Halo: Shattered Fate

The Fate/Grand Order and Halo series, along with all characters and elements, do not belong to me. Both works are respectively properties of Type-Moon and 343 Industries.

Writing Keys:

"Dialogue."

Special

Written Text

"Highlight/Supernatural Voice."

"Magic."

The Master Chief quietly observed as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who for some reason had insisted that he should address him by his middle name, or as an alternative his family name, was finishing packing the camp's provisions in a large leather bag.

The three of them, when noticing that the sun was setting over the horizon and it was already beginning to get dark, decided to spend the night in the small campsite. At first, John did not agree to this course of action, but he had finally relented when Hope recommended him to do so.

Queen Marie had suggested to him that he should also take a rest, and even though he had maintained that he didn't actually need it, she continued to persist before he eventually gave in. So, he took one of the tents they had brought and set it up on the opposite side of their tent. He had laid down on one of the mattresses, but he chose not to remove his armor, as there was no way of knowing if there were any hostiles around in the vicinity.

That had brought a pout from the queen, who had expressed that she would have liked to see his face, but she was unable to argue when he had explained the reason behind his decision.

Falling asleep was not easy for him. He couldn't even get a feel of the mattress that he was lying on. At best, John would have gotten maybe half an hour's slumber, and the rest of the night he had spent it reviewing the summary prepared by Hope about the Heroic Spirits and the Grail Saints.

John had repeatedly read it through three times, not skipping a single word until it was practically engraved into his mind. The Holy Grail, an artifact capable of granting one's wish to whomever possessed it. The Heroic Spirits were called by the Masters to engage in a petty conflict in order to obtain the Holy Grail.

It was relatively easy to understand, as insane as it sounded. At the very least, John had already experienced his own fair amount of craziness within his own life, so it wasn't that difficult to accept it.

Although this had opened the door to things he had never thought had existed. Wizards, knights, archers and heroes of myths, all of them apparently did exist, and now he would probably have to battle with them. Not to mention that if they existed, then so did the mythological gods.

…For his own mental health, it was better not to think about that. He would just accept it and move on.

"Where are we headed?" John asked Amadeus, who was now grasping a paper map of France, no doubt being also acquired in one of the villages he and Marie had traveled.

"To La Charite, the nearest town." Amadeus replied. "It will probably take us..."

"Two hours at a moderate pace." Hope chimed in, speaking through his armor's speakers.

"…Right, thank you."

"You're welcome."

Without uttering another sound, John gave the musician a quick nod before he moved out of the area.

Now, it would be time to wait for a certain queen to wake up from her slumber.

Eventually, after about at least ten minutes of standing around patiently waiting, he heard both Marie and Amadeus emerge from the woods, strolling towards him at a slow pace.

"Bonjour Master Chief!"

Hearing how the French monarch had gleefully greeted him, the Master Chief turned around in her direction and gave her a short nod. "Morning, ready to move out?"

"Of course, now come on, let's go and save our country!"

…To be truthful, John was having some difficulty in understanding her enthusiasm.

He imagined that, being part of the royalty and a non-combatant, Queen Marie would have preferred not to be directly on the front lines of the conflict, perhaps choosing to stay at a secure distance. He would not have blamed her. She most likely didn't even know how to grab a sword.

And yet she looked like she intended to go straight into the fray.

Marie Antoinette was a very strange individual. The love she had for France was something out of the ordinary. What the French people had done to her and to her children should have cemented a deep hatred towards them. She wasn't French either, just like him, so he failed to understand how come she seemed to have such a love towards France.

In the end, the Master Chief did not allow his own puzzlement to sidetrack him. She apparently had her reasons, and no matter what they were, if it would end up aiding in bringing the whole incident to an end, then they didn't really matter. Even if they were purely selfish motives.

Clutching his assault rifle from the magnetized weapon holder on his back, John commenced to walk in the direction towards La Charite, which was highlighted on a map of France designed by Hope while they were waiting for their two companions.

Close behind him, both the female monarch and the musician were following his lead. The two of them were locked in conversation with each other, in which Marie was scolding the pale composer for having entered her tent while she was sleeping, describing him as an obsessed pervert.

