Jayce couldn't believe it. First, his apartment exploding and now his hextech dreams being crushed before he can bring it to fruition. Years of research squandered due to the academy's fear of magic. Magic saved his life. Why couldn't he use it to improve the lives of everyone else. He couldn't come back from this. Without the sponsorship from the Kirammans and the banishment from the academy how can he further his research to prove to the world that his idea was viable. He rubbed the rune on his bracelet one last time before taking it off and setting it on top of a sealed letter. This was it, the end of the line. He took one more look around at his ruined workshop before making his way towards the newly renovated balcony doorway.
He reached the edge and closed his eyes. His foot inched ever closer past the edge. He shifted his weight between his left foot and right foot before taking a breath. He clenched his fist mentally preparing for the next step. He was about to take a step-
"Am I interrupting?"
Jayce stumbled over himself, nearly falling off, before regaining his balance. Did he really almost just do that? He shook the thoughts from his head as he tried to calm his racing heart.
"The hell's your problem?" Jayce turned around to confront the owner of the voice. He saw a gaunt young man with a cane supporting himself in one hand, and a book in the other. "What's that? Another list with my name on it?" he spat out turning back around to stare out into the city.
"Actually it is. But only because you signed your notes. Every page, I might add. Ehh a bit egotistical, don't you think?" the man joked, annoying Jayce.
"Is that why you came?" Jayce immediately retorted, glancing back at the man. The man's face looked up from the notebook and morphed into confusion as if he hadn't just insulted him. "To insult me?"
"No, no," the man began as he moved towards Jayce. "I was intrigued by what you said at the trial." the man stopped just right behind him.
Jayce mentally scoffs. "That makes you the only one."
"Yes, well I wanted to talk to you about your work." the man admits as he shuts the notebook close. "This hextech theory of yours."
"It's not a theory." Jayce began as he turned around. "I saw with my own eyes what magic can do. The lives it can save. You've no idea how beautiful it is." Jayce stressed, getting more passionate. "And now it's gone. No one believed me." Jayce deflates, staring back out on the city that turned its back on him.
"Nobody has ever believed in me," the man began as he made his way over, standing next to Jayce. "A poor cripple from the undercity. I was an outsider the moment I stepped foot into Piltover." the man allayed, trying to brighten the sudden depressive mood. "I didn't have the benefits of a patron or a name. I simply believed in myself. Which is why I'm here. Because I think you are onto something." their eyes met briefly. "I want to help you complete your research."
"No one thinks it can be done" Jayce reminds the man, astonished to find someone who also believes in hextech.
"When you are going to change the world don't ask for permission." the man states bringing up his hand.
In his hand was his runed bracelet, a memento symbolizing the origin of his hextech dream. He reached out towards it feeling his dream being reinvigorated. He hesitated a moment. Did he really almost give this dream all up when he was backed into the corner? He shook his head again as took back his memento from the man, resolving himself once more.
"I don't even know your name." Jayce states in disbelief that a stranger was willing to go this far for him. To be there in his time of need.
"It's Viktor," the man answered. "Let's start with stabilizing the reaction," he began, turning on a lamp and looking at one of Jayce's formulas on the chalkboard. "How did this one turn out?" Viktor noticed something wrong with the calculations and picked up chalk to correct it.
"It was no good, it quickly became unstable." Jayce said as he sat down thinking back to all of his experiments. What would work?
"I think there was something wrong with your calculations here." Viktor stated as he finished the recalculation. "Have you tried to stabilize at higher frequencies?"
Jayce looked up at the chalkboard in astonishment. "This entire time I thought I had to dampen the oscillations." This revelation changed everything.
"The crystals will only stabilize at high frequencies. We need to-" Viktor began.
"Crank it!'' Jayce passionately interrupted.
"Yes. Yes, you have to crank it."
"It works!"
"Yeah, on paper."
"Well, we could test it if we had access to my equipment." Jayce replied, putting his face in his hand as he reminded himself of the events leading up to this situation.
"Which is being destroyed tomorrow." Viktor absently added, double checking his calculations.
"Wait, what?!" Jayce shot up from his seat.
"Oh uh, y-yeah. I-uh meant to tell you." Viktor meekly mentioned, realizing what he just said.
"That research is everything! My whole life" Jayce mentally paced back and forth in his head. Trying to figure out how they can get out of this situation, how they can prove themselves when they are in the middle of a breakthrough. "Maybe if we show them the equations they'd let us-"
"No, we need more than promises," Viktor denied. "We need proof."
"Not without the crystals. The enforcers took them all. They are gone." Jayce sat down, feeling the walls closing in.
"Yeah locked away in Heimerdinger's lab." Viktor stated, eyes widening suddenly. He quickly patted his side, feeling his keychain. He quickly brought it up, contemplating their next steps.
