003 - Singularity F

Mashu Kyrielight

The world burns around her.

Dark, derelict streets engulfed in flames as far as the eyes can see. The cloying stench of curses permeating the air and invading her nostrils. This is a world where humanity has failed, where destruction and hatred prevailed. Only the dead and their grudges walk the land and any creatures of flesh and blood who dare step into this blackened soil will no doubt be consumed by it.

And yet Mashu… feels nothing of that. Not the searing pain of flames licking her flesh, not the overwhelming weight of the curses crushing her down and turning her innards against herself. There's just a persistent feeling of disgust towards everything this place represents…

… And an unknown strength on her limbs, a lightness on her body that she's never felt before.

Raising her arms to examine them closely, she clenches and unclenches hands covered in an armor she's never seen before. An armor that somehow feels painfully familiar, like a second, invisible skin she's always worn and is only now noticing for the first time. Turning her head to the side, she examines the huge shield stabbed into the ground within arm's reach. It's bigger than herself, an ornate slab of wood and metal way too heavy and unwieldy for anyone to actually use in combat.

Somehow, she knows she could easily swing the absurd contraption around, to bat away her foes or protect her allies from harm.

Her mind cast back to the recent past. To the explosions that engulfed the Rayshift bay, to the crushing pain when she got caught by a falling beam, to the coppery taste of blood in her mouth as life slowly escaped her body. To an unknown voice in her ear just as she was about to pass away, of being entrusted a power born from legend.

"Demi… Servant?" She mutters to herself in incredulity.

For so long, the Servant resting within her body had remained dormant, scorning the efforts of the magus who summoned them to the land of the living, unmovable in his disdain towards their morals and inflexible in his condemnation of their means.

And yet… at the moment of truth, when everything seemed lost… Maybe Mashu isn't doomed to be an unsightly failure for the rest of her life, maybe her existence can still have a meaning.

More memories flow in, of overhearing the emergency Rayshift countdown while her mind was still reeling from the rapid and confusing developments. Of her new, improved senses drawing her attention towards the reinforced steel doors of the bay just in time to watch them blow away to reveal Senpai's figure. Of the determination glowing in Senpai's eyes as she made way into the bay, only for her determined look to become one of pain and guilt upon catching sight of Mashu.

Of Mashu's own shocked realization of Senpai being more than met the eye and then… A blinding flash of light as the Rayshift transported them into the singularity. Into here.

That's right, Mashu realizes, immediately starting a second more frantic scan of the area. Senpai should be in the Singularity too and this place is dangerous! Even if Senpai can blow up reinforced steel doors, that doesn't mean she can survive this cursed place on her own!

Fortunately for Mashu's peace of mind, she only needs to search for a short while before her new Servant senses pick up the sounds of combat. From there, it's just a matter of seconds before she reaches some sort of plaza where a mass of animated skeletons are trying and failing to overwhelm a lone figure. The good news is that Senpai was indeed there. The even better news is that Senpai can take care of herself.

Mashu watches in awe as Haku-senpai dances around their enemies with ruthlessly efficient movement that even her new Servant instincts consider masterful and worthy of respect. In her hands, and sometimes her feet or even less conventional body parts, all manner of weapons and tools constantly flash into existence. They are only good for a single strike each, but that's more than enough to do the job.

Soon enough, Haku-senpai is standing alone, surrounded by a mass of slowly disintegrating skeletons. Still caught in a sense of wonder at the display, Mashu makes her way to Senpai's side.

"Fire…" Senpai half-mutters half-whines once Mashu gets close enough, sending the Demi-Servant a pitiful look. "Why did it have to be fire?"

"…Eh?"

"I have mixed feelings about this, you know?" Senpai continues, giving no indication of having heard her. "Cursed fire consumed everything I was, once. But it's also in cursed fire that I was reborn, that I met Nii-chan, that my life started anew. How am I supposed to feel, surrounded by these flames again?"

Mashu has the strangest feeling that she's just been casually handed a precious nugget of knowledge, a key piece to understanding Senpai as a person… But she lacks the required context to properly understand the implications.

"But.. I wonder if it was just the shadows of the past making giants in my mind?" Haku-senpai continues thoughtfully. "This doesn't feel as terrifying as I thought it would. Not even close. The fire is lukewarm at worst, the curses are weak and aimless."

