CHAPTER 8:
DESTINATION: FRANCE
The next day, they were in the lecture theatre, Olga-Marie presiding, with Da Vinci and Roman nearby. The various Servants, Masters, and hangers-on (this last being Grey, who stuck with her mentor no matter what) were seated in the audience. And they eagerly awaited Olga's briefing.
"Good morning," Olga began. "I hope that all of you are well-rested, and will be tomorrow, as that is when we begin the Grand Order in earnest, and have you Rayshifted to the next Singularity. And while I am sure Fuyuki was extremely arduous, we cannot assume that this Singularity will be any easier. If anything, it may be worse. Indeed, you are going into a warzone: France, during the height of the Hundred Years War, in the year 1431 AD. Now, I know that both Hermione and Mash would know much about this period of history, and Harry would have some passing familiarity with it, but of the remaining Masters, who can tell me anything about this time in history?"
Barghest held up her hand. "The Hundred Years War was a clash between England and France over territories and the supposed right of the English kings to claim the throne of France. While not actually continuous, the conflicts arose time and time again over a period of over a century. A number of famed warriors and kings fought. Henry V of England was one of the most famous. And then there was Jeanne d'Arc, a French peasant girl who claimed to be led by the voice of God, and managed to lead the French to several victories before she was tried and burned at the stake for being a witch."
Olga nodded. "The specific year of the Singularity is telling. 1431 was the year Jeanne d'Arc was burned at the stake, in May, specifically, while the mentally-feeble Henry VI of England was crowned as King of France in December that year, even if that didn't last for long. The Singularity seems to take place between those two events. Keep in mind, Charles VII of France, then the Dauphin, owed his throne to Jeanne d'Arc's efforts, but let her be tried and executed. It's possible that one of the enemy Servants may be a vengeful Jeanne d'Arc, though I suggest we keep an open mind. We're still trying to understand why this specific era was targeted, but remember that, all jokes against the French aside, France itself is a cultural and historical nexus point for much of Europe. The Enlightenment had many of its best thinkers within France in fields of philosophy, politics, and science. The French Revolution, bloody and atrocious though it was, also began a movement towards democracy as we know it in modern governments, and influenced the founding of the United States of America. And France has influenced many other countries for better or for worse through military action. William the Conqueror, for example, while technically of Viking descent being a Norman, established a French-speaking dynasty in England that lasted for centuries. And let us not forget the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte."
"In other words, Viva la France?" Roman asked facetiously.
Olga shot a glare at Roman, before returning her gaze to the others. "As with the previous Singularity, there may be a Holy Grail pinning it in place. The ultimate goal is to retrieve the Holy Grail or else deal with whatever is holding the Singularity in place. Anyone who opposes us must be stopped. In all likelihood, they will be Servants. However, we have a number of Servants of our own, Servants who are not just powerful or experienced, but, in some cases, have memories of prior Holy Grail Wars in other timelines. Now, Saber Arturia, Iskandar, and Hassan of the Hundred Faces have encountered one Servant who may be in this Singularity. Namely, a Caster who claimed to be Gilles de Rais, a former supporter of Jeanne d'Arc who degenerated into a serial child molester and murderer, notorious for being the inspiration for the Bluebeard tale. Would anyone else care to add to that?"
Mordred spoke up. "I actually met Jeanne d'Arc during my Holy Grail War. Because one lot of Magi were trying to stack the deck, Jeanne got summoned as a Ruler. Only, 'cause there was some other Ruler present, some Japanese guy called Shirou Amakusa Tokisada, she had to possess a distant relation that was compatible with her, I think. Now, I won't say that Jeanne d'Arc didn't have a dark side, but the Ruler Servant I met was very much a goody two-shoes. Oh, she wasn't weak by any means, she could kick some serious arse, but she definitely fit the part of a saint in a sickeningly nice way. Actually, I also met another Servant from France in that Grail War. Astolfo, one of the Paladins of Charlemagne. He…was weird. And I don't mean him crossdressing. He was a bit…" Mordred twirled her finger near her temple, whistling a cuckoo noise. "Saved his arse from that sadistic bitch of a Master of his, though, and that Homunculus he was protecting. Long story. I'll let you know if I recognise anyone else from that war, though."
