AN: New Story Abound.
Here's a Naruto x FGO story, Sasuke-centric.
This idea's been on stand by in my documents for far too long, so here you go.
Chapter 1 - Genesis
Sasuke Uchiha, the last member of the Uchiha clan, the savior of the Ninja World alongside that guy, the wielder of the ultimate Dojutsu, released a tired sigh. It was late in the afternoon when the bell rang, indicating it was time to go home. Well, home for his peers, not for him. Well, you see, he's not exactly rich as it stands currently. In fact, quite the opposite. Yep, the sole heir of the prestigious Uchiha clan, was dead broke. So he's had to make ends meet by juggling 2 part-time jobs. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The former ninja shook his head lightly at the thought. He didn't show it outwardly, of course, but he was thoroughly despairing his current financial circumstance. His head leaned on his hand, as he watched what was outside his window. Normal students, humans, as ordinary as they can be, doing their thing. No ninjas, no chakra, no ninjutsu, and most depressingly of all, no Konoha. No Naruto, no Sakura, no Kakashi. Heck, he even missed Suigetsu, that wet, goofy bastard. He let out a soft laugh from the sheer absurdity of it.
It had been 17 years since he was reborn into this new world. Given another chance at life, something he thought was ill-deserved. It was a hell of a long time, but he still remembered his last moments in the Elemental Nations, laying there in the dirt, with Naruto beside him. Arm blown off and bleeding to death, he had mustered the very last vestiges of his strength to apologize to Naruto and begged him to protect the Ninja World without him. A smile graced his lips when he remembered Naruto bawling his eyes out like a babe, begging in turn for him to stay awake until Sakura arrives. What a moron. A strong-willed, overtly righteous moron. Well, unfortunately, he'd died before Sakura arrived where they lay. He could only imagine how Sakura reacted to his death. Hopefully, she didn't chew Naruto out for it. Wouldn't really be fair to him if she did.
The Uchiha had been attending a highschool in a city called Fuyuki, in a country called Japan. Cozy place. Thankfully, whatever god spawned him in this world at least allowed him to keep his original appearance, rather than being born as someone else entirely but kept the memories. He still sported the pitch-black spiky hair, the pitch-black eyes, the pale skin, and essentially everything that made him Sasuke. And unfortunately, the god couldn't give him a new family, or at least one that cared for him. Which is fair. He was given a new chance at life, having a family sounded like too much a luxury for someone of his infamy. As far as he knew, his new mom abandoned him and went on to marry a rich man and had a new family. So, he'd accepted his lonesome life in stride and lived his life basically relying on himself for sustenance. He hasn't resorted to salvaging scraps from garbage dumps for food, and all, but it was still quite the challenge. He'd also made it a sort of a past time for him to brush up his knowledge on the history of this new world. Evidently, this world's history wasn't as fantastical compared to the Elemental Nations, but there are still historical events he was interested in, like the Battle of Honno-ji, and the Siege of Constantinople. Interesting stuff, to say the least.
Sasuke had also gone out of his way to change his looks. He now sported a black-framed glasses, and his hair had been changed, with the side fringes gone, and the spikes less accentuated. It had been his attempt at not standing out, which worked as far as he could tell. People doesn't give him unnecessary attention like the people (mostly girls) did back in his previous world, which was a fantastic thing. He still had a group of friends, however. If there's one thing that Naruto had taught him, it's that friends could come a long way. So he'd expended effort to essentially come out of his shell and socialize with his peers, though not overtly so. He still denied going to swinger parties and karaokes and all that, despite encouragement from his friends. Not like he got time for that. Well, he's not as isolated or moody as he was back home.
'Home…'
Sasuke frowned, suppressing both good and bad memories from his previous world. Thinking about the past wouldn't do him any good.
Besides, he'd actually retained a miniscule fragment of his power, so it's not like he was completely average now. As far as he could tell, at least, he still had a chakra pathway system, which basically every human in this world lacked. Curiously, all X-ray machines of this world can't pick up an entirely separate nervous system inside him, which was for the best. Now, he's not gonna be destroying mountain ranges any time soon, however. He can't seem to access his more powerful eyes beyond the average mature Sharingan, and even using that severely drains or outright knocks him out. Much to his surprise and curiosity, he could still access the Rinnegan (now de-activatable), though without the Tomoes. As far as testing the Rinnegan goes, he can't manifest any Six Paths Power at all, except for the Asura Path. He didn't know why it's this way, but he was willing to find out. Whoever, or whatever sent him here wanted him to have some of his old powers. But for what reason, he didn't know. Though he would have preferred to be completely normal. He doubted he really needed these powers anymore. Nothing out of the ordinary had happened so far in his second life. As far as physical capabilities go, he was peak human, he guessed. Better than the best athletes, but nowhere near even his genin self, never mind his prime. He could go up to superhuman with chakra burst, but that's it. Yep, he was weak. Then again, this world doesn't really demand for him to be superhumanly strong like the Elemental Nations did.
Sasuke got up from his classroom seat and attend to his part-time job. Not even a single student batted an eye at him as he navigated the school halls.
After his part-time job at a construction site, he'd gone to a convenience store to fetch some things. Bag of groceries in hand, he got out of the store. It was already night time by then, and thankfully his apartment wasn't too far from here. Just as he was leaving, at the corner of his eyes, he saw something, at the glass window of the convenience store, posted on it. It was an ad flyer for a job, as far as he could tell.
"Chaldea: Security Organization for the Preservation of Human Order. Now hiring." Sasuke read out, intrigued. Preservation of Human Order. From what, exactly? The pay was great, more than quadruple the pay he's getting from both his part-time jobs.
Sasuke read further, noticing the list of job vacancy in their office. "Administrative Officer, Administrative Aide, Accounting Aide, Candidate…"
'Candidate for what?' He questioned internally.
There was a contact number at the bottom of the flyer, in the event that there's an interested job-seeker who wanted to contact them. Sasuke ripped the flyer off the glass window and took it home with him. After eating dinner and washing himself, the Uchiha sat on his bed and inspected the flyer further. He'd wondered what kind of jobs they've got, and hopefully they've got ones for part-timers. He thought he'd at least visit their office to get more information, and possibly go from there. He opted to contact them using the provided number at the bottom of the flyer.
"This is Chaldea: The Security Organization for the Preservation of Human Order. In what way may I be of service?" A jovial, overly-enthusiastic female voice sounded. Sasuke thought they must be paying them pretty darn good if they're this happy to do their work. Sasuke managed an amused chuckle as he listened.
"Yeah, I'm interested for a job. I'd like to visit your office to ascertain what kind of work you have vacancy on, and if it aligned with my timelines." He replied.
"Yes, of course! First and foremost, may I know your name, sir?" The what he assumed was the receptionist of the office inquired.
"The name's Sasuke Uchiha, currently in highschool." He replied.
"Perfect! Our agents should be there at 7:00 in the morning tomorrow to fetch you. Be sure to get ready!" She told him, rather happily.
"Wait, what? But I didn't tell you where I live…" Confused, he replied.
