(Training Grounds)
"Oh what's what you have there?" The firearm-loving warlord's eyes immediately jumped to Anne's new equipment. "That fits a lot better than what Blackbeard had going on."
"What's up with grafting modern-day optics onto flintlock pistols and muskets?" A sword-loving Shingensumi member wondered aloud in turn.
Despite the Masters' obvious interest in the 'non-standard' history of the two warriors, details were not forthcoming - however, after Chaldea's defeat of what the Saber in the pair called succinctly 'the evil but somehow classy old man Nobu' cemented his place as someone who wouldn't be summoned... In short, the Archer from the Mooncell had correctly gauged the situation and gotten the results he had promised to their shadowy leader during the Event.
"They're not actually optics, just inspired by them," Nobunaga corrected her, having of course examined Blackbeard's setup in detail. "Da Vinci insists we call these things craft essences. Because each one is an essence of a craft... apparently."
"Yes," Anne commented cheerfully while spinning her gun around to see how much its balance had changed. "This one was inspired by a, what was it again Chloe?"
"A low power variable optic. But this is simply an 'LPVO' craft essence," the Archer recalled. "It holds the essence of ranged flexibility with a true one-X, or so she said. Um, the inventor-types get pretty excited when they encounter something new, don't they?
"I'd say. Did she manage to get Blackbeard's new pistol thing working yet?" Nobunaga asked, while trying to get a look at what Anne was testing.
"Anyway, has Kojirou been here long?" Okita asked the others.
"He's been really tearing it up since Gudao got back," Chloe told her. "Scathach even had two goes at him."
"Oh, speaking of tearing things up, we need to wrap this range test up before Elizabeth's concert starts," Mary recalled.
(Chaos Labyrinthos)
"All ready." Asterios looked about at the now-decorated stone walls of the labyrinth. Set up in one of the larger pockets was a full-sized and fully-equipped concert stage, and a high-visibility red line ran out from it back toward the entrance which sat innocently enough in one of Chaldea's Recyclers framed by a pair of small trees.
"Thanks for handling the catering on such short notice, Cat." Gudako looked about though the reception area was several blind corners away.
"Hand it to the help," Cat replied regarding the currently-absent Shirou and Sakura who had been roped into the effort by the beast cook.
"Hmm, you know I'm reminded that we never managed to get that Nero summoned," Gudao recalled Elizabeth's surprise partnership back in the Halloween concert Event. "Oh and I'm assuming Stheno is sitting this one out again?"
The Archer who had been directing the decoration works while perched on Asterios' shoulder simply nodded. Truth be told, she found the modern pop idol style of Elizabeth's current muse rather coarse, but the Berserker really got into it so...
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(Command Room)
"That's indeed interesting," one of the console operators commented to his counterpart in Observation. "I do think your estimation of the signature strength is right, we're just far away enough that it isn't an immediate threat. That's Blue Galaxy sensors for you... yes I think we'll send a message to the Masters that this is probably a Singularity, but we definitely need to scan further before preparing to deploy at such range."
"I'm here," da Vinci announced her presence after being called as was standard procedure. "Who has the readouts? Ah thanks, let me see... America, huh? And the quantum timelock being targeted is likely...?"
(Briefing Room)
"Since the Masters couldn't even let me have that second encore, this better be important," a dragon idol Servant grumbled as, after her concert ended, the Masters and Servants immediately had to attend a priority briefing.
"It's a Singularity," da Vinci immediately laid out the stakes. "A pretty mature one, too. So I guess we'll have to be the ones handle it, even if the Rayshift might be a bit long-distance."
"But America isn't that well-known in terms of Mysteries, is it? Kiyohime grumbled, seeing her immediate-future schedule (read: Master time) being lost to Chaldea's overriding Singularity duties.
"Bunyan, the giant with a tree-felling axe," Asterios brought up proudly, being himself a giant which wielded dual long-hafted axes.
"I guess you were listening to the stories from the American homunculi," Euryale muttered to herself.
"Well, the Hawaii branch of the Four Houses is on the wrong side of the map for this," da Vinci directed everyone's attention to a map depicting an area of the East Coast. "And of course this is well in the past, obviously."
"How far back are we talking?" Artoria asked. "The various eras, so to speak, are quite different. There and everywhere else."
"This isn't all that far back, our guess is around the time of their independence from the British crown. That's probably also the moment being targeted, as you can imagine."