Instead of being offended or insulted as John had expected, Mozart actually looked more amused by the words of the French ruler. From the way they had been interacting, the two seemed to share a very nice and friendly relationship with each other. John could tell that it was not a recent development, that they actually appeared to have known each other for a long time.

He had no memory of anything that detailed anything between them in the history lessons of the Spartan-II program, but it wouldn't be surprising if they had crossed paths. They both happened to be from the same time period, so when one considers that Mozart had already spread his name to many theaters in Europe, it would not be unreasonable to think that they might have met.

Although, there was something more going on between them. From the close manner in which they conversed, whatever their relationship was would pass for that of mere friends. However, he would not ask any questions regarding it. It wasn't something he truly concerned himself with, and he was not going to meddle into their private lives.

So far, they had been nothing but polite towards him, and in some odd fashion he was growing quite fond of them.

Before John could ponder any more about them, Marie had picked up her pace to catch up with him and was walking alongside him. The queen wore a curious expression in her gaze, which was drawn towards his assault rifle.

"Say Chief, is that thing you are holding a Noble Phantasm?" She asked.

He briefly contemplated not answering or to try avoiding her question, but after some consideration, he realized that there would be no real harm in giving her an answer. "You could say that. It is actually a part of my Noble Phantasm. It allows me to summon the majority of the weapons I have used throughout my career."

"The majority? Oh right, you did mention that you were a soldier. I suppose you are from a time somewhat distant from ours."

"…Right."

A soft chuckle came from the woman at his side. "You sound a bit surprised."

"Forgive me, ma'am."

"Hey, none of that ma'am stuff, I told you to call me Marie." The girl puffed out her cheeks as she crossed her arms over her chest in faux indignation. "So, what is this weapon of yours?"

"It is a MA40 Assault Rifle." He simply replied, but on seeing Marie's puzzled frown, he chose to give an explanation that she would understand better. "Think of it as the evolution of the pistols of your era. Rather than restricting it to one single bullet, weapons were designed so that they could chamber more bullets, so that soldiers would not be forced to reload at every second."

"I see. It sounds like a really groundbreaking technology for war." At their side, Mozart remarked, having upped his stride to catch up with them.

The Master Chief could scarcely share that thought. Through his missions he had witnessed technologies that greatly surpassed that of his Assault Rifle. Nevertheless, he could understand why it could be seen as something groundbreaking to them.

The two French Servants returned to talking to each other, but John turned his attention away from their conversation. Instead, his blue eyes were drawn to the surrounding verdant fields. It was a beautiful and vast landscape, filled with both life and serenity.

It would most likely be impossible to find such a sight on the Earth of his time. The advancement of human technologies did not slow down for anything, so it was conceivable that this very same field he was marching through had been turned into a manufacturing plant, for a product that most people didn't even use.

It was a rather grim realization, however, there was nothing he could do to alter it. It was just the way things were going to happen in the future.

Earth. I haven't seen it in years.

Remembering the man who had once spoken those words to him felt like a thorn was stabbing into his heart. It almost made him stop in his tracks. Almost. He was still able to continue forward as if nothing had happened, even though he could still feel the ache in his heart.

It was hard not to experience that sort of pain when remembering him. Johnson was many things, a brilliant soldier, a remarkable leader, and a true brother in arms, but he was also another of the thousands of people he wasn't capable of saving.

Even until this day, the memory of the sergeant brought only deep sorrow to his heart, a sorrow equal to the one he suffered when he lost any of his Spartan brothers.

However, there was absolutely nothing the Master Chief could do to change it, even if he was currently caught up in the past. He wasn't even sure he even wanted to change it. All the people he had lost, from Johnson, to Jacob and Miranda Keyes, and even Cortana, all of them had given their lives to finish the conflicts they had been involved in. They would also probably chew him out for even thinking about trying to change anything…

"Chief, are you alright? You are very quiet." Hope's soft voice snapped him straight out of his thoughts, and he blinked.

It was then that John realized that he wasn't actually walking in the same place that he was a few seconds ago. He quickly realized that he had gotten himself lost in his own musings all the while continuing to stroll through the dirt path.

