Section 1
I open my eyes, around us is a grassland with a road. The rayshift was a success.
"Alright, Chaldea. As always, we need to find a town or a populated area, get information, find and form a pact with Servants, and take out the Singularity. Let's get this done as quickly as possible.", the Director commands us.
Our wristbands beep and a hologram pops up with the familiar brown-haired woman Da Vinci. "There should be a town if you follow that road forward."
"Yeah, that makes sense, well then let's go this way since it's north.", Alice suggests while pointing north with a compass in her other hand.
And with that, we are off to find other people.
"From the looks of it, I'd say we are on the rural side of France. All of this is the countryside. I'm glad it isn't an urban city, honestly.", Nick continues to walk ahead of everyone.
"Yeah, I think the country is peaceful. Carrying this shield through a major city like Paris would be difficult."
"Yeah, but it would be good for us to know where we are. We need to speak with the local folk.", Ritsuka responds.
As we walk, we pass by a lot of open land. The open land has a few trees and cabins, but for the most part is barren of life other than birds and a few animals.
We continue to walk down the gravel road. And eventually come across a village. It was small, with a few houses and shops. It was way smaller than Trifas, yet still big enough to easily and comfortably live in.
"Maybe we can find a map, there should be one.", I suggest and everyone else agrees.
We find an info board and there's a map. The town's name is Hunspach, located in the northeast of France. According to the map, there's an inn near the center of this village. We decide to go there after we explore the town.
As we walk around, we notice plenty of shops, houses, and restaurants. This will be a nice place to camp in. "By the way, what time is it?" I ask, curious as to how much time we have left in the day. Alice looks at her wristband, "It's 3:46 PM." Plenty of time then to look around.
We walk around for another hour and decide to stop for lunch at a nearby cafe. We all get menus and sit down at a table. Shortly after, we order our food and wait.
"Alright, remember, if anyone asks, we are tourists. We need to blend in.", Olga then looks at Alice. "You brought spare clothes for everyone, right Alice?"
"Of course, along with our rations, bottled water, and equipment we may need."
"Hopefully the inn can take all of us, I know we are a big group, but still, I'd rather not have to separate our home bases.", Ritsuka says.
"I'm sure it'll be fine. This is apparently a popular town, remember? I'm sure it gets tourists all the time. We should have no issue sticking together.", Mash then takes a drink of the free water.
"Hm? Nick, what are you looking at? Is there something interesting out there?", I ask. He is staring out the window, seemingly fixated on something out there. Though, it's not like he saw a girl that caught his eye or something, but maybe this could be something he's unsure of? Like when you think you see your friend from a distance, but can't exactly tell if it's them.
Nick snaps up from being zoned out. "Oh sorry, no it's nothing. Just thought of something."
He's right, looking out the window, there's nothing there ahead aside from a dark alleyway which is empty.
A waitress walks over with our drinks. "I'll be right back over with your food."
She then walks away only to return a moment later with a large tray with a bunch of plates on it with our food.
Before walking away, she turns back around and looks at us. "Are you guys travelers or tourists by any chance?"
Olga gets nervous for a second but then straightens herself out and clears her throat. "Yes, that's right. We are a group of tourists. We are from another country, but decided to come to France for a company vacation. We only got here a few hours ago"
"I see, we'll then since you probably wouldn't know, Hunspach is on a strict curfew right now. Everyone must return to their houses by 8:00 P.M. every night and it lifts at 6:00 A.M. So I'd recommend finding a place to stay by 7 or so."
"Hm? Why is there a curfew?", Ritsuka questions the waitress.
"Oh, there have been attacks on neighboring towns as of late. They began a month or two ago, I think? Every few days, a town would be destroyed with little to no survivors and no one knows what causes it. At first we thought there were gas leaks or something, but after it happened so much, we don't know anymore. The curfew is for our safety, it doesn't seem safe to be out at night anymore. I have to get back to work now. Stay safe!"
And with that, the waitress walks off.
"Well there's no doubt that's at least related to this Singularity."
Olga then crosses her arms. "Well let's get booked in the inn sooner than later, we can plan our next course of action there. Let's just eat our food quickly."
After an hour, we finish, pay up, and leave. It's a little after 6 now, so we head straight over to the inn. It was only about a 5 minute walk from the cafe.
