Hello everybody and welcome back to the start of chapter 52 of the story! First one of London!

And oh boy, that Memorial Movie during the 8th anniversary was about to make me shed a tear. Absolutely wonderful! As for the rest of the content we got of the anniversary...I prefer not to speak. If I speak I'll be in big trouble.

But with that out of the way, let's delve into the start of the fourth Singularity!

DISCLAIMER: All the Nasuverse characters belong to Nasu and are property of Type-Moon, with the exception of the OC's that belong to me, the author.


"Heed us, human with verboten knowledge."

It was the last morning hours of the newest day in one of the biggest capitals in the world. London, city where industries revolutionized and place to kick off a new era to all humanity. Its streets during this time never known silence, always boisterous with the busy crowd and overpopulation. London of this era had no rest.

"Thou who was fallen to thy own obstinacy, we invoke thy soul once more."

Yet, strangely enough, the streets of such bustling city were empty. Completely devoid of a single person.

"Under the pentagram and amidst the shroudded clouds, thou shall ascend from thy somnolence."

Instead, the streets were sheeted in a type of fog. And altough London during this period was no stranger to it, its inhabitants would very rarely dare to venture inside this very fog.

"Alchemy and Magecraft intertwin. Their reunion hath opened a pathway to a new pact for thee."

The only sound that came from the now silent mist city, was from a poorly lighted alley. It looked like a sort of ritual was taking place.

"So, we demand you to come forward and answer us O darned mage!"

From a circle on the ground that was working as the only light source of the alley, some dark vibrant gleams shined from the top of it before coming into a huge dark ray. It slowly dissapeard afterwards alongside the summoning circle. Now all that remained, was the invoker that stood in front of another person that had appeard on the place that the circle was originally put.

"Greetings. I have accepted the calling." The newly arrived person slightly bowed to their summoner. "Even if it is the obvious, I must ask. Are you my master?"

"We are precisely. Now, do introduce thyself to us. Your True Name. Reveal it."

"As you wish so, my master. Servant, Class Caster. And my name is..."


"Mmm..." Opening his eyes, Peko felt his back lying on something softer and colder than the matress of his bed. Getting up, he noticed that he wasn't in his bedroom at Chaldea, but a totally different place. One filled with snow and trees around. Peko thought this was probably another dream. He was also surprised by the fact that the scenery of the green hills and painter had totally dissapeard, with no traces of that constant dream left behind.

"Why am I not dreaming about him this time?"

Peko asked to himself as his eyes gazed at the snow on the floor. Getting up, the boy tried to make sense of the new dream he was in. But how can someone make sense out of a dream after all? Turning his body around, Peko was jumpscared by the appearence of a girl that stood behind him, staring at him. Perhaps she had been there since the beggining, watching him 'wake up' and rise from the snowy ground.

The girl had a pale skin tone, clothed in a black shirt of white and red sleeves. She also wore a long red skirt and a sort of a black pillbox hat with red and white patterns.

Seeing she was the only person around, Peko tried to speak with her. "Humm, sorry to ask you this but, do you have any id-"

"Aithäh, et tulid, meie armas jumal."

"Eh?" Peko reacted in confusion. "W-was that you speaking?"

"Põllud on külmunud. Ja saaki jääb väheks. Me vajame teie abi, et vabastada meid sellest julmast talvest, meie jumal." The girl continued to speak, with Peko continuing to understand nothing.

"Excuse me but I'm not getting a single word of what you're saying." Peko told her, rubbing his head. "How weird. Unlike that painter, this girl feels like a total stranger to me. So why am I dreaming of this?"

The girl then pointed to something behind Peko. "Seal." She said, showing to Peko the entrance to a seemingly icy cave. "See on tee, mis viib teid kurja draakoni koopasse. Tapa see ja küla rõõmustab suve üle, meie jumal."

"Oh! So you want me to go there?" Peko said, figuring it out by the way the girl was pointing.

She nodded in confirmation. "Ole ettevaatlik." The girl then joined her hands into a prayer pose. "Ma usun ja palvetan teie edu eest. Kõik usuvad sinusse, meie jumal."

"O-Okay then. I don't know what is in there but it must be important to you." Peko said, trying to get more context out of this situation. "I'll be going." He smiled to the girl. "Meanwhile, you should head back t-huh?!" Peko stood in shock as he saw that the girl in front of him looked like to have been frozened in time, completely stationary. He tried to call her attention by waving his hand in front of her but to no avail. The girl's body was unresponsive.

"What is even happening here?" Peko asked to himself as the trees in front of him were being shone by a bright light coming from the cave behind. Seeing that there wasn't anything else he could do in the small area, Peko turned around and begun walking torwards the cave.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." The steps proceeded to form echoes as he approached the entrance. Whatever was waiting for him ahead, Peko had to be prepared for it.


"Hmm..."