"Thank you, Mordred," Olga said. "That was helpful." As the teenaged knight preened, Olga continued. "For now, every Master with Rayshift compatibility will be sent into the Singularity. However, as we revive more Masters and bring more reactors back online, that will need to change. We cannot risk sending every Master to the Singularities. This is not a video game where we get continues. If we fail, it's game over for good, for us, and every living being on this world. Thus, I should reiterate that, while risks are a part of the Grand Order, do not take needless risks. In addition, Xu Fu and Habetrot will remain here as support personnel, and the last line of defence should Chaldea itself be attacked, with Waver Velvet as their assigned Master, with Iskandar going to Melusine. As with Fuyuki, should Stray Servants be present, ally with them once you can be somewhat sure of trusting them. However, I should point out some potential problems some of you may not be aware of. Firstly, Masters act as anchors and power supplies for their Servants. You already know this, but remember that this power drain becomes amplified when Servants use their Noble Phantasms. Choose the time to use Noble Phantasms with care. They are considered a trump card for a reason, and may expose your Servant's identity to the enemy…and their weaknesses. On that note, secondly…you should assign each of your Servants a codename."
"A codename?" Mash asked.
"You do not need one, as you are not a historical figure yourself, Mash," Olga said. "However, we cannot use Servant classes as a codename unlike standard Grail Wars, as we have multiple examples of the Saber, Lancer, Caster, and Rider classes. We can use Berserker for Xiang Yu, Assassin for Hassan of the Hundred Faces, and Archer for Oda Nobunaga. In fact, I also believe that both Barghest and Melusine should consider re-assuming their old codenames as Tam Lin, Gawain and Lancelot respectively. That could confuse the enemy and prevent them from exploiting any weaknesses the Fae or Albion have."
The two Fae in question shared a look, before the pair of them nodded. "That makes sense," Melusine said. "While we are not as powerful as we were, and our naming by Morgan was meant to shape our power to her liking, we are still as powerful as Servants, and while our weaknesses aren't easily exploited, Servants who have the power to target our weaknesses are potentially a danger. As Albion's remnant, Servants famed for slaying dragons could be a potential danger for me. That may be a moot point if we encounter Stray Servants from our Lostbelt. If Arturia Fae, Habetrot, or our Gareth could be summoned, then it stands to reason others could, and they could expose our identities out of spite."
"Of those, the greatest concern is three of them," Barghest said. "Morgan resembles Arturia's corrupted self we fought in the Fuyuki Singularity, but with an adult body and pale blue eyes, dressed in a black dress. She wore a veiled crown at the time. Baobhan Sith appears to be a girl in her late teens or early adulthood, often wearing a crimson dress, and with similarly coloured hair. She has blue eyes and pointed ears. Finally, Vortigern appeared to us as a round-faced young man with dark grey hair and blue eyes, and dressed as a king when he claimed to be Oberon. How did he appear when he had revealed himself, Arturia Fae?"
"His face was identical, though the expressions made it different. He was dressed in darker raiment, with his legs and his left arm becoming insect-like," Arturia Fae said.
"I want Pensieve memories of these and any Servants you encountered in your Lostbelt that we do not know about, as well as any prominent figures who may become Servants," Olga declared. "In fact, I would like Arturia Pendragon and Mordred to provide Pensieve memories of the Servants they encountered in their respective Grail Wars. I want all of you briefed on those Servants before the day is out. Keep in mind, they may not necessarily be our enemy, but we need that information for an advantage."
"Easier said than done with at least one Servant I encountered," Mordred said. "One of the Assassins I encountered, Jack the Ripper, had a skill called Information Erasure. Basically, we couldn't remember much after she left our sight of what she looked like. Something to do with her legend, I guess. I dunno whether a Pensieve memory would bypass that, but right now, all I remember was that Jack was female and a kid. That's literally it."
Olga nodded, before looking at the gathered Masters and Servants. "As with the Fuyuki Singularity, Harry Potter and Barghest will be the Masters in overall command. In addition, I want Melusine to act as a sub-commander for reconnaissance, both aerial and covert. Hinako, I apologise if you were expecting a leadership role."
The vampire in question shrugged. "Honestly, that wasn't my thing. Don't get me wrong, Fujimaru and Delphi are still my juniors, and I have more life experience than anyone in this room, but being in the spotlight hasn't been my style for centuries, and I'm not exactly a general either, not even a Modern Major-General."
The humans who got the reference chuckled, albeit a little forcedly, with Da Vinci then humming a snatch from the famous Gilbert and Sullivan song. "Yes, well, Wodime was intended to be the leader of Team A, in any case," Olga remarked. "Unfortunately, his injuries are still too severe to safely revive him, at least not until we can be sure we can revive him. Once this Singularity is over, we can begin the process of seeing whom of Team A we can revive safely, with help from not only our medical personnel, but any Servants with healing abilities. Once enough Masters from Team A have been revived, we will begin a rotation system. It will not be divided along the lines of Team A and everyone else either. The only difference is that Harry and Barghest will be the leaders of their team, and Wodime will lead his once he is revived, or failing that, Hermione. In addition, I expect proper communication between Masters and Servants. This should not be a problem, you all seem to get along well with each other, but it bears repeating. Do not be afraid to suggest ideas to each other, either. And speaking of communication, for the mission, the Masters will be dressing in Mystic Codes that allow for translation. Habetrot has enhanced the already-existing Mystic Codes, for which she has our thanks."
