Fate/Grand Order: Light of Humanity

[InsertNameHere]

I know what you're thinking: what idiot tries to rewrite the entire plot of FGO in his own image in the hopes of expanding on its original themes while introducing entirely new plotlines for good measure?

This idiot, that's who. When has anyone here known me to back away from a bad idea?

You'll have to pardon me for only using the AO3 links, it's easier for me to keep track of this way. Feedback is appreciated and much sought after, I'm not even close to being a professional and I need a few extra pairs of eyes to look over these for me. I'll try to respond to any suggestions with all due haste.

My update schedule can be generously be described as erratic, but I'll post here whenever I do manage to come out with an update.

Chapter 1: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39...pters/99175605

Chapter 2:
https://archiveofourown.org/works/39...pters/99253830

Chapter 3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/39...ters/110250729

[InsertNameHere]

I hate having to bump my own thread, but I was wondering: is it BL etiquette to post the fic chapters themselves onto the forum? I can do that as well if that's easier for people to read.

[Random]

Personally, I would recommend it. It gives more substance than just posting "new chapter" repeatedly or some such thing.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

>Mithos Yggdrasil
?????????

[InsertNameHere]

>Mithos Yggdrasil
?????????

I didn't want to call him Gudao or Ritsuka like most people do, and I liked the way the name sounded. Any resemblance to characters from other franchises is purely coincidental.

But I guess I could change the name if you really think it's necessary.

[pinetree]

Just use Ritsuka man. I barely ever read fanfic but, honest feedback, I lost interest and closed immediately when I saw it was his name.

[Random]

Putting aside my subjective opinion on how it comes across to me as a reader, "Mithos Yggdrasil" quite objectively implies a completely different character to "Fujimaru Ritsuka". The latter is an average joe from Japan, the former is - at best - a busted mage from an abyssal up-its-own-ass lineage who still didn't even make it to Team A.

[InsertNameHere]

Alright. Ritsuka Fujimaru it is. Part of me will miss it, but in the end it's for the best.

[InsertNameHere]

Putting aside my subjective opinion on how it comes across to me as a reader, "Mithos Yggdrasil" quite objectively implies a completely different character to "Fujimaru Ritsuka". The latter is an average joe from Japan, the former is - at best - a busted mage from an abyssal up-its-own-ass lineage who still didn't even make it to Team A.

Technically that is kind of the backstory I was going for, if only because I don't want to bore the reader by telling them things they'd already know if they have at least a little knowledge of the game's story. Essentially, he's a magus in name alone.

Plus, his knowing some magecraft (albeit at Waver's level) will be important further down the line since I plan to give him a distinctly more active role in battles and the like than he has in the game. I figure that Chaldean magecraft-technology could compensate for his innate weaknesses as a magus- do you believe that would be a viable rationalization?

[OnesFleetingGlory]

Hi, INH.

I got some time to look into your fanfic. First things first, I admit I'm no expert in writing and stuff, so I'll just give my opinion about it.

From what I saw in AO3, you're only three chapters in, and it's a retread of FGO's prologue, which is still not over, so can't say much about it. Only difference I notice was the mysterious being that greeted Ritsuka during simulation test, which is a plot point I hope you'll elaborate further as you progress.

The way you describe the characters and the interactions are nice, not to mention the battle at the third chapter, which I expect will be frequent down the line. Are you planning to follow Part 1's plot with additional characters in play, or will there be any divergence at some point?

[InsertNameHere]

Hi, INH.

I got some time to look into your fanfic. First things first, I admit I'm no expert in writing and stuff, so I'll just give my opinion about it.

From what I saw in AO3, you're only three chapters in, and it's a retread of FGO's prologue, which is still not over, so can't say much about it. Only difference I notice was the mysterious being that greeted Ritsuka during simulation test, which is a plot point I hope you'll elaborate further as you progress.

The way you describe the characters and the interactions are nice, not to mention the battle at the third chapter, which I expect will be frequent down the line. Are you planning to follow Part 1's plot with additional characters in play, or will there be any divergence at some point?

The opening part part's the obligatory cryptic hint, which may or may not hold water depending on how things work out in canon. I'm pleased to hear you liked the fight scene, as I always imagined that they were my biggest weakness.

And for the divergences? They'll start out subtle at first, but by the time Part 2 happens there's going to be some very significant changes indeed. You'll get a hint at what one of them will be at the end of Fuyuki, in which Ritsuka's unique connection with dreams has some unexpected consequences- and more importantly, hope for someone whose situation should have been hopeless. Of course, there's a catch that nobody involved would have known of at the time...except for the new party showing up who really, really, really shouldn't be there. Hopefully you'll be willing to stick with me long enough to get to that point, and that I'll be able to do the same.

[OnesFleetingGlory]

The opening part part's the obligatory cryptic hint, which may or may not hold water depending on how things work out in canon. I'm pleased to hear you liked the fight scene, as I always imagined that they were my biggest weakness.

And for the divergences? They'll start out subtle at first, but by the time Part 2 happens there's going to be some very significant changes indeed. You'll get a hint at what one of them will be at the end of Fuyuki, in which Ritsuka's unique connection with dreams has some unexpected consequences- and more importantly, hope for someone whose situation should have been hopeless. Of course, there's a catch that nobody involved would have known of at the time...except for the new party showing up who really, really, really shouldn't be there. Hopefully you'll be willing to stick with me long enough to get to that point, and that I'll be able to do the same.

Alright, good luck for us both. IRL and writer's block can be pain, but I hope I'll manage somehow. If nothing else, I want to finish what I started, regardless of result.

[InsertNameHere]

Alright, good luck for us both. IRL and writer's block can be pain, but I hope I'll manage somehow. If nothing else, I want to finish what I started, regardless of result.

Likewise. I'm trying my best to push forward, and I'll post an update when I'm able.

[InsertNameHere]

Seeing that I should probably be doing something vaguely productive here rather than butting heads with everyone (yet again), I may as well copy down all the chapters I've got written up thus far. Further chapters (when they're done) will be posted likewise.

Chapter 0: Premonition- Fate

---Chaldea Security Organization Records: Data log entry, July 30, 2015---

Program running: Introductory combat simulation for incoming Masters.

Subject: Ritsuka Fujimaru

Master Candidate #48

Servants selected: Saber, Lancer, Archer

Life support status:

Magic circuit condition: normal, activation within safe limits

Heart rate: 72 bps, stable

Blood pressure-

ALERT.

Life support anomaly detected.

Neurological readings indicate-

ERROR

Program running: 0xFFFFFFF NULL

MN0X000084342309184

######ERROR#####ERRORERROR60302147OVERRUN214701

148A9543D23C72490B35468697320697320746865207761792 074686520776F726C6420656E6473

------

If anyone else had been present to view the status of Chaldea's virtual reality simulation system at that time, they might have seen two figures standing together upon what had been a mock battlefield in the middle of a wide plain mere moments ago.

