"—Wake up, Senpai!" Hearing those words, Shido's eyes open up to see Mash standing above him. Her body was perfectly fine and healed, yet she wore some strange armor. No one could really call it armor, as it appeared to be designed to show more skin than being protective. Shido could only feel like it looks more similar to the Astral Dress the spirits had made from their Reiryoku than anything else.
Anyway, what is going on? How come Mash is healed? —And I didn't notice until now, but how come my injuries are gone too?
Shido looked around the two of them, to try and understand more, yet he only saw unfamiliar scenery that while not the Chaldea Command room, was also an equally bad catastrophe, if not more so. Though, his attention was moreso focused on the strange standing skeleton creatures surrounding them holding medieval weaponry.
"Senpai, I'll make sure to explain everything but we should first eliminate these enemies." Mash said while holding a large shield that Shido had never seen before, only making Shido become more confused.
Shido sighed, resigning himself to figuring out the situation after these strange skeleton monsters were taken care of.
"Okay, but I should say I'm not exactly capable of fighting for myself anymore."
As if fueled by his words, a skeleton holding a lance quickly jumped at Shido, and despite being skeletons, it moved faster than what his human body could react to. Yet, at the last second, it was deflected with Mash's shield and with inhuman strength, she kicked the skeleton, breaking it and the lance in its hands to pieces.
"Behind you!" At his shout, Mash gripped her shield and swung it behind it, the large shield easily crushing the other skeleton to dust along with its weapon.
..Is her strength from becoming a demi-servant? Is that also why she has that shield?
The other two skeletons were easily destroyed by Mash in less than 10 seconds. Honestly, it would be surprising, but he has gotten used to the girls around him being extremely powerful by now. Rather, it would be a bit much if he couldn't get used to that simple fact after all he has gone through.
"Anyway, what happened to you?"
"Well, I was transformed into a demi-servant by the servant who was supposed to possess me." Mash frowned as she continued speaking. "He told me that he was a Shielder Class servant, gave me his power and left. So sorry, but I won't be as useful as any actual servant."
"I think you're useful enough already. I mean, I would have died if you weren't here." Shido gave a truly heartfelt and grateful smile towards Mash.
Mash smiled as she heard his words, and while he was glad to see her smiling, he needed to know more of what was going on.
Shido could guess that they were brought into the Singularity by what that automated voice said before their sudden appearance here. He now also knows that Mash became a demi-servant, and from her words it seems like the servant decided against taking over her body, and opted to give her their power instead along with telling her their class. As for who her Master is, there isn't anyone else around the area besides himself. So it was a fairly safe guess to assume that he is her Master. Especially now that he took notice of the three red markings on the back of his right hand—Command Seals, which seems to form the shape of a crystal.
"Mash. Do you know anything about where we are?"
Her face shifted back into a frown and she looked down at the ground in an ashamed manner. "All I am aware of is that we are inside the Singularity within Fuyuki City during 2004, but besides that I have no clue as to what's going on. Sorry for being so uninformed, senpai."
Shido felt a bit surprised to see her blaming herself for not knowing more in this chaotic situation. He felt like it was completely understandable, and he would be rather surprised if she somehow did know exactly what was going on.
He moved towards her and started to pat her head, making Mash look up at Shido in surprise.
"You don't have to feel bad about not knowing much. I mean, this entire time you were defending me while I was asleep, right? So thank you, Mash." Smiling at her, he hoped she understands how grateful he really is that she protected him.
Mash looked a bit embarrassed by those words, like she wasn't expecting them at all. Though it only seems natural considering how magus generally treat their servants. So to see a Master that was genuinely grateful towards her was something that made her truly realize, Shido Itsuka is not a true magus. He is truly an amateur wrapped up in everything.
Exactly like what she found out about him through Romani.
"—Yes! We got through! This is the Chaldea Command room, do you copy?" A hologram of Romani appeared out of nowhere, speaking in short bursts of static.
Seems like they must have had some issues trying to contact the two of them. Well, it makes sense considering how sudden and unexpected the entire situation was.
"A-Team auxiliary support, Mash Kyrielight. I have completed the rayshift to Singularity F, accompanied by Shido Itsuka. Both of our minds and bodies are intact. Rayshift and Master compatibility are both satisfactory, so please register Shido as an official researcher."
"..So Shido got dragged into the rayshift, huh? I'm impressed you didn't 'lose your existence', yet I feel like it was a bit expected. Still, I'm really glad. Also, Mash...Of course I'm glad you're safe too…" Romani seemed to be thinking on what to say as he looked at Mash. "But what's up with that outfit? It's shameless! I didn't raise you to dress up like that!"