"No, no, no!" Jayce warned recognizing the implication of the keys. "You heard the we're wrong-"
"But if we are right-"
"Why? Why would you risk this?"
"Do you think it was my life's ambition to be an assistant? Scientists seek discoveries, ways to make the world a better place. This hextech dream of yours has the potential to do that."
"Our hextech dream." Jayce states placing a hand on Viktor's shoulder.
He thought he would have calmed down by now after getting caught by Councilor Mel. Thankfully, she saw the potential in hextech. By now the pressure felt increased. They had one night to prove themselves. Viktor headed to the back to retrieve a hextech gemstone as he finished up welding. They needed to make modifications to how the runes were activated. His previous prototype wouldn't be able to handle the necessary speeds to achieve stabilization. With the newly installed support frame, they should be able to achieve both the necessary speeds for stabilization as well as a method for inputting a rune sequence.
"It's all here." Jayce breathed out a sigh of relief, noticing Viktor's arrival, gemstone in hand. Viktor handed it over, and Jayce carefully put it in the center of the latest prototype. The machine hummed to life, wires beginning to glow electric blue.
"Time to crank it." Viktor said excitedly, closing Jayce's notebook after double checking the math once more.
"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" Jayce asked rhetorically as nervousness and doubt began to creep up in the depths of his mind. His hesitation subsided as he activated the machine and Viktor started to increase the speed. "I don't think it's going to hold! Look at the build up!" The gemstone suspended in the air started to shake more and more violently. The humming grew increasingly louder.
"The resonance will stabilize it! Trust me!" Viktor raised his voice over the cacophony of machinery. Jayce shot him a look of concern, but did nothing to stop the machine from going even faster. But then suddenly the gemstone recentered itself, achieving perfect stabilization. Viktor turned off the stabilizers, presented a gemstone primed and ready for their input, for the next step. "I told you it would work. All yours."
"Wow. It's never done that before." Jayce let out a breath of relief. He looked over his notebook once more. This was the first time he got to this stage. Now they had to figure out what runes meant what. He learned a couple of runes from historical texts, but due to the fear of magic, he didn't find any known rune spells that he could use. "Here goes nothing." He began entering random runes. The reaction from the machine was immediate. A sudden surge of energy sent out a shockwave, sending them stumbling back a step and shattering the window. His hairs on his arm stood up on end. He tried to reach for the manual override to disengage the machine. But then he heard something.
"Ah, an inventor?" spoke a calming voice seemingly coming from the back of Jayce's mind. "Trying to control magic using technology? I see. How intriguing. You've certainly caught my interest. I believe that you and I can help one another. Allow me to demonstrate."
Suddenly the prototype stabilized. Runes that Jayce has never seen before seemingly carved themselves on the air surrounding the gemstone. A pulse of energy was released causing the ground behind them to glow a bright blue hue. A circle of intricate design burned itself onto the ground as its energy from the gemstone began to channel itself into the circle. Light burst forth from the circle blinding both him and Viktor. When his vision returned, he saw a light brown haired man standing in the middle of the circle, hands tucked into his pant's pockets. The mysterious stranger wore a green suit and black tie.
"Who are you?" Victor spoke out first, recovering from the shock of someone appearing out of nowhere first. Jayce was left speechless at the sight of him. Was this the voice that spoke in his mind? The stranger looked at Jayce. Or at least he thinks he did. It was hard to tell with the large square sunglasses that the man wore.
"So you must be the inventor who created this machine?" the stranger stated seemingly ignoring Victor's question. "Or should I say inventors?" he said, making a passing glance at Victor.
"Who are you?" Jayce managed to speak out.
"Me? Hmm, I'm a - no wait you guys don't have a concept of that here." The man thought to himself briefly. "I'm a bit of an inventor myself. I'm trying to overcome the second law of thermodynamics to create a perpetual motion machine." He paused. "You may call me Maxwell."
An alarm rang out causing a man to shoot out of bed. He quickly grabbed his coat off a chair and headed out into the hallway. He jogged down the hallway as he put on his coat, stopping before a door to smooth out some wrinkles before heading in.
"What seems to be the issue?" the man asked, looking at a small brunette girl..
"Trismegistus II seems to have found another Lostbelt. But there is an issue. A massive one at that." the small girl replied. "This is Lostbelt is giving off the same signals as the one found in the British Lostbelt. This might well be another Lost World situation."
"Where is the Lostbelt originating from?" asked a blonde portly man.
"That's the issue, it's not originating from our world. It's coming from outside of our very world itself. It's almost as if it is coming from a whole other world."
"Da Vinci, are you telling me that there is a LostWorld forming in the Alien God's World?" asked the portly man once more. His face was scrunch up in a frown. "How would we be able to resolve it if we are still blocked by the Human Order?"