Rubbing her eyes from the sumbler, Nala yawned as she woke up from her sleep. Or so she had tought. Instead of waking up in the bed of her and Peko's room, the girl instead awakened on a bench located in some sort of garden outside.

"Where am I? This can't be Chaldea." She said to herself before realizing she was holding a flower in her hands. It was a rose. However, its red petals appeard to be crystalized, with a sort of blue veins implanted in it. It was uncommon but quite a beautiful rose to stare at. Still, that only made more questions to be spawned on Nala's mind. "Why do I have this with me?"

Deciding that she wouldn't get any answers by staying at the bench, Nala got up and wandered around the newly mysterious garden she was in. The sky was normal. Blue with some clouds and the sun shinning brightly. The garden also had a variety of flowers from all the sides. If she was in a normal circumnstance, Nala would have appreciated the beauty of the place more.

As she walked on a paved path between the lines of bushes, she only thought about finding a way out of here, trying in the meantime to figure out what was goin on. "I hope there's an exit in this place." She whispered to herself, staring a secind time to the unnatural rose she brought in her hand. Despite the weird look, it only made Nala feel more fascinated by it. There had to be a reason for her to have 'woke up' with this flower on her hand. "Or perhaps this is only a random fabrication of my dream..."

As Nala turned around the corner in order to continue her search for an exit, the girl's eyes widened in a shocking gasp as she gazed torwards a view of a fallen man in front of her. He had spiky dark hair and was wearing priest clothes. His skin looked pale and sick, soaked in a black substance that could be confunded by tar or even some kind of black blood. The low and agonizing groan showed that the man wasn't feeling well. Nala was taken so aback by this, that she stood there paralyzed, not knowing how to react next.

"Who's this person?! He seems to be in a great suffering!" Eventually, Nala's mind composed itself to take the girl out of her own paralysis. She decided to check on the mysterious man. "H-Hey, are you alr-!"

However, Nala's feet stopped as she saw a second person appearing behind her, rushing torwards the sick man on the ground. It was a girl with the same white hair and hairstyle, around the same height as her and holding the same crystalized rose in her hand. It was Nala herself. A Nala that apart from having different clothes, was an exact copy of the Nala that stood there dumbfounded by what she was seeing.

"That's...me?" Nala asked to herself in disbilief as she watched the other Nala worringly stir the man's body, staring at him with concerne and dreadful eyes as well as moving her mouth to say words that would come out silent to the observing Nala. "What the hell is happening here?"


"Huff...huff..."

Ritsuka panted tiredly as he fled away in the middle of a dead forest, trying to escape from whatever creatures where after him. Diabolical howls sounded in the distance as Ritsuka continued running from whatever was chasing him. It all happened so fast. It all started when he had just opened his eyes to find himself in this eerie dead and misty forest and went to wander around. By doing that, Ritsuka couldn't help but have the sensation that he wasn't alone. And his gut feeling was right as soon after, he spotted some weird creatures behind the curtain of fog who stared back at him with hostile eyes. That was the signal that Ritsuka needed to immediatly leave.

"How did I ended up here!? What are these monsters that are chaising me?" Ritsuka felt like he was running nonstop for some minutes now. Yet, the things chasing him weren't thinking on giving up. Despite his best efforts, Ritsuka could hear the steps from his persuers getting closer by the second. "Crap! They're getting closer!" His legs were starting to feel worn out and exhausted. Ritsuka didn't had much more energy left to run away. As his pace started to get slower and the obscure monsters were nearing to him, Ritsuka thought this might would be the end for him.

Thankfully, he ended up being save.

"Tsk, all that running to still be an easy prey for them." A voice came from behind Ritsuka as a strange man clouded by shadows appeard to fend off the hostile creatures from Ritsuka.

Ritsuka quickly recovered his breath and gave a puzzled look at his saviour. "Huh? W-who ar-"

"None of your business." The man cut him short. "Now hurry and wake up already. I won't be protecting you a second time." He told to Ritsuka.

"Hm? What do you mean by-" Before Ritsuka could make a question to the man in front of him, a powerful light shined across the entire forest, ofuscating Ritsuka from properly seeing the person in front of him. Still, he tried his best to stay and talk with the man, shielding his eyes with one arm. "Wait! Just...tell me who are you..!"


"Ah!"

Abruptly opening his eyes, Ritsuka woke up for a second time. This time for real as he found himself inside his room in Chaldea. He wasn't in a dead forest and being chased by monsters anymore but in his bed. "Man, that was a weird dream." Ritsuka thought to himself. He hoped that it wouldn't be an occurrence from now on. Looking to the left of his bed and the top of the small chest of drawers, Ritsuka gazed at the time on his clock. 10:45 AM.

"Looks like I overslept a bit again." Ritsuka started to get out of his bed. "By this time everyone else must be at the cafeteria finishing their breakfasts. Gotta hurry."

