"Senpai, you're from Japan, right?" Mash asked as they walked towards the burning city's bridge.
"Not really. I knew some people from Japan, though."
"This city does not match the data from the Fuyuki City we have so I was wondering if you knew your way around this city."
The scenery never seemed to change. Flames and rubble as far as the eye can see. The fire turned the sky bright red. Soot seemed to rise up from the ground like mist.
"We're getting close to the coordinates the doctor mentioned, Senpai. It's strange, though." Mash was looking at measurements from her gear.
"What is?"
"The mana density- oh, sorry Senpai, I hope you know what I'm saying."
"I do. A bit." He read up somewhat but his knowledge is rudimentary at best.
"The mana density is incredibly abnormal. It's very high. It's as if the mana density is not from this time, but from ancient earth." Mash explained.
"So the mana density increases as we go back in time?"
"Correct, Senpai, it's also-"
"Kyaaaaaaaaaa!"
"Senpai! That was-"
"Yeah I heard it too. It came from over there!"
The two of them needed no other words as they sprinted towards the sound of the scream. If there was anyone still alive in this burning hell, then they both thought that it was worth it to save them.
When they arrived, the woman screaming was all too familiar.
It was the familiar white hair from the command room. Olga Marie was being surrounded by skeletons, and by the looks of it, she had no way of fighting. There was a large number of enemies at first glance. Ritsuka decided that they should get the drop on them. Fortunately, Olga was slowly approaching a ruined building as the skeletons pushed her back.
"Mash, can you ascend that building? You can push them back when you fall. That should create some distance between them and the director."
"Understood, Senpai."
Following his instruction, Mash quietly but swiftly ascended the crumbling building. Meanwhile, Ritsuka tries to get the director's attention but she was too busy running to notice.
"Wh-Who are these guys, anyway? Why do these things keep happening to me?!" She cried. "I can't take it anymore! Come save me, Lev! You were always there for me right?!"
She stopped when she reached the building and turned around, the fear clear on her face. At that moment, she finally saw Ritsuka. "Wait-"
"Mash, now!"
"Right, Senpai! Engaging the enemy now!" With a purposeful jump, she landed in the right in between the director and skeletons. She took the opportunity to swipe at the closest skeletons while she was in motion.
"Y-you two?!" The director's face changed from horror to confusion upon seeing them.
"Please stand back, Director."
Mash began to engage the enemy with her shield. Ritsuka ran to join her with another pipe, but this time his intention was to let Mash handle the skeletons and to use the pipe only to bring the Skeletons into Mash's range and away from Olga. With the two of them, the enemy was taken care of quickly. With a sigh of relief, Mash layed down her shield.
"Combat complete. Director, Senpai, are you ok?"
"I'm ok." Ritsuka took a deep breath to steady himself. "How about you, Director?"
"What is going on here?: Olga asked them.
"Oh, if it's about my situation, I know it's hard to believe but-"
Olga huffed. "You're a Demi-Servant now, right? It's obvious from the way you just fought, but the real question is why did it succeed now of all times?!" She massaged her temples as if it would help. She was angry and she was confused right now, but even so, she tried to keep her emotions in check. As the Director of Chaldea she needed to be calm and collected in order to finish the mission and control the situation. "Right, enough of that. We should get to a safe place before we discuss this further. Especially with you."
Ritsuka pointed at himself. "Uh… me?"
"Yes, you! The one who fell asleep during my speech, the nerve of you."
"I… uh… I'm sorry?" Ritsuka tried to say but Olga was already looking for a safe place to take shelter in. "Oh, she's already ahead."
"Yes, Director Olga is a young director but she's very reliable." Mash added. "Let's follow her, Senpai."
"Yeah, let's go."
They spent a little over twenty minutes in order to find shelter, a ruined building which still had three walls and a concrete slab over it, covering them from all sides except from the entrance. Not to mention that it was close to the leyline coordinates Dr. Romani had sent to Mash. They settled down.
"Alright. It's time to talk." She sat with her arms crossed. "How did you become a Master?"
Ritsuka looked at his command spells.
"Only top-tier mages can become Masters. So, spill it, how did you make her form a contract with her? How did you force her?" Olga asked with only some venom.
Ritsuka raised his hands. "Woah, woah, woah, I didn't force anyone to do anything."
"Really?"
Mash piped in. "Yes, that's correct, Director. I was the one who forced a contract with Senpai. I'll explain everything."
Mash explained what happened from when she woke up in the burning city of Fuyuki in 2004, to her meeting with Ritsuka Fujimaru in the burning city, up until they met with Director Olga Marie. Olga nodded in understanding of her story.
"Then…"
Mash continued speaking. "There were no other Masters who Rayshifted with us. In fact, you're the only other living human we've run into, Director. But this gives me hope. If you two are here then there's a chance that other Masters also rayshifted here."
Olga sighed. "...No. There's no other Masters that rayshifted with us. That much I'm sure of, unfortunately. I hate to admit it but I think I understand why the three of us rayshifted here. "
"So you know why we were the ones who rayshifted successfully?" Ritsuka asked.
"Yes. It's because the three of us were 'Not in the Coffins'. Rayshifting flesh and blood is not impossible, but it is very difficult." She explained. "On the other hand, Coffins have breakers that shut them off when the chance of success falls below ninety-five percent. So they dind't actually Rayshift. We're the only ones here."