"Oh, don't worry about details like that. We have our ways." She replied cryptically, "Like I said, 7:00 in the morning, okay? Don't forget! Thank you for contacting Chaldea: The Security Organization for the Preservation of Human Order, we hope to see you tomorrow!" *Click* Beep, beep, beep…
Sasuke could only sigh tiredly. Well, that was… certainly something. And they move fast too, suspiciously fast. It's as if they're desperate for new recruits. Hopefully, it's not some black market or human trafficking scheme he's got himself into.
With that, he laid in his bed, until the sleepiness claimed him.
Chaldea, 2017 AD
White walls, white walls everywhere.
He didn't know what to expect of this "Chaldea", but he certainly didn't expect for their office to be this dull. It's like a hospital, but more futuristic.
As per the call lady said, men in black suits visited him early in the morning and got him to come with them. He was then asked to stay put inside a military-like vehicle with no windows, along with a few people. He couldn't quite compare to his old self's situational awareness, but he could tell that he was being transported through air. He didn't know where this "Chaldea" was stationed, but it clearly wasn't in Japan, based on the flight time. It was the weekend so he didn't need to worry about school the next day, and the people who visited him had said they'd return him if he asked to be returned.
It had been several hours of flying when the vehicle he was in finally arrived at their destination. They didn't land outdoors, curiously. When they exited the large vehicle, they were already inside a building. Numerous people, workers in uniforms, and even more of the same vehicle parked at the side. Already, he could tell that the overall size of the building he was in was absolutely massive in scale. Even what he thought was the garage of some sort was already the size of multiple city blocks combined.
A worker, who he guessed was a guide, told them to follow him at another section or district of the building, a clinic of some sort. There, he was given a uniform to wear during the length of his stay here in Chaldea. Or as they call it, a Mystic Code. It consisted of a white, long-sleeved shirt, which he kept open in the middle, exposing a black shirt underneath, alongside a pair of black pants, and black shoes. He was also given a watch that would apparently function as a sort of communication device. He was then asked to provide multiple things for authentication, such as voice and fingerprint, as well as blood sample. Then, he was led here. White walls everywhere.
He walked down a hall filled to the brim with security cameras and stopped at a door. A rather high-tech looking door, with a screen and flashing lights and technological things he was ill-informed about. This "Chaldea" is looking suspiciously more than just an office. Felt like he was being recruited in an organization on the level of UN or the Pentagon or something.
Some machine on the door scanned him from head to toe, then scanned his left eye. A female robotic voice sounded immediately after.
"Base sequence: Human Genome Confirmed."
"Alignment: Chaotic Neutral"
"Welcome to the data center for the future of humankind."
"This is the Security Organization for the Preservation of Humanity, Chaldea."
"Fingerprint, Voiceprint and DNA authentication CLEARED."
"Magical Circuit assessment COMPLETE."
"Username matched. You are recognized as a member of the Primates."
"Nice to meet you! You're our final visitor for the day."
"We hope you enjoy your time here."
"We are sorry, another 180 seconds is needed to complete the admission process."
"Please enjoy a battle simulation while you wait."
"Regulation: Senior"
"Contract Servants: Saber, Archer, Lancer."
"There will be no record of your score. Please feel free to enjoy."
"Activating Heroic Spirit summoning system FATE."
"We hope you have a good experience as a Master in these 180 seconds."
Then the door opened, beckoning him to enter.
Migraine. He was met with a head-splitting migraine after that simulation thing ended.
"Ugh." He staggered in the hallway, feeling the unconscious world creep up. He sat down and leaned on the wall, before finally dozing off.
…
…
When Sasuke came about, he felt a licking sensation. Like something, perhaps a small animal was licking his face.
"-pai."
A voice, female voice, sounded.
"Senpai."
Groggily, he opened his eyes to see nothing but snow. Wait, not snow, but white fur, almost taking up most of his vision. The Uchiha was lucid enough to recognize that there was some sort of creature on him, sitting at his lap and looking up at him. Then he remembered that he'd gotten a migraine and sat at the side of the hallway to sleep it out. He'd been sleeping in a sitting position, his back leaned against the wall, and his head hanging low.
"Fou, fou! Kyu Kyao!" The animal, squirrel-cat thing sounded. What a peculiar-looking animal.
"A-ah, Senpai. You're awake! That's no place to sleep, so please get up, Senpai." The voice said. He dragged his head up towards the source of the voice and came across a bespectacled girl in her teens with lilac-colored hair.
"Who?" Sasuke squinted his still-sleepy eyes to observe the girl under scrutiny.
The girl adopted a hesitant expression. "That's a hard question to answer suddenly. Mainly because I'm not important enough for you to know my name? Ah, no, I do have a proper name, but I never really got the chance to use it, I'm not one for leaving a good impression." The girl told him, her expression somber.
"Ahem…" The girl cleared her throat. "Can I ask a question, senpai?" She asked. "You were asleep. But I don't see why anyone would sleep in the hall. Are you someone who can't sleep unless it's a hard surface, senpai?" Without even awaiting his confirmation, she questioned. Curiosity lighting up her features. Like a curious child observing a puppy.
In response, the Uchiha just stared at her a moment. Up until the girl wriggled in discomfort under his gaze.
"U-um, senpai. P-please forget about that question if you don't want to ans-"
"I was sleeping here because I'd gotten a migraine." He replied, cutting her off. The white animal jumped towards the girl, climbing up her body and settling on her shoulders. Seeing that he was still seated on the floor, he got up and massaged his slightly aching head.
"Ah, I see." The girl adopted a look of realization. "Ah, I completely forgot, I still haven't introduced you, have I, Fou?" The girl said to the animal.
"Fou!" It "replied".
"This squirrel-like creature is Fou. He's a privileged Life Form allowed to freely stalk the halls of Chaldea at any given time."
The Uchiha only stared at the animal with curious eyes. He'd never seen that animal before, in this world or the previous one. Looked like a crossbreed between a cat and a poodle dog, rather than a squirrel.
"Fou led me here, and that's how I met you, senpai." She continued.
"What sort of animal is he." He asked.
The girl blinked. "W-well, we really don't know for sure. We just assume he's some unknown genus in the Squirrel family."
"I see…"
"Fou! Mmkyu Fou!" The animal jumped from her shoulders and skittered away.
"And there he goes, running away on his own again." The girl said with a small adoring smile, almost exasperatedly.
"Interesting creature you've got there." Sasuke commented offhandedly.
"Yup, he's definitely interesting, alright." The girl agreed, she looked at him. "Normally, he doesn't go anywhere near anyone aside from me, but it seems Fou has developed a natural liking to you, Senpai." She told him. "That's great. Now you're an honorary second caretaker for Fou in Chaldea!"
"…Is that so."
Sasuke sensed a presence behind the girl, "Ah, there you are, Mash. That won't do, you know. Running on your own like that without permission."
The former ninja inspected the man, and the man him. Guy doesn't feel right at all. He seems human enough, but Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that he was something way more than just a mundane human worker here. He wore a green suit/coat, and green bowler hat, and some long hair that came down to his chest.