Luckily, they did have some rooms, enough for each of us to have our own. As for how long we were staying, we opted for the pay per day option, just in case we need to stay longer or shorter than planned. We all head up to our rooms and separate. Alice comes to each of our rooms and drops off our belongings. After that, we just call it a night and we agree to meet up at 8:00 AM for breakfast at the same cafe.
I crash onto the bed after changing. We've been walking a ton so my legs are sore as hell. I slowly drift off to sleep, waiting for the next day.
Nick walks around his room. There's no way he can sleep right now. The entire day, she has been stalking Chaldea. Of course, he can't say a word about this right now. It would only make Chaldea's staff paranoid. There's no way she will attack right now as they sleep since he put a bounded field around the inn, so she can't get in, nor can the undead.
Villages getting destroyed huh? I guess Arcueid was right about her being active. What exactly is she up to though? Why kill so many? Building up forces? No way, she's powerful enough already, she could take over France if she wanted. So then she has another goal in mind?
But now, my sleep is more important. How the hell are you even here? Nick thinks to himself before also falling asleep.
Just as planned, I wake up at 7:00 A.M. and get dressed and head to the cafe for breakfast. The walk over is pleasant, the weather is great, as I walk, I see a few carts on the side of the street of street vendors. Some sell various fruits and vegetables, some sell various antique looking jewelry, and others sell plants and flowers.
I feel something run into me and fall. I look down and see a young boy, who can't be any older than ten.
"Are you okay?", I crouch down and stretch my hand out to help him up.
"Y-yes, sorry about that, Miss." He takes my hand and I help him to his feet.
"You need to watch where you're going, Louis.", an older woman calls out from one of the stands. His mother?
She walks over to me. "Sorry about him, he gets excited quite easily. Are you hurt at all?"
"No, I'm completely fine! I'm more worried about him."
Louis has already started to run again around the stand. "Yeah, he'll be fine I'm sure. Here, as an apology, would you like an apple?"
"Huh? Well yeah, but I wouldn't want to mess up your sales or anything."
"Oh, don't worry about that. We sell plenty everyday, one apple won't hurt.", she walks over and grabs an apple from the cart and hands it to me. A perfect sized and looking red apple. "Wow this looks really good! Did you grow it yourself?"
"Yes, we have a garden in our backyard. My husband and I grow and sell these fruits, so we try our best to make them perfect!"
"That sounds nice, being a farmer sounds really peaceful."
"It's tough, but it's also calming at times. You get to clear your head and just work. Plus watching them grow feels really rewarding, like all our hard work isn't for nothing!"
"Mom! We have customers!"
His mom turns around and notices people at the cart.
"Ah well, I have to go. Have a good day!", the woman runs off to the cart in order to sell her food.
I smile to myself and continue walking, taking a bite out of the apple I was gifted.
Wow, this is really good! Lucky me!
Walking into the cafe, I find my friends at the table and join them.
"I'm not late am I?"
"No, we only just got here a few minutes ago."
We order our breakfast and eat.
"So, what's the plan today?", I ask.
"I say we venture out and try to find allies. We don't know how long we can just stay inactive, so we need to figure all this out sooner than later."
"Good point, Olga. I agree. Something tells me we really don't have time to dick around." We don't, she's already found us. If we don't hurry, Chaldea is doomed. Nick thinks as he sips on his drink.
"Stop calling me 'Olga.'"
"Nah, your reactions are too funny to stop."
"THAT'S WHY YOU DO IT!?"
"Keep your voice down, Olga."
"SHUT UUUUUUUPPPPPP."
"Pffffft…"
"DON'T YOU LAUGH, RITSUKA! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"
"Huh? Another village was attacked?"
We grow quiet and listen in on the conversation next to us.
"Yeah, once again, no survivors or cause could be found. This is all so strange. What could be causing this? Will we be next?"
"I hope not, I have a family here. I don't know what I'd do if they were killed."
"Yeah, same with me. I feel like these aren't gas leaks though, maybe a natural disaster?"
"That many natural disasters in such a short period? Maybe one or two, but ten have been destroyed so far in two months leaving no survivors for any. It's impossible for it to just be disasters. But I can't figure out what could do all that damage. Maybe terrorist attacks?"
"Maybe, but why such a small section of France? Why not Paris or something? That would get attention easily."
"I don't know. I'm just scared it'll happen to us next."
Mash stands up. "Excuse me! What town was this?"