At the contemplative admission, Mashu finds herself swallowing thickly. These fires that ended civilization, these curses that can strangle normal humans just by existing… What sort of person would consider them lukewarm and weak? What sort of life has Haku-senpai lived through that she would think like that?

"Come to think about it, I'm feeling a bit disappointed." Senpai crosses her arms, nodding to herself. "Like, geez… give me back my childhood dreams, you stupid fire. All those nightmares were for nothing!"

"U– Um…" Mashu finds herself trying again. "Haku-senpai?"

"Oh? Oh! Sorry, Mashu!" Blinking in confusion, Senpai finally snaps out of her fuge, scratching the back of her head with a sheepish expression. "I must've looked really silly, talking to myself like that."

"Um, it's nothing. But was that from before Senpai's… Magecraft?" The question wasn't intended as an accusation, just a show of curiosity and maybe a bit of confusion. "I thought Senpai wasn't a magus?"

"And I'm not!" Senpai answers in amusement. "I'm a magecraft user, but I don't qualify as a magus."

"You still lied, senpai." This time, there's definitely a bit of an accusatory edge to her words. "You shouldn't do that."

"Hey, I never said a word that was untrue! My interviewer was a pretentious idiot and the questionnaires weren't any better. They never asked whether I knew magecraft or about the Moonlit World, just about my magus background." Haku-senpa explains without showing a hint of remorse. "Since I don't have one, they called it a day and everyone just assumed I was just a mundane girl. Then I kept it up because it was too amusing to stop and I wanted to see how long it would take for someone to notice."

When explained like that, Mahu can't help but feel frustrated. Senpai has a point. Even if Mashu feels a bit betrayed by the whole thing, nobody was harmed by it in the end and Senpai revealed her abilities without hesitation as soon as they were required. Surely that counts for something? Besides… Senpai still passed the Fou test, that must mean she's trustworthy.

Even if she has a bit of a mischievous streak and likes to… How did they put it in that movie? 'play fast and loose with the rules'? Something like that.

"Sorry about misleading you, Mashu-chan." Senpai apologizes with a deep bow, both palms placed together above her head. "There was no ill-intent, I swear!"

For a moment, Mashu considers saying nothing and making Senpai stay bowing like that for a while, just to show how cross she's feeling. But in the end Mashu isn't the sort of person to do mean things or to hold grudges.

"It's nothing, Senpai." She says with a sigh. "We should—"

"Fou, Fou!" An utterly out of place cry cuts her off and draws her eyes towards a side alley, from where a familiar white and fluffy creature is rapidly making their way to her.

"Fou-kun?" Mashu asks in surprise, kneeling down to let the creature climb to her arms. "How did you get here?"

"Maybe there's more survivors from the accident?" Senpai proposes hopefully. "We should explore around."

Encouraged by the optimistic proposal, Mashu readily agrees. Even if that fails, exploring around should allow them to look for an appropriate spot to try and re-establish communication with Chaldea.

Olga Marie Animusphere

She has no idea how she got here.

She has no idea how this is possible.

But there's no doubt in her mind about her current location.

This is Fuyuki City, 2004. She's inside Singularity-F.

It should be impossible.

Olga Marie Animusphere has a 0% compatibility with the Rayshift System.

She should be in the control room, giving instructions from afar, because it's been years since she gave up on leading the expedition from the front lines.

And yet here she is, standing in the scorched streets of this accursed city where something has gone very wrong.

Normally, the cold hard facts would've sent her mind into overdrive, a mix of hope and horror as she mulled over the implications and questioned everything she's ever known and the truths of her own potential. After all, if something as vital as her Rayshift compatibility has been proven erroneous… What else has?

And, maybe most important, how is she expected to believe that such gross incompetence has actually been the result of mere accident? Did her results get sabotaged? Are there hostile entities actively conspiring against Chaldea? Since when? How? Why?

She might not be the smartest Director, not the most capable. But she's not so stupid that she would miss the importance of such implications when they're so blatantly dangled in front of her. Normally, getting to the bottom of that mystery would be her number one priority. For the sake of humanity… and her own.

Unfortunately, life-changing revelations and existential threats will have to wait for later, because she's found herself besieged by more immediate concerns. That is to say, a legion of undead skeletons hungering for her tender, mortal flesh.