A quick peek to his sides indicated that the two Frenchmen were still conversing with each other, thus they didn't appear to have noticed what had happened to him. As he then turned his eyes to the timer on his HUD, he found out that he had spent most of the journey in that state, so they would be arriving at La Charite shortly.

"Fine." John was quick to tell Hope a lie. Their relationship may have been slightly closer than it had been during the first few hours that they had interacted, but he was still not comfortable enough to discuss about his problems.

"Oh, okay. Just checking in to see how you're doing." He appreciated the sentiment, even if he didn't verbalize it. "I have to admit, I definitely prefer this scenario to the Zeta Halo one."

"Agree." If it were up to him, he would have destroyed all the Halo's just to get rid of the threat that they were.

"Don't get me wrong, the architecture of the Halo is a scientific marvel, but this one just feels more... real. More alive." The AI stated in a peaceful tone of voice.

He was slightly pleased that she was getting to enjoy the sight of a real world, and not a farce created to hide a galactic destruction machine. However, his pleased feeling was short-lived when all of a sudden, by his side Amadeus approached him with a furrowed brow.

"Something is happening." The musician informed him.

In an instant, everything going through his head that he would classify as a distraction was pushed away to the side, leaving only the analytical professionalism of a Spartan.

"Where?"

The pale composer then pointed with his finger straight ahead, to the south judging by the orientation of the sun and his electronic compass. And more specifically, the location of La Charite.

He did not have a clear sight of the town from the position they were in, so after he made a gesture with his hand that both French Servants seemed to understand, he made his way up a hill while the musician and the queen followed him carefully from behind.

Upon reaching it, the three of them were able to make out the town of La Charite far off in the distance. Or the remains of it. The majority of the houses and buildings stood in ruins, with fire apparently having been responsible judging by the smoke coming out of them. It was also possible to visualize some dead citizens scattered throughout the fields, looking as if they had tried to run away from something, or someone.

However, neither John, Marie nor Amadeus had their attention fixed on the massacre. Instead, all their eyes were focused on two groups of people standing in the middle of the city. Even from their position, it became easy to tell that the both groups were not allied, with one of those groups surrounding the other to prevent them from fleeing.

Kneeling down with one knee onto the grass, the Master Chief switched on the Zoom lens of his visor, hoping to get a clearer view of the two parties.

He cast his gaze first upon the group that was being surrounded. It consisted of two teenagers, one boy and one girl, and a young woman around the age of eighteen. The boy had an average height and short, messy brown hair, and was clad in a white uniform paired with black pants. The girl who was standing in front of him, carrying what resembled a large shield that towered over her, had short lilac colored hair. She was outfitted in skintight black and violet armor with a short mini-skirt.

Meanwhile, the other woman was blonde, with braided long hair that reached to her knees. In her right hand she was clutching a flagpole. She was donning a battle dress, with pieces of armor covering her stomach, arms and feet.

Then, John turned his gaze to the second group, specifically to the individual who appeared to be the leader. Surprisingly, she bore a remarkable similarity to the woman he had just described, except that there were some major differences. Her complexion was pale, her hair was short in a blondish-white color, and her armor and flag were of a much darker color.

Observing the tension building up between the two groups by the second, it became evident to him that eventually a fight would break out, so he made a brief rundown of the other four individuals present.

Three women. The first, caucasian, violet-haired, blue-eyed, wearing a revealing priestess outfit, carrying a large staff in the shape of a cross in her right hand. The second, snow white skin and hair of the same color, black and red attire that exposed most of her skin, with a golden staff. The third, caucasian complexion, blonde, blue eyes, dressed in a light blue and white attire with a blue hat, and carrying a sword.

The last of them, a very tall man, whose mere presence heightened his own level of vigilance. A pale face, with deep yellow eyes and flowing white hair, dressed in a black attire befitting for royalty. In his hands he was clutching a strange looking spear.

It became apparent that at any moment the battle between the two sides was about to begin, so John began to come up with a strategy. The main thing he mostly needed was information. Judging by the aggressive attitude shown by the leader of the group, she wouldn't provide him with information. Therefore, for the time being, he was determined to support the other group.

