Chaldea was not truly prepared to have an Alien God planting itself on the planet and destroying the Human Order, but they were in theory the ones who should deal with this. Only... No one expected the god to be from a Parallel World, nor for the god to have apostles so frighteningly strong.
A full rewrite of Fate/Grand Order Part 1 with custom HI3 singularities. I may be going slightly mad.
Long-time lurker, first time poster here. About a month and a half ago, I saw a post on Qwaar's excellent Seele Quest thread (on SB) that mentioned he was posting in hopes of attracting better authors to write honkai fics. Now, I don't think I'm a better writer than him - I haven't written publicly since high school, unless you count research papers - but a writing bug stuck in my head that just wouldn't go away. A month+ of notes, planning, and discussion with my brother (my co-writer and beta) and we present to you all this utterly ambitious crossover. Also crossoposted to Spacebattles. No/little knowledge of HI3 hopefully required, FGO knowledge assumed.
T-200 till ????:
Base sequence: human genome confirmed. Alignment: Lawful Neutral. Welcome to the center for the future of humankind. This is the Security Organization for the Preservation of Humanity, Chaldea.
"Fou? Kyu…Kyuu? Fou! Fou…Fou!"
Ritsuka stirred softly, murmuring gibberish. The feeling of something soft licking her cheek repeated, and she vaguely gestured at her face instinctively, swatting it away.
A soft and kind voice cut through her drowsiness. "Umm, since it's neither morning nor night, please wake up, Senpai."
Ritsuka's eyes snapped open, taking in the sight of a girl her age with pink hair and glasses, wearing an oversized jacket. She was crouching down, staring at her with a look of confusion. Uwaaaahh…..Cuuuteeee.
Her mouth stumbled, brain not fully awake yet. "Uh, um. I. Who…who are you?" Dammit, Me. That wasn't smooth at all.
The girl tapped at her face, the look of confusion deepening into a slightly troubled expression. "That's a hard question to answer suddenly. Maybe I'm not important enough for you to know my name?"
Before Ritsuka could respond to that absurd statement, the cute stranger had continued. "No, no, I do have a name, to be clear I do have a proper name. But I so rarely have a chance to use it…I'm afraid I don't really leave a good first impression on people, you see."
Ritsuka slowly shifted up into a sitting position, staring at the girl as she started to appear flustered. "…Ahem. Anyways, can I ask you a question, Senpai? You were asleep, but I don't see why you'd sleep in the hall. Are you one of those people who can't sleep unless you're on a hard surface?"
Oh man. This girl thinks I'm a total weirdo. So uncool.
Fighting off a rising blush, Ritsuka laughed it off, scratching the back of her head. "Oh man, I was sleeping here? How embarrassing!"
The glasses girl responded earnestly, a strangely exuberant expression on her face. "Yes, like a log. It was such a deep sleep, I was tempted to record it in the database as a textbook example!" She finished the statement with an honest-to-god fist pump.
Holy shit. This girl is adorable.
As Ritsuka opened her mouth to speak, a small white thing jumped forwards, patting her on the knee. "Fou! Kyuu! Kyao!"
The girl blinked and looked down at the weird squirrel-fox. "I completely forgot to introduce you, didn't I, Fou? This squirrel-like creature is Fou! He's a Privileged Life-Form allowed to freely walk around Chaldea. He's something like a companion of mine, and led me here to you, Senpai! It's rare for him to interact with people, so it's interesting he's being friendly with you."
Fou nodded imperiously, tapping Ritsuka once more on the knee before sticking his head in the air, as if saying 'That's right, be honored!'
Ritsuka reached out carefully and rubbed his fur, finding it soft and fluffy. Fou nestled into her hand, as if demanding more. "Whoa, a mysterious creature…cute, though. Good job leading her here, Fou!"
The stranger nodded, smiling at the interaction before reaching out to pet Fou's tail lightly with her hand. "Yes, he normally doesn't go near anyone aside from me, but he seems to like you, Senpai."
A deep voice cut in, causing Ritsuka to look around, spotting a tall flamboyantly dressed man in green, with long brown frizzy hair. He was smiling as he said "Congratulations. I suppose that makes you the second caretaker of Fou in Chaldea. Ah, where are my manners? My name is Lev Lainur, one of the technicians employed here. You are…?"
Ritsuka blinked and responded, nodding to both out of habit, unable to bow due to her posture. "Ah, sorry, sorry! I'm Fuji–no, english, uh - Ritsuka Fujimaru, a recent graduate from Mifune High in Japan. Nice to meet you both! You can call me Ritsuka, I'm not big on formality!"
Lev nodded, checking his wrist communicator. "Ah, Ms. Ritsuka, so you're the last of the 48 candidates. Welcome to Chaldea. It is good to see you have arrived safely here. Hmm, as I understand you would have little training, yes? In that case, let me be the first to assure you that that's perfectly fine. I have no doubt you will exceed all expectations."
Ritsuka waved it off, responding "Ah, no, no. Please, you're overestimating me, I don't even really get what this place is about or why I'm here! I donated blood at a local drive and then some strange people in black showed up? They said they were recruiters and that something in my DNA made me a perfect candidate? They were very persistent and when I finally agreed to hear them out I think they knocked me out and dragged me here. Or well, I don't have any memories between saying yes and waking up on the plane ride, aha ha ha…"
Lev frowned at that, and the cute stranger looked troubled. "How did I…? If that is the case, Ms. Ritsuka, I will endeavor to find those individuals - such behavior is abhorrent, our Director will surely agree."
After saying that he seemed to remember something, and nodded at the girl. "Speaking of which, Mash, I actually was coming around to find you. The Director will be holding the main briefing in the command room shortly, you shouldn't be late! You should take Ms. Ritsuka along with you - the hallways here can be quite confusing for the unaware, after all."
The girl - Mash, Ritsuka supposed - nodded, and held out a hand to help Ritsuka stand up fully. Ritsuka, never one to turn down the chance to hold a hand with a cute girl, took it, though really she didn't need it at this point, and slipped to her feet, saluting the sharply dressed gentleman. "You got it, Mr. Lainur! Lead the way, Mash!"
Mash paused for a second, tilting her head at Lev. "Um, aren't you going to join us?"
Lev smiled gently at them. "I want to take some notes and do some quick digging about the recruiters Ms. Ritsuka mentioned first, then I'll catch up. Don't you worry, Mash, the Director has some patience when it comes to me, I'll be fine."
Was Ritsuka mistaken, or did one of his narrow eyes wink at her? Well, she wasn't going to turn down the offer, regardless, and headed forwards with a bold tug at Mash's hand, still held in her own. As the two girls genially walked away, Mash explaining to Ritsuka about the nature of Chaldea and its defining mission, Lev's smile lasted until they vanished from sight. It dropped to a carefully neutral face, staring at them, before he snorted once. "How perfectly normal..hah. How did I…? No matter. Onto more important matters."
Pausing for a moment, he shook his head. "To imagine that was how she was recruited. Hah. What to do with them…" As the two girls neared an important looking door, Mash nodded and gestured at it. "In here is the Command Room, Senpai! We shouldn't leave the Director waiting. Where's your seat…ah, up by the front. Good luck, the Director can be tough!" She finished with a quick fist-pump in solidarity and walked away.
Ritsuka blinked once, and before she could respond, Mash walked off to a side of the room where she stood next to a bunch of people in lab coats, suits, and other fancy adult wear. Could she be someone super important?
Shrugging off the question, she took her seat at the front and waited for everyone to file in. As the last stragglers took a seat, the young lady standing at the front of the room turned around. Damn, there's some beautiful people here.
The lady - Director Olga Marie Animusphere, as it turned out, started her lecture, berating everyone immediately as inexperienced rookies who should simply obey her instructions. This immediately set off a ruckus that she shot down with sharp cutting words, tearing into the magi amongst the crowd for their pride in heritage. Ritsuka started getting drowsy, no matter how much she pinched herself to try and stay awake.
"…The principles of mankind— in other words, to ensure the continuation of humanity. That is Chaleda's, and now your only and absolute purpose. Chaldea has achieved many results to date. With the technologies I mentioned earlier, we at Chaldea have observed humanity's progress one hundred years into the future. We do not predict the future, but observe it. Whatever it sees, our job has been to ensure that humanity will survive 100 years into the future. However!"
At this, she gestured to the side, where Ritsuka sleepily noticed Lev was standing over a control panel. He moved some lever, and the giant globe behind the director changed colors slightly.
"Above and behind me is the Global Environmental Model, CHALDEAS, which mimics the soul of the planet in lesser form. Starting some six months ago, the future we at Chaldea have been observing suddenly started getting darker and darker, and started fading out of observability. Hmph, I see some of you understand the horror of what I'm saying. The light of civilization is suddenly going extinct. Yes. Humanity's future has become dark. Not because of some seismic event, nor some global market crash. The cause is unknown. The possibility of such a thing is also unbelievable. Humanity is not an existence that could suddenly vanish overnight."
Ritsuka noticed a lot of people in the room were upset, and whispering concernedly amongst themselves. Lev, in the corner by the control panel, had dropped his smile in favor of a deep frown, staring at the big globe - CHALDEAS? Wasn't that the name of this place? Urgh, needlessly confusing names... - with a look of intense concentration.
"Shush! This used to be considered classified, but we made a case to the UN to form a special mission to resolve this, and received approval. Now, if the future is unobservable, the only thing to do would be to study the present and the past, to see the cause. To that end, we have used TRISMEGISTUS and LAPLACE and have identified a potential cause. Recently, we noticed an "unobservable zone" in the American heartland, in a place called Salt Lake City. SHEBA has identified it as existing in an abnormal temporal state, that of July 2017, over a year out of date. A strange domain was confirmed to exist in the city, and with no notable record of any magus activity, it has been determined to be the likely cause of future going dark. Something strange is occurring there."
Olga looked around the room, then nodded decisively. "Now, for this Singularity, A-Team will be leading you. They are an elite squad of pre-trained magi here at Chaldea. The rest of you will also be suiting up and preparing to deploy as support. It is my hope that by watching the professionals work you all will gain some experience for yourselves. This First Order will start in an hour, so I'll leave you to prepare yourselves. Hm? You at the front."
She pointed at Ritsuka, who shook herself awake and pointed at herself, questioningly. "Yes, you! Do you not understand the gravity of what is going on here? Why on earth—!"
At this, Lev interjected from his place at the control terminal, calling out "Ah, Director. Miss Ritsuka is one of the public candidates, and only just arrived here in Chaldea after some rather troubling recruitment I will be looking into. She hasn't adjusted from the introductory testing yet."
Olga blinked at that, before nodding at Lev and looking back at Ritsuka. Her frowning expression softened into something resembling a smile, and she spoke more gently. "Is that so? I apologize for my tone, then. I presume you haven't had a chance to go through basic training, then?"
Ritsuka nodded with a sleepy grin. "Yeah, just got in today. Whatever that simulator stuff was, it really knocked me out good."
Olga nodded once, before saying "Alright then. I'll excuse you from the mission - head back to your room and get some rest. I'll get Romani to put in some effort, get you put through training after you wake up.. Have any questions for me, before you go?"
Ritsuka pondered for a second, before shrugging. Might as well ask, no such thing as stupid questions and all that. "So…time travel really is possible, then?"
She got a fierce grin in reply, startlingly pretty on Olga's face. "Who do you think you're talking to? Chaldea is in the business of making the impossible possible, you know! How else are we to preserve the future of humanity?"
That drew a bit of applause from the room, causing the lady to blush and wave it away.
Mash stepped forward from her place at the wall and spoke up. "Director, I'll show Miss Ritsuka to her room, if that's okay?"
Olga nodded in acceptance and the two girls left the command room. The minute they left the room and the door closed, Fou appeared out of nowhere, first leaping onto Mash's shoulder before bridging the gap and landing on Ritsuka's. The creature then patted her head in commiseration.
Mash nodded for some reason. "Oh, there you are, Fou."
The squirrel-fox creature nodded once, and pointed down the hallway. "Fou..fou kyuu fou!"
Ritsuka laughed, understanding the gist. "Yes, I suppose we should head to my room, huh."
The two girls headed for the dorms, Mash guiding Ritsuka there and pointing out the signage and other symbology that would help someone navigate around the otherwise startlingly plain corridors and hallways.
After a few turns, they arrived at the final door in the hallway, labeled with Ritsuka's name and candidate number.
"Alright Senpai, please get some rest. I'll meet with you after the Rayshift and see how you're faring, alright?"
Saying that, she left with a simple wave. Ritsuka waved back, before entering the room.
A strange man sat there, a stick of pocky in his mouth, frozen mid chew.
Ritsuka stared at him.
He stared at her.
She raised a finger, opening her mouth to ask a question.
He panicked, snapping the stick of pocky with his teeth and holding it up with his hands. "Whaaa! Wait Wait Wait! I'm not someone suspicious — wait hold on, aren't you the suspicious one? This is an empty room I use to slack off and eat snacks in! Who said you could come in here?"
Ritsuka tilted her head. "I was told this was my room? It has my name on it…"
He blinked, then sighed deeply, finishing off the stick of pocky before responding. "So you finally arrived, huh. Darn, I'll have to find a new place to slack off, then. Nice to meet you, Ritsuka Fujimaru. Didn't think I'd meet you in a place like this, but let me introduce myself."
He held his badge up slightly, breaking into a smile. "I'm Doctor Romani Arachaman, head of the medical department. For some reason, everyone calls me Dr. Roman, so feel free to! It's cooler, after all. So….want some pocky?"
The two of them traded smiles, and started exchanging pleasantries. After a few minutes of getting to know one another, Romani's wrist communicator beeped, and Lev's voice sounded out of it.
"Romani? I'm sure you're slacking off somewhere, so I'll just update you. A Team's in perfect condition, but the other Master Candidates, with the exception of Ms. Fujimaru, who was sent to her room to rest, are all exhibiting slight abnormalities. It's probably the Coffins - they're quite cramped, after all."
Dr. Roman responded. "Ah, Lev, I feel kind of bad for them, do you want me to give them some mild sedatives?"
Lev responded. "Hm, if you want to, though I think they'll be fine. We'll be starting in a few minutes, so head over from the infirmary... or wherever you were slacking off."
Romani squawked indignantly, and cut the communication. "Geez, that Lev - oh, that was Lev Lainur, one of the head technicians here. He helped create the Near-Observation Future Lens, SHEBA, and generally acts as a sort of second-in-command for the whole facility."
