Beta'd by someone on Discord, props to him!
Everyone got comfortable on the rooftop to take a break. Ritsuka recounted how he, Mash, and Director Olga had to fight through monsters and a Rider-Class Servant, along with allying with Cu of the school building as their temporary hideout. Romani had briefed that Chaldea had lost 80% of its members, with the doctor temporarily taking over command, and all the 20% remaining staff to work on everything functional.
All the Master candidates weren't so unfortunate, all of them have been put into cryogenic sleep and will be put into a coma until further medical assistance is available.
"Dammit… This is worse than I thought," Olga cursed under her breath.
"With your permission, Director," Romani said on the holographic screen at the Chaldea Command Center. "I'd like to become acting director of Chaldea until you are back here safe. I have shifted all available manpower to repairing the Rayshift System, and maintaining CHALDEAS' and SHEBA's current states."
"As soon as external communications are back up, we'll request supplies and start rebuilding Chaldea." He continued.
"Permission granted, while you're there with the remaining staff repairing the Rayshift System and everything else, we shall be here to investigate solving this Singularity." Olga declared.
"On account of the lack of supplies and expertise, we'll be going blind on this operation to find the main cause of this singularity." Bulma, with her forearm healed thanks to Cu offering it, perked up what Olga stated.
"Director… Since when did you become brave and reliable?" Romani blurted out. Ritsuka and Gudako held back their laughter at the poor doctor.
"...I'll have both of your heads if you all don't shut up." She threatened with a scowl, causing both the doctor and the Fujimaru siblings to flinch a little.
"Supplies, you say? What kind?" Bulma asks. Olga, out of the corner of her eye, sees her pulling the case she carries with her. "I think I can provide that."
"As in supplies all Magus needed for this operation, I suppose." The Chaldea Director answered, cupping her chin. "Perhaps navigation without us just going around aimlessly would be beneficial."
"I think I can help with navigation. Make room, people!" Bulma called out, observing the space available on the highest floor of the school building. Seeing that there was enough space for it, she pulled out a capsule from the case. Olga was not amused at what she was doing before she could speak about it. Bulma threw the capsule a few meters away from them.
A big puff of smoke bursts from the capsule, and in its place is a structure resembling a small warehouse.
"A-A warehouse is inside of that capsule!?" Olga gapped, clearly shocked at the display. "Is this some sort of Magecraft I haven't heard up?"
"No, it is simply technological advancement!" Tesla corrected, gingerly joining his Master at her side.
Bulma pressed the button, and the warehouse door opened. Everyone gathered around to see what was inside. Inside were various pieces of equipment, several advanced techs lying around, and cables and wires attached to a generator that powered the warehouse.
"If we're gonna have to find the thing you want to solve then building a drone to find a route to this maze of a burning city would be beneficial, yes?" Bulma declared, slamming her hand on a nearby workbench. "I think some weapons that could help us aid our buddies here besides this laser rifle I have."
Olga scoffs, "Oh, please. Even though I am amazed at your technology, it won't cut it since conventional weapons can't affect Servants."
"She is correct, Master," Tesla said, grabbing the laser rifle and holding it for them to see. "Any weaponry or firearms cannot harm us Servants for we are spiritual beings."
"However, I can enhance this rifle and imbue it with mystery or magical properties in my Master's case, it can harm and do damage to any Servants without issue." He clarified, looking around the various materials in the warehouse. "With this warehouse, I think I have more than enough materials to help provide weapons for the Masters to use to support us against the enemy."
Bulma looked perplexed but nodded in understanding. "So it's a magic that must be defeated with a magic scenario then?"
"Basically, yeah." Cu chimed in, crossing his arms. "It is practically suicide trying to fight a Servant with just mundane weapons without any enhancement to back it up."
"Director Olga," Romani from the holographic screen interjects into the conversation.
"What is it?" Olga asks.
"The FATE System should be functional now. We could summon either one or two more Servants to aid you on this Singularity courtesy of Ritsuka here," Romani informed, and the black-haired teen perked up.