"Hold on Director Goredolf," a purple-haired woman spoke up. "What Da Vinci was saying is that Trismegistus II is detecting another existence separate to the Alien World. Another world separate from our own and the Alien God's world is being overwritten and is starting to spill out into our universe."
"Sion, are you suggesting that this other world has achieved the Second Magic?" the director questioned in disbelief, sweat starting to appear on his forehead.
"Perhaps, Trismegistus II states that this world we are observing, operates on a completely different magecraft system than our own. Although our magecraft might be different, Trismegistus II suggests that we can still use Living Human Servants. Their spirit origins would be easier to maintain than full fledged servants. Ritsuka, do you have any servants in mind to handle this task?"
"Well, Mash is a given. If something similar to the Second Magic is being used, why don't we make a team consisting of our latest summons from the previous singularity that we resolved? I believe that Aoko and Alice will be able to handle situations regarding the Second Magic and Sono-G, er-I mean Shizuki, have good teamwork with them." Ritsuka responded. "To round up the team, we will take Caren and Bazett. They worked together well, even their iterations that we met in the previous singularity worked together."
"Did Sheba Lens tell us any additional information about this Lost World?" asked Director Goredolf.
"It predicts that the team will be able to establish a connection back to us from the Lost World and allow for more summons to the world. However, we won't be able to communicate with you. We should theoretically be able to send messages through the servants that you summon from here to the Lost World. However, we don't know if you can send messages back through your servants. Maybe you can ask the vestiges of the Count of Monte Cristo if he can make the trip back to Chaldea from the Lost World so we can have communications both ways." Da Vinci replied. "Do you have any other suggestions?"
Ritsuka glanced at the shadow below him. A feeling of longing washed over him like a wave. But just as quickly as it came it left. Theoretically, they only had one more ordeal to resolve. The understanding of what it meant to be a Ruler. What could it possibly mean? He can hardly remember what it was like to be in the singularity inside of the Paper Moon. And going through the second set of seven challenges only to lose most of the Avengers was hardly a good deal. He shook his head. He couldn't view their sacrifice like that. Their flames were not meant to be tamed and if he wanted to repay them, he would have to see this through to the end. He closed his eyes in thought.
"Senpai?" a familiar voice called.
"Yes Mash?" Ritsuka opened his eyes and stared at his lilac-haired shielder.
"Are you going to answer Da Vinci's question?" she asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.
"Oh, ah-yeah." he stammered out with a blush. "That sounds like a good idea. Speaking of which, I heard that Iori was going over our records of Musashi and practicing to see if he can achieve her similar feat of becoming a mobile singularity. Maybe we can bring him along or at least have him on standby." He turned to look at his fellow gloomy Master with the constant bags under his eyes and messy white hair. "Kadoc, are you coming as well?"
"Obviously not, someone has to stay behind just in case." Kadoc chided before sighing. "Something might go unpredictably wrong as is often the case with you." Ritsuka smiled innocently at the accusation causing Kadoc to sigh. "Good luck."
"Don't worry I will. I'll gather the expedition team and talk to Iori to catch up on his progress." Ritsuka said. "Is there anything else that you all need?"
"That will be all." Director Goredolf confirmed allowing Rituska to exit from the command center followed closely behind by Mash.
Ritsuka entered the cafeteria and immediately spotted two of the people that he was planning on joining the expedition team. At one of the tables was Aoko and Alice drinking tea together. He could hear through the noise and chatter permeating throughout the dining hall the distinct sound of Aoko reacting explosively to Alice's monotone comments. He couldn't help but smile as he made his way over. Aoko stopped being so dramatic after noticing Ritsuka approaching, but that didn't stop Alice from making underhanded jabs at Aoko leaving her comically indignant.
"Hey there Aoko and Alice," Ritsuka greeted, getting nods as acknowledgement. "So there is a new Lostbelt that is forming outside of our own world. Based on the observations by the Sheba Lens and Trismegistus, it seems to be accommodating of living human servants. I was planning on inviting the both of you alongside Sono-G since you all work so well together."
"You only need Shizuki and I to come along. Bringing Aoko will lead to nothing but trouble."
"HEY!" cried out Aoko.
"Alice, that's not nice." Ritsuka reprimanded, causing Alice's normally emotionless face to slightly frown. "Besides I wanted you both to come with me due to signs of the Second Magic coming from this Lostbelt." Both of them arched their eyebrows before glancing at each other as if they didn't hear him correctly.
"Second Magic? Are you sure?" questioned Aoko calming down after hearing a concerning detail.
"I'm not exactly sure, but that's why I want the both of you to join me on the expedition force." Aoko and Alice glanced at each other again as if communicating silently.