The people look surprised, but answer the pink-haired girl. "Hm? It was Drachenbronn-Birlenbach. Not too far from here."
"I see. Thank you!"
"Why? Do you know someone there?"
"Ah no, we're just travelers so we need to know where to avoid going."
"Oh I see. Be careful out there, it's been rough as you can tell."
"Will do!"
Mash returns to the table.
"Well, it looks like we know where we are going next.", Alice says.
She pulls a map out from her pocket. "It seems like it's not far, maybe an hour walk?"
"Very well, we'll leave after we finish eating. We will be walking for a long time after all. An army does not march on an empty stomach, Jeanne herself told us that!"
We all finish up and head out. It's only 9:00 A.M. so no doubt we will be back in time for the curfew tonight. This shouldn't take too long.
We walk down the path, just chatting amongst ourselves for the hour walk.
A hologram pops up and Da Vinci appears.
"Keep on your guard everyone, there's something strange about this place. However, we haven't caught any hostiles yet. Be on your guard."
"Of course."
Romani then pops on screen.
"Try and figure out the cause too if possible. If we can, maybe we can prevent this sort of thing from happening later."
"The village is in eyesight, stay sharp."
Ritsuka runs ahead of everyone, desperate to get to the village to help.
"Senpai, wait! It's not safe!", Mash chases after, leading us to run after them.
The village is in ruins. No bodies remain just as the men said. The smell of fire fills the air. Of course, there was no more fire, but even so, the smell remains. Nick crouches down, feeling the ground for something.
"What's up Nick? Something the matter?", I ask, confused on why he's just touching the ground like that.
"It's just…this was definitely the work of Dead Apostles. No doubt about it. I can sense them, I can smell them, the stench of rotting flesh. Be on your guards, it's daytime, but some may still remain in the area, especially in dark areas. They are more powerful than they seem."
"Huh? What are Dead Apostles?"
Ritsuka doesn't know naturally. I only just learned the other day.
"Too much to explain now, but essentially zombies mixed with vampires. Don't get hit by them and have your blood sucked and you'll be fine."
"...Got it…"
Jeez magic is weird sometimes.
"We should stick together then. If it's really that dangerous, then it would be best if we-"
"Oh, Nick's gone…THAT LITTLE BASTARD!"
"Director, please calm down. I'm sure he'll be fine on his own, he's always been the type to do this.", Mash pleads.
"Yeah yeah. Let's just investigate without him."
We investigate the town. Checking all the buildings one by one.
"I'll go in first."
Alice brings out a pistol and slowly walks into the house. Destroyed and burned furniture, picture frames lay cracked on the ground. A sad sight, it looks as if it was a family of three, two adults and a little girl, all taken too early from this world. Alice takes another few steps, her foot lands on a doll. Reaching down, she picks it up. A stuffed rabbit toy, one of its button eyes missing and its arm was torn off. Whether this was the little girl's doing, or one of the dead she doesn't know. Alice can only look on with a sad expression, she had seen plenty of this sort of thing in her line of work, but it still gets her every time, reminding her of her own past, a child without parents.
Bringing her out of this thought is a creak from the ceiling. Normally such a thing wouldn't even require a glance, but this one sounded off somehow. Like a child tiptoeing down the hallway at night.
"Hm?"
Looking up, a set of eyes are looking back.
I̢t͜͠'́͞s̶̶ ̡ǹ͟͞o͟͝t̨͠ h̴̀u̸m͠á̴n͢.͡҉
SHIT!
Alice raises her gun straight at the monster's forehead, but it's too quick. Descending down, it lands in front of Alice after she barely managed to move. Alice fires several shots, but it's too fast. This one isn't like the ones she's killed in the past.
Hearing the gunshots, Chaldea rushes in, battle ready. Mash immediately runs forward and blocks the vampire from attacking with her massive shield. "That's what a Dead Apostle looks like!?"
Undead moans come from its mouth. Mash begins to struggle holding it back.
"Hang on!", I yell. Raising my sword, I go in for the kill while it's too busy with Mash. It looks just like a human. I can't kill it. Not because it looks scary, but because it's human, or formerly was. Either way, I hesitate in my strike. It takes notice and lunges at me. I have no shield to defend myself with. I will be bitten and killed here. My body freezes up.
"SERENA, DUCK!"