However, even if he would move to their location and fought alongside them, his instincts were telling him that it wouldn't do much good. Moreover, Amadeus and Marie were not a particularly strong pair, by their own admission, so they wouldn't be of much assistance. So, the only thing left for him to do was to extract them quickly.

The problem with that plan is that he couldn't possibly carry them all. Or at the very least, he couldn't.

"Marie." He called out to the queen, catching her attention. "Yesterday you mentioned that you can summon a carriage."

"Eh, yes, I can do that."

"Good, do it." The Master Chief said, to the confusion of both of them, before he continued to explain his plan. "We will swiftly enter the village and extract the group that is surrounded. Agreed?"

Two nods of agreement were given to him.

Then, John watched as, in front of Marie, shimmering blue particles slowly flashed into existence until seconds later, a carriage made of crystal had materialized in the spot. It had come complete with horses and everything.

John didn't want to think how someone like Marie could summon something like that, chalking it up to the fact that the French monarch was a Heroic Spirit just like him, and he climbed inside the carriage, having Marie and Amadeus climbing in after him. The interior of the vehicle was in a spotless state, without a speck of dirt either by his armchairs or by the roof. Although he was forced to hunker down to comfortably squeeze inside the glass vehicle, for which the Queen cast him an apologetic glance, but he made a gesture with his hand indicating that he didn't mind.

Then, the carriage, as opposed to what he had initially expected, lifted itself off the ground and soared towards the center of the village, where the two sides were seconds away from fighting. John noticed that the speed at which the carriage was traveling through the air was roughly comparable to that of a D79-TC Pelican, something quite impressive.

"Nervous?" Hope asked him.

"A bit." He admitted, having no reason to lie to her. "Nothing I can't handle."

"That's good." The artificial intelligence said, then hummed thoughtfully. "At the very least, we will leave a positive impression on those we rescue."

John was in agreement, although he didn't voice it out.

The Spartan sat and waited, with his index finger already resting firmly against the trigger of his assault rifle. Perhaps he should have considered selecting a different weapon that better fit the circumstances, but for the time being, his assault rifle would do the trick.

If they were fortunate, then it would be a smooth and clean extraction, with nobody getting injured. He did not want to imagine what was going through the minds of the two French Servants at the moment. It was one matter to volunteer to participate at the front, but another to actually be at the front. Afterwards he would have to apologize for forcing them to accompany hi—

"Vive la France!"

Or maybe not. The shout of Queen Marie made it abundantly obvious that she was not frightened in the slightest, on the contrary, she sounded very thrilled for what was about to come.

Then the carriage came to a complete stop. Here it was, and he was ready. Straightening out his leg and delivering a kick, John swung open the right door of the crystal carriage, accidentally shattering it into hundreds of little pieces that fell to the ground in the process.

"Hey!" An annoyed shout from Marie, he would have to make an apology later on, when there weren't any more hostiles on the shore.

Immediately, John climbed out of the carriage and scanned his surroundings with his eyes. Facing him was the group that had previously been circled, on his left was the sword-wielding woman with a blue hat, and to his right was the pale woman holding the spear. All of them were staring at him with several layers of disbelief in their eyes. It was highly expected, Marie and Amadeus also seemed disbelieving when they saw him for the first time.

Without wasting any precious time, John directed his gaze toward the young blonde woman, who was eyeing him watchfully. "Get in. We are leaving."

His words seemed to have brought everyone out of their shock. The blonde girl seemed conflicted on what to do for a second, before she gave him a nod and then turned her head back towards her two companions, casting them both a look that begged them to trust him.

A second passed, then the brown-haired boy nodded his head and sprinted toward the carriage. The young girl in front of him didn't seem to be confident that following him was a good idea, but nevertheless she rushed behind him.

"Do you honestly believe I'll allow you to steal such valuable blood!? You insolent cur!"

Turning his head towards the source of that scream, the Master Chief observed as the pale woman glared at him with nothing more than loathing and disgust. A moment later, the woman in revealing clothing suddenly broke into a run towards him.

