Fate Jump Order (FGO / Jumpchain)

[Neko Arc]

(So I am a bit new to how this forum works. I posted this story on 4chan but figured I might actually get some feedback if I posted it here. Anyways this is a story based on the massive CYOA Jumpchain. So far it is only using the FGO Jump by SkyrimAnon. If people would care for me to elaborate what certain perks or choices do I can but I am posting just the choices I made because it's long enough without going in to detail right now. Anyways thanks for listening to my rambling now on with the show)

Spoiler: Picture

Nubee's body Mod.
Cleansed (0)
Greener Grass (0)
Adjustment - height 5' (0)
Sex - Female (0)
Intelligence: 5 (150)
Charisma: 5 (150)
Reflexes: 5 (150)
Coloration - Red Hair, Green eyes (0)
Endowment (50)
Rejuvenation (50)
Grooming (50)
Aesthetics x 2 (100)
Diet (50)
Enhanced Senses (100)
Charm (50)
Memory (100)

Cosmic Warehouse
Utilities:
*Electricity (10)
*Heating/Cooling (10)
*plumbing (10)
Structures:
*Shelving (Free)
*Housing (20)
*Medbay (20)
Misc:
*Stasis Pod X 2 (40)
*Food (10)
*Free Space(30)

Jump # 1 Fate Grand Order (SkyrimAnon Version)
Origin: Master (0)
Location: Chaldea
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Perks:
*Heroic Countenance (0)
*Demi Servant – First Hassan (200+1200)
*The light of your soul (0)
*Chaldean Summons (100, Discount)
*Ex Rank Luck (200, Discount)
*Just an Ordinary Human (300, Discount)
*Craft of a Mage (200) Healing and bio-manipulation
Items
*Command Seals (0)
*Magi☆Mari Subscription (0)
*Summoning Platform (100, Discount)
*Craft Essence (0, Discount)
*A record of heroism (100, Discount)
Companions:
*Mash (Free)
*Privileged life form (0)
Toggles
*Memories of the past (0)
*Lostbelt Addon (+500)
Drawbacks:
*Artistic team (+100)
*Grand Order (+ 400)
*Pretentious Philosophy Lesson (+400)
Scenario: The last Master

​

Chapter 1 "Everything goes to hell just as expected."

When I was offered a chain, I was overjoyed for many reasons. When I was told I would be going to Fate/grand order first, I was both excited and afraid. It was a game I knew well but also it was going to be a hard journey. The hero and their team had to fight against gods and things even worse in their travels. I honestly didn't know what to expect from this jump… I certainly didn't expect to wake up in a musty old tomb.

"Who goes there?" a deep male voice echoed through out the tomb. It was loud and forceful it even shook the room slightly.

"Ahhh my name is Ritsuka Fujimaru" I said without thinking. My voice was soft and feminine, it sounded tiny comped to the deep voice I was answering. Like that of a little girl. I then remembered I had taken a scenario where I had literally stepped in to the main character's shoes. In this case Gudako's as she was known.

"Why art thou here? What is thine purpose in coming here?" the voice echoed again, this time sounding closer.

"I-I-I Don't know I just woke up here, where am I?"

Suddenly the area around me felt colder and I had a distinct feeling that was the wrong answer.

"Wait!" I said. "I am here to save humanity."

With that the menacing aura I had felt withdrew.

Suddenly a very large figure appeared before me, his face was covered in a skull mask, his eyes burned with a blue white fire. He wore black plate mail with spikes and he carried a sword that was bigger than I was.

"Very well child. So far thou hath spoken the truth. Tell me what does thou mean by this." he ordered, though somehow it was less intimidating.

I opened my mouth and… well everything sort of poured out of me. Who I was, who I really was the plot of the story we were in. I hadn't meant to say it like that but in his prescience I couldn't hide it.

Then when I finished there was a long silence that hung in the air. The man in front of me said nothing.

Finally to my relief he broke the silence, extending his massive hand to me. "Very well if that is the state of thing then I shall lend thy mine strength."

I took his hand and shook, though he was not trying to I could feel the strength behind of his mailed gauntlet. It was not an exaggeration to say he could have probably crushed my skull with casual effort.

Things got hazy then and I felt something licking my cheek I opened up my eyes to see a small white furry creature. It was sort of like a squirrel. Though it was far furrier and cuter than any squirrel with it's long white fur, it had purple eyes. It licked me making little sounds like "Fou."

I groaned a little as I came to consciousness then I noticed I was not alone. I heard someone walking towards me.

I looked up to see a cute girl with short light purple hair, wearing glasses and rather plain clothing.

"Umm since it's neither morning nor night, please wake up senpai." she said cutely. It took my sleep addled brain a moment to realize it was Mash.

"Ughh it's alright I am up." I insisted as I got up off of the cold floor that I had been apparently sleeping on.

I stretched a bit as I got to my feet. Thankfully my brain was finally catching up to being awake I realized though I knew who she was I wasn't supposed to.

"Hi, my name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, What's Yours?" I said in my friendliest tone. Inwardly I cringed. I guess for this jump that was my name and I wouldn't be escaping it.

She blinked and blushed for a moment. "Umm well I am… I have a name but I am probably not important enough for you to know it."

"Not Important enough, nonsense. I'll decide that and you seem pretty important me at the moment so what is your name?"

She blushed more. She was to cute "Mash… my proper name is Mash though I don't use it much."

"Well Mash it's nice to meet you I hope we can be friends."

She blinked in surprise "Friends?"

I smiled, clearly this girl did not have many if any friends.

"Yeah I mean you are the only person I know here. Aside from this little one." I motioned to Fou.

Her eyes widened "Oh Fou! I completely forgot I haven't introduced him yet. This Squirrel like life form is Fou, he is a privileged life form allowed to freely walk around Chaldea. Fou led me here that's how I ran in to you, Senpai."

"hmm cute little guy." I said reaching down to pet Fou

"That's strange normally he doesn't go around other people besides me. However he seems to like you Senpai?"

"Huh, really. He seems quite friendly to me. It must be lonely for him if he avoids most people."

She looked down for a moment at the mention of loneliness then smiled slightly "Well Congratulations Senpai, it looks like Fou has selected you to be his second caretaker in Chaldea."

"Really well I feel honored." I said with a grin.

I had heard footsteps for a minute with my fairly good senses in this world, I would say they were approaching maximum human, I had paid enough for them. A tall man with long curly brown hair approached dressed dare I say is as a Leprechaun. Well maybe not really but he wore a green suit and top hat, the only thing missing really was the four leaf clover pinned to his lapel.

"Ah there you are Mash, That won't do you know wondering about without permission… Oh, Someone's already with you? You're… I see the rookie who just got assigned here. I'm Lev Lainur, one of the technicians employed here. And Your name is?"

"I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru, the white mage." I declared proudly.

"White mage?" asked Mash crooking her head a bit."

I cleared my throat a bit "Well I specialize in healing, White mage, let me guess you don't play video games much I take it."

"Umm no… I more stick to books." said Mash sheepishly.

"Hmm oh yes Ritsuka Fujimaru you are the last of the 48 candidates. Welcome to Chaldea I am glad you are here. So a healing specialist. That is a strange but rather prudent specialization. You will be a welcome addition. After all you can't have too many healers. Well if you run in to something you don't understand please feel free to ask Mash or myself anytime." he said before turning to Mash.

"Come to think of it what were you talking about with her before I arrived, that's unlike you Mash did you know each other before?"

"Oh, No I didn't know Senpai before. I just found her sleeping here."

"Sleeping? Ritsuka was sleeping here? Ahh you went through the simulation right? Spiritron Dives can get you if you aren't used to them. After the simulation the door must have opened and you walked through as a form of sleep walking. You look fine but I would like you to the infirmary just in case… Oh sorry hang in there just a little longer the Directors Orientation is about to start. You should hurry over."

"Ah Orientation." I said with a notable lack of enthusiasm.

"Well I may feel the same way as you do about Orientations but it's best not to get on the Directors bad side. At least if you wish to work in a peaceful environment. Better hurry over. The orientation will be in 5 minutes in the command room. She is putting on a presentation for the newbies."

Dr. Lev do you think I will be able to sit in on the Orientation too?" asked Mash for some unknowable reason.

"Hmm well if you are quiet and stick to the back corner I am sure she will look the other way."

"I just thought I should take Senpai to the command room. It's possible that she might fall asleep on the way."

"Well if I leave you alone the Director might yell at me… I should tag along too eh?"

"Well if that's what you want Mash, That's alright with you Ritsuka? Well if there are no other questions we should get going to the command room. Is there anything else you want to know?" He asked.

I almost asked him why he was dressed like a Leprechaun but thought better of it, "Nah I'm good lets get going."

"Well then lets."

With that we headed to the Command room which was a massive room dominated by a globe looking held in many rings thing I knew was Shiba which examined a simulated world known as Chaldeas which was basically a copy of the soul of the planet.

"Lets see, this is the command room and your number… Huh single digit, you are in the front row." Said Mash… then I got a bit light headed.

"Um Senpai are you alright you look a bit pale?"

"Yeah, no I am feeling a bit funny I am afraid."

"It's an after effect of the Simulator, I wish I could take you to the infirmary."

We then got a dirty look from a short silver haired young woman who looked very… we'll just say serious. Serious yes that's a kind way of putting it.

"No more small talk. Orientation has already started." said Lev leaning over to tell us.

The serious woman who in no way looked like a raging Tsundere began to give her speech with a little comment noting that some of us had not been on time.

I sat that and the feeling that I had started to feel began to take hold a bit stronger. She introduced herself as Olga Marie Animusphere. And then I don't remember because the next thing that I knew I was waking up to she sharp sting of my cheek with Director Olga Marie Animusphere standing over me looking murderous.

"Owww what the hell did you slap me? Who do you think you are Will Smith? Wait that hasn't happened yet, shit. Never mind."

"Get her out of here." commanded the director. Mash was quick to collect me and take me outside.

"Are you alright Senpai?" she asked.

"No the bitch slapped me. Hard, I think she reinforced before she did it." I said rubbing my cheek.

"Well it seems the Director's slap has woken you up completely, Anyways I was taking you back to your room. You have been left out of the first mission… Oh" she began before Fou Tackle glomped Mash's face them climbed down her back and wound up on her shoulder.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Oh yeah it's alright he just does this, he will attack my face, then slide around to my back and Settle on to my shoulder."

"Fou!" exclaimed the little creature.

"Okay Fou, just for future notice just climb up on my leg I'll pick you up and put you on my shoulder. I don't want things flying at my face. You are cute and I want to be friends but that's a little too personal for my taste."

"Fou." he seemed disappointed.

With that we walked to my room apparently.

"Ah this is our destination Senpai. By the way I wouldn't mind treating you to lunch later"

"Thanks for walking me all the way here Mash. Talk to you in a bit. I think I'll go get settled in. As for Lunch I'll look forward to it." she blushed a bit

Fou made some noises.

"Fou says he will look after you, Senpai. That sets my mind at ease. Now then I am off if we are lucky we will meet again."

"Wait, you are going on the first mission now right?" I Asked. She nodded.

"Well ummm, just please be careful." I told her and she actually smiled. "Thank you Senpai I will."

Watching her leave was hard. Now that I was awake I realized things were about to get very bad thanks to a hidden bomb. Many would die and Mash would be badly hurt but it had to happen. With my newly enhanced mind thanks to the points I had spent on it I realized Goetia probably left this place alone because he believed he crippled it. It would be hard to convince people there was bomb, and to convince them who was behind it. I should have realized this was how things would begin. All those points spent and I couldn't do anything. I sighed and opened the door…

"Okay, I'm in here – wait? Whaaat who are you?" asked a lean redheaded man with a pony tail Sitting on the bed eating cake..

"This is an empty room where I slack off! Who gave you permission to come in?" He demanded.

I smiled "Well sorry to tell you but apparently this is my room now, it looks like you are going to have to find a new place to slack off at."

He blinked and cleared his throat "OH I see your room so the last one finally showed up. Well it's nice to meet you. I didn't think I would run in to you like this, but let me introduce myself again. I'm the head of the Medical Department Romani Archaman. For some reason people just call me Dr. Roman. I don't know why but it's easier to pronounce so go ahead and call me Dr Roman.

I nodded "Nice to meet you Dr. Roman I am Ritsuka Fujimaru, The white mage." I introduced myself and Dr. Roman's eyes widened and he blushed a bit.

"Ah yes the Healing magic specialist I had been promised. Well now this is really embarrassing, it looks like we will be working together quite a bit… Say on your shoulder is that the mysterious creature I have been hearing about? Whoa nice to meet you! Mash told me about him but I didn't think he really existed… Hey why don't I teach him some tricks." he said moving closer.

"Here shake hands, if you do well I'll give you a treat." he told Fou

Fou gave an irritated "Fou." and looked away.

"Wow he gave me a pitying look and then ignored me entirely." noted Roman.

"A-anyways I think I get what's going on. You're the rookie who just got here and then got on the bad side of the Director?"

I nodded and rubbed my cheek. "Is there a red hand print on my face?" I asked.

"Yeah looks like she got you pretty good. Anyways you and I are alike I got yelled at by her too."

"I got a bit more than yelled at." I said pointing at my cheek. "Does she do that a lot?" I asked.
Dr. Roman winced slightly "She is a very… Spirited young woman."

"Raging bitch I think is what you mean." I said causing Dr. Roman to try and stifle a laugh.

"Well you wouldn't be first to say that. Anyways Wow you must have really done something to piss her off to get that treatment on the first day."

I muttered "Well I sort of fell asleep during her Orientation speech. It wasn't my fault the stupid simulator at the door made me sick."

"Ewww yeah that was just bad luck. Well anyways the Rayshifting experiment is about to start so the rest of the staff has been sent out to help. But since my job is to look after everyone's health. I had nothing to do.

The machines are more accurate at measuring the vitals of the mages who are in the coffins.
The director said "Whenever you are here Romani everyone slacks off so get out of here." so I have been sulking here." he explained.

"So I take it the Director is a real peoples person."

"She isn't that bad but certainly has her moments. But hey now that you have shown up that's what they call a blessing in disguise right? Since we both have nowhere to go why don't we spend some time and become buddies."

I chuckled "Well I suppose we are going to be working together, we may as well be friends. The more the merrier." I replied.

"Exactly." he said with a bright smile.

That led to a discussion about Chaldea where he explained it was an underground workshop built on a snowy mountain 6000 meters above sea level. It was all very plot relevant but not very interesting.

"Romani we are about to start the Rayshifting Experiment soon. Could you come in case of an emergency?" came Lev's voice over the intercom "The A team is in perfect condition but the B team is less experienced and is displaying some abnormalities. It probably comes from anxiety. The inside of the coffins is like a cockpit" came over the intercom

"Hey Lev I feel bad for them why don't I give them some anesthesia." he responded

"Yeah hurry up would you, if you are in the infirmary you can be here in two minutes." Lev said the intercom went silent.

"So this isn't the Infirmary…"

"Ugh don't mention that it's going to take me at least 5 minutes to get there from here no matter what."

Then he stopped to give me some plot relevant information that Lev was actually the mage who created the near future observation lens Shiba. It's apparently a telescope to observe the psuedo planet Chaldeas, which was a copy of the earths soul because Type moon metaphysics is weird.

He explained how it not only observed Chaldeas but most of the facility. Then he told me the previous director built the summoning/unsummonsing program that the Rayshifting tech was founded on. Also apparently Rayshfiting is time travel.

"Well that's a nice bit of exposition but aren't you supposed to be running to the command room?"

"Oooh Shit!"

"Well it's pretty meaningless for me to be there anyways, thanks for chatting with me. Hey drop by the infirmary some time I'll treat you to some yummy cake." he said before he was about to take off.

That was the moment the lights went off there was a shaking like an earthquake and things started to go south.

Suddenly red lights flashed and a mechanical voice warned us that a fire had broken out in the central power station and the central command room. It talked about a containment wall that was going to fall in a short period of time and was telling people to evacuate.


"Was that an explosion just now? What on earth is happening" asked Romani who went over to the Monitor in the room. "Show us the command room, is everyone alright?" he commanded and the monitor flickered on.

The room was on fire with debris everywhere and the globe in the center of the rings was dim.

"Ritsuka go evacuate, I am going to head to the command room before the containment wall closes, get out before it's too late!" he said heading out, I was of course right behind him.


Roman yelled at me that gate 2 where I was supposed to evacuate was over there pointing in another direction as I ran behind him.

"Listen I am a healer if there are people alive in there, they are going to need my help as well."

He grimaced "Well suit yourself just try and be careful." he told me as we continued.

We arrived in hell. The monitor had been accurate in showing the chaos.

"No survivors, only Chaldeas is safe." he said kneeling down at a point "This is where the explosion originated, it was no accident, this was sabotage." he added.

The mechanical voice then informed us that the main generator had stopped and power levels were critical. It tried to switch to back up generators but encountered an error and asked for it to be done manually. It also warned the Containment wall would drop in 40 seconds and recommended evacuating.

"I'm heading to the underground power station, we can't let Chaldea's light go out. Hurry up and get back the way we came, unfortunately there is no one here to save."

then the system started to talk about Rayshifting to January 30th​, 2004 Fuyuki Japan.

Dr. Roman took off.

I knew there was one survivor. I had a job to do. "Mash!" I called out.

"S-senpai" I heard weakly a ways away.

I headed over to where I heard the voice. I found Mash half crushed by Debris It was far to large to lift, from the waist down she had been crushed and only the pressure of the rubble was keeping the rest of the blood in her body from spurting out but She was still dying.

As I approached she looked up through glazed eyes "S-senpai is that you?"

"Yeah just hold on I am going to get you out of here." I told her.

She gave me a sad smile "It's too late for that. Please Senpai go. There is still time. You can make it."

At that moment the Orb which I had come to understand was Chaldeas flickered to life, but instead of showing a surface like the earth it showed a red burning surface like the sun.

"Warning all observation staff. Chaldeas' state has changed. Now rewriting Shiba's near future prediction data. Unable to detect the existence of mankind 100 years in the near-future on earth. Unable to confirm human survivors. Unable to guarantee mankind's future." warned the mechanical voice.

"Chaldeas has turned bright red… no, nevermind that." said Mash

"Central area sealed, 180 seconds til internal containment procedure."

"They shut off the area. Now you can't get out…" said Mash quickly reaching despair.

"Shhh everything's going to be alright, just relax. I promise." I told her calmly.

"Coffin Vitals: Master's Baseline not reached. Rayshifting requirement not met, searching for another qualifying master… Found." said the mechanical voice.

"Candidate number 48 Ritsuka Fujimura. Reset as Master. Unsummon program, Start. Spiritron Conversion, Start.

"Ummm… S-senpai would you mind holding my hand?" Asked Mash.

I took her hand. "It's going to be alright Mash, I a feeling we aren't going die here."

"Rayshifting in 3...2...1...All procedures clear, commencing operation." came the mechanical voice.

Then… I felt like I was falling in to a void, In to blackness.

Then I felt something licking my cheek again. And I heard someone begging "Senpai, please wake up."

"Won't wake up maybe I should use the official title… Master, please wake up. If you don't wake up I will kill you."

"What?!?!" I asked waking up. I slowly became aware of my surroundings. We were in a city on fire. It looked like something out of Dante's Inferno. However what drew my attention immediately was the young woman in front of me holding a Shield that was bigger than she was. She had light purple hair and purple eyes. It was clearly Mash but what she wore was some very form fitting… I hesitate to call it armor with as much skin as it showed. I mean her entire belly was exposed so I'll just call it an outfit. Also at her side was Fou who made happy Fou noises now that I was awake.

"Oh Senpia I am so glad you are safe." she told me with a genuine smile. Note to self Mash is cute when she smiles. Make sure it happens more often.

I got up still shaking off the drowsiness "Did you just say you would kill me?"


"That came out wrong what I meant to say was that you are going to be killed. Um I was confused because everything was happening so quickly. As much as I want to gather our thought's please look around you." she cautioned and I did and wouldn't you know it there were skeletons and other monsters everywhere.

One started to come our way. Mash said something but it was lost.

"Now, use mine power now if thou would live!" came a familiar voice from deep inside of me.

With my adrenaline pumping I tried, I didn't know how but I willed something to happen. Blue fire erupted from my hand taking the shape of a huge great sword and then blue fire engulfed my body.

"Senpai!" Mash shouted in concern but the fire died away and I found myself wearing black plate armor with spikes very reminiscent of the one the man in the skull mask had been wearing. Though mine was altered to accentuate my curves. I had a small boob plate with a skull spewing blue fire from it's mouth and eyes right over where my heart would be.

"S-senpai? What's going on?" Asked Mash confused.

"I… am not sure but lets sort it out after we take care of the monsters." I said.

There were many skeletons approaching. Mash nodded and took a defensive stance. I stepped forward. I noticed that the armor was actually quite light, I realized it must have been made of my own magical energies, further I felt strong. Stronger than I ever had, Stronger than any human had a right to be. The skeletons came close, Mash bashed one with her heavy shield sending it flying. I just barely waved my sword at a small group and they fell to pieces. I knew in the core of me the name of this sword. It was Azrael the sword named for the angel of death, and as it's name suggested, it brought death. The skeletons were quickly dispatched.

When the battle ended Mash's attention turned to me. I paused for a moment as I tried to think about how to explain what happened.

Thankfully we were interrupted by Dr. Roman. A flickering image of him appeared before us. A magical hologram that through some miracle allowed communications both ways. At first he questioned what Mash was wearing as it was rather revealing. However she explained she had transformed in to it to protect me. That was when he realized I was there and She helped him realize that she had become a servant due to some unknown heroic spirit lending her his power. Then she revealed something was different about me.

"Senpai is here but there is something different about her. She is dressed in armor, carrying a huge sword and is way stronger than she should be."

To which Roman I think nearly had a heart attack. "This – this can't be right. It says you are a servant. With Mash there is … well a reason it's believable but… how?" finally he settled.

I told him of the dream or what I had thought was a dream that I had after the incident with the simulator before Mash found me.

"I – I see, it's well... it shouldn't be possible for a Heroic Spirit to randomly fuse with a human but that's what I am seeing. Wow… apparently it was a powerful one, you are registering as the most powerful servant we have encountered. Are you still able to contact the spirit. Did he tell you his name?" Dr Romani asked eagerly.

"He is still conscious inside of me, but he speaks when he wants I can't command him. As for his Identity…" then I got a strong feeling that I was not to release that. "He hasn't mentioned his name. I do know however that his class is Assassin. I would suggest we call him that for the moment."

"I see, well there is a lot I would like to ask him but we are low on power. Also You seem to be registering as Mash's Master. I am unsure about a servant being a master to another servant but I am unsure about a lot of what's going on right now. Look there is a strong leyline signal in 2 km. Please head towards that we will stabilize contact later. We will sort out the rest later. I am going to need some help with this. Shiba is low on power anyways" and with that the transmission vanished.

"S-senpai, do you really not know who the servant inside you is?" asked Mash tentatively.

I sighed "Oh I can guess but right now we are operating under Holy Grail rules. We don't know if there is a Caster out there monitoring us. I don't feel the need to give up any more information than necessary until we reach Chaldea again."

Mash's eyes widened and then she nodded in understanding.

"Anyways lets get moving. Once we reach the coordinates the Doctor gave us we should set up a base camp"

So we started towards where the leyline was. As we walked we heard the scream of a woman.

We rushed over only to find the Director Olga Marie was being attacked by skeletons, she was doing alright for herself until one she didn't see leapt off a light post at her thankfully Mash was fast enough to Intercede and protect her.

"Nice Save Mash" I told her as I headed to dispatch the other skeletons that were trying to swarm us. Again the Skeletons though fierce as they had no fear of death were weak opponents who I was able to dispatch with the barest swing of my sword..

Soon all that remained was us and a very confused looking Ulga Marie Animasphere.

"Director are you hurt?" asked Mash concerned. Technically I was the healer so I probably should have been the one to ask but then again she was bitch so she can ask for help if she needs it.

"What's going on?" she answered a question with a question in particular eyeing me.

"Ummm Director about my circumstances I know it's hard to believe…"

"A Demi-servant right? It's clear enough looking at you that you fused with a heroic spirit but what I want to know is why it worked now and why is she a Demi-Servant too?" she asked or more accurately demanded pointing at me.

I sighed "Okay after I went through your defective simulator and got sick and passed out I was approached in my dreams by a heroic spirit, I guess he sensed the world was in danger so he chose to share his powers with me."

She blinked "That's impossible, that shouldn't be possible. Well I mean in theory maybe if they were an exact match for personality. I mean I suppose that you just barely qualify for being a master since you do have high marks as a healer but a demi-servant and it seems Mash's master… How?"

"I don't know." I answered simply.

"Alright tell me everything that's happened since you have arrived here." she demanded. So Mash filled her in.

"The only human that we encountered was you but maybe since you are here the other master candidates might be around here somewhere." Stated Mash.

"No, there is one common factor between the 3 of us, we weren't in the coffins. While Rayshifing flesh and blood is not likely to succeed it is possible. However the coffins are set to power down when the percentage chance falls below 95%. They never rayshifted, we are the only ones here." she stated.

"Wow, I see, that's why you are the Director." stated Mash.

"Well whatever the case now that I understand the situation Ritsuka I'll approve of your and Mash's contract for now, From now on you will follow my orders unquestioningly. First lets set up base camp. First we need to find the Leyline the point where they mystical energies converge after that we will be able to contact Chaldea."

"Actually Director you are standing on that point right now."

"Whoa oh ah right I knew that of course! Mash Set your shield on the ground I am going to set up a summoning circle with your Noble Phantasm as the catalyst"

"Umm is that alright, Senpai?" Mash asked me.

I nodded "Yeah we need every advantage we can get here, also I'll cover you two while you set things up."

We established a circle and then an image of Dr. Roman Flickered in to being "Oh good we have connection again. Can you hear me. Great we should be able to send rations soon." he stated then Olga Marie Stepped forward.

"What why are you in charge Romani, What about Lev, where is Lev, put Lev on!" She demanded.

Dr. Roman Screamed in surprise like a girl "Whaaa Director your alive and unharmed?!? What the?

"What is that supposed to mean, Where is Lev, what is the head medic doing in charge?"

"Hey look I know I am not cut out for the job, trust me but the truth is I am the highest ranking person left. Currently we have less that 20 people including me. The reason I am in charge is no one higher ranking than me survived. Dr. Lev was supervising the command room there is no way he could have survive that blast."

"No way Lev-" she began despondent then switched gears suddenly "Wait less than 20 survivors what about the Master Candidates?"

"47 all in critical condition we are short on medical supplies, We might be able to save a few of them but we might lose all of them."

"Don't be ridiculous, Cryopreserve them Immediately. Think about reviving them later. Your top priority is to make sure they don't die!"

"What? I forgot those coffins had that function I'll get on it right away!" said Dr. Roman as the image vanished.

"I am surprised Criopreservation without prior consent is a crime. Yet you made the decision right away. You put human lives ahead of your own reputation as Director." Said Mash with some admiration.

"Don't be stupid, As long as they are not dead I can explain myself later – Why else, In the first place 47 lives, there is no way I can carry that burden! Please don't die… I'm begging you… If only Lev were here." I found myself putting a supportive hand on Olga's shoulder.

"It will be alright, things will be alright." she pulled away "I don't need meaningless platitudes especially from you." she snapped.

"Look I am just trying to be positive and keep everyone else positive. I know you are worried but all we can do is hope and carry on with our job." I explained.

She sighed and slumped "You are right I guess."

Then Romani returned and gave his report on what was going on. Apparently things were pretty grim Chaldea had lost 80% of it's functionality. He was shifting what little man power they had available to rayshift repairs, and maintaining both Chaldeas and Shiba. They were cut off from the rest of the world but as soon as they were able to restore communications, they would begin requesting supplies and parts to rebuild. Olga Marie explained that we would continue to investigate the cause of this singularity, pointing out there there only seemed to be low level monsters and with two Demi Servants she should be just fine.

With that Mash asked her about just sitting and waiting for rescue but she pointed out with a fiasco like this she couldn't go back and face the Mage association empty handed, she would likely lose everything including Chaldea. She needed something to show to shut them up. Then it came time for what I had been waiting for. The first Summons I stood above the shield anxiously and recanted the chant to summon quietly praying for rainbow sparks noting a 5 star servant.

I waited with baited breath as blue orbs of light sprang to life and hovered above the shield serving as the summoning platform.

I waited hoping they would turn to rainbow lights or at least golden lights as they began to spin indicating a high rarity servant but they began to spin around in a circle without changing color. Suddenly the lights became 3 bands of light and consolidated in to a flash of light when they cleared there stood a man with broad shoulders and wearing the outfit of an old sailor captain. He wore a broad grin, his hair was silver and he had a strange crooked pointy beard.


He stepped out of the circle "Well interesting place you got here. Well no matter. Servant Rider, My real name is Christopher Columbus. Let's see what treasures we can find together eh master?".

I remembered that Columbus wasn't the nicest guy in this world but figured he would be useful at least if I could keep him properly motivated.

"Very nice to meet you Mr. Columbus. I look forward to working with you."

"Ah a polite one, that's very nice, having a cute master and well mannered master." he said his grin broadening. "I think I'll like it here."

I still felt that the leyline had some more power in it, I could summon again.

I calmed my mind and focused imagining those lights appearing again and turning to beautiful rainbow lights. I began the incantation again.

The circle of lights rose again hovering above the shield and much to my chagrin started spinning. I tried to tell myself it was perfectly possible to summon a high rank servant on one of these it was just less likely. Then they became 3 bands of light and there was a flash and a young man in his teens with red hair dressed like a ninja stepped out. Oddly his hair seemed to cover his eyes but it didn't appear to impair him. Though it did make him look like a character out of a hentai.

The young man kneeled before me "Servant Assassin, my real name is Fuuma Kotarou, I am here to serve you." he said seriously. I could feel his devotion and loyalty strangely in his words and demeanor.

"Greetings Kotarou, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am sure that we will work well together." I said with a smile. He returned it and bowed. "It is a pleasure, I will do my best to be useful to you." he said. "I am sure you will be useful." I told him.

I had done a bit better that time in at least summoning a faithful servant. Still I felt more energy, another chance for a powerful servant.

Again the summoning circle flared to life as I said my incantation however again the lights color did not change. I didn't let it deter me though. The when the flash of light passed this time I was confronted by a familiar figure. She was a woman dressed in a black and purple hooded robe with a purple dress underneath. I could see her blue hair poking from under her hood.

My heart skipped a beat. Forget rainbow or gold lights I had just struck gold. Maybe it was a little cynical but I knew who she was and what she could do. Even if she wasn't the most powerful summoning her meant I had options and a plan was already forming.

She stepped forward and blinked in surprise as her eyes fell upon me. "Well, well what have we here? Such a cute and interesting Master. Oh I do believe we will get along well." she said with a grin. I knew she could tell I was a demi-servant, she could probably tell even if I weren't dressed like a death knight. I am guessing too she likely had a good idea who it was inside of me. While she may not have been the luckiest or the best judge of character she was perceptive in her own way.

"Oh my I forgot myself, My class is Caster and my name is Medea."

I genuinely smiled "It's a pleasure to meet you Medea. I agree I think we are going to work well together."

She nodded "Oh my it seems that leyline still has enough energy for one more summons. I'll get out of your way. I am curious to see your technique."

For some reason I felt my cheeks warm at that. "Alright I'll do my best." I told her.

I took a deep breath and focused. This time I put all my energy in to it, One last chance, Technically these were the tutorial roll I should be guaranteed a 4 star. Though this wasn't the game. Deep down I knew there was not guarantee I tried to psych myself up with hope.

Again the circle sprung to life but no change in color of the orbs, the bands came with the flash of light and a strange figure emerged.

It was taller than a man, it looked more like a robot though I knew it was a man in power armor. His armor was a metallic gray, a bright red cyclopian eye flashed from underneath a large helmet like head. His body was bulky and looked slow and awkward. He carried a large serrated blade probably as big as I was.

"Servant Caster, my real name is Charles Babage." he introduced himself with a distorted voice. As he moved forward there was the whine of gears and hiss of of steam emitted from his suit. He looked around slowly "hmmm…" taking in his surroundings before looking at me. "What is it you wish of me Master?"

"Hi I am Ritsuka Fujimaru. For now I would have you wait and protect us, we are in a dangerous area and I need to now that I have an idea what allies we have on our side I need to plan with them on our next move." I explained to him.

"Very well. Would you like me to summon some helpers to secure the area further?" he asked.

"That would be wonderful, thank you." I said. He moved forward and emitted a ton of steam from his armor and soon that steam took shape it no a smaller robot version of himself, he did that 6 times and soon a half dozen bulky robots stood ready.

"Have them patrol the area around here. Subdue any threats." I explained.

"It shall be done." he answered his red eye glowing, the Robots got in a line and began to slowly march out.

After that Mash and Olga Marie walked up "Wow, Senpai, you summoned some incredible servants I can already tell they will be a lot of help in our mission."

