happened?" Gudako winced as she held her arm. "Did the coffins malfunction?"
"Its an attack of some kind, the timing was to perfect for it to be anything else." Blake said immediately, "Right when all of the masters are about to be sent? Enemy action."
"Enemy action?" Gudako said, alarmed, "But we are trying to save everyone! Why would anyone want to stop us?"
Blake ignored the question and gave her a quick check over; she was bleeding from hundreds of tiny scratches, likely from the shielding shattering on her; he looked much the same he assumed. The sleeve of her mystic code was tore opening at her forearm, and the entire area was already red and bruising.
"It's not broken," Blake said evenly, "Don't use it in the meantime until we can find medical supplies."
"O-okay," Gudako said, looking lost. "What do we do?"
"There's no enemy to be found here, the first job is securing the other masters," Blake said evenly, before turning and heading towards the center of the room.
"That's where all the fire is!" Gudako cried but followed after him anyway.
Blake ensured she was following him before picking his way through the debris towards the center of the room. He searched for any more of the coffins that had been sent across the room as their own had but found none in his path.
"Rayshift system transferring to the final stage." The digitized voice called. "Coordinates: January 30th, 2004, CE. Fuyuki City, Japan."
"Why is it still working at all?" Gudako said worriedly, "Shouldn't it register that something is abnormal and halt the conversion?"
"Laplace conversion protection in place, additional factor frame towards the Singularity secured." The digitized voice continued to announce its every move. "Unsummon Program set, Masters, please enter the final adjustments."
"It doesn't matter," Blake said evenly, "We need to ensure the rest of the masters are alive, that is our only priority, everything else is secondary."
"Warning to observation staff." The digitized voice said urgently. "Chaldeas' condition has changed."
"Blake, look!" Gudako drew his attention up to the massive replica earth that hung high above them in the center of the room. "What's going on?"
It looked more like a sun than the earth now.
"Shiva's near-future observational data will be overwritten," The voice continued. "The survival of the human race on Earth for the next one-hundred years cannot be confirmed; the future of humanity cannot be guaranteed."
"The singularity has been confirmed to be what has been interfering with the future observation; I would assume," Blake said evenly. "Look, there."
The younger man who had fallen asleep and been subsequently banned from this trip was sitting next to that pink-haired girl he occasionally saw idling around the facility. The girl was partially buried under a massive piece of the roof, either dead or dying, he couldn't tell.
"That's!" Gudako started shocked, "Mash! Ritsuka!"
Blake had no idea which was which, but it didn't matter in the end. Gudako started climbing down towards the pair, and Blake followed silently.
"Central bulkhead will now be sealed." The digitized voice offered.
The sound of a metal door rapidly closing from the entrance rang out, and Blake frowned. They would have to leave through the broken window of the Observation room now; getting up there would be annoying, but it shouldn't be an issue.
"Commencing interior cleansing in ninety-seconds." The digitized voice said barely a second later.
Interior cleansing? He hoped it was referring to cleansing the room of fires, but the wording seemed off.
They had almost reached the bottom of the debris when the voice spoke again.
"Seeking qualified Masters," The digitized voice said calmly, "Seeking."
Gudako headed straight for the two masters, but Blake stopped to inspect the first coffin, the person was breathing, but they also were bleeding quite badly.
"Masters found, Number 48, Number 43, Number 12." The digitized voice stated. "Starting Unsummon Program, beginning Spiritron conversion."
Blake stumbled as something washed through him, taking his vision away and leaving nothing but a blue void of thrashing energy.
"Rayshift beginning in 3…2…1…" The digitized voice said firmly. "All operations cleared, Beginning Fire Order verification."
The world fell away.
Fuyuki City, Japan.
January 30th, 2004, 10:17 AM.
Blake's eyes snapped open at the sound of a scream, already halfway up and moving towards it, his hand clenched around the handle of his-.
Nothing, his sword didn't exist here.
"Why does this kind of thing always happen to me!?" Director Olga cried from down the street.
Blake located the probably immediately; twelve things were chasing her, looking like nothing more than skeletons with melee weapons, Blake headed towards them at least he knew where he was getting a weapon from now.
Olga somehow tripped and fell onto her hands on the street; it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen. Blake sprinted straight past her and towards the group of screeching skeletons, who shook their weapons at him in a challenge.
The skeleton with the spear was the closest and struck out at him almost before he had come into range, and he flashed a reinforcement to his feet and ankle to stop his ankle from snapping when he stopped on a dime, before dashing straight in after the weapon had passed.