Quickly taking a bath and putting his Chaldea master uniform, Ritsuka prepared to exit his room when the door he was about to open was instead open by Mash on the other side, surprising him. "Mash?"

"G-Good morning Senpai! I see that you were about be on your way to the cafeteria." Mash responded, also getting surprised by not expecting to see Ritsuka at the door when she opened it.

"Yes I was. I just overslept again." Ritsuka smiled to her. "Forgot to set an alarm."

Mash exhaled out of relief. "So it was just that."

Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"

"Oh, it's that neither you nor Peko and Nala showed up at the cafeteria. I was starting to think that something had happened to you." Mash told to Ritsuka, revealing that no one of the group was in the cafeteria except for her.

"Peko and Nala still haven't left their room?" Ritsuka asked genuinely. Peko was less surprising since he had reached late sometimes. But it was a first for Nala.

"I think so." Mash replied. "Should we check on them?"

Ritsuka had an hunch that maybe the two were just sleeping more time than usual, but still wanted to make sure that it was really nothing bad. "Yeah. Just see if they-"

"If we are what? We sleep a couple more minutes and you already translate that to something bad." Nala said as she and Peko appeard walking on the hall and approaching Ritsuka and Mash. Fou was with them, his body resting on Nala's shoulder.

"Morning. Glad to see you two are fine." Peko greeted Mash and Ritsuka. "We went to the cafeteria and saw neither of you there. We thought we had woke up way too late."

"But thankfully it seems that's not the case." Nala said. "You overslept as well Ritsuka?"

"Kinda..." Ritsuka responded, feeling a bit ashamed for the bad exemple he was giving to his team as their leader.

"Huh, guess this was the Oversleeping Day then." Nala joked.

"Well, at least it means you must have had a very good night of sleep and got well rested." Mash said with a smile.

"So it seems you were the only one who woke up early." Peko said to Mash.

"As expected from our eggplant." Ritsuka said happily, causing Mash to slightly blush.

"I-I just have an habit of waking up early. It's not anything of special really." Mash responded.

"Ha ha! True." Nala agreed with Ritsuka's statement. "That's why Mash is our...S..Se..S- How's it called?"

"Second in command?" Peko cleared up his sister's doubt.

"Yes! That!" Nala replied back.

"I agree on that too. Mash has always been reliable to us. We wouldn't reach this far without her." Peko complimented Mash.

"Thanks, but I also think this group and Chaldea wouldn't reach far without any of you too." Mash complimented her friends back.

"Fo fou!"

"And that goes for Fou as well." Ritsuka said, noticing that the animal wanted to be included.

Before they could go into other topics, the group heard some rushed steps coming from down the hall. "Oh god! I finally found you!" The voice came from a young chubby blonde man who was wearing glasses and a Chaldea Staff uniform. The young man stopped in front of them, taking some breaths to recover his energy. "The director sent me to look everywhere for you!"

"Have we met before?" Peko asked, not being able to remember if he had seen this person before or not.

"Yeah. I think we've seen this guy's face somewhere before." Nala speaked, altough she too didn't remembered much about him.

"He's a member of the Chaldea Staff." Mash said. "It's normal that you don't have much familiarity with him."

"Now that you mention it..." Ritsuka replied, rubbing his head with a nervous smile. He had been on Chaldea for a few months by now and still didn't had a single meaningful interaction with any staff member. Same for Peko and Nala. All three of them felt embaressed for not even daring until now to socialize with any member of the staff.

"O-Oh. I see hehe. We really don't interact with those people a lot eh?" Nala said.

"We're sorry if it felt like we were ignoring your presence until now." Peko apologized to the staff member who had finished doing his recovery breaths.

"Heh, no biggie." He adjusted his glasses and smiled to them. "Jingle Abel Meuniere. At your service." He introduced himself to them.

"Jingle Bell?" Ritsuka said, thinking he might have heard wrong.

"Jingle ABEL! But you all can just call me Meuniere." Menuriere said after correcting Ritsuka.

"Okay. So, I deduce doctor sent you searching for us because we weren't at the cafeteria when he went there." Nala tried to guess the reason for why Meuniere went to look for them.

"Right on the money." Meuniere told her. "You all should be done with breakfast by now and wait for the Rayshift to be ready."

"Then we will go immediatly to the cafeteria. Let's go guys." Ritsuka instructed to his group before they started to walk their direction torwards the cafeteria.

"Hey! Good luck on your mission today!" Meuniere told them. "All of the staff will be rooting for you as always!"

"Thank you for the encouragement Moonyere!" Peko replied back.

"IT'S MEUNIERE!"


"Here! Taste one of these." Ritsuka said as he threw a bag of sweet potatoes to Peko and Nala.

"They have a weird look." Peko said before opening the bag and removing one sweet potato from it. He wasn't very optimistic to try it. But it all changed when he took a bite out of it. "Hmmmm! This is pretty good!"