Ritsuka nodded, responding "Yeah, we met a while back. He seems cool."
Dr. Roman shook his head. "He's pretty nice, yeah, especially for being a fancy magus from a long lineage and everything, those kinds of people can be kind of…" He shook his head and grimaced slightly. He then sighed and looked despondent. "...but sometimes he just teases me and I don't know how to handle it, y'know? I'm just a regular ol' doctor!"
Ritsuka laughed, and patted the hapless looking doctor on the shoulder companionably. "Aww, does the Big Bad Head of Medical not know how to handle some light teasing?"
In response, the adult in front of her slumped over further, looking even more defeated. "It's worse when he gets others involved. Please don't join in…"
[ Attention. Attention. Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and Central Command Room. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and Central Command Room. Bulkheads for the Central Area will be closing in 90 seconds. Bulkheads for the Central Area will be sealing in 80 seconds…]
Romani looked around, before staring at the monitor on the wall. "Was that an explosion? What on earth is happening! Monitor, show us the command room!"
The monitor refused to turn on.
Romani frowned, looking serious. "This is bad. This is really bad. The monitors are tied into some of the core systems, if they're down…I have to go!"
He bolted for the door, turning to look at Ritsuka at the edge of the room. "You should head for the evacuation point! Head for the outside windows and follow them away from here! Get yourself out before all the bulkheads close!"
Ritsuka sat there, frozen, hand half outstretched from where she had been patting Romani on the back not a minute ago. She opened her mouth several times, words failing to form.
Fou, who had been sitting amiably on her shoulders, nudged her slightly. She shook her head slightly, carefully as not to dislodge him. "That's right. If there's people in trouble…I gotta help!"
She bolted for the doorway and took after Romani. In the now dark and empty room, the monitor lay dormant, as it had when Romani tried to use it.
But for a brief second.
Only a second.
The screen flickered with static.
A digital red eye shown upon the room. It looked left, then right. Closing, it turned into a smile, and then vanished.
The room remained quiet and dark.
Catching up to Romani quickly, Ritsuka spoke up. "So what's the plan, boss-man."
Romani sputtered, before shaking his head. "Alright, I can already tell that asking you to go back is pointless. Stick with me now."
As they reached the command room, Romani peered inside. "No survivors, huh. CHALDEAS is fine, but everyone…this was no accident, this was sabotage."
[ Generator operation stopped. Power level critical. Switching to the backup generator… error. Please make the switch manually. The Containment wall will close in 40 seconds. Those remain in Central Area, evacuate immediately—]
Romani cursed. "I'm going to head down to the power stations! We can't let the light of CHALDEAS go out! I know I said I wouldn't say anything, but there's no point in staying here. Get out of here, now!"
Without another word, the man dashed off.
[ System switching to final procedures for Rayshift. Coordinates: AD 2016, July 3rd, Salt Lake City. LAPLACE protections established. Singularity factor secured. Unsummon Program Set. Final adjustments engaging. ]
Ritsuka dithered for a second, before rushing inside the command room. If there's any survivors here, I should — oh my god, Mash!
In front of her, legs crushed by a giant pile of rubble, blood trickling from her scalp, the cute girl Ritsuka had met not two hours ago lay there, eyes half closed. Ritsuka rushed over, shouting her name.
"Oh my god, Mash! Stay with me. I'll get this off you, hold on!" She began to futilely push against the debris, but it refused to budge. Come on, come on, come on—
A voice interrupted her thoughts. "Senpai?"
"Mash! Hang in there, just hold on for a second, okay?"
"…it's alright, senpai. You can't… save me. Just, run. Get…out of here."
Before their dialogue could continue, the great globe above them started blaring alarms. Formerly blue in color, it brightened even as the colors faded, turning a pale and terrible white, like funeral robes. The landmasses and other features formerly visible on it were gone, leaving naught but a featureless rippling pale orb.
[ Warning. Warning. All Staff. All Staff. CHALDEAS' state has changed. Now rewriting SHEBA's near-future prediction data. Unable to detect the presence of mankind. Unable to confirm survivors. Unable to guarantee humanity's future. ]
Ritsuka stared blankly, unable to comprehend what was going on, how the globe that lady had said measured the future suddenly blanked out. Mash spoke softly, as if each word hurt. "CHALDEAS…has turned white….No…that's not-"
[ Central Area, sealed. 180 seconds until internal containment procedures. ]
Ritsuka startled slightly at the sound of the bulkhead closing, and turned to look at the firmly sealed blast doors. Sighing slightly, she turned to sit down next to Mash. Staring at the door, a complex expression on her face, she spoke gently. "Looks like I'm stuck in here with you, huh? Not the worst thing, to go out next to a cute girl."
[ Coffin Vitals: Baseline not reached. Rayshift requirements not met. Searching for qualifying Masters…]
A soft voice reached her, cutting through the loud announcement. "Um, Sen…pai? Would…you… mind holding my hand?"
Ritsuka smiled, and reached out.
[….Rayshift starting in 3. 2. 1. All procedures cleared. First Order, commencing operation. ]
—————————————————————— T-000 UNTIL ???
SINGULARITY I:
Deathly City of Salt and Ruin
Coordinates: July 3rd, 2017 AD, Salt Lake City
Deviation: ??? ——————————————————————
Yes, this is a full rewrite of FGO with custom plots for each 'singularity'. Yes, I actually do have almost all of them already planned out. I'll be posting once a week, most likely, I'd like to keep a bit of a backlog.
Hello again to everyone, the speculation here is amusing as well. I probably won't comment too much for fear of spoiling my own plans, but I love to read all of your comments. Cheers.
A soft, slightly wet feeling pressed itself to Ritsuka's face. A faint sound reached her ears, and she stirred awake instinctively.
"—ou Fou! Kyuu!"
Blinking, she realized she was lying ungainly on rubble, surrounded on all sides by odd shattered pieces of rebar and concrete. Judging by the view she could see, she was on the second floor of some building, the upstairs and down looking ruined. Next to her, Fou was licking her cheek impatiently, clearly trying to wake her up.
Noticing that she had awoken, Fou jumped back slightly, nodding imperiously. Pointing with a paw away from her, the smaller creature chirped at her. "Fouu!"
Ritsuka raised her head and looked in the direction Fou was pointing. On the far end of the ruined structure she was lying in, a hole in the wall opened up into the outside. As she looked, a pale hand reached up and grasped the edge. Pulling itself up, a strange human figure shambled onto the ground, before its head contorted upwards.
Blank dead eyes, nonetheless clearly filled with malevolent intent, snapped to meet Ritsuka's in a startlingly quick movement. Holy shit. No way. That can't be a…
"Zombie?!?!?!?!"
Fou growled lightly and jumped back, flicking his tail once in acknowledgement. Ritsuka scrambled upwards, blindly grabbing at a stray piece of rebar and brandishing it in what she hoped was a threatening manner.
The creature, unmistakably a zombie, shambled forward, its arms blindly reaching out towards her. She tensed, before swinging her rebar like a baseball bat, shouting as she did so. It smacked into the chest of the zombie, and threw it back, her swing tossing it out of the open hole.
Her terrified eyes met Fou's determined ones. "Wha-what? That-that really was a zombie? What's going on, Fou?"
Okay, Ritsuka. Think, girl.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Nodding once to herself, she continued staring at Fou. "Okay, so, I was with Mash in the command room when the doors shut. The announcement was saying something about Rayshifting? That's the time travel thing the Director was talking about, right?"
Fou nodded encouragingly. How smart is Fou? Wait, don't get distracted…
She continued onwards. "So, logically, that means we got sent to uh…America? Gah, I can't remember the specifics…okay, anyways. The reason they were gonna time travel to America is something is going wrong…zombies…guess that answers that question, then."
Ritsuka shrugged once, tapping the rebar bar against her hand and putting on a nervous smile. "Nothing for it, I guess. Guess we're solving a zombie apocalypse!"
Fou stared at her, raising an eyebrow silently.
She slumped over, false cheer evaporating. "Aw, who am I kidding. That sort of thinking would make me the first to die, huh."
Fou nodded once, before gesturing around her with a paw and patting at the air once.
Ritsuka blinked. "Oh, that's right. Mash should be here too! Oh man, if she's still injured…come on, Fou!"
Picking up the small critter, she ran for the stairs at the far end of the room. Fou jumped out of her arms and onto her shoulder with a small sound.
As she stumbled onto the ground floor, hopping over rubble and sharp rebar, she started looking around warily for other zombies. She stopped for a second when she noticed that the one she had knocked off the second floor was still on the ground, slowly fading away into black particles.
The squirrel-fox made a questioning sound at her shoulder.
"You led Mash to me earlier, can you do the opposite and lead me to Mash now?"
Fou tilted his head, tapped his chin, then nodded once, before pointing in a seemingly random direction.
Ritsuka patted him on the head softly, then started running.
As she followed the direction the weird but cute creature was pointing her to, Ritsuka mused on how strange her day had been. When I put it that way… what am I, a magical girl following her mascot? Wait. Hold on. Technically…
Shaking off the thought, she refocused when she realized that there was a group of three zombies shambling on the road in the direction Fou was pointing.
"Ah jeez. Here's hoping all that money I spent at the batting cages pays off, huh Fou?"
She ran into the road with a shout. The zombies snapped their heads at her direction at the noise and turned slowly to shamble at her. She swung at one as it approached. The rebar hit the creep's chest and pushed it backwards with a groaning noise.
Stumbling backwards to dodge another zombie that got close while that was happening, she noticed a third approaching and swung down at it with an overhead blow, mimicking those kendoka she had seen practicing once. The metal bar went sickeningly deep into the head of the presumably former human. Oh gross gross gross…
Around the piece of rebar, the zombie started fading away into those black particles she had seen earlier. Okay, not as gross as I was expecting. Blinking, she pulled the metal up and took another swing at the zombie she had dodged previously, which was reaching for her, knocking its arm away.
She then stumbled back a bit, to reorient, and took another swing at the first zombie, which had recovered from her initial strike at this point. She misjudged the distance, and backpedaled furiously to try and recover.
Before she could finish repositioning, a sound reached her ears. Fou cried out, and she saw, down the street, over a dozen more zombies stumbling towards her. Oh crap.
The two zombies in front of her made a sound, and started moving at her, seemingly emboldened by the coming horde. Oh man I might have bit off too much.
"Senpai, duck!"
Reacting without a second thought, Ritsuka dropped to the ground, sliding in an uncoordinated fall, somehow managing to keep a hand on the piece of rebar.
A large metal shield passed over her head, snowflake shaped. It impaled the first zombie, before its wielder appeared, ripping it out of the first one's chest and stabbing the second zombie with another point of the cross. Before Ritsuka even had a chance to blink, the wielder pulled it out of the now decaying zombies and slammed it onto the ground in front of her.
Standing in front of her was Mash, clad in a revealing bodysuit with light armor, clutching at the shield with a nervous expression on her face. Ritsuka found her eyes tracing the outfit closely. Whoa…
"-pai! Senpai! Are you okay?"
Ritsuka blinked, and shook her head. Down girl. "Hey Mash. Yeah, I'm fine."
Getting up, she gave Mash an exaggeratedly appreciative gesture with her hands, sweeping up and down, before continuing. "That said, what about you? What is this? Were you secretly a superhero, Mash?!"
Mash blushed and shook her head. "Ah, no, this is — I'll have to explain later, here they come!"
The horde at the end of the street had shambled over during the exchange, and started reaching out with a creepy groan. Before Ritsuka could even raise her impromptu weapon again, Mash moved at ridiculous speeds.
Bashing the first one in with the shield, she spun around and knocked two others into the long distance. Slamming the shield back down, she charged with its face and ran over several others.
Not wanting to be left out, Ritsuka carefully charged in behind her wake, smashing at zombies trying to encircle Mash. Noticing, Mash pivoted to protect her back, and the two made short work of the sizable group in no time at all.
Ritsuka wiped some sweat off her brow and sighed. "Phew, looks like that was all of them, huh Mash?"
Mash took a look around the clearing, then gave a determined nod. "Looks like it, Senpai. I'm glad you're alright, though running in after me was quite dangerous!"
In response, Ritsuka shook her head. "No way, Mash, you might have turned into a Magical Girl or something, but I wasn't going to let you fight alone! You were crushed under rubble just like..uh, some time ago?" Wait, what tense do I use? Time travel means we're technically before it happened, so…urgh, English is hard….
Mash shook her head, flexing exaggeratedly. Cute. "When I transformed, my injuries were healed, as you can see, Senpai! I'm fully fighting fit, especially now that I've become a —"
A scream cut through the air, cutting her off.
The two tensed and looked around. Fou jumped back onto Ritsuka's shoulder, apparently having hopped off at some point, and pointed in a certain direction, making a determined noise. Guess Fou's appointed himself our guide, huh.
She nodded and started running. "Mash, this way!"
They continued running for a good few minutes, Mash easily keeping pace with her. Ritsuka doubted the waifish looking girl she had met earlier had worked out as much as her, and yet she felt as she ran that Mash was simply humoring her speed. Guess she really has become superhuman, huh.
Fou kept course correcting, pointing them over rubble and around fallen building debris for a few blocks, until the girls came across another horde of those strange zombies. These ones were in a clearing, facing what looked like the floor of a building lying at an angle on top of what remained of the first floor, the walls barely recognizable at the edges of the clearing. On that slanted piece of concrete was a white haired lady that both of them recognized.
Director Olga was sprawled back at the top of the floor, right hand outstretched in a finger gun position, four fingers outstretched, her left hand supporting it by the elbow. Clad in a form-fitting bodysuit Ritsuka definitely appreciated, she had a black jacket over it that seemed damaged, with several cuts and tears. Dirt and grime covered her, and she was half-sitting, half-lying down on a rock near the top, probably part of an internal wall that came down with the floor when the building collapsed.
As the two approached, they saw bolt after bolt of black magic fired outwards from the tip of her fingers, exploding one zombie after another. It was for this reason that the horde had yet to really clamber onto the platform, and the zombies seemed too stupid to spread out from their tightly grouped approach, leaving them theoretically easy pickings. Despite the display of power, it was clear they were overwhelming the hapless mage, whose expression continued to grow more frustrated and fearful by the second, sweat beading down her face.