"We'll be there. Don't worry about finding Shizuki, we will bring him along by force if necessary." Aoko answered for both of them.
"Thank you," Mash said, giving a polite bow in appreciation.
Ritsuka gave a slight bow as well before turning around. He saw a towering pile of bowls a couple of tables away. He smiled fondly. He was looking for a gluttonous Saber, but that was a bit too many bowls. Maybe he should have been more specific. He walked towards the lunch line, maybe he could catch the Saber going for another bowl.
"More curry rice please." the gluttonous Saber in question asked the resident Archer turned professional chef. Standing besides the Saber in question was Iori.
"Hey Takeru," Ritsuka called out. "Hey Iori. Takeru, do you mind if I talk to Iori for a second?"
"Did you want to know if I was able to reach the pinnacle that my sensei did?" Iori questioned before Takeru could answer, causing Takeru to pout.
"Yes, there is a growing Lostbelt threat that has come to our attention. Based on our preliminary observations, we found out that living human servants are better suited for this Lostbelt and that we would be cut off from communication and observation once we are there. I know you aren't a living servant, but if you were to reach the same heights as Musashi, then you would be able to act as the messenger between the Lostbelt and the Storm Border."
"Sorry Master. Despite my extensive training with Scathach and Chiron, I wasn't able to achieve the pinnacle." Iori had a deep frown on his face.
"That's okay. I wish you the best of luck on your journey towards mastery. But hey if we run into a strong opponent I'll be counting on your help through my spot on summons."
"That sounds nice." Iori smiled lightly before Takeru started to tug on his yukata to get his attention.
"Ritsuka! Don't forget about me!" Takeru complained.
"How could I? Don't worry. I'll make sure to summon you alongside Iori since you are such a good team." Takeru smiled before turning to Iori and dragging him away much to Iori's reluctance.
The rayshift to the Lostbelt went without hiccups. Usually, Ritsuka would always tense up during the process. You never know when you are going to be thousands of feet in the air or immediately getting hit by a cannonball when entering a new area. That being said, this rayshift was nice. The rayshift brought them to a secluded alleyway and as far as he could tell, no one noticed their arrival. He immediately tried his communicator only to be greeted with static.
"Looks like we are completely cut off from our world here like the Sheba Lens predicted." Ritsuka commented before looking down at his shadow briefly. He closed his eyes trying to get a feel for the mana here. It reminded him of the Age of Gods level of mana that he experienced in Olympus and Babylonia. But it was different somehow. It made sense, in a way, because this was a different world. He looked out of the alleyway and saw people dressed in fancy clothes. "Let's first scope out the area. We'll split up into two teams. Aoko, Alice and Shizuki are on one team and the rest of us will be on the other. Let's try to blend in with the crowd." All of them shifted their Spirit Origins to their modern casual clothes and Ritsuka changed into his Mage's Association Mystic code.
With the teams formed, they exited out of the alleyway to be greeted with festivities. There were ships in the air with a man's face plastered over it. The Man of progress. As they made their way closer to the center of the festivities, the more often they saw the Man of Progress' Face.
"Can you hear me?" he called out telepathically to his servants. After getting confirmation he continued. "Keep a look out for this man of progress. He might be a person of interest."
They made their way into a parade with booths displaying various technological creations. He saw mechanical butterflies flying through the air. He was filled with amazement with some of the inventions that he passed by, but there was a growing sense of disappointment. With all these creations, where was the person to make a giant mecha?
"Didn't expect to see you here," called out a voice behind him. He turned around only to see someone he hadn't seen for a long time.
"Maxwell's Demon? Is that you?" A thousand questions raced through Ritsuka's mind, but he was able to maintain his composure.
"Demon?" Bazett questioned before tensing up, preparing to counterattack. Caren seemed to smile at the prospect of encountering a demon. Mash panicked as she tried to deescalate the situation.
"I go by Maxwell now. Demons aren't really held in high regard in this world." He glanced warily at Bazett. "Or I guess that would be the case for any world. As for how I was brought to this world," he paused for a moment. "Let's just say an inventor tried to create technology to harness magic. His journey made me believe that he would be able to make the people of this world happy if he was able to achieve infinite energy. I don't have a Master to anchor myself to this world, but I was able to make up for it using the mana generated by my Noble Phantasm."
"I thought you hated your own Noble Phantasm."
"Heh, I do hate my Noble Phantasm." Maxwell admitted. "But I have high hopes that the geniuses of this world will be able to prove my existence. I consider it a necessary step for innovation. Speaking of which, I have something for you. Consider it as paying you back with interest for what you did."