The Chief promptly brought up his assault rifle and aimed right in her direction, whereupon he pressed on the trigger. Volleys of bullets flew out of the barrel and sailed through the air, at a speed higher than he remembered. For some reason, the woman didn't appear as if she was planning to dodge the bullets, instead she continued to viciously charge against him.

And then, the bullets impacted against her body. They sank deep into her chest, her shoulders and her stomach in less than a second. She was barely able to produce a gasp of incredulity before she collapsed helplessly onto the dirt ground.

Disregarding the cries of pain coming out of the woman, the Spartan peered over and checked his motion tracker, catching on that the Servants on the other side of the chariot were just a few moments away from making their move. No time to ensure that the woman would end up dead, a shame.

John retreated back and sat himself on the edge of the broken door of the glass chariot. There was not enough room for everybody, let alone if he had tried to squeeze himself inside. Once again, the chariot rose up from the ground very swiftly, just in time to avoid a blast of dark flames from striking against them, and then blasted off away from the village.

Upon arriving at a secure location, John was the first to step down from the chariot as he started to survey the area. Maria, who was the one in control of the glass vehicle, had no specific area to go to, so upon having been asked by the lilac haired girl to land in a vacant area in the middle of a forest, she had opted to land down there.

Having finished checking the area, and concluding that the location was indeed secure, he turned around and walked back to the rest of the group. After everyone had stepped down from the chariot, it gradually began to dissipate until the vehicle had completely disappeared from sight.

"Ahhh, the air feels nice, right?" Marie commented as she stretched out both her arms.

Nobody answered her. The two girls appeared to be more cautious rather than friendly, something good, they were smart. However, the boy looked like a different matter. He was scratching the back of his head awkwardly, before addressing the Queen.

"Umm yeah." The boy said hesitantly. "Thanks for helping us but... who are you?"

"Oh yes! We seem to have forgotten to introduce ourselves, my apologies." The French queen said, making a polite bow towards them. "My True Name is Marie Antoinette. I'm from the Rider Class."

At her side, the musician also gave a little bow. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. My class is Caster."

With the famous composer's introduction having been finished, all eyes were turned towards him. Each of the three young people were looking eager to hear his introduction, more so than what they did with the two French Servants.

In the end, John simply wanted to wrap this up quickly and move on to the next matter. "Archer, Master Chief Petty Officer Sierra-117."

A second went by in silence, then the blonde haired girl furrowed her brow. "That's a rather lengthy name, is it not?"

A giggle from Marie, who covered her mouth with her hand. "No worries, you can just call him Chief, or if you prefer, Master Chief."

"I see. So, I believe it's time for us to introduce ourselves. I am the Servant Ruler, Jeanne d'Arc."

Silently John lowered his finger down towards the trigger, an action that went unnoticed by anyone.

Afterwards, the lilia-haired girl was the one who spoke. "I'm Mash Kyrielight. My Class is Shielder, and this is my Master, Fujimaru Ritsuka."

"Whassup." The boy, Ritsuka, waved in greeting.

"Wow, what an interesting way of greeting!" John's instincts were now warning him that something terrible was about to happen. "Wh...Whassup! My homies!"

The Master Chief pretended as if he didn't hear that. The sense of embarrassment was too much, something that even Hope had felt, judging by the shameful noise she made.

Instead, he was focusing his attention onto the boy. Having read about the Masters he was somewhat intrigued to actually see what one was really like. Ritsuka himself was a Japanese boy still in his late teens. On his right hand there were bright red markings, which he recognized a second later were actually Command Spells, a magical spell that forced the Servant to absolute obedience.

And it seemed that the Shielder, Mash, served as his Servant. He couldn't quite place it, but there was something strange about her. It also didn't sit too well with him for somebody to have such a control over another individual, but it was a thing he was willing to overlook, at the very least for the time being.

"Hey Mash, shouldn't we communicate with Chaldea?" The Master suddenly said.

"Oh r-right!"

John would have appreciated it if they would have answered any of his questions, however, he held his mouth closed. Apparently they were part of a larger organization, known as Chaldea. And they had means for long distance communication, which was impossible to achieve in this era.

Mash placed her giant shield down on the ground, whereupon it started to sparkle in a bluish light. Orbs of the same color formed above the shield, and they began to spin around rapidly by themselves. Eventually a clear image was formed, and on the other side of it stood a man in his thirties, with messy hair pulled back into a ponytail.