His eyes, which are curiously closed, "landed" on him. "Oh, someone's already with you." The man said to her. He inspected his form, a hand on his chin in a thinking pose. "You are… I see, you're the rookie who just got assigned here." The man faced him, "I'm Lev Lainur. One of the technicians assigned here." He introduced, a good-natured smile in place. "And you are?"
The former ninja looked at him with small amounts of suspicion, "Sasuke. Sasuke Uchiha."
"Hmm, Sasuke Uchiha…" The green man began. "So, you're the 48th and last of the candidates huh." His smile lengthened, adopting a friendly demeanor. "Welcome to Chaldea. I'm glad you're here. I heard you're selected from a wide roster of public candidates? How long was your training? A year? 6 months? 3 months?"
"What kind of training are we talking about here exactly?" He asked.
"Hmm. So you prefer to keep your details a secret, huh? I like that, seems you already know how competitive it is in here, so you're going to hide your info from your rivals?" The man drawled, curiously eyeing him.
'That was a genuine question, but let's just go with that.' Sasuke thought, remaining quiet.
"Dr. Lev, Sasuke-senpai's training was less than an hour" The lilac-haired girl interjected, "I think he was genuinely asking what training rookies are supposed to be doing."
"Oh, well now… I see. We had an emergency opening for applicants to fill out numbers. So, you're one of them. Do forgive me if I was inconsiderate." He said, "But please, don't be discouraged just because you're just a public applicant. We need all of you for this mission." The man took out a small notebook, likely detailing some information, and inspected it. "38 elite mages, plus 10 talented public applicants… somehow, we were able to recruit and gather all possible candidates. That's something to rejoice over. This year, 2017, all possible candidates capable of Spiritron Diving were brought to Chaldea."
Sasuke for his part, tried to rationalize everything that he's heard so far. 38 elite mages? Spiritron Diving? What kind of organization is this? Has he unknowingly joined a movie set or something? Then again, the technological stuff he's experienced seems genuine and real, and not just some movie prop. That simulation room especially. He'd heard of simulated reality before, but to his knowledge, it was just technological theory or sci-fi.
"If there's anything you want to ask, feel free to ask Mash or myself anytime, hmm?" The man, Lev Lainur, faced the girl. "Come to think of it, Mash, what were you talking about with? That's not like you, did you already know each other before?" He queried.
The girl, or Mash, as Lev called her, shook her head in denial. "No, I'd never met Senpai before. I saw him sleeping here, so I just-"
"Sleeping?" Lev interrupted, "Mister Sasuke was asleep here? Ah, you went through the simulation when you entered, right?" Sasuke nodded lightly, "Spiritron Dives can get to you if you're not used to them yet. After the simulation, the gate must've opened and you walked over here before you returned to consciousness. It's a type of sleep-walking, if you will."
"Not exactly, I was already awake when the simulation was finished, and just fell asleep here due to the migraine I got right after." Sasuke explained.
"Oh, well, the simulation has different effects on people. It seems to me that you have a natural resistance to the after-effects of simulation, which could mean you have a talent for Spiritron Dives." Lev Lainur complimented, then he smiled encouragingly. "Well, you seem healthy enough, but If you want, Mash here can guide you to the infirmary. But not right now. Sorry, but the Director's orientation is about to start, you should hurry up so as not to get on her bad side. The Director's the one in charge of this whole operation in Chaldea, and the commander of our special missions. Since you're a rookie from the public, you may have only seen the pamphlet?"
"It was a job ad flyer, but yeah." He confirmed.
Yes, that checks out, since the Director's profile hasn't been made public." Mash said, "Senpai has no connection to the Director, only mages from influential magi families that had been around for at least a century show respect to the Animusphere name." She explained. Details of which Sasuke has little know or care over.
'Animusphere? Interesting surname.' He internally commented. Sounded like some Harry Potter type wizard family name to him.
Lev Lainur nodded, "Right, well, whether you know the Director or not doesn't really affect your work as a Master, so it's not a problem."
The former ninja wanted to ask so much what being a 'Master' entailed, and why it was such an important job. But he opted to discover that for himself, and this conversation has already dragged on for far too long for his liking.
"…But it's important to not be on her bad side. If you wish to work peacefully in this environment, better hurry up. The orientation should be in the Central Command Center 5 minutes from now. The Director is putting up a presentation for the newbies." Lev informed.
"I see." Sasuke acknowledged.
"Dr Lev, do you think I'll be allowed to sit in on the orientation, too?" Mash asked.
"Hm, if you stand way behind at the back, maybe she'll pretend she didn't notice you. But why?"
She looked at the former ninja briefly, before answering. "Well, I just thought I should take Senpai to the Command Room. It's possible that Senpai might fall asleep on the way again."
Lev adopted a worried expression. "If I leave you alone like this, the Director might yell at me. I should tag along as well, just in case." Lev straightened up. "Well, if that's what you want, Mash, then go ahead. You okay with that, Sasuke-kun?" The green man asked.
Sasuke, upon hearing how the man referred to him, involuntarily shivered in disgust. That was way too Orochimaru-like for his liking. "Uh, yeah, sure. It's not like I know where this Command Room, anyhow."
Lev clapped, "Then that's settled. Well, before that, do you have any other question?"
Yeah, he did have a question, actually. "Why's she calling me 'Senpai'" He asked, in curiosity more than anything.
Mash blushed beneath her glasses. And Lev smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that. Every human your age is her senpai. But it's quite unusual for her to actually call someone like that, this might be the first time" Lev shot a look at her, teasingly. "Actually, I'm intrigued. Say, Mash, why do you call him Senpai?"
"W-well, it's because he's the most human-looking person I've ever met." Mash answered.
Well that… he didn't expect, as far as compliments are concerned. He didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult, to be honest. "A-and also, Sasuke-san just has this aura of maturity around him, like he's older and wiser than he looks."
Lev inspected him, "Huh, is that so? I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are you, Sasuke-kun?"
"I'm seventeen." He answered casually.
"Eh? So that means we're the same age? That's amazing!" The girl beamed him a happy smile.
"In any case, I think both of you will get along just fine." Lev assured, observing the duo of teens. "Well, then, shall we go, Sasuke-kun? She's quite rough at first, but once you get used to the Director, she can be a pretty sweet person."
Sasuke shrugged, "Let's go then."
Large automatic doors opened, and they entered the room. Massive, it was massive, like a theater. Blue lights littered the room, and at the center was a globe of some sort, surrounded by multiple metal rings. Overall, it was a pretty impressive sight. This world was no doubt more technologically advanced than the Elemental Nations, but Chaldea took that up a notch. He'd noticed that there are at least 40 plus other people in here as well, waiting for the orientation to start, and all wearing the same uniform as him. So he really was the last one to arrive.
"This is the Command Room. Your number, Senpai... is single digit. You're in the front row." She gestured for him to go forward, towards the front row, directly in front of the stage.
"Thanks, Mash." Sasuke thanked, walking towards the empty seats, just as the presentation began.