"Humph… about what I would expect from you. Mostly more modern heroes with little power, is that the best you could do?" Asked Ulga Marie.

I gave Ulga a look. It must have been enhanced by my being a demi-servant dressed like a death knight because she flinched and stepped back like I was about to attack her.

"Director, while none of these servants are the likes of Hercules, King Arthur or Gilgamesh. Each one will be useful. Dare I say probably more useful than those 3 heroes I mentioned. Charles Babage is already showing how useful he is, he should not only be a fairly formidable fighter for a Caster with that armor but he is able to make troops to take care of the skeletons so we don't have to.

Fuuma Kotarou is a ninja and will be a formidable scout for dangerous areas so we know what we are facing before we reach there.

Medea is a one of the greatest Mages in history. With her knowledge and skills we should be able to locate the source of the problem in no time and maybe even solve it without much trouble.

Lastly Columbus has EX rank luck. He is like a four leaf clover that gives us good luck by just standing around us. He is literally putting his thumb on the scales of fate so it comes out on our side. Hell we might not only solve the problem here but find buried treasure or something bring home because he is with us." I explained.

I got a "Hell yeah." from Columbus on the last part. I may have said all of that a bit louder than I meant to.

"Anyways These are the resources we have available to us, This is what we have been given by fate or whatever. I intend to make the best of what we have. I am sure that together with Mash they will be more than enough to accomplish our mission."



She nodded "I suppose your right, speaking of our mission do you happen to remember what it is, I seem to remember you falling asleep part way through explaining it."

I sighed "Yep I got it, You built something to observe earths future and then the future changed and now humanity goes extinct some time in 2018… I believe. This point in history has gone a little wonky and you think this is the reason so we have set right what once went wrong to barrow a phrase from one of my favorite old time travel based TV shows."

Olga Marie frowned at me "Well I think that's a vast oversimplification of what I said but it's close enough we will go with it for now."

I couldn't help but think that if I were to quote her word for word we would be here all day parsing minutia and technobable. Now being a part of this world I came to realize why it relied so much on idiot protagonists to get anything done. Everyone else was to busy bickering over technobable and elaborately contemplating their own navels.

"Anyways lets set up base camp in that building over there. It looks structurally sound." said Olga Marie pointing at the burned out remains of an oddly familiar high school.

I nodded "Alright that should work."

So we set up a base camp in that building and used our talents in magic to secure it as best we could. It wasn't the most luxurious place but it seemed to serve the purpose.


"Look just for future reference, in communication, the less words the better, just use the minimum amount of words to get your point across and be done with it." I added.

Olga Marie gave me a humph of disapproval and crossed her arms "Anyways I trust you understand your responsibilities as a master. The future of humanity is riding on this mission."

"Oh I get that. In fact I was just about to order my new servants to do a few things."

That seemed to perk Olga's curiosity. "Oh please by all means."

I went over to Medea first "Hey, first of all thank you for joining my little group here I really appreciate it."

she smiled "Think nothing of it master."

"So I know what I am going to ask you would be a lot easier with a workshop but do you think that you could maybe use your magic to make a map of this town complete with magical disturbances so we know where to look?"

She thought for a moment and nodded "It will take sending a few familiars out but I should be able to do so. It will take me a bit of time but it should be simple enough."

I genuinely smiled. "Great, and when we get back home I- well I will have a project that I need your help with. It's nothing major for one of your talents."

That caused her to raise and eyebrow "Oh, I see my new master is a bit ambitious. Very well I will look forward to it."

After that I went to Kotarou. He bowed respectfully "Any orders master?"

"Yes but not at the moment, for now focus on keeping this base camp secure, in a while Medea will be creating a map of the area, I would like you to go over the problem areas with her. I would like you to scout out those areas to see what is going on. Understand that I only wish for you to scout, please avoid any confrontation if possible. If you are confronted please focus on escape. Get back to us safely, is that understood."

Kotarou actually smiled "Yes, I understand master consider it done."

Lastly I went to Columbus, who was sitting on what remained of a couch making himself comfortable.

"Well Master what can I do for you?"

"I have a very important job for you to do right now, you are my reserves. I need you to rest and stay ready. I know Servants don't tire as easily as humans but you still do have magic reserves that you draw from. We are in a rough spot and I have no idea what we are going to encounter so I would prefer to keep someone fresh in case we find something or something decides to find us."

Columbus grinned at me "Well that sounds fine for now I don't mind." he said sitting back on the couch. "Though I am not generally one who is for sitting on their rear when others do the work. I prefer to be out in the action, working my way towards my goals but I understand." he said then leaned over to me.

"Say there is one thing I would like to suggest. You know out in bad situations things happen, especially to people who are more of a hindrance than a help… like that Director person. In my day we would just slap her in chains and toss her overboard but I understand you have to be a little more discrete but… well it wouldn't be the worse thing in the world if she didn't make it back with us."

I sighed "I understand where you are coming from but let me explain her. She is from a big important family and has a big important job, however she hasn't really accomplished anything in her life to call her own yet. She only has the job because her father was murdered before this chaos began. She is alone and she is scared. She is used to leaning on some guy dressed like a Leprechaun for everything but he apparently died in an explosion. So now she is angry, frightened, desperate and feeling alone. She is taking it out on me because I am an easy target and well other reasons… but she isn't truly a bad person. We aren't going to feed anyone to the wolves today. I know things were different in your day and we have a different way of looking at the world. However please put up with her for now. I believe she will calm down once she gets a bit of confidence in herself."

He nodded but seemed unsatisfied. "Well it's your choice I guess, I will go with it for now. Though I would be careful one bad crew member can spoil the bunch. I had to deal with many a unruly mob of sailors at sea."

"I think it will be fine, besides I don't expect this mission to take too long."

With all of that done it took a few hours of waiting. During that time Olga Marie let us in on a secret that this had been the sight of a Holy Grail War. A more conventional one where 7 masters had summoned 7 servants and battled it out. In the end in proper history the master of Saber had prevailed. Here however it was unknown what had happened. I just kept my mouth shut. I knew Fate/Grand Order and the Fate/Stay night series so I just chose not to say anything.

It was a bit after Medea approached us. She showed us a hologram that served as a map of the city. There were several dark points on the map showing unusually high mana density. There was one point on the map that stood out, It was under Ryoudou Temple, specifically there was a cave deep underneath there.

"Hmmm for some reason that temple strikes me as Familiar somehow." noted Medea.

"Well it's possible you were summoned here as a servant at some point." I answered honestly.

She blinked and then nodded "Very."

"Alright. Ritsuka get your servants ready. We are going to head out. It seems highly likely we will find what we are looking for at that point there." she said pointing at the ominous spot of magical energy.

"Umm I was going to send out Kotarou first to scout the areas." I complained.

"Then have him scout this area and get back to us. He should be able to move faster than our group."

I nodded "Hey Kotarou." I said and he materialized next to us scaring Ulga Marie. "You heard the lady head for the source of that disturbance but as I said do not engage, gather as much intel as you can then get back to us. If you are confronted focus on escape."

Kotarou nodded "It shall be done." he said with a bow then vanished.

"Alright if we are moving I think we send out Charles Babage's Familiars ahead of us to take care of any trouble, we keep the rest of the servants with us to help with anything we encounter. It may be slow going but it should be the safest rout.

Olga looked over to me and nodded "Very well that sounds sound, we will keep Mash in front for extra protection." she added.

"That will be fine."

"Wow, Senpai, you two seem to really be getting along now."

"Well we have a shared goal, that makes it a lot easier. Especially when it seems the goal is in sight now." I replied.

Olga Marie actually nodded in agreement.

Soon we were setting out from our base camp. We had caster leave some familiars there to guard it just in case we needed a point to fall back to in a hurry.

So we set out on a rather long trek. The Familiars or Helter Skelters as we were informed that Charles Babage had created served admirably in demolishing any skeletons that got in our way. Though they Helter Skelter's were not of great speed they marched constantly and crushed everything in our way.

Things were actually going smoothly. Then suddenly out of nowhere Kotarou appeared. "Master, we have trouble, I ran in to another servant. An archer. He me but I managed to get away. With help from another Servant."

"Another Servant?" I asked

He nodded and pointed a ways ahead of us.

Materializing there was a familiar blue haired man in a hooded blue robe, a black body suit underneath which a white kilt like wrap around his waist that was open in the front. He Carried a wooden staff on his shoulders resting his arms on it.

"Yo, looks like you are having quite a party here. I never expected more servants to show up." Said the servant.

The Helter Skelter all turned towards him but thankfully Babage managed to stop them before they attacked.

"Well hello there, we really weren't expecting to run in to another servant either, apparently there are a few of you running around. I am guessing since you saved my friend here and that you haven't attacked that you aren't hostile. That's just fine, we are just looking to find out what's going on here"

The man nodded "Well while I wouldn't necessarily call you allies you seem a hell of a lot better than my other options. I we might be able to strike a deal that benefits both of us."

"Very well I am sure we can come to some deal. The name's Ritsuka Fujimaru" I said approaching the man to shake his hand "I won't ask your name. I understand Servant's have to be careful about that but I would introduce myself properly."

He raised his eyebrow and took my hand shaking it. I think I heard a collective gasp behind me when I did that. The man had a firm hand shake.

mce-anchor "The name Cú Chulainn. I'm A Caster unfortunately. Heh, maybe I had you pegged wrong. I thought you were one of those masters who hide while sending their servants off to fight."

I nodded "Well honestly we are in a hostile situation. I simply using what resources and man power we have at our disposal to survive. Apparently this was supposed to be some sort of grail war that went south." I said looking around to emphasize my point.

He nodded at that. "Yeah it was a Gail war, then something happened suddenly everything was on fire and the people disappeared leaving only the servants. After that Saber was the first one restart the war, She defeated all the other servants except me but for some reason they came back corrupted. Also as I am sure you have noticed now monsters are popping up every where.

"Do you happen to know the identities of the other servants you were fighting?" asked Olga Marie from the safety of the group.

He sighed "Well I still don't have an idea of who that Archer bastard is, but sure do know who Saber is. Saber wields the most famous holy sword. The sister sword to the sword of selection." He replied.

I looked back and Olga Marie had gone pale(er… she was fairly pale to begin with.) her eyes were wide. "K-King Arthur?!? we may have to deal with King Arthur…" she said then looked at the others around her as if to say, how are we supposed to deal with him when all we have is this?

"It gets worse, that Bastard Archer you're Assassin friend ran in to is protecting her. I may not know his identity but he is going to be a pain in the ass to deal with. I'll tell you what I was going to just give you the information and see how it panned out but aside from being a bit over cautious you don't seem like a bad group. If you help me we'll take down Saber and Archer together, that should end the Grail war and maybe fix whatever you guys came here to fix."

"I see since you have given us that information we will clue you in on what is going on with us and the rest of the world." I explained. Then I told him what was going on.

"So you bunch are out to save the world by fixing history." he mused shaking his head "Yeah, there would have been a different group that actually knew what it was doing but apparently someone doesn't want us to save the world so we are all that's left."

he nodded somberly "Well you don't look to be doing to bad."

"Yeah but if we are to deal with King Arthur and Excalibur we are going to need a plan."

He smiled wryly "Oh that spirit I sensed inside of you seems like it would be strong enough."

I winced. "Actually I think I can show you something, can we spar for a minute. It won't take long."

He blinked and then grinned "Sure."

I materialized my sword and we "Sparred." or more accurately I got hit in the face with his staff a bunch.

"Ahhhh so you know nothing about using a sword do you?" he said finally.

"I know the pointy end goes in the other guy, that's about it."

He chuckled at that "Well if we had time I could probably show you a thing or two but your right it's not going to be enough to take down saber. You are strong as hell and with that cursed sword of yours you might even get lucky but it's doubtful."

I nodded.

"Say, you really seem not to like Archer, would you mind keeping him busy while we take down Saber?" I asked.

His grin broadened. "I was going to suggest that myself. We have a score to settle, I think now would be a good time for it." He agreed.

We still had a bit of a walk so we wound up discussing strategy while we were going. Well mostly. Caster Cu used the opportunity to hit on Me, Mash and Medea a bit but largely stayed out of the Strategy discussions except to say that we were complicating things way too much and between Mash and I we likely should be able to do it. He told me something that … well sounded very true. The thing with battle plans is the more complex they are the easier they fall apart. You don't need elaborate plans to win, just something complex enough to work. He then admitted he wasn't much for planning since he just usually took care of business with his spear and trusted in his own strength to get the job done.

I think he was very strongly hinting the way we should have gone about things.

Eventually we were getting close to the cave where we were told Saber awaited when a barrage of Arrows came flying at us. Through a combination of Mash's shield and Medea's magical protection we protected the group.

Then we saw him. It was Emiya alright, I kind of felt bad for being on the opposite side but it couldn't be helped.

"Well well if it isn't the Disciple." said Cu as he moved to the front.

"Strange I have no memory of becoming a Disciple." shot back Archer.

"Say why don't we settle this between you and me right now." Said Cu and he twirled his staff and got in a defensive stance.

"I am sorry but I can't agree with that." replied Archer as he materialized a sword that I recognized as Caladbolg II

"OH SHIT Mash, Medea get ready!" I said as he aimed over Cu's shoulder but Cu used his magic to somehow block it.

"Leave the kids out of this." he told him. Then looked back "Go now!" he told us as he then charged Archer.

Getting past them was a little tough we had already had Charles Babage unsummon his Helter Skelters but he himself wasn't very fast. Still we made it through and found ourselves in front of a huge foreboding cave.

The fate fan in me wanted to pause to admire something I had seen so often in anime and visual novels but we couldn't we had stuff to do.

"Alright lets go as we planned."

The cave was vast, It was mostly dark but up ahead we saw a faint glowing purple light.

As we approached we saw a figure waiting for us. She wore dark armor and had golden hair and yellow eyes. She stood waiting for us both hands resting on the pummel of her sword in front of her. It glowed with a malevolent purple aura. It was dyed black with red lines through it.

"So you have finally made it. I'll admit that is an interesting servant you have with you." she said looking at Mash.

"I shall test that shield don't even think about hiding behind that motley crew of servants around you."

"Alright NOW!" I said pointing, Kotarou used his noble phantasm a bunch of ninjas appeared and Saber was plunged in to darkness. The ninjas quickly began tossing Kunai's at her.

As they did that Babage summoned more Helter Skelters which charged at Saber.

"Please tell me you aren't intending to fight me with these weak summons." said saber blasting away the incoming Helter Skelters with a sweep of her sword even as she dodged and deflected the kunais flying around her.

More Helter Skelters were generated as they charged forth.

"Oh don't worry I am just giving you a warm up, We kept you waiting for a while so I figured you would appreciate the chance to stretch a bit."

She swiped away another group of Helter Skelter.

"IF you are intending to weaken me by depleting my mana, you should know now the grail is feeding me. My mana is almost limitless."

"Yes but is your concentration?"

"Go Mash!"

"O-okay Senpai." she said charging out at superhuman speed, having been reinforced by Medea.

The darkness fell away as it wasn't helping much anyways and she charged in meeting Saber's slash with her shield.

"Oh you think being reinforced by the witch will grant you victory? Let's see just how strong you are now." she said using her sword to toss her back but Mash rolled with it and got up. She looked determined though and charged back. They clashed again and again. I knew Mash wasn't a fighter but she knew she had to help wear down Saber, So she fought like a trooper. Even to my untrained eye with the enhancement they were just about on equal footing at the moment but that was because Saber was still holding back. I even noticed a grin across her face. She was enjoying this.

"Send another batch of Helter Skelter to reinforce Mash." I told Babage who immediately did so. I then used my presence concealment. I had to set up the next part of my plan.

The Helter Skelter charged forth and were brushed away by a sweep of Saber's sword but that gave Mash an opening. There was a lout clang as Shield met face and knocked Saber back causing her to stumble..

"Hmmm not bad perhaps it's time I unleash my Noble Phantasm…" she began then suddenly stiffened. It was a blur as she reversed her sword and plunged it behind her.

Then I felt a Sharp pain in my gut as I had been behind her creeping up to make a kill.


"Ho did you really think you could take me down through such cowardly tactics?" she asked as I felt her twist the blade.

"Yeah" I said grabbing her sword and then then plunged my sword through her spirit core.

"I have battle continuation and you don't" I told her through grit teeth.

She coughed letting go of the sword and stumbled forward

"SENPAI" Mash Cried in concern as she rushed over to me. "Senpai you're hurt!" she said concerned.

*Cough* "I misjudged you. I thought you were a coward hiding behind your servants and summons… You planned this out including me stabbing you didn't you?" Saber said pained as she started to fade.

"It wasn't my favorite plan I knew with your instinct ability the only way I could get to you was if you thought you had me."

She gave a bitter laugh "I see I took you way too lightly. The whole time I was being played for a fool. Well it's your victory completely just know the Grand order, the battle for the holy grail has just begin." She said as she finally faded away.

"Senpai, here let me get something to bandage the wound." insisted Mash.

"Nah It's okay, like I said. I white mage." I said placing my hand over my wound and using my magic.

I winced a bit but soon there wasn't a trace of the wound. "there good as new."

"Heh taking an opponents attack so you could get them. I have to admit that's something like I would think of, you're not bad kid, and your girlfriend there has very nice rear." Said Cu. I noticed he was starting to glow and fade away. I didn't know when he had got in but was glad he had defeated Archer.

"Well I wish I could hang around with you kids but it looks like my time is about up. Say do me a favor. If you ever summon me, how about summoning me with a spear."

"I summon entirely randomly but spear or staff I would be proud to have you." I told him, "Heh alright next time we meet I'll teach you how to fight properly." he said before he faded.

"Hello! Oh good we finally got through!" Said Dr. Roman as his flickering image appeared.

"Well It looks like I showed up late. I can tell both Caster and Saber have faded away.

I nodded and winced "Are you okay? You look like are crouched over in pain."

I winced "Just Peachy."

"Senpai got stabbed by an enemy servant, she healed her wound but have the medical staff ready to check her out as soon as we rayshfit back."

It was about then we heard someone slow clapping from the ledge ahead of us

"Well this is quite surprising though I can't say that I am pleased with the outcome." came a familiar voice but with a lot more arrogance.

We looked up to see a tall leprechaun… I mean Professor Lev Lainur though seeing him now he sure as hell didn't look human.

"Lev… Is that you? Oh I knew you survived. I am so glad." said Olga Marie as she bagan to climb the ledge to him.

"Nooo don't do it!" I began but I felt a couple hands on my arm one was Mash the other was surprisingly Columbus. I looked back and he mouthed "Let her go!"

"Lev you survived?!? asked a surprised Dr. Roman.

"Ah you are alive too… I see, you couldn't even follow orders properly. If you had you would have been caught in the bomb blast as well." he lamented.

"Lev…?" he said stunned.

"What are you talking about?" asked Olga Marie.

"He's a bad guy now, he planted the bomb, he tried to kill you." I shouted.

Lev actually blinked and crooked his head at me. "Huh well one of you actually is paying attention. What a shame."

"Wait, what you mean she is right?" Said Olga Marie backing up wide eyed.

"Oh my dear Olga, this must have been so hard for you… You are quite infuriating you know showing up here alive… well Alive isn't exactly correct. You see when the bomb that I planted specifically under where you were standing went off you died. Only somehow your thought patters appeared here as sort of a living ghost."

"I'm – I'm Dead?!? that can't be?" Stammered Olga Marie.

"Oh think about it you possessed no potential to Rayshift when you were alive but yet miraculously you found yourself here. Heh and when you return to Chaldea you will simply cease to be."

"That-that can't be."

"You are right that is far too cruel a fate. Here let me help you." he said raising his hand and suddenly a ball of absurd magical energy appeared from where Saber was and floated over to his hand.

"Ahh here we go." he said and then behind him appeared an image of Chaldeas still burning bright red.

"Chaldeas? But that's impossible. That's an illusion right?"

Lev grinned "Oh it's not impossible with the holy grail. I just warped space and time so that it was connected to here. I thought would give you a send off appropriate for one such as you and let you touch your treasure."

"Touch it but it's a hyper dense object I'll be pulled apart and a molecular level." she screamed "What I am being pulled..."

"Yes it will be like touching a black hole or more accurately the Sun, enjoy an eternal death."

"Nope FUCK THAT!" I said breaking free of my companions holds. I literally flew up there coated in blue fire.

"What?!?" Said Lev as I flew up and grabbed Olga Marie. Cradling her in my arms as I landed.

He actually paused and then laughed a deep belly laugh.

"Oh that's just rich, that's too much." he said "If I actually need to breath I wouldn't be to." he said doubling over with laughter.

"You humans may not be worth anything but… Saving someone who is already dead, That's entertaining. Very well I shall permit you to keep your prize." he said still laughing as the image of Chaldeas disappeared.

"Oh and one more bit of information for you since you have proven so entertaining. The reason Dr. Roman you can't contact the outside world is that it no longer exists. It has been incinerated by my king. I suppose the magnetic field around Chaldea protected it but no matter as Chaldeas shows there is no sign of human life in 2018." he said as he began to disappear.

"Yeah well look like fucking Leprechaun!" I shouted.

Olga Marie blinked "You – you saved me?" she said.

"Of course you are our director and a vital member of our team. It was my duty." I smiled down at her. She actually blushed. Then the ground began to rumble.

"Senpai the cave has been rendered unstable… Dr. Roman please prepare to Rayshift us immediately"

"SHIT, there is not enough time, I am trying please hold out just a minute longer."

Rubble was starting to fall, my servants had began to dematerialize at my mental order.

"Wait I can't go back." Cried Olga Marie.

"Just promise me that you will follow me in my journeys beyond Chaldea"

"I-I Alright I'll follow you anywhere!" she said tears in her eyes and I hopped down to Mash.

"Senpai we aren't going to make it… please can you hold my hand?" I reached out and grabbed it and then the world went black.​

 

[Neko Arc]

Spoiler: Picture

Chapter 2 "Hello and Good bye for now."

Slowly I returned to consciousness, My head was on something soft and there was a soft hand caressing my face. I felt a few hot and wet drops of liquid on my face.

My eyes flickered open to find Olga Marie. There were tears in here eyes but she was smiling down at me. My head was resting in her lap.

"Where are we?" I managed all I could see around us was hazy darkness.

"I don't know. I don't know where we are I found you lying here I didn't know if you were alive until I checked your breathing. As your Director I took it upon myself to make sure you were comfortable" she said wiping her eyes and trying to look brave.

I reached up and took her hand. "I am sure we will be okay. You aren't going to fade away anymore. You may have to go away for a bit but the you that is here now will continue."

She nodded sadly and squeezed my hand. "I know. I don't know how I know but I know that I will be gone for 10 years." she said sadly. "I know you are not really Ritsuka Fujimura. You are a traveler, a wanderer. A Jumper. I know so many things now."

"I'm sorry it was the best I could do to save you." that drew a sad smile from her lips.

"Did you really mean it… what you said before we wound up here? Was I really a vital member of your team?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes." I told her smiling softly. "I know you were scared and desperate to prove yourself. So much so that you seemed to miss the fact you were incredibly bright and competent. You knew Chaldea like the back of your hand and shouldered that burden when no one else could." I told her and she burst in to tears.

"Why? Why is it now when someone actually praises me, someone actually cares about me that I have to go away?" she demanded.

"I know it's not fair. Sometimes the best we can do is the best we can do." I told her she then surprised me by leaning down and taking my lips with hers in rather forceful kiss. She pulled away blushing.

"I'm sorry I just I wanted to do that with every fiber of my being. I will wait for you. For 10 years. I think I can now. I am not afraid. For once I am not afraid." she said finally with a smile. "Well I can sense our time is coming to a close." she said as the world around me began to fade in to blackness including her.

I held her hand even as the blackness took me. Eventually consciousness returned and my eyes flickered open. I saw what was a very beautiful woman that reminded me of the Mona Lisa. She was dressed in an elaborate brown top with red and blue trim, her right arm was covered in a blue silken glove that started from above her elbow. Her other arm was either mechanical or inside a mechanical casing that held a large elaborate staff with a crystal that reminded me of a blue saint quartz on top. She wore a short red skirt and long blue socks that started at the thighs and were trimmed with gold.

She was talking to Fou. "Oh my you are a cute little thing, would you like some nuts, or a fish? I don't know if you are a squirrel or a cat." she told him. He made happy Fou sounds and then she blinked and looked to me.

"Well it looks like our main character has awoken." She said with a smile. "Well good morning Ritsuka I trust you are conscious now."

I nodded blinking and shaking my head a bit to get my bearings. "Ah who are you?" I asked even though I knew who it was. Still I didn't have the heart to deny her a big introduction.

"OH are you shocked to be woken up by such a beauty, well I am used to it. I am Da vinci, Chaldea's collaborator or perhaps the third heroic spirit summoned. Anyways we will talk later, Somebody is waiting for you in the command room and it's not wise to keep a woman waiting."

I chuckled slightly "I am guessing rest is a luxury I won't have much time for while I am here." I said sitting up.

"From here on out you will be the center of the story, the choices you make will probably save us all."

"No pressure right?" I joked.

She smiled "I have a feeling you can take it."

I got up and got myself ready and headed for the command room where Mash in her more normal outfit was eagerly awaiting me. Seeing me she smiled brightly " Ah good morning Senpai." she called.

"Heh morning Mash, I am glad to see we both made it."

she blinked and then looked down and looked sad for a moment.

"Oh that's right have they told you about the Director?"

I sighed "No, I am guessing she disappeared when we rayshifted but it's alright. I have a feeling we will see her again some day." I responded causing Mash to blink and crook her head.

Then I heard someone clear their throat and turned to see Dr. Roman.

"Sorry to break up such a somber moment but I have to say a few things. First congratulations on surviving and completing your mission Ritsuka. Well done. While it was sort of forced on you, you managed to overcome it with incredible bravery and skill. Thanks to you Mash and Chaldea were saved. "

He then sighed "It's a shame about the director but there is no time to hold a service for her. Listed we must defend humanity in her place that's how we will pay tribute to her. Apparently what Lev said was true the rest of the world is gone. It seems Chaldea is currently the last bastion of humanity. Currently it's like we are cut off from the rest of the time line. Until we do something about it that is."
"I see so there still is hope of reviving humanity?"

Dr. Roman nodded. "Yes, we re scanned things with Shiba and while the Fuyuki singularity was corrected, we found 7 much larger singularities. These are at key points in history. Normally if you changed history a little it would heal itself but these have thrown it off course and lead to the problems we are now facing.

Here is the deal if we Rayshift to these seven singularities and correct them then we should be able to restore humanity.

Unfortunately all the other Master Candidates are frozen and all of this will fall upon your shoulders, so I have to ask you are you willing to go alone and face these singularities? Can you do this can you bear the burden of Chaldea's and Humanities Future?" he asked me.

I didn't even bother with a pause "Yes, of course I can."

Dr. Roman let out a relieved breath. "Oh thank goodness" he said relaxing slightly

"Well then we shall carry out the protection of Humanities future just as the previous director would have. Our search target in each of these singularities will be the relic and grail. To reflect our determination we shall abandon the name first order. This is Chaldea's last yet original mission, The Grand Order! We will take back the future." he declared proudly.

"Alright I have a couple of questions, first did my servants make the jump?"

"Umm yes they are here, they are just getting acclimated."

"Alright first I would like to see if we can have Charles Babage help on repairs. He is a genius and is the father of the modern computer. I am sure he will be of great help on getting Chaldea's systems back on line."

Dr. Roman blinked "That's… well a great idea. I'll see to it."

"Also where is Medea? I happen to have something I need her help with."

"OH we gave her a room, Mash should know where it is, we have many empty rooms now so we have established a servant wing, assuming you are going to summon more servants."

"Oh I do intend to." I answered him "I assume it's been about a day since our first summons?" I asked mash who nodded. "Alright after we speak to Medea we will commence our daily summons." She blinked and then nodded "of course Senpai."

So Mash led me to what was now Medea's room. Despite each room in Chaldea being sealed by a bounded field to prevent the leak of magical energies of stuff that may be happening in them. I could feel magical energies from the room I was guessing Medea was setting up her own Workshop

When we entered I was not surprised to find the room seemed larger than it should be and had glowing circles and inscriptions about. When to door opened Medea with her hood down turned and greeted me with a big smile "Well I sensed you were approaching, I am sorry I was just finishing some spells setting up the place to make it more acceptable."

I nodded and whistled. "Wow so this is the magic of the age of the gods."

She chuckled "Yes I am afraid there is a big difference between the magic I use and the one practiced today." she nodded. Mash just looked around in awe. She was fairly well versed in modern magic so this was amazing to her as well.

"I am glad to see you are making yourself comfortable."

"My such a thoughtful master. I do appreciate your visit, However I am guessing you are here for more than a social visit. You did say you had a project for me once we got here."

"Ah yes I am sorry, I am glad to visit but we are working at a disadvantage here. I will get to the point. I have heard of charms that can manipulate the user's luck. The summoning here at Chaldea is luck based. So I am wondering if maybe you could create a bunch of charms to vastly increase my luck."

She blinked and then grinned as she stroked her chin thinking "Well, the problem will be supplies. I can't create with nothing. I am sure however I can create a few with what's on hand…" she mused.

"Yes it's a shame we don't have someone skilled in the plundering of treasures to help us collect more… Oh wait we do."

That drew a grin from Medea. "My such an ambitious master. I do believe this is going to be fun."

"Ummm Senpai, is it really alright to steal like that?" Asked Mash.

"It's for the fate of humanity. Every option right now is on the table."

Mash nodded at that "I understand."

"Anyways it should take me a few days to produce the charms you are looking for Master. I would advice you to use them sparingly until we get more resources." Answered Medea.

"Well thank you, You know believe it or not I was really happy when I summoned you. Not just because you are useful but I hope to give you a chance at a better existence. I know of your past and I hope you will feel freer here to just be yourself." I told her to which she crooked her head.

"Well you are a kind one aren't you. Be careful. Telling me to do as they want can have all sorts of unintended consequences."

"True but we are kind of in dire circumstances and I have chosen to place my trust in you. I believe it will be rewarded."

That drew a grin from her "Well I truly have a kind master." she mused.

"Well we are about to go down to do today's summons, Maybe recruit some more servants to our cause." I told her.

"Ohhh? Well good luck."

So we headed down to the summoning area. Again we used Mash's shield as a catalyst. I sensed no special servants available yet. So I closed my eyes and focused and tried my best.

Once again the orbs of light appeared I really was hoping for them to turn in to rainbow colored lights but no such lucks they merged and spread in to 3 ring and there was a flash and there stood a very well built man with deep purple almost black hair, He wore a vest but no shirt his bare chest bore 3 large scars, his eyes were hidden by a seemingly permanent squint. He was barefoot and had a large… cone like sword or perhaps a sword like cone slung over one shoulder.

"Well interesting place you got here, and It looks like I was summoned by a couple of cuties." he said with an easygoing grin. "Well you may be a bit young for me but in a couple years I wouldn't mind sharing a night with you both. At the same time if you're willing. Well that's for another time, My class is Saber, I am Fergus Mac Roich. Is Cu Chulainn here?"

I felt my cheeks warm and could practically feel the temperature next to me increase from Mash's blush. I cleared my throat "Umm very nice to meet you Fergus. I hope to work well with you in the future. I am afraid Cu isn't here yet but the day is young and we still have more summons to go so who knows."

I reached out to shake his hand and damn he had a firm grip.

"Wow… that's a hell of a grip for a girl." he said with a laugh "I can see you aren't ordinary, this looks like it will be an interesting summon." he said patting my shoulder. "Well, I'll hang around to see if you summon any cute girls."

"Say Fergus…" I began

"Hmm?" he seemed honestly surprised by me calling on him so soon..

"Well I have a small problem, you see I am a demi-servant and the servant inside of me is Stronger than a Bull and tougher than a mountain but I have barely touched a sword in my life so…" I began "Ahhh so you want me to train you how to use a sword, well I am not Scathach but I know my way around a sword well enough. Sure we will train during the day and drink during the night."

"Umm Senpai is too young to drink." chimed in Mash.

He blinked at that "They actually have laws for stuff like that in this age?, man things are messed up. Well if I am around long enough when you are of age I'll teach you to drink properly too."

I coughed "Alright" I could almost feel the impending hangover's already.

I took a deep breath and tried again. Again hoping for the Rainbow Orbs… however the orbs didn't change color but when the flash receded there was a familiar figure.

"Huh, a Caster again…" said the figure a bit disappointed looked down at himself he then looked up at me.

"Hey it's you guys again." he said his mood improving. Good to see things worked out… wait is that? Fergus?"

"Cu? Well hey what do you, I just got here myself, come over here boy." Fergus motioned and they did the madly hug "Hey You summoned Cu after all, good job kid." he called to me.

"Hey I guess I am your servant for real now kid."

"Hey you know these kids?"

"Yeah I I'll tell you the story while they continue their summons."

and so the two of them went off to talk (and I suspect to find the commissary to find some booze.)