With a snap of Maxwell's fingers, Ritsuka felt something connect to him through the command seals on the back of his right hand. At first he thought it was a simple servant connection but then a jolting pain shot down his entire arm. He rolled up his sleeve on his right arm to see what was going on. Marks began to burn themselves from underneath his skin. Mash was trying her best to hold Bazett back from launching a haymaker at Maxwell as Caren smiled in anticipation. As quickly as the pain arrived, it subsided.
"It's okay Bazett." Ritsuka managed to breathe out as he rose to his feet, wiping the sweat on his forehead. "Never thought I would see the day that I would ever have more than three command seals." Ritsuka's right arm felt numb.
"Well it's not only that. I'm able to provide you with some of the mana generated from my Noble Phantasm in this world back to you. While I'm no Merlin and able to send my excess mana to your Chaldea base, I hope that providing you the mana to support more than 6 servants at a time will be a decent alternative. This is the least I can do after what transpired in Sengoku."
"That's more than enough. This will be extremely helpful in the fight against the Alien God. Speaking of which, did you know this world was picked up as an irregularity in our world? Do you know any reason that would cause this to be seen as going against its normal history?"
"This world can fully support the entirety of my Noble Phantasm unlike last time and as far as I know I'm the only servant summoned to this land. But I might know some people who might know more information. Later today, there will be a speech celebrating the advancement of technology here."
"Would we be able to meet with this so-called Man of Progress?" Caren asked.
"His name is Jayce and yes. In fact he was the very inventor I was talking about previously. His invention was able to bring me over to this world. The day's not getting any longer, allow me to bring you him now. Maybe we can meet him before the speech if we are fast enough."
Jayce and Viktor were left in shock. How could Heimerdinger not understand that a single decade is a significant amount of time for humans? They couldn't even muster up an argument as Heimerdinger left. Both of them looked forward to Heimerdinger's praise, but they weren't expecting this. They needed someone else that could understand the need for fast progress of technology and they both knew they would support them.
"Hey Jayce and Viktor I wanted to introduce you to some people that I know." Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Or should I say demon. "I saw Heimerdinger on the way out, what were his thoughts on what you've created?" Behind Maxwell were six individuals with wildly different types of clothing. They definitely stood out from one another.
"Well he thought what we had here was impressive, but we should focus on fine tuning it and working on additional safety precautions for the next decade. I can't believe him sometimes. We need to be helping the people now." Jayce let out a sigh. "But enough about our problems. Why don't you introduce us?"
"You know how I'm a mage?" Jayce nodded cautiously. He eyed Ritsuka's group curiously. "Well these people are also mages. They are all powerful in their own right. They had a couple of questions for you. This is Ritsuka, he is the leader of the group." Maxwell gestured towards Ritsuka allowing him to take over. Ritsuka mentally asked Aoko and Alice to construct a bounded field to block outside interference.
"Hi, my name is Ritsuka Fujimaru. This is Mash Kyrielight, Caren Hortensia, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Alice Kuonji, Aoko Aozaki, and Sojuro Shizuki. Have you experienced anything out of the ordinary in relation to the magic coming from the hex crystals?
"No. In fact, we were able to stabilize the hextech crystals into something more controllable." Jayce held up an orb of swirling blue magic. "I call it a hextech gemstone. Since you are all mages, would you be willing to teach us some of the mechanics behind the magic of these crystals? Currently, we are having to go through a lot of trial and error trying to find rune patterns that produce a usable effect."
He glanced at Maxwell and then back at the rest of his team, specifically Bazett and Alice. He contemplated how much information that he could divulge. He trusted Maxwell's judgment that these two people genuinely wanted to improve the lives of the people here. Would their runes from their world even work here? The magic of relating to his summons seems to be working fine. He even gained extra command.
"Master, you can't seriously think about teaching them magecraft." Alice telepathically scolded.
"Hold on now. Some of the rules of our world don't apply here. From what Maxwell said briefly during our walk here, this world doesn't need mystery for their magecraft to function. Plus Maxwell puts his trust in them that they would use this knowledge for good. If he trusts them, I trust them. This will also be a good opportunity to learn more about their system of magecraft." Ritsuka mentally replied. "Bazett? Would you be able to teach them some runes?" He spoke aloud.
"Most of the runes I know are to strengthen myself physically. If I let Manannán take over temporarily, he would be able to teach them more about the runes. But are you sure, Master?"
"I am sure." He mentally confirmed. "Well, I'm not that much of a mage myself, but Bazett should be able to teach you some things about runes. Although her runes are a bit different from the ones you showed us." He spoke aloud to Jayce and Viktor.
Aoko excused themselves to explore the city some more, dragging away Sojuro much to his apprehension. Alice followed them to make sure Aoko didn't get into trouble. Over the next hour, Jayce and Viktor excitedly showed them their latest creations and in return Bazett demonstrated simple runes like tracking. When she ran out of simple runes, Bazett's irises turned gold as Manannán took over to teach the two inventors some more complex runes such as forming a sword from water. Caren dragged Mash to go out exploring after Manannán took over. There was simply no more fun to be had teasing Bazett.