"Really? Lemme see!" Nala took out a sweet potato from the bag for herself, wanting to see if what her brother was saying was true. "Oh cr-This is amazing!" Nala said with stars on her eyes, proceeding to devour the entire potato.

"Knew you would like it." Ritsuka said with a prideful smile.

"If I'm not wrong, these sweet potatoes are from Japan, aren't they master?" Mash asked as she took a bite from one.

"Exactly! Satsumaimo is what they're called. Everyone in the country loves it." Ritsuka answered. "I would always eat one with my mom during the fall season."

"They're sooo great!" Nala said, taking out another one from the bag.

"Japan must have some very great food!" Peko added.

"You better savour it the best way possible, since it's the only bag of sweet potatoes I found on the cafeteria." Ritsuka told to the two kids, crushing the enjoyment they were having immediatly.

"HA!? This is the only bag of Satsumaimo in the entire Chaldea?!" Peko asked in total shock. He then proceeded to take the bag out of Nala's hands. "Then we need to spare the rest as means of cultivation so that we can have a stock of these in the future!"

Before she could precipitate and align with her sibling's idea, Nala reminded of something she had been teaching herself these past few weeks. "That won't be needed Peko. I have the solution for that." She said with a smug.

"What do you mean by that?" Ritsuka asked her.

Taking out a rubber ball from her pocket, Nala put the object on top of the table, much to the other's curiosity. "Check this out!" Nala said before staring at the ball and clapping her hands. "Apple!"

In an instant, the rubber ball magically transformed into an apple, much to everyone's surprise.

"Wow! How did you managed that!?" Mash asked to Nala.

"Discovered it some few weeks ago while playing around. Cool right?" Nala responded.

"It really is an apple." Peko said, touching the fruit to confirm that it was truly genuine.

"Want to taste it?" Nala asked, grabbing a knife.

"Do you know how to use a knife to cut food?" Ritsuka asked, unsure that he should let Nala cut the apple.

"Eeeh,...it's just like cutting enemies with my sword right?" Nala responded, showing clearly that she never cut an apple before.

"Alright, give me that. I'll do it." Ritsuka took the knife out of Nala's hand, deciding that he would be the one cutting the apple instead. Slicing it into pieces he gave one to Mash and Peko and then one for himself. "Let's see how it tastes..." And so all the three took a bite.

"So? Is it good?" Nala asked happily, waiting for some praise.

However, the expression on the three's faces were rather dull than joyful.

"...It's bland."

"...It's bland."

"...It's bland."

The apple didn't taste like sweet. It didn't taste like rotten. It tasted like nothing.

"It's...okay." Peko gave a fake opinion, painfully swallowing the tastless piece of the apple.

"From 0 out of 10?" Nala replied, wanting to know exactly the quality of the apple she 'made'.

"A six?" Ritsuka said. He was being generous but also a bit honest. The apple wasn't good, but also it wasn't straight out awful. So a rating of six wouldn't be so inappropriate.

"A six!?" Nala exclaimed in indignation.

"That doesn't mean it's bad. It has some qualities and other aspects that can be better with more training and time." Mash told her. "So in my eyes you made a decent apple Nala."

"Hmm, if you say so." Nala said a bit letdown, watching Fou taking a bite ouf of the apple.

"Fu fou...(Meh. Could have been better.)"

Turning her head around, Mash noticed Ritsuka was silently thinking of something. "Something's on your mind master?"

"Yeah. That Meuniere guy." Ritsuka responded. "That's the first time I've talked with someone from the staff."

"Us too." Peko said. "And to think we went this long without having a conversation with any of them..."

"I was expecting that all the members of the staff would at least look older. But that guy seems pretty young." Nala commented on the general appearence of Meuniere.

"I too thought that the entire staff here would be all full grown ups." Ritsuka replied.

"Well, Meuniere is only three years older than you master." Mash revealed. "But he's also one of the youngest members of the staff, having joined Chaldea recently. There's other members around his age too. I think it would be great if you could socialize with those staff members master." Mash proposed to Ritsuka.

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea." Ritsuka replied. "Perhaps when we come back after this mission."

"Any information about staff members like us too?" Peko asked to Mash.

"No. There is no children among the staff." Mash responded.

"Welp, that definetly sucks to hear." Nala sighed, crossing her arms.

Ritsuka then noticed a bracelet of seashells on Mash's wrist. "When did you gained a bracelet Mash?" Ritsuka asked her.

"Oh, this? It was made with the seashells from the previous Singularity. Nala made one for me." Mash answered happily.

"I also have one myself, see?" Nala said, showing her own bracelet of seashells around her wrist. "A symbol of our friendship." Nala leaned on Mash's shoulder, happily showing the two girl's bracelets, causing the older girl to blush slightly.

"And you didn't made one for me and Ritsuka?" Peko said, feeling he was left out.