Without needing to communicate verbally, the two girls nodded at each other and sprung into action. Mash leaped clear over the horde in a display of superhuman agility, somehow spinning around mid-leap to slam down in front of the Director in a defensive position, impaling a zombie beneath her shield as she did so.
Ritsuka definitely couldn't pull off the same kind of acrobatics, so she settled for taking the opportunity - the zombies all redoubling their efforts to rush the heap upon sighting Mash - to cut across the side of the horde and clamber up the side of the floor, scrambling up the rubble to stand in front of Olga, behind Mash and her shield.
As she neared the top, Olga seemingly recovered from the sudden surprise. "Wha- You two? Why are you here?!"
Ritsuka nodded at the pretty lady with a grin, before hefting the rebar up like a baseball bat once more. "Happy to answer questions in a sec boss lady, but let's clear out this horde first, yeah?" Mash nodded energetically, sparing a smile for Olga. The director appeared stunned at the response, before clearing her face into a determined look and nodding.
"Fair enough. Kyrielight, I'm assuming your appearance means that cursed project proved itself after all, then? You're best suited to take them all out, charge at my mark."
Ritsuka interrupted, slamming the bar down on a zombie that had crawled up close enough for her to hit. "Mash is definitely the heavy hitter, I agree, but I dunno about her taking them all out herself. She's only got that big shield, after all, and even with her superhuman strength she could get overwhelmed. Mash, keep knocking them back using that super-strength of yours - I'll knock out any that get past you. Boss, you mind shooting any that either of us miss? Holding this position is smarter."
Olga sputtered, but Mash decided for the both of them by nodding and exclaiming "Leave it to me, Master!" She then slammed the shield into the ground and bull rushed forwards down the pile of rubble, throwing the big mass of zombies back, before spinning and knocking several away, their forms breaking apart as they flew.
Ritsuka grinned and slammed at a few that ended up near her, her grin widening as black bolts started flying over her head to shoot at a few more, the director's muttered grumbling barely audible over the noise of combat.
Between the three of them, the formerly sizable group of zombies shortly faded away, Olga's shots taking out the few stragglers that wandered into their street during the fight. Mash scanned the street, before leaping several stories upward in a ridiculously smooth move before flipping back down. "All clear!"
Olga wiped her hands after her final shot, before placing them at her hips and turning angrily to Ritsuka.
"Right. I think I deserve some explanations. First question: Why on earth are you here, didn't I send you to your room to get some rest?"
Ritsuka laughed sheepishly, responding "Yeah, you did and I went, I promise! It's just that uh…Doctor Roman was hanging out there at the time? So…y'know, after the explosions…we kind of both ran over to help?"
As she spoke, Olga's expression grew flatter and flatter, her eyebrow twitching when she heard the doc's name. Oops. Sorry Doc, I'll make it up to you.
Olga opened her mouth, closed it, then covered her face with a hand before sighing deeply. She then removed it and stared at Ritsuka expectantly. "Well then…Next question. By my best guess, I was knocked out in the initial explosion. What's the state of Chaldea? I assume you both also can't get in touch?"
Mash had come up to Ritsuka's side during this, and nodded in response to the last question. "Yes Director, this singularity seems to be inducing some kind of strong interference. Master, if you'd try your communicator?"
She leaned over to poke at Ritsuka's left hand, raising it up before tapping at the communication device she had been issued briefly. She then tapped at a red beeping light. "No good with Senpai's device either, ma'am."
Ritsuka tried to memorize the button sequence, staring at Mash's hands, before realizing that Olga had asked a few questions. "Oh, right, uh, Chaldea. Um, when I was knocked out the internal bulkheads had all sealed? Roman had run off when the announcements said the backup generators were at risk of failing, or something like that?"
Olga's face paled at the last sentence. "The backup generators? Is CHALDEAS—?"
Mash shook her head. "In the last moments before the Rayshift, Director, I can confirm that CHALDEAS was still active. It's just…" She trailed off, looking uncharacteristically afraid.
Olga's face resembled the color of her hair. "What? What happened to my CHALDEAS before we were all sent here?"
Ritsuka thought back, and nodded once in remembrance, fist slamming into palm. "Oh yeah! When we were being sent back, the alerts said humanity's light disappeared, boss! The whole globe went pale white and like, empty?"
"Wha-i-impossible! That must have been a mistake, that's not..!"
Mash shook her head. "I'm sorry, Director, I heard it too. Whatever's going on - whatever caused the explosion, and presumably whatever villain induced this singularity - is likely related. It's possible they sabotaged the great globe too, if they were able to take us down like that."
Olga's face scrunched up for a second, before nodding decisively. "Then it's crucial we don't waste any more time. We best correct this singularity so we can return to my Chaldea and correct the sabotage. The UN and the Mage's Association will have my lordship for this as it is, if they find out CHALDEAS was sabotaged in the process…!"
She trailed off, shaking her head and hopping down from the rock she had been sitting on. She patted her face twice, muttering to herself. Ritsuka caught part of it: "-can do this!"
She then put her hands on her waist and looked imperiously at the two of them. "I assume you two haven't seen anyone else - any of the trained mages who were actually going to be deployed here, perchance?"
Ritsuka shook her head, while Mash looked uncomfortable, speaking carefully. "The explosion in the deployment room seems to have originated from the control consoles in front of the Coffins, Director. Possibly every computerized device in the area. They all seem to have gone off at once, somehow. While I was buried under rubble shortly after… as best I can tell, there were no other conscious survivors leading into the time Senpai found me."
Her face twisted into a complicated expression and she trailed off, almost muttering the last few words. "N-no one responded to my cries for help, after all."
Olga made a face, before hesitating, raising a hand slightly. Ritsuka slid over and gave a side hug to the pink-haired girl, wordlessly providing some support. Olga dropped her hand and sighed deeply. "That's…at least…I'm pleased to see you doing well now, Kyrielight."
Mash nodded, and pressed her shoulder slightly into Ritsuka, signaling to her to drop her hug. Olga tried for a brief smile, but it came out looking like a grimace. Shaking her head, the director continued. "Well, if it's just us three, we're in for a rough time. Kyrielight, you're of course capable, especially now, and I need not speak to my own capabilities, but Fujimaru, you're completely untrained."
Ritsuka winced, but pumped her free hand in a fist anyways. "Before seeing Mash's superhero stuff, I would have said I was at least confident in my physical skills, but uh…yeah boss, I barely know how to um..what's the term, activate my magic?"
Olga blinked once, and then groaned into a palm. Mash giggled slightly at the sight. Dragging her hand down, the director fixed Ritsuka with a look. "You're saying you at least have a Trigger for activating your Magic Circuits, yes?"
Ritsuka nodded and pointed. "Yeah, that! I was given a manual on the plane ride, and I had nothing better to do since I was uh, y'know…kidnapped, so I didn't have any of my stuff, but I could at least practice!"
Olga's face wordlessly worked through several expressions and emotions, raising a finger before dropping it with another sigh. She then paused, looking worried. "Wait, if you're that new…are you channeling through your circuits right now to counteract the curse?"
Ritsuka paled. "What curse?"
Olga gestured around them, also paling. "This singularity has some kind of curse or poison flowing through it. It's subtle, most magi wouldn't even notice it, but it's a constant wear on the soul. I'm actively cycling my magical energy right now to protect myself, and Kyrielight should be fine as a Servant, but…those zombies were full of it."
Ritsuka shook her head. "I uh, I didn't notice anything like that, boss… Um, am I going to be okay?"
Olga frowned, then stepped forward to grasp Ritsuka's arm, pulling their sleeve back. Mash also stepped close, looking as worried as the other two. "No obvious signs of degradation…it almost feels like it's being passively resisted. Try circling some magical energy for me? Just activate your circuits."
Ritsuka nodded, and thought back to the instructions she had read. A volleyball spiked in her head. Set. Her body grew a little warm as magical energy started flowing through it.
Olga raised an eyebrow, looking slightly impressed in spite of her obvious worry. "Hmph. I half assumed you were making that up. Not bad. Regardless..hmm, no change in the flow of mana, it's still not….you don't have any non-human heritage in your family, do you? You're Japanese, any…what do they call them, youkai in the family tree?"
Sputtering, Ritsuka could only let out a laugh. "No ma'am, as far as I know I'm fully human."
Narrowing her eyes, Olga then turned to look at Mash. "Kyrielight. What class are you?"
Mash nodded. "Shielder, Director. The records I am familiar with do not mention this class, so if you are thinking similarly to me…"
She trailed off, Olga responding with a decisive nod. Stepping slightly away, the white haired lady pointed a finger at Ritsuka's bare arm. "Hold still."
"Eh?"
A black bullet fired out, splashing against Ritsuka with a light sting. She would forever deny she yelped at the sudden sensation.
"Oh shush. I underpowered the Gandr, it wouldn't have given you more than momentary nausea even if it did actually hurt you. Without any scans or materials to prepare a proper test, I think this suffices to prove our hypothesis. Kyrielight. Your class does seem to be providing your Master with some measure of magic resistance; the Heroic Spirit of the Shield indeed. A splendid result."
Mash shook her head slightly. "Ah, no, that's not…I'm sorry, director. The spirit that is giving me these powers…I don't even know their name. He simply formed a contract with me then faded away. I'm not…doing anything, really. It's all his gifts."
Olga narrowed her eyes at the pink haired girl, causing her to flinch. "Regardless of whether you've inherited something or not, it is you, here and now, that is helping her. She would likely be dead if not for your existence. Take some pride in that."
Ritsuka jerked slightly. "Woah, wait, what?"
Olga ignored her, and pointed at Mash. "I won't have you doubting yourself when you're our main combatant, Kyrielight. Get over it. That's an order from your Director."
Mash reeled backwards if struck, before blinking rapidly. She then smiled, tentatively at first, before it grew to be a bright and wide grin, full of cheer and childish exuberance. It was undoubtedly heartfelt, a gentle and kind thing that stole all the air from Ritsuka. Damn.
From the looks of it, the director was fairing no better, blushing and looking aside, causing her to spot Ritsuka looking at her. As a grin crept up Ritsuka's face in response to the eye contact, Olga sputtered and looked away from the both of them, crossing her arms. Oh, a natural tsundere. Amazing.
"Thank you, director."
After a few seconds of embarrassed interaction, Olga cleared her throat and spoke up once more. "With the curse effectively proved a non-issue, it's best if we start moving out from here. It's not exactly the most secure location. Fujimaru, I'll teach you how to use the spells the uniform you're wearing has embedded as we move."
She dug around her jacket pockets for a moment before pulling out a small device, holding it up with some cheer. "I did remember to bring it!"
She realized what she had done and coughed into a fist. "Alright, listen up you two. We'll be heading north, towards where the leylines should be. There's something odd with them in this Singularity. I can't seem to sense them, though I'm hoping that's related to this interference. This tool of mine is specialized in mana detection and should be able to pick them up. Based on the records we obtained before deployment, Salt Lake City has two relevant leylines to this singularity, one of which runs alongside the Jordan River, the other trailing down past the Temple Square, which meets up with the River's leyline. Neither of them are particularly strong - this is not a magus city for a reason, but they should be noticeable within city limits. However, I wasn't able to pick them up earlier, hence the tool. Once we find them, they should prove strong enough to, at the very least, reestablish communications, and perhaps even gain additional support, even if they're minor paths."
She then pointed at Ritsuka, who blinked and saluted. Smiling in spite of herself, Olga continued, flattening her expression to try and look serious. "Master Candidate 48, I'm deputizing you. You've formed a contract with Mash, so you're already a Master, and if I remember your profile correctly you scored well in the simulators - actually, I'd say you proved that in the battle we just went through. You're on tactics, as the field leader. I'll provide ranged support - and information, once I activate this," raising the device, " and Mash will be the Servant handling primary offense. No objections allowed."
Mash and Ritsuka saluted in unison, and Olga waved them off. She cupped the compass-like device in both hands, and spoke clearly. "Shine Bright."
The gadget opened up, revealing itself to be a miniature globe, with spinning gears and clockwork mechanisms. A glowing map projected itself into the air above the device, showing the surroundings in a swath of color that Olga clearly understood, despite Ritsuka finding it hard to even look at.
As the director stared into the map, thinking intently, Ritsuka sidled up to Mash. "Psst, Mash. What's a Master? And a Servant, for that matter? Sounds kinda…"
Olga's head snapped up and stared for a second, before returning to her map. "I heard that. How on — right, no training. Urgh…..no, wait, WHAT?"
The last word was shouted, causing both of the others to snap to look at the director. She started poking rapidly at the device, twisting the gears around and making the colors shift and change, growing more and more panicky as whatever she was hoping for failed to materialize.
"No, no, no, this can't be happening, this can't be right, what is going on?" Olga despaired.
"Boss?" Ritsuka questioned, worried. Mash also spoke hesitantly. "Director?"
Olga looked up, terrified.
"I can't see any leylines in this singularity. I don't… I don't understand! How can there be no leylines? They're natural patterns, the world's own mystic veins! The World should naturally be forming channels as mana is expelled, even in a time-space distortion like singularities they have to exist. Mana exists, it's definitely present in the atmosphere, so how are there no leylines?!"
Ritsuka spoke up, seeing as Mash seemed to freeze in similar panic. "I don't understand the problem? Can't we just solve it without these veins?"
"Look, if there's no leylines… if that's the case, then we're doomed! We wouldn't be able to obtain supplies, or, or, summon allies, or anything! Actually, forget trying to resolve this singularity, if we can't tap into a leyline to contact home at least once, then we'd just be erased once time corrects itself!" Olga panicked. "With this interference, we're cut off from Chaldea, so, so, the safety protocols - they can't…there wouldn't be any way for us to escape!"
Finally, some proper crossover action...
As Olga finished delivering the bad news, the two girls stood there. Mash looked deeply worried, staring at the riot of color that the director was calling a magical map. Ritsuka understood the problem, at least in the abstract.
Leylines are probably like magical rivers, I'm guessing, and we're in the equivalent of a desert, or something like that. And we need a river to be able to return home... Yeah, I'd be worried too. Well, if it's a desert, maybe…
"Are there any oases, boss?" As she spoke up, Ritsuka realized what she had said. "Uh, um, I mean, you know…are there any, like, pools of magical energy? If there's no leylines, maybe there's like, hotspots or something instead? This whole Singularity thing has to be magical in nature, right? Chaldea could contact us there, right?"