The first was an entity as airy and ephemeral as the wind, a vaguely humanoid shape that was less of a physical being and more of a presence in the mind. The second was very much physical. He was a young man with black hair and fair skin clad in a white uniform that contrasted with his black pants and shoes. His blue eyes were wide with confusion and his brow was deeply furrowed as his mind tried to process the being that was both there and not there.

"You are here to restore order to my world." The there/not there entity's voice was not something heard so much as felt, the "sound" resembling some kind of celestial instrument unlike anything mankind had ever produced.

The young man's bewilderment only deepened further with this proclamation. "Restore order to what? How? What is this? Who are you, anyway?" This was supposed to be a simple battle simulation, meant to show the prospective Master the basics of how to handle Servants in a combat situation. He thought he had been doing a good job too. But before he could receive his evaluation, this…being appeared before him and the whole system seemed to grind to a halt.

"My name is of no importance. You need only know that there will be great hardship on the road ahead. But do not fear, Ritsuka. The world will guide you in ways you cannot imagine."

"What does that even mean? What are you even talking about?" The man had so many questions he didn't even know where to start. As he tried to put his racing thoughts in order, the realization that this being knew his name without being told was practically an afterthought.

The entity's "face", or rather the empty space where a face should have been, remained as unreadable as it had been when it first manifested. "You shall learn when the time is right. For now, you must awaken. Your destiny awaits."

And then everything around them dissolved into a shining, all-encompassing light.

Author's notes:

Try to find the secret message hidden in this chapter! Hint: if you're a computer programmer, you might recognize something among all those numbers.

As for who the mystery figure is, I'm not telling just yet. But here's a hint: did you ever stop to think why exactly Guda just so happened to fall asleep at exactly the right time and place to end up meeting Mash and find themselves in just the right place to avoid the explosion?

[InsertNameHere]

Chapter 1: Chaldea

"Fou, kyuu, kyu! Fou fou!"

Still half-asleep, Ritsuka Fujimaru opened his eyes to see the face of a small white furry creature resembling a cross between a squirrel and a small dog sitting on his chest. Judging by the wet spot on his cheek, he could only assume the creature had been licking him just a moment ago. Before he could close his eyes again and let his fatigue get the better of him, a young woman in a pale coat and a black shirt came running up to him, concern evident in her purple eyes even through her glasses.

“...Umm. Since it's neither morning nor night, please wake up, Senpai.”

She sounded rather awkward, he thought to himself as got up and he took in the sights of the blue-tiled hallway he found himself in. Maybe she doesn't talk to people much? “Sorry, I don't think we've met. What's your name?”, he asked as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He could ask why a total stranger was calling him “senpai” later.

“My name?” She hesitated, playing with her lilac hair for a moment before regaining her composure. “That's a hard question to answer suddenly. Maybe I'm not important enough for you to know my name?”

Now he was just confused. “I don’t know about that, but I’m sure you have to have some sort of name. It's not like I can just call you "you", right?”

“I mean, I do have a name," the girl replied. "I have a proper name. But I never really get the chance to use it. I'm afraid I don't leave a good first impression…" The girl trailed off, apparently realizing that she had nearly forgotten what she wanted to say. "Sorry, I got sidetracked." She gestured to a couch by one of the pale walls. "Would you like to take a seat?"

"That would be nice. We can keep talking there."

After seeing that Ritsuka was comfortably seated, the girl took a place next to him as the furry creature leapt onto her shoulder.

"You were asleep...but why were you sleeping in the halls?”

The young man scratched his head. “Good question. I can’t remember much after the first training simulation. I'm sure someone would've noticed if I managed to sleepwalk all the way here, right?" He decided against mentioning the there/not there being that he had encountered there. For all he knew, it was just a bizarre dream he had while he was asleep.

Before the girl could reply, the creature cried out again. "Fouuu."

"Oh, I completely forgot. I still haven't introduced you yet, have I, Fou?" The girl took the creature into her arms before returning her attention to Ritsuka. "This squirrel-like creature is Fou. He's a Privileged Life-Form allowed to freely walk around Chaldea. Fou led me here, and that's how I ran into you, Senpai."

"Fou. Mmkyu, fou!" Without any warning, Fou wriggled out of the girl's grasp and dashed down the hallway. "Don't worry about him," the girl said as they watched Fou scamper away. "He does that sometimes, just runs off like that."

"He doesn't look like any animal I've ever heard of. Maybe he's the only one of his kind," Ritsuka wondered out loud.

"Normally he doesn't go near anyone but me, but he seems to like you, Senpai. Congratulations. You are now the second caretaker of Fou in Chaldea," the girl replied.

It was only then Ritsuka realized something important. "Wait a minute, I forgot to introduce myself! I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru. Would you mind telling me your name now?"

She hesitated for a moment, fidgeting momentarily before finding her voice. "My name is Mash Kyrielight. It's nice to meet you, Senpai." Tentatively, she extended her hand. This is what people do when they meet someone new. And since Senpai seems so kind, I shouldn't be scared, she reminded herself.

After they shook hands, Ritsuka couldn't help but notice how Mash was staring at her hand as if she hadn't quite processed the feeling of his touch upon her. "Um…are you okay? Did I hurt you or something?"

"No," she quickly replied. "It's…just been a while since I met someone new and I wasn't sure if I could remember how to shake someone's hand."

Before Ritsuka could press the matter further, another person approached. "Ah, there you are, Mash. That won't do, you know, wandering about without permission…"

------

The newcomer was an older-looking man with a sharply pointed nose and long hair that draped around his shoulders in a way that vaguely reminded Ritsuka of a scarf. "Oh, someone's already with you? You're...I see…You must be a rookie who just got assigned here. I'm Lev Lainur, one of the technicians employed here."

Ritsuka personally thought that it was rather odd for a technician to be going around in a suit and a top hat, but he dismissed the thought along with the strange sense of unease he felt when he looked at Lev for too long. It's probably nothing, he assumed. Just a bit of grogginess, that's all.

"And I'm Ritsuka. It's nice to meet you, Lev."

Lev took out what appeared to be some kind of computer, humming for a moment until it appeared that he found what he was looking for. "Candidate #48, Ritsuka Fujimaru- there you are. Welcome to Chaldea, Ritsuka. I'm glad you're here. I heard you were the last of the public applicants to be selected. So tell me, how long was your training? A year? Six months? Three months?"

"...let's just say that I get the feeling it wasn't nearly long enough," the younger man sheepishly admitted. "If I had to guess, it couldn't have been longer than a couple of hours."

"Oh? So you're a complete amateur, then?" Lev asked. "Now that I think of it, we did call for applicants just so we could fill numbers. But do pardon my lack of consideration. You're every bit as important for this mission as your fellow Master candidates. If there's something you don't understand, feel free to ask Mash or myself anytime…" Lev broke off halfway through, as if he had just realized something important.

"Come to think of it, what were you talking about with him, Mash? That's not like you. Did you know each other before?"

