Chapter 0: Prologue
Fujimaru Ritsuka truly didn't know how she should feel, after all waking up in a flaming city devoid of life isn't really a normal day for her.
'Alright ritsuka, you got this, try to remember how you got here...First I met that nice girl called mash in that chaldea place that I honestly don't know how I ended up in, anyways got shouted out for being sleepy, sent to a room occupied by a lazy doctor, and then the alarm rang saying the whole world was destroyed in the future!'
"WAIT THE WHOLE WORLD WAS DESTROYED!?!"
'How did I even end up here, last thing I remember was...getting ready to die with-'
"MASH!"
Shouting for the second time after waking up, Ritsuka covers her mouth, even though there seemingly was no one to hear her.
'Oh god, is she okay? oh what am I thinking? of course she isn't! she was literally crushed by a giant rocket'
Ritsuka's eyes widened, like she just had a big realization.
'Wait, if I got transported here then maybe she did to, but even then she's still injured and probably can't move. I gotta go find and help her!'
Now with a goal in mind, she finally started looking around her surroundings while shouting her friend's name.
After 5 minutes of searching, she heard the sound of iron colliding with the ground, thinking it was her self proclaimed junior replying to her calls, she rushed towards it.
"Mash, is that you? Don't move, I am going to come help yo-"
Sadly for Ritsuka instead of the pink haired gir she was expecting,there was a skeleton wearing armor who was leaning towards his dropped axe, but now was making eye contact with her using...his eye sockets?
After 5 seconds of staring at each other, Ritsuka finally snapped back to reality and started sprinting as fast as she could to get far away from the armored monster, unfortunately for her the skeleton who now considered her as prey, picked up its axe and started chasing her.
Having to traverse the ruined city with her thoughts only consisting of the word "run" only made her fear grow, as at every awkward turn she made because of being blocked with fire or debris, only decreased the distance between her and the skeleton.
But then she met a dead end, a building that fell was now blocking the road, she tried bolting towards an alleyway but stopped the second she saw another skeleton blocking her path, suddenly she hears the sick cackle of bones as she turned towards the first skeleton who stopped running and was now laughing at her.
Almost as if his messed up version of laughing was a signal, dozens of other skeletons started appearing out of buildings and blocking any way of escape while surrounding her.
Confiden that they have cornered their prey, slowly but surely the skeletons started marching towards her.
With tears covering her eyes she walked backwards to try and get away from them, until she met the wall of the building that had blocked her way in the first place, now realizing she had no where to run, the tears started pouring out.
"Do-Don't get closer!"
they take 1 step forward.
"I-I am warning you!"
2 steps.
"I sa-said don-"
3 steps.
"Please d-don't"
4 steps.
Now, one step away from the young girl who was now on the ground sobbing with a terrified face as she looked up to their unchanging expression.
"Everyone...I-I am so sorry...I don't think I will be coming home."
Almost like they were deaf to her cries the skeleton Infront of her raised up its sword, getting ready to plunge it in to the girl who was now curled up on herself with her hands protecting her head and her eyes closed.
Her fate now upon her, the sword descends towards her trembling body, but instead of the sound of flesh being cut, a lound clank was heard.
Confused, she opened her eyes, only to see the one she was looking for, dressed with purple and black armor, and raising a giant shield bigger than her and using it to block the attack that would have ended her life.
Then with almost no effort, the pink haired junior swung her shield, knocking the skeleton away and forcing his comrades to catch him.
Staring at the new arrival, the skeleton army made their move, like ants fighting a cockroach, they all rushed towards the armoured shielder with their weapons raised.
Sadly for them, the second they got close enough, the girl did a massive 180 swing, destroying every skeleton on the frontlines and pushing back the others.
Ritsuka who was watching in awe and wonder at her junior's strenght, snapped back to reality when the junior in question picked her up with one hand.
"Get ready Senpai!"(I honestly did not feel right making mash call ritsuka senior)
"Huh-get ready for what?"
Her question was answered when Mash raised the shield infront of them, and then started dashing towards the sea of bones and armor, plowing through all of them as they traversed through the entire army and breaking every skeleton in their way until they finally reached the end of the line, sendong several skeleton parts falling as they broke through the backlines of the army.