He didn't understand why, but he didn't like him just because of his presence. It was an odd thing for him to have felt like that, particularly with someone he hadn't ever met before, so John removed that thought from his mind.

"Mash, Ritsuka, it's good to see both of you, but you need to run! We are detecting many signatures of Servants very close to you!"

"Yes, Doctor we know." Mash sent a blank look at the man. "These are Marie Antoinette, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and umm... Master Chief. They helped us escape to La Charite."

John watched as the realization dawned on the man, and as he collapsed back into his seat. "…Sorry."

"In any case," The Master Chief spoke, catching everyone's attention, including that of Romani, who blinked when he laid his eyes on him before they widened. "We have questions, and so have you, so it's time for us to talk."

"You are right." Jeanne said, then turned her eyes to Ritsuka and Mash. "Since they were the ones who helped us, I believe it would be right for them to ask first, wouldn't it?"

Both young teenagers quickly nodded, prompting John to quickly inquire the question at the top of his mind.

"Who are you?"

It went without saying that the question he asked was directed to the two teenagers.

And fortunately for him, apparently they were willing to respond.

The next few minutes were passed with Mash being the one to provide the answer to his question. Both she and Ritsuka had traveled back in time from the 21st century—specifically 2015—and they were both members of Chaldea, an organization whose fundamental purpose was the preservation of the human order, or in simpler words, to prevent history from being changed.

Recently, one of Chaldea's members by the name of Lev Lainur Flauros had double-crossed the organization, causing the demise of its former director and a large amount of Chaldea's personnel, but even more importantly, he had effectively incinerated the entire world. As terrible as that sounded, at the very least there was a way to repair the massacre inflicted by the traitor.

And that was the reason for them being here. According to them, the place where they were was in fact a Singularity, a major historical turning point in human history which, when altered, resulted in the incineration of mankind. In order to restore back the human order, they would have to enter the Singularities and obtain the Holy Grails that maintained the form of them.

...It really did sound very crazy, he had thought. However, most ordinary people would describe the things he had seen, and done, as crazy, so he couldn't have much of an opinion.

Silence had now settled over the group. Even Hope, ever talkative and with a sarcastic comment at the ready, remained speechless.

Eventually, it was Marie the one who broke the silence, who spoke in a somber tone of voice. "Now I understand. It is the whole world, not just France, that is at risk."

"I knew it was odd that it was a summoning without a Master, but I didn't imagine it would be at this magnitude." Amadeus said, placing his hand over his chin.

His comment, however, seemed to have caught Romani by surprise, who had finally turned his gaze away from John. "Without a Master? That's impossible."

"Is there something weird about that?" Ritsuka asked.

"A Master is what binds a Servant to the world. If the Servant does not have one, they would disappear, so it is unthinkable not to have one."

"So how come they are here?" Ritsuka asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Amadeus said.

John tried to figure out what hypothesis the composer was alluding to. Since he possessed the Independent Action Skill, his situation of remaining existing in the world could be explainable, but since he didn't know if either Marie or Amadeus had it, then he couldn't say it was the same reason as they did.

"…The Grail." John said a moment or so later.

"Exactly. The Grail should have summoned us to correct the anomalies that are currently happening." Amadeus said, before noticing the doubtful expressions on the Chaldeans. "Is it that difficult to imagine? You people have a Servant with a situation similar to ours. Isn't that true, Jeanne D'Arc?"

"...Is that the case?" Instead of confirming Mozart's conclusion, Jeanne dropped her eyes in confusion. "Forgive me, I don't really understand myself."

Amadeus looked dubiously towards the Saint, but before he could get a chance to make a comment, John took a step forward and began to speak. "That is not important at the moment. Our primary objective is to find a way to eliminate The Dragon Witch and get the Holy Grail."

All eyes focused on him, then Marie gave a firm nod of approval. "Oui, the Chief is absolutely right. We cannot allow the other Jeanne to further destroy France!"

Her high spirits proved to be contagious, for after she had spoken John watched as Jeanne's and Mash's moods lifted up.