"No, I'd never met Senpai before. I saw Senpai sleeping here, so I just…"

"Sleeping? In the middle of a hallway?" Lev interjected.

"That's what Mash told me, at least," Ritsuka said. "Can't say how I got here, though. I don't really remember anything after the simulation they put me through, not even how well I did."

"That sounds like an ordinary reaction to your first Spiritron Dive," Lev noted. "You must have walked over here before you returned to consciousness."

"Huh, I guess my sleepwalking guess wasn't that far off. There's nothing serious that might've also happened to me from that, right?"

Lev shook his head. "You seem fine to me. But I'm no doctor, so I'd normally suggest you visit the infirmary just in case. But for now you should hurry to the central control room. The Director's orientation for the newbies starts in five minutes. She is not the type to forgive and forget. If you show up late, you'll be on her radar for the entire year at minimum."

"Which way is it?" Ritsuka asked as he and Mash got up, with the growing worry that he might end up on his boss's bad side before he could even do anything.

"Right down this hall. You should hurry," replied the older man. Ritsuka didn't need to be told twice, but as he turned to leave Mash spoke up.

"Dr. Lev, do you think I'll be allowed to sit in on the orientation, too?" she asked.

"Hmm? Well, if you stand way back in a corner, I think she'll look the other way... But why?" Lev didn't seem like he had any problems with it, but for some reason Ritsuka couldn't quite shake the sense that Lev wanted him to just leave already…and not just because he might be late. Again, he shrugged it off as his mind playing tricks on him.

"I just thought I should take Senpai to the Command Room. It's possible that Senpai might fall asleep on the way again," replied Mash.

Ritsuka nodded in agreement. "Having someone I know to show me around would be nice either way. To be honest, I don't know anyone else here."

"I suppose there's no harm in tagging along as well, eh? If you don't have any more questions, we should get to the Command Room."

"Actually, there is one thing I've been wondering," the younger dark-haired man asked. "Why exactly is Mash calling me "senpai"? We just met a little while ago, after all."

Lev gave out a short chuckle. "Oh, don't worry about it. To her, every human your age is her senpai. But it's unusual to hear her actually call someone that. This might be the first time I've heard her ever do it." He turned to the girl walking in front of them. "Why exactly are you calling him 'Senpai' ?"

"The reason? Fujimaru is the most human-like person I've ever met," Mash explained with a smile. "I don't feel threatened. So there's no reason for me to be hostile."

"Huh. Can't say that I understand, but I'll take that as a compliment," Ritsuka said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"It makes sense to me. People at Chaldea are all a real piece of work!" Lev exclaimed with a slight flourish. "In any case, I think you and Mash will get along just fine."

"Doctor Lev, if you like Senpai then the Director will probably hate him...Well, why don't we hide in the restroom to boycott the orientation, then?" Mash asked as she adjusted her tie.

"If she'll be mad at me for being late, then she'll probably be even angrier if I skip the orientation completely," Ritsuka pointed out. "I think it'll be better for me to take my chances and hope for the best."

"Speaking of which, we're at the Central Control Room right now," Lev noted. "Don't be too worried, Ritsuka. When you get to know her, the Director is actually very nice. Just don't tell her I said that, or you'll make her more upset."

------

Dozens of men and women dressed in the same black-and-white outfit as Ritsuka had taken their assigned seats as Ritsuka arrived, with Mash and Lev closely accompanying him into the blue hued-room. Even without counting himself and what he assumed were his fellow Master candidates, the chamber was a veritable hive of activity, with technicians checking on the strange cylindrical devices that ringed the outside of the room or working on the most advanced computer systems Ritsuka had ever seen. But by far the most striking feature was the elaborate globe-like apparatus at the center of the chamber…as well as the woman in what he thought was some kind of noblewoman's attire standing in front of it.

The Director (or so Ritsuka assumed her to be) didn't look much older than himself, but had an air of authority about her that gave the impression that she was very used to commanding others. Just as noticeable was her silvery-white hair and golden eyes that gleamed with the intensity of a raging inferno.

While she was indisputably pretty, Ritsuka figured that she would likely have looked better had she not been glaring at him in a way that made it clear she had noticed his belated arrival and did not appreciate his tardiness at all. Unfortunately, Mash had informed him that he had been assigned to the front row and the only available space left was directly in front of her.

"Senpai, you're looking a little pale."

"Am I? Fine time to start getting sleepy again…" Ritsuka grumbled, hoping that the increasingly sour look on the face of the silver-haired woman wasn't meant for him specifically.

"It must be from the simulator. I'd take you to the infirmary, but…"

"Cut the chitchat, you two. The orientation is about to start," Lev reprimanded.

Silence quickly spread across the room before the woman began her opening speech.

"This wasn't quite on time, but it looks like everybody's here. Welcome to Chaldea Security Organization. I'm the Director, Olga Marie Animisphere. You have been selected, or discovered, from each nation for your rare talents of Spiritron conversion and magic circuits that will allow you to serve as Masters. I doubt you understand what that means, so for now just know that you will be reborn as cutting-edge mages in an unprecedented fusion of magecraft and science."

Her speech was interrupted by Ritsuka letting out a very poorly timed yawn. She immediately turned to him with a scowl.

"You, the one who came in late. Am I boring you?" If she wasn't angry with me already, she definitely is now, Ritsuka thought with more than a bit of anxiety.

"No, Director! Not at all!", he exclaimed. Against all odds, his words seemed to make Olga relatively calmer.

"Hmph. I should hope so. As I was saying before I was so RUDELY INTERRUPTED, for all your talents you're still just inexperienced rookies standing at the same starting point. Understand that Chaldea is my domain. Family heritage and personal achievements have no meaning here and my orders are absolute. You're all mere tools to protect humanity as far as I'm concerned, nothing more."

Ritsuka was personally fine with that. His "family heritage", for lack of a better term, was that of an obscure, nearly-collapsed bloodline that had viewed the birth of even a merely passable magus like himself as a small miracle. As for personal achievements, he had a good enough grasp of the basics of magecraft along with a few tricks with light he had learned from his family's books, but calling any of that an "achievement" was a stretch.

A noticeable amount of the other Master candidates must have thought differently, at least if the loud complaints from one of them about how the Director was overstepping her bounds were any indication. Needless to say, she was not taking them well.

"Are you all a pack of unruly students?!" she shouted with poorly concealed frustration. "I'm only telling you what's going on right now. If you don't like it, you can leave Chaldea at once. Assuming that you can climb down a snowy mountain 6,000 miles above sea level, at least. So does anyone still want to drop out?"

Nobody said a word.

"Good. Now quit wasting my time. You should be more like him. Obedient, no arguments, no opinions that I haven't asked for."

Ritsuka realized that Olga was pointing at him and redoubled his efforts to stay awake. Unfortunately, it was growing increasingly difficult to ignore how tired he felt; it was already a struggle just to keep his eyes open.