"Ah shit, look at the time!" Jayce snapped out of the moment. "I have to go to the council meeting before the really does fly when you are having fun."
"Wait before you go, can I join you?" Ritsuka asked.
"What about the rest of your friends? How will they know where you've gone?"
"Well if Victor or Bazett is still here, they can tell them. Otherwise I have another way of contacting them."
"Is there any reason why you want to go to this meeting?"
"I'm there to meet new people and forge new connections. You know what they say, it's not what you know, it's who you know."
"I've never heard that one before, but that does sound nice." Jayce said, leading the way. "You know without Viktor, I might not be standing here right now."
Mel Merdarda excused herself from the crowd and walked over to the balcony overlooking the city of Piltover. She grew tired of interacting with investors.
"The fundraiser is going well. Your mother would be proud." her advisor commented.
"Would she?"
"Tired of mingling?"
"These people don't have anything to offer me. The only one worth my time is him." Mel gestured towards an overhead blimp displaying the Man of Progress Jayce.
"The Golden Boy."
"He's won over the peoples' hearts."
"Speak of the devil."
Mel looked back and saw Jayce wandering into the party. Besides him was someone she didn't recognize. It was a man with black hair and blue eyes wearing a black suit, dark gray shirt and black tie. Jayce spotted them from the crowd and started heading over to them with the other man in tow.
"Can I borrow you for a moment?" he whispered in her ear. With her approval, they made their way to a room separate from the crowd.
"To whom do I owe the pleasure." Mel asked after making herself comfortable on a table holding a miniature replica of the city of Piltover.
"This is Ritsuka. Maxwell introduced him to me. He is a mage as well."
"Mel Merdarda." She introduced.
"Hello, I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru." Ritsuka gave a polite bow causing Mel to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "I've started working with Jayce and Viktor after being introduced by Maxwell. I wanted to meet some of the people funding the research of hextech, because as the saying goes 'it's not what you know, it's who you know.' Jayce told me without you Hextech wouldn't exist."
"Did he now?"
"Speaking of Hextech, we've been having problems with Heimerdinger." Jayce added.
"When have you not?" she rhetorically asked.
"We showed him our research. He thinks we need more time."
"It's Progress Day. Representatives from all over the world have come to see what new wonders the city of progress has to offer. If there is time to present a new creation, it is now."
Jayce sighed, looking dejected. "Great." Mel chuckled at his plight.
She was about to walk over to Jayce to comfort but one quick glance to the side reminded her of the additional presence in the room. Ritsuka seemingly read the room at that very moment and made his way out. Taking it as a sigh she walked over to Jayce.
"Heimerdinger is a great scientist, but he is old. He only ever sees the past. Piltover needs a leader who looks forward." She grabbed him by the shirt and started to flatten out the wrinkles in his collar. "Someone like you." She stared into his eyes gauging his reaction. Hesitation wormed their way through his eyes.
"You really believe that?"
"Hextech has the potential to change everything." She turned around to gesture at the miniature model of the city. "The world is ready. And I've already spoken to several investors."
"Investors?"
"Of course." She turned around seeing Jayce's confusion. She smiled. How could someone so smart sometimes be so clueless? "Everyone wants Hextech for themselves. It's your speech, give the people a glimpse of the future." She gave one last pat on his back before leaving him to his own devices as she made her way back to the party.
Jayce didn't know what to think at first. On one hand, they have been developing the Atlas Gauntlets and the Hex Claw for the past month and were ready to show it off. On the other were the warnings from Heimerdinger weighing on his mind. He needed a second opinion and he has an idea of who he can ask.
"You're asking me whether or not you should showcase your latest research in your speech later tonight? That seems like a very important question to be asking to someone you just met today."
"You're right. I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was thinking." Jayce rubbed his forehead in thought.
"Hold on now, that doesn't mean I didn't want to give you my opinion." Jayce stared at him with a raised eyebrow causing Ritsuka to hold his hands up in surrender. "My bad, I just wanted to point it out. Anyways, I just want to remind you of what it took to get here. Sometimes it is better to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. Isn't that along the lines of what Victor said to motivate you to take the risky step to break into Heimerdinger's lab to complete your prototype?" Ritsuka reminded Jayce. "But if you really trust Heimerdinger's intuition of this being too dangerous, you need to let Viktor know. This isn't just your research, it is the both of yours. Viktor might feel betrayed thinking that you were going to reveal your research but choose not to." Ritsuka paused before continuing. "I still think you need to at least show something off during the speech. I would be bored if nothing special happened." He joked much to Jayce's annoyance. "But on a more serious note, you better decide what you are going to do sooner rather than later. It's better to make a wrong choice than it is to hesitate and end up not making a choice. The world won't wait for you." He saw Jayce's confusion. "Let me make an analogy of what I mean. Picture a hungry animal stumbling across two bowls of food. One of the bowls of food might be rotten. The animal doesn't have time to check both bowls. The animal ends up starving to death because it couldn't decide."