It only makes sense that would be the logical thing to say when seeing Mash's outfit. Yet, upon hearing those words, Shido's mind blanked. Because he never thought about it all that much, simply accepting it.
The conclusion he realized is that Origami, Nia and Miku have long since made him lose his general common sense. Something that he could only find funny. After all, what else would have happened when surrounded by those three?
"I transformed into a servant. I don't remember how it happened, but it seems I have survived by fusing with a Servant. To investigate and resolve Singularity F, a Servant was provided in advance at Chaldea. This Servant lost its Master in that explosion, and was doomed to vanish. But at the last second, he offered me a contract. In return for the abilities and Noble Phantasm of a Heroic Spirit, he wanted me to eliminate the cause of this Singularity."
Shido was a bit surprised to hear the extra bit of information, but he figured out that she must've not told him earlier so as not to overwhelm him about the situation. So that he wouldn't panic as much. Which, of course, made Shido think of her as a truly kind person.
"A Heroic Spirit and a human, fused… A demi-servant? That's Chaldea's sixth experiment. I see. So it finally succeeded, huh? Does this Heroic Spirit still have his consciousness?"
"..No, he gave me his combat abilities then vanished. He never revealed his True Name even at the end. So I don't even know whose Heroic Spirit I am..Nor what kind of Noble Phantasm I'm holding. At this point there's too much I don't know." Mash looked a bit solemn and dejected, and Shido frowned at seeing that. He was going to say something, but Romani seemed to beat him to it.
"—Hey, look on the bright side. Not every Servant who gets summoned is cooperative. Now that you're a Servant, this is in our favor. After all, you're completely trustworthy." Romani smiled at Mash, trying his best to cheer her up and give her some much needed confidence, which seemed to work pretty well judging by Mash looking at him with a smile. "Shido, it looks like you're the only one who Rayshifted there safely. Also, I am sorry. Forcing you into this without any explanation. I'm sure you're full of questions, but try not to worry. You've already got a powerful weapon. Humanity's most powerful weapon - Mash."
Romani had no ill feelings as he spoke. It was obvious from his words, attitude and personality, yet Shido felt irritated to hear those words. That she is a 'weapon' and not a person. Even if he didn't mean it, such words only reminded Shido of Isaac. A man he feels annoyed that he keeps getting reminded of.
"Even if you're trying to be nice, I won't accept you calling her a weapon. She is a person, not some 'weapon' at all."
"Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to insinuate that about her either. I detest those sorts of thoughts as well." Romani seemed genuinely apologetic. Seeing just how he was genuinely regretful to imply that, at some level, made Shido's face turn into a smile and feel better that this guy is the one who he is working with moving forward.
"Continuing on, as long as Shido understands that's what a Servant is, it'll be fine. But Shido, while Servants can be reliable allies, they also have a weakness. Do you know what that is?"
Shido could tell Romani was testing him. To see what level of knowledge he possessed about servants, which was an integral part to know about for his particular job. In his heart, he was grateful that Kotori didn't let her dear Onii-chan embarrass himself.
..Though he couldn't help but shudder in fear as he recalled her threat to release his dark history all over social media, and tell all the girls. While he could handle the aftermath on social media, he couldn't handle all the girls. Only a select few, being Kotori, Nia, Mukuro and of course, Origami knew of it (the last of which knew through rather questionable means). And Shido would like to keep it limited to those few.
"Servants disappear without any magical energy. Which is their Master." Romani gave a nod and seemed satisfied with his answer. Shido thanked Kotori from the bottom of his heart that she ingrained that information into his mind, as he thankfully isn't embarrassing himself to his new colleagues.
"Anyway, I'm still analyzing the data, but it's indicating that Mash has become your Servant. Meaning that you're Mash's Master. She's the first Heroic Spirit you've entered a contract with."
"Now then, I should explain the mission's two new goals—" Romani spoke, but the hologram started to have some static.
"Doctor, you're breaking up. There is about 10 seconds until the connection is lost."
"Huh, so Shiva's output is unstable because we switched to the backup generators? Oh well, I'll brief you later. Both of you, I'm getting a strong leyline reading about 2 km from where you are. Try to get there somehow. That way, it will stabilize our connection. Listen, don't do anything reckless, will you? I'll try to bring the power back up as soon as—" Yet before he could say anything more, the connection cut off and the hologram disappeared like it was never there to begin with.