Blake struck the skeleton in the wrist with his maximum reinforced burst and shattered its forearm, sending shards of bone scattering away from them both. He snatched the haft of the spear and then parried the swipe of the one with the longsword.
The longsword was deflected up into the air, and he dragged the tip of his new spear through the skeletons head with another burst of reinforced movement. The skull of the thing practically exploded from the force, and it immediately disintegrated into yellow dust in the air.
Along with its long sword, Blake stared at the one-armed skeleton that he had taken the spear from and frowned, he would need to kill it last. The other skeletons hadn't been idle as they dashed towards him swinging there chosen weapons wildly and with only a modicum on technique.
Blake deflected another spear to the side and swiped the tip of his stolen spear through two of the skeletons with a diagonal slash that cut them from shoulder to hip. The one with the scimitar flicked its blade up to block his attack, and Blake jaunted to the side with a quick burst of reinforcement before spearing it through the side of its skull.
The pink-haired girl leaped past Olga and entered the fray with him, somehow completely uninjured now and carrying a massive shield. Blake immediately noticed that she was moving at speeds, even Jean hadn't been able to reach. Two of the last three skeletons went after her, and Blake approached the last one, whose arm was still missing.
"Are you all right?" Ritsuka shouted as he came to a stop next to the director, a strange creature sat on his shoulder.
"Blake!" Gudako cried happily. "I found you!"
Blake glanced over at her arrival before killing the skeleton without fanfare, his spear disintegrated a moment later, the thrill of the fight bringing a smile to his face. He spent a moment watching the pink-girl hit the last skeleton with enough force to crater the street and shower everyone with rubble.
"You're using far to much force against these things," Blake commented evenly, as he slipped to the side to avoid getting hit by anything. "They aren't that durable."
"S-sorry!" Mash called worriedly as she leaped out of the crater. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," Blake said easily, before turning and heading towards the director. "I see you've somehow managed to recover, why is it that the director is here?"
"Director!" Mash said suddenly and took off towards the two. "Are you hurt?"
Blake followed, annoyed that she hadn't even bothered to answer his question.
"What is going on here?" Olga demanded, finally getting back to her feet.
"This is singularity F. Fuyuki, 2004." Mash said gently, "It may be hard to believe, but I-"
"You're a demi-servant." Olga said, annoyed, "I could tell just by looking at you, but why didn't it succeed until now?"
"Right before I died, he offered the contract." Mash admitted, "In exchange for giving me the abilities of a Heroic Spirit and Noble Phantasm, he wanted me to eliminate the cause of the singularity, so I merged with the Servant to become a Demi-Servant."
Blake studied the girl for a moment, taking in the ludicrous clothing, she certainly had the physical capabilities above that of even a mage, he could believe it.
"Then which one is your master? This substitute commoner? The rude one?" Olga scoffed, before shivering. "Or is it Gudako?"
"Olga!" Gudako whined, "That's not fair!"
"Senpai is my master," Mash said firmly, before moving to stand next to Ritsuka.
"Me?" Ritsuka said, surprised.
"That command spell on your hand proves it," Olga said, annoyed.
Ritsuka's communication module suddenly started beeping, and he pulled up his sleeve to study it before pressing the accept button. A blue light was projected out of the band to spin in the air before them, before resolving into the image of Doctor Romani.
"I finally got through!" Doctor Romani said, relieved, "Can you hear me?"
"Doctor Romani!" Ritsuka said, surprised.
"Fujimaru, Mash! Who else-Gudako, Laine!" Doctor Romani said pleased. "So you all ended up caught in that rayshift? Without being inside a coffin, you would have had to withstand the conversion consciously-"
Olga pushed past between Gudako and Mash to stand in front of the projection.
"Why have you taken control, Romani?" Olga demanded.
"D-Director! You're alive?!" Romani said, alarmed.
Blake frowned at that; it hadn't made any sense that she was even here with them. Jean had also indicated that the director hadn't been compatible with the conversion process. How had she suddenly become compatible?
"What are you talking about?" Olga demanded. "Why is the head of the medical section in that chair?"
"You shouldn't be here." Blake said evenly, "You can't undergo the conversion process, and you weren't even in the room when it occurred, how are you here, Olga?"
"You-I don't know!" Olga hissed at him. "Where is Leff?"
"Professor Leff was right in the middle of the explosion; I can't see any hope of his survival." Doctor Romani said quietly.
"No…" Olga said shakily.
"Leff, the man with the wild hair?" Blake frowned, "He was with the director before we went into the changing room."
"Was he?" Olga said distractedly, "I don't remember that I-Where was I when the explosion happened? I can't remember."