"I think I understand."
"Good, because I just came with that on the spot. We still have time before the speech. Let's go over this with Victor. With two genius minds working together I'm sure we can find an alternative solution." A hopeful smile began to creep on Jayce's face. "I guess you'd be there as well for morale support." Ritsuka began to hastily walk away before Jayce caught on to what he said. A smile broke out across his face after Jayce realized what he said.
"I still think we should just reveal our research, consequences be damned." Viktor stated passionately. "We need to show that we are capable of helping people now!"
"For some reason I thought you would be more willing to compromise. But then again you wouldn't have gotten to this point without being a little stubborn. I guess stubbornness is a good trait to have as an inventor. So we are at an impasse." Ritsuka crossed his arms. "Viktor wants to show off the research and Jayce wants to trust in Heimerdinger's insight and not show it." He hummed in thought. "Speaking of research, were you able to replicate the runes that Bazett demonstrated using your technology?"
"We were, but what does that have to do with resolving our issue?" Viktor questioned.
"Well-" Should he reveal the nature of his mystic codes? They already shared details about runes so eventually they should be able to create mystic codes. Wait, wouldn't the Hex Claw and Atlas Gauntlets technically be considered mystic codes? "What if we showed off something else?"
"I don't get it, we don't have anything else to show off." Jayce was confused.
"You might not have something else, but I do." Ritsuka stated. His team were in a telepathic uproar, but he calmly asked them to trust him. "Have you had any ideas of infusing runes into clothing?" Viktor and Jayce looked at each other in confusion. "Where I'm from we are able to infuse clothing with runes to be better protected against the elements and any dangers that we might face." He continued. "And after channeling some mana into the runes in my clothing I can even-" He activated the switch command causing the Jayce and himself to swap places. "- cast spells." Their astonishment turned into contemplation. "Jayce, I can assure you that my clothes are safe but I can take the blame from Heimerdinger. Viktor, wouldn't it be helpful to create safety equipment to protect people in dangerous environments?"
"What do you call this invention?" Viktor and Jayce asked at the same time, causing them both to look at each other.
"Finally, we were worried that you weren't going to show up. They were wondering if I could do the address." Viktor said as Jayce walked up dressed to the nines.
"We should go up there together, we're partners. We even practiced this speech together."
"No, I can't not in front of them." Viktor nervously brushed off.
"Please welcome him to the stage, Jayce Talis."
"Guess it is time." Jayce said to the both of them.
"Good luck out there. Both of you.." Viktor said, putting his arm on the curtains.
"Remember if you get nervous, picture the audience naked." Ritsuka laughed at Jayce's shocked face as he got into position.
"Good evening. I know that many of you weren't expecting to see me here today. And believe me I'm just as shocked as you are. My family and I are simply people. In our factory we made hammers. They were probably used to cut the stones you are standing on now. No one in my life expected much out of me. And that's what makes this moment so extraordinary." Jayce pointed upwards through the skylight and towards the Hex Gates. "A few years ago, the Hex Gates opened their ports to the world and made Piltover prosper beyond anything we could have ever imagined." The crowd erupted into cheers. "But we aren't done yet. This year we created something new for you." Jayce's eyes roamed around the crowd before coming into contact with Heimerdinger's piercing gaze. He felt his mouth dry up. He looked over to his side at Viktor for reassurance. "We have expanded our horizons, but we can't forget about the people living here. That's why we want to show you this." On his cue, Viktor flipped the lever. The stage curtains parted, unveiling Ritsuka to the audience. Jayce put his hand on Ritsuka's shoulder. "We all know the dangers that our enforcers face on a daily basis to keep our city safe. What if we can equip them with better equipment so they can make it back home to their families."
Jayce picked up a handgun and unloaded it into Ritsuka's chest. The audience gasped, but then erupted into applause when they saw that the bullets bounced off. They weren't done yet. Jayce picked up a flamethrower and covered Ritsuka in flames. Ritsuka walked out of the fire and dispersed the flames revealing himself to be completely unharmed. The crowds went ballistic. The entire council's eyes shot wide open. Mel was especially not expecting this. She can already imagine the numerous investors contacting her back to double or even triple their investments. She recognized Ritsuka. She felt a twinge of regret looking back at their first meeting. He just barely introduced themselves before Jayce and she had a more private conversation. She made a mental note to talk to him after the address.