"Umm Senpai… Cu seems nice enough but is it really okay to have a servant like Fergus."

"I am sure it will be fine, he is a bit lively but he seems like he will both a useful and reliable servant… as long as we keep him entertained." I told Mash but she looked a little doubtful.

"Well shall we continue?" I asked.

"I don't know…"

"It will be fine." I assured her.

So I tried again. This time was pretty much the same as the last. When the flash cleared there stood a rather obese man in a red coat. He wore a laurel on his head. He looked down at himself and at the sword. "Huh, I see." he noted "Very well I am Gaius Julius Caesar, at your service. For some unfathomable reason I have been summoned under the Saber class. Please don't let my appearance fool you I still quite capable."

I nodded and walked up to shake his hand "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. Caesar. I am sure you will be happy to know that you will likely be the most famous servant here."

Caeser straightened his coat. "Well of course. I am grateful to have such polite master. I can already tell you are a master under some unusual circumstances." he commented and I caught a glint of those sharp eyes and no doubt sharp mind. "I do believe I shall be of some help."


Once again I stepped up and focused once again the lights appeared but did not change color, when the flash ended there stood a figure in his 30s, he wore armor, had dark spiky hair with touches of gray on the sides. The thing that stood out about him most though was that we wielded a wooden sword.

"Uh, Hi, I have come in response to your summons. I am Servant Rider, Mandricardo." he said looking around. "Wow. I can already feel a bunch of servants. Well I am not sure I can do something the other guys around here can't but I will do whatever I can." he told me.

I walked up and shook his hand "It's a pleasure to meet you Mandricardo. I am sure we will be good friends. At our core I suspect we aren't too different." I told him causing him to blink. Deep down I wasn't a person overflowing with confidence.

"For now you can just relax and get situated, don't worry I will find a use for you." I told him, he almost smiled.

After that I felt I had just a couple more summons left in me. This time I said screw it and decided to leave it to fate. If the light's changed color or not so be it…

So when the orbs of light sprang up and began to shift in to rainbow colors my heart about stopped.

"Senpai, the Rainbow lights you had been looking for, they are so beautiful."

I smiled "They are Mash, They are!"

The orbs of light merged in to a band of light and then split in to three and then in a flash a small figure was revealed.

She had short white hair and a scar across one of her green eyes and across the opposite cheek, she wore a tattered black cloak. She blinked at me with her big green eyes looking adorable and smiled. "Mother, I found mother." she rushed and hugged me. "We are Jack the Ripper, Class Assassin." she added nuzzling against my chest.

I reached down and patted her. "Well hello Jackie it's nice to meet you." I told her.

"J-jack the ripper, wait... Mother?!?" Stammered Mash.

I looked over to her "Well I guess that makes you the father. I hope your ready to take responsibility for this family."

I had never seen someone get a full body blush. "F-family with S-senpai." She said sort of in a haze.

"Umm are you okay Mash?" I asked.

She eeped and blushed "Umm yes Senpia."

Jack giggled "Father is silly." she said happily.

The deep blush returned "Say Mash, would you do me a favor and take little Jackie here to the commissary. See if maybe they have some milk and cookies they can give her. Also maybe you can take the other servants if they haven't found their way there yet. I'll be right behind you I feel like I have one more thing to do."

Jack blinked up with those big adorable eyes "Cookies?" she asked "Yeah, have you never had cookies? Well I am sure you will love them." I assured her.

"Alright Senpai." she agreed taking a deep breath to calm herself.

"That was just too fun." I couldn't help musing to myself.

It was a little strange though Jack had been my first 5 star in my first world too. Maybe I was just meant to be a Mother.

Pushing that thought aside I felt like I had one left. I didn't expect too much because I had just gotten a 5 star. While it would be nice to pull back to back 5 stars it was unlikely.

I was not surprised with the ring of lights didn't change color and one the flash of the rings coming together died down there was a very lovely brown haired woman with bright blue eyes, she wore a revealing low cut sheer orange dress with red lining. She blinked for a moment then smiled brightly. "Well hello I guess you are my new master. A bit younger than I expected but you are cutie aren't you? I am an Assassin class servant, I go by Mata Hari. I'm sorry I am not much at fighting but I am sure I can find ways to be useful to you."

I offered my hand and she took it "I am Ritsuka Fujimura, the white mage. It's a pleasure to meet you Mata Hari. I believe you will fit in quite well."

Mata Hari blinked and crooked her head curiously "White Mage?"

I chuckled "Sorry just borrowing a term from modern pop culture, though sadly not many people around here understand modern pop culture. I am a healer and specialist in bio manipulation but I though White mage sounded nicer."

"I think white mage sounds rather cute." Agreed Mata Hari.
"You see, I am glad someone gets it." I told her causing her to giggle.

With that bit of business done I escorted Mata Hari to the Commissary. I barely reached the door when I heard the voices of Cu and Fergus laughing and joking. As I entered I saw most of the servants were off to themselves. Mandricardo had snagged a corner seat at was looking around and seemed to feel out of place. Julius Caesar had himself a healthy tray of food that he was enjoying, though I noticed his eyes darting about observing everything. Medea was sitting and sipping tea as she observed everyone else. Columbus was kicked back relaxing to me he looked a bit bored. I didn't see Charles Babage, I assumed that they had taken my suggestion of having him helping out with the repairs. To be honest I don't believe he ate as that suit was unremovable. Kotarou I knew was present but didn't see. I knew if I needed him he would pop out of nowhere. Mata Hari excused herself to go grab some food and mingle a bit with the other servants.

I felt I probably should warn her about Fergus but then he stood up proclaiming her beautiful and asked to spend the night with her. Thankfully she just giggled, accepted his statement as a complement but explained she was still new and wanted to get adjusted to her new surroundings first before getting to know someone so personally.

Mash was with Jackie they were enjoying some milk and cookies and it seemed Mash was telling Jackie some stories of our brief adventures. I heard her talk about how I vanquished an evil knight drawing cheers from little Jackie.

I guess she sense my approach because she turned and said "Look Father, Mother is here." causing Mash to blush deeply. Oh dear I was just joking I didn't expect that to stick. I would have to make it up to Mash somehow.

I waved to everyone and headed for Mash and Jackie.

"Oh wow Mother is it really true you defeated an evil King Arthur?" He asked with those adorable wide eyes of a child.

"Well… It was with the help of a lot of the people here. If I had decided to fight her one on one things probably wouldn't have gone so well." I admitted.

"Ah but it was Senpai's planning that brought her down, though at the time I wanted to strangle her for putting herself in such danger." admitted Mash.

I chuckled "That's actually absolutely fair" I admitted.

Mash blushed "Say Senpai… do you know the name of your Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm?" she asked slightly pained. Do to my meddling Mash had yet to deploy hers.

"Yes Mash, more than that I think I figured out yours. I can't elaborate on how just yet I believe the spirit inside you is Galahad, noble knight of the round table. His Noble Phantasm is Lord Camelot. It's why Evil King Arthur was so interested in you."

Mash looked at me wide eyed like I had just relieved the secret of life to her. "But… How?" she asked.

I sighed "When it's time I will explain. I will explain everything and lay all my cards on the table. Right now I have a severe lack of proof for what I need to do" I told her

She blinked and nodded. "I don't really understand but I am sure it will be okay."

I smiled "A lot of things I do may not initially make sense but I have a reason for them. Speaking of which I have to go do one of those things right now." I said stealing a cookie from Mash and munching on it. She gave a slight protest that if I wanted some I should have gotten my own.

I then went on first to Columbus' Table and then Caesar's table asking to speak with them both for a second.

Columbus blinked and then grinned "You finally got some work for me Boss?" I nodded and his grin broadened.

Caesar merely nodded wiping his face with a napkin "Of course what can I do for you Master?"

I knew from the game Caesar was always trying to enrich himself and Columbus was a conquistador our for adventure and treasure, especially the treasure part.

"I am sorry to interrupt your meal I will try and make this brief. I need money. As in lots of money. Now this isn't a matter of personal greed. After we restore humanity I am going to need to make a rather large purchase."

Columbus grinned at that "Well maybe it wasn't a mistake that you summoned me after all."

Caesar nodded for a moment clasped his hands together and crooked his head. "Well I certainly commend you for seeking some one as talented and astute as myself for the matter but are you sure about him?" he motioned to Columbus.

"Hey what's that supposed to mean Fatty?" He said getting a little loud.

"STOP! This is a serious matter. I know you have different styles of acquiring wealth. However I believe you both are my best options right now. As you know if we tried to access the outside world right now we would be incinerated instantly meaning the only places that we can acquire wealth is in the Singularities. That limits things but once they are repaired nothing should be missing."

Both men listened and nodded "Before we continue, I would like to inquire just what is you are seeking to purchase?" Asked Caesar.

I sighed "It is my belief that this place will be put up for sale after we save the world, it is also my belief that who ever purchases it may not have the worlds best interest at heart. It will likely be sold to some one from a Magus family with a lot of wealth and linage and those kind of people are not generally very nice." I explained.

Caeser sat back and thought for a moment. "You seem to have a lot of insight about this but I from what I understand you are most likely correct. What would you have us do?"

"It's going to be a little tricky however, Columbus I believe you have a nose for treasure…" I began and he nodded in agreement.

"Caesar, you were born with a silver tongue. When you speak people listen and very often agree." Caesar nodded. "Between the two of you I believe you are the best hope. I know this is my second day here but I want the foundation laid. I am willing to share the wealth but I am also asking for discretion. I would prefer not to rob people of their life savings or something like that." I added.

"Hmmm well that sounds little difficult if you limit things so much on us." replied Columbus.

"As much as it pains me to agree with my apparent partner here. It's going to be very difficult if you unwilling to get your hands dirty." Caesar said. "Sometimes if you wish to achieve great things you have to be willing to do some dirty deeds to do so."

"I understand. It's not going to be easy but I have faith and maybe with a few more summons we will have an easier time. Some heroes noted for wealth acquire it as simply as breathing. For now just keep it in mind."

Both men nodded "Anyways we will talk more about it later. Once we start getting information about the Singularities it will be easier to know what we are dealing with." The two men went back to what they were doing though Columbus seemed much more enthused.

With that out of the way I decided to do what I believe they had intended for me to do in the first place and rest up after the mission. No doubt I would have to give some sort of report later. I headed back and picked up some milk and cookies to join Mash and Jackie with.

"Mother's Back." cheered Jackie. I reached over and ruffled Jackies hair causing her to giggle.

"Oh hello Senpai, I'm glad you are back. It seems you have been very busy lately." Commented Mash.

"Well we are in a tough spot it was important I hit the ground running. I am guessing opportunities like these to relax will be rare in the future."

Mash nodded at that.

"Oh by the way you don't have to call Mash and me, Father and Mother." I said to Jackie causing her to blink in surprise.

"I think Daddy and Mommy is much cutter don't you Mash?" I asked. "Umm Senpai don't you think that joke has gone far enough?" Asked Mash.

"Yeah you are probably right, I was just having a bit of fun while we had the chance. I am guessing the road ahead is going to be long and hard. It will be nice to look back and have some fond memories to enjoy."

Mash Blinked and nodded.

Jackie seemed to not really listen to that part as she Pondered "Mommy and Daddy… Mommy and Daddy, We do like that better." she declared triumphantly.

Maybe it was evil but it was soon clear that to Jackie Mash's name was now Daddy and that wasn't going to break any time soon. For the rest of the day I introduced Mash and Jackie to some video games. There was still enough of an internet working somehow that we were able to get some roms loaded up of some old games. I got to show Mash what a White Mage was from an old version of final fantasy.

We had fun, it was actually nice and enjoyable to show Mash something new, to spoil Jackie. Whom by the way it practically took a crowbar to separate her from me when it came time for bed. As I was heading to my room from putting Jackie to bed and tucking her in I bumped in to Medea.

"You know Master it is sweet to see you with the wraith child. It's likely the first bit of love she has experienced in her life."

"Yeah… I know her story, I may be spoiling her a bit but she deserves it." I replied. Medea nodded sadly. I am guessing she too picked up on that it took a tragedy to create such a creature.

She hesitated for a moment then said "While I think it's sweet that you are trying to comfort her. I must warn you she is very dangerous, especially to you. That one might hurt you without understanding that they are doing so. Those are the most dangerous types of spirits, they can lack the ill intent that is usually present but can cause death all the same."

I nodded and sighed "I understand, I'll try and be careful." I told her.

Medea shook her head "I hope that you will but I don't have a great feeling about this."

I nodded, she was likely right. "Say… I appreciate your help with the charms. I don't want to ask you for too much but how are you at mental magic? Like could you look through someone's memories if you needed to?"

She smirked "Somehow I get the feeling I am going to be putting in a lot of work for here on out. Yes, I am quite skilled in mental manipulation including looking through memories."

"Okay, in the future I may need your help to prove something. I may need you to verify my memories and actually prove they are memories."

That caused her to blink and crook her head.

"Heh, you do realize to do that you will have to open yourself up to me. I will have complete access to your mind to do with as I wish."

"Yeah I kind of figured. Though I doubt you will be allowed to do it alone. I am willing to put my trust in you. However when I pose this to the people in charge they are going to ask if I am crazy and are going to demand a seat at the table. Which actually works in my favor as if they can verify for themselves working with you on this. I doubt Da Vinci has much skill in memory manipulation magic but she is good enough to be able to sit in with your help and see what you are doing and seeing."

Medea frowned a bit "I am not sure about working with Da Vinci, you know how we Magus loath to share our tricks."

I nodded "Yeah I understand but this may be the world at stake. I think you understand how dire that things truly are."

She nodded "Yes, I suppose you are correct. I do have to admit I look forward to seeing just what you are up to. You are quite the curious one Master."

"Well try not to be too disappointed when you find the truth. I am not really that special or interesting at my core. I have just been given a lot and am now trying to prove I was worthy of getting it in the first place."

"You see there is another thing… You have ambition to work towards goals yet very little pride." she noted.

"True anyways it's getting late and I have an early morning, I'll talk to you later. Good Night Medea."

She smiled and nodded "Good night Master… oh before you go here." she said pulling out a small item from her robe and handing it to me. It looked like a very small sack of something.

"That's the first charm I was able to throw together, consider it a test on your summons tomorrow. With more time and materials I can make much better charms but I wish to see if this will help you as you expect."

I blinked and then smiled "Thank you. I appreciate this."

"Think nothing of it, just make good use of it." she told me and headed for her room.

I headed to my room saying good night to a few Servants and workers as I passed. Then I headed to bed.

That night I was treated to a nightmare. Nightmares were common in the game, they showed things that happened elsewhere that the hapless master picked up on so the players would know what was going on.

I saw a holy maiden dyed in black and malice. I saw her summoning a bunch of servants as berserkers and setting them loose to destroy the nation she had once loved, the nation that had betrayed her. I saw a man who fell after the holy maiden's death cheering with all his twisted heart as his Jeanne D' Arc Alter casually had the man who burned her at the stake murdered. Then I woke up to Fou licking me.

"Huh morning, you must really like the taste of my face or something."

"Fou Fou!"

"I know you are only trying to help and it's tough without hands. I appreciate that.

"Fou!"

"Yeah she should be here any minute."

just then the door to my room opened revealing Mash "Oh Senpai, you are up!" She said before catching a Tackle glomp from Fou to the face before he slid around to her shoulder.

"Yes Fou was just helping me to get up."

"Ah nice of him, how did you sleep?"

"Eh alright, had a bit of a nightmare."

"A nightmare?"

"Yeah it was no big deal though." I said sitting up.

"Well I came to wake you up because Dr. Roman is calling a meeting. He is going to give a briefing in the command room"

"Ah alright I'll be up in a minute."

"Alright I'll go tell them you are coming."

So I got up and got ready and dressed, it was still a bit strange seeing this new girls face in the mirror yet familiar as I had seen it all this entire life time. Being a Jumper is weird some times,


So I got ready and headed for the command room Roman and Da Vinci were both waiting along with Mash.

Dr. Roman greeted me warmly and then cut to what he needed me to do; investigate and correct the singularities. He also needed me to investigate the holy grail. He believed they had something to do with causing the singularities. He believed that even if we corrected the singularity but left the grail it would do no good. So I had to collect or destroy them along the way.

He also told me that when Rayshifted to the next era to find a layline and set up a summoning circle so they could send supplies and I could summon servants.

Mash chimed in that it was important that we set up a serviceable base camp to work from. Which he agreed was a good point and added to the list of priorities.

Then Da Vinci chimed in upset that she hadn't been introduced yet, Mash was amazed that Leonardo Da Vinci was a servant. Mash was a bit thrown by Leonardo Da Vinci's gender. That drew a bit of conversation.

"Look Da Vinci is Da Vinci. If she is a woman now that's just fine." I said finally to put an end to it.

Da Vinci seemed to agree with that and warn me that I may encounter other artists and that they tended to be eccentric sort of people.

She then explained that she would be focusing on Support and R&D. She stated that she had been summoned by Chaldea so she couldn't jump to other periods like Mash could, however if she were to make a contract with me that would change.

"Okay." I said flatly.

"What?" even the genius Da Vinci was startled.

"It sounded like you were offering a contract, I would be rather proud to have you among my Servants. I would imagine I would keep your duties mostly the same however it would offer more options having a genius such as yourself working with me. So I accept your contract."

"I wasn't really offering, I mean I am not against it but one can't just claim a contract with one such as myself just like that."

"Can't they? I think it goes without saying we are up against the greatest catastrophe to ever befall humanity. In fact the only remaining members of humanity are those in this station. This is a moment where we need everyone and every option on the table. So I accept your offer to form a contract." I offered my hand

Da Vinci sighed a little "Well I had hoped to make it a little more… Dramatic but very well." she said taking my hand and shaking it.

"Well that was most unexpected… Master." She said the latter part as if getting used to it. "Well I am afraid even if I am your servant I do still have duties I must attend to."

Dr. Roman blinked "You know. I am not sure that's how that's supposed to work but it seems like it did so lets move on."

He then told me we didn't have time to rest they had to prep me for immediate Rayshifting. They had a Coffin all ready and waiting for me so I should have no trouble this time.

He informed me that of the seven singularities detected this was the one with the smallest fluctuations.

I asked him about the information on where we were going but he told me we would get that when we got there. I told him next time make sure to have that waiting before I am getting ready to jump. A little thing in the coffin popped up telling me we were Rayshifting to A.D. 1431. I also heard a "Fou!" as I noticed Fou was in the coffin with me.

"Alright little guy I guess you are tagging along of this one.


We arrived in a beautiful green countryside. Mash noticed Fou was with us but told me that it was okay since he came with us he would rayshift home with us.

She also pointed out we were in the 100 years war but the during a respite where France and England weren't really fighting. It was about then that we saw the sky.

"Oh shit!" I said pointing up.

"Oh…"

"Hey we got connections, not the best but it works… wait why are you two looking up?" Popped in Dr. Roman.

"Doc I think you better see this." I answered

He determined that it was a ring of light, that it was magecraft, Also there were no records of it in 1431. He also surmised that the ring of light in the sky was likely part of the cause of the disappearance of humanity.

After that he left us for a minute so we could get started on what we had to do.

Mash suggested that we should get in contact with the locals as well as the other stuff.

As Fate would have it we saw a patrol of French soldiers. Specifically a French Scout Brigade. We decided to make contact.

She began talking to them… in English explaining that we were travelers. Then they saw Fou and decided it was an enemy attack… I wish I were kidding.

"Oh I should have spoke to them in French."

"Don't worry, we'll straighten it out after we beat them. They are just normal humans so just take it easy one them."

Dr. Roman came back for a moment. "Oh why are you surrounded by Soldiers? Ah I'll just let you handle things, Though while there is no danger of a paradox, take it easy on them use the flat of your blade."

"Don't you mean Shield?" I asked.

"You get my point."

One of the French soldiers said they heard a silly voice and that we were suspicious and declared an attack.

Needless to say the battle lasted all of a few seconds. One of the soldiers tried to impale me with a spear so I materialized my armor and I grabbed the spear and yanked it out of his hands and snapped it like a twig. "Do you really want to do this?" I asked him. "Because this seems like a really bad idea on your part." I said tossing down the remains of the spear.

"Wait… wait umm maybe we were wrong." said the soldier holding his hands up. Mash had just finished smacking a few soldiers with her shield by that point.

"Good, maybe we can talk then." I said to soldier who was viably relieved. "Now since you understand me, how about you take us to your leader."

They nodded and took us back to a fort… or what was left of it. The fort was ruined, barely inhabitable.

"Wait Shouldn't Charles the VII king of France have signed a peace treaty with England at this point?" Mash asked one of the soldiers.

"King Charles? So you don't Know?"

"Know what?"

King Charles is dead, he was burned to death by a witches flames."

"A witch?"

"Yes, Jeanne d'Arc has risen again as the Dragon Witch. England retreated a while ago but we have nowhere to run. This is our home, there is nothing we can do."

"Jeanne d'Arc is a witch?" Said Mash, Shocked.

"Well I think we found our irregularity." I commented.

Just then Dr. Roman chimed in to tell us there were magical energy signatures on the way. Skeleton soldiers.

Well The Skeletons fell easy enough.

We talked to the soldier who it turns out had fought with Jeanne before her death and been quite upset when the English took her and burned her at the stake but now she was back apparently in his opinion through a deal with the devil and now commanded much worse than Skeletons.

As if to emphasize his point a pack of Wyverns Showed up. The soldiers prepared to defend themselves when a Mysterious woman in armor showed up telling the soldiers to douse themselves with water. I recognized the woman as Jeanne d' Arc She managed to lead the soldiers.

"Senpai that's a Servant."

Roman commented that her energy was weak and asked what she was doing.

Anyways I used one of my abilities, I summoned shadow copies of Servants that I had made contracts with. While Mash and I had great melee strength our powers at range were limited and the Wyverns flew and breathed fire.

My shadow servants though had some range options. Together with the soldiers we quickly overcame the flying lizards.


"Wow senpai that's amazing. You were able to summon copies of you're servants."

"Yeah but lets get the summoning circle up so I can actually summon the real versions and do today's summoning anyways it looks like we have other matters to attend to." I motioned over to where a few of the soldiers had noticed it was Jeanne d' Arc "It's the Witch flee!" called one.

"Wait… Stop this person helped you, this isn't the one who was commanding the wyverns, she was fighting against them." That gave them pause.

"It appears that the Witch is a counterfeit, This is the real Jeanne d'Arc. Back not from some deal with the devil but as a Miracle to deal with the fraud."

"It-it's true, it has to be. This is the real Jeanne D'Arc" claimed one of the soldiers with tears in his eyes. "That warm face, those kind eyes I would recognize them anywhere."

Jeanne d' Arc blushed a bit. I don't think she was exactly comfortable with what I was doing.

She walked up to us. "Thank you for that. I appreciate you trying to salvage my name and for fighting. Would you please come with me, I would like to speak with you. In private." Said Jeanne

We walked for a while and I sensed a nearby Leyline which was good because I was itching to make use of it.

Jeanne asked us our names. Mash introduced herself and then introduced me as her master. She misinterpreted that there must be a holy grail war if there was a master but Mash clarified we had nothing to do with a holy grail war. Jeanne Admitted that though she was a Ruler Servant she didn't know much, she wasn't provided the usual ability of rulers to discern the true names of other servants and in fact had been given no information by the grail. She even said she had been ranked down.

She also explained that apparently there was another Jeanne D' Arc who had killed the king and taken Orleans, symbolizing the fall of France.

Roman chimed in on how important France was to history being the first to embrace human liberty and equality and if it were removed from history we would possibly still be in the dark ages.

Hearing Roman speak via Magecraft, Jeanne picked up we weren't of this world. Roman Introduced himself and Jeanne gave him a backhanded complement, it was the nicest one I had seen given but still it took the wind out of Roman's sails.

Then we introduced ourselves and explained what we were doing. Jeanne was understandably horrified to find out human history had been incinerated. It was pointed out that Wyverns shouldn't exist in 15th​ century France, and that to summon them would be the highest order of magecraft and to summon so many was unthinkable. She also said that she couldn't deny that the servant that was doing all of this was "Her."

So we deduced the Holy Grail had to be behind all of this. We asked Jeanne what she was going to do, and she said she was going to head to Orleans and liberate the city, and exterminate her other self.

"Say Jeanne, that sounds like it is the same as our goal would you mind working with us to try and put history back the way it should be."

She smiled "Thank you I would be honored to work with you."

"Say you mind making a slight detour we have to set up a summoning circle and get supplies and maybe some new friends to help us."

"OH not at all, truly you two are a godsend."

So we headed out and did our summons of the supplies and then came the moment I was waiting for I took out Medea's charm and focused. It was time to see who would be joining our group


I would like to say I was beyond now hoping for Rainbow or golden lights. I had to acknowledge that even lower rarity servants could be quite useful as it turned out. However a part of me really wanted something special. Every time I tried I still wanted to see a 5 star.

So I did my thing and the lights arose and swirled around forming the 3 rings and in a flash a red haired, red eyed boy was revealed. His hair was slightly wild with a short pony tail in back. I would say he was hardly in his teens if that, he was cute. A pretty boy. He wore an outfit of brown and red trimmed with gold. He had sharp eyes that were studying me as much as I was studying him. "Greetings I am Servant Rider, My name is Alexander, I am not sure why I was summoned in this form. Anyways I look forward to working together.

I walked over and shook the kids hand "It's very nice to meet you Alexander. I am actually a bit of a fan of your older self. I am sure we will work well together."

I returned to the summoning platform I felt that it had a lot of energy today hopefully useful energy.

I again called up the orbs of light that hovered over the shield and began to spin, not changing color. They became 3 rings and then in a flash revealed a man wearing a red plumed spartan helmet, a red cape carrying a spear and a shield. He wore very little only covering for sake of modesty. He was evidently proud of his well toned muscular body. I could definitely see why.

He stepped forward proudly "Servant Lancer, My name is Leonidas, King of Sparta. I shall protect you with all of my might." He told me.

I couldn't help but smile, I liked leonidas, I just remembered I had to keep him away from Ghosts and Alcohol and he was a pretty cool guy.

"It's an honor to have you as a servant Leonidas, The foes we will face shall likely be much greater than our forces so It will do well to have someone who never gives up on my side."

He nodded and I saw a grin form under that helmet. "I look forward to it Master."

Time had come for my next attempt I focused the lights did there thing and in the flash instead of a person there was a card hovering there.

During the summon I had felt it was a Craft Essence, a item that could be attached to a servant to give them a minor boost, usually I didn't bother to summon them as those of low rarety were rarely very good. However I felt some power behind this one so I went and collected the card "Before Awakening." I read as I observed the picture of a buff shirtless young Kirei Kotomine. It wasn't the greatest "5 Star Craft Essence" but it wasn't the worst either, it offered an increase to offense like many did but it also increased defense which meant that who ever was using it would take a little less damage. That would be kind of useful.

"Oh Senpai is that a craft essence?" asked Mash walking up to look at it.

"Yep, would you like it?"

"Senpai are you sure?" she asked blushing.

"I think it would go well on you." I said as I handed it too her. It then vanished.

"It Disappeared?!?" Said Mash worried.

"It's equipped on to you, if you try and remove it, it will appear in your hand. It's fine." I assured her.

With that done it was time to summon again. Again the lights appeared over the summoning platform and began to spin. Once again the lights spun round, once again with no change.

When flash finally cleared there was a young boy of about 10 years of age. He wore a blue sleeveless suit with a long sleeve black and white striped shirt underneath and wore a blue bow tie.

He looked around for a moment as if confused then seemed to relax "Oh thank god it's not her this time. Look, I think you have made a mistake with this summoning. I am a Third-Rate servant who isn't going to do anyone any good." he said in an adults voice.

I smiled and reached out my hand "It's nice to meet you Mr. Anderson. I have more faith than you in your usefulness."

He took my hand tentatively and then looked at me, he really looked at me. In fact it was a little uncomfortable.

"Huh, so that's your deal." he said simply and then nodded and walked away not bothering to elaborate.

Mash leaned over "Umm who is that and what did he mean?"

"Oh don't worry too much, that's Hans Christian Anderson, he is a Caster. He doesn't like people much, also he has a human observation skill that lets him see the way people really are. I think it would be kind of hard to have a high opinion of people with a skill like that."

Mash blinked "Wait that's Hans Christian Anderson? The Author? I love The Little Mermaid."

My sharp ears caught a groan from Anderson at that.

"Huh all I know is the Disney version of that." I stated and drew a hateful glare from Anderson, who I heard something about never receiving a payment for the butchering of his story.

To avoid any further
Awkwardness I decided to continue on. Once again the lights appeared but didn't change and when the flash subsided there stood a huge man. He was huge, he wore a heavy iron mask in the shape of a bull's face, he wore a heavy iron belt and red kilt like cloth. Each of his legs were shackled with a ball and chain. In his hands he carried two extremely long handled axes that seemed to be twice my size. How ever the most distinctive feature this imposing figure bore was protruding from his wild mane of White hair there were two Horns.

"I am… Berserker." he said with some difficulty, he then looked around at the forested area around us.

"Greetings Asterios. I welcome you to join the team. I hope you feel at home with us." I told him gently.

He paused for a moment and then looked down at me, he looked very hard at me.

"You… call me Asterios?" He asked shocked.

"Yes, it is your name, I know who you are and accept you like any other Heroic Spirit." I told him.

"Asterios… no Hero." he said a little sadly.

"Well then here is your chance, you have been given a second chance here. A chance to make a difference and change things. I cannot wash away your sins but I can offer you a chance to do better."

He paused at that for a long moment as if contemplating it. He then nodded quietly before saying "Asterios will serve Master."

I nodded as the giant man stepped aside. Having the Minotaur on our side who was strong and tough enough to brawl with Hercules a bit, seemed like a good thing.

I was beginning to remember something about the luck perk I had. It tended to give you what you needed not necessarily what you wanted.

I got ready and did my summoning thing again I felt full of power today, the lights appeared but stayed the same color and when the flash cleared there was a cute little blonde haired kid with red eyes in modern casual clothing. He wore a purple shirt with yellow linning and camouflage long shorts.
It didn't even take a moment to realize who this kid was or just how lucky I had gotten.

The kid looked around at me and the gathering of heroes. He smiled and nodded "Well Master it seems you have quite the group. My class is Archer, for my name, just call me Gil."

I nodded and reached out and shook his hand trying not to act to excited. He crooked his head a bit but took my hand. "I believe we will work well together." I told him.

"Run while you can. She intends to work you to death." came a snarky comment from Hans.

"You are quite an irregular master." commented Gil looking at me. You seem like an extra piece that doesn't really belong to this puzzle." he mused "Oh well it should make things interesting."


I felt I had a few more in me so I went back to the Summoning Platform, again the lights appeared and spun around but refused to change color. The lights as they did split in to 3 rings and created a flash and then… there stood a pretty young woman. She wore a simple dress like one would see in olden times she wore a white cloth mob cap. She was a lovely woman with medium length brown hair, deep blue eyes, pale skin and a warm smile. To contrast this though she carried a large strangely angled knife in her small gloved hands. Also there was a small creature floating around her, it was smaller than a basket ball it's body was about the size of a baseball it was egg shaped, it had golden wings and a halo that hovered above it's body. It had not describable facial features of any kind.

"Hello Master, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Charlotte Corday… umm my class is Assassin." She said the last part with a faint blush of embarrassment.

"I am not that great of a fighter but I will do whatever is in my power to serve you." she said with a slight curtsy.

I couldn't help but smile. I was a big fan of the Atlantis Lostbelt and a fan of hers.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Corday. Do not worry I am most certain that you will prove to be a useful member of this team."

"OH please Call me Charlotte Master." I could feel my cheeks warm, Charlotte was just too adorable.

I somehow felt a surge of murderous intent and looked over to Mash who's eye was twitching.

"Umm is everything okay, Mash?"

Mash blinked and then blushed "Umm yes everything is fine." she said clearing her throat and then shooting Charlotte a dirty look when she didn't think I was looking.

"Umm I should continue summoning." I said to break the tension that I am sure I was only imagining. I am sure it was only my imagination Mash was gripping her shield with white knuckles. I felt it was better to move things along before someone got Shield Bashed.

I was a bit detracted when I started the summon so I was surprised when the orbs of light burst in to Rainbow colors.

"Senpai! The lights." Said Mash Excited.

We waited with baited breath to see who would emerge from the flash. However there is no way we could have predicted what would happen next.

The flash of light cleared and standing there very confused was… Jeanne.

"Umm Jeanne is that you?" I asked.

She looked at me confused.

"Yeah. I was just standing over there and watching and then suddenly I was here. I feel that some of my strength has returned. I still don't know a lot but I think… You are my Master."

I nodded "Well It's a pleasure to have you by our side Jeanne and I hope you will take solace in knowing that even after this singularity is resolved you will have somewhere to go."

She nodded but was still clearly confused.

"I didn't think a summoning could do that." I admired.

"I didn't think a Ruler could be summoned like that at all. Usually I thought they were summoned by the grail to work as an administrator of the war."