"No problem, Senpai." Mash replied happily, as she retreated towards the back row of the room.
The Uchiha sat at one of the vacant seats at the front row, observing in front as a white-haired girl was leaned against a table, her arms crossed and looking positively annoyed, directly below the globe. She must be the Director. So young too, impressive. She glowered at him as their eyes met.
"Well, that wasn't on time at all, but at least all of us are here now." She started, "Welcome to the Security Organization for the Preservation of Human Order, Chaldea. I am the Director of Chaldea, Olga Marie Animusphere…" She declared loudly to everyone in the room. "You have been selected or discovered from each nation for your rare talent. And by talent, I of course mean your aptitude in…"
"…The development of the observation cyber-deamon, LAPLACE. The Global Environment Model, CHALDEAS. The completions of the near-future observation lens, SHEBA. The Heroic Spirit summoning system, FATE. And the launch of the Spiritron calculation engine, TRISMEGISTUS. With these technologies, we have observed humanity's progress…"
"…Spatial Singularity F, a city in the Japanese countryside in 2004. We discovered an "unobservable zone" that did not exist in history up until 2017. Chaldea hypothesizes that this is the cause for humanity's extinction…"
"You there! The one in front, who arrived late. I'll allow you to ask me a question, or a clarification." She pointed at the former ninja.
He shrugged and went along, "So I'd assume that, because it is a Singularity, whatever we do in the past will not affect the present time?" He'd read on a little bit of spacetime and quantum theory, so he does know about the basics on how that works, at least.
The Director nodded, "Precisely. This Singularity we found doesn't exist in our observation records. It's like a hole in Space-Time that just appeared out of nowhere. The hole itself is cut off from proper temporal axis. The 2004 singularity exists apart from the past and the future. There's no need to connect it to our present. It's more stable than regular time travel, and whatever happens the timeline can still repair itself." She took a breath, then continued. "Singularity F is like a tiny stain on the dress that is human history. It ruins beauty just by its sheer presence. Your job is to extract it. That's what will return humanity into its proper, observable course of history."
He listened on, as the Director filled them in on what their work was, and the complexity of it all. He listened on, when Olga informed them of humanity's fate, that humanity as they know it will go extinct in 2018. Apparently, humanity will just cease to exist with no observable or probable explanation. And that the machine above her, CHALDEAS, can't sense the future of humanity or something along those lines. Essentially, they needed to travel back in time towards these 'Singularities' to correct what is essentially a stain in the timeline, a period in the past that, if left unhindered, would totally and permanently destroy humanity's future.
And each one of them were 'Masters', or as Olga said it, "tools", to destroy these Singularities by summoning and fighting alongside Servants. Spirit warriors from past eras. Everything else was white noise to him, due to the migraine he was feeling on and off, but he did understand that much.
That had been too much information to swallow. Firstly, this was WAY beyond what he was expecting as far as work is concerned. Secondly, doomsday. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It frankly sounded too much like some Sci-fi fiction novel that he'd read a few years ago. He wasn't expecting for everything to be this serious, at all. He wanted a high-paying job, and got something way beyond that.
He supposed this was his second time facing a doomsday event, although the circumstances are fundamentally different. Now that he thought about it, maybe this was exactly the reason why he was reborn here. To solve whatever this is.
And also, apparently they're in a building on top of a snowy mountain standing 6000 meters above sea level.
"…"
"…"
"…"
It was about 40 or 50 minutes into the orientation that he felt an overwhelming feeling of danger not unlike the feeling when he first beheld the sight of the Progenitor of Chakra herself. Like something was about to go down any moment now. Like something was afoot, that he couldn't quite ascertain. He listened on, as Olga Marie blabbered on about things he couldn't quite push himself to care, as the feeling completely enveloped him. Then the feeling reached its boiling point, as though it was ready to erupt any second, or whatever beast that's lurking just out of sight was gonna pounce at any moment.
Then it happened.
The Uchiha moved. He wasn't anywhere as fast as his previous incarnation, but he was still quite fast with application of chakra burst. In a matter of moments, he'd activated his Sharingan, went towards the Director, carried her in a bridal carry, and in a few leaps, got towards the door and out of the room in the time it takes for Olga Marie, or any normal human, to blink.
"Wha-!?" the Director yelped in shock.
*BOOM!*
An explosion rocketed his senses, the shockwave of it pushing him down towards the floor with Olga still on his arms.
"Wha-what just happened!? An explosion!?" She blurted out in panic, her face contorting in absolute horror. "Oh no, oh no, no no no…"
Sasuke got up and inspected the damage, seeing the room completely destroyed. The walls and ceiling were crumbling, the lights had been busted up, and people very likely dead. Red lights indicating an emergency was filling his sight, and a loud siren noise was blaring out. The only thing that seemed remarkably untouched was the globe thing, the CHALDEAS.
Then he remembered. Mash had said she was going to be in the room.
"Shit!" Sasuke let out. He was about to run towards the carnage to look for Mash, but felt a tugging at his sleeve. He looked back to see it was the director. Expression of absolute fear and panic decorated her beautiful features.
"Where do you think you're going!?" She shouted at him.
"Mash's still there. I'm going in." He replied, too calmly for the Director's liking.
"And get yourself killed!? Are you insane!? Are you so desperate to die that you'd willingly dive into a pit of fire? Leave Mash's rescue to the professionals- Hey!" Sasuke ignored her and went in, keeping an eye for Mash's appearance anywhere in the room. Considering he was at the epicenter, Lev probably didn't make it. Mash was his sole priority.
"EMERGENCY. EMERGENCY. A FIRE HAS BROKEN OUT IN THE CENTRAL POWER STATION AND THE CENTRAL COMMAND ROOM. CENTRAL AREA'S CONTAINMENT WALL WILL ACTIVATE IN T-MINUS 90 SECONDS. ALL STAFF MUST EVACUATE FROM GATE 2 IMMEDIATELY."
"CONTAINMENT WALL WILL BE CLOSING IN T-MINUS 40 SECONDS. THOSE THAT REMAIN IN THE CENTRAL AREA, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."
The former ninja ignored the announcement as it rang in his ears. He scouted around the destruction, occasionally dodging a falling ceiling, or an exploding gadget as he surveyed the area. He'd also rescued some injured coworkers from getting completely flattened by a collapsed wall or stray rubble.
"GENERATOR OPERATION STOPPED. POWER LEVEL CRITICAL. SWITCH TO BACK UP GENERATOR – ERROR. PLEASE MAKE THE SWITCH MANUALLY."
"CONTAINMENT WALL WILL BE CLOSING IN 35 SECONDS. THOSE THAT REMAIN IN THE CENTRAL AREA, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."
"SYSTEM SWITCHING TO THE FINAL PHASE OF RAYSHIFT. COORDINATES, AD 2004 JANUARY 30th, FUYUKI, JAPAN."
"LAPLACE'S SHIFTING PROTECTION ESTABLISHED. SINGULARITY'S ADDITIONAL FACTOR SLOT SECURED. UNSUMMON PROGRAM SET. PLEASE START FINAL ADJUSTMENTS."