"Today, we at Chaldea will achieve a feat that will surpass even the deeds of the 'Pioneers of the Stars'. We will not simply expand civilization, but protect it and ensure the continuation of all humanity. The observation cyber demon LAPLACE, the Global Environment Model CHALDEAS, the Near Future Observation Lens SHEBA, the Heroic Spirit Summoning System FATE, and the Spiritron Calculation Engine TRISMEGISTUS: with these marvels of science and magecraft combined, we can observe the future of humanity just as our ancestors once observed the stars."

She gestured to the globe behind her. "That is Chaldea's proudest achievement, the Global Environment Model CHALDEAS. A miniature copy of the earth with a replica of the world's soul created with the most advanced magical theories known to us. While its scale is far too great to read individual human minds, we can still use SHEBA to observe what's on the surface. We set CHALDEAS to reflect the earth a century from now, so when we observe it we essentially observe our own future. So long as its light shines, we will know that human civilization will continue."

She paused her lecture for a moment to turn to Lev. "Lev, normalize SHEBA's observation angle."

The top-hatted man adjusted something on one of the nearby machines, and the globe's color grew darker. The white spots that had previously marked the location of human cities, once bright and unmistakable, were now so faint that they were barely visible.

"Six months ago, Chaldeas changed color, and it's become difficult to observe the future. More importantly, the light of human civilization is nearly unobservable. Now, what do you think that might mean?"

One of the other Master candidates awkwardly spoke up. "Um…it means that civilization is gone?"

The director allowed herself a small smile, the first one that Ritsuka or any of the other candidates had seen since they first met her. "Exactly. Human civilization has ceased to exist. This was highly classified, but you must know it in order to understand our situation. Our observations indicate that in the year 2018, the light of humanity vanishes. All our attempts to find a possible cause that might arise in the next three years have failed- no economic collapses, no seismic events or natural disasters, nothing."

"Since then, we've discovered that the reason for the disappearance of the future is not in the present, but the past. We've used LAPLACE and TRISMEGISTUS to review all data for the past 2000 years and discovered an "unobservable zone" that didn't exist in history until 2017."

The globe rotated around until Japan was at its center, then zoomed in on Kyushu to bring an angry red dot into focus. "We have named this region, located in the rural town of Fuyuki City, "Singularity F". It is completely cut off from both the past and the future, like a hole in our temporal axis. To repair this hole and allow the timeline to mend itself, the UN has authorized the use of Rayshifting. A Rayshift transforms a human into Spiritrons, allowing them to enter and alter the past. You alone have magic circuits that can safely handle the Spiritron conversion process."

Olga stopped her lecture again, taking a minute to fix her collar and mercifully not noticing that Ritsuka was slipping in and out of wakefulness. "Your task is to investigate Singularity F, identify its source, and eliminate it. There's no telling what could be waiting for us there, but we have confidence that you can do this. We'll start the first experiment within the hour; our top 8 scorers in Team A will be the first to enter the Singularity and establish a base camp for the rest of you. They're trained warriors who have been active for a month now, so they should be able to handle any unforeseen threats. Meanwhile, Teams B and below will monitor their situation and prepare for their deployment upon Team A's success. Lev, are the Coffins ready?"

"Yes, Director," replied Lev as he finished work on one of the cylinder-shaped apparatuses encircling the Control Room.

"Now register your information with the Klein Coffins, the arks that will send you to the past as spiritrons. There are no spares, so be careful with them."

The Master candidates all dutifully obeyed and proceeded to the machines for registration. Except for one.

"What do you think you're doing? Hurry up and-"

She was interrupted by the sound of Ritsuka's snoring.

Everyone else in the room reflexively took a step back as they saw the director shaking with unfettered rage.

------

"WAKE UP, YOU IDIOT!"


The first thing Ritsuka heard after being woken up by an alarmingly hard slap was his new superior screaming in his ear. The other Master candidates were nowhere to be seen, and apart from her Mash and Lev were the only people left in the room. Both of them had a look of sympathy that gave him the impression that this was not the first time the Director had done something like this.

Oh, shit. Of all the ways that this orientation could have gone, this was probably the worst possible outcome.

"I tell the Association that this plan was a Grand Order, the highest possible duty in the world of magecraft, and this is what I get to carry it out?"

"I'm-"

Ritsuka barely got even that word out before the Director interrupted him with a scowl. "You. Stop talking. What team are you with? Show me your ID right now."

Olga stared at the proffered ID before launching into another tirade. "What the hell is this?! A substandard magus- no, he's practically a civilian- with zero combat experience and the absolute minimum amount of training? Are you kidding me?!"

Ritsuka' only response, for lack of a better word, was stunned silence. So much for a good first impression, he thought. "Lev Lainur!" the director shouted.

"I'm right here, Director," Lev replied as he headed towards them. "What's the problem?"

Olga's eyelid twitched slightly. "Of course there's a problem! Why is this amateur even here?!"

"Director, he's a chosen Master candidate," Lev pleaded. "He might be inexperienced, but-"

"But nothing!" Olga cut her subordinate off. "Imagine what could happen if something happened to my CHALDEAS and the only one who can do something about it is him. Do you really think he could handle it?" That's strange. Did she sound…worried about me? Ritsuka wondered as he noticed her voice grow softer and less harsh for a moment.

"I'm sure it won't come to that, Director." Lev responded. "Surely you could give him one chance to prove that he can be useful to you before you do anything hasty?"

Olga thought it over for a moment, furrowing her brow in what could be interpreted as either deep thought or profound irritation. "Ugh, fine. Let Romani handle his training, he needs to do some work for once in his life. And you, just go away before I change my mind."

Ritsuka didn't even have the strength to try to apologize to her again. All he could do was nod and walk off with Lev and Mash.

------

"Mash, would you kindly take Ritsuka to his room for me? I'd do it myself but I need to make some important preparations for the Rayshift experiment. I'll drop by your room as soon as it's done, all right?"

"Of course, Doctor Lev," Mash said. "By the way, it's not like you to be quite this kind. Do you know Senpai from somewhere?"

A thoughtful look passed across from Lev's face for a moment. "Not exactly. I was just thinking things like eternal rivals and fated encounters are very important."

Ritsuka felt that strange sense of unease again when he heard that, but tried his best to push it out of his mind as he turned to follow Mash to his new room. It's just fatigue, it has to be.

------

They hadn't been walking long when Fou rejoined them, leaping onto Mash's face and scrambling onto her shoulder. "So, does Fou always do that or…"

"Don't worry, Senpai. I've gotten used to it. I think it's his way of showing that he likes you."

As if to agree, Fou jumped from Mash's shoulder to his own. "Fou, fou!"

"See, he's already embraced you as one of his own!" Mash giggled.

"I feel so honored," he said half-jokingly as Mash stopped in front of a nearby door. "I'm guessing this is my room?" She nodded in reply.

"I'd like to stay with you a while longer, but the other members of A Team are probably waiting for me. Fou, make sure to look after Senpai for me."

Fou let out a brief cry, as if he somehow understood what she asked.