I nodded, "Well we are in irregular times, either way I am glad to have you."

I felt like I had one more left in me. It wasn't a servant but I felt like it was worth summoning.

I focused I summoned there was no color change and when to flash cleared again there was a card hovering. I walked over and took the Card. This had an image of Jeanne and a girl who looked exactly like Jeanne but in normal clothes each on opposite sides of the mirror "Vessel of the Saint." I read. Jeanne walked over and blinked a bit "Is that me on that card?" She asked. "Umm yep, I would say so."
"What is going on here?" She asked.

"Don't ask me I just work here. Fate is crazy." I said.

"Well the lord works in mysterious ways. Also master why do you register as a servant, I can see your true name now. First Hassan?" She asked.

I blushed "Well he is lending me his power since the world is at stake."

She nodded as if she mostly accepted that.

Roman chose that moment to chime in "Say we have your supplies all ready to send. Also would you please limit yourselves on the number of active servants that you have at once. While we can maintain the amount you have while they are passive, it's going to overwhelm the system very quickly if they have to fight or especially use their noble phantasms. So Why don't you pick out Six to have active among all of your servants and we will keep the rest ready to switch out with an easy use of the summoning circle."

"Oh so it's Pokemon rules then. I see."

Roman actually blinked "You know I hadn't thought about it but… Pretty much yes."

"Alright well Jeanne seems essential here to deal with her counterpart, I also want to keep Mash who I assume is also counted in the six. I would like you to send over Fergus as our heavy, Medea as our support. We will keep Gil and Asterios because I think we are going to need some good fighters both in melee and in range. However I have to talk to Hans before I send him back." That drew a surprised look from Dr. Roman. "Umm sure. I'll get the people you asked for ready to send."

I took Hans aside so we would have a bit of privacy. "Oh and just what is it you want of me?" he said with a hint of annoyance. "Somehow I doubt it's related to my books which you have apparently never read."

"I liked the ugly duckling." he grumbled at that "Very well anyways ask away. I was just going to find the most comfortable place I could and try and get some writing done."

"Well you are an intellectual type probably used to research and what I am going to ask isn't exactly something that I am ready to explain." That caused Han's Eyebrow to raise a bit higher.

"Okay Chaldea has a bunch of weird things on record. I want you to see if you can find the location of any banks operating in London in the year 1888. I doubt we would be able to find floor plans I am not that lucky."

"What are you planning to rob a bank?" Asked Hans.

"Yes."

"WHAT?" he said incredulous. "Have you lost your mind?"

"I don't know probably, but that doesn't change the fact that there is a good reason I need to raise as much Cash as possible."

Hans sighed and gave me an annoyed look.

"So you are going to go around robbing banks then?"

"It's one way of getting money."

Hans just sighed and shook his head "You know I am beginning to regret answering your summons."

"This isn't the only one."

"What?"

"History being incinerated isn't the only threat humanity faces. Afterwords some Idiot buys Chaldea. He brings with him a bunch of enemies and the place gets wrecked and people die because of it. It turns out to be the first strike of another invasion."

"Alright and why are you telling me this?"

"Because you know for absolutely sure both that I am telling the truth and that I am not crazy."

"I wouldn't say you weren't crazy but yes I believe you." he said with a sigh. "Fine I'll see what I can see but if they ask me why I am poking in to such things. I am going to tell them the truth."

"That's fine, I am going to have to come clean some time. Sooner the better." I agreed.

With that I headed back. It seemed Mash was waiting so we could summon the supplies and do the exchange. Which I did.

Now armed with Servants and supplies it came time to discuss our next step.

"There are a few things you should know. Even though some of my strength has returned not all of it has. However I fear that if my other self is A ruler like I suspect then she will likely be able to detect servants at great distances, She can probably feel us right now."

"Lovely so we can be attacked at any time." I noted.

"That is correct." said Jeanne apologetically. "Also for that reason I would like to stay away from towns or inhabited places."

I nodded.

"While we have a formidable team of servants here, but we still don't know everything that the other me has on her side. I suggest we look for information along the way. Our ultimate goal is Orleans.
Should the lord favor us, maybe we will find some help along the way too. Anyways it's getting late we should rest while we can. We can set up camp here. It's far enough away from the fort that we shouldn't draw any unwanted attention to them."

"Agreed, I guess it's best to get some rest while we can."

"Tomorrow, we will head towards La Charite. Again we will stick to the fringes of the city and not linger long."

"I think we should probably prepare to run in to more than Wyverns and Skeletons." Stated Gil seeming to be thinking.

"Think about it, it's been a few days since you were killed correct Jeanne?" he asked.

"Umm yes by my estimation."

"To take a country in such a time and to force another countries retreat in such a short time it would take more than just some skeletons and wyverns. While a powerful Servant could destroy a city, usually it would take time unless they were throwing around very large anti-fortress noble phantasms. Even with the virtual unlimited energy output from a grail such a feat just isn't feasible to do repeatedly. They likely have had help from something more powerful than wyverns. Possible a number of servants or full grown dragons." Stated Gil.

"Wow, the kid's sharp." noted Fergus.

"Hmmm Medea, Do you think you could make a charm to hide us even from a Ruler's detection abilities?"

Medea blinked "I honestly don't know. I don't know what a Ruler's detection abilities are. I have many powerful charms I could make against detection and scrying but I have no way of knowing if they would work against something like that."

"Alright well if there is a chance of it working it's better than nothing. Otherwise I guess we will have to be continually on the move so she can't send everything against us. Thankfully I am sure she will want to take our measure first before deciding to try and wipe us out with overwhelming force. After all she can't afford to spend too much trying to defeat us. I doubt her army is truly endless." I noted.

"Alright I shall create my strongest anti-detection charm that I know but to do so I will need a workshop and a bit of time."

"Alright how about I send you back to Chaldea for a bit, you can create the charm."

She nodded. "I do appreciate the amount of faith you place within my abilities." She said with a smile.

"Well I am very lucky to have such a talented servant."

That drew a smile and a faint blush from Medea. "For as much work as you are giving me, I am glad you are at least appreciative."

I nodded. We set up the summoning platform again and sent her back to do her work.

By that time night was beginning to fall. We had a small dinner. Though the servants didn't require food they enjoyed eating. That said, while I wouldn't call the food bad it was definitely noticeable they were rations. Is it wrong to hope that I Summon EMIYA strictly for the fact he can cook? Oh well.

After dinner Fergus decided it was a good time to have our first training session. I used some projection magecraft to make a pair of wooden swords.

Fergus showed me how to stand, how to hold a sword properly and then we sparred a little. I would love to say I proved to be a genius of the blade and took to it like a duck to water. However the truth was that I took to it like a cat flailing about after someone threw it in to a swimming pool.

Afterwords I think Fergus could tell I was a bit frustrated and he patted me on the back and told me. "Hey don't feel bad, You are a beginner, we all were at some point. Right now the important thing is to approach it with the right attitude. Don't get frustrated and angry about your mistakes. Just try and learn."

I thanked him, I realized he was right. After that I headed to bed early. I got to share a tent with Mash. That was nice.

It's funny the difference between this life and my original, in my original I had trouble when sleeping in a new bad or place. It seems though Ritsuka had no such troubles. I was out as soon as I hit the sleeping bag.

Unfortunately morning came. Mash was nice about waking me but I still hold mornings are evil. I arose like a bear from hibernation. I was groggy and half asleep when I got up to see the sun barely peaking out over the horizon. The scene should have been a beautiful one the way the rising sun dyed the sky and horizon orange but all I could think was Fuck I am tired. It's too god damn early.

Still I dragged my sorry rear out did my morning stuff and made myself presentable.

We checked in with Chaldea and it turned out that Medea had finished the charm and was waiting to return.

We set up the summoning circle again and brought her back.

Medea appeared in a flash of light and walked over and handed me something in a small bag, the size of a fist.

"Here I am sorry it's a bit of a rush job but it is as potent as I could make it. It should give us a fairly decent radius of non-detection. I suggest you carry it on your person."

I nodded. "Thank you again, you are a life saver. Sorry for making you do so much. I'll try and give you a bit of a break from special projects for a while."

She smiled and nodded "Thank you. While I do enjoy having my talents recognized even though I am now a servant I do need a rest from time to time. Crafting is mentally taxing even if I have enough energy. I may have to take you as an apprentice just so that you can create the items you desire yourself some time."

"Well I don't think I could ask for a greater teacher." I answered with a smile.

She gave and amused chuckle "You are quite the charmer aren't you?"

"I try my best."

"Ah Senpai?" Mash spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"I was wondering since we have the summoning circle set up do you want to do your summons now?"

"Actually I was thinking of waiting until after breakfast. I think I would have better luck with a full stomach."

Mash nodded.

Speaking of breakfast we had a modest one and broke camp. Then it came time to see if we would be adding to our forces.


They say madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The lesson I should have learned was that even low rarity servants offered abilities that were incredibly valuable. However deep down I was hunting for rainbows and that dopamine hit. It was true that rarer servants tended to be more powerful and could be very helpful. However my most valuable servants currently were fairly low rarity ones because this wasn't a game.

I stepped up to the summoning circle and did my chant. As normal the circle of lights rose and spun in a circle. I sensed this was going to be a craft essence. One actually weaker than I usually bothered with but I recognized this particular one.

After the flash hovering was a card. I walked over and saw it featured Sakura from Fate/Stay night. "Imaginary Element, nice." I commented.

"Oh Senpai is that a good one?"

I nodded "It's probably the best of it's rarity it offers… a battery of sorts. A portion of energy specifically for firing off one's noble phantasm. It isn't quite free but it should be a little under half priced for the first one.

Mash's Eyes grew wide. "That sounds very useful."

I nodded in agreement "I'll keep it for now until I see who else is going to grace us with their presence."

Mash nodded.

Again I returned to the circle and focused. The lights arose again. This time though the changed color, the turned in to golden lights.

"Ah Senpai, Golden lights." said Mash Excited.
"Yes Mash let us see who we get."

The gold light split in to 3 rings of light and then combined in a flash.

The light faded away leaving a short woman with a very familiar face, she had blond hair and green eyes, she wore an elaborate red dress with the long skirt being transparent in the front showing her legs.

"Greetings, I Nero Claudius emperor have Rome, have arrived at your summon. I graciously accept you as my master. My class is Saber and please do not confuse me with that blue one." she said the last part with some disdain.
"Ah I see you have prepared an audience for my summon. It is a bit small but the effort is appreciated. Though they could cheer and clap a bit more."

"Ah thank you Nero for blessing me with your presence. I look forward to working with you in the future." I told her sticking out my hand to shake.

She blinked a bit as if surprised I assume by such a casual gesture but took it and shook my hand.

After that it was time to summon again this time there was no change in the color of the lights and when the flash of light cleared there stood a tan man with dark hair and eyes in a green vest with and orange collar and red under shirt. He smiled at me, His smile was warm and genuine as if straight from his heart. I knew who he was instantly.

"Hello, you must be my master. I am pleased to meet you. I am Archer, my True name is Arash. If what I am sensing is true I believe we have a lot to do together." he said Sticking out his hand to shake, I took it and shook it.

"Well it's pleasure to meet you Arash. I look forward to working with you." I told him. I tried not to hide the mixed feelings I had at summoning him. He was a great hero and a great guy who could work well with others. The only problem was his Noble Phantasm was a Self Sacrificial one and he wouldn't think twice about using it if he thought it was necessary. That was just the man that Arash was.

I pushed the thoughts aside. I had more to do we had to get the summons done so that we could move out.

So I focused and began again, this time the lights didn't change either and when the flash of light cleared I realized I just summoned a headache.

The man stood there Arrogantly he had blond hair, green eyes and was what even could be called handsome. He wore a complex outfit of a brown vest, A green kilt like thing that was open in the front, he wore white pants. His arms were covered with golden bracers over brown gloves, he had gold armored like shoulder pads what looked more like decorations than actual armor, he wore a thick gold necklace and earrings.

"Huh, it seems I have been summoned as a Saber. Well I am not really much for the front lines so just do what I say and follow my advice and… wait… is that my estranged wife?" he said his arrogance turning to terror.

I could feel the killing intent growing behind me.

I looked back quickly to see Medea readying a spell and felt the man crouching down hiding behind me.

I sighed "Medea, no killing Jason. I know you have reason but. He may prove useful."

That caused her to pause "Master, I do not believe you understand how truly useless and annoying that man is. Just trust me this is best for everyone."

"Medea, I am not going to lie to you. I am not going to pretend to know your pain and anger. I know the basics of what happened to you but I didn't live it. However we are in a bad spot and the more people we have to throw at it the greater our chance of success. He may be useless as a fighter but he can lead and there may come a time where I need someone who can do that."

Medea sighed and crossed her arms "Fine do whatever you want. Just mark my words no good will come of this." she said before vanishing. I knew she had gone in to her spiritual form. She was pissed.

"Boy, same old Medea, thank you for saving me Master. I tell you that woman is crazy." Said Jason behind me.

I whirled around with my arm raised ready to strike the idiot. He paled and stepped back but I stopped myself at the last moment. "Jason…" I began forcing myself to be calm. "I am sending you back to Chaldea immediately. We are going to have to work something out so Medea doesn't wind up murdering you. Until then… Shut up!"

He winced and sort of cowered. "Geeze your almost as scary as Medea."

I took him to the summoning circle and sent him off.

I had a feeling I wouldn't be seeing Medea for a bit, maybe it was best to let her calm down.

I felt like I had about 1 more summons left in me and I wanted to get it done so we could get moving.

I focused, I said my lines and… the lights appeared and turned golden. Silently I prayed whoever it was wouldn't be a headache like my last summons.

When the flash of light cleared my heart actually stopped for a second. Standing there was a very familiar figure. He wore a red code with a black shirt showing underneath and black pants. He was tan, his eyes were gray and his hair was white and spiky.

He had sharp eyes and they darted around for a moment as he took in his surroundings.

It took practically superhuman levels of self control not to Squee.

"Hmm well it seems at least this time my Master is happy to see me."

I guess I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"Ahh… Hi… I mean yes I am your Master. It is very nice to meet you Archer." I said sticking out my hand to shake his.

He looked down uncertain about me but took my hand. "I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting journey." he noted I suppose referring to my excessive happiness.

"Wait!" I heard Nero cry.

"I shall not allow it! I shall not allow my master to be happier to see another servant than me. Why was I not given such a brilliant greeting."

"But-but he is EMIYA – I mean Archer. I know of him."

"Oh and just what do you know of him that makes you so excited to see him? He reminds me very much of someone I met once and there was nothing to get excited about that one"

Oh shit I kind of spoke without thinking. EMIYA was eyeing me with suspicious while the others looked on with curiosity.

"Nero. You don't understand. He can cook!"

Nero blinked "What?"

"He is an excellent cook. Such skills are invaluable on any journey."

Nero's confusion quickly changed to understanding while Emiya looked at me as if I were a crazy person.

"Hmm of course my Master is correct. I had not understood that you were such a gourmet. Very well…" she said turning to Archer.

"Archer… I shall learn to cook and my cooking shall be unrivaled. I will not allow another servant to outshine me in any way."

Archer blinked "I… am not sure I understand what is going on here anymore."

"Ah don't worry, I am sorry seeing you kind of caught me off guard. I wish to inform all of my new summons of the situation we are facing." I said regaining my composure.

I took a deep breath and informed them all of the situation we now faced.

"So I see humanity is threatened and you are the last person capable of summoning servants." Emiya Summarized. "I suppose that does explain why I am here." he said with a slight somber tone.

"Alright Well for most of you I thank you for coming. We will be using you later but we have a limit of 6 servants that we can keep fully active at once. Jeanne, Mash, Fergus, Gil, Medea and EMIYA. I want you to stay and be my 6. I think you will be well suited to fighting Wyverns. The rest of you, it's not that I have doubts in your abilities I just don't believe you would be well suited fighting something that flies and breathes fire." I announced, Medea was still not visible though she was there. We sent everyone else of. Nero with some protests. "Look I know you are an amazing servant Nero but you are mostly melee. These are enemies that are better to take at range if possible." she grudgingly accepted that saying that she would spend her time working both on her cooking and Archery then.

"Alright everyone I believe we have a bit of a walk ahead of us, Everyone I am going to walk a bit behind because I would like to have a talk with Medea… Medea, would you please walk with me?" Medea was still in spirit form and showed no signs of coming out of it. I just sighed and walked a good distance behind everyone as we walked down the road.

"Look I know you are very upset with me. I get that." I said to open air. I really hoped that she was around or all of this was just me looking stupid for no reason.

"Look, I'll tell you the truth about me. The complete truth. I'll place my faith in you and make an offer at the end. Whatever you decide after that I'll respect. If you want to tell me to fuck off and end our contract… I'll understand."

I took a few deep breaths. This was hard and it was a lot harder talking to no one visible.
I told her. I told her who I was, who I had been. I told her of a life that was not the best. I told her of a deal for a second chance. I told her of a game that I had probably loved a bit too much. I gave her the full plot. From the beginning to Olympus. I admitted I had tried to avoid spoilers so I didn't know as much about the last two lost belts. Then I informed her of the spoilers I did know of those lost belts. I did all of this to empty air.

"It's funny the hero of the game who I now share the name with was considered by most a nothing but they had the uncanny ability to befriend everyone, forgive everyone and survive stupidly dangerous situations. They also seemed to have the ability to get people who should hate each other's guts to work together. They seemed to be a nothing but when I compare myself to them even now I find myself lacking. I figure my only chance is to cheat my cute little ass off and I am uncertain even that is going to help me survive. Look, here is the offer part. In10 years I am out of here. Off to another world, another dimension; that's if I survive that long. I don't have to go alone though… This world if it is anything like the game operates on the premise that it's only natural that not everyone make it to the end of the story. I always hated that about the series and games. I just wanted a truly happy ending but the best they ever seem to do with is a bitter sweet one. So I am offering you a chance knowing the truth to come with me to maybe a place that will be better, maybe that will be worse but hopefully one that allows for happy endings." I said finally. I had borne my soul, told the truth, revealed more of myself than I probably should have. So I waited as I walked only my footsteps accompanying me for a minute then two then I let out a deep sigh and stopped.

"Oh please tell me I didn't just do all of that for nothing and that you didn't even have the trust to listen to me…" I was about to lose hope when I heard a soft voice. "I listened." from behind me.

"I heard every word. I can't believe my Master is such a fool. I am honestly quite furious. I want to be angry at you but after all of that it's very hard. I haven't forgiven you yet. That will take time." she said then sighed "You know I was starting to think you were like Jason. All charm and no substance. Maybe that would have made this easier but you keep insisting on trusting me despite my reputation. Ordinarily I would betray you just for being so foolish… but I can't. I can't betray the kind fool who placed their trust in me when no one else would."

"About Jason… I couldn't betray someone who answered my summons."

"You said something about him during your rambling explanation… that he actually became a person worth knowing in Atlantis after Hercules Sacrifices his life to save him."

I nodded.

"Heh, I didn't think that was possible. I suppose even the least of us can grow and change. I am a bit jealous that Jason of all people would get character growth."

"It took the loss of his best and probably only friend to do so but yes."

"Alright, well we better catch up with the rest. You know I was tempted to leave you out here alone talking to yourself but I can't leave you undefended."

"Well I appreciate that you didn't. So any response to my offer?"

I heard her take a deep breath "Fine… I'll travel with you. I am surprised you offered this to me before Mash."

"Yes, I wanted to offer Mash the chance once all the cards were on the table, as you can see I am holding a lot back so far mainly because I lack proof."

"Proof or not I wouldn't wait much longer. That girl is crazy about you. As fun as an awkward teen romance can be to watch. I would like to see some progress." She teased

"It's only been under a week." I countered.

"You saved her life and together you have adopted the wraith child in that time." she pointed out. I felt my cheeks warm.

"I didn't know my love life was of such interest to you." I added.

"Oh but you are quite interesting Master. I even knowing what I know now I think you are very interesting. You describe yourself as weak and worthless but here you are fighting with all of your strength to save a people you don't truly belong to. You also are a very strange mixture of clever and foolish.

Your goals may be simplistic of wanting to save everyone and feel you are worthy of what you have gotten. Yet for the most part you have been clever about how you have gone about it. Even the risking yourself against that beautiful knight was calculated. You are being of many contradictions It makes me want to see how far you can go. It makes me want to believe you can find your happy ending even in a world where as you say it's only natural that not everyone live to see the end." She noted.

"Well what can I say I am very stubborn, even if the world is against me I guess I have no choice but to try and make a happy ending. Anyways lets catch up." I suggested and we did.

"OH Senpai, we were starting to get concerned I take it everything is alright now?" asked Mash as we caught up.

I also noticed a look of displeasure and surprise as EMIYA saw Medea.

"Yeah don't worry I think we sorted things out alright. No one is going to murder anyone on our side."

"I still say he is more trouble than he's worth but I will go with your judgment for now." added Medea.

We were likely not too far from town so I wanted to do something…

"Hey Gil. I need you to do me a favor. I doubt you are going to want to but, just trust me on this."

The boy blinked at me and crooked his head "Oh, well I can't decide until you ask whether I will be upset by it."

"I want you to find the strongest dragon slaying sword you have in your Gate and show it to EMIYA.

The young Gilgamesh did get a look of disgust "I see your plan while it is logical I have to admit it doesn't sit well with me."

"I know, I'll find a way to make it up to you. Please do it." I practically begged.

"Very well." he said displeased as a portal next to him opened up with a sword appearing handle first. He took it. He handed it to EMIYA.

Emiya took the swords and examined it with some reverence. It was a large golden two handed greatsword with a blue gem on its hilt.

"Balmung. Very impressive." Noted Emiya as he examined it.

"Emiya I want you to be my trump card. If we see a big true dragon or something that is dragonic and looks like a final boss I want you to project a half dozen of those and make them broken Phantasms and launch them."

Emiya winced "Well master assuming they are far enough away for that to work I am going to need to fire them from my bow. Which firsts I need to modify them in to arrows. I can only fire one sword like that at a time." He explained.

"Can you do it rapid fire what I want is a volley of them?" I asked. EMIYA nodded "I suppose. However there is also the little matter of the amount of magical energy this is going to take. I am going to need a command seal to do this."


"I have a feeling it will be needed, I'll reserve the command seal for that use." I explained. I turned back to Gil, "You can see why I am doing this." he nodded as Emiya handed him the huge sword back and he stuck it in a portal.

"I knew what you were planning and I can't disagree with the logic of it though I think it might be overkill but I can't say I wouldn't do something similar in your situation." he replied.

We were approaching La Charite when the Doctor Chimed in
"Be careful I am detecting a servant's energy ahead" he cautioned

"Master I am sorry to inform you that the city has been raised, Most of it's on fire and most of the buildings have been ruined." Stated EMIYA who I realized was using Reinforcement on his eyesight.

"Alright Fergus, I would like you to take on the servant and Gil I would like you to provide ranged support. If there is trouble we will all fall on them like the wrath of god. The rest of us… will try and find survivors."





We arrived in hell. That was the best way I can put it, Half of the buildings were burning, many of the others were destroyed. The stench of blood, smoke and death were heavy in the air. There were bodies strewn about in the rubble. In my previous life I would have been emptying the contents of my stomach seeing such a horrific sight, unfortunately this version of me was mentally examining the wounds to try and identify the cause.

I saw one woman's body. It had numerous deep puncture wounds but not a drop of blood, her face indicated she had died in agony.

"Carmilla." I growled recognizing the handiwork of the killer.

I heard crashes from off in the distance in another part of the city as buildings were blown away. It seemed that Gil and Fergus had found her. I could sense them and her now.

"Fergus and Gil are engaging a servant! Also I am not detecting any signs of life in the city." Said a panicked Doctor Roman.

"S-Senpai… Look the bodies, they are starting to move" Said Mash pointing as a group of them started to get up and limp towards us.

I sighed "Even in death they aren't allowed to rest. Alright we will fight our way through and reunite with Fergus and Gil. Though I doubt they need any help."

There was another explosion as if to emphasize the point.

The zombies were a non-factor 2 heroic spirits and 2 demi-servants we plowed through them.

We rushed to find Fergus and Gil in the middle of the smoking ruins of the section of the city they had been fighting in.

"Oh hey, Sorry but we had to put down the Servant that was here. A shame too she was a real looker. She tried to run but the boy caught her in some chain of his but she got loose. She was a slippery one and I guess she gave up on trying to run and decided to make a last stand preferring to go down fighting. She was just too quick for me to hold back with. I used a bit more of my strength than I meant to." Noted Fergus looking around.

"Master I believe our fight has drawn some attention." stated Gil pointing to the sky. I looked of to the East where he was pointing and I saw a lot of black dots quickly growing.

"Um Guys I am detecting 5 Servants heading your way and something big with a mana reading higher than a servant." announced Dr Roman.

"Well that was quicker than expected she has decided to wipe us out in one go then."

"We should run Senpai. We have to get out of here." Said a rather frantic.

Something in me likely something inherited from the Heroic Spirit housed in my soul was preventing me from panicking. "Mash, it's alright just calm down and get ready to use your Noble Phantasm. Jeanne, You get ready too, we are going to need both Noble Phantasms.

"But there is no way that we can hold out against so many enemies for long." said Mash.

"We don't have to. EMIYA get ready, it's a bit sooner that I anticipated but we are going to need that trump card."

We saw the black dots growing bigger soon we were able to make out the shape of wyverns and in the dead center of them a Huge Dragon being ridden by a figure in black.

"How long until they are in range Emiya?"

"Another minute Master."

"Jeanne, Mash get ready as soon as her fires the last of those swords I want you to throw up your noble phantasms and put as much in them as you can without breaking them.

Both Mash and Jeanne looked at me uncertain but nodded.

I saw EMIYA create the copies of the sword, they hovered in the air. He Summoned his bow and with smooth quick motions began to modify the swords.

"By the power of my command seal I order you to supercharge all of those swords to make broken phantasms." I announced.

A broken phantasm is what happens when you overcharge a noble phantasm, It gains a full rank in effectiveness but turns in to a bomb that will explode.

Emiya launched the swords at a speed akin to a machine gun. Launched from the bow they became streaks of light and flew flew towards their target. I saw The huge dragon try and swerve out of the way but the things about big dragons is they are not very maneuverable. I saw the dark figure raise her banner in a quick motion and felt her pushing a lot of energy in to it. I looked away as I heard Jeanne and Mash throwing up their noble phantasms.

The sound of the explosions were deafening and even through the two powerful defensive I felt the force of the shock wave of the explosions. Now I knew the Dragon was Fafnir from Norse Mythology and as he was summoned in a means like a servant he was likely especially weak to Balmung the sword that originally killed it. However each Balmung was a powerful sword and they hit like a nuke when they exploded. Looking up after the flash I saw a mushroom cloud. I also saw the wyverns were vanishing.

"Ummm confirmed the large magic signature has been destroyed completely along with the servant riding it. It looks like the wyverns and the other servants are fading as well." chimed in Dr. Roman.
"Huh, I see I have a most unique Master" Mused EMIYA. "I will admit I would not have though of using heavy explosives to solve all of my problems. In this case though it seems to have worked though." he added


"It would be great if that was the end of it but I don't believe that servant on the dragon was carrying the grail was she?"

"No, I did not detect any prescience of the holy grail." Stated Roman realizing I was correct.

"So we have a bit more walking we have to head for Orleans to find the true mastermind behind this."

"I can't believe Dark Jeanne is gone… I sort of wanted to know why she was doing all of these horrible things. I couldn't understand it." Stated Jeanne sadly.

I sighed. The way I had resolved things had robbed Jeanne of a chance to learn about her counterpart and maybe about herself. Things seemed to resolve cleaner in the story but honestly. This wasn't her story it was mine and I was doing the best I could.

"Well Jeanne, God works in mysterious ways. She was summoned once maybe she will be summoned again and you can meet her and find out why she is so hateful and cruel. For now though we are doing the best we can. Lets go resolve this singularity." I said and began to move.

One thing the game skips over is the distance between places between La Charite and Orleans was quite a walk. While thanks to the super human physical attributes I got from being a Demi-servant it was possible. It was still quite a walk and took time. During that time we chatted a bit, we saw ruined towns and villages. I even rendered a bit of aid employing my healing skills to helps a few peasants that had survived the slaughter or offer a bit of our supplies to those who had nothing.

By the time we made it to Orleans the sun was setting dying the sky in colors of orange. The city itself was in ruins however standing tall and untouched was the castle. I choose to send Kid Gil back to Chaldea to bring Columbus.

"Well I am surprised you would call upon me. Well I am glad to finally be of use for you."

I motioned for him to bend down and leaned in.

"There should be a treasure here, I want you to collect everything you can. The Rheingold might also be hear so we are going to have Medea check everything for curses and see if she can remove the curse. Anyways I am going to need you to do this alone while we confront the main villain. Do you think you can handle that?" I asked.

He got a big grin "Heh finally it's my time to shine. Yeah plundering is one of the things I do best. You really know hot to cheer a guy up. Just remember I get a cut of this."

"Of course."

We entered the castle and I sent Columbus on his way.

"Umm Senpai do you think it's a good idea to divide our forces especially when we are about to face someone possibly wielding the Holy Grail?" Asked Mash concerned.

"Mash that big dragon the other Jeanne was riding I believe was Fafnir. The dragon of Norse myth. I also believe there is a chance that the Rheinegold, his cursed treasure was summoned with him. It's like one of his Noble Phantasms but I am told not all noble phantasms fade after death and this seems the type not to. So I want to Secure the Rheinegold. I found out through researching the grail wars a bit last night and it turns out the Rheingold was used to create the Grail in Fuyuki. I am hoping to have Medea remove the curse if possible, if not we toss it somewhere that no one can get it."

Mash blinked in surprise "Wow Senpai I did not realize you were so knowledgeable or diligent. However I still believe we should worry about that after we have secured the grail."

I smiled "It will be alright if we need more back up I have a special trick, if we need Columbus he is a command seal away."

She nodded though I could tell she still had her doubts and I noticed EMIYA was eyeing me with some suspicion but we had bigger fish to fry.

I knew where the bastard would be. It was a cliché. Whenever an evil villain takes over a castle the set up shop in the throne room.

The Inside of the castle was no longer as glorious as the outside, parts of it had been defiled or burned. Some statues were broken. Holy symbol or paintings had been ripped or turned upside down. This were disheveled. I would assume it would be hard to bring in servants (well human servants) to clean and keep things tidy.

I was a bit worried by the fact we weren't finding any opposition. No horrible tentacle monsters anywhere in site.

We heard a man sobbing before we reached the Throne room.

"Oh Jeanne, Jeanne my Jeanne look what they have done to you again." The male voice sobbed.

We entered to find the hunched figure of a man with bulging eyes. He wore a blue robe with a strange purple and blue striped color with large cloth arrow shaped things surrounding it. Much more shocking was who he was standing over. Laying there prone was a woman who was very familiar. She looked like Jeanne d' Arc but wore black armor, she gazed up at us with unnaturally golden eyes.

"Giles they are here." she growled weakly trying to get up but apparently lacking the strength.

He spun around and revealed he was holding a golden cup that was obviously the holy grail.

"You, you did this to my Jeanne!" he shouted.

I felt our Jeanne push past me to confront him "Gilles? Is-is that you? What happened to you?" she said almost in horror.

"Jeanne?!? No you are a fake, the real Jeanne is behind me there"

Jeanne looked on at horror at the figure at the figure on the ground "That's-that's not true."

"It's a lie Jeanne." I said softly stepping up. "That is a creation of the grail. A recreation in fact because we destroyed the original. He is buying time right now because he just used the grail to recreate her." I said summoning my sword in a burst of blue white flames.

With that pandemonium broke lose. A book materialized in Giles hand and flung open and suddenly Tentacles everywhere. The fight broke in to chaos.

I have to say this was a hard fight, not because the enemies were particularly strong but they were just endless. The throne room in the castle was huge but Gilles was almost filling it with these tentacled sea monsters, though only about as tall as a man or a bit taller, though not as strong as a heroic spirit, the endless numbers were proving to be quite a problem.

I would love to say that through clever maneuvers and superior force of arms we won the day. In fact it wound up being do to Medea. Giles was a bit distracted to murder us he didn't realize she had appeared by him and stabbed his book with her rule breaker.

Suddenly the flow of monsters stopped and we actually began to make progress. Gilles whirled around and swung a heavy backhanded fist at Medea sending her flying showing that he was strong for a caster.

Maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise that the first to reach Gilles after that was Fergus, He plowed through the horde of monsters with his drill like sword and didn't stop until he had firmly embedded it in Gilles chest. Both Jeanne's cried out his name and he fell to one knee. He should have been dead, normally Fergus would have made a finishing strike or something but the world seemed to freeze for just a moment or maybe an eternity and I remembered a little drawback I had taken...


"No… I will not let you hurt her again!" he coughed.

"She was the best person I ever knew, the kindest, the most gentle and loving. The people betrayed her, turned on her and let her be burned by the enemies. Even God to whom she was so devoted. turned his back on her allowing her life to be taken." He said with tears in his eyes.