"Tsk." Sasuke wiped off a bead of sweat from his forehead. The heat was starting to slowly get to him. 3 minutes in, and there was still no sight of Mash. Eventually, he came across a particularly large boulder, a chunk of the wall that collapsed. There, under it, was the lilac-haired girl. Lower body under the large collapsed concrete, and very likely crushed, but was still alive. He ran up to her, tried to pry the large boulder off her, but he was physically too weak currently. His meager chakra couldn't help either. Shit, he wasn't about to lose a friend in this new world. Naruto would kill him if he did.
"Mash!" He called out to her, if only to keep her awake.
"Hang in there, I'll get you out."
The girl, as weak and injured as she was, tried her best to look up to see him. She smiled warmly. Blood flowed from her head, indicating a sort of head trauma. "Oh… It's quite alright… Senpai. You can't… save me. Don't… mind me. Please… run." She told him, as his mind tried to come up with ways or methods to save her, but ultimately coming up with none. Shit, it's times like this that he wished he still had his near-godly amounts of chakra.
The ninja could do nothing but hold her hand in comfort. And the dying girl squeezed it weakly. "Don't worry, we're getting out of here. I promise."
"WARNING, ALL OBSERVATION STAFF. CHALDEAS' STATE HAS CHANGED."
Both of them looked up, to see the globe change from blackened, to reddened. As if the globe had been beset by an apocalyptic storm of fire.
"Ah." Mash managed out.
"NOW REWRITING SHEBA'S NEAR-FUTURE PREDICTION DATA. UNABLE TO DETECT THE EXISTENCE OF MANKIND 100 YEARS IN THE NEAR-FUTURE ON EARTH."
"So it's started already." Sasuke breathed out.
"UNABLE TO CONFIRM HUMAN SURVIVORS. UNABLE TO GUARANTEE MANKIND'S FUTURE."
"Chaldeas… has turned… bright red. No, never mind that…" She looked up at him.
" CENTRAL AREA, SEALED. 180 SECONDS TILL INTERNAL CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE.
"They shut off… the area… Senpai… Now… we can't get… out." Mash squeezed his hand. "You should have… escaped earlier… when you had the chance…"
Sasuke smiled at her. She was much like Naruto, in that she thinks of others before herself. Truly selfless to a fault. What a kind girl. "Don't worry. I just couldn't leave my Kouhai all alone, you know…" He told her. Mash looked at him in surprise, then scrunched her face up as fresh tears started streaming down her face.
"COFFIN VITALS: MASTERS"
"BASELINE: NOT REACHED"
"RAYSHIFT REQUIREMENT: NOT MET"
"SEARCHING FOR QUALIFYING MASTER: FOUND"
"CANDIDATE NUMBER 48: SASUKE UCHIHA, RESET AS MASTER"
"UNSUMMON PROGRAM: START"
"SPIRITRON CONVERSION: START"
Sasuke observed in both curiosity and apprehension as motes of golden particles started to slowly envelop both him and Mash's body. The lilac girl's hand squeezed further on his, he squeezed back.
"RAYSHIFT START IN 3"
"2"
"1"
"ALL PROCEDURES CLEAR."
"FIRST ORDER: COMMENCING OPERATION."
Golden light enveloped all his senses, until he could no longer feel Mash's hand on his. Soft ringing in his ears, and nothing but a bright yellow light in sight. Then, very suddenly, he was bombarded with the immense feeling of being sucked in a vacuum. If he had to venture a guess, this feeling would probably be similar to being sucked in a Black Hole at speeds close to the Speed of Light. He realized immediately, that he was being flung through space and time.
He felt vertigo. Then darkness took over.
Fuyuki, 2004 AD
When he came to, the Uchiha smelt ash.
He sat up, and massaged his head as fresh migraine bombarded his brain. After a while, when the pain subsided, he opened his eyes and surveyed the area he was in. For lack of better word, he was in a dump. Everything was thoroughly destroyed. Buildings were set ablaze, roads were cratered, cars upturned, and trees uprooted. The sky was a strange red hue, dominated by the ash from the burning city. He was lying in the middle of two collapsed buildings, as he regained his bearings. He stood up, still clutching at his head.
"Ugh." He'd wondered if he'll ever get used to getting flung through time.
"Grrrooooo Gyaaaa!"
The screeching noise was apparent, even though basically all of his senses, including his hearing, was being blasted by vertigo and migraine. Sasuke whipped his head to look at his left, and widened his eyes when he came upon the sight of several skeleton warriors. Each holding different weapons. The one in the middle was clutching a sword, the one on the left was holding a spear, and the one on the right was notching an arrow with its bow, and aiming towards him.
"What?" Was his initial response to seeing the undead, but then had to lean his head back when an arrow flew past where his head was positioned a mere millisecond ago.
'Hostiles.' He merely thought, as he got ready for combat.
He wasn't as capable as his previous incarnation, but he should be capable enough for a bunch of measly skeletons. He just hoped they don't reassemble or regenerate when destroyed. That would be quite troublesome, to say the least.
Sasuke activated his Rinnegan, which thankfully and paradoxically, consumes far less chakra than even using his Sharingan. Although, he could only assume, that's because he could only use the Asura Path, and not everything else in its arsenal. Basically, his Rinnegan only had the Asura Path in it, and it remains unknown currently if he'll ever awaken the other paths. Still, this should be enough for his current circumstance.
"Asura Path." The Rinnegan wielder muttered under his breath, activating the Six Paths power.
The skeleton with the sword lunged at him, its blade up high and ready to strike at him straight down his skull. Sasuke blocked the blow by transforming his right hand into a robotic weapon, a chainsaw sword. His weapon not only blocked the blow, but also fragmented the rusty sword. And with a swing of his arm, Sasuke easily dispatched of the sword-wielding skeleton. His chainsaw arm easily slicing through rotten bone and marrow, ribcage and spine.
The Uchiha deflected 3 arrows that would've landed on his head in three different places. His robotic chainsaw arm returned to normal, then immediately transformed into a futuristic laser blaster. Aiming it the skeleton archer, a light blue glow emitted from the blaster barrel. Not even a second later, a blast of glowing blue chakra shot out and completely obliterated the archer. He doubted it could regenerate from that. The energy blast went through the skeleton with no noticeable resistance as it exploded tens of meters behind the single remaining skeleton, creating a sizable explosion of dust and dirt.
The lancer skeleton dashed at his position, thrusting his spear at the former ninja's midsection. He dodged, weaving out of the very predictable attack pattern. He willed his Rinnegan to transform his blaster arm into a robotic buzz saw, cleaving through the skeletal humanoid from the collarbone down to the hipbone with a single swing. The skeleton collapsed at his feet, unable to do battle.
And with that, he was allowed reprieve, as his arm returned to normal. The former ninja surveyed his surroundings and found no threat in his immediate vicinity. Only then did he allow himself to relax.
"Sigh." He let out lowly, crouching down and picking up the lancer skeleton's skull by the eye socket. He inspected it and concluded that they were real human skeleton. Must be magic, as to why they could move.