"Girls stuff. It's only meant for us." Nala responded. "If you want something, go make a boys stuff only between you and Ritsuka."

"But what kind of boys stuff we could make?" Peko asked confused.

"A secret handshake?" Ritsuka proposed to him.

"Handshakes are suppose to be secret?" Peko asked, completely astonished by what he just learned.

"Buongiorno everyone!" Da Vinci greeted them as she entered the cafeteria.

"Good morning Da Vinci-san!" Mash greeted the servant back.

"I'm just passing by to say that the Rayshift will be ready in twenty minutes. You better compensate for your delay by starting to get ready now." Da Vinci told them, clearly not happy for the group's lateness today.

"We're sorry Da Vinci. We will be going to the contral room right now!" Peko told her.

"That's good to hear. Me and Romani will be waiting for you to give you further details about the next Singularity." Da Vinci told them, about to leave.

"Wait Da Vinci!" Nala called the inventor back. "Don't you want to taste this apple first?" She offered the fruit to the woman. "I made it."

"Of course. Even if I don't need to eat as a servant, I don't mind being a food taster." Da Vinci said, taking a bite out of the apple.

"So?" Nala asked.

"...It's terrible." Da Vinci said with a smile despite the brutal honesty.

"Did you really needed to put it like that?!" Ritsuka exclaimed


"You're finally here. Good to see you all had a nice sleep to last longer than normal." Romani said happily to the group, who in return looked back at Romani with concern.

"Well, I think we can't say the same for you." Ritsuka replied as he saw Romani's tired and sleepless bags under his eyes. It made them question if the doctor was having any sleep at all.

"Oh this? Don't think about it. He said, rubbing his eyes for a moment. "Nothing like a good coffee can't resolve."

"Hmm, if you say so..." Ritsuka said.

"How many nights have you been staying up late since our last Singularity doctor?" Peko asked him.

"Not that many. I still can count them with all my fingers." Romani responded, unintentionally rising a bit more the group's concern.

"If it eases your worries, I've also helped Romani on the researches." Da Vinci told them. "So it isn't like he was doing ALL the work by himself." She then turned her head to look at Romani. "Altough I think you push yourself sometimes."

"A director has to do a director's work y'know?" Romani told her.

"That means you have the results of your latest task doctor?" Mash asked him.

"Yes I do. Me and Leonardo have searched the BC era, more specifically, the King Solomon period." Romani informed them of theconclusion of the research he had done on the topic ever since the group had come back from the previous Singularity.

"So?" Nala said, wanting to hear the end results of it.

"We haven't detected any anomalies or Singularities present in it." Romani revealed. "So it's safe to say that the Seventy-Two Demon Gods have no correlation with Solomon whatsoever."

"Really? Nothing strange at all?" Peko asked, slightly surprised and also not wanting to believe that all that research was for nothing.

"Nope. Wherever the Demon Gods came from, it must have been from another era." Romani speaked.

Mash thought a bit about what Romani said. "Then, what if King Solomon was actually summoned by a mage from another era? As in, he's the servant to the true evil mastermind."

"That's a good assumption." Ritsuka commented.

Romani however remained skeptical. "Nah, it can't be. Solomon was a king that loved humanity and wished for peace. He would never align on someone's evil scheme. Plus, a contract between a master and a servant needs to be voluntary and in mutual terms of both sides as per we know from the Chaldea's Summoning System."

"That I have to agree." Da Vinci said. "On the short story that Chaldea had with summoning servants, I was the third one to be successfuly summoned. By the previous director no less."

"Olga was the one to summon you?" Nala asked curious.

Da Vinci shaked her head. "No. It was a director before her. The very first one and founder of the organization of Chaldea."

"So Chaldea was founded recently?" Peko asked her.

"Of that part I already knew." Ritsuka said. "What I didn't knew is that you were summoned by the previous director Da Vinci."

"It was also during his period that the second Heroic Spirit, the one within Mash, was summoned." Romani said. "That's why she's a Demi-Servant in the first place."

"But I still don't know its identity." Mash commented, looking at herself. "Just trying to think about it irks my brain."

"Guess that means you aren't the only one who has things to discover about yourself." Peko replied before making a question to Romani and Da Vinci. "And what about the first servant? Is it still here?"

"No. The ever first Heroic Spirit of Chaldea is a mystery to all of us." Da Vinci responded.

"Why?" Ritsuka asked, finding that information weird.

"Only the previous director knew about the first servant's identity. No one else." Romani said. "Not even me."

"Then we just need to find that previous director and ask him that." Nala talked. "He must be here somewhere if he was the owner of this place back then. Is he in some kind of secret room chilling inside Chaldea or something like that?"

A silence stood in the room.

"Nala...I think that the word 'knew' is a indicative enough to guess what happened with that director." Peko told her.

Nala realized what Peko meant by that. "Oh! Then you're saying he's..."