Olga stared at her for a second, mouth open. Mash tilted her head. Sputtering, the director grabbed at the floating image, fiddling with the device in her hand. "That..you're completely correct, there definitely has to be—! One moment!"
The image zoomed outward with her pinch gesture, the edges turning dark purple before starting to garner static. Pinch-to-zoom? What is this, magical Google Maps?
Cursing, the director poked at the static a few times before zooming back to the original settings, staring at the colors she somehow understood. "There's too much interference to look at the whole Singularity, I can't even see past a few dozen blocks before this ambient curse seems to snarl up the mana readings. That said, there seems to be a park north-northwest of us, maybe a half hour away. The curse seems to be avoiding it, possibly due to the greenery. I should be able to get a clearer reading there."
Ritsuka stretched out her legs, leaning from side to side with an energetic expression. "Right then, boss, to the park!"
Having seemingly calmed down with a plan in mind, even if it was tenuous, Olga appeared to regain her normal attitude as time went on. As promised, she explained the basics of the three spells available to Ritsuka within the standard Chaldean Combat Uniform, and had her lightly practice them, as they headed towards the aforementioned park. Over the next half hour, as they crossed several blocks, they ducked into buildings and hid behind rubble to avoid scattered groups of zombies, to avoid needless combat. Ritsuka did take the opportunity to try out the spells, though.
Olga spoke up as they turned a corner into an alleyway to avoid a small horde shambling aimlessly down the road. "It should be just up ahead - if I remember correctly, it's called Liberty Park. It seems to be rather clear of enemy signatures, so we should be safe to stop and rest up for a few minutes. Fujimaru, you're a civilian, so I'd like to avoid pushing you too much, so get some rest while I perform my reading."
Ritsuka flexed a muscle exaggeratedly. "Haha, don't underestimate a former volleyball captain, boss! This much is nothing! Still, a moment to adjust wouldn't…uh, be amiss, I think. It's…certainly been a day."
Olga spared a small smile, before gesturing at a pile of rubble in front of them, the result of the buildings on either side of the alleyway being half-destroyed. "It's just over this and across the road, according to the map."
Clambering over the ruins, the trio slid down and looked around for any enemies. Spotting none, they crossed the street into the beautiful and seemingly untouched green space of the park. Mash's eyes darted every which way, seemingly drinking in the wonders in front of her.
Olga half-grimaced at the sight, turning away slightly, inadvertently facing Ritsuka, who raised a curious eyebrow. She shook her head and walked forwards, declaring "Right, we'll take a break for a few minutes here while I scan things. Don't stray too far. If you need—"
An unhinged male voice interjected, cutting her off. "Can't be letting you have a break now, can I? No madam, I'm afraid if you're looking for a rest you came to the wrong park!"
The three of them tensed, and Mash raised her shield defensively in front of the two of them, stepping backwards to cover them both. Fou twitched and looked around warily from his place on Ritsuka's shoulder. Mash cried out. "Enemy Servant detected!"
The voice continued. "I must say, when I set a trap to catch a thieving rat, I didn't expect to end up with three beautiful flowers instead. Still, if I could ask you all just one thing…"
"DIE!"
In an instant, Mash moved sideways, raising her shield up in front of Ritsuka. A knife dinged uselessly against it, revealing a Victorian gentleman in a suit and overcoat. The posh appearance was marred by the ruffled hair, which drew Ritsuka's attention to his face. There was a truly mad look in his blood-red eyes, a look of genuine insanity that made her instinctively afraid. Strange fractal lines went up and down the side of his face, glowing an eerie pink-red. With a start, Ritsuka realized what the stains that were splattered up and down his clothes probably were. Oh god, is that blood?
"Hahaha! He would say I sound like that Whitechapel fellow! Dear me, dear me, three whole deaths tonight! I wonder what the morning papers will say!"
His face split into a rictus grin, unnerving and fear inducing. He flipped backwards away from Mash's upheld shield, before raising the knife again and pausing.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on. Three on one isn't quite fair, is it? Well, we can't be having that, can we?" Saying this, he gestured at the ground around him. "Arise, oh servants of God."
Pink particles streamed out of nowhere, from every which direction, before coagulating into the forms of the zombies they had been facing before. Four of the newly formed humanoids moved forward as soon as they finished forming, shambling towards the trio. The stranger raised a knife in a parody of a salute, grinning madly.
Olga smugly spoke one word. "Kyrielight."
Mash affirmed the command, and sent the mob flying with a single swing, their forms disintegrating into the now-familiar black dust.
The madman's smile slipped for a second, before he sneered and gestured again. "Well then, try this on for size, why don't you!"
Pink energy streamed, forming a strange shape. Two legged, with large forelegs and a strange tail, triangle headed with long tentacle horns. Strange pale skin formed, with pink lines tracing through parts of it. Strange antenna formed at its head, and as it finished forming it gave out a wordless roar that shook the air.
Olga's confident look dropped into abject shock. "A phantasmal? Wha-who-how???"
As the roar ended, its forelegs stamped on the ground. More zombies rose up out of the nothingness, these ones armed with crude scythes and spears. They strode forwards, weapons held at a purpose.
Ritsuka weighed the rebar in her hand, and gulped slightly.
The phantasmal charged forwards, deceptively fast, slamming into Mash's hastily drawn up shield and shoving her back, making a furrow in the dirt. She gasped out. "Strong!"
It raised a leg and slammed at the side of her shield, causing her to pivot and block. She tried to shove back against the arm and barely unbalanced it. The two engaged in an uneasy back and forth, the air ringing with the force of the blows.
The armed zombies strode leisurely, still faster than the crude ones Ritsuka had seen up till this point. She claimed the initiative and rushed forwards, swinging at one of the spear wielders, the rebar smacking into the hilt of the spear and pushing the zombie back. She ducked under a scythe swing and swung at the wielder's knees, shattering it into black dust.
Olga shot the heads off two of them in quick order, before sliding behind her. "Keep calm. They're more dangerous than the ones we've seen, but not unduly so." Ritsuka raised the rebar and grinned uneasily. "Got it, boss!"
In response, the stranger dashed forwards, before jumping onto the back of one of the zombies. He leaped upward, brandishing the knife as he slashed it towards the both of them in a crazed swing that started to glow. "Is that so?"
Mash gasped out, too busy holding off the monster's forelimbs to be able to move. "Master! Director!"
Ritsuka raised the rebar futilely, hoping to bring it up to block in time. Olga similarly tensed, arms not able to move upwards fast enough. Fou raised his tail warningly, fluff puffing up as he began to growl.
"NEKOOOOOO! CHAAARM!"
A giant orange and white holographic cat paw materialized out of nowhere, slamming into the stranger's side with almost comical levels of force. Ritsuka caught, just for a brief second, the abject look of shock on the madman's face, before he went flying off into the far distance.
A cheerful voice called out, the paw stopping in mid air, hovering above the horde, before slamming downwards on top of the zombies approaching underneath it. It spun around, blasting them all away, before disappearing and reappearing from a portal on the other side of the duo, squashing a zombie flat.
A white haired girl in a bodysuit - some errant corner of Ritsuka's mind wondered if it was a new trend - landed in front of the duo, baseball bat in hand. Her braided twintails framed bright blue eyes and a cheerful grin, and she raised a hand to wave hello. As she did, she spoke up. "Hey hey! Kiana Kaslana, White Comet, Archer-class. Sit tight for a second and I'll clear out these enemies!"
Saying so, she spun around and smacked a zombie in the face, shattering it into bits. Without missing a beat, she sprinted forwards into the few zombies that remained, knocking them all to pieces effortlessly, dodging the few melee strikes they managed to swing at her. Smoothly pivoting, she dropped the baseball bat and pulled out a gun. Wait, what?
Before the baseball bat could hit the ground, it faded into sparkles, and the girl fired the gun at the phantasmal Mash was fighting. The bullet took a chunk out of the side of it, causing it to roar in anger, drawing its attention to the stranger. Mash capitalized on the distraction and slammed it back, before knocking it into the air with a yell. The girl fired again, and Olga joined in with her own magic bolts, punching holes into the beast, causing it to start fading away as it fell.
The lady - a Servant, Ritsuka figured - twirled her gun once and then pointed it at the direction she had blasted the madman off to with her entrance. She spoke cheerfully, in contrast to the situation.
"Stay on your guard, that weirdo's still around."
The crazy man's voice echoed out with a wordless roar, sounding utterly infuriated. He walked out of the bushes at the far end of the park clearing, clutching his side with a pained expression on his face. The pink lines that had run up and down the left side of his face had grown and expanded, covering most of it. "You're damned right I'm still here, you little…" He cut off with a snarl, the pink lines glowing ominously.
"Normally I couldn't do this, summoned like this. Perhaps I should praise God for this blessing." He then clutched at his chest, and began to mutter.
"I am the chief of sinners, the chief of sufferers. I have brought about a danger I cannot name. This is The Secret Game of Sin [Dangerous Game]."
Olga tensed, and cried out as he spoke. "Stop him!" She followed up with a few bolts. Kiana fired alongside her, dashing forwards as she did. Mash also darted towards the madman, hoping to interrupt. Ritsuka futilely looked around for a convenient rock, not wanting to throw her rebar.
The projectiles impacted into small winged monsters that formed as he spoke, intercepting the bolts and bullets and fading away while they were still forming. Mash, despite moving at superhuman speeds, didn't manage to reach him before he finished his chant, and was blown backwards by the surge of power that billowed outward.
The man's hair grew, and his skin turned dark and feral. His shirt ripped, and he hunched over, his face elongating into canid features, fur rippling all over. He resembled a werewolf. Because apparently those were also real. The glowing lines on his face seemingly covered his entire body, Ritsuka noted, and glowed even through the thick fur now covering him. He darted forwards at twice his previous speed, clawed hands reaching out at Mash. She barely raised the shield in time, and rocked backwards from the force of the blow.
"DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!"
Each word was accompanied by a slash, Mash barely managing to bring the shield up to block for each one, gasping as they hit. Kiana tensed, and rocketed forwards with a kick, presumably to try and draw some pressure off the shield wielder.
The werewolf man ducked under it and swept upwards with a claw, which she avoided with a half twist. He curled his hand into a fist mid gesture and punched, only for her to drop backwards to avoid it. Mash followed up, swinging broadly with her shield, causing him to have to raise his other hand to block. Kiana capitalized on that, punching him in the gut with a power blow that sent him rocketing away. He twisted midair and slid, growling ferally.
Not giving up for an instant, the friendly servant dashed forward, jumping into the air with an ax kick that manifested the strange holographic cat paw from earlier around it. He raised both hands to block, and Mash appeared from below, swinging her shield to try and take out his knees. She misjudged the angle due to him doubling over from the paw landing, managing to hit him in the gut anyways, knocking the air out of him.
Exhaling in a choked gasp, his bestial face twisted into a snarl, he pushed back against the paw, exploding it. Kiana rode the blow and flipped backwards, Mash jumping back as well, repositioning. He snarled, and steam wafted off him, his minor wounds and bruises seeming to mend before their very eyes.
Olga spoke tensely, eyes narrowed. Some kind of glowing circle projected over her right eye, matched by the glow from her suit's patterns. "Some kind of self-healing skill? No, Self-Modification of some sort, at a high rank. Some kind of variant, I believe. We'll need to hit him with an overwhelming attack."
Mash nodded in acknowledgement, before admitting shyly. "I don't have anything like that, Director."
Kiana spoke up. "I've got something, but I'll need at least 30 seconds to pull it off."
Olga cursed quietly, as the madman roared and charged. Ritsuka, on the other hand, nodded and spoke up. "Got it. Boss, take as many potshots as you can manage. The strongest stuff you can do with no prep time. Distract him. Mash, defend her. I'll stick close to both of you. Cat lady, we'll buy you the time, do your thing."
Mash acknowledged, and intercepted the werewolf's charge with her shield, throwing him back slightly with a yell. Olga grimaced, nodded, and started firing, arm glowing as her Crest appeared on her forehead. Her suit also glowed once more. The subsequent projectiles were somehow darker than before, and tinged with an odd purple color. The first few shots were ignored, but he twitched as one struck his head, burning off a good chunk of hair. Two more then landed in the same spot in his chest. That caused him to roar in pain at her, even as the spot started regenerating in a burst of steam. He started trying to push Mash away to get at the interloper, the pink haired girl grunting in pain as his assault grew more wild. Olga gave a confident smirk in his direction, causing him to growl angrily. Ritsuka hefted her rebar and stood gamely in front of Olga, hoping she didn't have to use it against the honest-to-god werewolf she was facing. What even is my life?
Their new ally ran off to the side, out of direct sight of the monster. She clutched a fist to her chest, nodding once, and muttered something lightly. A glow started to build up as Kiana charged forwards. Her clothes started changing in what Ritsuka could only call a real Magical Girl transformation, starting with her legs and going upward. Bodysuit shifted into an armored outfit as she ran, thin white armor replacing her old attire steadily. Power visibly surged around her, causing the werewolf to look at her and snarl.
Mash capitalized on the distraction and knocked him backwards, Olga landing a few chance blows on his chest that caused him to yelp, despite yielding no substantive damage due to his regeneration. As Kiana's outfit finished changing, two strange feather horns appearing on the side of her head, she leapt into the air.
"Think you can hit me? Not in a thousand years. This is the strike that defeats gods. Lightwings Unleashed [Seraph's Wings of Light]!"
Lances of golden energy appeared behind her, as if mimicking mysterious wings. Spearing out, they danced through the air and slammed into the monster. The first two ripped through his arms, before the subsequent explosions made it impossible to tell anything more. They continued raining down for a good few seconds, tightly focused. Mash instinctively raised her shield, blocking the massive cloud of dust slightly as it billowed out at her and the others.
Landing, Kiana's outfit disappeared into shimmers, the bodysuit smoothly reforming underneath. Kiana was panting, holding a gun out warningly at the cloud. As it faded, it was clear the enemy Servant had been defeated, a blasted crater in the ground where he had been standing. Sighing in relief, the white haired Servant dismissed the gun and wiped her face of some sweat.
"Phew, didn't know how much that took out of me!"
The three others dropped their respective weapons, relaxing slightly. Olga seemed to realize something and raised her hand again, pointing it at the stranger, before firing off rapid fire questions.