I let out a deep sigh a part of me actually would have been able to sympathize with this man before the journey. That part of me from the original world would have seen the injustice and understood the anger and pain… that is, they would have before seeing all the victims. Before seeing all the innocents killed in the name of that pain and anger.

"No." I said simply drawing a look of surprise from Gilles.

"You know before my time here I would have actually agreed with you on some of that. But when I look at you all I see is the corpses of your victims. There was a point where you killed those in power, those that had betrayed you were dead. Had you turned your vengeance on the English I could have at least understood. However. You killed women and children, you committed horrific acts.
If you are looking for sympathy, you are looking in the wrong place." I told him flatly.

Just then time seemed to start up again as Fergus removed the sword and smashed in Gilles' Skull with it. His body dropped limply to the ground faded away in golden light.


Jeanne looked up at me with hate filled eyes her face twisted in anger. "You lie, I am the real Jeanne. I was burned at the stake. I never once betrayed god but he betrayed me."

I sighed "I am not going to call you a fake. When Gilles tried to resurrect Jeanne, he failed. So he decided to create a new one that believed as he did. Your anger and pain are real but don't belong to you. However you exist now, you are like a newborn, that's why you are so weak. Not because you almost died. Another version of you did die."

"So what are you waiting for then Kill me. I am your enemy why should you let me live?" She asked me

I sighed I had some joyless duties to fulfill. "Because you represent a problem. You didn't kill anyone. You haven't done anything."

There was a look of shock on her face then it twisted in a mad laughter. "Oh that's all. Well if you let me live just know I shall burn this country to ashes. I shall kill everyone I can… I will make you very sorry you ever though of showing me mercy because that is who I am." she said with a grin.

"That may be who you are, but it doesn't have to be. I will take your life here but you were summoned once and may be summoned again. It's alright to be angry, even in certain cases it's even okay to seek vengeance. However it is a matter of who, how and why. So I leave you with this, what is it that you truly want?"

She snorted "I have no idea what you are on about if you are going to kill me then do it or don't and I feel my strength starting to return so leave me be and I can show you who I am with my flames."

"Good bye Dark Jeanne" I said before plunging my sword through her chest. Her eyes opened wide in surprise then slowly closed. For a moment she looked truly at peace there laying on the floor. Then she faded away in gold lights.

I sighed looking down somberly at the spot where she had been. Somehow that didn't sit right.

Then I heard some noise from the doorway.

"Hey Master, no need for the long face. I think I found just about everything I could in this place." Said Columbus holding a comically large back over his should and another hugs bag at his side.

"You won't believe the stuff I found here, we hit the mother load."

Mash blinked and looked up "Ummm master that looks like more than just the Rheingold."

"Likely it is but we can't be sure, we have to take all of it for examination."

"Say speaking of Taking all of it. Can we make a few trips. There is still some stuff down stairs."

"Master… why are you stealing the treasures of France?" Demanded the real Jeanne d'Arc with her arms crossed.

I sighed "Okay I can't elaborate now but I need a lot of money to save this world. Even if we manage to defeat the current threat, we aren't out of the woods. So since these items will all be replaced when time heals I am taking them to build a firm base from which to save Chaldea."

Jeanne blinked and then nodded "We are going to have a long talk after this in which you are going to explain everything you are hiding. " Said Jeanne.

"I think we all are going to have some questions." Chimed in Dr. Roman as a flickering hologram. He did not look happy I noticed Da Vinci beside him and she did not look happy.

"It seems we have reached this point a bit earlier than expected but alright. I'll tell all… once I am back at Chaldea. Though I do ask you have some Mountain Dew ready for me. It's going to be a long talk and I am going to need it. Also you might want something a bit stronger for yourself. This isn't going to be an easy discussion." I explained with my hands up in a symbol of surrender. I always hated Awkward conversations. It looked like I had just signed up for one. Then again I guessed it was better to get it out of the way as soon as possible.​

 

[Neko Arc]

Chapter 3 "Mood Whiplash"


When I exited the Coffin I found people already waiting for me, Dr. Roman was waiting looking slightly angered which was an unusual look for his face it didn't seem to suit him well.

Da Vinci waited with her arms crossed looking more disappointed, sort of like your mom after you did something bad.

Jeanne d' Arc was there she looked rather upset and was pacing back and forth. Again anger didn't really suit the saint's kind face. Though she was there by my request.

Mash was there looking a bit confused and a bit disappointed as well.

I cleared my throat "Well, I would like to say that it's nice to see you all again, well those of you that weren't there with me." I began then sighed "I am grateful you are letting me speak first."

"Well it's only natural to give you a chance to explain your actions." Pointed out Da Vinci.

I nodded "Agreed. First lets deal with the matter of the theft of treasure from the palace. We will get that one out of the way first as it is the easiest to address." I began.

"Now as I have been told we are incapable of causing a Paradox. Everything shall return to it's natural state when history heals itself. People who were killed will be returned to life and as I understand it items that are taken will return as well."

Dr. Roman sighed "While that is correct, there is also a little matter of the rules of Chaldea that you agreed to abide by, one of them is that you are not supposed to use this opportunity for self enrichment. You used resources and manpower that might have been necessary to solve the singularity to get your ill gotten gains and put the mission at risk."

"Really? I believe the mission was entirely successful. I used the amount of manpower I thought was necessary, I was correct. Now if you want to take issue and say that I could have waited until after the matter was resolved, we don't know how long the singularity will last and I didn't want to run the chance of the changes that I make sticking when history reasserts itself."

"You still are breaking the rules for Chaldea." Pointed out Roman with growing annoyance. It was strange to see him showing this much of a spine.

"Yes, I do believe you have me there. However this isn't about pure self enrichment but we will get to that in the next part of our talk. Lets say for a minute it was about self enrichment. I am the last master. Things have reached a point where they were really never meant to be. Setting aside the fact you can't really do anything to me besides look at me with an unhappy face and express your disappointment and anger could any of you really begrudge me if I save humanity from winding up with enough cash to buy a tropical island or two to retire to? While I usually believe in following rules and laws it seems that time went out the window when humanity was incinerated." I explained.

Roman just sighed "I don't think you are grasping how serious this situation is…" he began.
I gave them a sad smile. "Alright I think that brings us to the next part of our discussion. I believe this will show I know exactly how serious the situation is. I had intended to do this anyways here but I wanted to clear up the matter of the theft first as it is comparably trivial to what I am about to say. However first would you bring in Medea and have any recording or listening devices turned off."

With that Da Vinci and Dr. Roman looked at each other in concern.

"Look I am not going to pull anything but the information I have is extremely… sensitive. In fact a piece of it involves you Dr. Roman and your true background."

Dr. Roman's eyes grew wide at that "What?"

"I know your secret and I don't want to disclose it. This isn't blackmail or anything like that but I am about to lay all my cards out on the table. Also if I were planning to do something you have Jeanne D'Arc right next to you and if I proved such a person as someone to do something against you she would undoubtedly move to protect you. Even though she is my servant, is that not correct Jeanne?"

Jeanne blinked in surprise then nodded somberly "I did not think you were the sort of master I would have to be concerned about but after the stunt you pulled I'll admit I am not so sure just who you are."

I nodded "Some days I am not so sure myself but here my intentions are honorable."

"Also I did ask for a mountain dew. I mean I am going to be talking a lot. I really like Mt Dew. This has been and awkward conversation and is only likely to be more awkward and the caffeine should help carry me through all of this."

That bit drew looks of surprise "Umm we were not able to locate one yet." admitted Dr. Roman.

My heart plummeted "Well we are still going through supplies, The Soda machine in the commissary was broken so it wasn't filled yet. Ummm we can offer you Coffee or Tea." Said Dr. Roman suddenly apologetic.

"I guess I'll take water. Hot drinks just aren't my thing." I said with a sigh.

A bottle of water was brought to me and Medea was brought in.

"Alright so I asked Medea be brought in because I informed her of all of this already."

I took a deep breath and a began. "I guess I will begin at the beginning for me." I started I explained who I was, who I had been the jumpchain, the offer and all of that. I also mentioned a game… a game very much like the situation we were in now.

I got peppered with lots of questions but I asked that they be left for the end.

I then went on to explain the plot of the game going through each of the singularities, to the reveal and defeat of Goetia and sacrifice of Dr. Roman/Solomon.

When I dropped his secret Dr. Roman's Jaw dropped when I told of his self sacrifice his face grew somber.

"I- I see…" he said simply. Even Da Vinci seemed shocked by the revelation and it was hard to shock a Genius of her caliber.

I then skimmed through the psudeo-singularities explaining that some of the Demon's of Geotia had escaped and caused some trouble. Dr. Roman still looked shell shocked.

Then I went in to the Lost Belts, how Chaldea had been sold to an idiot, how Chaldea had been left undefended, then invaded and a lot of people dying.

Strangely Da Vinci wasn't terribly upset to hear of her impending death at the hands of Rasputin/Kotomine.

I went on to explain the lost belts that I knew of. The plots of the first 5, I admitted I didn't know the exact plot of the 6th​ one because I didn't want to be spoiled and knew even less about the seventh except that we fight the ultimate being of the ORT cluster in and epic battle as it kills and absorbs servants and then finally uses it's dying body to simulate the Chaldea summoning system to summon itself as the grand Foreigner class servant.

Both Da Vinci and Dr. Roman grew pale at some of this.

I also explained that Marisbarry Animusphere had been the mastermind apparently behind something relating to the alien god. I was unclear on the details but apparently the earth had been apparently whited out before the Lost Belts appeared but that was a do in a switch in surfaces between Chaldeas the globe like structure behind them that was a super simulation of the soul of the planet and the earth so it should be possible to restore things after the lost belts some way… unfortunately we got caught up in the bullshit that was Ordeal Call where I would be punished for using too many extra class servants and things from the lost belts and no longer considered part of Pan Human history until I went through some BS spirit quests to learn the true meaning of Christmas or something. I really wasn't sure.

Dr. Roman was just left stunned "Ummm… I… I don't know what to say about all of that." he said rubbing his temples.

"Say Da Vinci could you use something a bit stronger than Coffee while we go over this?" he asked.

"I would love that." admitted Da Vinci. "I must admit it's rare for a genus such as myself to be caught so utterly by surprise."

"Ummm Ritsuka or whatever your name really is… We will talk about all of this later. I need a break." Said Dr. Roman.

It was funny I had brought Medea to confirm that most of this was what I had told her but she just was stuck standing there watching this awkwardness unfold.

"Okay I think I'll head to my room. Umm Medea I'm sorry. I guess they don't need any more verification."

She nodded "Well master it seems you have been through quite a bit. If you were a couple years older I would would offer you a drink but I guess the rules are strange here."

"Umm Senpai?" asked Mash unsure.

"I don't mean to interrupt but was all of this okay? I… I understand why you are doing some of the things you are doing now but was this okay?" she asked concerned.

I sighed deeply "I don't know. On one hand I was just giving them relevant information about the time line, giving them information on the threats we face. In that regard it would have been irresponsible not to. However I'll let you in on a little secret, I am no where as confident as I seem. I am playing pretty much everything by ear and seeing the look on their faces when I broke all this news didn't feel good at all." I added

"Why don't you take Jeanne to the commissary and if you have any questions about what I was just talking about you can come to my room. I'll be resting."

"Umm are you okay?" she asked me her eyes filled with genuine concern.

I sighed "I will be. This just took a lot out of me. Maybe I am realizing I am not even as good as the generic protagonist of the game who's main character trait was being the main character. Things in the story seemed to resolve a lot cleaner. I seem to leave a mess wherever I go."

Mash then leaned forward and hugged me tightly to my surprise "Senpai, that was just a story. They likely had to make it make sense. Real life isn't like that. You are doing a lot better than you think you are and I have faith in you."

I blinked a little sunned and then hugged her back. We then we separated>

"Thanks Mash. I really needed that." I said forcing a probably tired smile. "I guess you are right I shouldn't try and compare myself to some fictional character. I am me and have to find my own way to resolve things." she nodded and gave me a sympathetic smile.

I was turning to walk away then turned back as a thought struck me.

"Say Mash… As I mentioned I am not from here. In about 10 years I am leaving. Would you like to come with me?"

Mash blinked then frowned. "I- I would love too… but… well my body." she began.

In all the chaos I had forgotten.

"Don't worry Mash, Bio engineering happens to be one of my specialties, I can give you at least a normal life span if not much greater."

She looked up with wide eyes then smiled brightly "Oh Senpai… I really was sad for a moment I wouldn't be able to come with you but… yes if it's at all possible yes." I felt a slight shove on my back and stumbled forward in such a way that my lips met Mash's in a kiss.

It was soft, wet and a little awkward it lasted only a moment but we both pulled away she was blushing and my face felt very warm. I heard a smug "you're welcome." from Medea before she walked off.

Someone just earned themselves a few grails. I couldn't help but think to myself.

I made it back to my room before I collapsed on my bed. Maybe I hadn't realized how tired I was because I didn't wake up until Mash came to wake me for breakfast the next day.

I felt someone gently shaking me so I opened my tired eyes to see my Kohai looking down worried "Umm senpai it's kind of late, don't you want breakfast."

"Ughhhh…" was about all I could manage at first my limbs felt like they were made of lead, my eyelids felt incredibly heavy but I knew I had to resist the temptation to just close them and go back to sleep.

"Ughh Morning Mash." I managed and through great force of will sat up.

"Wow you are a deep sleeper I tried to wake you by knocking on the door but you didn't answer and I got concerned."

"Thank you…" I managed trying to shake off the drowsiness. "Umm I'll get up and get ready for breakfast but has there been any word from either Dr. Roman or Da Vinci?"

"Umm well Doctor Roman has been keeping to himself. He is hold up in his room and isn't eating." she said with a note of worry. "Da Vinci has said we should take a few days to rest while we consider our next steps."

I sighed "Fuck, I'll talk to Dr. Roman after breakfast. I guess this was a lot to drop on someone at once." I replied.

"It wasn't your fault." she told me.

"You know what. I know that. I can accept that. However I feel like the job isn't done until they are okay with things. I can't do this on my own. We need to work as a team and I guess I am going to have to fix this before we can continue."

Mash nodded "I understand."

"Anyways I am going to go get presentable, I'll be down in a bit." I told her.

"Umm Senpai…" began Mash.

"Yeah?"

"It's about Nero. She has insisted on making your breakfast. From what I understand she has prepared a feast."

I blinked "Ohh damn, I guess I have kept her waiting haven't I?"

Mash nodded.

I sighed "Alright I'll be down soon. Please thank her for breakfast and express my apologies for keeping her waiting."

She nodded and left.

I went to go get washed up and spotted one very tired and disheveled girl in the mirror. I guess part of being a jumper was having two things true at once. It was both surprising to see the girls face when I looked in the mirror and yet I was used to it as I had seen it all my life. I couldn't help but sigh, This had been a tough few days and things were likely to get a lot tougher. This was going to be a challenge and it was kind of scary when I realized this had been the easy part. Soon I would be up against gods. Beasts of humanity and other things that could threaten the planet. I sighed and splashed some water on my face. After that and doing my morning stuff to get ready I looked to see that the girl in the mirror at least looked presentable. It was funny but I remembered Fergus' advice from the previous day. I was new so the important part was to not get frustrated or angry but to face what I was doing with the right attitude. "One step at a time." I told the girl in the mirror. I would try and deal with today and leave the scary stuff for the future.

I got myself ready and headed down for my next challenge. I entered the commissary to be greeted by a very emphatic tackle glomp by one very happy murder loli "MOMMY!" she said happily as she hugged me, I hugged her back. "Hey Jackie." I said ruffling her hair and she looked up at me hurt "You didn't come see us after you got back." she pouted.

I sighed "Sorry dear, Mommy had a lot on her mind. I am afraid it was the end of a very long day." I apologized.

Jack slipped down and took my hand guiding me over to ta table with Mash. "We have been waiting for you to have breakfast with."

I winced slightly "Sorry... Hey Mash." I greeted her.

"Morning Senpai, are you doing any better?" She asked concerned.

"You know what, I am. I realized I just can't get too focused on the future and I can only deal with what's here and now."

"Praetor!" came a call from across the room. I looked up to see a very animated Nero carrying a large patter filled with vaguely food-like substances towards me.

"Greeting Praetor, I have prepared a feast for you for this morning." she announced and plunked down the heavy platter.

"I am uncertain to your tastes so I prepared a western breakfast for you of Pancakes, Eggs, Sausage, Bacon, and toast each of which with my own special twist upon them." she announced proudly.

I took a piece of bacon and bit in to it, it was rubbery slimy and tasted weird.

I saw Nero eyeing me eagerly for praise.

"Ummm it's truly very... unique. But really there is so much more than I could eat."

"Nonsense you are are my Praetor indulge to your heart's content. There is even more should you wish it."

"Ah well then I am afraid I am not a big eater so please sit and share." I said and she blinked and then nodded. "Well to share a meal with one such as I is a treat if that is my Praetor's wish I shall not deny it." She said and took a piece of toast and bit in to it. She paused and then blinked.

"Nero?" I asked. "Is everything alright?"

"No, this is all wrong." she said taking a bite of Sausage and looked pained. "I don't understand I followed the instructions correctly, The flourishes I added should have only served to improve the recipe." She said then pulled the platter away.

"Something must be wrong, perhaps the ingredients where of poor quality." she mused.

"It's alright it's the thought that counts. We can try again later." I informed her.

"Very well. Let us not speak of this. I shall present to you a feast later that shall bring tears to your eyes." she says getting up.

"Good but uh can I help you clean up. I sort of have something to talk to you about."

Nero crooked her head "Very well if that is what you wish." She said getting up and we headed to the Kitchen.

"Look while I was excited to see Archer, partially because of his cooking that was only part of the reason. I couldn't elaborate then because there were people listening. I sort of have already let the cat out of the bag though so let me elaborate as to why I was excited to see him." that caused her to freeze.

I took a deep breath. "Through means I don't want to go in to at the moment. I actually knew of this hero. I knew his journey, how he became a hero. He was among the first that I came to know the term Heroic Spirit, it was a war he was involved in. He was equal parts tragic and amazing. It's not that I am not grateful to have you as a servant I am very grateful but I am very familiar with this one. I know who he is and what to expect. I even have a good idea of how his powers work. He is a known quantity. I know a bit about you too. You are quite impressive and some of your deeds that you did or will do are amazing but I am less familiar with them. Honestly this whole knowing more than you are supposed to know is turning out to be rather tough. It's harder than you would think. Anyways I appreciate your drive and desire to be the best. I only hope I can live up to your standards for a master."

"Humph well I do appreciate you telling me the truth." she said with some annoyance "Still I do know what it is to know more than you are supposed to. I have memories of some things that have not happened yet on this summons and someone I long to see but does not exist here so I do have some understanding of a situation like yours. Though know I still intend to wow you with my culinary skills."

"I would not have it any other way." I said with a smile.

I finished helping Nero clean up, nabbed some food on my way out. Something light because honestly I had a lot to do and didn't want a lot on my stomach as I wasn't looking forward to much of it.

I asked Mash to look after Jack much to Jack's protest of wanting more time with mommy. Being a parent is… tough I was finding out.

I gathered up my courage after finding the directions from Da Vinci and headed for my destination.

I arrived at a closed door that was not unlike any other door in the facility but what was on the other side had me a bit nervous. Have I mentioned I hated awkward talks because had seemed to be drawn to them a lot recently.

I took a deep breath and knocked.

"I'm not hungry, go away Da Vinci." came a muffled voice from the other side.

I didn't like to intrude on other people but this was important.

I hit the button to open the door thankfully it wasn't locked.

"Da Vinci I told you – Oh it's you…" Said Dr Roman with a notable lack of enthusiasm at the last part.

Dr Roman was sulking on his bed his had was rubbing a ring on the finger of his other hand as he looked to be sulking.

it reminded me a bit of when I first met him just without the awkwardness and drama.

"What do you want?" he asked me.

I sighed "Look I know I am probably not your favorite person right now or even in the top 20 for that matter but I think we need to talk."

He sighed "I don't hate you. I am not angry." he replied.

"Look I am sorry about yesterday, I don't think there was a good way to tell you everything."

He gave me a humorless chuckle at that "It's all my fault you know. I created Goetia. When I died I hoped he would look after humanity for me."

"What Goetia is doing isn't your responsibility. If I remember correctly, you expressed that you didn't have a whole lot of free will when you were Solomon. You did as was required of you."

"And look how well it turned out."

"Yeah well that's more on God than on you and being that he is God I would assume this was all accounted for. The lord works in mysterious ways and all of that."

He just sighed deeply.

"I don't believe it's a mistake that you are here. The one place where you would be safe. The one place where you might be able to make a difference. Look I'll be honest I need your help. We are a team and I need you to guide me through this. Even with all this knowledge there are still going to be things I don't know. Also as confident as I may seem, I am really not very confident at all. Mostly I have been winging it and trying to cheat my way through with future knowledge. I think we are both a bit scared of what is facing us in the future but that's okay. Let's face it together. If we work together maybe things won't be so hard. Maybe they won't be so scary.

It's funny but I am a fan of happy endings where the good guys, win and prosper, the bad guys loose. Everyone is happy. Maybe that's too much to hope for in real life. Maybe that's too much to hope for in a world that seems built on the concept that it's only natural not everyone make it to the ending. Still I want to fight for that happy ending. I don't want you to have to sacrifice yourself to save everyone. In my opinion you did enough of that in your past life."

He gave a bitter sigh and nodded "You know I was just thinking I could do that. I could do exactly what I did in your story and end this."

"You could but it's not necessary yet. So don't. I may be a fool for hoping and fighting for a happy ending in a world like this but I would rather be a fool than give in. I would rather that than give up and accept not everyone can be saved.

It's funny because the stories with the bitter sweet endings always were the ones that stuck with me. However I have finally figured it out. It's because their endings were incomplete, they always leave you wishing for more. Well I am greedy…"

That drew a chuckle from Dr. Roman. "I've noticed."

"Well I wasn't talking about that but yeah. I am going to make an ending where everyone can get what they want, and when the stories done you can just close the book and put it away because the ending is complete and you have gotten all you want out of it."

"It's strange that you are still referring to this in terms of a Story. Do you think any of this is real?"

"Oh it's real. The fact you can ask that is proof enough for me. No one is writing lines for you. The world isn't bugging out because we aren't following a script. I am just using the terminology of a story because it's easier to understand. I want things to end well. I want at the end of 10 years to look back with pride and be able to accept that I got everything I wanted out of these 10 years."

"So do you really plan on retiring to a couple of tropical Island?." He joked

"I don't know, As the owner of Chaldea I might be a bit busy." I replied.

"So feeling any better?" I asked.

"You know I am. Thank you."

"Say there is one more thing I wanted to ask. At the end of these 10 years I am leaving, I am heading to some other dimension, it could be better, it could be worse but it will be different. However you will be able to be who you choose to be. So I am offering you a chance to come with me. To decide your own fate."

He looked down and gave me a sad smile "You know what if it's possible sure. I don't know how this is going to end but if we can make this a happy ending then I would very much like to go with you."

"Alright then, I am going to go and let you get some food. You need your strength and I think Da Vinci is probably getting worried about you. You should probably go tell her you are doing better too." I said before I turned to leave.

"Say… what should I call you? You said that you were really someone else before this."

"Here I am Ritsuka, I have lived that life for 16 years and that's me. My life hasn't been like the one from the story but it's still me."

"Alright Ritsuka, thank you. I'll get back to work soon." he told me.

I nodded and left him.

There was one little matter left to take care of though this one hopefully wouldn't be as hard.

I soon found myself in The summoning chamber. I had messaged Mash so she and Jackie joined me. Jackie was overjoyed at the reunion. I gave her head pats and hugs and then gave her back to Mash. It would be hard to summon with my hands full and she might act as a strange catalyst.

I didn't feel anyone in particular on "rate up" yet. It also turned out we were out of materials to power up servants now so it would take effort to get whoever I summoned to full power.

That aside however I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous and excited.

Mash set down her shield and I used it as a catalyst. The lights rose and didn't change color as they spun. And merged to split in to 3 rings. When the flash cleared there was a young woman. She had green eyes and blond hair with two patches of black hair at the sides of her head that almost looked like floppy dog ears. She had green eyes and a friendly face, she smiled at me as I examined her. She wore a tan vest with green undershirt green shorts with long tan leggings and heavy boots. It was not hard to guess her class as she had a big lance with her that looked also partially like it had a gun mechanism to it and had a belt with big fist sized magical bullets in holsters. Actually I say just because she carried a lance it was easy to determine her class but she very well could have been an Archer… anything goes with that class.

She smiled brightly "Hi you must be my master. I am Gareth, Knight of the round table. Oh my class is lancer I should probably tell you that." she said warmly. She then blinked and gave a strange look to Mash. "Umm sorry I don't think we have met before but still you seem vaguely familiar."

Mash blushed "ummm no I don't think I know… oh wait…" she said and then turned to me. "Senpai didn't you say that Galahad was the spirit inside of me?" I nodded.

That drew a confused look from Gareth.

"I'm sorry I am a Demi-servant, basically a living being that someone summoned a heroic spirit in to." She explained.

"Wait so you are saying Galahad is inside you?"

Mash nodded.

She examined Mash "So can you like hear him or anything?"

Mash shook her head sadly "No… I am afraid I haven't heard from him since he gave me his powers."

"I see. Well I guess that means you are a new knight of the round table. As your senior knight I will make sure watch out for you and help you where I can." she said Extending her hand.

"Umm thank you." said Mash taking her hand "My name is Mash, my class is Shielder."

"Shielder? Huh a knight of the shield. Well I don't think I have run in to one of those before."

Mash, and Gareth moved to the side to chat, Jackie went with them, Mash introduced her and it seemed Gareth was fond of children.

I took a deep breath and focused I felt I had a few more today.

I concentrated and the lights appeared over the shield again… this time though they turned golden. My heart skipped a little this could mean a very powerful servant. When the flash cleared… I was a little unprepared for the visage that met me.

The figure was familiar, very familiar, I still remembered the pain of her sword in my gut before I impaled her with my sword.

She blinked at me a moment and studied me

"I see, so you have summoned me then." she said evenly. "Well no need to ask if you are my master."

"My King is that you?" asked a hesitant voice from the side as Gareth approached her.

"Ah Sir Gareth so you are here too. That is well."

"You look different, I have never seen you in black. You look kind of scary."

The golden eyed black knight nodded. "I am your king but a slightly different Aspect of her." she explained.

"Oh… okay." said Gareth not really understanding.

"Well it is good to have you here. I just got here myself."


I let them catch up as I returned to summoning. I felt I had a couple more to go.

The next one when I began I could tell it was a Craft essence when the flash cleared there was a card hovering. I went over and looked at it. It was Ideal Holy king, displaying some young man from Fate/Extra who was an aristocrat wearing a crown and cape like a king. I didn't know him well. He was the master of Gawain in that. However that didn't matter. What did matter however was this was a very unique craft essence, not only did it increase the health of the wearer but everyone on their side by a decent amount, That would prove useful.

I took it and equipped it on myself. It was a strange feeling. I am guessing that's considered cheating but I never let that stop me in the past and as a Demi-Servant I should qualify.

I felt I had one more in me. I noticed that Mash had been dragged in to the reminiscing between Saber Alter and Gareth, The talks had turned to stories of Galahad and Mash was listening intently. Saber Alter and Gareth agreed he was a very pure-hearted man but very rigid in his beliefs on justice. That seemed to match the fact the bum would abandon Mash after defeating Goetia blaming her and her master for the rise of the Crypters. In the game I had found it annoying they made Mash weaker after that but here… I was glad Galahad would be cut out of the picture and she would no longer was dependent upon him to fight.

Anyways I pushed that out of my mind and went back to summoning. Hoping if not for a rainbow or gold sparks that I would get a useful servant.

The lights arose and didn't change color and the flash revealed a Familiar figure.

For anyone who watched or played Fate/Stay night the figure before me was unmistakable. Even though she wore a tiger one piece costume with the head down, with a striped green and white shirt underneath. She had short red hair and red eyes which was a change indicating the servant she was summoned as. She carried a long stick with a large cat like paw on the end that served as her "Lance."

"Well this is Purrrfect Master. I am glad to meet you. I am Jaguar Man. I have been summoned under the class of Lancer. I am not a Tiger so do not refer to me as one I am a Jaguar."

I couldn't help but smile.

"That is fine Jaguar Man pleased to have you among my servants." I said sticking out my hand and she took it and shook it.

"You must be hungry after being summoned I would imagine so why don't I have Mash take you and her new friends over to the Commissary."

"Ahhh Master truly is amazing. Yes I am hungry and you already knew. I expect great things from you."

"Umm Mash why don't you take everyone to the Commissary for some food and to get to know this place a bit better."

"Oh yes Senpai of course." agreed Mash as she took Jackie, and the rest to the commissary.

In a way I was glad that the summoning for the day was over. I liked Jaguar Man but I could tell she would also be a handful. I kind of felt sorry for EMIYA because I was betting when he saw her he was going to have a heart attack. Heaven help Muramasa if I ever summon him or Kiritsugu for that matter.

I couldn't help but wonder if I summoned Sitonai if I would start to have dreams of disastrous bad ends with them at the end explaining what I did wrong and how I could have done better. Well at least it would be entertaining. Well the last parts at least. Then the thought struck me "Aww damn it now I have go grind materials to level and ascend them." I definitely wanted Saber Alter's fire power. Well nothing worth while comes easy. I knew what I would be doing these next few days.

So what can be said about grinding? Well the simulator had been recently repaired and somehow through magic that I think borders on true magic they actually would drop useful items for powering up servants. I don't know how this was accomplished outside of the game I think it operates on the concept of "It just works."

Anyways I grabbed a team and we beat the crap out of simulated enemies for hours. It was boring and tedious. I took the lead so I could practice my swordsmanship against something hostile. Fergus says I was learning quickly but I had a long ways to go. It had been under a week so I took that as a big complement. Also I think I was picking stuff up from the servant inside of me to help.

After that we hard dinner I grabbed a new team and I returned to grinding. It was After a long session that Mash approached me.

"Umm Senpai…" she began uncertain to what she was going to say.

"Oh hey Mash, sorry I didn't get to spend much time with you. You know how it is, we were desperately low on materials. Those damn evil bones alone are going to drive me crazy it seems like every servant needs them and a lot of them at that." I grumbled.

"Well Senpai while I think it's great that you are working hard. Maybe you are working a little too hard? I mean you spent most of the day just grinding materials. If you remember you are supposed to be resting."

I sighed and chuckled slightly "I know Mash and trust me being a workaholic doesn't suit me. Usually I am the laziest person I know but things are a bit too serious now and everything is falling on me. I would love to relax and hang out with my servants. I have so many interesting people I would like to get to know. However I just summoned a powerful Servant and the cupboard is bare. I want to use them and whoever else I may summon as soon as possible. Look I'll try not to spend ALL of tomorrow grinding."

"Alright Sempai, just know I missed you today, and Jackie really missed you." she said sadly.

My heart dropped in my chest. "Yeah… I need to find a better way to do this. I kind of want to have a life in addition to being the master of Chaldea."

"Well good night Senpai, you look tired. I think you should try and get to rest." She said and hugged me.

I smiled "Thank you Mash, you get some rest too." I told her. Then she looked me in the eyes for a moment. She looked uncertain for just a second then got a look of determination. In the next moment I was surprised to find her soft lips against mine. It was a much deeper kiss than the previous one. I held her tightly for a moment before she broke the kiss off blushing brightly. "Sorry I just… I had been wanting to do that for a while. When you did it yesterday I was surprised. I wanted… I wanted to kiss you properly." she declared with a blush. "Ummm anyways I should be going." she said as she ran off a little embarrassed.

I touched my lips I could still feel her warmth, I could still taste her tongue. I couldn't help but think this was the best day that I had experienced here just because of that kiss. Though it did pose a problem. Just how many grails could I give Medea for the stunt she pulled.

I headed back to my room and flopped down gracelessly upon my bed. I was tired, even though I had super human endurance due to being a Demi-Servant but even that was at it's limit.

With great force of will I got up, did my night stuff and prepared for bed putting on my night clothes. I headed back to my bed and went about making myself comfortable.

I heard a knock at the door "huh, Mash?" I guessed but it opened and to my surprise it was Jackie.

"Mommy we missed you, you were gone all day, can we sleep with you?" she begged. It should be noted Jack has an unlisted noble phantasm. Puppy dog Eyes Rank EX.

I crumbled under such a heavy attack "Yeah okay Jackie you sleep with me." I agreed. I was a little surprised when she climbed up on me and curled up in to a fetal position. She was laying on my tummy. It wasn't the most comfortable for me but to see the adorable little girl so comfortable and happy I didn't have the heart to move her.

I just turned off the lights and drifted off to sleep.