The toddler-sized Fae chuckled in gratitude. "Hey, you're welcome. They're not exactly bridal gowns, but thanks for comin' to me for improvin' them."
Olga nodded, before returning her gaze to her audience once more. "That is all, save for one last thing. Remember, this is only the second Singularity, with six more to deal with. You know what the stakes are. We are not going to let Flauros or his master win. I'll be damned if we give them the satisfaction of giving up and dying. Right, that is all. Dismissed…"
A couple of hours later, the Masters, Servants, and the top surviving personnel of Chaldea were up to speed on the Servants encountered by their Servants in the Holy Grail War. It was a veritable litany of famous and infamous figures from myth and history. Then again, that was a given with Servants.
Harry began listing them mentally, aside from the ones already summoned. From the Fourth Holy Grail War, there was Diarmuid of the Love Spot, Gilgamesh of Uruk, Berserker Lancelot, and Gilles de Rais. From the Fifth Holy Grail War, there was Medea of Colchis, EMIYA, Sasaki Kojiro, and (thanks to Medusa bringing it up) another Assassin they encountered in the Fuyuki Singularity, Hassan of the Cursed Arm.
Mordred was a wealth of information about various Servants. On the 'Red' side aligned with Clock Tower in her Grail War, there was Atalanta, Karna, Achilles, Shakespeare, Spartacus, and Semiramis. On the 'Black' side aligned with the Yggdmillennia clan, there was Siegfried (Mordred only knew what he looked like thanks to a Homunculus she encountered, Sieg, turning into him thanks to a heart transplant, long story), Chiron, Vlad the Impaler, Astolfo, Avicebron, Frankenstein's Monster, and Jack the Ripper, though the memories of the Assassin were unclear. Finally, there was Jeanne d'Arc and Shirou Amakusa Tokisada, the Rulers of that Grail War.
And then, there were the various Servants or figures who could potentially become them from the Lostbelt. Morgan le Fay. Baobhan Sith. Oberon, or rather, Vortigern. Merlin. Da Vinci's Rider form. Redra Bit. Tristain. Percival. Aurora. Woodwose. Tamamo Vitch Koyanskaya, seemingly an evil version of Tamamo no Mae. Muryan. The real Gawain and Lancelot, as witnessed in Barghest's final battle.
All of it would be useful information in the battles to come. There was the possibility that they wouldn't encounter them in the field, as Stray Servants or enemies, but Harry knew his luck was rarely that kind. They had to prepare for the worst, even if it didn't eventuate. Doing so with these kinds of stakes was only sane.
But what would they find in the Singularity? Well, they had to find that out for themselves…
CHAPTER 8 ANNOTATIONS:
So, there you have it. The final briefing, and then, the lead-up to the Orleans Singularity.
Now, keep in mind, I won't be writing out the Singularity. The next chapter will be after a timeskip soon afterwards. I don't want to write glorified novelisations of the game, so until at least the London Singularity, if not the Camelot one, there won't be detailed adaptations of the Singularities' stories.
Review-answering time! Well, revenge on Merlin will have to wait until later, guys, as much as we would like to see him suffer. ;)
Dragon Man 180: I think everyone will react with bemusement if and when Prototype Merlin appears.
The Disquieting One: No. In fact, I will be endeavouring to avoid bringing in too many alternate versions of Servants. I did so with Arturia, true, but, for the most part, I want to have only one version of a Servant in Chaldea. This may not be the case with Arturia, I might bring in Salter and her Lancer counterparts, and Medusa might get Ana to keep her company.
waytodawn0: Exactly. And to be fair, a lot of the earlier Singularities get boring. As with GhostXavier, I am mostly going to be adapting the later ones, though I am seriously considering adapting the London Singularity as well, partly because of the interaction between the Arturias and Mordred, partly because it's when Goetia reveals himself as 'Solomon', but also because Holmes was involved in the Singularity, even if we didn't actually meet him until the Camelot Singularity.
That being said, while the jury's still out on the Pseudo-Singularities, the Lostbelts are NOT happening. I went to a lot of trouble to ensure that was the case. Hermione, thanks to Legilimency of Marisbury, learned something of his plans, and disabled the parts of CHALDEAS that would have caused the bleaching of the world and the Lostbelts. However, characters from the Lostbelts will appear to some degree. Aside from canonical Servants, I have plans to bring in Patxi from the first Lostbelt as a Servant.
No numbered annotations this time.