"Thank you. I hope we can see each other again soon, Senpai!" Mash gave a quick farewell wave to Ritsuka and Fou as she ran back down the hall, undoubtedly ready to embark on her first mission.

------

Whatever hopes the young man had of taking a brief nap to clear his head and shrug off any lingering sleepiness were shot down at the sight of the stranger in a labcoat, lounging on his bed with a laptop and a slice of cake like it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do. Judging by the look on his face, he was at least as surprised as Ritsuka was by the latter's arrival.

"Wha- who are you? This is an empty room! It's where I slack off! Who gave you permission to come in?"

"You know I could ask you the same thing, right? Especially since this was supposed to be my room," Ritsuka retorted with just a hint of frustration.

"Your room? Oh, wait a minute…you must have been the last one to show up." A sheepish grin passed over the orange-haired man's face. "You must be Ritsuka, then. Let me introduce myself- I'm the head of the medical department, Dr. Romani Archaman. But everyone calls me Roman, so you can too. Fact is, Roman has a nice ring to it, no? It sounds cool and vaguely sweet."

"Nice to meet you too, Doctor," Ritsuka said as Fou climbed down his shoulder to the floor. Between him and the Director, I'm starting to realize what Lev meant by everyone here being a piece of work, he thought to himself as he scratched his head.

The sudden moving streak of white got the doctor's attention. "Hey, is that the mysterious creature I've heard so much about? Whoa, nice to meet you! Mash told me a lot about him, but I didn't really think he existed... Hey, why don't I teach him some tricks?"

Roman knelt down, presenting one hand to Fou. "Okay, shake. If you do it well, I'll give you a treat."

Fou simply gave him a pitying look and climbed right back on Ritsuka's shoulder. "I don't think he likes you," the younger man noted.

The doctor's disappointment seemed to vanish almost as soon as it showed up. "W-well anyway, I was just about to get some tea. Do you want any, Ritsuka?"

-----

About a half hour later or so, Ritsuka and Roman finished up the last of their tea. The younger man took a moment to adjust the new communicator Roman had picked up with his tea for him and marveled once again at his new gift.

The wristwatch-like device could apparently be used to contact other Chaldean staff members even across different timelines using a complex mixture of magecraft and bleeding-edge technology; Ritsuka had been quite grateful for the unexpected gift, but Roman had insisted that he didn't need to be paid back for it. "Well, I guess you could keep it a secret that I was here instead of the infirmary so the Director doesn't yell at me again," he had finally relented with a small grin. Ritsuka accepted, of course. It was the least he could do for his new friend.

For someone who seemed like he barely put effort into doing much of anything, the doctor had proven to be a surprisingly good listener as Ritsuka told him about his ill-fated time at the orientation. Meanwhile, Fou was curled up on the bed watching the two men get to know each other better.

"You got thrown out by the director too? That's exactly what happened to me! The Coffins are more accurate at reading the vitals of the magi within them than I am, so I figured nobody would mind if I took a quick break. But then she told me "When you're here, Romani, everyone slacks off! If you've got nothing to do, then leave!" So I've been sulking here until a little while ago."

"Which is when I showed up. Well, since we don't have much else to do right now until this Rayshift experiment or whatever it's called is all finished up, we may as well stay here and hang out a little longer. I could use the company of a friend while I get settled in," Ritsuka suggested. He had asked him about getting the training Olga mentioned started, but Roman had suggested that they hold off on it to ensure that there weren't any more aftereffects from his first simulation.

"Neat, that means I'm visiting a friend's room! Woo hoo! I've made a new friend!" Roman whooped with the sort of exuberance typically seen in a young child opening a long-awaited Christmas present.

His celebration was cut short by the sound of his communicator ringing, followed by the appearance of a holographic image of Lev. "Romani, we're going to start the Rayshift soon. Could you come in case there's an emergency? The A Team's in perfect condition, but some members of B Team on down are displaying some slight abnormalities. It could just be anxiety, but we can never be too cautious in delicate situations like these."

"Got it. I feel bad for them, so I'll get them some anesthetic."

"Yeah, hurry up, will you? If you're in the infirmary, then you can get here in two minutes. Oh, and the director wanted me to tell you that you had better not be hiding away somewhere again."

"No, not slacking at all! I'll be right there!" Roman nervously laughed as he shot a pleading glance to Ritsuka not to say anything that might give him away. The younger man nodded.

------

"Lev's going to be upset when he realizes that you're actually five minutes away, isn't he?" Ritsuka asked as he and Roman finished cleaning up their snacks.

"He's not nearly as high-strung as the Director, I'm pretty sure he'll understand," Roman responded. "Lev helped build SHEBA, you know? I'm not sure if the director mentioned this, but it's basically a telescope that observes CHALDEA for us. It's also our facility's main security system."

"Sounds like a pretty smart guy. Did he make the rest of the Rayshifting tech too?" Ritsuka asked.

"Actually, no," Roman replied. The previous director designed the main summoning/unsummoning system and TRISMEGISTUS was provided to us by the Atlas Academy. Honestly, it's a little daunting if you ask me- all these different talents just make me feel out of place. But if the Director wants me to go, then I have to go. It was nice chatting with you, Ritsuka. I'll be sure to treat you to some yummy cake the next time you're at the-"

His offer trailed off as the two of them noticed that the lights had inexplicably shut off, and an ominous rumble echoed through the halls outside.

"What's going on? Why are the lights out?" Roman's cheerful grin quickly dropped as an automated warning system answered his question for him.

Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and the Central Command Room. Central Area's containment wall will activate in 90 seconds. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once. Containment wall will close in 40 seconds Those remain in Central Area, evacuate immediately—


"Could that have been an explosion?" Ritsuka could barely contain the worry in his voice. If something was going on in the control room, Mash and the others were sure to still be trapped inside.

"The monitors are down!" Roman exclaimed, his own agitation posing a stark contrast from the easygoing temperament Ritsuka had been enjoying mere moments ago. "I'm going to go to the Control Room to check on the damage. You should get out before the command wall closes, or you'll be stuck here."

"No." Ritsuka's response was as swift as it was decisive. "I'm coming with you. I can't just sit here knowing that Mash might be in trouble."

"What?! I mean, it's not like I'd object to an extra set of hands, but...you know what, we don't have time to argue right now. As long as you get out of there before the wall closes, you should be okay.”

He had barely finished speaking before Ritsuka dashed out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

-----

The control room was strewn with rubble and wreckage where there had once been cutting-edge machinery, and the stench of burning wires was so strong that Ritsuka was left coughing and spluttering for a moment when the doors opened. CHALDEAS itself seemed intact at least, but the prominent crater in the floor made it clear to both Ritsuka and Roman that this was no mere accident.