"The previous director as died on an accident." Mash told them. "I remember the day when that happened. Olga was devastated." She said sadly.

Ritsuka was as surprised as Peko and Nala. He certainly didn't knew about that. "Are you saying that Olga was related to the previous director?"

"Yes. She was his daughter." Romani responded, shocking Ritsuka, Peko and Nala even more.

"That's...a lot of stuff to process." Nala replied.

"Yeah. No wonder why she acted like that." Ritsuka muttered, remembering of the way Olga behaved when he first arrived here.

"Losing her father that way, must have been a painful blow for her." Peko commented. "If only we could have saved her that time."

"You may say it was accidental Leonardo, but I'm fully convinced he was murdered." Romani said. "Wouldn't surprise me if it was Lev. Seeing his true colors now, he might have had been jealous of the director, killing him."

"I'm not so sure about it. Lev never striked me as an envious guy. If anything, he would have killed the previous director in order to not interfere with his plans as Flauros. Also, as none of us ever witnessed or saw the first ever servant besides the director himself, who's to say that the summoning of that servant actually didn't go well? That it actually ended up as a failure? Could that servant be the reason that-"

"Alright, enough about that!" Romani cut Da Vinci short. "Anyone has other questions before we proceed?"

"Did you find out anything about the other things?" Peko asked them.

"Things like the Man of Sin Medea told us about." Ritsuka specified.

"Hmm, about that. We found some info about it." Romani said.

"What does it say?" Mash asked him.

"The Man of Sin is a figure associated with that of a false prophet in the Bible. One of bad omen that it can be equated with the Antichrist. If anything, Man of Sin could be a synonym to it." Romani said.

"That does sound important." Ritsuka replied. "Any idea of who it might be?"

"Religious scholars actually had guesses on whom the Man of Sin might had been, such as the roman emperors Caligula and Nero." Da Vinci said. "However, we faced those two before. So it can't be them."

"In other words, the Man of Sin's identity is a mystery to us." Romani added. "It's hard to try and discover it when he could have been anyobody or nobody at the same time. Someone without a proper name. Only a title."

"And the way Medea said, it seems that he will much possibly be our foe later down the line." Mash said.

"Could that mean perhaps that 'Man of Sin' is actually in charge of the Demon Gods and not Solomon?" Nala considered.

"It would be the most likely." Romani said. "And Solomon's name is being thrown here just to make us waste time with a dead end guess."

"And what about the beasts Medea told? Do you also found anything?" Peko asked, changing topics.

"Not really. Her cryptic words seemed to be just that. Cryptic words. Not a clue we could find about a beast in men's heart or one that lurks in the void. We also couldn't find a clue for the Leviathan's spontaneous appearence."

Peko then touched his own back, reminding himself of what was there in his skin. "And what about the crown tattoo/mystic code that me and Nala have on the back? Anything?"

Romani shaked his head in negative as Da Vinci sighed, showing they had no results with it. "Sorry. Still not a single clue about that. We assume that it could be some coat of arms from a kingdom but that's just it as far as our assumptions go." Romani said.

Peko lowered his head in slight dissapointment. "Still no clue yet then..." He whispered to himself.

Ritsuka patted him on the back. "Don't be like that. I'm sure we will find the meaning behind it sooner or later." He cheered the boy up. "Altough it's true that we have had many mysteries as of late. And that's without counting that golden beam we saw when fighting Nero in Rome. I wonder what that was as well."

"Ritsuka's right!" Nala told to her brother. "If we want some answers, we will have to go after them."

Peko smiled to her. "Both of you are correct. Thanks for making me remember that. Also, sorry for letting my mood down."

"You don't have to apologize for that." Mash told him. "It was a normal reaction."

"Exactly! Plus, we're getting stronger. Whoever is waiting for us in this Singularity won't have an easy time." Nala said with energy.

"You seem quite confident Nala." Ritsuka said, noticing how optimistic Nala speaked.

"Of course I am. You aren't?" She replied.

"Well, not on the same level as you." Ritsuka told her.

"As long as we go in level headed, I think there's no harm in being optimistic." Peko commented.

"We can go by that mentality." Mash added.

"But be wary to never underestimate the enemy, no matter how stronger or better you get at this job." Da Vinci warned them. "This is the kind of duty that even the most minor inconvenience and lack of preparation can be fatal."

"We will make sure to keep that in mind." Ritsuka told her. "Speaking of wich, what's the next Singularity doc?"

"According to the analysis and observation we were able to get from SHEBA's lens, it will be the most modern Singularity we have met until now. As in, the closest to our current time." Romani explained to them.

"Wich is?" Peko asked.

"The metropolitan city of London during the late 19th century. In other words, the peak and core of the Industrial Revolution era." Romani revealed.

"That does sound cool, if I had any idea of what that mean." Nala said, having no understanding or knowledge of that time period.