Nevertheless, morale on its own would not win them the battle, and John understood that more than anyone else could.

"Even so, we're still in a bad spot. They still outclass us." Romani said, and John completely agreed.

"He is correct, we are up against powerful opponents, and Marie and I are not the fighting type." Amadeus said. "Out of everyone in this group, the only ones who would really give them a challenge are the Master Chief, Jeanne and perhaps Mash."

"That's… then what do we do?"

"It's obvious! We will search for new allies!" Marie stated.

Her notion had a certain merit, if the four of them were present then there was no reason as to why there should not be more Servants all across France. The problem lay in whether they would be willing to help.

"I see, if Marie and the others were summoned by the Grail, there might be other Servants out there. If we could combine our forces along with them, we may be in a position to close the difference in strength." Mash had come to the same conclusion as he had.

"Just what I was thinking Mash! Also, it's so wonderful that you called me Marie. Could you call me that from now on?"

"Y-Yes, understood…"

She still has her high spirits, was the collective thought amongst the other members present in the group.

"Still, you can't get careless Fujimaru." Romani told him in a warning tone. "The Dragon Witch probably is aware of this as well, so you need to find those Servants before they do."

"…Understood." Instead of looking deflated, Ritsuka was more determined about finding the other Servants.

From what Mash had explained to them, he was not actually one of the mages as the rest of the inhabitants of Chaldea, but rather he was an ordinary civilian. Following the betrayal carried out by Lev, only Ritsuka had remained available as the only Master capable of resolving the Singularities.

It was a heavy responsibility that had been imposed over his shoulders. John could have carried out the mission of his, simply because he knew how to prioritize the mission over his feelings, but that was a privilege that Ritsuka did not have.

Now, he would support him so that it would be easier for him to solve this Singularity, and perhaps he could give him some pointers. Whether it would do much good, he wasn't sure. The knowledge that he had was useful for wars, not for… this.

"All right," John heard Romani saying. "For now, I suggest you take a break and... Eh, what's up Leo? H-Hey, what are—"

A palm had been placed against the side of Romani's head, and had pushed him out of the camera's view.

It was then that a woman, who John could have sworn he had seen her from somewhere, suddenly appeared in the projection that the doctor had been in seconds ago. She had her eyes focused solely on him, completely ignoring Romani's indignant grumbling, as she thoroughly scrutinized him with her eyes.

The Master Chief was already growing uncomfortable from being under such a stare, and he moved his own body toward her direction. "Is there a problem, ma'am?"

The strange woman made no response, she just continued to observe him in absolute silence, when suddenly the corners of her lips turned upward and her eyes began to sparkle with excitement. "You... you're from the future, aren't you?!"

As everyone's eyes shifted towards him, in particular Ritsuka's and Mash's, both teenagers who were sharing the amazement in the woman's eyes, John sensed a new headache about to build up in his head.

It certainly didn't help that he overheard Hope letting out an amused chuckle. "Well, it looks like the gig is up."

AUTHOR NOTES:

Finally I finished. More than 6000 words, honestly don't expect the following chapters to be long. I estimate that most of the chapters will be between 3000 and 5000. This one crossed the line without me realizing it.

The Chief's truth has already been exposed. Well, one of them. It was not in my plans to make it a secret that he was the future, especially considering that his armor is a dead giveaway. Even so, he will not say anything, and will not give long explanations of the events that will occur.

As for his statistics as a Servant, I'm still figuring out some things, but by the end of Orleans everything will already be resolved. As for his weapons, the idea is that he is a jack-of-all-trades. Close combat, distant combat, etc. His bullets work on Servants the same way they do on Brutes, meaning they can take most of them but eventually they'll end up dead if they don't start dodging them. It happened to Carmilla, it may happen to others. Although most of them will avoid them.

As for how strong he is as a Servant, don't worry, he won't be an OP who can kill Gilgamesh with one shot. It will be an evolution of what he could already do as a Human. Basically: Human + Legend: Current Master Chief. Although his legend will be very exaggerated, so he will be on a level similar to Cú Chulainn.

All right, I think that's all. That's it for me, I'll be seeing you in the next one.

N.R