Generator operation stopped. Power level critical. Switch to the backup generator, error. Please make the switch manually. Containment wall will close in 45 seconds. Those remain in Central Area, evacuate immediately—

“...I don’t see any survivors, but at least CHALDEAS is safe. I'm heading down to the underground power station. We can't let Chaldea's light go out. If you hurry up and go back the way you came, you can still make it. Go outside, and wait for help! Got it?” Roman now sounded as if he was just a moment away from a panic attack, and to be honest Ritsuka could understand why. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to follow Roman’s instructions or even his own better judgment. Even as another automated message mentioning that the Rayshift coordinates for the Singularity F expedition were prepared, he insisted on staying in the control room to be certain that nobody was left inside.

Needless to say, Roman had not taken his decision very well. “Oh god, what?! I don’t even know if I’ll be able to open the containment wall before it closes, but I can’t stop you if you’re that insistent on it. Just…don’t stay in there any longer than you absolutely have to.” A nod was the only reply the doctor received; talking would’ve just wasted more time as far as the Master candidate was concerned.

He could see the silhouettes of people within the coffins whose glass exteriors weren’t too clouded by ashes and smoke to see through, but he couldn’t identify any way to open them or even to determine if their inhabitants were living or dead.

Just as he was about to give up hope and evacuate like Roman told him to do, he heard someone groaning in pain and dashed towards its source alongside Fou without a second thought.

His heart sank when he found the source in question.

Mash was trapped beneath a chunk of concrete; her face covered in bruises and cuts and her hoodie was soaked with blood. More worryingly, the pool of blood underneath her was steadily growing in size and her skin was getting paler by the moment. Despite her injuries, she still somehow had the strength to push herself up to meet Ritsuka's gaze. “Senpai…”

“MASH! Hold on, let me try to get this off!” Part of him knew that the effort would be pointless; even if he somehow did manage to lift the debris off of Mash long enough for her to crawl out from underneath it, there was no way that she could survive for long with her injuries.

And she knew that at least as well as he did. “Never mind me…please, just run…” she pleaded. “You need to…escape…”

“NO!” Ritsuka's shout was so loud even he was taken aback by it for a moment. “I’m not going to leave without you. I could never live with myself knowing that I did nothing to help you when you needed it.” He didn’t care that he had only known her for maybe an hour at most, if he was going to be her “senpai” he may as well live up to that title and watch out for her.

Mash seemed like she was about to open her mouth to object again, but the hissing of the automated doors closing behind the two of them quickly put an end to whatever it was she was about to say. A message played out mentioning that an “internal containment and cleansing protocol” would be initiated within 180 seconds; Ritsuka had no idea what that involved, but he had a feeling that it probably wouldn’t be healthy for him to be caught in it.

But just as worrying as the imminent cleansing protocol in Ritsuka’s mind was the other announcement playing out, accompanied by the holographic globe turning an angry shade of red like a twisted mockery of some distant star:

Warning to observation staff. Chaldeas' condition has changed. SHEBA’s near-future observational data will be overwritten. The survival of the human race on Earth for the next 100 years cannot be confirmed. The future of humankind cannot be guaranteed.


-----

“...they shut off the area. Now, we’re both trapped,” Mash noted, her voice tinged with equal parts resignation and despondency. “Senpai…I’m sorry. Because of me, we’re both-”

“Don’t blame yourself for it,” Ritsuka chided. “I knew this might happen when I came in here, and I don’t regret trying to help you. Besides, I’m sure we can find a way out of this somehow.” Privately, he wasn’t quite sure if they really could get out, but the last thing he wanted to do was to just give in and wait for death.

And as if to answer his unspoken hopes, another message began playing.

Coffin Vitals: Masters Baseline not reached. Rayshift requirement not met. Searching for qualifying Master...Found. Candidate No. 48, Fujimaru reset as Master. Unsummon Program, start. Spiritron Conversion, start.

“Well…I guess that’s one way to get out of here.” Fou cried out, apparently agreeing with him.

While it wasn’t the escape Ritsuka had in mind, whatever had to be on the other side of the Rayshift had to be at least somewhat more survivable than the decontamination. At least, that’s what he was telling himself as he tried to keep a strong face for Mash’s sake.

“Senpai…Would you mind holding my hand?”

His kouhai’s voice snapped Ritsuka back to attention. “Of course not,” he replied as he took her hand in his and savored her contented smile. “Here’s hoping for the best.”

The last thing he heard before the world started twisting and distorting around him was one last automated message.

Rayshift starting in 3…2…1. All procedures clear. First Order, commencing operation.

Author's notes

I chose to integrate the disparate scenes covering Ritsuka's time in the orientation since there was no point in just splitting them all up throughout Fuyuki. Additionally, I wanted to use this opportunity to set up some of Ritsuka's core personality traits (his dedication and sense of responsibility to the people he cares about, his natural kindness and ability to get along with others, and his need to take action during a crisis even when doing so might put himself at risk), as well as his general style of interacting with others. He's still a bit dazed here, but he's a swift learner. He has to be, really. He wouldn't be able to survive half of what happens in FGO if he wasn't.

[InsertNameHere]

Chapter 2: The Burning City

When the feeling of Fou licking his cheeks woke him back up, Ritsuka found that his hopes for relative safety had been quite thoroughly dashed.

He was in the middle of the charred husk of what might have been a city at one point. The stink of smoke and sulfur was if anything even thicker than it had been in the control room, and the dim glow of far-away fires was the closest thing to sunlight he could make out amidst the gloom.

As far as he could see, there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the area.“Looks like we’re on our own for the moment, Fou,” Ritsuka remarked to his animal companion. “Do you think we’re the only living things in this place?”

“Fouuu.”

“I guess I should take that as a yes.”

As the young man took in his surroundings, it became clear to him that the damage to the city was far worse than it had seemed. Wrecked cars littered the streets, which were themselves cracked and broken apart as if hit by some terrifyingly powerful force. The few buildings that weren’t consumed by flames were in various stages of wreckage and disrepair, and the sky was an unnatural shade of blood red. His first assumption was that some kind of meteor or earthquake or other natural disaster had just occurred…but if that was the case, why weren’t there any signs of human life? No ordinary disaster could destroy a city this thoroughly and yet leave no corpses behind, he thought to himself with no small degree of trepidation.

About half an hour of fruitless investigation later, Ritsuka had stopped to rest with Fou in a mostly intact Japanese-style residence they had found. Before they could get too settled in, however, he heard a voice he knew very well.

“Senpai…no, Master! There you are! I'm so glad you're safe. ”

----

Mash had somehow fully healed from the injuries that should have killed her, and in the place of her old outfit she now wore a rather striking suit of skin-tight purple and black armor that seemed to have been built less to keep her protected and more to show off her body, with a matching set of leggings and gloves. She also seemed to have found an unusually-shaped shield that had to be at least as large as her entire body, and despite its size she held it up as easily as if it was made of cardboard.

Needless to say, Ritsuka was surprised for more than one reason.

“Mash?! What the hell happened to you? Why are you calling me Master?” While his knowledge of Servants was a little on the rusty side, he was pretty sure that he would have noticed if Mash had been one this whole time.