"Well, isn't that inconvenient," Gilgamesh grumbled privately to his wife after the briefing was over. "The Singularities just get bigger as it goes, huh?"
"It's more that our sensors are better," Sasaku shrugged. "Much like seeing bright things in space, distance makes is a lot harder to get a reading on Singularities in Void Space. The bigger problem is just how much 'space' is far away enough from Chaldeas that we can't detect them; after seeing this Singularity, that might be quite a number. And we don't have any great ways to actually search, let alone chase, these things aside from wide area scanning and just drifting along the void currents."
"I thought you said Chaldea was working on a Void Sail and even engines."
"We probably need to up the priority on that, yes. But we're still not able to map consistently, so at most it would be like a faster amoeba hoping to run into Singularities. Not literally 'run into' but you get it."
"Hmm, so it's pretty certain the Masters will be rostering you for this Singularity?"
"Yes, generally Jeanne d'Arc also gets called on for these risky operations. As for the others who're most likely..."
"I can certainly understand why you'd think I could help," Marie agreed easily. "But I wonder if the politics in a Singularity would be that close to history."
"It's always a matter of adapting," Artoria agreed from nearby. "I don't know how well I can help with the British side of things, but at least I have my swords to work with if you need them."
"Could easily be like the Wyverns' War, in which it was a third party showing up that everyone had to crack," Kojirou recalled that Singularity clearly. "But it could easily be a case of the enemy playing to tip the scales towards the wrong outcome, like Boudica was doing."
"Are you coming as well?" Marie asked the Saber.
"No, I'm told that Scathach and Nobunaga will be filling out the initial deployment. Okita did ask to join, but they're not anticipating the sort of direct head-to-head fights in the more modern era."
(Cafeteria)
"It could have been my time to shine," Blackbeard tried to console himself in some, admittedly amazing quality, drink. "Imagine being able to finally take on a ship of the line in direct combat."
"You mean a one-sided curbstomp, since it's a Noble Phantasm," Mary prodded him. "Anyway pass what's left of that... vodka."
"Ah well, there's always next time. At least by then I'm sure da Vinci will have completed her work on that flintlock-1911 conversion kit. I can't wait to enter the world of semiautomatic fire."
"At least we get a break from the usual schedule of material gathering during these long Rayshift operations," Anne was looking forward to something a lot less martial. "Isn't that right, Mary?"
"Hey, you know I heard the new boy has some amazing stock. Maybe we should try taking some of humanity's oldest booze for a spin. The aged stuff is usually pretty top-notch ain't it?"
"If you need to raise your spirits, how about some of this ?!" A surprise Tamamo Cat production, The Cat-on-the-Moon Shines, was presented to the group. "I'd like to hear your opinion on it."
Immediately, three hands reached out for the bottle as one.
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(Iri and Matthew's Rooms)
"Huh, so Sasaku's classes are cancelled for two weeks. Must mean something big popped up," Iri noted on seeing the message from their occasional teacher.
"Some free time for us, then. Oh and Chloe too," Matthew didn't look up from his now-favorite-in-Chaldea cat, which had of course come over with everything else when they had been moved out of Sasaku's room. The animal's naturally dark fur tone hid the usual color changes that would identify it as being something akin to a Matou-type familiar.
Iri pulled up the general event list on the computer. "I wonder if there's anything interesting to go for. Huh, seems like Agesipolis is filling in some of Sasaku's speaker slots. Did Blackbeard always do Navigational courses? Scathach's Rune classes are gone, and Artoria's horse sessions too."
"Guess the two of them are being deployed as well." The two of them did like meeting Artoria's horses.
"Anne is teaching long-distance marksmanship. I wonder what that's all about..."
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Notes:
Why does Asterios' Noble Phantasm work on Elizabeth if they're on the same side? They're not (in this case) ! Because she's on the stage facing them and vice versa, you can clearly see why she'd get debuffed. It was Euryale who cheekily suggested to the Masters that they finally let Elizabeth have her concert - in the maze.
But how did Asterios get into idol-culture before Elizabeth had been allowed to hold an actual concert instead of disrupting Training Ground sessions by suddenly breaking into song? Let's say that "a certain idol-enthusiast" who was suffering from withdrawal after the famous Servant-internet idol, Magi-Mari, went on abrupt hiatus after a lawsuit... (see Ch 57: What Understanding Brings) passed on his enthusiasm for idols.
Recall that the Recyclers, introduced in previous chapters, are a combination of composter and farm.