"Hold on, who exactly are you? Why is a rogue Servant here, who was that, and what exactly is going on?"
Kiana blinked, and tilted her head slightly. "Wait, I swear I introduced myself already? Kiana Kaslana, Archer-class Servant, currently suited up in the White Comet battlesuit. As for the other questions, uh…"
She tapped a finger to her face, visibly thinking hard. "If you're referring to me as a rogue, I guess you're right? I was summoned by the World in response to this situation. As for who that is, I…don't know, exactly? Some kind of Berserker, I know that much, and heavily fallen to Honkai corruption on top of that. But I didn't recognize the Noble Phantasm. As for the situation? Well, based on what I was told by my summoning, it's an Eruption in progress, or one about to happen? The summoning wasn't super clear, but judging by the state of the city I'd say the latter's more likely."
Olga looked confused. "Battlesuit? Honkai? Eruption? What are you…?"
Kiana palmed her fist and pointed into the air, interrupting her. "Right, you guys wouldn't know! I'm from a parallel world, after all!"
Sputtering, Olga failed to produce coherent words for a second. Mash's mouth had dropped open as well, and she was staring at the apparent otherworlder completely agog.
Ritsuka, on the other hand, was enthused. "Woah, a parallel world? Those are real? Dang, magic is cooler than I thought! What's it like?"
Kiana laughed and gestured around her. "Not too different from your world, I think? I only got a brief summary, but from what I've been able to tell, wandering this city, this is Salt Lake as I remember it, from my world, so if you don't see anything odd to you then it's probably quite similar!"
Ritsuka deflated slightly. "Aww, so you guys don't have flying cars and stuff?"
A smug grin crept up the Servant's face. "We have airships and personnel transport drones, do those count?"
As stars appeared in Ritsuka's eyes, Olga seemed to pull herself together. "Hold on! Shut up for a second, Fujimaru! The Operation of Parallel Worlds is True Magic! You can't…what do you mean you're from a parallel world? Even if the World is the one calling, the Servant Summoning Ritual wouldn't just call people from another timeline without some kind of external factor! That magic works under the Third, not the Second! Why would a Servant from a truly Parallel timeline be here?"
Kiana looked lost. "Uh, sorry, I uh…wasn't the best student. I don't think I know what most of that means. I don't think I've even heard of it? As for your last question, though, it's like I said. There's an ongoing Honkai eruption here… Wait, you guys don't have the Honkai, that's right!"
She looked briefly jealous for a second, before continuing.
"Right, so. The Honkai is like…this thing. Um. Energy source? It's basically a form of corrupted energy that seeks to destroy all things. It creates monsters and plagues and has perpetually haunted our world. People exposed to too much Honkai energy die, or are transformed into monsters. I think the docs once said that it 'tests civilization'? Basically, it's a big enemy who wants to destroy humanity."
As she spoke, she grew less and less jovial, and seemed almost ominous.
"I don't know how, and I don't think the World really knows either, but somehow it's here, in this weird bubble universe thing. A Honkai Eruption is taking place here - It's strange that it even is, this bubble universe is empty of people except us Servants, but it's definitely happening. The zombies you've seen around are manifesting from the ambient energy." She paused here to look around. "Speaking of, the honkai levels in this city are picking up steadily as time goes on, so there's definitely a Herrscher somewhere in here."
Olga held up a hand, pinching her nose with the other. "You're starting to ramble. Stop. One term at a time. What is a Honkai Eruption? Then, explain what a Herrscher is."
Kiana nodded, and gave a sloppy thumbs up. Olga visibly sighed.
"Right on, pretty lady! Basically, Honkai energy is kind of everywhere. At low concentrations it's not really problematic, but if it builds up it becomes a threat. You saw the Honkai beasts earlier? Yeah, basically those form as Honkai energy gathers. Some of those beasts are strong enough to threaten armies." She flexed an arm exaggeratedly. "That's why we Valkyries are here, to protect the world! But… sometimes, Honkai energy really builds up. The Honkai has a level of threat above all of this. Massive amounts of Honkai energy can condense into a sort of crystal, what we call a Core, the basis for a Herrscher. Herrschers are supposed to be the thinking agents of the Honkai, godlike beings with control over a concept or power, like thunder or fire. Herrschers require a crazy amount of honkai energy, and when they manifest they cause what we call Honkai Eruptions, as a lot of it sort of explodes out of them. In my world, Berlin was destroyed when the First awoke, without him even doing anything!"
Olga paled as she spoke. "So you're saying that a… God? That some kind of alien Divine Spirit is attempting to blow up this entire city? Why?"
Kiana shook her head. "I'm not really sure? Not all Herrschers are like that, but that's what my summoning told me is going on in this city. It's strange they'd even bother, as there's no actual humans in this city except for you, as far as I know - and I've been searching for a little while now. So uh, actually, speaking of that…why are you ladies here?"
She gave a rakish grin at that, eyes passing over all of them. Ritsuka grinned in response, interrupting Olga's undoubtedly fancy and technical answer to cut in with an answer she bet the stranger would appreciate.
"We've time traveled into this place to figure out what's wrong with it, cuz it's messing up the future or something and that's bad. There shouldn't be anything notable happening here, at least in our, uh, timeline? So the fact there is weird stuff happening is, well, weird."
Olga's hand met her face with an audible smack. Mash did a double-take. Kiana, however, nodded and punched the air, exclaiming loudly.
"That makes sense! Oh, it all makes sense now! The Herrscher! That's what's weird! Your timeline shouldn't have the Honkai in it, so that's what's causing the problems! If the Herrscher succeeds in causing a Honkai Eruption and destroys this city - and this is in the past or whatever - then that'd be what'd break your future! Because it'd be a, what's it called, a foothold situation! Honkai Eruptions would let the Honkai manifest and summon hordes of Honkai beasts on the whole planet! It'd be a disaster!"
Olga's head dropped, and she muttered. "Oh god there's two of them. The report for this mission is going to be a nightmare."
Mash patted her on the shoulder sympathetically.
Kiana grinned and stretched out a hand to Ritsuka. "So, you guys want to stop the Herrscher. I was summoned to stop the Herrscher. You're clearly a Master, and I'm a Servant who needs one of those. You wanna team up?"
Ritsuka took the hand and shook it with a matching grin. "The name's Ritsuka Fujimaru. I'd be happy to!"
She felt a tug inside her, in something she somehow knew to be her circuits. A contract formed, and she was connected to the Servant in front of her, just like she was to Mash. Her magical energy circulated, as some of her energy flowed out to help sustain her new friend.
Olga raised her head from her facepalm with a determined look, clearly setting aside her frustration. "Right, pleased to have you on board. I'm Director Olga-Marie Animusphere, her commanding officer in Chaldea. What's the situation?"
Mash bowed slightly. "Mash Kyrielight, Demi-Servant, Shielder-class. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Kiana waved to all three of them and stretched. "Wow, it's weird being a Servant. I know how to do all these things somehow. Definitely nothing like this back in my world. Um, the situation. So, uh, I was actually with a friend I made, a fellow Servant, and we split up to go searching. I should probably take you to him?"
Pointing upwards, she continued. "He's an Archer, like me, but the kind of guy you'd think of with that title, big ol' bow and really good eyesight and all that stuff. I guess that's to be expected of a hero from this world? He's hopefully had more luck than me at finding the Herrscher."
Olga nodded and gestured at the other two. "If you have an ally and a direction to move in, then we should get moving. This position is compromised by the fight we just had, in any case."
Kiana looked sheepish for a second. "Uh, well, about the direction thing, I don't…actually know where he is?"
Olga's face flattened.
Kiana waved her hands. "Look, like I said, we split up to go searching! I uh, do have a flare I can fire up to signal to him, though, we can just use that!"
Olga sighed deeply. "And as I had said, this location is probably compromised by the fight. We'd likely be swarmed by a host of enemies if we stayed here."
Unnoticed by them, behind the group, the cracked ground shifted and churned, ever so imperceptibly.
The dirt shifted and moved aside. A hand stuck out of the dirt, clawed and furred.
A face soon followed, a heavily scarred and worn down canid poking through the ground. It took a breath, gasping for air instinctively.
In an instant, a sword-like arrow pierced the face. Its breath was cut off with a yelp.
As the group started turning to look, the Servants spinning and raising their weapons in defense, more arrows followed, burying the already broken ground in a rain of steel.
Kiana relaxed and dropped her weapon, prompting Mash to do the same.
The enemy Servant finally dissipated into golden particles, the sword arrows soon following after.
Kiana turned to follow the direction they had come from. A red flare shot up into the sky from the top of a distant skyscraper, falling in a direction in a visible indicator of where to move.
She grinned and gestured at the falling flare. "Well, now we have a direction to go!" I was going to include a character sheet for Kiana with this update, but I'm unfortunately feeling under the weather today. I'll get it to y'all soon.
As a side note, I refused to use Berserker Hyde's canonical Noble Phantasm, so I made up my own. You can look it up, it's kind of funny, but I refuse.
Disclaimer: I am not an artist, but do have some passable level of skill at photoshop. I preemptively apologize, but hope it's helpful! No, I didn't have a version of this for Chapter I-2 I never got around to posting, why do you ask?
The group traveled in the direction the flare had pointed, ducking through collapsed buildings and clambering over rubble as they made their way towards the mysterious ally. Every so often, Kiana would point out a sword impaled in the rubble, hilt pointing in an indicative direction.
When pressed, the white-haired Servant just laughed. "He definitely is the kind of guy to do that sort of thing. I don't know his name - he's kind of mysterious, and our worlds are different anyways, but I can tell he's a good guy."
At one point, as they passed by a baseball stadium, Kiana disappeared for a second, before returning with a baseball bat, which she handed to Ritsuka.
"Eh?"
Kiana laughed, and summoned her own baseball bat, before pointing with it at the rebar that Ritsuka had been lugging around. "It's not exactly the one that came with my Servant summoning, but a good metal baseball bat like this is probably better than your metal bar there, you can get a better grip and stuff."
Grinning, Ritsuka grabbed the gift with her off hand. "I suppose you're right. Still though, this thing's been with me for so long, I don't know that I want to just give it up…"
Olga sighed. "You didn't think you were going to bring it back or something, did you?"
The sheepish laughter she received in response caused her to sigh and massage her forehead. "What would you even do with it?"
Ritsuka grinned. "Put it up as a trophy, of course! I beat up zombies with this thing, it's one heck of a story for any visitors!"
Olga stared at her. "Did you, perhaps, forget that we are to keep supernatural affairs secret?"
Ritsuka slumped.
Seeing this, Mash spoke up shyly. "She could keep it in her room in Chaldea, right Director? Everyone there would be aware of the Moonlit World."
Ritsuka perked up, staring at Mash with a grin that caused her to look away, embarrassed. Kiana snorted at the sight, before aiming a grin at her fellow white-haired lady, saying "There you go, Olga-chan, all squared away."
Olga gave her a hard look before shaking her head with a soft smile. "Fine, but I hope you aren't expecting me to carry it."
Mash spoke up again, holding a hand out. "I should be able to store small materials like that in my shield, please give it to me, Master."
Kiana blinked. "Huh, how?"
The pink haired girl startled. "Sorry?"
The other Servant continued, staring at the shield curiously. "How come you can put stuff in your shield?"
Mash paused, before joining Kiana in looking at the shield strangely. "I'm…not sure. I just know I can."
Ritsuka, on the other hand, had already tossed the rebar over, and was hefting the metal bat and trying out a few practice swings. "Yeah, I can definitely use this."
Olga paused for a second before stepping next to Ritsuka and giving her a fond yet exasperated look. "You're going to get too attached to this one too, aren't you?"
Ritsuka chuckled, before shrugging. Olga sighed and shook her head. "If it matters to you that much, I'll have a proper Mystic Code version requisitioned for you when we return to Chaldea."
Ritsuka beamed. "Really? Ah, you're the best, boss."
As the group reached the end of where the swords were pointing, they found themselves approaching another park, this one much bigger than the previous green space. A sign proclaimed it to be the "International Peace Gardens."
As they passed the edge of the green space, Olga tensed slightly. "A bounded field?"
"Correct."
A self assured voice echoed out as a tanned man with white hair materialized from spirit form. He wore black body armor covered by red cloth, and held a black bow as tall as he was. The strange man had a smirk on his face. Wow, dude works out.
"A simple boundary to keep out magical energy. Works on this Honkai energy as well."
He turned to face Kiana, raising an eyebrow. "Found and contracted with a Master already, did you? You're too trusting."
Kiana sputtered. "Wha-hey! You-"
His eyes narrowed as he focused on Ritsuka. "So, who are you people?"
One brief round of explanations later, some of the tension left him. He dismissed his bow and ran a hand through his hair, sighing slightly.
"Right. That makes sense, as much as anything in this situation. I suppose I should introduce myself. You can call me Emiya, Archer-class. Now—"
He was cut off by a loud beeping from Ritsuka's wrist. Blinking, she brought it up and tapped the glowing button on the communicator.
A holographic panel popped into the air, projecting out from the device. On the screen, Dr. Romani was entirely too close to the camera, peering into it with a manic desperation. "Please, please, please pick up—!"
Kiana yelped, hand falling to her waist. Mash sighed. Emiya raised a judgemental eyebrow, and Olga pinched her nose. Ritsuka chuckled nervously. "Uh, Doc?"
Romani fell backwards with a crash, before scrambling back into frame, blessedly at a normal distance from the camera this time. "Oh thank God, you're all okay!"
Kiana responded first, oddly tense, her hand twitching like she was about to pull out her gun. "You—who the heck are you?"
The doctor pointed at himself, looking hapless. "Me? Um, Romani Arachaman, head of Medical at Chal—-"
He was cut off by Olga stomping forwards and pointing at the screen. "Forget all this. Romani, what are you doing in that chair, at that position? Where's Lev?"
Dr. Roman's face dropped, and he hesitated to speak. Ritsuka had a bad feeling. He sighed, and carefully spoke. "I'm here because there's no one else, Director. As it stands, I am the highest ranking member of Chaldea still alive."
Olga's face paled and she swayed, causing Mash to step up next to her, though the servant wasn't looking much better. "Wha-what do you..?"
Romani's eyes darted left, looking at something only he could see. Something told Ritsuka that there was nothing that could get him to show them whatever he was looking at. Her bad feeling increased as he spoke softly, as if not to spook them.