"And what is this FATE System exactly?" Bulma asked, simultaneously voicing both the Fujumaru siblings' questions as well. "You guys still haven't explained this whole thing about Master and Servant stuff to me."
"Fine, I'll explain it to you. Listen carefully, I'm gonna explain it to you this once and never repeat it to you. You two as well, Fujimaru." Olga looked at the siblings with her eyes narrowed.
"Which one?" Ritsuka lazily pointed at himself.
"Yeah, me or my brother?" Gudako chimed in.
The director of Chaldea massaged her forehead, "You all seriously want to annoy me this bad… it's the both of you!"
Both siblings rubbed the back of their heads sheepishly, Bulma watched nearby in amusement.
Olga then began to explain, starting with the history of Chaldea and its mission to prevent the extinction of the human race by specializing in handling temporal anomalies and existential threats to humanity.
"CHALDEAS, a device based on an Earth model to observe the future." She explained, Bulma raised an eyebrow at that. "LAPLACE, we use it to compile records from the past. You could say that its job is to gather data on history that wasn't made public and information buried in obscurity."
The next topic was the discussion was the FATE System, a summoning system and the third invention Chaldea used or was at least intending to use, since it had never been consistent until this very moment, only achieving the summoning of 3 Servants throughout Chaldea's history.
Last but not least is the topic of Servants, Masters, and the Holy Grail War.
"So let me get this straight," Bulma began, processing each piece of information she was given. "Servants are heroes from legends who ascended to this place called the Throne of Heroes and were summoned by Magi people to participate in an all-out war called the Holy Grail War with the winner having a chance to get a single wish."
"Correct, and according to the data on LAPLACE, we have Rayshifted back in in the year 2004 on this city where the 5th Holy Grail War took place," Olga stated.
Bulma raised an eyebrow, a look of familiarity. "So you're saying that we time-traveled in the past?"
"That's right, Bulma-san." Mash said, "We simply have to find the cause of this Singularity and it'll fix itself once it's done. We'll return to Chaldea shortly after."
Bulma crossed her arms, a look of doubt was present on her face. "Just that? There's no possibility that you'll just make a whole new timeline where this didn't happen?"
"No, none of that. You seem to have experience with this type of scenario?" She asked, Bulma let out a sigh.
"A story for another time," She dismissed her question. In her mind, she was panicking mentally.
'Great! First day in some burning city I had no clue of and I got involved in time travel shenanigans! I hope Lord Beerus won't skin me alive when I get back…' She said in her mind. "Wait… Did she say the year is 2004? Questions for later then..."
"Mash, come closer here for a moment," Olga ordered and Mash complied, Olda put a hand on her shield. "Since Mash has successfully been fused with a Servant thus making her a Demi-Servant, it would appear that her shield can be used as a catalyst capable of stabilizing the summoning process."
Olga instructed the Demi-Servant to place her shield on the ground. The group turned their heads to Mash's shield, which emitted a blue light. The center of the shield was the source of the light.
"As such, we cannot allow this opportunity to be wasted," She eyed Tesla and Li Shuwen, "Ritsuka Fujimaru will be the only one doing the summoning process since these two already summoned Servants of their own."
"Ritsuka," The boy turned his attention to Romani on the holographic screen called. "I'll be providing you with some Saint Quartz back here; they are a large concentration of magic energy used as fuel for this system."
Several rainbow-colored star-shaped diamonds appeared on top of the shield. Bulma walked towards the shield and grabbed one to inspect it. "#18 would kill to sell these off with how expensive they look."
"Who's that?" Ritsuka asked.
"Eh, it's a family friend obsessed with improving her family's financial situation even though they're doing great," Bulma answered, handing the Saint Quartz to Ritsuka.
"Relatable." Both Ritsuka and Gudako said in unison, accepting it.
"I trust you all will be able to get back here safely. I'll be ending the communication now. Good luck out there." With that, the doctor ends the communication.
"Now that's done," Olga said, glancing at Ritsuka and Mash. "Let's perform the ritual outside the warehouse. Wouldn't want to disturb their work."