Mash became silent after the connection got cut. Nervously, Shido asked her, "W-well, how about we go ahead and get to that leyline?"
Mash nodded her head and smiled at him as if she wasn't strangely silent. "Right. You're really dependable, senpai. I was actually pretty terrified, so thank goodness."
It only made sense. After all, the last thing that happened before was those bombs going off and Chaldea being attacked. So her being worried and even scared is a completely normal reaction. One that made him clench his hand in determination. In his determination to make sure that Mash will come out of this safe and sound.
..Even if he can't. He'll make sure that at very least, she can.
"Senpai, we'll soon arrive at the destination point Doctor specified. There are also only flames as far as the eye can see. It's nothing like the Fuyuki in our data. According to our data, it's an average regional city. There's no record of such a disaster occurring in 2004..The Mana density in the atmosphere is also abnormal. In fact, it's a lot like ancient Earth.." Mash said as she observed the surroundings.
As for Shido himself, he couldn't help but recall that fire. The scene, even if the landscape is different, feels extremely similar.
The crushed rubble of what used to be buildings, the fire that is burning as far as the eye can see, so much smoke coming from the burning flames that he ends up in a coughing fit when he gets too close to the smoke on accident. Yet, this is even worse.
There are bodies lining up the entire area, the sky darkened like the despair and resentment of the dead took form in the sky, no human nor help in sight at all. If what he saw all those years ago in Tengu City was like a nightmare, this would be hell itself.
This scene that never should've happened. This scene is something that no one should have ever gone through. This cruel scene made like it was depicting the very hells that a hero is born from. It was something that Shido could only bring himself to hate witnessing.
The only solace within this landscape of hell is that when the Singularity is cleared, it will disappear like it never happened. Yet..it was far too twisted of a scene for him to just let go of his anger.
This world of magecraft is so twisted. He hates it so much. The messed up morals, the abuse of the Spatial Quake alarm to be more bold with their rituals, killing anyone that accidentally witnesses it, how far they would go to reach the Root. Shido hates it all. It is a horrible system he would rather have destroyed than have it continue destroying even more people's lives.
Although, Shido himself is not pretentious enough to think he can change it himself, nor does he think that such a long standing system could be so easily taken down. But that doesn't mean he can't feel disgust and hatred for it.
Shido was snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden yell coming from somewhere. One that sounded less like a monster and more like a person.
"Mash!"
Mash nodded, understanding what Shido wanted as she started to run towards the sound of the scream. "Let's hurry, senpai!"
It took less than a minute to reach the direction of the screaming while Mash carried him...Servants really are something else, aren't they?
He looked to see what the scream came from, and saw someone he didn't expect to see here at all.
"Wh-Who are these guys, anyway? Why do these things keep happening to me? I can't take it anymore! Come save me, Lev! You were always there for me right?" Olga was shaking in place, obviously shocked and desperate for help.
"—Director!" Mash stopped running and put him down as he finally stood on his own feet again.
"Mash. Make sure to protect her." Following his orders, Mash ran towards Olga who was surrounded by the monsters that attacked the two earlier.
With movements like she held that shield her entire life, Mash swung it in a large arc and crushed the skeletons. Then, while an enemy approached Olga from behind, Mash jumped up and extended her leg towards the enemy, crushing its skull from a simple kick and it fell limp to the ground. It was a great display of her newfound power, however another skeleton appeared from behind Mash as she was preoccupied.
"Behind you!" Shido yelled out and started to run, yet he knew fully well that he wouldn't make it in time. Yet, just before the enemy had stabbed Mash-
"—Gandr!" With that yell, a bullet-like object was fired at a speed that Shido seemed to only be able to see as a blur hit and destroyed the skeleton.
"Thank you, director!" With that shout that for some reason, made Olga freeze, Mash continued to fight the horde of skeletons and easily destroyed them all.
Upon finishing the battle, Shido went up to them and had a smile on his face at seeing that Olga was okay. The spell Olga fired, 'Gandr', is a bullet made of condensed mana, though Shido did figure out it was a condensed form of mana being fired, he didn't know how it was done nor anything about it. Though such a thing was only natural for an amateur that couldn't even be called a magus.
Shido felt intense relief, as he now could truly tell that Olga was a kind person, despite how she may seem. As not only did she fire that magecraft to save Mash, she did it in a state of complete shock and surprise. It really made Shido have a new appreciation towards her.
"Are you hurt?" Both Olga and Mash shook their heads in denial in response to Shido's question.
"Tell me. What is going on?" Shide felt glad to see Olga now being calm as she seemed to be good enough to now be glaring at him. Which only made him sheepishly smile at her glare.