Immediately after, Mash started running at speeds the skeletons could not catch up to and then somehow jumped high enough to land on top of a building's ceiling while also still carrying her senpai with 1 arm.With a sign of relief she gently puts down the orange girl in her arms on the ground then kneels towards her with a look of worry on her face.
"Are you alright, Senpai?"
Still shocked and confused, Ritsuka only managed to blurt out:
"Uh..Yes..No..Maybe?"
With a chuckle, Mash helped her senior get up by stretching out an arm.
Finally getting a good look at her junior's face, Ritsuka couldn't help but ask:
"Mashu, is that really you?"
"Yes Senpai! I am Mashu Kyrielight, born in the year 2000 inside of Chaldea!"
"...Ok, but what's with the fantasy get up- wait scratch that HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO DO"She stopped to point at the army of skeletons now split in two"THAT?!?"
"Ah well you see-"
"Fou!"
Surprised by the sudden sound, they both turned their heads to look down at its source. Mash who recognized the white beast instantly, was the first one to react:
"Fou!? How did you manage to get here?"
"Fou kyu kyu"
"Ah I see, that does make sense."
'Wait what did he say-' thought Ritsuka
Turning back towards her senpai Mash started explaining again.
"As I was saying Senpai, I-"
Sadly she was once again interrupted but this time by strange sounds, after a bit they recognized that the noise in question was coming out of Ritsuka's metal bracelet, that now had a small blue rectangle shining blue on it. Ritsuka, curious on what the blue light meant, put her finger on it, causing it to start projecting a blue static Infront of them.
"He-hell-o c-an y-yo-u hear-r m-me"
After a bit, the blue static turned into a hologram showing a man with a ponytail wearing a coat, this was Romani Archaman the chief doctor of Chaldea.
"This is Chaldea command room, if there are any survivors please confirm your presense!"
"This is Mashu Kyrielight from the A team, Successfully rayshifted to Singularity F, sole companion is Fujimaru Ritsuka. Mind and body intact. Master compatibility and Rayshift compatibility both satisfactory, please register Fujimaru Ritsuka as an official researcher"
With a frown on his face, the doctor replied to the report.
"I see...so Ritsuka survived, I am glad and also suprised that you didn't lose your existence"
'was that supposed to be a compliment' was Ritsuka's only thought at the fact she could have become non-existent.
"Mash, I am also glad that you survived...but what's with that outfit? I didn't raise you to dress like that!"
"I transformed into this, since I couldn't protect Senpai with Chaldea's uniform."
"What do you mean by transformed? did you hit your head or somethin-"
"Please be quiet! Check my physical condition and you will understand everything."
"Your physical condition? Alright then-HOLY MAGI MARI WHATS WITH THESE INSANE STATS?!?"
'who's magi mari?' was what everyone except the shocked doctor thought.
"This can't be human! Mash don't tell me you are a-"
"Yes, I am a Servant. I don't remember how it happened but I survived by fusing with a servant who was provided by Chaldea, but sadly lost his master, so he offered me a contract. In return of the abilities and Noble Phantasm of a Heroic Spirit, he wanted me to eliminate the cause of the singularity."
"A fusion between Heroic spirit and human...So Chaldea's Sixth experiment finally succeeded. Is he still conscious inside of you?"
"..No he vanished soon after our contract. I never even got his name so I don't even know whose Heroic Spirit I am or the Noble Phantasm I am holding..."
"Hey look on the bright side, atleast you are cooperative(spoiler alert:somebody won't be)and we can trust you. After all not every Heroic Spirit is exactly a "good" guy."
Turning to look at Ritsuka, his speech is was now addressed to her.
"Ritsuka, it looks like you are the only one who Rayshifted successfully, sorry to force this on you but you're probably gonna be stuck there for a while. Thankfully, the data I am getting is indicating that Mash is your Servant, I would love to explain everything to you but we don't have time. The connection is about to be cut off since Sheba's output is unstable because we switched to the back up generators."
Now facing the both of them with a serious expression he gives them his final orders.
"Both of you, I am getting a strong leyline reading about 2 kms away from here. I will be sending you coordinates to the bracelet on Ritsuka's wrist so try to get there somehow...Listen don't be reckless you two, I'll try to get the power back up as--"
Unfortunately he didn't get to finish his sentence as the connection finally cut off and the hologram disappeared.
