Waking up, I found myself in a park that looked utterly ruined, with trees appearing as though they had been scorched by fire.
"This looks familiar..."
Ah, yes, now I remember—this scene mirrors my first entry into the Type-Moon universe. But why am I here again?
As I got to my feet, I checked my belongings. First, I found my wallet and the military knife I had received from Alaya. As I rifled through my wallet, a note caught my eye. It read:
"Hi *****, how have you been? Good, I hope. The reason you're here is that I need you to look after some people for me. This is the Grand Order universe, and I need you to make sure everything goes well. Once this singularity is finished, I'll send you back to your comfy bed. PS: Try not to die; it would be a pain to resurrect you."
I stared at the note, reading it twice more before burning it in frustration.
"That stupid monkey brain will of humanity! Next time I see her, I'm going rip out her ears."
I ranted about the will of humanity for about an hour, completely oblivious to the skeleton warrior creeping up behind me, sword drawn. At the last moment, I dodged, feeling the cold steel graze the side of my coat.
Looking at the skeleton, I growled, "I liked that coat."
Channeling my magic circuits, I enhanced my strength and speed, dashing in front of the skeleton and delivering a powerful punch that shattered its skull into a cloud of bone fragments.
As I surveyed my surroundings, I realized I was surrounded by about fourteen more skeletons.
"This doesn't look good for me," I muttered.
Drawing my knife, engraved with runes of fire and knowledge, I felt the familiar surge of magical energy coursing through me. I concentrated, focusing that energy into the blade until it glowed with an intense light.
I pointed the knife at the nearest skeleton, channeling my energy into a concentrated blast. A searing, white flame erupted from the blade, incinerating the skeleton before me in an instant, leaving only a wisp of ash in its place.
Without hesitation, I swept the knife through the air, releasing a wave of white flames that surged toward the remaining skeletons. The fire arced gracefully, reducing them to nothing more than charred remnants, scattering their remains like dark confetti in the wind.
Despite the destruction, a few skeletons still stood, their bones blackened yet resolute. I advanced, moving fluidly as I closed the distance. In a swift motion, I launched myself into the air, delivering a powerful kick that shattered one skeleton's ribcage, sending it crashing to the ground in a heap.
As I landed, I unleashed another wave of flames, this time enveloping my knife in a fiery embrace. With precise slashes, I carved through the remaining foes, the heat igniting their skeletal frames. Each strike was deliberate, each movement a dance of destruction.
With the last skeleton falling, I stood amidst the smoldering remains, my breath steady. The air was thick with the scent of ash and charred bone, a stark contrast to the silence that surrounded me.
The battlefield was still, the remnants of the fight flickering with dying embers as I surveyed the scene, calm and collected in the aftermath of the chaos.
.
"That should do it."
"Impressive," came a voice from behind me.
I leaped back several feet, turning to see a man with blue hair and a long staff. Recognizing him as Cú Chulainn, the Caster of this Singularity, I said, "A servant, Caster, if I had to guess."
"Oh? You know about the Holy Grail," he replied, his smirk hinting at amusement. "Did you know that almost all the humans in this city were killed? All the masters of the Holy Grail were taken down by Saber so who are you?"
"I'm just a nobody, sent here to help some idiots get rid of the Holy Grail."
"Fine, keep your secrets," Caster retorted, his expression playful.
"So, who are you?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.
"I'm a Caster; that's all you need to know," he said, grinning.
"Hey, since you're here alone, why not come with me?" Caster suggested.
"You know how kids get kidnapped, right? But why not? It might be useful to have a servant around."
"Alright then, follow me. I know a good place we can stay."
As we walked, I decided to start a conversation. "What happened here?"
Though I already knew the answer, I asked anyway.
"Not sure. It was supposed to be a normal Holy Grail War, but then something happened, and all the servants turned against the Grail."
"I see."
We pressed on for a while, the eerie silence of the park broken by the clattering of skeleton warriors emerging from the shadows. I took aim and let loose a few shots with Gandr, watching as each bolt hit its mark and sent a skeleton crumpling to the ground.
As more of them closed in, I kept my distance, picking them off one by one. Caster was right beside me, expertly handling any skeletons that got too close, his staff moving like a blur as he took them down.
But one skeleton got the drop on me, lunging forward. Without missing a beat, I sidestepped and delivered a swift kick, feeling the satisfying crunch as its skull shattered upon impact. It fell away, lifeless once again.
Together, we moved through the horde like a well-oiled machine, dispatching each foe that came our way.
"You know, you're pretty strong for a human, even without magic," Caster noted.
"Yeah, I was blessed with great strength when I was brought into this world—about five times the strength of a normal human."
"Lucky you, I guess," Caster responded, smirking.
After another hour of walking, the distant sounds of battle reached our ears. "Do you hear that?" I asked.
"Yeah, let's check it out," Caster replied.
Flooding my legs with prana, I dashed forward at a speed that no car could match, Caster keeping pace effortlessly beside me. After a few minutes, we arrived at a chaotic battle scene. Four women were engaged in a fierce fight—one was defending two others while a woman wielding a scythe attacked them with relentless ferocity.
Caster sprang into action to assist the three girls, who were struggling against the scythe-wielding attacker, whom I recognized as Medusa in her Lancer form.
I quickly positioned myself behind the girls and conjured a rune barrier to shield us from any stray attacks. Medusa swung her scythe with deadly precision, the blade whistling through the air. I could see the determination in the eyes of the defender as she parried the strikes, her movements fluid yet desperate.
After a tense few moments, Caster unleashed a powerful fire blast, his magic igniting the air around us. The flames surged toward Medusa, consuming her in a searing inferno.
"Took you long enough," I said, smirking at Caster as the smoke cleared.
"She wasn't as easy as those skeletons," Caster replied, brushing off the encounter.
A white-haired woman with a sassy demeanor turned to us. "So, who are you?"
"I'm Cú Chulainn, also known as Caster. Nice to meet you," he said, his charm evident.
I raised an eyebrow, teasingly adding, "I thought you weren't going to reveal your identity."
"To you, yes. To the three pretty ladies? That's a different story," Caster shot back, flashing a grin.
Turning to the girls, I introduced myself. "My name doesn't really matter right now, but you can call me Mr. D."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're from the Chaldea Security Organization, aren't you?" asked a girl, who I assumed was Ritsuka Fujimaru, her voice laced with curiosity.
"Yes, how do you know that?" she continued, her gaze steady.
"I was sent here to help you with this singularity."
"By who?" inquired the sassy white-haired girl, who I believed was Olga Marie Animusphere.
"That I can't tell you, but for now, consider me an ally."
"Yeah, right, like we'd trust some suspicious guy like you," she retorted, crossing her arms defiantly.
I simply smiled, fully aware that they were my only path home.
"Even if you don't trust me, you still need all the help you can get, right?"
At that moment, a hologram of Romani, aka Solomon, materialized in front of us, reinforcing my claim and confirming that I was indeed on their side like he somehow knew me.
After a brief discussion, we decided to move to an abandoned school nearby to strategize using the information Caster had gathered about another servant.