"Hiiii! Stay away! Stay away from me!" She cries out in (hysterical) (panicked) frustration, raising both arms to attack upon finding herself with her back against a wall. "[Gandr][Gandr][Gandr]!"

The first two curses fly wide, missing the the closest skeleton to more or less uselessly splatter on the unending hosts behind it, but the third manages to nail the actual target and send its head flying. The first figure collapses on the ground like a puppet with cut strings, but there's no time to celebrate.

Taking advantage of the opening, Olga rushes towards a side alley. This will force her to get closer to the horde and risks getting her surrounded, but there's no helping it. Some more curses manage to keep the area clear for long enough to slip through and escape into the next street. Even if the skeletons follow her, the narrow alley will make for a perfect chokehold and—

Actually, screw that. Stopping in place and turning around towards the alleyway, she reaches for the emergency tools in her breast pocket. The first skeleton has already closed more than half the distance, with many more following right behind.

"Return to the earth and see you in hell." She growls under her breath, fishing out a thumb-sized jewel from her pocket and throwing it at the feet of the first skeleton. "[Topaz Detonation!]"

The gem bursts into an explosion of white light that makes the walls at both sides of the alley collapse on the skeletons with very satisfying crunching noises that put a small, vindictive smile on Olga's face.

"And that's that." She hums to herself, nodding in satisfaction and straightening her clothes as she turns around to walk away. "Now, let's see if I can— Oh, curses."

This street is full of skeletons too, even more than there was in the last one.

As this second horde starts closing in towards her position, Olga evaluates her options( while trying very hard not to hyperventilate), she still has some multi-purpose gems, but there's only a couple of explosive ones in the mix. Not enough to punch through such crowds.

She still has fuel in the tank to fire a good number of [Gandr] or maybe a couple more powerful spells, but the first option is hilariously outmatched here and her repertoire of high-level spells isn't particularly useful against an army. Give her a brea, she's a strategic commander, not a field scout!

Maybe she could take to the roofs? There's no guarantee they'll be clear and her means to get up there won't exactly be pleasant, but considering the alternative is a glorious last stand against a mindless horde…

She's still considering her options when a green glowing orb falls from high above like a shooting star, colliding with one of the skeletons and turning it to ashes. The green orb is followed by a blue one, then a red one, each of them falling upon a skeleton and immediately calcinating it.

More orbs in the same colors follow the first three and, while the skeletons are countless, the rate at which the orbs are falling is slowly increasing until—

"[Rainbow Rain - Photon Ray]"

The very air becomes a lightshow as the colorful orbs fall upon the undead like glowing raindrops sent out by an outraged storm god. Olga can only watch, awed and entranced, as the seemingly endless legion surrounding her turns into ashes, destroyed to the last.

By the time the lights vanish and the world returns to normal -or what passes for normal in this god-forsaken Singularity- only Olga remains standing. Olga and two strangers who look perfectly at ease in this accursed city and seem content to examine her in silence.

The first of them is a young woman of dark skin, short white hair and cool red eyes, wearing headphones and dressed in casual black clothes. She wouldn't look out of place in the streets of any modern big city if not for the glowing bow in her hands that's making all of Olga's magus instincts want to break down and cry.

The second looks maybe a bit older, though the (enviable) frustrating youthfulness of Asian features makes it hard for Olga to say for sure. She has clear blue eyes, sporting a confident smile and somewhat pointless twintails adorning a lushful black mane. A formal-looking red overcoat covers most of her body and— Is that a mocha slush in her hands? Where did she even–!?

No, that's not what matters here. What matters is the poise and confidence this unknown woman carries herself with in the middle of the literal apocalypse. It's a confidence Olga has seen many times before. At the Clock Tower.

The silence stretches while the eyes of the pair scan over Olga, for just long enough to become uncomfortable before the potential magus finally speaks up.

"I saw your gemcraft." She comments with an approving hum. "A bit rough around the edges, but it shows promise."

"Who are you?" Olga asks, eyes narrowed in suspicion at the non-praise.

"Oh, where are my manners? My name is Tohsaka Rin." The woman introduces herself. "Master of Archer of Red in the Fifth Fuyuki Grail War and Second Owner of this dumpster fire of a city. And this is, of course, Archer of Red."

"Un."

Fifth Fuyuki Grail War? Archer of Red? What's wrong with this timeline? What the heck happened to this place?

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