"Fou! Kyuu kyuu!"
Ritsuka was once again in the dark, but he strangely was not tired anymore. He felt something lick his cheek repeatedly, in a very familiar way.
"Senpai? Please wake up, Senpai."
Who was that? Ritsuka's brain was still sluggish.
"...Won't wake up. Maybe I should use the official title."
It's coming back to him. He knows this voice very well. Although the fact that the voice exist is strange. Does that mean… they were both dead?
"Master, please wake up. If you don't wake up, I will kill you."
That jolted the young man awake.
"Thank goodness you're awake now, Senpai! I'm so glad you're safe." Mash was smiling at him. But that wasn't his concern right now since his life was just threatened.
"Did you just say 'I will kill you'?"
"That came out wrong. What I meant to say was, 'you're going to be killed.'"
"Mash, those are very different, but equally threatening sentences. You scared me for a moment there." Ritsuka breathed a sigh of relief.
"Um, I was confused because everything happened so quickly. As much as I want to gather our thoughts, please look around you."
Sure enough, Ritsuka saw that they were surrounded on all sides by walking skeletons. Again, he wonders if they didn't die and just landed in hell. "Fire? Skeletons? Red Sky? Looks like hell to me."
"Um, Senpai? I don't think this is the time to calmly observe the surroundings!"
The skeletons screeched, snapping Ritsuka from his reverie. "Right! Sorry!"
"Linguistic communication is impossible. Identifying life-forms as hostile!" Mash announced. She took a combat stance and, to Ritsuka's surprise, summoned a large, cross-shaped shield. He understood immediately. "Master, your orders please. We'll overcome this together!"
He looked at his hand. Command Spells. Right, he was a Master. "Defeat them, Mash! I'll watch your back."
"Right!"
Ritsuka picked up a metal pole nearby and swung at the skeletons that were approaching their position. Mash easily dismantled the horde of skeletons while Ritsuka held them back by swinging the pipe. He wasn't athletic, nor was he talented in any sports, but his fight or flight triggered, allowing him to get a few good swing in before needing to retreat behind Mash.
"I'll take care of them, Master!" With a strong swing of her shield, the skeletons fell to pieces. At last, they were safe, for now. She wiped some sweat from her forehead and sighed a sigh of relief. "Phew, I had my worries, but it seems we made it-"
Ritsuka suddenly felt weak. His knees gave out from under him, forcing him to kneel on the charred ground. His vision became blurry, but he tried to steady himself. "Urk." After a few seconds, his vision returned.
"Are you ok, Senpai?" Mash looks worriedly at him.
"I'm… alright. Just got a little dizzy, is all." He stood up and removed the soot from his pants. "By the way, you're really strong, Mash."
A faint blush appears on Mash's face. "No, in combat training, I was always last in class. I can't even do one pull up. The reason I was able to fight like that was-"
Suddenly, a hologram appeared in front of them. It was blurry, slowly putting itself together into a coherent figure. "Hello? Hello? Is it coming through? Um… THERE! I finally got through. This is Chaldea Command Room, do you read me?"
Mash faced the holographic figure of Dr. Roman. "This is Mash Kyrielight, member of Team A. I have successfully rayshifted to Singularity F."
Dr. Romani's figure stabilized. "Ok, copy that. Is there anyone with you right now?"
"My sole companion is Ritsuka Fujimaru, his mind and body are intact."
"So he got dragged into the rayshift too. I see. That's… reassuring. I was worried when I couldn't find him." The doctor breathed a sigh of relief at the news. "Are you over there, Ritsuka?"
Steadying himself on his feet, Ritsuka walked to the hologram. "Hello, Doctor. I'm glad you're safe too."
"Thanks. I'm glad you "didn't lose your existence" all that. I'm glad you're safe too, Mash but…"
Mash tilted her head. "But?"
"That outfit!" Romani suddenly looked very livid. "It's shameless! It's barely covering anything! I didn't raise you to dress like that! You will catch your death like that, young lady!"