Just as Olga commanded, I duck. Runes fly above me and explode, Alice runs in and shoots it point black in the head. After it drops, she double taps it just in case.
"Are you okay, Serena?", Alice asks while inspecting my body.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I froze up."
"Don't worry, that was a perfectly normal reaction."
"It looked so human…"
"Yeah…It was probably human until recently. It's not whatever it once was, so you WILL have to kill it!", Alice says with her eyes diverted to the side.
"..."
"Let's keep moving…"
Bodies strewn all over the floor. A dark basement, more like a dungeon? The dead are rampant down there. One man with a greatsword walks through with no effort, killing all in his path with ease. Hemomancy makes this too easy, they are already covered in blood, so nothing's stopping him from turning it to blades, piercing their bodies with zero effort at all.
"That's all? Pathetic."
He stops and plants his sword's tip into the ground. "I know you're watching. Come out."
"Oh? You noticed me? I thought I was hiding well."
"Please, how could I miss your gaze? You've been staring daggers at me this whole time."
A shadow manifests in front of Nick. Their body remains shrouded in shadow with only red eyes showing.
"In fact, I've noticed you watching us ever since we got here."
"Of course, I wanted to see if you posed a threat. I've concluded that not a single one of you do. I even saw the rest of them struggle with a lesser Dead Apostle. If that's how strong they can be, they will die pretty quickly here."
The shadow raises her hand, nothing happens from what Nick can see.
"No, I stand corrected, you seem to be powerful. Of course the reason for that is because you're a vampire yourself? The red eyes are a giveaway, and I can sense it. They may not realize, but I do. Don't worry, I'm blocking those signals from the wristband and camera on you, Chaldea can't hear or see a thing right now. You can respond freely without worry."
"That easy, huh? Of course it is for you."
"As for what rank you are…I can't tell. Well, whatever, I'll just order you to kill Chaldea. Dead Apostles can't resist my voice after all~."
Nick stands there unphased by this. It would be simple to kill Chaldea with the only challenge being Alice, however he doesn't want to, nor does he plan to.
"O' Dead Apostle, obey your princess and carry out my will. Kill Chaldea, and then end your own life immediately after.", her eyes glow even more red, the order has been given, and he has no choice to obey. Like a command spell, her word is an order that cannot be ignored.
Yet, Nick remains unmoving. Staring down the shadow unimpressed. "That…won't work on me."
"What? Then, if my order didn't work, that makes you a Superior? And still you aid humanity..."
"I'll keep you guessing this one, foolish girl."
"!"
"You're…a True Ancestor!?"
Nick gives a smirk in response. "Heheheh…yeah, what if I am?"
"I see…was it my sister that sent you!?"
"No, her goals just so happen to align with mine. By killing you, I'll be saving all of Humanity."
Nick lunges toward the shadow, piercing it with his sword. But, it just goes straight through her body.
"You really thought you could attack a shadow? Hah! Hm? That sword…It seems familiar to me. No, I'm sure it's nothing, it looks nice though, and powerful."
Tsk, so my attack didn't work? Is her body really unable to be attacked in this form?
Nick thinks while he backs away from the wraith. He has now cleared a solid distance from the red eyed girl.
"You've already lost, boy.", her body sinks into the ground, vanishing from sight.
Where did she go? There's no way she ran. More importantly, where did this power come from? She's supposed to be weak.
THERE! Nick swings his sword at a patch of shadow to his left, yet nothing happens. He missed, no, she was never there, it was a decoy. The shadow lunges down at him from his right. There's not enough time to swing again, he can't use his wind attack, nor will Hemomancy be quick enough. She will hit him here.
"Stay still.", a voice says calmly from behind.
"Take this!"
Beams shoot from behind Nick, landing right on the girl, sending her a small distance. At least Nick is safe now.
"You again!? Just when I was about to kill this boy. Whatever, I have the information I need. This trip was not a waste at all."
With that, the wraith disappears into the shadows, retreating from this battle.
"Who are you? And why did you help me?"
The man in the cape and hat laughs. "What a lack of manners, boy! I am the King of The Cavern, Edmond Dantès! Vengeance itself, at your service."
The fashionable man introduces himself with a bow. "Hm? What's that look for? Are you not in awe of my appearance?"
"It's just…it's so over the top."
"I don't expect you to understand."
"Whatever. How did you harm her? Even I couldn't."