"I've read in some book that it was an age where people started using machines to do plenty of jobs and increase the fabrication of several products and resources." Peko said. "Is that correct?"

"I'd say that's the basics of it, but yes you're right." Ritsuka responded.

"You've been reading?" Nala asked to her brother surprised.

"Why shouldn't I? It helps a lot in giving us information about the world. You should do it too." Peko advised his sister.

"Nerd..." Nala replied to him.

"And like all the eras of the previous Singularities, the industrialization that happened during this time period was a huge step to the entire humanity." Romani told them. "If such evolution gets to a point of stagnation or outright ceases to exist, it will certainly cause major changes and problems for mankind's timeline."

"And so you already know what to do. Investigate the Singularity to get some possible clues, fight any opponents that will be on your way and find the grail." Da Vinci pointed out the group's objectives.

"Nothing that we don't know already." Ritsuka said. "We'll make sure to resolve this Singularity like all the others."

"Then I presume you are all ready." Romani told him. "What's the team status Fujimaru?"

Ritsuka then looked to his group. "Are all of you ready?"

"You know already." Nala replied.

"Prepared for the Rayshift at any time." Mash said.

"All of us are Ritsuka." Peko told. "Even Fou is."

"Fu fou! (That's right! This group wouldn't be the same without me!)"

Ritsuka nodded happily to them. "Here you have the confirmation doc!" He said to Romani.

"Okay then. Hop up on the plataform." Romani gestured to them. "Da Vinci..."

"Already on my way." She said, walking out of the control room. "Good luck to you!"

"Ah, and one more thing. I know it sounds ridiculous but..." Romani rubbed his head. "If you find Sherlock Holmes, could you please get an autograph from him please?"

"That would be impossible doctor." Mash told him. "Despite the fact that it's true he is from that Londond's era, his just a fictional character." "Altough I too wouldn't mind to get an autograph from him as well."

"Why do you have to crush my dreams like that?" Romani cried. "But anyways, good luck to you all!" Romani said as he started walking out of the room and went to his desk and keyboard, activating the Rayshift's functions.

Some seconds after, the entire group was now on the plataform waiting for the Rayshift process to begin.

"Iniciating operation Rayshift...

Starting in 3...2...1..."


"Rayshift successfuly. I guess." Mash said as she and the rest of the time landed in the middle of a street full of fog. It was so abundant that they could barely see anything around them.

"Where did this mist came from? It's everywhere!" Nala said, swinging her arms in an attempt to dissipate it.

"I saw in the illustrations of the book I read that it was normal for the London of this era to have fog." Peko said.

"And did it mentioned that it was annoying as well?" Nala asked, trying to see the buildings on both sides of the street.

"Lots of smoke during this period of London weren't that uncommon. Altough I'm not sure if it used to have this LOT of fog." Mash said, finding the quantity of mist in the air suspicious.

"My guess on how all this mist must be some kind of unnatural stuff." Ritsuka said, thinking about the possibility.

"Seems like it." Mash replied. "I'm being able to detect some kind of magic energy within the mist."

"Do you think the doctor could analyze it?" Peko asked to the Shielder.

Mash accepted Peko's idea. "Let's see if he can contact us now."

And speaking about timing, the hologram of Romani appeard in front of them. "I see that the Rayshift was successful." He said before taking a look at the place the group was in. "And well, they weren't kidding when they said this Londond was really a city of mist."

"Yet we think this mist isn't a normal one. Mash detected some magic energy in it." Nala said to him. "Could you try analyze it to discover what exactly is?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Wait a sec." Romani told them, typping his keyboard as he started to do a quick search on the magical content of the fog. "Okay! Found it what it is. But you better don't panic when I tell you this information."

"Hm? Why?" Ritsuka asked him.

"Well, for start, this mist is truly magical and not natural even for this London. The entire city is filled with it. And, haven't you guys noticed something strange when arriving there?" Romani tried to see if the group had noticed what he had already noticed.

Peko did. "The city! It's all empty."

"Right! There's no one in the streets. For such a big city that is definetly weird." Mash commented.

"And the reason why is for the same very fog you're in right now." Romani said. "You see, this fog is extremely abundant on the magical energy, making it poisonous and dangerous to all humans and other types of life form such as animals and plants."

Hearing that, the entire group widened their eyes in shock.

"Do you mean that we're breathing some type of deadly air right now?" Nala asked with a dreaded face.

"But...we aren't being affected by it." Mash said, looking at her own body and feeling all her organs working normaly. "If it did, we might could all have died by now."

"So we are kinda of immune to it?" Peko thought. "But how?"

"No worries. That's why I'm here." Romani said happily. "To start this explanation, Mash is a Demi-Servant, and servants normally are also immune to a type of fog like this. After all, they are stronger and more resistent than a normal human being."