"But I didn't change into this, Doctor. I transformed into this. I couldn't protect Senpai with Chaldea's default uniform." Still, even as she says this, she unconsciously covered her body with her shield.
"Transformed? Uh, did you hit your head somewhere, Mash? Are you making up excuses, young lady?"
"Doctor, just please check my condition and you'll understand."
Dr. Roman raised an eyebrow at this but proceeded to do just that. He used the working computer in front of him to observe the existence that is Mash Kyrielight and the numbers made his eyes go wild.
"Woah, woah, woah! Physical strength, magic circuits, they're all improved! This isn't the numbers a human could ever register which means-"
"Yes, Doctor. I'm a Servant. I don't know how it happened but I fused with a Servant in order to survive. In order to investigate Singularity F, a Servant was provided in advance at Chaldea. That Servant's Master was lost in the fire, and it, on the verge of disappearing, offered me a contract. In exchange for his powers as a Servant, he asked me to eliminate the cause of this Singularity." Mash explained to Dr. Roman, who listened intently.
"A human and Heroic Spirit… A Demi-Servant. Chaldea's sixth experiment. So it finally succeeded." To Ritsuka, it sounded like an experiment they were testing finally succeeded, but why does he hear bitterness in Dr. Roman's voice. It was subtle, but he could pick up on these things. Disdain, pain, fear, there was a mix of all of these in Dr. Roman's voice. "Does this Heroic Spirit's consciousness linger, Mash?"
Dr. Roman's facial expression said it all. He was suddenly serious, his brow was furrowed, not a hint of the goofy Doctor he was mere moments ago.
"No. He gave me his combat abilities and disappeared. I don't know his true name, nor do I know this Noble Phantasm. Honestly there's just too much I don't know." Mash looked downtrodden.
Dr. Roman heaved a heavy sigh. "Well, let's look on the bright side, not every Servant is cooperative so it's good that you're the Servant, Mash." The doctor did his best to smile. "You're completely trustworthy. Right, on to the next part. Ritsuka Fujimaru."
"Yes?"
"You're the only one who rayshifted there safely. I sincerely apologize for this, Ritsuka. You're being forced into something without much explanation. I can only imagine how scary it is."
Ritsuka nodded. "It's not what I would have thought when I signed up."
"Oh good, you still have a sense of humor." Romani cracked a genuine smile. "Again, my personal apologies. This wasn't supposed to happen. But try not to worry too much, you have Humanity's greatest weapon, Mash, with you."
"I don't know about 'greatest', Doctor. I'm the one who gets blamed later." Mash interjected.
"Now, now. It's good to be modest but not too modest, Mash."
"I'm not being mo-"
Dr. Romani cut her off and turned to Ritsuka, "Now Ritsuka, I assume you already know about Servants."
He nodded. "I did study about them since we were told Servants were going to be our partners. That simulation also taught me a few things."
"Good lad. Ok, so right now let's establish… goals… mission…"
"Doctor," Mash waved her hand, "You're breaking up."
"Right… Leyline… establish…" Dr. Roman's figure became clear for a minute. "It's because Sheba is unstable. Establish a connection with a leyline 2 kilometers from your position. Set up there. Don't do anything reckless. Be safe, you two I'll meet you later-"
The connection died.
Silence. The sound of flames crackled around them. Ritsuka looked at Mash and cleared his throat. "Ehem, well, let's get going then, Mash."
Mash snapped out of her thoughts. "Ah! Right. You're so dependable, Senpai. I was actually terrified."
"Oh, I see. Well, I'm sure we can find a way out of this mess… Somehow." Ritsuka was also quite terrified. 'So do you have the coordinates, Mash?"
"Yes, of course. Dr. Roman sent them before the communication went dark."
Ritsuka nodded. "Ok. That's good. Let's go."
"Fou! Fou, kyuu!" Fou hopped onto Mash's shoulder.
"Ah, that's right, you're here too, Fou. I forgot to tell the doctor."
"Fou, fou!"
Ritsuka nodded. "He says 'Don't worry about it.'"
"Is that so?"