"No longer will our enforcers fear that each day might be their last. But this won't be limited to the enforcers. We can customize this equipment for different environments. Underground miners will be able to traverse their dangerous environments behind the safety of this new equipment whether it is protection from poisonous gasses or from cave collapses." The crowds cheered. "But that is not all. Soon we will be able to allow people to cast spells." Jayce signaled Ritsuka.
At that very moment the world itself seems to pause in anticipation. Thousands of eyes were watching, but none of them were ready. In an instant, Jayce and Ritsuka changed places. Thousands of eyes blinked in disbelief. The silence was deafening. Mel couldn't hardly believe her eyes. She thought back to Jayce's trial and when he stated that he was researching how to control magic. Never did she ever expect to witness this. Forget double or triple the capital, the investors will give up everything for a hand on this. Jayce was full of surprises. She was the first to rise to her feet and started clapping. Soon the entire auditorium was giving a standing ovation. She looked to her right to see Heimerdinger's reaction. He looked lost in thought as he clapped. He wasn't expecting to see this.
"We call it the Personal Protective Equipment or PP-" Jayce paused and frowned. Ritsuka gave him a childish toothy grin. "Uhm- the name is still being worked on." Jayce cleared his throat and continued. "Whether you are a scion of our High Houses or an honest laborer from the underground, we want to let you know that you aren't forgotten and vow to protect you. We are the city of progress and our future is bright." He lifted his arms in celebration as fireworks exploded in a shower of color above the auditorium.
"You both put on quite the performance. What was it like getting shot point blank?" asked Ritsuka, swirling a glass of red wine in one hand.
"Oh that? That was nothing compared to being shot by a cannon." Ritsuka casually remarked, causing Mel to arch an eyebrow.
"A cannon? Were you okay?" asked Mrs. Kiramman in concern.
"Not really, even with the protective equipment, I was gravely injured, but hey, at least I survived to tell the tale." He smiled. "But enough about me, what about you?"
"Master, there is trouble brewing in the courtyard." Bazett alerted telepathically, getting Ritsuka's attention. "It's a fire. Caren and I will check it out."
"My daughter joined the enforcers, much to my dismay, so I'm glad that you are working on equipment that would keep her safe." Mrs. Kiramman commented.
An echoing boom can be heard from a distance. Ritsuka snapped into action and headed to the balcony to see where it came from. He could see a fire and smoke rising up in the distance.
"There's been an explosion! There are half a dozen people in critical condition. I think it might be an attack." Bazett updated. "The others are on their way."
"Is it an enemy servant attack?"
"I'm not sure. I don't detect anything. Please get here as soon as you can. I don't think any of us can stabilize them in this condition."
"Oh gods, my daughter was stationed nearby." Mrs. Kiramman said in disbelief after following Ritsuka's gaze to the fire.
"Don't worry, I'm on my way." Ritsuka said both mentally and aloud as he vaulted over the railing much to the partygoer's shock.
They could only watch on in horror as he plummeted several stories downwards. Ritsuka called out to the vestiges of the Count of Monte Cristo as he fell. From within his shadows, came forth a vengeful guardian who whisked him away. He flew over numerous buildings and made it to the source of the fire. He saw Mash trying to use a healing scroll to no avail. Bazett with the help of Manannán used runes to stabilize the conditions of the injured. Alice and Aoko were putting out the building fire and reinforcing the building before it collapsed while Caren and Sojuro secured the surroundings. After getting a grip on the situation, he began to summon shadow servants that he knew would be a help in making sure that these people didn't die here today. But as he was beginning to summon them, he felt a foreign connection being made.
"Oh, I never expected to encounter a genuine Master in this world." A female voice echoed at the back of his mind.
He quickly looked around. They must have a line of sight on him. He tried to contact the others using their telepathic link, but he found himself cut out. He tried to cry aloud for attention, but he found himself silent.
"Tsk, don't be like that. That wouldn't be any fun, now would it." the voice taunted. "I'm a bit busy now so I'll have to catch you later. Be seeing you-" the voice teased before sending a telepathic air kiss.
Author's Notes
Well I started writing this during the wait for Arcane Season 2. As for the connection to Fate, more specifically, FGO, I was really enjoying the current FGO JP story from Ordeal Call 2 and both the Samurai Remnant collab and Witch on the Holy Night Collab. In terms of what works inspired me, I've got to say that QuartzScale's Fate DxD AU, DGT22's RWBY&R on Ao3, and Mundatorem's Fate: Souls and Singularities are amazing FGO fanfiction crossovers with Ritsuka as the lead. I've got to say writing gives me a lot more perspective on how long it takes to write. So instead of waiting for my favorite fanfics to update I might as well write my own.