Taking in a deep breath and then exhaling, Mash turned to look at her Senpai who seemed confused as she was still staring at the direction of the hologram that just dissapeared.
"Senpai, we should start moving. I will try to explain everything to you along the way"
. . .
In the ruins of a burning city, there were two girls along with a white furred pet walking towards a certain destination while having a conversation, well only the two girls since the pet known as Fou was currently sleeping while being carried by the purple one's arms.
"So...I am a "Master" who can summon and command "Servants", which apparently are heroic figures from humanity's past, including the one who fused with you making you my Servant. And these strange markings on my hands are command seals that make it so I can force 3 orders on them, but can also be used as a temporary boost by making them go past their limits"
"Yes! That's the general outline of the Master-Servant system. There is also the fact that the Master's mana is the one that decides how long a Servant can keep their physical form and the limits on their power, However Chaldea's FATE system solves that by providing them with all the energy required to stay materialized and use their full abilities"
"In a nutshell I don't have to worry about holding you back by being a bad master, right?"
"N-No, that's not what I meant-"
Ritsuka couldn't help but giggle at her junior's worried expression.
"Don't worry, I am just joking. I am not really the self-deprecating type, infact I am the opposite, I accept any challenge life throws at me with full confidence because even if I fail, I would be proud and happy to have done so as Fujimaru Ritsuka! Sure, I might feel bad or guilty for making mistakes or have regrets that make me hate myself but I will never feel ashamed for who I am."
Finishing her speech with a dramatic pose, she looked at her junior who was now staring at her with awe and admiration but...also a bit of sadness.
"...You truly are amazing, Senpai."
A small blush appeared on Ritsuka's face at the compliment.
"We-Well I am not really that amazing, my personality makes it so I never know when to give up and get myself into unnecessary trouble, Its also why I am probably not freaking out at...my current situation."
At that last sentence, silence fell over the 2 girls as they continued their walk, Mash seemed to want to add something to the conversation but hesitated. Not wanting to make the situation uncomfortable for her Ritsuka tried to change the subject.
"Anyways the hologram on the bracelet indicates that we should be getting to that 'leyline' real so-"
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
At the sound of a woman screaming, they both turned to look at the direction of the scream before turning back to look at each other.
"Master, Your orders!"
"We should go investigate, and help if somebody is in trouble."
"Understood!"
Olga Marie Animusphere does not consider herself a lucky woman, if she wasn't sure of that before when she had to assume the responsibility of director of Chaldea at a young age she certainly does now as she was being chased by skeletons in literal hell.
Fortunately for her, she is a trained magus meaning she is very well capable of defending herself against 2 or 3 skeletons, but sadly for her she is up against probably 10-20 times that amount.
Trying her best to whittle at their numbers, she kept shooting magic shots at them as she was running away, but that was a fatal mistake as she failed to notice the skeleton that was coming from above after jumping down a lamppost.
"Save me Lev!" were the only words she could muster before the sword was almost upon her, but before she would get her head split open, a giant cross shaped shield came in and smacked the skeleton away, turning him into magic particles.
Olga Marie only had a few moments to recognize her Savior as Mashu Kyrielight from Team A of the master canditates, before she darted off to confront the other skeletons.
Mash's fighting style turned out to be, quite simple, but was executed with the precision and skill of a battle hardened veteran, she would focus on one to 3 skeletons and break them either by blocking and pushing against them or swinging at them with her giant shield that she was handling like it was made out of cardboard, and then instantly shift her attention to different skeletons trying to attack her from an opposite direction by blocking their attack then counter attacking.
By repeating this process she was tearing up through their numbers at a rapid pace, this strategy mostly relied on her superior strenght and speed as the skeletons could barely take a step or two before she would have already demolished their comrades.
In a few seconds, she had managed to create a small circle of space around her and the skeletons, this allowed her to switch from offense and defense to purely offense as she now relied on big swings of her shield to defeat multiple skeletons at once and maintain a 2 meter radius between them and her.
The skeletons realizing they were being crushed, also changed their tactics as some of them started jumping into the air to attack her but sadly for them she didn't even need to look at them to swing her shield and destroy them in less than second, after all its through her situational awareness that they had never managed to land a hit on her.