Both of them nodded, collecting all the Saint Quartz with Gudako helping along.
"I'll keep guard with them in the meantime," Li Shuwen said, following the group retreating from the warehouse. Only leaving Cu, Tesla, and his Master behind.
Cu was about to follow them but Tesla stopped him.
"Caster," Tesla called, Cu glanced at him in confusion. "We may need your runes to further the drone we are in the process of making. Say, do you know any runes that can avoid detection from Servants?"
Cu gave him a confident smirk, "Sure, I know a thing or two."
"Excellent!"
With that, the two geniuses and a Caster began working on and developing the drone, as well as modifying the rifles.
Later
"So, we have to follow the readings?" Bulma asked Tesla. The Servant was currently piloting the newly constructed drone in the dark skies of the burning city. A video feed through the monitor showed that, thanks to the wireless connection installed, the drone was far away from its current location.
He simply nodded in confirmation. The Servant was silent, only focusing on the task at hand.
Bulma watched the visuals as she tapped the monitor, deep in thought. Her fingers tapped on the glass surface of the screen in a rhythmic motion as she pondered about the situation.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but she knew it wasn't much since the time they finished building the drone and had it remotely roam the city.
The drone flew past the city and approached the forest where the sensors picked up.
Tesla zoomed the drone's camera to get a better look, on the screen was a ruined castle.
Cu narrowed his eyes, leaning forward to the screen displaying the castle. Bulma glanced at him. "Something wrong?"
"Maybe," He answered, frowning. "A big one at that, I can't see the big fella who rarely leaves his spot. Probably inside of that castle, best we ignore him. He won't cause us any problems if we don't disturb him."
"And that is?"
Before he could answer, someone interrupted what he was about to say.
"Berserker." The voice, which for some reason is the same as Cu's, said suddenly. "His True Name is Heracles, one heck of a Servant to fight against."
Bulma and Tesla stared at Cu, who shook his head. "I didn't say that."
"That would be me!" They turned around to see the group and... Cu? He has the same face and hair but wears an entirely different outfit, a deep blue jumpsuit covered with gray metallic pauldrons, and a metal plate over his lowest abdominal section.
In his hand was a blood-red spear.
"Lancer-class Servant, Cu Chulainn at your service!" He introduced, his eyes trailing towards his counterpart. "So… This is how I looked as a Caster?"
Cu Chulainn, the Caster, looked flabbergasted. Behind the Lancer was Ritsuka, "We had the same reaction as you when he appeared."
Lancer Cu walked towards his Caster counterpart, nudging him a little. "I hope you still lived up to our legend even though you're a spearless me."
Caster Cu finally came out of his shocked state and flashed him a cocky grin. "I think I held out just fine, though sometimes I'm completely outclassed. Say, wanna settle a score with a certain red Archer?"
"That bastard is here? You bet!" He exclaimed, a toothy grin appeared on his face in anticipation.
"They… Get along rather quickly." Mash commented.
The monitor beeped, prompting everyone to look at the screen. The drone was picking up something, Caster Cu stepped forward to examine it more closely.
"Guide your drone there. There should be a cave underneath that temple," Caster Cu instructed, pointing at the huge temple on the mountain on the screen. Tesla followed the Caster's directions and flew the drone towards the location, navigating through the forest and terrain. It eventually found an entrance to a huge cavern lit by a violet glow.
"Is there anything about this?" Bulma glanced at Caster Cu for answers, and he stared at the screen for a moment.
"The source of this Singularity you are talking about? That would be the Greater Grail Saber currently guarding it." The mage stated, he glanced at Bulma and the Fujimaru siblings and decided that he should clarify it further. "That would be the 'core' of this Holy Grail War I participate before hell broke loose."
"Since we have dealt with Rider, Lancer, and Assassin." He glanced at Tesla and Li Shuwen. "Saber, Archer, and Berserker should the be ones remaining."
Li Shuwen raised his hand.
"If I may ask a question." He asked, stepping forward. "Cu Chulainn, the Lancer, you seem to have prior knowledge about the Berserker, Heracles, yes? Can you share with us what you know what does his Noble Phantasm function?"