"Senpai!"
"!"
Sasuke perked up, dropping the skull down as he stood up from his crouching position. He turned to look at the direction where he heard the voice, towards the collapsed part of a building. That was most assuredly Mash, and he wasn't ready to admit he was hearing things or hallucinating. Thankfully, the voice was real. Mash came up to him, running full speed with Fou at her shoulders… and is that a gigantic shield she's carrying?
"Senpai!" Mash stopped in front of him, her gigantic shield creating dust as it skidded through the ground. "I'm so glad you're alright!" Mash said, her face displaying a mixture of worry and relief.
"Fou, kyuu Fou!" The animal squeaked at him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sasuke replied to her with a nod. "More importantly, how about you? Weren't you injured?" Then his eyes came downwards, towards her body, or more accurately, towards her outfit.
Mash noticed where he was looking, and blushed heavily.
"That outfit…" Sasuke muttered, quite puzzled. Then his gaze lingered towards her shield.
Mash felt the need to explain to her Senpai. But before she could, the watch on his wrist started ringing. Before he could do anything, it suddenly projected a blue screen right beside where they're standing, taking him by surprise. At the screen was a man with dull-orange colored hair.
"Right, I finally got through. Hello? This is Chaldea Command Room. Do you read me?" The man at the screen said, although both the image and the sound were a bit laggy.
"This is Mash Kyrielight, a member of A team. At this time, I've completed the shift to Singularity F. My sole companion is Sasuke Uchiha, both mind and body intact." Mash responded dutifully. Her body straightening, face adopting a serious expression. "Rayshift compatibility and Master compatibility both satisfactory. Please register Sasuke-senpai as an official researcher." She continued.
The man on the screen looked at him. "Hmm, and you must be Sasuke Uchiha-kun. Nice to meet you!" He greeted, adopting a good-natured, carefree smile that seemed a bit inappropriate considering the circumstances at hand . "The name's Romani Archaman, the head of Chaldea's Health Department. You can just call me Roman. I'd love to get to know you better, but this is hardly the time for that."
Sasuke agreed.
"That said, I'm impressed you didn't "lose your existence". I'm glad, really glad." Roman said, making Sasuke sufficiently perturbed. The thought of literally losing his existence is several notches worse than being turned into a mindless white Zetsu. The man turned to look at Mash, "Also Mash… Of course, I'm glad you're safe, too… But what's up with that outfit?" The man questioned. He looked like a father who'd seen his daughter wear something vulgar just then. "It's shameless! I didn't raise you to dress like that!" The man exclaimed, though more shocked than upset.
Pink dusted Mash's cheeks, embarrassed. "I transformed into this. I can't protect Senpai wearing Chaldea's uniform."
Roman raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by "transformed", Mash? Did you hit your head? Or was it-"
"Dr Roman, please be quite…" Mash interrupted.
Sasuke internally smirked. That's one way to tell him to shut up without hurting his feelings.
"Please check my condition. I think you'll understand the situation better." Mash told him.
"Your physical condition? Who-whoa, whoa, WHOA!" Roman suddenly blurted out . "Physical strength, Magical Circuits, everything's improved! You're not so much a human but- "
Mash nodded in confirmation, "Yes, that's right. I'm a Servant."
Wait, what? Sasuke, to the best of his abilities, tried to understand what was going on. So apparently, Mash survived getting her lower half crushed by a large boulder, and now is a Servant? Aren't Servants supposed to be dead, historical figures from the past? Did that mean Mash was…
"WHAT!?" A female voice was heard at the other side of the screen.
"Whoa!"
A hand came up and roughly pushed Roman out of view, revealing the irate Director. "Did you just say you're a Servant now!?" Her face came closer to the screen, "How?"
"W-well, I don't exactly remember how it happened, but it seems I have survived by fusing with a servant. As you well know, Director, to investigate and resolve Singularity F, a Servant was provided in advance at Chaldea. This Servant lost its Master in that explosion, and was doomed to vanish. But at the last second, he offered me a contract. In return for the abilities and Noble Phantasm of a Heroic Spirit, he wanted me to eliminate the cause of this Singularity." Mash explained.
There was a lot to unpack there. A lot of questions on Sasuke's mind. Seems like the more he knows about the situation, the more questions would arise.
"A Heroic Spirit and a human fused… that means you're a…" Roman muttered at the side of the screen.
"A Demi-Servant…" Olga finished for him, her face expressing befuddlement. "That's Chaldea's sixth experiment. But why is it successful now all of a sudden." She murmured, "Mash, can you confirm if this Heroic Spirit still has his consciousness?"
Mash shook her head, "No, he gave me his combat abilities, then vanished. He never revealed his True Name at the end. So, I don't even know whose Heroic Spirit I am, nor the Noble Phantasm I'm holding. At this point, there is too much I don't know."
Sasuke could relate. He was pretty much lost on what was going on. Though he could gather bits and pieces to construct a bigger picture. Not to mention, everything that happened so far felt like a fever dream.
The Animusphere Heiress adopted a stern expression, managing to calm herself, " Hm, well at the very least, the Heroic Spirit at least seemed cooperative enough." The Director inspected Mash through the screen, "And now that you're a Servant, I shall expect you to fight for Chaldea as a force of Humanity. Is that clear?"
Mash nodded resolutely, "Yes, Director."
Then, Olga's eyes settled on him. She looked positively pissed . "And you… Where do I even begin with you!" She forcibly calmed herself down , "We're going to have to talk this out personally. That said, since you're the only candidate who Rayshifted safely in the Singularity, you better take on Chaldea's mission to find and determine the cause of the Singularity without fail, do you understand? You do comprehend what would happen should you fail the mission, correct?"
The complete extinction of Humanity, he got that much.
The white-haired girl took his silence for confirmation. "You've already got humanity's most powerful weapon – Mash."
Sasuke noticed that being referred to as "most powerful" buckled her knees a little bit. That must be a herculean weight to carry. But she didn't object, likely to prevent disappointing the Director
"But remember, while Servants are reliable allies, they also have weaknesses. They'll disappear without their magical energy source – Their Master."
At the side, Roman peeked at the screen, "I'm still analyzing the data, but it seems Mash has become your Servant. Meaning that you, Sasuke-kun, has become Mash's Master. She's the first Heroic Spirit to enter a contract with you."
"I see…" Sasuke said, although he was admittedly clueless on how that could be the case.
"Can you take a look at the back of your hand, Sasuke-kun?" Romani told him.
He did as asked and saw red markings, like a tattoo, on the back of his left hand. It was in the pattern similar to that of his old Rinnegan. Three rings, each possessing a tomoe at opposing sides.
"Those markings are called the Command Spells. They're incredibly powerful spells, that when used, uses vast amounts of mana to manifest something you wouldn't normally be able to. For example, it can restore a servant's Spirit Core, thereby healing them completely. You can also temporarily fill them with mana with it, so they'd be able to use their Noble Phantasms immediately. But only use it like that in emergencies. You can also make them do anything you want, even against their will." Roman explained. "They regenerate one stroke a day, so be sure to use them when the moment calls for it. You can use them for up to three times at any given time."