However they still had the numbers advantage, by forcing her in to an uncomfortable position where she still had to maintain the radius between them and her, while 3 skeletons were coming down to attack her, she was forced to destroy only 2 with a swing of her shield and block remaining one. The other skeletons taking advantage of the situation started marching towards her, but the second they started moving she swung her shield with unseen before levels of strengh creating a shockwave that pushed them all back and destroying the skeleton who was on top of her shield, allowing her to continue her onslaught.
Olga Marie was still watching with shock and amazement, as the physically weakest of the Chaldea staff was pulling off inhumane feats of strength. She was soon broken out of her daze by a voice shouting for her.
"HEEYY!!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"
She looked towards the direction of the voice to see an orange haired girl running towards her.
'Wait...hold on, isn't that!?'
"You're the one who fell asleep during my orientation"
Ritsuka, who was now close to her, could only scratch her head as she remembered that she did infact sleep during her lecture.
"Y-Yeah, sorry about that, um..I was just...really tired?"
"That's a terrible excuse!"
Finishing off the last of the skeletons, Mash started walking towards them.
"Are you hurt director?"
"No, but I need to know, what is going?"
"This is Singularity F, set in Fuyuki in the year 2004, as for my appearance it maybe be hard to believe but-"
"You're a demi-servant, right? What I want to know is why it never succeeded until now!Nevermind, we'll leave it for later, for now...you!"
Pointing at Ritsuka, her expression turned into an angered glare.
"How did a civilian who couldn't even bother to show up on time become a Master? Only first-class mages can enter contracts with Servants!"
"Huh, I didn't know that."
"I was the one who forced the contract, director."
"...what do you mean by that?"
"I should explain everything that happened first, that way we can all understand each other."
. . .
"I see...so that's what's happened."
Taking in a deep sigh, the director of Chaldea started recollecting her thoughts.
"Fine, since its an emergency I'll approve your contract with Mash Kyrielight. However you must act as an appropriate Master, it shouldn't be to hard, just follow my orders. Anyways we should stop wasting time, first we need to find a Leyline terminal, its a place where magical energy converges that way we can contact Chaldea."
With the mention of the leyline, Ritsuka pulled up her wrist with the bracelet on it to project the coordinates of the Leyline in the city.
"Fine, since its an emergency I'll approve your contract with Mash Kyrielight. However you must act as an appropriate Master, it shouldn't be to hard, just follow my orders. Anyways we should stop wasting time, first we need to find a Leyline terminal, its a place where magical energy converges that way we can contact Chaldea."
"Wait wha- Ahem, right. I knew that, of course! Mash place down your shield, I am going to set up a summoning circle with your Noble Phantasm as the catalyst"
Looking at her Master for confirmation, to which she replied with a nod. She placed down the Noble Phantasm on the ground right in front of Olga Marie.
Placing her hand forward, a glow started emanating from her palm, reacting to the magic, multiple rings of blue light formed on the shield with a hologram forming in the middle of them.
"Hello hello? can you hear me? Okay, the connection is back! Now we can communicate and send supplies"
"Hold on, Romani!?!"
"Waaaahhhhhh! Director, you're alive?!"
"What's that supposed to mean? And why are you in charge? Where is Lev? Put Lev on!"
"Honestly I still don't understand why I am the one in charge, actually I do but its still kinda hard to accept...there is no one else, out all Chaldea's staff only 20 survived and I am ranked highest, and about professor Lev...I am afraid he was right in the middle of the explosion,honestly I doubt he could have survived it."
"N-No way that's...wait less than 20 survivors? What about the Master candidates...the coffins?"
"...All 47 of them are in critical condition, with our medical supplies we might be able to save some of them, but most of them might be--"
"Don't be stupid! Cryopreserve them immediately! The top priority is that they survive!"
"I forgot about that function! I'll get on it right away."
With that the connection was cut as the shield returned to normal.
With a suprised expression Mash couldn't help but comment on her director's choices.
"Are you sure about this Director? Cryopreservation without consent is a major crime."
"We don't have a choice, aslong as they aren't dead I can explain myself later. In the first place 47 lives...there's no way I can carry that burden!"
Reappearing at the center of the shield, the hologram of Romani Archaman started giving his report.
. . .
"...That concludes my report."
"So Chaldea has lost 80% of its functionality." said the director Olga Mari while biting her thumb's nail with a frustrated expression.