"God Hand," Lancer Cu answered. "That giant stone of a bastard can revive up to 12 times and gain resistance to what killed him, so essentially we have to kill him with different kinds of attacks until he's on his last legs."
"Is that so?" His Caster counterpart rubbed his chin and thought, "I suppose we are fortunate that we only have to kill him at least 5-6 times. Half of his lives got taken out by other Servants before he got corrupted by Saber thankfully. Though, we still need to be careful."
Li Shuwen nodded at his fellow Servant's warning, satisfied with this newfound info.
"Alright, we got the coordinates," Bulma said suddenly, she showed them the GPS she held in her hand. "Tesla now's the time to retreat the drone."
"Very well," The father of electricity replied. Thanks to Caster Cu's runes, the drone returned to them without much damage. "Master, shall I leave the drone in the warehouse?"
"Yeah, do that and let the Capsules do all the magic," Bulma said, she walked towards another table, and on it were the modified and enhanced laser rifles. "Gudako, Ritsuka! The enhancements are done, they should function better than ever."
Gudako almost ran towards the table and eagerly grabbed one, followed by her brother.
"Huh? We have one more, did you make one in case?" He asks,"
"Oh, they are for your director. Catch!" She tossed the extra laser rifle toward Olga who caught it clumsily.
"Wha… W-Why would I need one!?" Olga yelled out, glaring daggers at Bulma. "I don't need it!"
"You need it." The scientist countered, giving her a blank look. "In case your magic is ineffective, these guns are an alternative."
"It's Magecraft!" She corrected angrily.
"Magic, Magecraft. Whatever, it's all the same." Bulma rolled her eyes. Everyone exited the warehouse as the blue-haired woman walked toward the back of it. She put her hand on it, and the warehouse was engulfed in a puff of smoke. This revealed that the warehouse had turned back into a Capsule in mid-air. Bulma swiftly grabbed the capsule and placed it into her case of Capsules.
"So… Everyone ready to head out?"
"Yeah," Caster said. "The sooner we get this done, the better right?"
With that, the group then walked out of the school building.
Olga was busy inspecting the laser rifle she held, "Stupid scientist, why would I need this piece of junk!"
Due to her inexperience with holding a rifle, much less a futuristic one, she failed to follow basic rules of gun safety procedures, as her finger pressed the trigger. Olga recoiled as a large beam erupted from the rifle, everyone could only stare as it traveled to a building that was once the school's swimming pool.
The moment it hits, the water reacts violently. A brilliant explosion bursts, sending shockwaves through the entire pool. The water around the impact point churns in a violent frenzy as if the very essence of the pool is being ripped apart.
Everyone stared at the large pillar of water rising from the explosion. Then, they turned their heads towards Olga who had dropped the laser rifle on the ground.
Both Lancer and Caster Cus whistled at the firepower.
Ritsuka looked astonished and terrified at the same time.
Gudako looked at her rifle and then at the explosion. Li Shuwen looked at his Master with concern that she would do something reckless.
Tesla on the other hand…
"Hahahaha!" He laughed somewhat crazily, a look of satisfaction was present on his face. "These are the fruits of me and my Master's efforts! Truly I get to be paired with the most interesting Master!"
Olga turned around to see Bulma walking towards her, looking at the now-destroyed swimming pool and then at her.
"I'm impressed, you managed to create an explosion bigger than what I demonstrated to an old friend back when I was 5 years old." She praised simply, clapping her hands.
Olga's response was only looking at Bulma with her jaw open wide, shakingly pointing her finger at the destruction she caused.
"I-IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN SOMETHING!? I COULD HAVE DIED!"
I think it's time for me to start making schedules for writing sessions so I can write fanfics more consistently as I started writing this chapter on December 20, 2024, yeah laziness does that to you and it's a pain. As usual, do comment on something that is rather inconsistent or anything, it will be appreciated and I'll do my best!
Comments and criticisms are welcome!
Bye-bye!