"The thing about my situation is—"
"Let me guess, you've become a demi-servant? It seems pretty obvious if anyone looked at you. No, how did you become her Master!? You may have had great achievements, but you have not even been involved in any sort of magecraft until less than a week ago! So how did you end up forming a contract with a servant!?" Olga yelled out, pointing at Shido with a glare.
..Shido widened his eyes as he realized something. Olga wasn't just being rude for no reason, in fact Shido had that thought when he had first heard about Olga from Kotori, but he didn't know if it was true or not until she just yelled at him. Within her own words, Olga showed her true thoughts and emotions towards Shido. It was one he had known a couple people felt towards him, yet he felt compared to theirs, Olga's was one that was well deserved. It was..jealousy.
With a smile, Shido told Olga. "The contract was one made out of a need. There was no other option available for her."
Olga looked surprised at him. "What do you mean?"
Following her words, both Shido and Mash explained the situation from their respective perspectives.
"So, the coffin's were destroyed.." Mash seemed distraught by the fact after Shido recounted what he experienced before they got rayshifted. Maybe she believed that the other Master Candidates were still alive? While he would like to believe that too, denying reality won't help anyone.
"Well, it makes sense when we think about how when we were all rayshifted, none of us were inside any of the coffins. And even if some had survived, the coffins are set to have their power shut off when the success rate of the rayshift is lower than 95%, so in the situation there would be no one besides us even if some of the Master Candidates survived." Olga stated some information Shido didn't recall hearing at all before.
Well, it wasn't like Kotori could tell Shido absolutely every single thing. She was still busy with her own life.
"I see..So there's still hope some survived. You really are the director." Mash smiled toward Olga, who turned towards Shido when she saw that.
"You are pretty smart, aren't you?"
Upon hearing his attempt at a compliment, she crossed her arms and asked, "Did you not think I was smart before?"
"I did. I mean, I knew that you were smart when I first met you. To be honest, you kinda blew me away."
Crap! Did my instincts from all my time trying to seal the spirits kick in and make me accidentally flirt with her!? That's definitely going to get me fired at by her magecraft!
"..Hmmph, whatever. I understand the situation now. Shido, since it's an emergency I'll approve you and Kyrielight's contract."
..Shido looked at her surprised at her seemingly not understanding his unintentional flirting. Though, he then saw that she actually had the corners of her mouth raised a bit. Shido then figured out that she's the type to love getting praised by others. He only worries about what the girls would do to him if he ended up accidentally flirting with her too much and they end up finding out.
..Though, he would be fine with whatever might happen to him if it meant he could see them again. As this new situation was one that he felt was rather lonely without any of them together with him.
"From here on out, you'll follow my commands. First, let's set up a base camp. Listen, this is the time to search for a Leyline Terminal. A place where magical energy converges."
Shido's shoulders released with some tension as he heard her saying she would take command. After all, Shido was no strategist nor some genius. Even during his time working under Ratatoskr, he was never someone that had taken any commander position. He even doubted he had any ability to be one, so he felt relief that someone else could take that burden off his shoulders.
"There we'll be able to contact Chaldea. So in this town's case.." Olga trails off, hand on her chin as she was in thought about where the leyline would be.
"This is the point, Director. The Leyline point is at your feet."
Shido himself was surprised, not noticing that either. Having forgotten all about it after he saw Olga.
"Whoa! Oh r-right, I knew that, I knew that, of course!" Olga is pretty obviously lying, making Shido give a smile at seeing trying to keep up appearances.
"Mash, place your shield on the ground. I'm going to set up a summoning circle, with your Noble Phantasm as the catalyst."
"Are you okay with that, senpai?"
"Yeah. Olga is the professional and has more experience than me, so I trust her." Mash nodded as she followed Shido's order and placed her shield on the leyline.
"Understood. Now let us begin." With her shield placed firmly on the leyline location, the hologram of Romani reappeared.
"CQ, CQ. Hello, hello? Okay, the connection's back! Good job, you secured the connection. Now we can communicate again, and even send rations.." Romani sighed in relief and he even seemed pretty tired.
"Huh?! Why are you running the show, Romani? What about Lev? Where's Lev? Put Lev on!" Olga seems to be pretty attached to Lev..and despite his complete lack of proof, the fact he was reminded of Isaac when he met him only made Shido feel worried for Olga.
"D-Director, you're alive? And you're unharmed? What the.."
..Why does he look surprised that she's okay? Did something happen to her before the rayshift? But if so, shouldn't she have already told them?