"...Currently we are focusing all available manpower on Rayshift repairs and maintaining Chaldea's and Sheba's current states"
"Good, even though I don't like it, for now you will be in charge of Chaldea.While we wait for the Rayshift repairs, I will be investigating the cause of this Singularity along with Mash Kyrielight and Fujimaru Ritsuka"
With a Suprised look he looked at his boss in a questioning manner.
"Wha--Director, isnt that to dangerous? We still don't know what types of dangers you can come across."
"It seems this town only consists of low level monsters, with Mash's strength as a Demi-Servant, we should be safe. Plus its because of my field staff's inexperience, that I am limiting us to only finding out the cause until we can gather a second team."
"...I trust that you agree to this plan right?" she said, turning her head towards the staff in question with a stern face.
"Aye, boss!" was Ritsuka's response.
"Yes! I will do my best protect both you and Master" was Mash's response which earned a suprised expression from Ritsuka at being called Master.
With a nod she then turned back towards the doctor who was smiling at her..."comrades" determination.
"...Alright then but just to be sure of your safety, you should summon another servant to help you. While we are relying on our backup generators, we should still have enough to support 2 Servants including Mash."
"You want this newbie mage to handle 2 Servants?"
"While her skills as a magus are definitely...lacking" Which earned a not so suble "hey!" from Ritsuka "her potential as a master is one of the best we've ever seen."(I know there isn't really anything like "master potential" but a lot of fics use it so i ma use it to for plot :P)
"Nnng...Fine! But after this, she has to give up her rights as a master and command spells to a more capable person." Now turning her back to the shield she walked towards Ritsuka and pointed a finger at her. "Listen well, because I will only say this once...here are the steps required to summon a servant."
"Soooo, I just recite this incantations and a Servant will appear? That's it?"
Offended by this, since she was a person who was an exceptional mage but lacked any potential as a master, Olga Marie couldn't help but lash out at this speculation.
"What do you mean 'That's it'! Some people dream to be in possession of a single Servant and you have the honor of commanding two! Not only that, but the only reason you can handle them is because of the support provided to you by Chaldea, so don't get overconfident!"
"R-Right, sorry I guess."
"Just hurry up and get on with it."
Nodding, she went up to the shield that now had a strange circle on it that looked like a Pentagram but had its few distinct features, and then put her arm forward and started reciting the Incantations.(I am way to lazy to add them)
Halfway in, she had to admit that she truly did underestimate the weight of
summoning a Servant. She felt like she could feel all the nerves below her skin, as a burning sensation traveled around them, getting stronger by the second.
The Pentagram was now radiating a shining blue light, so bright one had to cover his eyes to take a look at it.
Halfway in, she had to admit that she truly did underestimate the weight of
summoning a Servant. She felt like she could feel all the nerves below her skin, as a burning sensation traveled around them, getting stronger by the second.
"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three greet words of power, Come forth from the ring of restraints, Protector of the Holy Balance!"
At the same time the last word left her mouth, a blinding flash of blue covered the area, forcing everyone to close their eyes.
When they opened their eyes they saw a man with reddish pink hair wearing a wide sleeve white kimono with dark blue outlines and belt, strangely enough the kimono's design was actually one for women, which was made evident by its wide sleeves, under the kimono he seemed to be wearing black pants, socks and a shirt with a black sandal under his feet, but the strangest part about him was the the fact he seemed to have an extra pair of eyes in the form eye slits under the normal ones, not only that but he had strange dark tattoos covering his whole body.
The man was casually sitting on the shield with one knee raised up with a hand on it and the other rested, he exuded an aura of one who must not only be respected but also feared. He looked at the trio infront of him with blatant disinterest before finally deciding to speak.
"Servant, Caster. Now which one of you fools summoned me."
. . .
Author's note:...ngl this took way to long to write to the point I just considered skipping straight to when sukuna was summoned.
Speaking of Sukuna, if it wasn't obvious he is using Yuji Itadori as a vessel which tbh i might use as a plot device to make him slightly physically stronger than a normal Caster but the more important part about yuji being vessel is me wondering if I should:
A-Keep Sukuna's personallity the same
B-Make it so yuji's personality affects him in a way that makes him more docile like Ishtar.
I am leaning more towards the former since...you know we all love Sukuna being a crazy laughing madlad with his beautiful smile.
Anyways let me know what you think!(I doubt I am getting any reviews before the second chapter releases but meh.)