Huh, that's incredibly powerful. The Command Spell seemed like a failsafe to him. Something created to deal with rogue Servants.
Roman looked at him with an expression of understanding, "I know this is all so much, and I don't blame you for being confused.
"I think I've gotten the gist of it." Sasuke told him.
Roman smiled, "Is that so? Very good. I'm sure you must have many questions, and we promise to answer every single one of them, but right now-"
"-Is not the time." Olga interrupted, as she glared at the lone Master. "Still, how did you even become a Master? For a regular civilian with absolutely no aptitude for magecraft to become a Master is unprecedented. Only first-class Mages can enter contracts with Servants! There's no way someone like you can become a Master, so how? How did you become Mash's Master?"
Sasuke looked at her emotionlessly. "Hn, you tell me…" The casual and disinterested way he replied to her made the Director upset, it seems.
"Why you…!"
"U-um, Director…" Mash chipped in, nervous. "I'm actually the one who forced the contract."
"What did you just say?" Olga voiced out, aggravated.
"I'll explain, Director."
And so, Mash explained her side of the event. How it went with the explosion, how there were no other Master qualified to be Rayshifted, and how he was registered as her Master when she was fused with the Heroic Spirit and became a Demi-Servant. He'd missed a few details here and there, but those were the most important points.
"Hmph, I see." The young Director huffed, "At least I've gotten a better grasp of your situation now. Very well, now that that's out of the way, let me explain to you in detail our current mission and its goals…"
"Director, you're breaking up. Ten seconds until connection loss." Mash informed.
"Tsk." The Heiress clicked her tongue . "What is the problem now, Roman!"
"Huh, it seems Sheba's output is unstable since we switched to the backup generators. Oh, well, you can brief them later, Director."
"Ugh, fine. Mash, do your absolute best to overcome this Singularity alongside your Master." Olga ordered, voice dripping with authority.
"Roger that, Director!" Mash replied.
"And you," The Director looked at him, "You better come out of this alive, or I'm never forgiving you, got it?"
Never forgive him for what? What a strange girl. Nevertheless, he nodded in affirmation.
The girl left, allowing Roman to take over the screen, "Both of you, I'm getting a strong leyline reading about 2 kilometers south from where you are. Try to get there somehow. That way it'll stabilize our connection."
"Understood, Dr Roman." Mash said.
"Listen, don't do anything reckless, will you? I'll try to bring the power back up as soon as-"
Then, the screen was gone.
…
…
"Let's get going, Mash."
"Yes, Senpai. Still, you're so dependable. I was actually terrified, so thank goodness!" Mash said, looking at him with awe.
"It's no big deal. I just learn to accept and move on faster than most people." He told her.
"You're so mature, Senpai!"
"Kyuu, Fou fou!"
"Ah, you're here as well, huh, Fou. Thanks for cheering us up. Apparently, Fou Rayshifted here along with you, Senpai. Ah, I forgot to tell Dr Roman about that." Mash told him.
Sasuke rose an eyebrow at that, "Huh, really? Didn't see him anywhere when I woke up. He must've been hiding from the skeletons."
"Well, it was actually Fou that led me to you. It seems that as soon as he Rayshifted with you, he immediately came looking for me. That said, I was actually able to locate you faster because of an explosion at precisely this location…" Mash scanned the area, noticing several destroyed skeleton warriors. "So, what exactly happened, Senpai. Did you… do this?"
Sasuke didn't feel it was necessary to lie about his combat capabilities, nor did he have any reason to, "I did."
"I-I see, that's amazing… You're pretty strong, huh, Senpai." Mash commented.
"Hm, not as strong as you, Miss 'Humanity's Strongest Weapon', I'm sure." Sasuke said teasingly, lips stretching into a smirk.
Mash blushed heavily, "T-that's… not funny, Senpai."
"Heh." Sasuke let out a soft chuckle.
"F-for now, let's head to the coordinates he mentioned. Once there, we should be able to set up a base camp."
"Sounds like a plan."
It was 30 minutes of walking and navigating through collapsed rubble.
"Senpai, we will soon reach the point Doctor specified." Mash informed. "There are only flames as far as the eye can see. It's totally different from the Fuyuki in our data. According to our data, it's an average regional city. There's no report of such a massive disaster occurring in 2004. The mana density is also quite heavy, it's like in ancient Earth…"
The ninja was surprised as well. The Fuyuki he lived in in the present time was peaceful, and no evidence of any such disaster that would have most assuredly left some sort of imprint in the present. Sasuke kept quiet as he listened on, trekking through shattered buildings and fiery houses. A few moments of walking straight, Sasuke felt the presence of several something. It was exactly the same presence as the undead that he'd faced earlier, so he assumed they were the same. He looked back towards Mash.
"Get ready for combat, Mash." He told her.
"Yes, I can sense them too. Getting ready for combat, Master."
Mash was the first to take action, leaping into the fray with fervor. A poor Saber skeleton was unaware of the speeding Shielder, and promptly got its entire torso shattered when Mash bashed her massive shield against it with earth-shattering force. An Archer skeleton notched its arrow, aiming its bow at the shield-wielder. It didn't get the chance to fire its arrow as a small ballistic missile exploded at its position, completely destroying the skeleton beyond repair. Two such skeletons, wielding a sword and a spear, emerged from the rubble and tried to attack the girl, but met the same fate as the archer. Mash looked at her Master, and saw that his right arm was now akin to a robotic rocket artillery. The whole of the arm housing multiple miniature missiles.
'Eh, is-is my Master a robot or a cyborg?' Mash internally questioned, shocked and in awe.
"Mash, focus!" Her thoughts were cut off as she heard her Master.
"Ah, r-right, Master!" The lilac-haired Shielder blocked a sideways slash from a Saber skeleton, parrying the blow at the side, leaving the skeleton vulnerable to a devastating kick from Mash that shattered the enemy into pieces. The last one had been a lancer, who's attack was easily blocked by the massive shield. The skeleton was immediately dispatched with a swing from the sharp end of the shield, crushing it at the midsection.
"Phew!" Mash relaxed, observing the battlefield with keen vision. Concluding that the fight was over, and there were no more threats. "Battle Finished, Master."
The Master, arm now back to normal, walked towards his Servant and gave her a light head pat. "Great job, Mash"
The Servant blushed at his touch, "O-oh umm, Thank you, Master."
"Where's the leyline point?" Sasuke asked.
"Ah, it is here, setting up leyline terminal now, Master." Mash placed her shield on the ground, as the Master surveyed the area for any potential attacker. "Setting up summoning circle now."
The shield emitted a golden glow for a moment, then it summoned a room, or rather, a projection of a room. It was reminiscent to the simulation room when it summoned Servants for him. His watch rang again, automatically projecting the blue communication screen. So, the connection to Chaldea must have been established here.
"Checking, checking… alright, good. Looks like connection's back on again." Romani said, "Good job, you secured the position, now we can communicate again and even send rations. Alright, the stage is yours, Director."