Thankfully there was no strange dreams or anything like that. Sometimes it seemed a rarity for the master in FGO to get a peaceful night sleep uninterrupted by some dream that either told of events they couldn't know or being pulled in to servants dreams or being pulled in to other worlds. Come to think of it I needed to summon Edmond Dantes in this world so he could protect my mind. Then again maybe the First Hassan would serve that purpose for me.

I woke up a bit stiff, I had to wake up little Jackie who looked so peaceful sleeping there on my belly. Her wish as I knew was to return to the womb the last place the spirits that were her components felt safe and warm. I guess this was the closest I could give her to that.

She yawned and rubbed her little eyes and then smiled brightly "Good morning Mommy." she said as she hugged me.

"Good morning dear, did you sleep well?" I asked.

She smiled and nodded emphatically. "It was almost like being back inside you."

I smiled and patted her head. Then there came a knock at the door.

I managed to get up "Give me a second." as got dressed and opened the door.

Somehow I wasn't surprised to find Mash waiting "Good morning Senpai." she said brightly then Jackie gave a loud cry of "Daddy" before she tackle glomped Mash's leg causing her to blush.

"OH I didn't know Jackie was sleeping with you."

"Yeah she asked last night and I couldn't bring myself to refuse her." I said reaching down and ruffling her hair drawing a giggle from Jackie.

"Well I just wanted to make sure you didn't sleep too late. I was hoping to have breakfast"

"OH sure, just let me do by morning stuff. I kind of just woke up. Why don't you take Jackie to the commissary and I will be down in a minute."

"Of course Senpai." she said with a smile. Somehow I kind of got the feeling while she was happy to see Jackie she was looking for a little alone time. I would have to make sure she got some.

I sighed I had so much to do. Being the main character really did mean being busy all the time. I went and got cleaned up and did my morning stuff and headed down to the commissary. I stopped on the way to grab a pad of paper and a pencil. I had a stroke of genius.

When I entered I greeted several of my Servants. I went and got my food and then made my way to Mash and Jackie.

"OH Senpai, what's the paper and pencil for?" asked Mash.

"Ah I had an idea. I had been going about this grinding resources all wrong. I am going to set up teams and times for people to grind. I figure I don't have to be present for all of them and this way we can get a steady supply of supplies to level up new servants." I explained.

"Oh that sounds like a good idea." Mash agreed.

"Yep and I want to get certain teams used to working together. I even found a use for people like Jason as they can play leader when I am not about and help teams work together smoother.

"Umm that's nice, I am glad that you aren't taking all of the responsibility for this on to yourself."

"Hey yeah well in my natural state I am fairly lazy and I long to get back to that a bit. However this particular world is going to require lots of grinding to save so I kind of have to do it."

"It's not wrong to want to have time to yourself for your own pursuits. Speaking of which maybe we can find some time to play some video games together later. I even talked to Medea and she agreed to look after Jackie for us."

I blinked for a moment it took my brain a second to realize why she wanted Jackie to go with Medea. Then I realized something. This was a date. This was as close to a date was we could get at Chaldea.
I felt my cheeks warm "Uh yes, that would be awesome, we can go right after daily summons. Let me just get this to Da Vinci and have her write it up and distribute it."
I looked around and was relieved to spot Kotarou, it looked like he wasn't doing anything in particular as he had just been apparently chatting with Mata Hari who had excused herself.

Seeing he was available I called him over.

"Yes, Master, how can I serve you?" hey asked

"I would like you to take this to Da Vinci and have her write it up and distribute it among the servants. Tell her this is a schedule so that we can get a continuous supply of materials while we are not dealing with a singularity."

He nodded "Of course it shall be done at once." said Kotarou. With that he took the papers and was gone. We finished up breakfast, We headed over to Medea's room to drop off Jackie.

Now to say Jackie wasn't thrilled by this would be a great understatement.

"No we want to go with Mommy and Daddy to have fun." she cried clinging to my leg with a death grip.

"It's alright dear Medea has real magic she can do amazing things like summoning cute animals for you to play with and… " I began but Medea just made a small gesture and I felt Jackie grip slacken as she blinked and turned around.

"Come with me child, I let's give your parents a small break. I have a lot I can show you." She said softly. Jackie nodded and began to walk to her.

"I remember I used to have to do this with my own kids, it was just a minor spell to calm her and make her more suggestible. It helped a lot in getting them to eat their vegetables." she reminisced.

"Do you think that would work on Senpai, she is a fussy eater and hates Vegetables." Asked Mash.
Medea chuckled "I'll teach it to you later it's a simple enough trick you should be able to get it down."

"Uhh I am not sure I am comfortable with that…" I interjected.

"Come along Senpai you have to get your summons in before our da- I mean before we can relax."

So we headed for the Summoning circle for once I was hoping for a quick session.

Ironically there wasn't the big anticipation of rainbow lights or gold light's this time. I had someone eagerly waiting for me.

So I focused. Almost immediately I knew it was a craft essence I was summoning. At the end of the flash the card hovered there. I looked and it was another copy of Ideal Holy King. A few more of these and I could set up a really tanky team for those annoying fights.

I went back and focused again this time the lights came up they didn't change color. When the flash cleared there was a very familiar woman to anyone who had anything to do with anything Fate/Stay night. She was on the tall side and had long violet colored hair. She wore a mask that covered her eyes to cover the powerful Mystic eyes she had and had a marking on her forehead. She was dressed in a short black dress with purple lining and had matching arm and leg coverings.

She seemed to examine me for a moment. "Hmm I have a curious master." she noted. "Well feel free to command me as you wish." she said simply.

"Medusa, It is an honor to have you as my servant. I will try not to make any unreasonable commands of you. I am glad to have you as part of my team." I said offering my hand which she took. She sensed I had more to do so she stepped aside.

I focused again again the lights did not change. This time when the flash cleared standing there was a slight woman in… not much, she wore pieces of white and red samurai armor but they were mostly likely decorative. She was cute boasting a modest slim figure with long dark hair and blue eyes, she had a pair of red markings on her forehead. Despite her mainly lack of clothing except the bare necessity for modesty she wore big puffy sleeve like arm coverings and had a sword at her side.
My heart warmed to see her though, I had grown particularly fond of her in the Babylonia anime. Also she was surprisingly powerful in the game.

"I am Ushiwakamura, class Rider, I shall do my utmost best to serve you Master."

"Well it's an honor to have you as a serving Ushi, I look forward to working with you." I said offering her my hand which she took without hesitation.

"Anyone who you need beheaded, I am the person to call." she told me

I couldn't help but smile at that, Same old Ushi. "Well let me take you all to the Commissary.

I took the girls to the commissary and introduced them to some of the other servants there. Fergus of course insisted on hitting on both of them. They turned him down flat. After being assured they would be shown around Mash and I headed off somewhere…

I say somewhere because I didn't know exactly where we were going it turned out to be Mash's room. It was a lot like mine in that it was rather spartan, There were a few books that she had acquired. There was also a tv and an old NES system which didn't seem to fit what I knew about her.

"Umm it was found in storage here. It must have belonged to someone but no one claimed it. EMIYA actually was the one who knew how to set it up." she told me.

"There were a few games sadly no final fantasy but there is one called Super Mario bros. 3, Castlevenia, Metriod, Megaman, and a few others."

I couldn't help but whistle "Wow someone had a taste for the classics."

"Ummm I… am not great at the games." she blushed "I tried them out but I am still learning."

"Alright well Video games are one of those special things that you don't have to be great at to enjoy." I told her.

She smiled in response "Umm what game would you like to try first?"

"I don't know how about Super Mario Bros. 3" I suggested. She popped it in to the old NES and soon we were playing.

I would love to say I wowed her with my elite gaming skills but I was a little rusty and even beyond that I was probably average at best even back when I played regularly. Still we laughed and joked and had fun. We were sitting on the bed and playing and I happened to notice she scooted closer to me. In fact it wasn't long until she was leaning against me. I couldn't help but marvel at her softness and lovely scent as her body brushed against mine.

"Ummm Senpai….?" She turned to me blushing.

At that moment the games were forgotten. Her eyes were closing as she leaned in, her arms wrapping around me. I couldn't help but surrender to her embrace as our lips met in a soft yet passionate kiss. The feeling of her warmth in my arms and her soft body against mine was near indescribable. We kissed and held each other for an unknowable amount of time. Hands wandered as we made out her body was soft and warm, the taste of her lips was intoxicating. I don't know how long we made out. It was a private moment and neither of us paid much attention to silly things like clocks. I let her take the lead and do as she was comfortable with. By the time we were done we were both panting and I am guessing both blushing. In the end neither of our hands had wandered below the waist but she seemed content with that. "Ummm Senpai… I really like you… Ummm would you be my Girlfriend." she asked a little uncertain. I leaned in and gave her one more soft kiss "Yes Mash, I will be your girlfriend." I told her with a smile.

Her eyes widened and then she kissed me more, this one a more excited and energetic kiss "Thank you Senpai." she practically purred. I hugged her tightly. When I pulled away I don't think I had seen a grin that big on her face.

"Say it's getting to be lunch time we should probably go get lunch, we will take Jackie with us and maybe bring Medea along to tell her the news." I suggested.

"That would be wonderful." Said Mash happily as she took my hand. We headed back out hand and hand to go pick up Jackie and invite Medea out to lunch. We passed a few servants on their own way to go to get food and a surprising number my finely tuned ears caught mumbling of "Finally." "I think they finally did it." "Awww they do make a cute couple."

When we made it to Medea's room we barely knocked on the door before it opened and a little blurr tackle glomped me and Mash.

"Yay, Mommy and Daddy are back." Jackie cheered happily. "We missed you so much."

I reached down and ruffled her hair a bit.

I looked up to see an amused Medea watching from the doorway.

"Thank you for watching her, I hope she was good."

"Oh she was fine, she is an energetic child reminds me a bit of when I had my own." she said a bit wistfully.

"Say would you like to have lunch with us?" I asked

Medea smiled "Certainly you can tell me all the juicy details of your date." I coughed a bit and my cheeks warmed.

"Well I don't think the details are all that juicy." I countered.

"Ohhh, that's a bit disappointing then, Still I'll be happy to hear what there is."


We wound up taken her and Jackie to lunch, we gave her an abbreviated version of what happened.
"That's so cute and so innocent. So you two are girlfriends then I am happy for you both. I am glad those gentle nudges I had been giving Mash finally paid off." she said with a satisfied grin.

I looked over at Mash curious but she just blushed sheepishly.

I couldn't help but chuckle "Well I guess I owe you some thanks then." I admitted.

"Well you kids are sweet but you both needed a bit of help getting together."

"Oh by the way I wanted to give you this." she said and pulled out a golden 4 leaf clover shaped charm on a thing gold necklace.

"I hope you will excuse the appearance I wound up working with Cu Chulainn who suggested the shape for it. It was a piece of the Rheingold that we recovered. Not only was I able to dispel the curse I found it was very useful for crafting. This mystic code should provide a permanent substaintial increase in all matters of chance."

I blinked and took it in my hands and examined it "Ummm are you sure it's safe?" I asked knowing how the legend of the Rheingold went.

"Absolutely." She assured me.

"Well wow. Umm thank you. I truly appreciate this." I said slipping it on.

"It won't pack as much of a punch as some shorter length charms which I will still make but it should give you a significant boost." She explained.

"Say… Medea. I know it's a bit personal but, I kind of have to ask after all you have done for me. What is your wish for the grail?"

Medea sighed and gave me a slightly sad smile. "You know I think now it would be just to have someone like you two have each other. Someone who wouldn't betray me, someone that I could share my life with. Someone that wouldn't judge me because of my past. Truly I envy the two of you. I'll be honest I would have taken either or both of you in a heart beat. You both have that innocence that seems to come with youth but get lost along the way."

I nodded "I don't need a grail for that. You are quite stunning, You are amazingly skilled and I could probably waste the better part of a day going over just how wonderful you are." I said drawing a slight blush from her.

I expected an elbow in the ribs from Mash but she added in "Senpai is right you are amazing. You don't need the grail to find someone I am sure you have the pick of anyone you want."

Medea gave a soft chuckle "You two are really too sweet. I am afraid though most people can't look past one's past even if it wasn't all their fault. Still you should be careful about offering such kind words to a witch like myself. I just may decide to steal you both away for myself after all." She said with a playful grin.

"No Mommy and Daddy belong to us and you can't take them away!" Complained Jackie who suddenly looked quite upset.

"Calm down dear I was only joking. I wouldn't dream of separating you from your parents." She said reaching down a ruffling her hair. Jackie pouted.

I couldn't help but smile at the cute girl pouting. I was also relieved that for a second I wondered if she was going to go for her knives to protect us. I also realized something that hadn't occurred to me before. I hadn't heard her mention the word Dismember. In the game she had a disturbing habit of asking that as in do you want me to Dismember someone. I wondered if being treated as a child and given some love and affection was actually altering her. As far as I knew heroic spirits didn't grow or change like that but maybe child heroic spirits are different.

We finished lunch, Medea had some work she she had to excuse herself. Mash, Jackie and I went to go visit Da Vinci to see what she thought of my idea.

We found her in her workshop

"Well I must say I have been looking over your proposal. It's rather industrious. Having Servants farm in shifts to gain materials. Using Squad leaders to make up for a lack of direct supervision. I think we should try it on easier difficulties first to work out any kinks but I think it's very doable.

I smiled "Good I am glad to hear that. By the way can you explain how killing simulated enemies over and over generates new resources?" I just don't get it.

"That is a very good question and I would answer it if I could but I have been ordered not to. Unless you want to use a command seal I can't break that." she replied.

"No it's fine it's just something I wondered. Anyways more importantly, how is Dr. Roman doing."

"Romani is recovering. He is eating I think he will be ready to resume his duties by the time we tackle the next singularity which should be in a day or two. However it was quite a shock to learn everything that you told him. I must admit even A great genius like myself was caught by surprise by all of that. It's very rare and not something I enjoy." she added.

"Heh yeah I am sorry but I don't know how I could have managed it in a nice way. Say… not that I am unhappy that you seem to be handling it well but usually if someone were told of their possible impending death… they would be disturbed. You weren't"

Da Vinci sighed "Really you have to ask? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised the way you treat some of us but we are heroic spirits. We are tools to be used by our masters. We may have emotions, goals and dreams but our existence is a temporary one." she said then looked down at Jackie. "I would say you shouldn't get too attached but I can see it's far too late for that. I will say however that your survival is of the greatest priority. If it ever comes down to it you need to be ready to make sacrifices to save your own life. Knowing what you do about what apparently lies ahead you should understand how important you are."

I nodded. "I understand." I muttered. I got what she was trying to say and it was the worst part of the job. Sometimes sacrifices had to be made. I was fighting to prevent that. However I couldn't deny the possibility existed that even with all my efforts it would still happen.

Maybe reading my face Da Vince sighed and gave a soft smile. "Well it's nothing to worry about right now. We will cross that bridge if we come to it." she told me.

I nodded.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the night?" Asked Da Vinci.

"Well I don't know we have just been relaxing. I thought maybe we would get some more grinding materials in before dinner…"

Da Vinci frowned slightly "You know you are supposed to be relaxing. It's an important part of facing what we are apparently going to face that we rest when we can. I hate to do this but as the highest ranking active person here I am going to have to ban you from the simulator until after the next singularity."

I was a bit dumbfounded.

"Look go rest, relax have fun. That's an order. The road ahead is long and hard so take it easy while you can. I'll see about starting your little project of putting the servants to work on simulator.

I couldn't help but chuckle "You know what alright. I'll go have some fun." I told her.

"Hey Mash have you ever seen the Movie Grounhog Day?" I asked

She blinked "I had heard of the Groundhog day festival but I didn't know they had made a movie about it."

I chuckled "Well the movie does involve the festival but it's not about it. It's a surprisingly deep movie. It Star's Bill Murray. You know the guy from Ghost Busters?" I asked.

She looked at me "What's Ghost Busters?"

I blinked for a moment and then looked at her in horror "You poor child, You poor deprived child. Well we will start with Ghostbusters then. We have to correct you not seeing that."

"Is this something like those Star Wars movies I have heard about. I remember someone saying you should see that at least once in your life." she asked me.

"Ehhh I am not the biggest Star Wars fan. Ghostbusters was better but I bet a lot of people would fight me over that opinion."

Chaldea had a huge and I do mean huge media library thankfully. It was very easy to arrange the playing of the ghost busters movies. I warned them ahead of time 2 was… okay but only just. We also secured a nice big bowl of buttery popcorn from the commissary and so we sat were set to enjoy watching the movie.

As the movie started I felt Jackie lean against me. At first I thought nothing of it but as the movie continued she started to shake.

I looked down to see tears in her eyes "What's wrong dear?" I asked her and she looked up with those big eyes "Mommy we don't want to be busted." It took my brain a minute to make the connection. Jack the Ripper was made up of wraiths. It was very likely that originally she had ran afoul a local magus that ended her unintentional murder spree and existence.

I sighed softly and hugged her "It's okay little one. No one is going to hurt you while I am around. Would you like us to stop the movie?" I asked gently.

"No one is going to hurt us?" she asked unsure.

"Not if I have anything to say about it."

She nodded and leaned against me "We are okay then. It's fine." she said seeming to relax. So the movie continued, it wasn't long until Mash and I were laughing and enjoying the comedy classic. Jackie just clung to me between taking handfuls of popcorn which she discovered she really liked.

After the movie I decided to change things up and since Mash had mentioned not seeing it We watched the first Star Wars movie. Now that one Jackie was in to. Mash seemed to like it too. As for me. It wasn't bad but it wasn't as good as a lot of people made it out to be. However Jackie really wanted a light saber after that.

Maybe certain things were so revered because they were for the young and reminded them of a simpler time.

After that and a quick dinner I had to ask Mash something.

"Hey Mash would you mind coming to my room for a bit?"

"Oh of course I wouldn't mind Senppai." she said with a bright smile.

"I promised I was going to fix your body so you would have a more reasonable life span. I think I'll do that tonight. It shouldn't take more than a few hours." I explained.

"Wow, you really think you can do that in a few hours. Dr. Roman was stumped how to help me?"

"My families specialty is manipulating the body and to a certain extent the soul. It's sort of carrying on the family business."

Mash blinked "Huh that's the first time you mentioned your family Senpai."

"Huh really? I guess it is, You know I guess there is not much to say. For a Magus family, my family was actually kind of normal. We aren't exactly highly regarded for our magecraft but we are always in high demand. Our Magecraft is one of of few that can actually repair damaged Magic Circuits. After a certain Magus Killer became a thing it's become more popular in recent years to use magic to attack rival's magic circuits so we have been busy. The reason I am here in fact is that Chaldea offered us a ton of money to have one of us on staff. I was just at about the right age to go out on my own and practice my craft so things just fell in to place.

"Wow, Well I am very happy things worked out like that" Said Mash with a big smile.

I nodded. In a way I too was happy in another it hadn't really hit that everyone was gone "Yes I am glad to be here too." I said choosing to leave it at that.

Mash nodded and Jackie looked up and smiled brightly "I am glad Mommy is here too."

I reached down and ruffled Jackie's hair drawing a giggle.

"Umm Jackie, I am going to need a favor from you. You see I am going to be doing delicate work. I am going to put on the empire strikes back for you to watch. I want you to be a good girl and just enjoy while we do this. Can you sit and watch a movie for a couple hours?"

Jackie pouted a bit "Awww we wanted more fun with Mommy and Daddy."

"And you will get to just need a couple hours. We will spend time together later. All you have to do is sit and watch a movie."

"Awww alright." she agreed.

I kissed her on the top of the head "Thank you."

So I turned on the movie and left Jackie to her own devices. It was strange because she was a Heroic Spirit but also a child. On one hand she should be able to handle herself on the other… she was a child.

I took Mash to my room and again it was rather spartan. I didn't have much of personal effects in this world.

"Alright Mash if you would take off your clothes and get on the bed."

"S-Senpai?"

I sighed "Ummm Mash. This isn't about anything sexual. I need flesh to flesh contact to work."

She blushed and nodded and began to remove her clothing.

"It will probably take a few treatments but this will be the lion's share of it. The rest will just be fine tuning and making sure everything takes as it is supposed to."

She nodded.

A part of me had to acknowledge Mash had a nice body, she was beautiful with pale skin her deep blush, her cute face and her soft curves. Inwardly I sighed I allowed myself that moment of humanity before I went to work.

"I am going to numb your pain receptors in your body. This normally would not be very comfortable. You are going to feel very numb that is normal. I need to to just relax and keep calm." I told her as I placed my hands on the back of her neck. I closed my eyes and sensed to flow of electrical pulses and chemicals flowing through her. With a small spell her body went limp."

I could see a brief flash of concern.

"It's fine. It's just the firs step. Now to begin the real work…"

I'll be honest, I probably took more time than was necessary but as this was my precious girlfriend I would not accept even the possibility of a mistake or oversight. I double and triple checked my work.

Observing her body on such a level, Mash was a true marvel. Built to contain beings far beyond human capacity and it showed. I was relieved in that I believe that I had done the majority of the work I had meant to. Altering a body on such a fundamental level was delicate work. Someone less skilled could easily do untold damage in causing cancers and disease. However now if everything took I could be sure Mash would live a good long time. With more work I could extend it even further.

I myself was spent, I had used a great deal of energy on such delicate work. I was also rather upset though I couldn't show that to Mash. It really hit home that she was meant to be disposable. She was a container to be used and thrown away when she turned 18. It hit to close to home in this life. I couldn't even take solace in the man behind it being dead as I suspected Marisburry Animusphere was still quite alive and if not the true final boss working for them.

"Alright Mash your feeling should be returning, how are you feeling?" I asked.

"Still rather numb Senpai, are you alright?" she asked concerned.

"Just tired. There was a lot of work to do." I said before letting out a sigh. "I- no I am not going to go in to it. I'll just say if everything works as planned you should live a very long time."

I don't think I had seen Mash smile that brightly. She actually tried to move and flopped around a bit "Ohh sorry I forgot. Just when you said that I really wanted to hug you. I – I had accepted that I wouldn't live very long and I thought I was okay with it because I didn't have a choice but now I realize I am so relieved. Thank you Senpai."

I reached down and hugged Mash. "You are most welcome." I told her before giving her a soft kiss which she happily returned.

It was a bit before Mash was able to effectively move on her own without me holding her up.

"So… I will live a regular life span?" asked Mash still in disbelief.

"Well as a companion of a Jumper things like age get muddled. However, where we to stay here you would live long enough to see your grandchildren graduate from college and maybe their children as well.

She blinked in surprise then blushed "Umm Senpai, we are both girls won't it be hard to have children?"

"Nah we have magic. We have all sorts of options there, I mean if you want them of course."

She blushed and smiled "A child with Senpai… that sounds wonderful. Maybe after we save the world we can settle down and give Jackie a few siblings." she said softly as she leaned against me.

"Speaking of Jackie that movie should have ended by now we better go get her."

We went to find her and found her where we left her looking up at a black screen with tears in her eyes.

"Hey little one what's wrong?" I asked.

"Everything, everything went bad, Luke got his hand cut off, Han got Frozen, Vader is Luke's Father and it just ended right in the middle of everything going bad." she complained.

I smiled and patted her head "It's alright. That's act 2 of a 3 part story." I explained kneeling down to face her.

"In stories like this, there is always a dark point that challenges the heroes. A point where it looks like everything is hopeless and they are going to lose. That is important because it teaches us something. Even when all hope seems lost and things seem at their darkest we must continue to fight and work towards the best ending possible. Luke may have lost his hand and been disturbed to find out he had been lied to about his Father but he wasn't giving up was he?"

"No…" she admitted.

"Well there is an entire movie after this one for them to fight and turn things around. It may seem dark now but things can still get better."

That drew a smile from Jackie. "We still want a light saber." she reminded us. "We will see what we can do."

I had a thought of maybe asking Medea to make something but I realized she would make something a little too real. Child or not she was still a heroic spirit based on a Murderer who didn't really understand hurting people was actually hurting them. I didn't want to see what she could do with a light saber. We needed a toy, maybe if we rayshifted somewhere somewhat modern I could pick one up at a store.

I pushed the thought aside for now it was getting late. Something I was kind of grateful for since the work I had done on Mash had left me rather tired.

I walked Mash to her room. She shared a soft kiss, she gave a cute blush and wished me good night.

I then asked Jackie "Should I bother taking you to your room or are you just going to end up with me again?"

"We want to sleep with Mommy." she told me happily. I nodded and ruffled her hair. "Alright kiddo lets go to bed."

I went and got to my room and did my nightly stuff as Jackie waited eagerly and then slipped in to bed. She climbed on top of me and took her position. Atop my belly. It wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but I was tired. I quickly slipped in to a deep sleep.​

 

[Neko Arc]

Chapter 4 "When in Rome"

I was awakened by a soft knock at my door. The first thing I noticed was the squirming on my middle as little Jackie was uncurling herself and Yawning.

"Morning Mommy." she told me with a bright smile.

"Morning Dear." I responded then called to whoever was knocking at the door. "Just a moment."

With Uncanny grace Jackie slipped off of me and stretched out.

Now freed I attempted to get up but my body groaned in protest. Sleeping at such an odd angle had left my body rather stiff. Slipping out of bed was much less graceful and I heard several joints pop as I stretched and yawned.

I went to the door and opened it.

I wasn't surprised to see a fully dressed Mash who seemed surprised to see me still in bed clothes.

"Oh Senpai you're not dressed yet."

I also felt something jumping up on my leg and heard a "Fou! Fou!" I reached down and picked up Fou placing him on my shoulders and scratching him under the chin.

"Yeah I am not an early riser." I stated bluntly. "What's up exactly?"

Mash gave me a slight frown "Well they wanted to talk to you in the command room. It seems they have decided it's finally time to tackle the second singularity." she explained.

I blinked and then tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "Alright I'll be down in a couple of minutes. Would you mind taking Fou and Jackie with you so I can get ready?" I asked.

Mash blinked and peaked behind me "Oh Senpai I didn't realize she was sleeping with you again."

"Yeah I am guessing this is going to be a thing from now on. It's alright, it makes her happy and goodness knows she needs it."

Mash nodded in agreement and smiled "Sure I'll be happy to take them for you." she said.

Fou made a cry and leapt off my shoulder tackling Mash's face then climbing down around to her shoulder as usual. I was grateful he had listened to my demand that he just climb up on my leg when he wanted up. I didn't want a furry animal flying at my face all the time.

Jackie complained a bit but Mash took the two of them for me.

That left me alone to go do my morning stuff. I was already considering who my six man team should be for the trip. Mash was essential so her spot was already taken.

Ironically it wasn't so much about who I was taking but rather who was being left behind. Nero was not going to be happy we were going to her backyard without her. That was a discussion I was not relishing.

I saw the still disheveled red headed girl in the mirror. Strangely I found myself wondering if maybe it was time to make some improvements on the body. I was rather vain and while female Ritsuka was cute… She wasn't a beauty, maybe aged a few years, with a few more curves and some longer hair she would look more my style. I was going to be in this body for a while I should probably adjust it to my tastes. Still that was a matter for later. I got washed up and presentable and then headed to the command room.

I was glad when I walked in there to see Dr. Roman. I hadn't seen him much in a few days he still looked a bit tired. Beside him was Da Vinci they were going over some last minute plans.

Mash was also already there with Jackie waiting for me as well

Jackie seeing me gave an excited cry of "Mommy" and ran over and glomped me. She certainly had boundless enthusiasm considering it was just a few minutes ago I had sent her off with Mash.

I ruffled her hair eliciting a giggle. "Hey little one I hope you behaved while Mommy was getting ready." I told her.

"We were real good we stayed with Daddy and didn't make even a peep." she happily told me.

"Good."

It was Da Vinci who cleared her throat drawing my attention to her. I caught a look of concern and maybe a hint of disapproval at the situation.

"Thank you for showing up." she said walking over and handing me a tablet. I blinked.

"You asked last time that we have something prepared to give you relevant information on your destination. I took the liberty of compiling historical records, images of the major players of the times, as well as maps and any other information I thought relevant. I downloaded it to that tablet so you can look through it at your leisure."

I nodded "I see so today we are tackling the second singularity then."

"Um that's correct." said Dr. Roman. "We were discussing it and we decided to continue with the original plan for now. You will be traveling to 1st​ century Europe. Specifically you will be heading to the heart of the Roman empire. If what you said is correct you should encounter the current Emperor at the time Nero Claudius.

In addition to the previous instructions that we gave you, to look for the Holy Grail and to solve the irregularity in the Singularity, we are adding another request of you. We would like you to keep an eye out and document anything different from what you remember of your game and what you encounter in the singularity. We wish to see exactly how accurate your game was and to see if there were any changes by your actions in the previous singularity."

"That sounds very reasonable." I replied.

"As for the mission it would be best to start by finding a layline and setting up a summoning circle so we can send you allies and supplies." he added.

I nodded.

"Well I am afraid there is not much for me to say to you here. That tablet I gave you should have the relevant information that you need. We have prepared Coffins for you to travel..."

"Wait… Mommy you are going away again?" asked Jackie who seemed very distressed.

"I am afraid so little one. Just for a bit. I'll be back as soon as I can." I told her.

Jackie gave me an absolutely heart breaking look "Please take me with you then. I'll be good"

I sighed "I wish I could but I don't think I can risk putting you in danger like that." I told her.

"But Mommy we are strong, we can protect you." she pleaded.

"I know you are strong but it is the weakness of my own heart. I'll try and sneak you in when things are calm." I told her.

"Awww alright." pouted Jackie.

I gave her a warm hug "Everything going to be okay little one." I told her drawing a warm smile. I was forgiven for now.

Soon I was dressed in my outfit that served as a mystic code. As I had my own magic it didn't serve much purpose for me. I was loaded in to the coffin, a cheery name for the tube that rose from the floor.
It was a good thing I wasn't claustrophobic. As I got comfortable and ready for the trip I heard a "Fou, Fou" looking down to see Fou looking up at me eagerly.

"Ah you are tagging along too then. Well alright I don't mind the company." I told him to which he gave an ecstatic "Fou!"

"Alright you ready for Spiritron conversion?" came Dr. Roman's voice.

"Yep all ready in here." I told him. Mash also replied in the affirmative.

With that we were off.

It is quite jarring one moment being in the tube of the Coffin and the next to suddenly find yourself in an alien area. The area was at the base of a hill. It was lush and green. It was rather striking that as far as the eye could see there were very little signs of civilization

"Wow Senpai It's so beautiful." said Mash smiling brightly as she looked around at the area. I had almost forgot she had spent her life confined to the interior of Chaldea unable to see such wonders.

"Yes it is very beautiful."

"Fou, Fou!" Fou agreed.

"Oh he tagged along too. I guess he prefers to be outside rather than just staying at Chaldea. It's certainly a sentiment I can understand." Stated Mash.

"Yes." I said with a grin. "You know I was a bit of a shut in before all of this but after we are done with the saving the world thing. Lets actually go and enjoy it. Travel places and see the world we saved."

There was a warmth to Mash's smile that practically radiated as she contemplated "Traveling the world with Senpai." she mused before looking up and then her smile faded. "Well it seems the ring of light is here too." She noted.

"Yes I am afraid that will be a constant through our journeys." I replied.

"Yes I am not surprised to hear that it's there too." I heard Dr. Roman State. Looking down I saw his flickering holographic Image.

"I see that you didn't quite make it to Rome."

"Nope, all I can see are some hills."

"Hmm I see, Well you should be close, I would suggest looking for signs of civilization."

I nodded and then I heard something, the clink of metal on metal, the sounds of cries of pain and wrath. For a moment I was surprised. "Wait I think where we are supposed to go come on." I told Mash.

Quickly I rushed over the hill to find a battle of two roman armies. From the hill I could see Rome, even at this distance it's beauty and splendor was striking.

One army was substantially larger than the other and it was the one trying to push towards Rome. While the smaller army was being led by a familiar small woman in red who was all but single-handedly holding the larger army back.

"Oh okay there is Nero."

"Oh Nero was summoned to this singularity as a rouge servant?" asked Mash.

"Negative. Believe it or not that Nero down there is a living human and likely the genuine article." stated Roman.

"Alright let's go down and help her." I said before I rushed down the hill.

I noted a slight hesitation with Mash. I felt bad because I understood why.

It was awe inspiring to see the soldiers attacking Nero to no avail. Archers were shooting at her, Spear men were trying to impale her as were swordsmen in a desperate gamble to try and take away the one advantage the other army had and break the stalemate.

We hit the opposing army from the side hard. I used Projection to create a sword and started to smash my way through, Mash with her heavy shield literally sent men flying. We fell upon the battle field like the wrath of an angry god. Though we took care not to kill anyone the other side soon fell back and turned to flee now having 3 impossible figures to contend with when they were unable to defeat just one.

As the larger army turned to flee the smaller one burst out in to cheers and the small woman in red who was apparently this times Nero approached us.