“It’s a little complicated, but I’ll explain later. For now, you need to get behind me!”

As if on cue, the clattering of something hard against the ruined roads got Ritsuka’ attention as she gestured for him to stay behind her. When he saw the source of the noise, he found himself looking at a group of six animated skeletons advancing in his and Mash’s direction. The largest of the skeletons, a hulking mass of jagged bone carrying a longsword, gestured menacingly at the two of them before they stumbled forward.

“Master, your orders, please!” she shouted as she braced herself for its strike.

The new Master quickly realized that in spite of her earlier rudeness the Director had a very good point about his lack of experience- the prospect of giving orders was far more difficult when you were in real danger and had to think quickly under pressure. Nevertheless, he took a deep breath to steady himself before giving what would be the first of many commands and hoping that it wouldn’t end with Mash’s blood on his hands. Or his own death, at that matter. He wasn’t sure which would be worse, and he certainly didn’t want to find out.

“They don’t seem especially quick on their feet. Try and block their attacks as best as you can, then retaliate when they lose their balance. Got it?”

Mash nodded. “Understood. Engaging now!”

The first skeleton’s blade hit Mash’s shield head on, pushing her backwards a few inches but knocking the skeleton off-guard in the process. Before it could regain its balance, a backhanded swipe broke it into pieces with a sickening crunch and took down another of the skeletons as it tried to outflank her. Fortunately, whatever magic was keeping them animated didn’t seem to work if their bodies were broken apart- the creatures simply seemed to turn to dust.

The next two skeletons proved to be no more dangerous than their kin, and the few times one of them did get a lucky swipe in it either bounced off Mash’s shield or seemed to cause little more than a small scratch on her armor. A sweeping kick sent the fifth one tumbling to the ground, and before it could stand back up she charged into it with enough force to send it flying like a bowling pin before it crashed back to the ground. Only the apparent leader of the monsters was left standing now, and it rushed at Mash at a speed far faster than something so large ought to run.

Despite Mash's best efforts, the creature simply shrugged off her blows as if they were mere pinpricks and responded with one thunderous strike after the next. One of its slashes left a nasty-looking gash along his kouhai's arm, and when she briefly let her guard break it began battering her over the head with the blade's pommel until she was forced down onto the ground. Over the sound of Mash's cries of pain as she tried to drive the bone horror back, Ritsuka realized that if he didn't do something she would almost certainly die.

Even if he couldn't fight the monster directly, he had an idea of something he could do to help his kouhai. As he felt his magical energy surge through his circuits and saw the sphere of light coalesce within the palm of his hand, he prepared an incantation and envisioned his trigger: a speck of light in a great darkness that grew brighter and brighter until it filled everything.

"OLPRT!"


The sphere hurtled forward, exploding in a burst of light that dazed the giant skeleton right as it was about to perform a coup de grace. Despite not having any kind of eyes, it apparently had something similar enough to vision to be blinded by the blast. Not bad for someone who hasn’t been practicing for a while, he thought to himself before noticing Mash had taken the opportunity to get back onto her feet. She needed new orders, and he didn’t hesitate in giving them.

"Attack!"

Mash's subsequent shield bash struck her assailant with enough force to quite literally disarm it in a spray of bone shards. The battered remnants of the arm landed close to Ritsuka, and the young man pried the blade from the bony fingers in the hope of denying the weapon to its former owner. It didn’t seem cursed or anything to him, and while Mash was holding her own just fine now he couldn’t always rely on his magecraft to keep the both of them alive.

As if to remind him of that, the arm shuddered to a resemblance of life and began scuttling towards Ritsuka. Fortunately for him, being dismembered had apparently weakened the disembodied limb and it took only one swipe from his new weapon to render the arm lifeless once more.

Meanwhile, another swipe of Mash’s shield through the bone horror’s spine had neatly bisected the creature. The thing feebly attempted to drag itself forward with its remaining arm in a desperate attempt to retaliate, but soon went still and disintegrated.

Somehow, the Master and his Servant had made it through their first battle of many.

----

“Are you hurt, Senpai? Does your stomach hurt, or does it feel heavy?” Indifferent to her own brush with death for the second time in the past hour, Mash's first course of action upon her victory was to run towards the young man she now called her "Master".

“I’m okay. I’m more worried about you, to be honest,” Ritsuka replied as he picked up the scabbard for his new trophy from what was left of the disintegrating skeleton and headed for a nearby home so the two of them could rest and get their bearings. Once again Mash’s injuries seemed to have healed themselves with unusual speed, but he couldn’t rule out the possibility of some kind of internal injury. She didn’t seem hurt at least, and that was what mattered to him most right then.

“Don’t worry about me. I might have struggled during my combat training, but I can fight much better than I used to now because…”

Her sentence was cut off by a pinging noise from Ritsuka’ communicator, followed by a holographic image of a very harried-looking Dr. Roman. “Right, I finally got through! Hello? This is the Chaldea Command Room! Do you read me?”

“This is Mash Kyrielight, a member of A Team. At this time, I've completed the shift to Singularity F,” Mash replied.

“And this is Ritsuka Fujimaru, I’m here as well,” her companion added. “We ran into something nasty just a while ago, but we managed to defeat them somehow.”

“I’m glad to see you’re both alive- I was worried for a while that you might lose your existence.”

The relieved grin on the doctor’s face soon began to fade as he noticed Mash’s…distinctive outfit.

“More importantly, what’s up with that outfit?! I didn’t raise you to dress like that!”

“I was more worried about how she managed to recover so quickly from her injuries- she was nearly dead before the Rayshift started,” Ritsuka admitted as he thanked the doctor under his breath for saying what he had been thinking himself. “Mash, what happened to you?”

“...Dr. Roman. Please check my condition. You’ll understand my condition better that way.”

The sound of a computer’s whirring could be heard over the communicator feed as Roman looked over Mash’s vitals, followed by the doctor shouting with surprise loudly enough to make Ritsuka flinch.

“WHOA! Physical strength, Magical Circuits, everything's improved! You're not so much a human, but-”

“Yes, I’m a Servant.” She spoke as if it was the most natural thing in the world to happen despite the decidedly unnatural circumstances she had been caught up in. “One of the Servants provided to investigate and resolve Singularity F lost its Master and was doomed to vanish. It found me as the Rayshift began and it offered me a contract at the last second. In return for the abilities and Noble Phantasm of a Heroic Spirit, he wanted me to eliminate the cause of this Singularity.”

“The fusion of a human and a Heroic Spirit…isn’t that a Demi-Servant? I see…looks like Chaldea’s sixth experiment finally succeeded,” Roman muttered to himself.

“Wait, what experiment are you talking about? I thought she said that this contract was made just a little while ago.” Ritsuka had no idea what a “Demi-Servant” was, but from what he could remember about Heroic Spirits that sort of fusion wasn’t supposed to be possible.