"The sabotage seemed to have caused all the active consoles in the main command room to explode. You were standing by the window, Director, so you…were launched through it into the deployment space, but Lev…was at his station."
He grimaced slightly. "The rubble..isn't pretty."
Ritsuka swallowed heavily. She had only met the man earlier today, but Lev had seemed cool, and had been nice to an absolutely clueless novice like her, despite being an aristocrat mage from an old family. She spared a glance at Olga, who seemed to be standing and holding back tears with sheer willpower. Mash looked similarly close to sobbing, and she remembered a line the pink haired girl had told her soon after they had met.
"Lev is quite kind to me, Senpai. He often brings me books and other gifts from the outside world, and has always made himself available if I had questions."
Emiya and Kiana seemed to be keeping quiet, both having solemn looks on their faces. Taking a look at them, Ritsuka noted that both of them seemed to be looking away slightly, as if giving everyone a moment of privacy.
Ritsuka took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks, drawing everyone's attention. "Right. Um. We…we can um…settle…things back in Chaldea once…once we return. I think… we need to figure out how we're fixing this Singularity first…. right?"
Olga gave her a watery blink, before shaking her head slightly and nodding. Mash took a deep breath and gave a determined look. Romani gave her a thankful half-smile half-grimace, before dropping into a frown. "Well, I'm not clear as to what's going on in there, but you're finally free of whatever interference was cutting communications with us."
One brief explanation of the Honkai later, Romani looked ready to tear his hair out. "A parallel world incursion? That's…oh boy."
Emiya stepped forwards. "This does seem to be the case, no matter how you feel about it. Regardless, the real threat is this 'Herrscher', and any allies it has summoned to help it. On that note, I do have some intel."
He raised a hand, and a park billboard materialized, showing a map of the city. On it, he marked off two points with a marker he also formed, before tapping the one on the right with a frown.
"After meeting with Kiana over there, we split up to go searching the city. We didn't spend much time together, but she did explain to me about this 'Honkai' and everything related to it. Soon after this, I ran into another Servant. As it turns out, I was not the only Counter Guardian summoned to this singularity."
Olga dropped her map device on her foot and swore under her breath something fierce, causing Ritsuka to glance at her out of the corner of her eye, impressed. Emiya spared a smirk.
"I ran into a certain man in white and his wife as I headed northeast. We tracked an enemy to this point," tapping the mark, "and encountered nothing less than the Yamata no Orochi itself, nesting upon the remains of what was once a zoo."
At this, it was Ritsuka's turn to choke. The legendary eight-headed snake god?
"Needless to say, it was a hard fight to take it down, as it was corrupted by this Honkai energy, similar to that enemy Servant you all fought. I suspect it was originally summoned as a more normal Servant, before the Herrscher corrupted it and turned it Mad. It certainly faded away in a humanoid form, though I can't say I recognized the person who had become it."
He then sighed, shaking his head. "My ally's wife said she still smelled snake god, so the two of them headed south of there. I went northwest, following the clear path of destruction the Orochi had left as it headed to the zoo, and headed towards the Temple Mount."
Tapping the other point, Emiya continued. "I grew wary as I started encountering waves upon waves of Honkai beasts. I could avoid most of them, but some were several stories tall, and I suspect that this is where the Herrscher is hiding. I attempted to test the defenses of the Temple itself, only to encounter strange phantasmal creatures."
He nodded at Kiana. "Unless there's a kind of Honkai Beast that looks like fairy tales that walked right out of a storybook, I suspect these creatures were the work of an enemy Servant. I defeated a few of them - they didn't appear to be much stronger than common Honkai Beasts - but didn't wish to risk staying too long after that, in case additional allies spawned."
He gave another smirk. "Rightfully so, as it turned out. As I left, I encountered two of the Hashashin Order, also corrupted. I believe they were clones, or fragments of some sort, as they seemed to share a Spirit Origin and fell far too easily, even for an Assassin-class Servant."
Finishing up, he ceded the floor to the others with a gesture. Dr. Roman typed frantically, shouting. "Hold on, hold up, you can't just drop all that on us like that! Give me a second!"
Kiana shook her head and stepped up, giving the hologram of Romani a weird look before focusing on the map. "Regardless, if we know the enemy base and we're all reunited now, that's all we need to know, yeah?"
She punched her palm energetically. "Let's take them down!"
Olga sputtered and held out a hand. "With this group? Look, even taking into account Emiya here, that's only three Servants. Even assuming we can reconnect with that other Counter Guardian, that's still only four! While we might be able to break the defenses - assuming those 'phantasmals' and the assassins you mentioned are two separate servants at minimum, there's still a horde of Honkai beasts to deal with, not to mention the pseudo-god Herrscher. Not to mention any other Servants that might be lying in wait or might ambush us during our assault, such as that 'snake god' you mentioned."
She turned to the screen, and asked. "Romani, scan this location. What's the condition of the leylines - I couldn't detect any from here, do Chaldea's sensors have any better information for us?"
Romani grimaced and looked at a screen off-camera for a second. "Nothing, director. I had a scan running on your surroundings the moment we got in contact. The park is clear of this Honkai energy interference, due to the bounded field, so this call is coming through without any issues, but you're not on a leyline, despite our maps indicating you should be. Thankfully, this gives us a good grasp on your existence - we should be able to keep in touch even once you re-enter the interference."
Emiya shook his head. "From my observations and scouting, this singularity is somehow devoid of leylines, but notable named locations seem to serve as hotspots. I would guess this is why the Orochi set up in the zoo, it had a minor pool of energy, though now drained dry by the beast of most of the mana that had accumulated."
Kiana, who had slumped a bit at Olga shutting her down, perked up. "Wait, if you're talking about notable landmarks in this city, then I have a perfect place for you! If all the Servants are from this timeline, they wouldn't know about it, either. It's even got all sorts of tech that could probably help!"
The group stared at her.
She put her hands on her hips. "Hey. What's that look for? I'll have you all know I lived in this city for a while!"
Ritsuka laughed. "Alright then, lead the way!"
As the group headed west, they entered the industrial part of the city. The buildings were, for the most part, less destroyed, but some seemed to have collapsed entirely, while some, strangely, looked burned down.
Kiana cheerfully led everyone down the street, refusing to answer where they were headed. She just laughed when pressed. "It'll ruin the surprise!"
Olga sighed and shook her head. Ritsuka caught her gaze and shrugged nonchalantly. She got the impression that Kiana was kind of like her, and knew pressing her wouldn't yield anything. Ritsuka opened her mouth to say as much, but cut off with a yelp as she was picked up.
Kiana, face tense, grabbed her and leaped up onto the third floor of a nearby building, setting Ritsuka down on the balcony of one of the apartments. She then jumped onto the ledge and crouched, pulling out her guns and looking left and right.
Emiya landed a second later in a neighboring balcony, Olga held in a bridal carry. She was blushing madly, causing Ritsuka to smirk knowingly at her. She narrowed her eyes in silent warning as she got down. Mash landed on the bannister between the two balconies, looking nervous.
Emiya turned to Kiana and spoke up, looking serious and somewhat worried. "What's going on?"
She tilted her head in a direction, refusing to dismiss her guns. "Can't you feel that? Actually, even if you can't, can't you hear it?"
A second later, a low rumble echoed through the silent city. It was faint at first, but it increased in volume over time, before coming through clearly as a strange sort of roar.
Romani's voice sounded through comms, sounding panicked. "Incoming energy signature. It's…a Honkai Beast? What's going on?! It's on a completely different scale than anything we've been able to pick up this far!"
The first thing Ritsuka notices is the ground rumbling. It feels strange that she can even pick that up, considering they're on the third floor. Then she realizes it's the whole building that's shaking, and trades a worried glance with Olga.
Kiana points. "There!"
The Beast was huge. Two stories tall, it trudged along on four stout legs, each one taller and thicker than even Emiya. It was covered in white armor, with intricate patterns and glowing lines of that now-distinctive Honkai pink. Two horns adorned the long and narrow head, which also bore two tusks.
It stomped through the street, nonchalantly breaking through the buildings on the sides where it couldn't fit. Streetlights and other road decorations stood no chance. As it drew close, Kiana grew more and more tense.
"Ganesha. An Emperor-class Honkai Beast. Not good, not good at all. It took out dozens of Valkyries when it first appeared, and is rated for S-rankers. This one's bigger than normal."
Emiya summoned two swords, black and white, and kept his eyes trained on the beast. "Anything you can tell us that'd help? Or should we try to run?"
She spared a terse grin. "Careful, it's deceptively fast. I don't think we could outrun it if it picks up on our traces, to be honest. Don't stand in front of it, and aim for the belly - it's unarmored."
Leaping off the bannister, she dropped down while firing her pistol, saying "Follow my lead! I beat one for my graduation exam!"
The bullets splashed harmlessly against the white armor, but successfully attracted the attention of the monster. It turned to look directly at her, raising its head before giving a deep bellow that caused Ritsuka to cover her ears in pain.
Kiana landed onto a street light on the other side of the street, and blew a raspberry at it.
As Ritsuka watched disbelievingly, the Honkai Beast curled into a wheel and spun up, Sonic-style, before dashing down the street at breathtakingly fast speeds, shattering the pavement and slamming into the building on the other side of the road, rolling right over her position.
Having jumped off at the last moment, Kiana landed right behind it, and kicked forwards. The Neko Charm extended forwards and slammed into the back of the creature, but it managed to hop so it struck an armored section of its leg instead. It curled up and started spinning in place again, before rolling out of the building towards her.
Before it could move more than a few feet, arrows struck the side of it, causing a rippling explosion and a roar. Emiya continued firing from his position atop a pile of rubble down the street, before looking surprised and leaping away. A laser beam blasted out of the cloud of dust, impacting his location and turning it into a small sea of fire.
The beast trudged out of the cloud, the laser firing from its mouth. As it started to turn upwards to follow Emiya's leap, Mash appeared in its path midair, deflecting it off her shield and interrupting the flow of the laser.
Landing on the ground, Mash tensed up as the Ganesha stomped forwards at her. It reared up onto its hind legs, and slammed its body mass at her. She took a stance and seemed to try something, fragile looking circles of magical energy forming in front of her shield, only to get knocked away violently, the magical barriers shattering as the beast belly flopped through them. It rose up steadily after that, and looked in the direction the pink-haired girl was tumbling. Ritsuka and Olga both cried out in fear.
Kiana jumped at the opportunity to try and draw its attention. She slid underneath the beast, kicking upwards with her hardlight cat paws, forcing it back upwards to its hind legs in an open stance. It gave a squeal, before being struck with several arrows from Emiya on the soft underbelly. Roaring out, it stumbled left and right and collapsed onto the ground uncontrollably.
Mash continued tumbling across the ground for several feet, before impaling her shield into the ground and arresting her momentum, groaning in pain. She slumped on her shield and seemed to be breathing heavily.
Emiya landed on the railing next to Olga, and held out a hand. "I'm running low on magical energy. Form a contract with me, quickly."
Olga sputtered. "Wha-but- My Master compatibility. Fujimaru is right–"
He cut her off, frowning heavily. "She's supporting two Servants already. I'm sure she could support another, but you're fresh. Look, there's no time to discuss."
Olga stared at him for a second, eyes wide, before nodding with a complicated look on her face. "I- I announce. My will creates your body, my fate is in your sword. In accordance with the might of Chaldeas, if you would abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer."
Emiya nodded and grasped her hand. "I accept. Brace yourself."
Saying this, he let go and leaped back into the conflict. A massive spiral sword formed as he drew back in mid air, twisting into a sleek arrow. He called out to the other two Servants. "Back off! I am the bone of my sword."
Kiana lept away, crossing her arms as she braced herself mid-air. Mash leaped to be between the Ganesha and the Masters, seemingly instinctively moving to protect them. Olga winced as a sizable chunk of her od started being pulled through the new contract.
He aimed carefully and released. The name was invoked. "Caladbolg!"
There was no time to react before it struck the target. The arrow flew at speeds too fast for any of them to comprehend. It impaled the side of the Ganesha and detonated. The air itself started twisting, the ground and buildings cracking and shattering. A massive sphere of mana blasted outwards.
The Beast squealed in pain as its armor was ripped off, before it too was twisted around and shredded into bits. Kiana cried out slightly as the shockwave launched her into the air. Mash clung to her shield for dear life as she was pushed backwards, carving an impromptu trench. The two humans up in the apartment fell to the floor as everything shook.
Landing in the craterous remains of the Ganesha, Emiya dismissed his bow.
Romani chimed in over comms, sounding disbelieving. "E-enemy defeated." I may have accidentally delayed the Kiana character sheet by a week because I wanted to exercise my photoshop skills (and was sick, but let's not count that.) It's posted after the battlemap. Have fun, I certainly did!
The Yamata no Orochi node is an EXTRA challenge node you would be able to attempt after clearing the main story. That's why it's a dashed line, that's my design language going forwards with these maps.
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: C+
Mana: C
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: C+
Skills:
Valkyrie (B) - NP charge
The sublimation of the battle skills and training of a fully fledged Valkyrie, taught at St. Freya and proven through years of battle. Ranked relative to her own official rating. Kiana Kaslana was not the most diligent student, but did manage to graduate to a fully minted Valkyrie warrior alongside her precious friends.
Time Fracture (C) - Evade
A skill granted by her battlesuit, Kiana possesses the ability to temporarily move at overclocked speeds to react to and dodge incoming attacks. This ability is similar to a certain Magus Killer's Time Alteration, but recreated through an alternate world's technology.
Independent Action (A) - Passive
Represents the resolve of one who has fought even when heavily restrained. Kiana Kaslana leads everyone forwards despite any hardship she may be facing. She has fought enemies even when restricted from using her powers, or physically weakened or restrained to but scraps of her own power.
Bound Core (A+) - Passive
## ERROR Code: 0xC47 ## FATE cannot analyze this Spirit Origin thoroughly. Detected Binding on this entity's powers and memories, carved into the core upon summoning. Analysis of Binding unavailable, conceptual seal encountered. Terminating early to avoid potential Divine interference. Error report available.
Honkai Resistance (A) - Passive
A variant of Magic Resistance for those from another world. As a genetic clone born with genes from the Kaslana and Shariac bloodlines, as well as that of the Void Herrscher, Kiana Kaslana possesses the highest degree of Honkai Resistance available to non-Herrschers.