"That is enough you may sheath your weapons, the fighting is over." She called to her troops before turning to us.

mce-anchor "Greetings strangers, I know not who you are, your clothes would seem to mark you as foreigners. Truly this must be a blessing by the gods. You were most impressive, you with that shield that is larger than yourself and you… well your swordsmanship wasn't the best but you seemed to get the job done regardless. I honor you both and welcome and that you for your assistance. I am Nero Claudius the 5th Emperor of Rome. You have earned my gratitude."


"Well, technically yeah you could say that. Firs let me say it's a pleasure to meet you Emperor. I am afraid our tale is a little complicated but I believe I can summarize it easily enough. Understand I know how crazy what I am about to say will sound. However it is still the truth. We are from far in the future. Something in this time has gone very wrong. Now to save all of history we have to correct whatever it is that went wrong."

Nero blinked and crooked her head "You know it's strange. My first instinct is to ask if this is some ill timed joke but you are being completely honest aren't you?" she replied.

"Yeah it would have been easier to go along with things and just say we were reinforcements. However I believe there is information that you need that reinforcements wouldn't have." I explained causing Nero nod in agreement.

"Very well I shall hear your information. We shall talk as we march back to the capital. I must insist that you accompany me there. As an Emperor for whatever reason you have aided me greatly thus you are entitled to a reward. It would not do for me honor your aid. Also I believe we will have much to discuss if you are indeed from the future."

"Thank you. I do think we have a lot to discuss. We know how history should have been. We don't know how things have changed."

"Umu, I believe I might have some idea as to what has changed."

Perhaps she was about to say more but then a call went out. Enemy reinforcements had arrived.

"Well It seems our talk shall have to wait, would you by chance be willing to offer more assistance? My troops are rather worn from the previous battle."

"It would be an honor to fight by your side." I told Nero drawing a smile from her.

"Um yes Senpai and I shall render aid." Said Mash agreed though much less sure.

Soon we were once again thrust in to battle. I managed to snag a Gladius from the battle field. The short sword was foreign to my developing style of fighting, However do to my great strength and speed I was able to move through the battlefield like a canon ball. Soon enemy soldiers were actively fleeing from me and my clumsy swordsmanship.

It was then Roman Chimed in "Be careful I am detecting a servant heading your way from behind those soldiers." he cautioned.

Then we heard a loud almost inhuman bestial cry of "Rome… is my Destiny!"

I figure of a man plowed through the enemy soldiers them giving him wide birth. He had short spiky black hair, his eyes were strange the whites of his eyes were black and his irises were red. He was well muscled and wore gold and black armor accentuated with a Red cape that flowed behind him.

"You… Must Die" he managed, it seemed he was having difficulty talking. He was clearly having trouble.

I was not surprised to find Mash by my side her shield up ready to intercept but I was slightly surprised to see Nero. She looked… Shaken.

"Uncle… is that you?!?"

That caused the insane man to pause.

"NERO… My Niece… Beautiful Nero…… No…. My Destiny…. Rome." he said conflicted.

"Uncle Caligula, what's wrong? How are you hear you are supposed to be dead. What has happened to you?"

Just then Caligula made a motion like he was going to charge and Nero but then stopped and held his head.

"Nero…. No I can't." he shouted as if in pain but then turned and ran off.

Nero looked like she wanted to chase after for a moment then took a deep breath and turned looking me straight in the eyes. "What is going on? Tell me everything and leave nothing out."

I winced under the intensity of her gaze.

"Your Uncle has been summoned as a heroic spirit. A type of familiar that it like a copy of someone of great fame or renown. Someone who carved their name in history. To summon such beings they are summoned under a class. There are classes like sabers, archers, and others but the one your Uncle was summoned under was Berserker. It trades part of their reason away for strength. It's usually a class for those who have known madness in their life time."

Nero nodded grimly.

"So someone has summoned the tormented spirit of my Uncle and is using him as a weapon against Rome." She said almost shaking.

"Yes."

"Do you have any idea who would be behind it?"

"Possibly there was a mage Lev Lainur. He betrayed pan human history. He seems to have access to dangerous items called Holy Grails. They are objects of immense magical strength. In the wrong hands they could lead to the destruction of an Era. Part of our job here is to claim the grail or destroy it so it can't be used for such a purpose.

Nero shuddered "Umu it reminds me of a dream I had of such an object. I have no objections to you removing that thing from this era. Anyways I shall not forgive whoever turned my Uncle in to That." She said honestly disturbed.

Then she thought "I do not know his name but the force we are facing is said to have a powerful court mage serving them. Come we will discuss this more at my Palace." she insisted.

I nodded.

We had a bit of a walk ahead of us. However soon Rome came in to view. Rome … It is tough to properly describe Rome. It was huge and full of life. We had Rayshifted before but this may have been the first time that it hit home we were in the past. The grandeur of Rome was breathtaking. It was beautiful and vibrant.

I suppose that my emotions were showing on my face as Nero smiled proudly "Welcome to Rome the beating heart of the civilized world. She is truly a beauty and it's always wonderful to see a foreigner's reaction upon first seeing it."

We traveled through a bustling market place past crowded streets to a palace that was every bit decadent and beautiful as one would expect. We were greeted as returning heroes and quickly led through beautifully decorated halls. The soldiers went to their quarters and we were asked to follow along.

We went through quite a few rooms and past the throne room. which was impressive, The room we wound up in was a smaller room dominated by a large table with a map that displayed the area the empire controlled and the surrounding areas. We saw various markers in spots.

"It looks like my generals are out at the moment but just as well. I can do this just as well on my own. This is a map of my glorious empire. The golden markers indicate where our troops are stationed and the red markers indicate where the enemy troops are reportedly.

As you can see unfortunately they have taken about half of the empire from me. This is unacceptable. It is something that will not stand." she said with clenched fists.

"They call themselves the United Roman Empire. Reportedly they are run by multiple Emperors. Something I thought preposterous until I saw what became of my Uncle." she said still visibly disturbed.

"Our reports tell us that this time was supposed to be a time of peace for the empire that there were no great wars happening near Rome."

"Umu, then it's as I expected. The United Roman Empire should not exist and are tied to that horrible grail thing from my dreams. Anyways it pains me to admit that they are a force that I cannot defeat on my own. I believe I need your help to defeat them. I will not ask you to do this for free. I will shower you with gold and jewels to fight by my side and defeat this fake empire as well as punish the person responsible for this madness."

"Of course we will be happy to help. Do you mind if we find a leyline near here so we can summons some more assistance and supplies?" I asked.

She smiled "If they are anything like you I would gladly take the help. I would have my court mage lead you to the nearest one but he was already killed by the enemy. Very well I will allow you to allow you to summon what you need. In better times I would throw you a feast and offer you hospitality befitting those who are guests of the Emperor. However I am afraid I must ask you to go to the front lines as soon as possible. We need to start pushing back on the enemy as soon as possible."

"Understood, do not feel bad, we will save the feast for the celebration of our victory." I told Nero, Drawing a smile from the Empress.

"Umu, I shall throw a grand feast for our victory." She agreed.

Then there came a call "Emperor the enemy is attacking the east gate!" from one of the soldiers.

"To think they would get close enough to assault the very heart of Rome. This is inexcusable. Come Ritsuka, Mash. Let us crush the invaders at once!?" Declared Nero

So we were sent out with the army beside Nero to face the enemy head on. It was disheartening to see the citizens so full of life and vigor earlier running and hiding now.

We met the enemy at the gates. There were many but they were mortal men. Soon they were pushed back and forced to flee as the 3 of us backed by the army or Rome pushed them back.

Umu as I like to call her was a force to be reckoned with on her own. Though not much for a heroic spirit, she was many times greater than a human could be and I had not trouble seeing how she had held off an army mostly on her own. With Mash and Myself added to the mix it was no where near a fair fight. The only thing limiting our side was Mash and I were setting out not to hurt anyone. Nero was cleaving through men right and left.

Eventually the enemy army broke and ran when they saw the amount of casualties they were taking. I felt kind of bad honestly. I wasn't any fan of battle or bloodshed. They had come to look at us as death and chose to flee to maintain their own lives. I sighed as I surveyed what remained on the battlefield.

"A glorious victory, Wonderfully done." said an upbeat Nero who seemed only invigorated by the battle.

"I must say your swordsmanship seems to be improving but you have to lose that hesitation to go for the kill. That more than anything will get you killed in battle." She added.

I could only nod. She wasn't wrong but this was like fighting toddlers. They had literally no chance to win and likely were just normal people caught up in whatever new political craze. I couldn't bring myself to use my real strength against them.

"Umm Say do you mind if we hunt around for a leyline around here?"

Nero blinked "But of course, do whatever you need for your magic. I believe you have earned a bit of a rest anyways."

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

"Hey Dr. Roman are you there?" I called activating our communication.

"Oh, hey I was wondering when you would check in, is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes could you locate the nearest leyline around here."

"Yes should be easy enough. Alright I believe there is a big enough leyline at these coordinates." he replied map and a handy glowing dot appeared in place of his flickering hologram.

mce-anchor The biggest layline as it turned out was near the palace itself. In the shadow of the grandeur of such a place it seemed odd. Then again maybe it wasn't. Magic was a thing in these times and it would probably make sense to have ready access to magical energy near important buildings.


I was slightly anxious today. I hoped the Gatcha was kind in giving me stuff that I would need.

Mash sat down her shield as the catalyst and I focused. I was surprised to find there actually was someone special on Rate up. Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes. He would be challenging to be the master of. I remember what happened to his original master in Fate/Zero. However his power was undeniable. He could carry my team through a lot. So I decided to put aside any trepidation I may have.

I focused and the lights rose above the shield. This would be my first test of Medea's Charm.

Immediately the lights burst in to rainbow colors as they spun around.

"Ah Senpai the rainbow lights."

"Umu, very beautiful." Said Nero who had tagged along out of curiosity.

There was a flash of light and there stood a very familiar figure, His golden plate mail glittered in the sunlight. He had blond hair and red eye, he was beautiful, that was undeniable, fitting for a man that was 2/3rds god. He stood cross armed with an arrogant scowl.

"I see. So you are the one who summoned me. Seeing you I am not surprised this container is so weak. Being summoned in such a shabby fashion is an insult. I demand that you either correct your mistake or annul the summon immediately." Stated the king of heroes. I was almost surprised no golden portals appeared behind him revealing deadly weapons accompanied his demand.

I took a breath. "I do apologize for your current state. Believe me it is not my intention to insult you. It is the way the ritual was created. Servants are summoned in a weakened state so they can be summoned in large numbers. Then they are strengthened up to full strength if you will give me a minute. I am sure that I can have the materials sent to me to increase you power up to full strength." I explained. Unsurprisingly he seemed unimpressed.

"Very well I shall allow you to correct your mistake."

I nodded "Thank you, I will not disappoint you."

"See that you don't."

I contacted Chaldea.

"Is something wrong?" asked Dr. Roman.

"Well no but maybe yes. I am going to need you to send over all the materials that we have been farming."

"ALL OF THEM?"

"Yeah, good news is I summoned probably the strongest Servant I could have. Bad news is he is in a bad mood since he is currently so weak. So before someone decides to try turning me in to a pin cushion with a bunch of Noble Phantasms, I am going to get him up to full power."

"Well let me see…" said Dr. Roman who then whistled. "Yep, oh yeah. He might have the potential to be the strongest servant summoned. Alright sending the stuff over."

"Thank you and please tell those that were waiting for strengthening that I am sorry I will get to them."

"Yeah… I'll leave that to you to explain." Said Dr. Roman.

Soon the Materials appeared in a small crate which I then opened.

"Do not tell me to attain my proper strength I must eat all of that."

"No, that would be difficult. I just have to do a few rituals and you will be good as new."

"Very well."

So true to my word I did the rituals.

Gilgamesh nodded "Very well. I do feel at my proper strength. You have done well. Rejoice in knowledge I am appeased for now."

I bowed and nodded to Gilgamesh.

"Hmm perhaps you aren't a worthless master as I first thought. There may just some hope for you."

I managed a smile. Something told me dealing with Gilgamesh's ego was going to be less than fun. While I was certain he would be powerful enough to single handedly solve problems for me, It was also going to be costly to deal with him and hope I could keep him motivated to do what I wanted him to do.

"I assume that you know the situation that we are in." I asked him.

"Something informed me upon being summoned. Some Mongrel has decided to erase my great accomplishments as well as the rest of history. An unforgivable crime."

"Indeed, your help shall be invaluable putting things right."

With that done I returned to summoning this time I summoned a few copies of saint graphs for servants that I already had. They were useless to me at the moment as I didn't have the perk to strengthen them. I was about to call the session a wash except for Gilgamesh but then something tugged on my consciousness. It was a craft essence and a powerful one.

I summoned it to find a card floating there with a picture of a beautiful albino woman in a black dress with red trim. I couldn't keep the grin off my face. This was probably the most powerful offensive Craft Essence. "Black Grail." would greatly strengthen a servant's noble phantasm in exchange for continuously doing damage to them over time. It would be one I could only use for short periods on a servant but the raw power it provided would likely make it worth the cost if used right.

"Umu you look happy." said Nero wandering over. "Wow what a beautiful picture. Perhaps you could show that to some of the Artists when we get to Rome I for one would not mind seeing that captured on canvas or in stone."

"Huh, a simple image of a homunculus, how droll. To think someone would find such a thing beautiful." commented Gilgamesh.

That caused Nero to whirl towards him "You dare insult the taste of an Emperor?"

Gilgemesh looked down at her then blinked "Huh, You have a lovely face that reminds me of someone far better than you. She wore it better too." he said before walking away.

Nero grabbed her sword and I needed to step between them.

"Stop stop, no fighting. He is useful I swear. He may not be the easiest to get along with but I promise it will be worth it."

"Never in my life have I encountered such arrogance. I would have him put to death but out of deference for you I shall let that insult pass."

I sighed "Thank you."

"Ummm Senpai, not that I question your judgment but are you sure it is wise to use someone like him. Perhaps you should have canceled the summons instead of allowing him to reach full power." stated Mash.

"Mash… I am going to let you in on a little secret. In order to save humanity we are going to have to deal with all sorts of people, including those that are difficult to deal with. Gilgamesh is Gilgamesh. He is humanities first hero and sees everything else as beneath him with the exception of one guy. He may not be the nicest person but if he will lend us his power certain things that would be hard become easy and certain things that may have been impossible before become possible."

Nero at that point wasn't in the best of moods and I was about finished with the summoning. I called in a few more heroic spirits to help. I summoned EMIYA who Gilgamesh immediately scowled at. I was tempted to summon Saber Alter and finish leveling her up with what remained of the supplies but decided against it. She and Gilgamesh had a history, Not a pleasant one. Well to be precise he liked her and she hated him. A fact that depending on the timeline he didn't let deter him in the least. Only in one timeline giving up on her claiming some treasures are so beautiful because they are unobtainable. Well that was normal Saber. Saber Alter would likely try and spam blasts from her sword upon encountering him. Instead I summoned Fergus. Fergus greeted me with a solid pat on the back and I welcomed him. He went over to meet Gilgamesh but Gil just scowled at him as if he were beneath his notice. Fergus just shrugged and left him to himself.

I summoned Medea next. I was happy to see her and she us… until she saw Gilgamesh. I think she was about to have a heart attack. "It's okay he is on our side." I explained which caused her to relax… a bit.

Lastly I summoned Fuuma Kotarou to act as our scout. He kneeled and said "Thank you for choosing me I shall make sure your faith is not betrayed." which caused Gilgamesh to snort "How pathetic a servant acting like a loyal dog." Kotarou was about to turn to have words with the servant but I stopped him. "Don't mind Gilgamesh too much, he doesn't play well with others but he will be useful." I assured him.

"As long as he serves your interest I will endure his attitude." Kotarou replied.

With that done Nero asked us to head out to Gaul which was front line against the United Empire.
Gilgamesh chose to travel in spiritual form as he was opposed to walking such a distance. A march did not suit the King of heroes and he felt he was too good to use his feet like an ordinary person. Frankly the less he interacted with the rest of my companions I figured the better off I was.

The funny thing about a march with an army is… it's really boring. My companions and I wound up talking most of the time. Except for Kotarou who we had sent ahead as a scout.

He found several groups of enemies and they were taken care of. The wise ones surrendered, those that weren't so wise… didn't fare as well.




Thankfully we weren't heading directly to the front lines. I wasn't looking forward to diving head first in to a huge battle. Instead we headed to a camp near the front lines at first to prepare and deliver information. This was the wild camp. In the game it seemed to be made up of two people both servants.
However here it was an entire camp of a small army. We saw people walking around in armor carrying weapons. Others attending to various duties to keep a camp and an army running. It was getting late in the day not surprising since we had walked from Rome to France and fought quite a bit in between. I was looking forward to a nice place to sit and rest a while. Maybe have some food.

We were greeted at the gates by the guards. Seeing the banner and that we were with the Emperor herself we were quickly let in and escorted to the largest tent in this impromptu village of tents.

As we approached a Red headed woman who was actually quite lively and buxom exited the tent. She wore very little a white top trimmed with gold that covered her shoulder. What amounted to a white bikini, she wore very little below her waist amounting to again swimwear except for long dark calf high boots and a couple of bands around each thigh. It looked highly impractical for fighting but this was an anime based game so the more flesh you showed the better you were protected. She had a sword sheathed to her side and wore a shield strapped to her back.

Accompanying her was a giant of a man, he was big both in that he was incredibly muscular and that he probably was over 7 feet tall by my estimation, he had long blonde hair and was gray for some reason. He wore a metal mask that covered his cheeks and forehead and a metal part that covered his loins and that really was all the armor or clothing he wore. He also carried a large metal bat looking weapon with spikes that looked rather nasty.

"Oppressors must be defeated" The giant roared

"Ummm Sparticus welcomes you Emperor." stated the Woman. I could sense some tension between her and Nero. Actually it seemed entirely on her side as Nero seemed not to notice or care at all.

"Ah that is well Boudica. Truly the two of you have been a wondrous asset to Rome. I am pleased with your performance. I have come to honor you by fighting at your side in the front line and have brought strong allies with me. This is Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash. They are from the future apparently here to set right some things that went wrong."

Boudica and even Spartacus seemed to be taken aback by that bold claim.

"I know how it sounds." added Nero. "However they have proven both quite formidable and trustworthy. Despite the outlandishness of their claim I believe they are genuine."

"I see…" stated Boudica.

"I truly understand how it sounds but please believe me we come here under unusual circumstances. This should be a time of peace in Rome's history yet obviously it is not." I explained.

"Well I don't think you are lying and you don't seem to be crazy so I guess that must mean there is something to your story."

"Freedom from Oppression!" stated Spartacus.

"Ah Spartacus says he doesn't care where you came from as long as you are here to help defeat the enemy."

"Ah that is well. If you don't mind I would address this expeditionary force. I wish to grant them the boon of my words to inspire them to victory. If you could gather them, that would be much appreciated."

Boudica merely nodded "It will be done." she said simply and soon the army was gathered and ready. Nero gave a speech praising them and our coming victory. She also introduced Mash and Myself as her newly appointed generals. There were cheers and moral seemed to be fairly high. For those not on duty there was drinking and boastful tales of battles won and maidens conquered. The wine flowed freely, It was at this point Nero was going to excuse herself as she was getting a headache.

"Wait before you leave let me try something." I told her drawing a look of surprise from Nero.

"I can help you but just relax for a moment I am going to touch your forehead a bit." I explained.

She nodded and so I placed my finger tips on her temples. "Just relax this is going to feel a little funny for a moment." I told her. I focused my energy and used a tiny bit of magic on just the right spots.

For a moment Nero winced and then blinked looking stunned. I stepped away as she felt her head "Wow. I- I don't feel anything." she said surprised.

I smiled "Of course not I numbed the pain receptors for a bit and removed some of the pressure that was building there."

"You are a miracle worker."

"Nah I am just a white mage. A Magus specialized in healing." I clarified.

"A healer wonderful, you can never have enough of those in a war."

"Yeah, I would have spoken up about that bit earlier but a healer hasn't been needed."

"Umu, well you have thanks for freeing me of that blasted headache."

Just then a scount arrived and saluted Nero "Your highness, we have spotted an enemy scout team. It looks like they have found our position. We tried to catch them but they fled." He informed Nero who frowned.

"I see, most troublesome. Boudica, please take general Sparticus, some troops and my new generals here and chase after them before they can give away our position." Ordered Nero.

Boudeca nodded "Very well, it shall be done."

Within a few minutes we were heading out with a contingent of troops besides Boudica and Spartacus. It actually didn't take us long to find their tracks and with servants at the head of the army we caught up with them and neutralized them without much problem.

On our way back Mash asked talked with Boudica "Say you are a servant aren't you?" she asked even though Romani had already informed us.

"Yes. I am, So is Spartacus."

"I… am surprised to see you fighting on the side of Nero." Said Mash with great effort.

Boudica sighed "You aren't the only one. Honestly when I first materialized not long after my death I thought that it was for a chance at revenge. Then I found the war going on and saw the United Empire overrunning Rome. I saw the grief and pain that it caused the normal citizens. I just couldn't stand by so I wound up fighting off the United empire and that's how I found myself here. I haven't forgiven Nero or Rome. I doubt I ever will."

"Oppressors must be crushed to bring freedom" Chimed in the giant of a man, Spartacus.

That drew a bit of a smile from Boudica. "Spartacus says he agrees. His story is much the same as mine. We both fight now for an enemy against a greater enemy."

"Since we are getting to know each other." began Boudica.

"You say that you are from the future. How far and what brought you back here?"

"Umm we are from almost 2000 years in the future. Unfortunately Do to the influence of powerful magical items called Holy Grails at key points in history, history is about to collapse. In fact in our time everything else but us has been incinerated. It's just and our support staff who are still in the future fighting to restore history."

Boudica sat for a moment her mouth agape in a mixture of surprise and horror. "I… had not realized things were that dire." she admitted.

"Yes you are not just fighting for Rome. You are fighting for humanities right to exist. To have ever existed."

She nodded "You both seem so young? No offense but it seems a lot to place on the shoulders of a couple of kids. Even with the small army of Heroic Spirits you have helping you. Wasn't there anyone else who could have helped?"

"Unfortunately no. Our base was the first to be hit in this attack. They meant to decapitate any resistance ahead of time. Through sabotage they managed to take out everyone who was supposed to be handling this. I was not there just do to a fluke. So I am humanities last Master."

Boudica gave a soft sigh and then a slight smile and patted me on the shoulder. "Well then all I can say is try your best. That and remember you can only deal with today. No matter how long the journey may be."

I couldn't help but smile and nod "Thank you."

Eventually we made it back to camp it was already night now. We grabbed some food and then headed for a tent. I was met by Fergus.

"Well kid, you look a bit tired, I was going to ask if you wanted to spar but maybe you should save your strength for tomorrow. As I understand it tomorrow is the big push in to Gaul. From what I gathered it's probably a servant right?"

I nodded "I see. Well don't worry we can handle whoever it is. Anyways I also wanted to say your swordsmanship is coming along nicely. I don't think you are ready to fight Servants yet, so don't try."

I nodded.

"Say actually that brings up a question. I don't know if you will know because my situation is kind of strange. It's just Mash seems to be doing alright with her Shield. I can already see her improving a great deal. She could fight servants and depending on who they are maybe win. Why am I having so much trouble?"

Fergus chuckled "Oh that, I can tell you that right now. She is using a shield to defend, that is in her nature. That's why she is having an easy time mastering it. You are wielding a sword, a weapon meant to kill. You are afraid to do that so you are holding yourself back. I have to say in my day someone your age might have already killed a half dozen times. Your world must be a nice one if you haven't had to take any lives."

I nodded "Yeah I guess in a way it is."

"Anyways that's why I am telling you not to fight servants. These are people that have carved their names in to history, usually by shedding a lot of blood. If you hesitate you can be sure they won't. That can be all the difference they need."

I nodded grimly contemplating his words. I couldn't deny them. I had killed two servants. One… I cheated to defeat and the other was defenseless. I probably couldn't have done the second one without the knowledge she would be back. Or I hoped she would more accurately.

"Say after dinner, would you mind terribly if I swapped you until morning. I made a promise to Jackie that I would let her stay the nights with us."

Fergus just chuckled "Sure, I don't mind a trip back to Chaldea, should give me more time to try and get to know Mata Hari and maybe get to know that new cute Saber in black with the golden eyes." he said with a grin.

"Um yeah about Saber Alter… just be very careful alright?" I asked.

"Don't worry it will be fine." he assured me, which made me more concerned.

"She will blast you with that legendary holy sword if you bother her too much."

"Well I kind of like a bit of fiestyness in my women."

"Yeah well try and go easy on your surroundings. They have already been rebuilding, they don't need more to repair."

Fergus chuckled "Alright I'll take it easy then."

Soon he was sent off and Jackie appeared in the summoning circle promptly tackle glomping me. "Mommy!" she cried. I was thankful for my superhuman endurance because she hugged me so tightly I doubt a normal person could have breathed and likely would have suffered injury.

"Hey kiddo." I told her and ruffled her hair "I kept my promise, you can spend the night but I am sending you home in the morning." I informed her.

She gave me a cute pout but seemed to understand.

She happily greeted Mash with a cry of "Daddy." causing Mash to blush but she hugged the little heroic spirit too.

We had a humble dinner, it wasn't bad but wasn't great either. Nero apologized profusely but explained that it was hard to put on a decent feast this close to the front lines.

Gilgamesh this whole time had remained scarce. I don't know why but I felt like he was still waiting to judge whether or not I was master worthy of his service. I only hoped I managed to prove myself to him somehow.

It was something to contemplate as I prepared for bed. We were turning in rather early because we would start marching with the dawn. From what I had heard the Emperor in charge of Gaul was a clever man, a great leader and a stronger warrior than anyone had the right to be. I had a good idea who it was and it would be strange to face him across the battlefield. From what I had known from working with another version of him, I couldn't imagine him going down easy. Even with our superior strength I couldn't afford to underestimate him. Still maybe I could use that intelligence to my advantage.

I had a lot to consider as I crawled in to my sleeping bag next to Mash's. I gave a slight oof as Jackie took her spot on my belly.

"Umm… Senpai is everything alright?" she asked who I guessed sensed my tension..

"Huh? Oh… just a little nervous about tomorrow. I guess it's a bit strange If things go like I am expecting we are going to encounter someone I have come to know pretty well except this version of him will be an enemy. I just am wondering against a guy like this how much is that an advantage or a disadvantage."

"I am sure you will do wonderful Senpai." She said giving me a smile as her hand took mine and gave it a squeeze.

I couldn't help but relax "Well I appreciate your faith." We shared a little good night kiss and I laid back to rest. Eventually I drifted off to sleep.

Morning came early… too early, as it usually does.

There was the call to get up and then the soft Shaking by Mash. My body still felt like it was forged of lead but through sheer force of will I got up. Jackie had already climbed off of me and was giggling "Mommy's a sleepy head."

I yawned and stretched fighting to get some blood moving somewhere in my body. I climbed reluctantly out of the nice warm sleeping bag in to the cold dark morning.

When I arose the sun was just peaking over the horizon. The sky was dim and slightly cloudy. The chill of night had not yet parted.

I sighed and with help got up. I was about to head to do my morning stuff but I was greeted by Medea.

Whom I had noticed had been quiet and mostly absent the past day. I also noticed she was carrying something rather large bundled in a blanket in her arms.

"Ah good morning. I see you are as energetic as always this morning." she said with a playful smile.

"Yeah well mornings are not my thing." I replied.

"I have noticed. Well it's good to see you none the less, Not that I am not already busy with all of your requests but that Fergus asked me to make something for you. Though for this I needed the help of that Archer in Red." she stated, the last part she didn't sound all that happy about.

"Anyways." she said handing me the bundle, it was heavy. "I hope you appreciate the efforts of your servants particularly me."

I blinked and unwrapped it.

Within was a large two handed sword. It was of beautiful make, The blade was gleaming silver and polished to a mirrors finish. The hilt reminded me of the old He-man movies with the guards raised and curving up to join the main blade.

mce-anchor "It is called chéri eléous or the hand of mercy." explained Medea. It is an incredibly strong sword that should bear the full brunt of your strength as well as any heroic spirit that you are likely to encounter. However what makes it special is unless you will it the sword will not land a lethal blow, instead aiming to debilitate. Fergus asked me a few days ago to start it, that Red Archer was surprisingly helpful in explaining just what such a sword would require. I may be a master of magic but I'll admit I know little of sword play."

"It-It's beautiful, thank you. It really will not strike a killing blow on accident?"
Medea's smile grew. "Yes that was quite tricky, such enchantments are not usually applied offensively. It was tricky but it will work. Fergus said this was the next part of your training. A sword that will allow you to use your full strength in battle. He also said something about still not fighting Servants as against them you often need a fetal strike to win."

I nodded "Well thank you, this is much appreciated."

She nodded "Enjoy it while it lasts." she told me and I blinked in surprise.

"I am not a warrior but I am a magus as are you and we both know to walk the path of magic is to walk with death. To advance our art at all we must be willing to kill or die at any moment. To truly achieve your potential you are going to have to lose your hesitation to kill. This however is a temporary work around so that you may fight at your full strength."

I nodded "I understand. Anyways thank you for this."

I took it out and gave it a few practice swings. It was well balanced. It felt a lot like my noble phantasm Azrael. I suppose it was a teaching tool for that. I found that in addition to the sword it came with a leather sheath that would string across my back. I slipped it in to the sheath and slipped it on to my back. It probably looked odd such a large thing strapped to my back but oh well.

We had a quick breakfast and I swapped Jackie for Fergus. Jackie gave me sad puppy dog eyes because she didn't want to go but eventually did. Fergus arrived fresh and new. "Well I see you got your sword then. That should help." he said patting my shoulder.

"Thank you again I appreciate your help." I told him

"Eh I haven't done anything yet. Just didn't want to see you get in trouble because you were using inferior weapons and couldn't trust your own strength. We have a long way to go to break you of that hesitation but this will do for now." he told me.

I nodded. I understood. I didn't relish the idea of losing my hesitation to kill. However such was the situation I was in.

"Oh hey Senpai would you like to get your daily summons in before we head out to fight?" asked Mash. It seemed a sensible idea. Better to do it now than miss it because we were on the road.

As the rest of the army broke up camp and readied to head off to war. I went and found a nearby leyline in the relatively untouched wilderness. It was next to a small stream that had been used for water and cleaning.

It was a nice lightly forested area. I could see a deer not far off. It looked to be watching me, probably trying to decide whether to run.

Mash sat down her shield and I began my incantation. I saw in my mind the King of Heroes was still on "Rate up." but decided to pull from the general pull instead.

The lights appeared and swirled around they didn't change colors but joined together and then split in to 3 bands. Then when the flash of light cleared there stood a man in grey. He wore a grey and gold helmet like cap on his head, I could see under it silver hair and rather bored looking golden eyes. He wore a black cloth mask accentuated with gold. He wore a very long sleeve grey shirt with blue lines leading to a blue symbol I could not place, his sleeves seemed inconveinently long as they were longer than his arms. He carried a metallic staff that a metallic serpent like thing curled around as it slithered quite alive. He wore a blue and grey skirt like covering for his legs and golden colored shoes.

"Well you look pretty healthy I have no reason why you summoned me then. I am Asclepius. Though my class is Caster I am more of a Doctor. So if there is someone in need of my services bring them forth otherwise I shall find some place to retire to." he told me with little interest.

I couldn't help but smile. "I am sorry Asclepius I believe I inadvertently acted as a Catalyst to summon you. You see I am a white mage, a Magus specializing in healing so our jobs are not too dissimilar, though my work pales in comparison to yours."

With that the man's eyebrow raised and he crooked his head slightly. "Another doctor. Well I hadn't expected to be summoned by another of the healing arts. Then I must revise my greeting, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Perhaps we can talk shop later."

"I would like that, actually I have a project that I would like you to consult on later. I am sure I have done the best job I can but to have the god of medicine look over my work would be a privilege."

I thought I saw a slight grin form under that mask "Well now you have perked my curiosity I would love to see how medical magic has advanced."

"Alright I'll be more than happy to show you in a bit, we are in a war so we have to do that first."

"Ah I see I'll be busy then."

"Well I am trying to keep the injuries down but I wouldn't be at all surprised if we are in need of your aid some time soon.

That done I went to summon again. This time the lights turned gold as they spunn around and soon when the flash cleared and a figure became visible I wondered again if I had done something good or not.

This was a figure dressed in gray and drab tones except accentuated with red the color of blood. He wore a read hood. His face was bandaged by gray bandages concealing it. He wore a red coat and underneath it modern gray armor, he had a gun holstered at his hip and had a knife sheathed on his other side.

He was silent as he observed me.

"Ah, welcome I am glad to meet you Assassin. I know your true name but I will not force you to use it if you do not want. I assume you know the circumstances that you were summonned in to?"

"I am well aware." he said simply.

"Well I hope we can work well together."

"I doubt that, I prefer to work alone."

"Okay then I'll keep that in mind."

"Understand something. I will do what must be done. I hope that you are willing to do the same."

I winced.