“Uh, don’t worry about that right now.” The doctor’s dismissal was a bit on the fishy side, but Ritsuka figured he was far too guileless to actually hide anything so he chose not to press the issue further. “Anyway, does this Heroic Spirit still have his consciousness?”

Mash shook her head. “I’m afraid not. He vanished after giving me his combat abilities. So I don't even know whose Heroic Spirit I am or what Noble Phantasm this is,” pointing at her shield as she finished her sentence. Now that Ritsuka looked at it, it seemed to have some kind of inscription in the center, but it was in a language he had never seen before. Perhaps it’s the name of the shield, he wondered.

The newly minted Master’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of Roman speaking up again. “On the bright side, not every Servant that’s summoned is cooperative. Since we can trust you completely, that’s a point in our favor.”

He turned back to Ritsuka with an apologetic look. “Sorry about forcing you into this without explaining more- the most important thing you need to know right now is that while you’re the only one who Rayshifted here safely, you’ve still got one of humanity’s most powerful weapons in the form of Mash.”

“Um, Doctor? I don't know about "most powerful”. I'm the one who gets blamed later if things go wrong, after all,” Mash responded with a hint of trepidation in her voice. Ritsuka couldn’t blame her; transforming into some kind of superhuman being without warning couldn’t possibly be easy for her and he certainly was feeling a little anxious about the prospect of messing up now.

“I’m pretty sure Roman meant Servants in general, but you still seemed pretty powerful to me.” Ritsuka was still unsure how exactly Mash could’ve become a Servant to begin with, but there were more important things he needed to know about first. “How exactly do you know I’m a Master, anyway? Don’t I need to sign something?” What he had heard of Servant contracts made them sound like formal affairs, not something that could just happen in an instant.

Roman gestured to Ritsuka’ right hand. “Take a look there and tell me what you see.”

Ritsuka did so, then did a quick double take to be sure he wasn’t seeing things. “Um, it looks like some kind of tattoo? Funny, I don’t remember it being there before. Let me send an image of it over to you.” With a push of a button and a slight ping , he sent over a picture of the mysterious symbol to Roman.

It wasn’t long before the doctor got back to him. “That’s your Command Spell. I’ll explain the details to you later, but the short version is that it’s the proof that you’re a Master. Anyway, the most important thing you need to know is that Servants disappear without their source of magical energy- that would be you. Our facility has a reactor that can cover most of the magical energy cost of keeping them around, but it was badly damaged by the explosion and probably won’t let you manifest more than a few of them at a time right now.”

“It’s a good thing I picked this up, then.” The Master paused to show Roman his new blade, taking a moment to polish it before putting it back in its sheath. “I got it off one of the monsters in this place. If I end up being separated from my Servants, I guess I could defend myself long enough to get to safety and summon more.”

“Er, you could, but I’d still let them do most of the fighting if I were you. If we lose you here, we’re not going to be able to resolve this Singularity until we get new Masters and I have no idea how long that would take.” The pained expression on the doctor’s face made it more than clear to Ritsuka what his stance on the prospect of contributing to battle directly would be, but at the same time he still didn’t feel right about making Mash put herself in danger on his behalf any more than he had to.

He was her senpai, after all. Still, Roman had a point and he wasn’t going to argue against it.

“Hopefully I won’t need to do too much on my own, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful. So, what do we do now?”

“You have two goals in your current mission. First, you need to-” bzzt

A burst of static filled the air as the hologram began flickering on and off. “Doctor, you’re breaking up. Ten seconds until the connection is lost.”

“Could SHEBA’s output be growing unstable since we switched to the backup generators? I suppose I’ll have to cut the briefing short then. There’s a strong leyline reading about 2 kilometers away from you. If you can get there, your connection should stabilize and I can finish briefing you. Listen, don't do anything reckless, will you? I'll try to bring the power back up as soon as-”

Before Roman could finish, the hologram shut off completely.

“Looks like we don’t have much of a choice,” Ritsuka concluded. “We should get going before more of those skeleton monsters show up.”

Mash nodded in agreement as they prepared to leave their temporary haven, her shield in hand. “Right, you're so dependable Senpai. I was actually terrified, so thank goodness we made it.”

“To be honest, I was scared out of my wits as well. But we can’t let that stop us now or we’re not going to get out of here in one piece.”

A brief flash of white accompanied by the sound of steps got the pair’s attention. Ritsuka hadn’t even begun to unsheathe his sword before he recognized Fou; judging by the annoyed glare it was giving him, it clearly didn’t appreciate the implied threat. “Sorry, sorry. I nearly forgot you were still here.”

“Kyu. Fou, fooou!” Still glaring at him, Fou leapt onto Mash’s shoulder. “And now I realize I didn’t tell Roman about Fou joining us. Sorry about that, Fou. Again.”

“Kyu. Fou, kyaao!” The Master could only assume that Fou said something along the lines of “don’t worry about it” as it jumped off of Mash’s shoulder and clambered up his back to perch on his head. “We can tell him Fou’s with us when we get back in touch. For now, we should proceed to that leyline before we run into any more trouble.”

Mash nodded in agreement. “Understood, Senpai. I’ll keep an eye out for any monsters.”

After about half an hour’s walk there still hadn’t been any sign of enemies or human life, but that hadn’t stopped him from looking over his shoulder every so often with a hand on his sword just in case something was trying to ambush him and Mash. Fortunately, there hadn’t been anything other than the occasional noise from a building collapsing in the distance or some debris crumbling.

“What could’ve possibly happened here?” Ritsuka asked Mash. He didn’t expect her to know any better than he did, but talking helped to pass the time if nothing else.

“I’m not sure,” Mash answered, her shield at the ready. “It’s not even close to what our data says Fuyuki should be like in 2004. It should’ve been an average regional city, but instead it’s like…this. Even if some kind of disaster did take place back then, the mana density in the atmosphere is closer to that of ancient Earth.”

Mash opened her mouth as if she was going to elaborate, but whatever she was going to say was cut off by an ear-splitting cry of terror from somewhere in the distance accompanied by the sounds of a Finn Shot striking something hard.

“That sounded close. Let’s go check it out- Mash, get ready for combat!” The Shielder nodded in assent as the two of them ran towards the source of the noise as fast as their legs could carry them.


Author's Notes:
Fight scenes are a weakness of mine in my perception. Without visuals, there's only so many ways to describe how one character hits another and I feel like I run out of them a bit fast for my liking. Still, I'm mostly content with how it turned out. I'm well aware that Masters generally aren't the ones who should be doing the fighting, but the foes Ritsuka fights are smart enough to go for the Master and Ritsuka himself loathes being unable to act when action is called for (why yes, this will become an issue further down the line, why do you ask?). I've also tried to hint that Roman intentionally chose not to tell the whole truth about Mash to Ritsuka here in order to resolve the contradiction that ends up occurring later in Camelot. The incantation is Enochian for "light", or at least that's what my Enochian dictionary says.

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Just posting to let everyone who still cares know that I'm still working on this and will post an update at my earliest possible convenience.