"Okay, but what about me, Peko and Nala?" Ritsuka asked. "We aren't servants as far as I know. So why aren't we being affected by it?"

"That's why you never interrupt a teacher Fujimaru. I was about to explain that too." Romani told him. "Call it an hypothesis, but it's a theory of mine that the servant inside Mash has a skill that allows her to be resistent to poison. And since you are her master, that skill must be protectiong you as well through a connection of master and servant."

"And what about us? We aren't Mash's masters like Ritsuka." Nala told him, pointing out how that still didn't explained how she and Peko were immunte to it.

"Well, since you've been with Mash for long enough as companions and friends, that skill must also be protecting you two through a connection you formed with her. It means that anyone who Mash deems her friend gets to have this skill share with them." Romani explained the twins situation.

"Then Mash is protecting all of us?" Peko asked.

"You could say that." Romani responded.

"Well, another reason to thank you Mash." Nala smiled to her. "No less expected of our Second in command!"

"Yep! Thanks for that Mash!" Ritsuka said, making the demi-servant blush a bit.

"W-Well, I didn't even knew that I could do-"

"Let's all give a headpat to Mash!" Peko exclaimed.

"Wha-! N-no! I'm-"

"Approved!" Ritsuka said as he, Peko and Nala all went to headpat Mash as a sign of gratitude, causing her to blush even more. Romani stood by enjoying it silently.

"But returning to the main point. It seems that the fog is the de facto reason for all of London's inhabitants to have refugeed and locked themselves inside their houses." Romani told them, bringing up the topic. "With the entire city stopped like this, the facilities and industries that they work in must also come to a stop in their production with no one in there. Wich means that the process of industrialization has been abruptly halted."

"And that would certainly cause a divergence of humanity's normal timeline." Ritsuka concluded.

"With the end result being the fall of humanity as always on these cases." Nala said.

"A Singularity wouldn't be a Singularity without it after all." Peko said before looking at something in the sky. "That and the ring of light always above us."

Hearing that, all of them looked up, spotting the ring above that was still visable even with all this mist. A trademark of the Singularities. It has always been present on their missions. They could only wonder what was the rings true purpose and meaning by gazing ominously above them.

"Fu fou!"

Suddenly, Fou called back everyone's attention as it made noises to something ahead of them inside the mist.

"Hm? What was it Fou?" Mash asked to the animal.

"Oi! Whatta hell are ya stupids doin by staying outside in a time like this? Do you wanna die morons?" An agressive and female voice came behind the curtain of mist.

The entire group immediatly went to their combat postures as from the fog,a woman wearing a full set of iron armour with red patterns came out of it, brandishing her sword in one hand. Behind the helmet, her hidden eyes stared with curiosity at them.

"Oh? The fog doesn't affect you?"

To be continued...


And that was it for chapter 52 and the beggining of London!

Now, what will change in this version: Tamamo and Kintoki won't be in it. I know, I know, getting rid of the two like that may be heartless. (And I even love Kintoki). But the thing is, their appearences in this Singularity happens literally at the end of it. They just appear, say some lines, help you in a fight and then proceed to die to Solomon. They are basically cameos that change nothing to the context of the Singularity if you take them out of it. I even tried to come up with a version where they could be in it as actual characters but I ended up deciding it would be better to just not include them at all.

Just to think Artoria Lancer Alter a.k.a Lalter is even able to achieve a more shameful time screen and character introduction than those two is astounishing. (But for that character however, she will still be in this Singularity. Because in this version, her role will slightly change. For the better)

The main narrative and focus of London won't change drastically unlike Septem altough it still get some changes. In exchange for the removed characters, a few new others will be included. Like that servant at the start of the chapter. Hmmm, who might they be?

As for the dreams, Peko, Nala and Ritsuka had. Were they actual dreams? Who knows.

And now if you excuse me, I'll rewatch that opening of Fate/Samurai Remnant. Game looks promising. That's all I wanted to say, and see you next time on chapter 53! Peace!

P.S:

(Melusine is carrying some boxes around a hall of Chaldea)

Melusine: Uff, having to transport all these boxes from one place to another is tiresome. But the High Queen told me that the contents inside the boxes are of uttermost importance and need to be kept secret. So as her knight, I shall-

Peko: Hi Melusine! Need any help with those boxes?

Melusine: Hi Peko! I would apprec-I-I mean, no! I can hand- (Melusine let's one of the boxes fall to the ground, with its content getting out)

Peko: Ups! You let one fall. No problem, I'll catch it for you. (Peko crouches down to pick up the content of the box) Oh! Are these the content to the new Summer event that's coming out? I sure wouldn't mind to see what it-...Wait. (Peko starts to gather the fallen content and see what it is closely, his face slowly turning into one of shock) This...is just a summer version of LB6.

Melsuine: (Standing menancingly behind Peko) What a shame. From all the people here in Chaldea, you had to be the one to see it...