Blake noticed Romani glance away from them uncomfortably.
"You were with Leff," Blake said evenly, "She was killed, wasn't she, Romani?"
"What! I-I'm not-I can't be dead!" Olga spun to stare at him in horror. "There's no way! How am I here if I'm dead?!"
"He's correct," Doctor Romani said quietly, "Its why I was so surprised to see you, you were in the middle of the explosion. Your body is gone, and you must have become compatible with the conversion process at the moment of your death, although I have no proof of that claim."
"No," Olga said, horrified, slumping back down onto her previous seat.
"The reason I've been entrusted with operational command is that I'm the highest-ranking person left," Romani said quietly.
"What about the other masters?" Blake said, frowning. "I don't know what that 'cleansing room' nonsense was about, but the masters were still inside. Where was Jean?"
"All forty-five of the other masters are in critical condition." Doctor Romani said immediately. "Jean is in critical condition in the infirmary."
Blake frowned at the news.
"Idiot," Olga said furiously, tears in her eyes. "Put them all in cryopreservation immediately! They can't be allowed to die; our top priority is to ensure their survival!"
"I'll do it at once!" Doctor Romani said frantically before he sprinted off the screen.
For the first time, Blake found himself respecting Olga; she was still working towards saving humanity even after it had been revealed that she had died.
"Director," Mash said quietly.
"As long as they don't die," Olga said desperately, with her eyes clenched tightly shut. "I can't possibly carry the burden of all those lives on my shoulders."
"Don't worry, Olga!" Gudako said seriously. "We'll figure out how to get you back."
Doctor Romani returned just in time to hear the last comment.
"G-Gudako," Olga said, amazed.
"That's…" Doctor Romani said hesitantly, "I wouldn't even know where to begin."
"Get that insane woman to make her a body double, as she has for herself," Blake said, annoyed. "Work out how to put her in one of those, problem solved, let's move on."
Olga stared at him for a long moment, but he ignored her.
"Body-double?" Mash said curiously.
"Insane lady?" Ritsuka wondered. "Who?"
"You're talking about Da Vinci," Doctor Romani said with interest. "I hadn't realized you had even met."
"She has inflicted her presence on me several times since I arrived here," Blake said, annoyed, "The fate of humanity is currently at stake, and you want to talk about this nonsense?"
"R-right!" Doctor Romani said in agreement. "I'll talk to her about it once we are done here."
There was a pause where the man collected himself before continuing where he had left off.
"Currently, Chaldea has lost 80% of all functions. Thankfully the Saint Graph repository is still online. Still, we have zero communications with the outside world," Doctor Romani said more firmly, "I'll request supplies and start reconstructing Chaldea once we have solved that issue, that is the current status."
"Fine, Romani Archaman," Olga said weakly, "I'm not happy about it, but unless I can get my body back, you will remain in charge of Chaldea, I am…compromised. In my current state."
"I understand, however," Doctor Romani said hesitantly, glancing at Mash through the connection. "A Demi-Servant, the fusion of a Heroic Spirit and a human, I can't believe it succeeded at a time like this."
Blake sighed, they were retreading old ground again, and he'd had enough.
"Gudako, we are wasting time, its time we summon the Servants," Blake said evenly.
"Ah!" Gudako said cagily, "The servants, right! We should…definetly…"
Blake stared at the woman as she slowly trailed off.
"You lost the Quartz Crystal, didn't you?" Blake said evenly.
"What!?" Olga cried out, "Gudako!?"
"It's not my fault!" Gudako cried, already sniffling. "It broke when the explosion went off! How was I supposed to do anything about it?!"
Olga groaned in frustration.
"Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mash Kyrielight, Gudako Maru, and Blake Laine, will begin the investigation on Singularity F," Olga said despondently.
"I wish you the best of luck," Director Romani said genuinely, "If an emergency situation comes up, please contact me."
"Hmph!" Olga noised, "We could send an SOS, but there's nobody to come save us-them."
Director Romani started to say her name in alarm, but she just ended the connection. Blake wasted no time in addressing them; they had wasted a substantial amount of time already, so he unclipped the canister from his belt and tossing it to Gudako.
"You summon a servant; you most likely have access too more Od that I do which should increase the power the servant can use, even if only slightly," Blake said evenly, before turning to stare at Olga. "It would have been a real asset for that offensive mystic code to have been approved, but I guess I will have to make do."
Olga gaped at him for a long moment, and by the time she had recovered, he had already turned away to scan the area.
"Blake." Gudako sniffled pathetically. "You're so nice!"
Blake ignored her.