"I see. Wait, does that mean you weren't planning to Rayshift with us, Director?" Ritsuka asked.
"Of course not. What kind of commander goes into battle herself? Didn't I tell you? All of you are my pawns." Olga rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't hear that part."
Ritsuka nervously laughed.
"Anyway, I think I understand the situation now. I'll approve your contract with Mash Kyrielight in the meantime. From here on out, this will be our base camp. You have coordinates to a Leyline, Kyrielight?"
"Yes. It's actually right here… Um… there, where you're standing, Director." Mash explained.
"I-I knew that!" She squeaked. "A-anyway, let's start the process. Mash, lay your shield on the ground, right on top of the leyline. I'm going to set up a summoning circle using your Noble Phantasm as a catalyst."
Mash nodded. "Is that ok with you, Senpai?"
"Of course. Director, please."
"Right, here it goes." Olga places her hands over Mash's shield, which was placed over the center of the leyline. A magic circle began to appear from the shield. Magic flowed through the magical relic using the leyline as a source, connecting them to Chaldea.
"Oh, this is like the summoning system in Chaldea." Mash remarked.
After a while, after the summoning circle stabilized, Dr. Roman's figure appeared once again.
"Checking, checking? Can you guys hear me?" Dr. Roman looked around. "Oh good, you found a base camp and the leyline. I'm glad you're both safe. Now we can resume communication and even send rations."
"Romani? Why are you in the command room?" Olga asked.
"D-director?!"
"Where's Lev? Put Lev on!" Olga uncharacteristically seemed desperate. "Why are you running the command room, Romani?"
The doctor shrugged. "Don't ask me. I know I'm not qualified to be in this position either."
"Then where's Lev?"
Dr. Romani sighed. "There's nobody else, Director. There's only less than twenty Chaldea staff left, including me. We haven't done a clear headcount yet, we've been tending to the wounded. The reason why I took charge is because there's no one who survived that held a higher rank than me."
"What do you mean?!" the director's voice was becoming more frantic.
"Dr. Lev was supervising the Rayshift from inside the command room, there's no way he…"
She fell to her knees. Her breathing was ragged, as if a dagger was just pulled from her side. Even so, she took a deep breath and stood up once more. Ritsuka simply watched. He was worried about all of this but most of all, he was shocked at the strength Director Olga Marie was showing in the face of this devastating news.
"Twenty… wait… You said twenty. What about the Master candidates?" She spoke, choking slightly.
"The 47 Master candidates are in critical condition. We're trying to salvage them now but we're lacking in medical supplies and staff so-"
Olga cut him off. "Put them all into cryopreservation now! Just preserve them all and think about reviving them later. Do it now!"
Romani's eyes widened. "Right! I forgot the coffins had that function!" He stood up from his chair and gave orders to the others in the makeshift command room.
"But isn't cryopreservation without permission considered a crime?" Mash interjected.
"I don't care." Olga held herself and shook. "I can handle losing the command room, but I can't handle losing 47 lives. As long as they're alive, I can explain myself later." She whispered under her breath. "Please don't die…"
Romani resumed communications and reported on the damage done to Chaldea, the status of SHEBA and Chaldeas, as well as the staff remaining. "That concludes my report. Chaldea has lost 80% of its functionality and there's only so much the remaining twenty of us can do. All available manpower has been focused on getting the Rayshift technology back online and maintaining nominal values on SHEBA and Chadeas. As soon as external communication is available we will begin contacting our resources for repairs."
Olga sighed. "That's good. I would have done the same. Fine. Romani Archaman, you are hereby put in charge of Chaldea until my return. Focus on Rayshift repair. We will be investigating Singularity F."
"You're okay with being at ground zero, director?" Romani asked.
"You don't know when to keep quiet, don't you? We Animuspheres pride ourselves in being at our best no matter the circumstances. This town only contains low-level monsters so the Demi-Servant should be enough to keep us safe." Olga explained. "Since my field team is inexperienced, we will be sticking to recon. Analysis and eradication of this singularity will be postponed to when Chaldea is back to normal. You okay with that?"
Olga gestured at Ritsuka. "Oh, me." He scratched his head. "Yeah, that sounds good to me."
"Understood." Romani nodded. "Good luck to you. The signal is still spotty but you can contact us for emergency situations."
"Even if we sent an SOS, no one will come to help." Olga grumbled under her breath.
"Sorry?"
"Nothing, Romani. Go do your job. I'm cutting the connection."
The communication cut off. Olga breathed out a heavy sigh and sat slumped on the ground. Tears formed in her eyes. Frustration, pain, confusion, loss, all these emotions swirled round and round her head and it gave her a splitting headache. Even so, she did not cry. Mash approached her.
"Director, are you sure about this? There's still the option of waiting for the Rayshift system to come back online." She said with a concerned tone.
Olga dusted herself off. "We can't afford to wait. Even if we return to Chaldea, there would be no telling when we can send a new team to investigate. A single month won't be enough to regain resources. In the meantime, the Association will harass me for this. Worst case scenario, they're going to blame me for mismanagement and I'll lose Chaldea then." She walked in the direction of the biggest landmark in the burning city: The Fuyuki City Bridge.
"Director…" Ritsuka pitied her.
"...Sorry, you're both stuck with me, Mash… and Ritsuka." Olga said softly. "Come on, let's investigate this town. The cause of this Singularity should be here."