Noble Phantasm:
Neko Charm (A) - Personal Attack Up
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 0
Target: 1 person
The White Comet - 3rd Generation General Purpose Combat Battlesuit is imbued with an active combat form, customized by this wearer to be "neko" themed. Upon activation, hard light constructions born of Honkai Energy can be generated for increased combat capability. A C-rank noble phantasm theoretically available to any B-rank Valkyrie who wore this battlesuit.
Lightwings Unleashed (A)
Type: Anti-Army
Range: 5-40
Target: 1-50 people
The ultimate Noble Phantasm available to Kiana Kaslana in this Saint Graph. While she has never actually utilized the 4th Generation Godsbane-class battlesuit Knight Moonbeam, owing to its restriction to S-rank Valkyries, it is still heavily associated with her due to certain unknowable reasons. As such, she is able to transform into that form temporarily to unleash its ultimate attack, the Seraph Wings of Light (Lightwings Unleashed). Kiana can also access the Gungnir particle beam cannon of this battlesuit while donning this form, a personal favorite of hers.
Sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, I was out of town all weekend and have barely recovered today. Have fun with the worldbuilding / lore of this chapter!
As the group reconvened after the earth-shattering ending to the Ganesha, Ritsuka beelined to Mash the second she could.
"Are you okay?"
Mash looked up from where she was leaning on her shield, still looking winded from being slammed into by a massive beast. "Ah, Master. Yes, I…I'm fine."
Ritsuka looked at her. Mash did look physically fine, just tired, so she nodded and looked at the others. "I guess we should keep going?"
While Emiya and Olga nodded, having walked over as well, Kiana stood by the crater, frowning at something. Ritsuka stepped in her direction, a questioning look on her face. Before she could say anything, Kiana seemed to hear her motion and looked up.
Catching the look, she gestured at the crater. "An Emperor-class Beast like this shouldn't be appearing. The city is still intact, so there likely hasn't been an Eruption yet. Honkai Energy is growing thicker, but it's not as bad as…"
Trailing off, she looked pensive for a moment, before shaking her head. "If an Emperor-class is out here, then the Herrscher has to be really desperate. I suggest we hurry."
Kiana led the group through the increasingly industrial section of the city, passing by all sorts of factories, manufactory plants, and auto parks. She paused occasionally to check street signs, orienting herself to a destination more and more confidently.
As they turned the corner, everyone quickly realized where she had been leading them to. High walls, made of solid stone, lined with metal plating and crowned with sharp wire. Everything looked sleek and sharp, a veritable temple of modernity amidst dready concrete. Behind the walls seemed to be an entire compound, green and lush, with fountains and gorgeous masonry, paved with high quality stonework.
Olga broke the silence, staring inquiringly at the front gate, a high wall of metal emblazoned by a twisting logo, with a complex digital terminal unobtrusively recessed into the paneling beside it. "What is this place?"
Kiana grinned and gestured broadly. "Welcome to the Headquarters of Anti-Entropy, one of the world's largest counter-Honkai organizations. They run most of the Americas! They—"
Romani cut in, comms crackling as he squawked. "Enemy Servant detected! Location…inside the building!"
Kiana paused, and stared at Ritsuka's wrist, where his voice was coming from. "Oh come on!"
Kiana banged the door open, exclaiming "Show yourself, enemy!"
The masters followed cautiously behind her, Mash holding her shield up in front of them. Emiya stood behind them, in case he needed to pull them away very quickly. She had led them into the building, asking Romani for clarifications as to the direction of the Servant before exclaiming and dashing away, causing the others to have to sprint to keep pace.
Inside what looks like a dimly lit cafeteria, a figure in black and red sat on top of a dining table. Great spiked claws floated at her side, and chains dripped from various parts of her body, linked to the claws. Her dress was reminiscent of a butterfly, one of the wanderers who were said to guide the souls of the lost. Ritsuka's eyes traced up to her face, which looked rather young. Blood-red eyes were framed with dark hair, an ominous smile on her face. A deadly malevolence surrounded this girl, the flowers on her dress appearing somehow like eyes peering into your very soul. The shadows felt like they were watching, longer and darker than the lighting warranted.
She also, rather incongruously, was in the middle of eating a potato chip. She made eye contact with Kiana, swallowed the chip in a smooth fashion, then raised a golden chalice, gleaming with its own inner light, adorned with pristine gems. It was, strangely, filled with all manner of snacks. "Want one?"
"SEELE??!?!?!?!"
"Yo."
The tension was cut thoroughly after Kiana's enthusiastic faceplant. The other Servants dropped their combat postures, if only slightly. Emiya spoke up. "A friend of yours?"
The dark figure waved a hand. "Seele Vollerei. Stygian — err, currently Starchasm Nyx. Berserker-class Servant. Hey, pleasure to meet you and all that. If Miss Moon over there is working with you, I suppose that puts us on the same side."
She hopped off the table and raised an eyebrow. "So who are all of you, anyways?"
A quick round of explanations later, Seele was nodding. "Gotcha, so you're all time cops. Right, I suppose I've seen weirder." She took a stick of pocky out of the cup in her hand and stuck it in her mouth.
Kiana cut in, looking confused and a little wary. "Wait, hold on. Seele, your look… you said it was Starchasm Nyx? Also, your demeanor…"
Seele blinked, and turned to look at Kiana, confused. "Yeah?"
Kiana stared at her, eyes narrowed. "You…are you even Seele?"
The stranger looked very lost. She pointed at herself with her free arm, saying "Uh, yeah? I'm…Seele? The red one? Other Seele? We met after the mess with the Snow Tower? Bronya introduced us?"
Kiana looked just as lost. "What mess with the snow tower? I don't…are you talking about Babylon?"
Seele startled, looking really worried, and opened her mouth to respond, when she was cut off.
"Is…Is that the Holy Grail?"
Olga, having realized something, pointed dramatically at the cup Seele had been eating snacks out of.
Seele looked startled, reflexively grabbed at another chip and turned to Olga. "Is that what you guys call this kind of Ether Anchor? That's not half bad, but it's a bit overblown. It's not exactly 'Holy', after all, it's what helped create this whole mess to begin with."
"Wha-wha-WHY ARE YOU USING THE HOLY GRAIL AS A SNACK CONTAINER?"
Seele blinked at Olga's outburst, then smirked. "Because I needed a cup for snacks? I didn't want to break into the kitchens if I didn't have to."
Olga started sputtering incoherently. Ritsuka nodded. That's a mood. She then paused and stared at the golden cup. "Hey, so does that mean if you give us that, we can all go home?"
Seele shook her head. "Nah. I mean, if what you guys were saying about Singularities is all true, then sure, I can see it. Grabbing the Ether Anchor would be all that you would need to undo it and return the distortion to true history. But this mess isn't a Singularity, hence why it's still sticking around even though I have this thing."
Olga regained the use of words and glared at her. "What do you mean this isn't a Singularity? SHEBA recorded it clearly as a temporal distortion upon the fabric of the world!"
Seele held up a hand to interrupt. "Nah, nah. I mean, yeah, this is definitely temporally distorted, but that's a side effect. This is a kind of Bubble Universe."
She pointed proudly at herself. "I happen to know quite a bit about these things, so I can say that with unmatched confidence."
"See, you can consider a Singularity like a knot in the thread of time, right? The reason you all know to nab the uh, Holy Grail, to resolve that kind of mess is because it's what's holding the knot in place, like a pin or needle or whatever. Removing the pin undoes the knot, and time unsnarls. But this is a Bubble Universe. That's more like…someone grabbed some extra thread, and is using it to add an extra loop or replacing the path of the thread or…whatever, the analogy isn't perfect."
She paused to nibble on a stick of pocky. "So like, this bubble universe started as a small, well, bubble of distorted space. Usually these things exist in the Sea of Quanta, but this one is anchored to the surface of the planet. I can tell that much, just existing inside it. I guess because the Herrscher core is what's maintaining it? Sort of like it's the pin or whatever. So.. the Herrscher made this initial space, and then used the sheer power inside this Grail thing to expand the space. That loser's core is what's anchoring the bubble to the planet, and the Grail helps power everything."
She tapped it idly, before smirking. "Or well, she would have done all that, if I didn't steal the Grail. This thing isn't your normal kind of anchor - it's definitely helping maintain the…stability? The shape of this bubble, I guess. It pressed me to help finish it as I ran away with it, so I tapped into my memories and formed Salt Lake City. I figured no one would know it, based on the quick glance I got of the others she summoned, so it would let me hide out in the AE Base."
Emiya tensed slightly. "You were summoned by the Herrscher in charge of this 'Bubble Universe'?"
Seele caught the movement and laughed, before tapping at her chest, a strange mark forming. "This here happens to be the True Stigmata of Death. As that implies, that means I'm pretty uh, connected to that concept. So when I felt myself being summoned by someone bearing the Authority, I figured I'd answer the call and see who dared use my right. Or, well, that idiot answered, and I joined alongside her."
She sighed. "I was summoned into a basically unformed dark room alongside a bunch of others. The summoner was in fact, somehow the Herrscher of Death. Makes sense, though, at least somewhat. It was Galina, after all."
Neither the Chaldeans nor Emiya reacted, assuming it was someone from the other world. Strangely, Kiana also looked confused. "Who?"
Seele stared at her. "We covered her in history class? From the Second Eruption?"
Kiana frowned and tapped her chin, grinning wryly. "You and I didn't go to school together, but uh… I think I slept through history. It was right after lunch."
Olga facepalmed in the background as Seele sighed. "That idiot had me help her with her homework. I guess it proved useful after all. During the Second Eruption, the Herrscher summoned four Honkai-empowered people to ravage most of Eastern Europe. One of them was Galina, the Pseudo-Herrscher of Death, who destroyed the city of Novosibirsk, Russia with Death-infused gas."
Kiana slammed a fist into her palm. "Oh yeah! I remember that now! The Gem of Serenity's previous bearer!"
Seele nodded. "Yeah. I think she has the full core this time, though, so she's definitely going to be annoying. She was weird, though. Kept apologizing, even as she tried to turn us all into monsters. Held up this grail and tried to make us all 'Go Mad' and 'Succumb to the Authority of Death' and all that. Well, that last one backfired on her."
She gave a feral grin. "Telling the Other Me to give into Death? That's Me, and core or not that'll never change. Sure, she can't come out anymore because of the whole 'Go Mad' thing, but I'm free of any commands and could act. So I stabbed her, grabbed this grail, and ran."
The red girl then gestured broadly. "Well, that's…all I know. I booked it to this base and have holed up here, since I figured trying to take on the Herrscher and a bunch of minions was dumb. I guess… feel free to take a rest here for a bit as well? The vending machines in the hallway are broken into, so if you want something they're free."
Olga sighed, and tapped at her comms. "Romani, I assume you recorded all of that. Go over it and see if that answers anything regarding our readings for this… Bubble Universe. I know there were a few strange irregularities in SHEBA's scans we wrote off originally."
Romani crackled in, popping up in video form. "You got it, Director. I'll see if I can't find anything, but this does make sense to me. It would resolve the discrepancies regarding the Rayshift readings if you all weren't projected, but instead teleported into something more akin to a Reality Marble."
After nodding at him and dismissing the projection, she turned back to Seele, who was giving the hologram a strange look. "Is there a good open space? This building is a mana hotspot and I'd like to take full advantage of that to have her call forth another Servant."
Seele paused, visibly thinking, before nodding and gesturing for everyone to follow her. She led the group through the doors and down a hallway, taking a few turns until ending up in what appeared to be a high tech physics laboratory, with a bunch of shut down computer screens and a large open floor. "This work for you?"
Olga looked around and nodded. "Yes. Preferably I'd have wanted to do this on a clean leyline like a park, so the location doesn't potentially bias the summoning, but needs must."
Taking out a piece of chalk from one of her pockets, she made it glow slightly as she started inscribing a complicated runic circle onto the floor. Deftly carving it into being with the ease of practice, she gestured to Mash, who nodded and placed her shield in the center. She then nodded at Ritsuka, and stepped back.
Ritsuka blinked. "Uh? Am I supposed to know what to do here?"
Olga stared for a second, then sighed, pinching her nose. "Right. Right. I'll walk you through it."
Emiya leaned into the corner, presumably keeping an eye on the whole room. As the three Chaldeans chatted, Seele slid up next to Kiana.
"So, what's the last thing you remember?"
Kiana frowned. "Kolosten. I remember we stopped Otto, but…I can't recall anything after going to bed the night after. It's…it's like, I know we did stuff after that, but I can't remember it. It's all missing from my memories, or something."
Seele looked troubled. "That's..not good at all. You…did a lot. Wait, if it's after Kolosten, why are you still White Comet? Shouldn't you be..?"
Kiana pouted. "I don't know. I was being summoned in full form, but there just wasn't enough energy for it, or something, and only a few scraps made it through. I had to shape this container just to finish the summoning."
Seele raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "That's certainly something. I mean, I don't know how a summoning would recreate all of your cores anyways - you're kind of ridiculous - but what you're describing is certainly odd."
Before Kiana could respond to that, Ritsuka exclaimed loudly. "Right, let's do this!" "Heed my words.
My will creates your body, and your sword creates my destiny!
If you heed the Grail's call, then follow humanity's path and answer me!
Seventh Heaven clad in the great words of stargazers…
Come forth, pass on your judgment, and punish my enemies…
Guardian of the Scales!"
The circle flared to life as she spoke, power surging. Her body felt hot as she channeled more mana through it than she ever had before. As she completed the chant, the whole circle flashed, and a wall of energy blasted upwards to the ceiling.
For a second, just a brief fraction of time, she sees a golden cross flash in the beam of white, before the whole surge of energy fades away.
A person stands in the center of the summoning circle. Tall, clad in a blue and white bodysuit, with dark blue hair. He was casually holding a blood red spear in one hand, and opened his eyes as he spoke. Eyes just as red, with slit irises like an animal's, stared into her.
"Yo. Guess you're my master, huh? Servant Lancer, Cu Chulainn."
Ritsuka involuntarily gulped, before stepping forwards. "Yo! Ritsuka Fujimaru, Master of Chaldea! You seem pretty cool!"
She clasped his hand as he stretched it out, and the two of them grinned at each other while trying to crush each other's hands. Oh, I know his type. This'll be fun.
Emiya snorted from his position at the corner of the room. "Should have known you'd show up sooner or later, Hound."