Roman left the screen and immediately replaced by Olga, " Hello, can you hear me? Are we online?"
"Yes, Director. We can hear you." Mash confirmed.
"Ahem." The Director cleared her throat, " First off, I'd like to inform the both you of the severity of Chaldea's situation. Currently, there are less than 20, including Romani and I, full-time staff that had survived the explosion. Chaldea has lost roughly about 80% of its strength and functionality. The remaining staff just can't manage or do all the work handled by other professionals who are… sadly not with us anymore. So at this time, Chaldea is at its weakest and most vulnerable. All the other Masters are critically injured, and are currently in cryostasis inside the Coffins in hopes of reviving them in the future. Worst of all, we've also lost our most important technician in the blast. Oh, Lev…"
Mash covered her mouth, horrified, "T-that's terrible…"
"But do not let these facts get to you. So long as you, Mash, and Sasuke, are successful in this operation, we can- no, we will rise from the ashes. Whoever did this shall pay with their blood."
'Wow, I've never seen the Director this truly angry before…' Mash thought.
"We're shifting all available manpower towards Rayshift repairs, as well as maintaining Chaldeas' and Sheba's current states. It's going to take us months at least to gather new personnel or funds. We'll request for back up and supplies for rebuilding Chaldea once the external communications are fixed." She concluded. By the end of it, Olga looked like she was about to burst into tears any moment. But her position as the Director prevented her to. What a strong-willed girl, with so much on her shoulders.
"Sigh… Now then, Mash. I want you to continue investigating the Singularity. Find whatever is causing this Singularity to manifest, at all cost. The extent of this mission is to discover the cause of this anomaly. The Analysis and eradication shall come after Chaldea is restored, and when I can send in a second team. That town only contains low-level monsters. With your strength as a Servant, you should be good and safe, for the most part. You might run into stray Servants, so I recommend you summon some Servants now, to bolster your forces. What do you know about Servants, Sasuke" Olga asked.
The former ninja shrugged, "Just the very basics. That they're past historical figures and heroes that can be summoned to the present to do a Master's bidding."
"Hm, that should be sufficient for now. But just in case, I'll tell you about Servant classes. There are 7 Servant classes in which a Servant can be summoned as based on their legends, myths, epics and stories. It's incredibly difficult, even downright impossible to copy a Heroic Spirit entirely. Human mages do not have enough memories or resources to achieve such a feat. That's why there's only one aspect of a Heroic Spirit that's fixed in our world, resulting in the seven Servant Classes. That is Saber, Archer, Lancer, Caster, Rider, Assassin, and Berserker." The young Director explained. "For example, provide me a name of a historical figure."
Sasuke thought for a moment, "Hm, Genghis Khan?"
"Alright, knowing Genghis Khan's legend as a wandering warlord who primarily traverses long distances to conquer kingdoms using horses, he would be summoned as a Rider."
Sasuke nodded in understanding.
"It's also worth mentioning that the Servant classes is a way to hide a Servant's True Name, in other words, their true identity. It's because they're famous. And in Servant battles, the more the enemy knows about your Servant, the more likely they are to know of their weaknesses." Olga Marie paused to take a breath, "Take Achilles from Greek Mythology, for example. In his legend, he's known as invincible, but it's well-known that his weakness is his heel. The more the enemy knows about a Servant, the better they can exploit their weaknesses to their advantage, got it?" The Director explained. "Do you understand how Servant classes work now?"
Seems easy enough. "I do." He nodded.
"Good. Hope and pray you'll summon a strong Servant. I'd planned to explain to you what Noble Phantasms are, but I'll leave that to your resident Demi-Servant there."
Mash nodded.
"Alright, we can now communicate in short bursts. Feel free to contact us in an emergency." Roman chimed in.
"We got it, Dr Roman." Mash responded.
"Alright, we'll be cutting the connection now, be careful! The woman looked at him, " Don't do anything reckless that could jeopardize he mission!"
Then, the connection was gone.
The Uchiha shook his head. That troublesome woman really had very little opinion of him. Not that he cared what others think of him, of course.
"Alright, Senpai. Summoning Circle, operational. We can now summon a Servant. Do you have a Servant in mind, Senpai?" Mash asked.
"Not really…" Honestly, so long as they're strong and useful, then he'd be fine with them regardless. "Anyone that's strong is fine by me, I suppose."
"Hm, I assume we don't have any catalyst with us on hand, so the next best thing is your personality. When you summon a Servant without any catalyst, you can summon a Servant with similar personality to you, Senpai."
Summoning a Servant with essentially similar personality with him? He truly didn't know if that was a good or a bad thing. He would've thought that a good thing, then again, he does get along well with Naruto. So long as they're not annoying, is probably the bare minimum required. Personality doesn't matter that much.
"I'm ready, Mash. Let's get ourselves a Servant." He said, facing the light on Mash's shield. The Master held out his hand, as the markings on the back of his palm glowed a bright red. "Come forth…" He said.
Sasuke felt a brief, but strong surge of energy at the terminal, as intricate holographic markings appeared above the shield, likely indicating that the summoning ritual was in progress. Then a stronger burst of energy was felt. One that actually pushed him back a bit, and he had to cover his eyes to shield them from the overwhelming light and dust. Moments later, he felt it. Such a massive, powerful presence. Definitely not human at all. It felt magical, incredibly so. Perhaps even… divine.
He heard the neighing of a horse, then the distinct clatter of a horse's hooves as it touched the ground.
The light became dimmer and dimmer, until it stopped hurting his eyes. The Uchiha willed himself to look at his handiwork, and there it was. Or there she was. The first thing he saw was the ethereal, white stallion. The animal was clothed in fine silver armor. The next thing he noticed was the large green lance, with a pattern reminiscent of a herringbone tapered cloth. Lastly, the rider. She was heavily armored, but yet was clearly female. Her helmet bore the design of a draconic lion of silver color, as wild, golden fur fluttered behind her. Her armor was much the same, fine silver. At her lower body fluttered a long, blue cloth lined with gold, possibly an extension from what she's wearing underneath the armor.
The being shone with regal light. She didn't look human, more so a divine being. Her pristine silver armor glistened with the light from the summoning circle. She was silent for a moment, as she looked down towards him at the vantage point from up her mount. Regal, proud, powerful and noble.
"I shall answer your summons." She declared. Voice dripped with power and pride, yet oddly more feminine than he expected.
"I am your Servant, Lancer. With this lance, I shall be your tower and strength."
AN: Mostly just dialogue, and less action. Just going through the prologue, basically. But the next chapter should have some.
As you might have guessed, yes. Sasuke's got Lartoria. Why? well they're both prideful, strong-willed, no-nonsense kind of guy/gal, and pretty stoic. And also, she's my fave lancer.
This story more so follows the Mobile Game version of the events, and not any of the mangas. Except of course, that Olga Marie survived.
Here's a rough sketch of what Sasuke looks like in this story if you're curious. Drawn by yours truly. Just go to Imgur dot com and type in /a/xksB8L3
forgot I cant link websites here.
Thank you.
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