"What's that supposed to mean? Where's Lev? What's the head medic doing in charge?"
Shido could only have a cold sweat on him as he felt like Romani would only say something he wouldn't like to hear at all.
Romani sighed like he was really exhausted . "Don't ask me why. I'm fully aware that I'm not cut out for this job. But there's nobody else, Olga Marie."
Gritting his teeth, Shido faced his head down and glared at the ground. He felt himself grow angry at the unjust deaths of others. In his heart, he swore that once the situation is over, he will make sure to find out who they were and give them all a proper burial.
"Currently, the surviving full time staff of Chaldea is less than forty people, including me. The reason I'm in charge of operations is because there's no one ranked higher than me who survived. Dr. Lev was supervising from the Command Room. There's no way he could survive that blast." Romani was solemn as he spoke those words that would no doubt shake Olga to her core.
Shido himself felt regretful that he had suspected and was distrustful towards someone who was ultimately innocent.
Olga had some shock on her face and remorse, yet grit her teeth. Like she was forcing herself to not show weakness. A thing that only made Shido frown at her. "..What about the coffins? I heard some of them were destroyed, but how many are left?"
"50% of the Master Candidates are in critical condition, including the A-Team members with the remaining 50% already dead. We can save a few, but—"
"Are you an idiot! Cryopreserve them immediately! We can think about reviving them later! Your top priority is to keep them alive!" Olga barked out her orders to Romani, only reminding Shido of Kotori when she ordered around Kannazuki, yet he is glad Romani isn't the same as Kannazuki.
"I forgot the coffins had those functions! I'll get on it right away!"
"—Wait! How much power do you think we have? What is the limit of the servants we can support?" Olga cut in before Romani could run off.
"We have enough to allow for two servants besides Mash, and their Noble Phantasms will end up being limited to only a couple uses." Romani quickly said as the hologram of him cut off and the communications ended.
"Anyway, now as much as I wouldn't like it, we don't know what is going to happen from now on. So, Shido Itsuka." He unconsciously ended up stiffening up at hearing her commanding voice calling out his name due to how much Kotori had put him through in the same tone of voice. Shido grimaced as he recalled all the dating sims he was forced to play..along with all the punishments.
"You will have to summon a servant that could help us. It would be better without it being a Berserker as they would only end up draining everything and that might even use up enough to where we can't use any of their Noble Phantasms. So make sure not to mess up."
Shido was sweating as he kinda felt nervous about it after hearing Olga's words.
Plus, who would even appear? He doesn't remember much about the whole servant thing, but he knows that if he has a catalyst then the servant summoned would be connected to it, but if not then it'll be based on their compatibility with him. Well, at least they have Mash's shield to use as a catalyst.
"Need me to tell you the chant?"
"Do you mind?" He was a bit embarrassed to ask Olga for help like this, but like he said before, Olga is the professional here. He is just an amateur in comparison.
"Repeat after me. Let silver and steel be the essence.."
He made sure to listen and repeat her words, yet near the end of the ritual, Mash grabbed the shield and took it out of the summoning circle for some reason. She then placed it firmly on the ground, as if to guard us from an enemy.
"Mash Kyrielight! What are you doing!?" Olga yelled at Mash as he continued the ritual from what he could remember the chant was from that giant booklet Kotori made for him to learn about all that he needed to know before coming here.
He is continuing the summoning, and while he is worried that he may not be able to summon anyone without a catalyst, he couldn't deny that he wants to summon someone using himself as the catalyst. Just in the faint hope that the one summoned would be one of the girls he couldn't help but feel like he misses despite just seeing them a couple days ago.
And maybe..even a slight possibility bloomed within him. That, even if there is a minuscule chance..it'll be Mio..
Just as he finished the incantation of the summoning ritual, Mash called out to him. "Senpai! Another servant is coming-!"
"▂▂▃▃▅▅—!" With that roar that echoed throughout Shido's entire body, he saw the figure of a hulking giant. The creature that could kill him as easily as squashing a fly. He understood that whatever this creature is, it will kill them all, they'll die. None of them can win against it.
"Nice to meet yo-Oi! Is that Heracles! Why did I get summoned by someone fighting against this overpowered bastard!" He had no clue who they were, but a new figure appeared in between the looming monster and them, yelling out profanities about the situation he was forced in.
The person, or more accurately, the servant, is a male who seemed around Shido's age, with dark skin, black hair, glyphs tattooed all over his body wearing a tattered red waist cloth, a bandana of the same color, and black bandages on his forearms and shins.