Cu's eyes snapped to the side and he gave a feral grin right back. "Of course you're here, bastard."
He then straightened up slightly and looked around the room. "I got the basic gist when summoned, but fill me in. What's going on?"
Emiya stepped forwards and gave a look at Olga. "Hold on, dog. Let my master summon first, then we can fill you both in."
Olga sputtered. "I'm not…look, you contracted with me, but don't…you know what my Master compatibility is like! I.."
She clutched at her side and looked away, pained. "I can't summon anyone. Stop…"
Emiya shook his head. "You're mistaken if you think I'm teasing you, Master. I've got a feeling. Just try it. Your contract with me might have…shaken loose some things."
Olga looked at him, staring at his face for any trace of deceit. Gulping slightly, she stepped forwards to the summoning circle.
Ritsuka and Mash gave her supportive smiles from the side, and Cu whistled softly as he stepped up next to Emiya. "Not like you to be so supportive. What's the occasion?"
Emiya shook his head slightly, staring at his master. "Just…call it a gut feeling. You know what I am."
Cu tensed slightly, before relaxing. "I see. Well now, this'll be interesting."
As she completed the summoning chant, the circle started flaring outwards, just as it did for Ritsuka, before dying out. Olga started slumping over, before it flashed white, and flared upwards. A beam of light slammed into the ceiling once more, and another person stood in the room.
Clad in what seemed to be a long nun's habit in dark blue, with long purple hair and deep red eyes, a young woman stared at Olga, an odd smile on her face. "Counter Guardian. Asagami Fujino. Archer. I stand before you to overturn the destruction."
She gave a demure curtsy, before reaching out a hand to Olga, who took it instinctively, seemingly in shock. As the contract settled in place, she gave a questioning look to Olga. "Master?"
Emiya called out. "You'll have to forgive her. Even if you're a Guardian like me, she never thought she would be capable of summoning anyone."
Olga seemed to register that, sputtering up a storm and turning around in embarrassment. "H-hey! D-don't!"
Ritsuka and Cu traded a glance and laughed.
After the ruckus settled down, Emiya projected a map of the surrounding area onto the talb, the group gathering around it.
"…so, that's basically all we know."
Olga finished, before sighing and looking around. "Did I miss anything?"
Seele tapped her fingers on the table, visibly pondering. "There were seven others, including the Herrscher. I can't say I got a good look at all of them, but if you can confirm that you've taken down two others, then there's possibly five left, waiting for us."
Cu gave a feral grin. "Five on five? Now that's a proper brawl."
Romani interjected, looking worried. "Let's not forget that one of those would be this pseudo-god, and any of these phantasmals she can call forth. We'll have to approach this carefully."
For various reasons, including power outages and work being frustrating, this chapter was delayed by a week. Sorry folks! The next chapter will likely also be delayed, as I'm traveling this week.
She opened her eyes, allowing the information of the summoning to flow past her. The modern era, it seems. An American city? A call based on her nature, alongside other Servants?Interesting. Not like any other summoning she recalled being involved in, at the very least.
It seemed that she was standing inside a featureless room of some sort, poorly lit from some kind of ambient glow. She could taste the mana in the air, potent yet tinged with a strange sharpness she couldn't identify. It felt almost impossibly pure, hearkening back to days she had almost forgotten, when she was truly young, but that sharpness ruined it, like the stench of rotten meat coming from an otherwise exquisite dish.
Sparing a brief glance around the room, she spotted several others summoned alongside her, doing much the same. A tall man in sharp armor caught her eye and gave a violent grin. She nodded slightly, and looked beside him, where a lithe lady in the classic mask of the Assassins tilted her head in acknowledgement. Standing next to her, a small child in elaborate black attire peered around the room with a curious look on her face.
On the other side of where she was standing, a well dressed gentleman smiled kindly at her, standing next to a rather voluptuous woman with horns. A demon? What exactly was the shared nature that drew all of us here? Beside the strange woman was a young teenager in white, smiling nervously at the rest of the room. Something about the girl made her want to reassure her with a small smile, causing the teenager to beam back.
Before she could do more than widen her smile, the sound of footsteps drew her attention. Ah, her summoner.
A young woman stepped forwards from the darkness at the far edge of the room. She was wearing a fine blouse, with a long black skirt which rippled slightly as she moved, combined with detached puffy sleeves. Long flowing twintails came down to the ends of her skirt, and an asymmetrical haircut framed a serious looking face, a sharp wing-like accessory extruding from both sides of her head at different angles. Strange black wings curved towards the ground behind her, looking to be composed of some sort of energy.
Something about the stranger sent a frisson of fear down her, an ominous aura that she couldn't understand the source of. She felt like the mana in the air. Ominous and rotten.
Before she could even think about that gut feeling, the stranger held up a golden chalice. Energy poured out of it, the light of the Cup of Heaven searing itself into all of their hearts. That's–!
"God has ordained it. I am sorry. Give into your hateful nature."
Doubling over, she clasped at her chest, her spirit core burning as the command engraved itself into her very being. Wha-why?
As she stumbled slightly, she spotted the others. The young girl had fallen to the floor, gasping heavily. The tall armored man was clutching his head, a feral look forcing itself onto his face. The Assassin was clutching at her mask, shaking her head in abject refusal as she looked to be trying to remove it.
The stranger continued walking forwards, a sorrowful look on her face. "I have been called to do this, I'm sorry. Awaken your murderous instincts and go mad."
She fell to her knees involuntarily. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the others weren't fairing much better. The well dressed gentleman was struggling to keep one of his arms from pouring a potion down his mouth. The teenager was hunched over, dark particles flickering around her. The demoness was clutching at her horns, growling in feral terror.
No! She refused, mentally, struggling against the commands with all she had. The monster inside her was awake, and the instincts were pushing strongly against what little self control she could garner. Her hair twitches involuntarily as the scent of blood rises. She felt like screaming, but would not give this summoner the satisfaction. I was once a goddess. I will not surrender my will so easily.
Her hand drifts towards her face. Perhaps, if my eyes…
Before she can release her seall, the stranger stops before all of them, holding the golden Holy Grail aloft. Prana surged, and the pure foreign mana in the air rushed to meet its will, digging into what felt like every part of her, corrosive and deadly. It was foreign, and tasted like Death. Her body seized up involuntarily. What-what is this?
The stranger spoke, staring at her with a sad but determined look in her eyes. "Let the Will of God be done. Awaken to that which brings Death inside of you."
She fell back, hands sharpening into claws involuntarily. Her hair started rising, hissing and coiling. The scent of blood grew sharper, and ominous presences filled the air. She couldn't spare the energy to look around, staring at her own body as she tried to think past the pain. She could feel the others around her start to transform, their spirit cores twisting to her limited senses, the sounds of breaking limbs and raw agony filling the room.
Her core pulsed and cracked, the dark energy in the air rushing to fill it as it started twisting into the form of the monster she had once become. No, no, please, why?
Then the sound of someone being impaled filled the room. The sound cut out. The pain cut out. She looked up.
The young girl from earlier was standing in front of her, directly between her and the summoner. Her white dress was almost entirely black and red now, and chains stretched out from it to great big claws, almost the size of her. Those claws were extended, impaling the winged woman through the chest, much to her evident surprise.
The girl spoke, angry and rough. "I recognize this feeling. The Core of Serenity, the Authority of Death. Trying to cause Other Me to die, are you? We'll SEE ABOUT THAT!"
The claws were ripped out violently, throwing the winged woman back in a burst of blood. Quick as lightning, the red and black girl grabbed the golden chalice before it could fall, and the air surged with power.
The girl appeared to study it for a second, before looking around the room, frowning. "I don't think I can do anything for any of you…sorry."
Pushing against the instincts overtaking her, struggling greatly against the monstrous urges that were surging up and out of her core, she spoke to the girl. "...Run."
The girl met her eyes. She repeated herself once more, breathing heavily as her hair started forming scales. "Run. Run and don't look back. GO!"
The girl booked it, a door forming in the featureless room with a surge of golden power from the chalice. There was a heavy weight in the air, as something about this room started feeling more and more real. She felt almost none of it, staring at the retreating girl as the last of her sanity left her.
A soft voice belonging to one of the others spoke out. It was a sentiment she agreed with, one she tried her hardest to say as well.
"Thank you."
She coiled upon the top of the mountain, named after the one in her homeland. It would serve as a fine temple to her own Authority, and a blasphemous insult to those damnable gods who dwelt upon the original. She was delighted to have found such a place after wandering this empty city for some time. The symbolism of profaning this mountain pleased her.
Her snakes dug into the earth, carving out channels to fill with her sigils as she established her domain. One raised a hapless beast up to her mouth. These pitiable things were formed of the same energy of the God who was giving her energy, but lesser and weak. They bowed to her authority without question, and could be called forth nigh-infinitely. She consumed it without a second thought, enjoying the snack.
Let the others who answered the call waste their time hunting some foolish mortal. She was a goddess, and would enjoy her respite atop this mystic mountain, and establish her rule from it, a new order dedicated to her alone.
Oh?
A Servant crossed the boundaries of her domain. Two individuals upon the same spirit core, a human and his familiar, from what her senses could tell her. They made no attempt to hide their presence, charging straight towards her location.
Very well. If food wished to bring itself to her, she would not complain.
She graciously allowed the mortals to land upon the ground of her resting place, and permitted them to gaze at her before she swallowed them whole. A strange duo, to be sure. A man in white, with a piddling sword, accompanied by a floating woman in black with scales.
Another Serpent? No matter.
The man spoke up. "No time for banter, Oryou. Let's get her."
She rumbled with laughter, baring her teeth. "And what do two little snacks such as you think you can accomplish?"
The man placed a hand upon his sword, and power surged. She froze. This…the World would–no!
He spoke, power forming an aura around his sword. His Noble Phantasm? No! Her snakes burst out of the ground to try and interfere, the woman accompanying him punching them back with casual backhands. "Orochi of the earth, sealed by Amasakahoko… I alone know the truth of my deeds. Amakakeru Ryu ga Gotoku!"
The serpent girl roared in delight, her form melting into black mud that then arose into a great dragon of comparable size to herself. The man stood atop her, clasping his sword with a determined look on his face. "Let's go!"
The dragon cheered. "Oryou will punish the bad snake!"
She snarled, and called out all her snakes, firing great blasts of energy at the duo. They splattered uselessly against the dragon's scales, and what few neared the human were sliced apart by his blade, glowing with blue fire that burned with the light of the gods.
The dragon charged at her, black shadows meeting her snakes in fang to fang combat. She prepared to resist some sort of magical attack as the dragon opened her mouth and power gathered, only to be punched in the face by an uppercut.
Carving a furrow in the ground as she slid backwards, she blinked in abject shock before raising her hands to block an unexpected barrage of fists. The black serpent started raining blows down upon her, combining claws with shadows and her whole body in pure practiced melee, grinning all the while. Her snakes tried to intervene, but were being sliced by the human's damnable sword.
They regrew within seconds, but nevertheless, she was steadily being pressed into the defensive. She used her tail to smack the duo away, roaring with power, hoping for a second of reprieve.
They slid back, barely even flinching despite the power inherent to her voice. They started to charge forwards once more, getting far too close for her comfort. Left with no choice, she opened her eyes to their inherent power, letting Cybele wash over them, hoping it would impede them.
The dragon flinched slightly, but the man cried out as he instantly started turning to stone. He slid slightly off the back of the serpent, causing her to twist around trying to catch him in a panic, barely impeded by the heavy weight she must be feeling.
Capitalizing on the foolish act of affection, she reached into her core, drawing on the power God had given her, and Death filled the Mountain Temple, sharp and putrid.
"I shall curse you, as you cursed me. Melt away. PANDEMONIUM CETUS [Forced Seal - Pandemonic Temple]!"
The air burned. A great seal manifested in front of her as she cast away her Divinity, manifesting her true self.
The man liquified, blood evaporating in an instant even as his flesh turned into fading stone dust. The dragon cried out, scales flaking away as her companion's spirit core was irrevocably shattered. Wounds tore into her sides, blood misting away in a violent steam.
Seeing that her companion had been slain, the black serpent turned to try and charge at her, but vanished before getting more than half way, crying out her companion's name as she faded into spirit particles.
Relinquishing the hold she had on her Noble Phantasm, she relaxed slightly. An Agent of the World, here? They dare challenge God?
Shaking her head, she looked around, casting her senses out to see if any other enemies would manifest themselves. When she and her snakes were satisfied, she curled up slightly, and started to slither back to where she had been resting previously.
Something latched onto her arm.
Before she could blink, something grabbed her other arm as well.
She barely had the chance to turn her head before her waist was also caught, bound by something impossibly strong.
An incredible weight imposed itself onto her, a force unlike anything she had ever felt, even when standing before one of the Twelve.
Something lashed around her face, and she fell into boundless darkness without the chance to even make a sound.
Glancing around in a panic, trying to move her limbs, she saw–
Eyes.
Eyes in the dark.
Huge, with crosshair-like pupils.
They were everywhere.
On the ropes - no, those were….tentacles? Binding her.
Dragging her into the depths.
The walls pulsed.
The eyes were there, too.
She felt a strange fear, and tried to resist.
The mana blasts her snakes could emit freed her slightly, but the eyes - oh gods the eyes.
The flesh reformed around her attacks.
She struggled in vain, using everything she could.
The flesh reformed around her attacks.
She called upon her Noble Phantasm, attempting to melt the world with the extra power God was feeding her.
The flesh reformed around her manifestation, even as it was sizzling away.
Out of options, she still refused to give in, biting at the thing around her face ineffectually.
The tentacles pierced her spirit core, and she slumped over.
Something jostled loose in her head, now that she was dying, fading back to the Throne.
Oh.
She attempted to reach out, futilely, for the tiny pinprick of light she could see above her.
Please. I didn't want this.
A shadow fell over her face. A…human?
He stood upon the flesh, between two eyes. He stared at her, deep into her soul, judging her.
Nodding once, he turned to say something, but there was no sound in this strange place.
Or perhaps her ears weren't working.
He turned back to her and smiled. It was inhuman, that smile. It didn't belong on that face.
The last thing she saw was him, reaching out with a…cane?
He tapped her on the head.
The spirit origin of the Great Earth Snake, the Monster Gorgon, She who was once called Medusa of the Shapeless Isle, faded away.