"Hm? My powers are able to burn through even one's very soul. It's how I killed a 'person' who could revive over and over in the past. I can bypass her shadow form and reach her Spirit Core."
"Interesting. Now that that's done, let me introduce you to the rest of Chaldea. I need you to follow me."
The two walk out of the basement and meet back up with Chaldea on the surface.
We talked about what happened in that house and the other houses we checked. The only major incident was in that house where Alice was attacked from above. The others either had none, or really weak ones. No survivors at all were found.
We look over at the sound of footsteps and there approaches Nick and a man I don't recognize.
"I found the Servant we were looking for, well, he found me. Either way here he is."
"I'm a prized Avenger. You may call me Edmond Dantès."
"Avenger? What's that?", Ritsuka asks. "Aren't there supposed to be only seven Classes? Eight with Ruler."
A hologram pops up and there's Da Vinci.
"Much like Ruler, Avenger is an Extra Class. Though, it never crossed my mind that there was more than just one. I'll have to research more."
"Vengeance is the key to being an Avenger. And I, the incarnation of vengeance, naturally fits the role! Kuhahaha!"
Ah, he's a nutcase.
Olga clears her throat. "What have you been up to? Since you ditched us and all."
"I saw something and followed it. I'll tell you everything."
Nick tells us about his encounter in the basement, leaving out some details he doesn't want known such as his non-human status.
"I see, so you suspect that that girl is the main villain of this Singularity?"
"I'm positive."
"Very well then. We shall assume that for now."
Edmond speaks up.
"You're mistaken to only assume it. She is the carrier of the Holy Grail, I've confirmed it myself."
"I see then. Do you know who this girl is? Also, what is going on with this Singularity?"
"Of course. She is destroying villages and killing the residents as a source of mana. Whatever her wish is, it requires a lot of mana for it."
Just like Amakusa. Alice thinks to herself.
"It all started two months ago, which is when I was summoned as well. I believe it was because I have killed seemingly immortals before, and can burn away souls, so I was the perfect candidate for the job!"
"Ahem. I came across her a while ago and have been hunting her down since. Though, I'm just weak enough to be unable to kill her myself. She sees me as a hindrance."
Olga then asks the question that we should have started with. "Who is this girl? What's her name?"
"Oh, have I failed to mention it? She is Altrouge Brunestud, the Princess of the Dead Apostles."
A shadow creeps into a church. Right in front of a throne, a young girl emerges from the floor and takes a seat.
The girl sitting on the throne is none other than Altrouge Brunestud. A young girl, looking no older than 14 with long black hair and crimson red eyes. She wears a long black dress, with a red bow on her chest. She wears a blank expression on her face.
"Your Highness, you have returned. How did your trip go?"
"Oh, it's you, Strout. It went fine. Chaldea shouldn't be a threat at all, well, except one. A True Ancestor is on their side, or at least, 'something like that.' And that black cloaked Servant found them too. Other than those two though, they're helpless against me."
The vampire in knight armor appears surprised, but returns to his normal calm expression.
"I see. Excellent then, you should have no issue with your wish then."
"Right? It's too easy. Those people think they can defeat me? Ha! They can't even touch me. It's not even worth using resources to kill them. They can't stop me even if they tried! The look of despair on their faces when my wish is granted will be priceless! Anyway, how have things been around here while I was away?"
"No issues have occurred. The townspeople are still none the wiser to our existence here, the bounded field works wonders. Svelten returned while you were away yesterday, though I am not sure what he is up to right now."
"Very good. He's probably playing with a boy he 'picked up' or something. He's always been like that. I'll allow him to continue for today. I would like to rest as well."
"Very well then. What should I do?"
"You are free to do as you wish. I'll take a nap, and the Ghouls will alert me if anyone enters the church. The bounded field keeps people from entering by averting their minds to something else, so they won't think about entering. So if someone does enter, then it's probably an enemy Servant. If that were to be the case, I'll deal with them myself and call you to my aid if needed."
"Very well then, please rest easy, Princess."
"Thank you. Once I wake, I will have new orders for you."
"Understood.", the Black Knight bows in respect, and takes his leave.
Now alone, Altrouge takes a glance out the window, thinking to herself.
Chaldea, no matter what you do. You cannot stop my ascent into power. I will make sure Father finally recognizes my success. Pray to your God that I give you all a swift death!