"Heh I think we might have lower comparability than me and Gilgamesh." I said causing his head to perk up.

"Look, we have all different sorts of people here. As you are aware. This is a dire time and everyone is needed. I will try and keep in mind that you prefer to work alone. Still even working alone I am sure we can work towards the same goal."

He nodded.

"By the way I know… I know who you are, I know you are a different version of someone who a couple of servants here already know very well. Things may be a little awkward at points but I trust you will be able to do your job regardless of that fact."

"I understand and yes that will not be a problem."

I sighed and nodded. The man was more like a robot than a man. I could see his cold dead eyes and they were disturbing. I decided to move on.


I didn't have high hopes after that but I did my incantation and the lights rose and spun around forming a ring, then split in to 3 rings and then there was a flash revealing a very familiar figure. He was lean but toned he stood about 6 feet tall. He had blue hair true to an anime character and red eyes that marked him of divine blood. His blue body suit was accentuated with silver and he wore silver colored shoulder pads and silver earrings. At his side he carried a blood red spear that was like his trademark. The cursed spear that always targeted the heart, Gae Bolg.

"Well it seems my new master is a cutie. Red hair, hope there is a bit of fire in you." he said with a grin.

"Ah Master it's him, It's Cu, but he doesn't look like a Caster this time." said Mash.

"Whoa I am surrounded by cuties, So far I would say this is pretty great summon." He added with a chuckle causing Mash to blush.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Cu, As Mash mentioned there is another version of you back home that is a Caster. I hope that's not a problem."

He blinked "Heh, me as a caster eh? Does he at least have a spear?"

I shook my head.

"Ah the poor bastard. I'm glad I am not him. Well I was informed on summoning things things are pretty bad. Anything else I should know?"

"Yeah… We have a couple Archer's here who you aren't a fan of. One is an Archer in Red who you seem to have a special rivalry with?"

"That guy's here? Man, master you should watch your back with that guy."

"He is better with certain elements removed. We also have the golden Archer who I believe you are familiar with."

That caused Cu to blink "Well that one's a right bastard Master, I would say to be careful with him too but the fact you have both and are still alive means you are tougher than you look."


"Well I hope so. Anyways it may be a bit before we can get you to full power but I will. I know who you are and what you can do and I very glad to have you on my side."

That drew a grin from him. "Well it's nice to be appreciated. "

I turned to the other two who were waiting and watching "Well I am afraid that's all that I am going to summon today. I will send you back to Chaldea until I need you. I will try and get you powered up to full in a reasonable amount of time. We are getting a bit of a waiting list though." I explained.

They nodded in understanding and we used the shield to send them off.

With that done I collected my Servants and we headed to the command tent. It was the biggest tent there.

Inside were Nero, Boudica, and Spartacus as well as several high ranking soldiers around a table.
On the table was a large map of Gaul. We were greeted warmly as we approached.

As tactics went we would be sending a few teams of scouts that Koutarou would be joining to watch for ambushes and traps as the Emperor we were to clash with was very clever.

Likely his army was larger than ours and there had been reports of large rock creatures among his troops. They were Identified by Medea as likely Golems. They were probably the creation of the Court Mage who held the Holy Grail.

We would advance with Nero and our Heroic spirits as well as myself in front. It was doubtful any of the human troops could stand up to these golems.

There was some talk of trying different tactics such as splitting off part of our force to try a pincer movement or such but it was determined that most likely this conflict would be settled by the Heroic Spirits with even to golems not being much of a factor in the final outcome of the battle. So it would be brute force against whatever plan the Emperor that awaited us had concocted.

So we began our march. The scouting parties had left a few minutes ahead. I was a little nervous. Our plan seemed simplistic when going against someone who was very clever.

It wasn't long before we encountered our scout parties with a small group of enemy soldiers under a white banner. It appeared that the enemy Emperor wanted to parley.

We accepted and were led to Gaul proper and the enemy camp. Awaiting us in front of his soldiers was Julius Caesar. Again he was rather fat in his form fitting red coat. He had been summoned as a Saber here too.

Nero, Myself and the other generals went out to meet him.

"Ah welcome, I am Giaus Julius Caesar and you have my thanks for answering my request to parley.
It is an honor to meet you Nero Claudius 5th​ emperor of Rome. I see you have gathered quite the force. However you have come a long way I shall cut to the point. I wish to make an offer. You do not share the lead Emperor's vision of a so called perfect Empire. I believe that his vision of a perfect empire would be one where the common mass would lose their individual will. So I would like to offer a trade rather than doing a prolonged battle. If you promise that you will turn over the holy grail to me. I shall give you valuable information that shall make defeating your foes possible. I shall even offer up a small token as it were and tell you that currently the Holy Grail rests in the possession of the United Empire's Court Mage"

"Well it is truly and honor to meet you Giaus Julius Caesar. Truly. However I am afraid I can not offer. I have already agreed to turn over the grail to the custody of Ritsuka Fujimura and Mash here as it is an item too dangerous to be allowed to be used so freely."

"Ah… I understand, believe me I do. Any item that grants wishes such as that would be exceptionally dangerous. However I am not looking to cause destruction. I assure you."

I cleared my throat "Umm may I speak?" I asked surprise both of them.

"Umu, if you feel that you have something relevant to say please do."

I took a deep breath. Thankfully public speaking wasn't as big a problem for me as some.

"I can understand you wanting the Holy Grail I believe there are a few things that you are unaware of. First of all I am guessing the Court Mage's name is Lev Lainur. He has betrayed humanity and seeks to destroy this era and the entirety of human history."

That drew a blink and look of puzzlement. "Why on earth would anyone wish that?"

"Lev is not human. He serves a king outside of time. The reason you were summoned in to this era is to cause enough chaos in it to damage history to a point where it will crumble."

He blinked and looked me over. Looking me over hard.

"You seem a foreigner. You claim knowledge of this court mage. Tell me more." he commanded.

I looked to Nero who nodded and so I explained to him who we were, what Lev had done.

"Hmmm most troubling. That is quite the tale. Usually I am a good judge of a person's honesty." he said before sighing. "Sadly I believe you. Even though he summoned us I never trusted that man." he said and then seemed to think for a moment.

"Very well I had sought to have you join forces with me. However I believe I instead will be joining you if that is alright with you. I did not put the effort in to building up Rome just to see it destroyed."

"Umu as expected of the great Giaus Julius Caesar. We shall be happy to have you fight at our side to put things right." Stated Nero.

That drew a faint smile from Caesar. "Good, very good first I will tell you the location of the United Empire Headquarters. It is in Spain." He began and Nero's eyes brightened.
She looked happy for the information until she heard who was the leader of the United Empire. "Romulus? He is their leader?"

"Indeed. He shall be quite formidable should he choose to stand against us." stated Caesar.

For the first time since I had met Nero she looked a little shaken. "Romulus the founder of Rome…" she said to herself then looked determined "Well it matters not, be it Romulus or the gods themselves that stand in my way. I am the true Emperor of Rome and I will not back down from the challenge."

This drew a proud nod from Caesar. "Indeed." he agreed.

With that Caesar offered those who would follow him a chance to defect a few did but the majority chose to stay with the united empire. So they fled. It was upon Caesar's demand that we let them. It would mean that we would have to face them later, however, they had been men under his charge and he didn't feel right betraying their trust. I couldn't disagree with him on that.

"One thing I should warn you is that the Founder has an unbelievable force of personality. Most of those who fight for him are incredibly loyal and will be willing to lay down their very lives. It will not be an easy rode ahead." Caesar informed us.

"Are you really okay with fighting against him?" I asked.

Caesar sighed. "Honestly I would prefer not to. However I refuse to be used as a tool to destroy the Rome I fought so hard to build up. When I was your enemy it was because I truly believed we could create something better. However now seeing the truth of that Mage's manipulation I had no choice but to change sides, I do not know if Romulus will be so persuaded. He holds dear his dreams of a perfect Rome. He may be willing to turn on the Mage but he may not be willing to give up his dream so easily."

Nero nodded grimly as if fighting Romulus was something she was not looking forward to either. "Well I believe we should return to Rome now to gather our forces, this shall be a hard battle but since we know now where the enemy base is we can strike them directly."

"Actually if I may suggest something a bit foolhardy. I think it's a mistake not to head on straight to the enemy capital now. I understand we had a hard march to get here. I understand we should resupply get fresh troops and allow the troops that have marched with us to rest. I understand all of that." I began.

"However I just fear in all of that time our enemy is going to pull all of their forces to defend their position and turn this in to a laborious slog. I know our troops are tired, However and I mean them no disrespect I believe this will mainly be decided by the heroic spirits on both sides. I think make a hard march now and try and catch them before they can secure their defenses. I doubt we can outpace the word that we are coming but we can limit the time they have to respond."

Caesar seemed to think for a moment before nodding. "It is a bit risky but it is as the girl says once they know we are coming there is no reason not to throw everything on hand against us. In what kind of shape are your troops?" asked Caesar.

"Umu I do see your point. Well my troops were ready for a pitched battle. Another long march will weaken them a bit but if we could catch the enemy off guard it might be worth it."

"If I may several of my heroic spirits can summon a small amount of forces themselves. I believe I can make up for some of the strength we will lose on such a forced march."

"Umu that is remarkable." Commented Nero.

"Yeah I am just sorry I don't have Iskandar or his rival Darius III yet, they would be very good for this. However even without that, even though who I am thinking of using is better at a defensive battle. I am quite certain their summons will be stronger than any human or even golem will be." I added.

With that we decided on taking the risky path of going on an assault. Normally as I understood it you would want to establish a foot hold base to rest and supply your army first before heading in to such hostile territory. However there was a strength in taking to road less traveled. It would be much harder to mount an effective defense with this plan.

The wild camp was broken up, the troops that had stayed with Caesar were integrated in to our own. I made a quick swap of Emiya for Leonidas I. He was very happy to be called upon. He didn't seem to mind that it wouldn't be a defensive battle. He assured me Spartans were just as good at going on the offense.

So we began our march. We continued to sent Kotarou out to scout. Once again I was grateful for the superhuman stamina being a demi-servant gave me. The mood of this march was much more somber. We would be heading to the enemy base which was likely well fortified and looking at a likely pitched battle.

Along the way we encountered several groups of enemy soldiers though they quickly fell to our forces spear headed by heroic spirits. I imagined many of them had been the forces we allowed to flee that were previously under Caesar's control having joined with other groups of soldiers. It however mattered little.


It was growing late in the day as we marched on. We were getting close to the enemy capital. The sun was beginning to set dying the sky an orange color. There was a slight chill in the air as we traveled along the road. It was then that Dr. Roman chimed in.

"We have trouble ahead I am detecting many magical signatures and at least two Servants. It's hard to tell the exact number because of all the scattered magical signatures." he warned.

Nero ordered her soldiers to fall back, seeing this was a battle they wouldn't be able to make a difference in.

Fuuma Kotarou returned to inform us of a small army of what seemed like lesser heroic Spirits led by another Leonidas I and Caligula.

Nero sighed and her face hardened "Alright I will take the lead on this, Mash, Ritsuka I would like you and your subordinates to company me as back up. Leonidas I would like you to summon your men to try and neutralize your opposing self's army."

"Nero, are you certain? If that is indeed another version of me it will be quite dangerous to attack them head on, you are asking for a hard battle." Stated Leonidas I.

Nero sighed. "If we are to follow this plan we must move as quickly as possible. Also… My Uncle is there. My Uncle who is being tortured by madness. Who is being made to fight for a cause which he would never do in life. As his Neice I have to lay him to rest. It has to be me to lay him to rest. I owe him that much at least."

I couldn't help but understand, I was going to offer to take care of him but to Nero this was personal. "If that's your wish I understand."

She nodded.

"Mash, When we start our charge we are going to need you to cover us so that we can make it close enough to break through. Ferrgus I would like you to be right behind Mash and I, As soon as we get to melee I would like you to use that drill like sword to make a hole in their defense. Medea I would like you to drop any enchantments on us now that might help then I want you to fall back with rest of the army. I want you good an rested for when we make it to the enemy base. Kotarou I want you to fall back too for the same reason. This isn't your sort of battle and I want you well rested when we head in to the enemy base. Everyone nodded and knew their role.

Soon we saw a small army of Spartans come in to view. They were not far off from a city, dominated by a large fort like palace. I heard orders being given and a blood curdling shout of Nero! From Caligula who was in the front beside their version of Leonidas.

We started running forward, The Spartans all as one readied and threw their spears in a rain of death as we approached however I had expected this and with a great shout of Lord Camelot Mash's Noble Phantasm deployed and deflected them, Our Leonidas I deployed his noble Phantasm creating 300 Spartans to charge forth behind us.

Then we slammed in to the wall of Spartans who all as one had raised their shields, it was almost like slamming in to a solid wall. But then Fergus charged in. That drill like sword shattered the shield of the Spartan it hit and bored threw him causing him to shatter in to light particles giving us a hole. The other Spartans tried to close in to close the hole but Mash and I used all of our strength to push them aside. We turned out to be much stronger than the Spartans as they were pushed aside and the hole grew.

Fergus and Nero charged through the hole. Fergus went straight for Leonidas I and Nero and her Uncle clashed.

Fergus tried to overwhelm Leonidas with sheer tenacity and strength but Leonidas stood his ground, Even though the formation had been broken Leonidas stood his ground. They were proving about equal. Mash and I moved to aid Fergus.

I would like to say Leonidas fell quickly but he proved quite tenacious himself and I barely avoided being impaled by a spear by virtue of Mash's quick reflexes with her Shield. While my sword work was improving it usually just found his shield however eventually Fergus landed a solid Shot with his sword. Normally that probably wouldn't have hampered Leonidas that much but he was fighting the 3 of us and Mash followed up with a heavy thudding hit from her shield exposing his ribs to me which I quickly inserted my sword through his heart. That wasn't enough to bring him down, in fact after that he fought like a man possessed seemed determined to drag at least two of us to the underworld with him but we eventually overwhelmed him.

We finished up in time to see the ending of Nero's battle with Caligula. She stood victorious her sword plunged deep in to her Uncles chest. He reached up giving a choked cry of Nero! As he caressed her face then blinked. Then in a softer voice said "Nero, My beautiful niece. I am so sorry for raising my fists against you. My mind was not right. I was not in control of myself." He apologized.

Tears were falling from Nero's eyes as she responded "I know. None of this is your fault Uncle. Return now to your rest. You can rest easy now, I shall take care of Rome and her people and do my best to make your proud. I Shall punish the man who used you in such a horrible fashion." A look of peace crossed over Caligula's face "Yes, I am sure you will my Darling Nero." he said with a smile before he faded away.

With that the battle was won. We took a moment to catch our breaths.

"Come on we are almost there, lets." go Said Nero in a serious tone wiping her eyes.

"Are you Okay?" I asked concerned about what she had just been through."

"Umu, I just need to settle a matter with that enemy mage and I'll be fine." She replied, all I could do was nod.

The city ahead was walled, I didn't see much movement along the walls. Likely things were already locked down and soldiers were waiting for our attack. Normally there wouldn't be much chance for stealth after the battle we had just had.

"I am surprised that we aren't being swarmed by Soldiers and Golems." I noted as we started to march towards the town."

"At this point there is no reason to." corrected Julius Caesar. "Humans and even golems would likely not change the outcome, more than that I expect that Romulus wishes to face us himself."

I had ordered Kotarou to go ahead of us using his ninja stealth to disable any guards and open the gates for us but as I did so the gates opened and two figures stood in front of the open gates under a white flag.

"I think they wish to Parley." I noted. It was a bit too early for a surrender.

One figure was a familiar red haired, red eyed boy who could only be described as beautiful. He was Alexander the child who would one day grow to become the king of conquers. The man beside him had long dark hair, a black suit and was smoking a cigarette. I hadn't seen him in person but he was familiar none the less. It was adult Waver from Fate Zero.

We headed up to greet them.

"Well, Greetings, I am sorry we did not get a chance to face off against each other." Greeted Alexander.

"The leader of the United Empire wishes to speak with Nero and the Foreign mage privately. He assures you that no one will be harmed during this meeting." Added Waver cutting to the point.

"Umu I do wish to speak to the leader, are those terms agreeable to you Ritsuka?" said Nero.

"I have but one request, I would like to bring along Mash with me, she has been as much a part of this as I have. We should both go as representatives of Chaldea."

"I will see if those terms are agreeable." said Waver before turning to a soldier and sending a message off presumably to the Palace. It was a few minutes later that the soldier came running up and whisper to Waver.

"Alright, The leader of the United Empire has agreed to your terms. Please follow us." He said turning to lead us away.

I felt a tug on my arm before I could continue It was Kotarou "Umm master are you certain this is wise. You could be walking to your death." he told me bluntly in a soft whisper.

"I know who the leader is and more than that I trust him to keep his word. However stand at the ready I may need your assistance. I'll use command seals to summon you if needed." I informed him. He let go and bowed "As you wish Master.

With that we were escorted through the city. It looked like up until recently it had been a very vibrant city that had been full of life, however shops were boarded up and it looked like the civilian population was in hiding as all I saw was soldiers about.

The palace was in a similar state. It boasted beautiful white stone walls but I could see where it had been reinforced probably by magic to withstand possible assaults.

We were let in to the palace past guards who bowed to Alexander and Waver as they passed and were led in to a large throne room. Sitting there on the throne was a rather large muscular man. He had tan skin and rippling muscles. He wore a large single horned crown. His red eyes marked him as divine blooded and they seemed to look deeply in to us as we entered. He wore a tight outfit of black and gold and by his side there was a large awkwardly shaped spear, the the front half looked like it was carved out of red stone as thick as a tree trunk, ending in a large over sized edge, the handle was long but in no way looked like it should be able to counter balance the weapon. In fact the weapon looked like no human should be able to lift let alone wield it but I had little doubt the man on the throne would have any problems with it.

The man stood up "Greeting and welcome to the Capital of the United Empire. Though you have arrived sooner than expected. I wish to congratulate you on your strength and perseverance to make it here. I am Romulus the man who founded Rome. No doubt though you have been informed I was the leader here."

"Umu, we were informed and under normal circumstances it would be a great honor to stand in your mere prescience holy Progenitor. However even against you or even the gods themselves I will not neglect my duty to protect and guide Rome."

That drew a faint smile from Romulus "I see, that is very admirable. However I believe you are under a miss conception. I do not wish to harm Rome. I wish to make a truly perfect empire that provides for all the needs and wants of it's citizens. To do that though I need to reclaim the rulership of Rome."

"While that is a noble cause I fear that there is something you do not know that is very important." I stated it felt a little odd to speak as this seemed between Romulus and Nero but something needed to be said. Romulus raised an eyebrow but did not seem to take any exception to my interruption.

"Very well then Foreign mage you may speak. I would hear what you have to say."

I took a deep breath and began my story, I told him of Lev, his betrayal of humanity and his desire to destroy the era and all of human history."

Romulus nodded "I see that is quite a tale." he said before turning "Lev Lainur would you please come forth?" he called and from another room the Leprechaun looking traitorous mage emerged.

"This is utterly ridiculous. You can not believe what they have to say." he spat.

"I have made no judgment yet." Assured Romulus. "However I think with such allegations against you for now I should take custody of the Holy Grail."

Lev's Eyes widened in shock then narrowed as a cruel grin emerged on his face. "Do you truly believe I would turn such an item over to you?" he asked chuckling.

"No." answered Romulus simply standing up "However I was correct in assuming asking you would reveal your true nature." he said before calling out "Magna Voluisse Magnum!" releasing his noble phantasm as trees suddenly erupted from underneath Lev Impaling him as they sprouted up.

For a moment Lev seemed quite dead with trees impaling where several vital organs should be, his face was frozen in a look of Shock. Then came a low chuckle as the body once again began to move still very much alive.

"Well this is a disappointment. I did not think things would progress so quickly. I came to this Era to find someone who wanted to destroy it but I never did find anyone suitable. I guess it just shows sometimes you really have to do it yourself." He said with a twisted grin before his body began to twist, distort and grow.

"What manner of beast are you?" demand Nero in a mixture of anger and disgust.

"Well I suppose I can introduce myself truly now I am "Flaouros, one of Seventy two Demon gods serving the King of Mages. He said as he turned in to a disgusting many eyed pillar of flesh.

"Mash get ready to block what that thing throws at us, Romulus hit that thing with as many of your noble phantasms as possible, it's too big to move even if it doesn't seem to damage it much, Nero, You're with me, We are going to go get up close and personal with that thing." I announced.

So we moved. It's many eyes tried to fire lasers at all of us but was deflected by Mash. Trees kept impaling it, Nero and I charged forth dodging between it's attacks to hack and slash at it. As I did so I used two command seal and waited. The battle was a long and tense one, the demon pillar was stronger by far than any servant we faced yet somehow we overcame it. Slowly it returned to the appearance of Lev though badly beaten and bleeding. "Ughhh I don't know how but you have defeated me but I am not done I still have the holy grail and I will summon –" It began as a ball of floating energy appeared above his hand, then there was a blur and where the energy had been there was only empty air.

"wait where did the grail go?" asked a Confused and dying Lev.

"Oh you mean this?" I asked holding my hand out for Kotarou to appear beside me and place it there.

"I Kotarou waiting practically the whole fight because I thought you would pull something like this. Trying to summon some horrible monster or terrifying servant just because you lost. Truly Pathetic." I told him.

Then I heard a laugh and a slow clapping from beside me. "Indeed a filthy mongrel like that should know when to exit the stage. Begone you're role is done." Said Gil appearing with Ea in hand. He pointed it at Lev who looked terrified now. "Disappear." he told Lev as the slim red cone shaped "blade" of the sword began to spin and suddenly a blast of energy Lev was consumed entirely along with a good chunk of the floor and wall behind him.

I was a little surprised but Gil turned to me with a smirk "Well I suppose even a mongrel such as yourself, you proved to be a capable enough master. I shall acknowledge you as my master for now. You should feel honored." he told me.

I bowed "Thank you I appreciate your support and acknowledgment."

Gilgamesh nodded "Good, now then I shall return to spiritual form for now. These surroundings are unfit for one such as myself.

With that he vanished.

"I see, so it appears you have emerged victorious in our contest for the grail." Said Romulua to me now beginning to fade in to golden light. He then turned to Nero. "It is a shame I was not able to build my perfect empire. Still I am grateful that it is entrusted to one such as You. You have proven a worthy successor." he told her before fading away.

Nero blinked and then smiled "Thank you Holy Progenitor." she replied.

She then turned to us "Ah you two have saved my empire. Please accompany me to Rome so that I may shower you with gold and Jewels and give you a proper thanks for the task you have preformed for me." she asked.

Knowing the way of things I let out a sigh "Let me check in with Chaldea. I would love to go back to Rome with you but Singularities usually seem to repair themselves pretty quickly after we finish and get the grail." I explained causing Nero to look rather distressed.

That was when Roman chimed in appearing as a flicking image "Actually you would normally be correct but this Singularity seems slow to start to repair. In fact I Da vinci thinks hanging around a few days might be wise to investigate why this singularity is taking so long to start healing would be best."

"Wonderful, well you simply must all return to my Palace then we shall throw a grand feast in your honor."

And with that our adventure in Rome continued. The soldiers stationed at the Palace in Spain surrendered and were offered amnesty, though several Officers from the Roman Army were left in charge to ensure things were truly on the level. Nero got an unpleasant surprise when we left and she heard that Boudica and Spartacus had faded away in to golden light. That was when Mash and I had to explain that as Heroic Spirits summoned to this Singularity when their job was done it was time for them to return to the Throne of Heroes where Heroic Spirits are summoned from. I could tell she was a little sad that she didn't even get to say good bye to Boudica even though I suspect she knew Boudica had little fondness for her. She respected Budica.

The March back to Rome was a bit longer but more jovial. When we returned to Rome the mood was festive and we were granted a heroes welcome, people gathered in the streets to see us and cheered as we past. It was actually nice to feel that people appreciated our hard work.

Once we reached the Palace immediately Nero began preparations for the feast that would take place that night. She left for a bit to take care of some matters but returned later with a small group of servants in two, the servants were split in to two groups, each carrying a rather large chest.


"Umu I have not forgotten my promise. I ask that you take these as token of my gratitude and the gratitude of Rome for your service


The large chest ever elaborately etched wood chests and were inlaid with gold and jewels. One chest was set down before Mash and myself.. The chests themselves seemed like they were worth a fair bit, they were rather large, big enough to fit a small person in." The Servants opened them to reveal they were crammed full of gold, jewels and jewelry. I saw a ruby as big as my thumb, a golden necklace with large emeralds and diamonds in mine, each had to be a kings ransom.

"Please take these as tokens of my gratitude." Said Nero. I heard Mash Gasp "Senpai.. is this alright it seems like so much."

"Mash my dear it would be rude to refuse such a gift, Let us just thank her and appreciate it." I told Mash before turning to Nero "We are both honored that you would grant us such a gift. We are humbled thank you."

"Think nothing of it. In truth were it not for your… unique circumstances I would have offered you both high ranking jobs in the government, with wealth and property to fit such roles but as I understand you can only stay a short while. These shall have to do. May they aid you on your journeys."

I bowed and nodded as did Mash.

"You know it's a shame that you two aren't hanging around longer. I would make you both my wives. I would drape you in the finest clothes and see to it that you wore the finest jewels in the empire. Sadly it seems our time together is very limited." She noted.


I am certain I was blushing and a quick glance over to Mash confirmed she was.
With that Nero had to leave again as she had responsibilities to attend to.

"Ummm wow… I am not sure how to take what Nero just said Senpai." Noted Mash still blushing.

"I don't know, If I could I think I would drape you in the finest clothes and jewels available too. So I understand her perfectly."

That caused Mash's blush to deepen.

"Say um Senpai… I was wondering, what should I do with this treasure they presented us?" she asked.

"Well is there anything you want? I mean surely they have paid you for your services at Chaldea, right?" I asked but I had a sneaking suspicion that was not the case.

"Um no I was never paid I was in Chaldea since I was born, whatever I needed was provided for me but… I never really needed that much." She admitted.

"Ah… Well when we get back we are going to have a nice little talk with the Doctor about that oversight. You are risking your life here and deserve some compensation. That said as far as the treasure it is yours and I think you should use it however you see fit. I just have a small request. Use it on yourself. Spend it buying stuff that will make you happy. It will be a while before we can spend it so just think about it."

Mash looked a bit unsure but nodded.

Soon servants came in "Ah there you are the banquet is ready, Emperor Nero has sent us to collect you please follow us."

And so we did.

We were lead in to a great room with a massive long table filled with food. There was food from many different cultures there seemingly. There were many jugs of wine. Nero was sitting at the head of the table but got up.

"Ah welcome, I am sorry that took so long but it took a bit to put together a proper feast. As my guests of honor please take a seat by me." she said pointing to a couple seats at her right side.

Our companions soon followed, well those that weren't in Spiritual form. I somehow guessed that Gilgamesh found such a scene beneath him. He had accepted me as his master but that didn't mean he had accepted anyone else.

Medea took a seat beside us and thanked Nero. Then Kotarou then Leonidas and lastly Fergus who was already chatting up some servant girls. They giggled as they poured him wine.

We were joined at the table by several I assumed high ranking members of the Military as this I assumed was a celebration for them as well.

When everyone was seated Nero took that opportunity to stand up and speak.

"I would like to welcome you all to this feast/ It is a feast to honor some very special guests whom were essential in reclaiming control of the empire. Mash, Ritsuka would you mind standing up?" She asked.

We did as we were asked. "These two with their servants managed to help push back the United Empire, Unravel the mystery of who was behind them and help restore Rome to her full strength. Please give them a hand."

Everyone there applauded loudly.

She went on to make a speech thanking everyone there who had played a role in the victory against the united empire.

She finished and the feat officially began.

I was surprised when Nero herself poured Mash and I a goblet of wine.

"Please I know know the rules of your homeland but you are in Rome and as my guest I insist you enjoy some our finest wine."

I nodded as nodded accepting as did Mash. She then offered a toast. "To our new friends, May their journeys be safe and successful." she said before raising her goblet which we mimicked and then we all drank.

The wine was fruity and slightly sweet. I didn't think I would like alcohol but I didn't taste anything of feel any burning in my throat so I couldn't help but think it was rather good. In fact everything was good. The food was exquisite even for someone finicky as me I was able to find plenty of things that were pleasing to my pallet. As we ate we talked and recounted more of our adventures. Mash as the evening went on had several cups of wine and became a little flush by the end of the night. I tried to practice moderation not wanting to not be at the top of my senses.

There was laughter and cheers and as things were tapering down I saw Fergus leave with a Serving girl under each arm and a grin so large it barely fit in the room. I was told that Nero had taken the step of providing us with rooms for the night.

As the banquet drew to a close mostly it was Mash, and myself along with the rest of my servants. Nero thanked each of us in tern. It turned out that Mash and I would be sharing a room as Nero believed we were lovers I didn't bother to correct her. Mash and I walked back with Medea who had been rather quiet lately.

As we walked Mash had become uncharacteristically handsy and affectionate. "Oh senpai this was so wonderful." she practically purred in my ear then surprised me with a soft nibble.

I shuddered and leaned against her "Umm Mash are you drunk?" I asked reluctantly
She giggled "Maybe a little but… I had wanted to touch you and do other things with you for the longest time. I was afraid though what you would think of a girl like me but I don't feel afraid right now." she said leaning in her lips finding mine. Far be it from me to refuse a kiss from my girlfriend. However this kiss was different. It was more forceful, more lusty. With mash she was usually more reserved. I felt her arms wrap around me with surprising strength. I held her back and returned the making out. As I did though I happened to catch a glance at Medea who was a bit behind us. I don't know what I had expected. However what I saw was a look of sadness and longing. She quickly caught sight of me and turned away. Heading past us and heading in to the room provided her.

For a moment I continued the rather passionate make out session with Mash before through super human force of will managed to pull away. Leaving a rather confused and disappointed Mash.

"S-Senpai?" she panted in surprise.

"You have no idea how much I would love to continue this, in fact" I began placing my hands upon her shoulders "Would you do me the favor of waiting in our room for second I promise I'll make this brief. I just realized I needed to do something."

Mash looked a little disappointed and nodded I leaned down and gave her a passionate kiss "Don't worry I will not forget about you. I just need to speak to someone before we continue."

She nodded and headed in to our room.

I sighed and tried to get myself calmed down than went to knock on Medea's door.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Umm It's me can I come come in for a minute?" I asked.

The door swung open with a rather surprised looking Medea behind it "What- What are you doing I saw Mash and you going at it, you should be in there right now deflowering each other." she informed me.

I coughed and felt my cheeks warm at that.

"That may be so but I saw the look on your face earlier and your eyes look red like you have been crying." I told her.

She blinked and then looked sullen. "You really do have a knack for being perceptive at just the wrong time don't you?" she said with a sad grin. "Look I am a crazy old lady, I am lonely for something I know I can't have. I am the witch of betrayal. I know that it's ingrained in my spirit core. No one with a shred of common sense would want anything to do with me in that way. I am like the scorpion in the fable of the scorpion and the frog-" she began but I placed a finger at her lips to stop her.

"You are an amazing woman who anyone in their right mind would kill to be with. In fact I am about to go make love to Mash because she is ready but afterwords we are going to have a serious conversation about making this twosome of ours a threesome because I can't bear to see you so lonely like this and I am pretty sure she doesn't want you to be so alone either."

My words apparently stunned her. I caressed her face. "Even if she doesn't go for it. You can rest assure that I will try and find some one, some way for you to be happy because you are important to me too."

I felt her soft hand placed upon mine and tears began to fall. "One more thing. The witch of Betrayal was a role that you played once. It was the legend you came from. I believe you are much more than that. I think you are a woman with hopes and dreams and just as much right to happiness as anyone else. So quit selling yourself short." I told her.

She gave a soft laugh and a smile "I see, so that is how my master feels about me. Well… I am touched. Speaking of being touched you have a very lonely Kohai in there who needs you right now. You should go to her. You can tell me how things turn out in the morning."

I couldn't help but smile "Oh one last thing." I said surprising her "You are the reason that the Singularity is so slow to heal aren't you? You wanted us to spend some time enjoying the fruits of our victory."

She smiled and nodded "Caught again. You are getting too good at seeing through me." she admitted. "Now I do insist after all this hard work, go and enjoy a night of passion with Mash, we will discuss things in the morning." She demanded half shoving me towards the room Mash and I had been given.

"Alright well you are right I do happen to have someone waiting for me." I said and headed for the room.

As I opened the door I was surprised to find a very eager Mash waiting for me only wearing a smile. I tried to open my mouth to say something but soon her mouth was on mine and her tongue inside my mouth as she began to disrobe me rather forcefully.

It turned out to be a glorious night. We made love. We made love several times. We made love until we were both tired and sore despite our enhanced endurances. Finally as we lay panting in each others arms snuggling against bare tender flesh "Mmm I have something to talk to you about tomorrow." I told her she answered with a "MMM?" less than half awake.

"Don't worry my love it we will handle it tomorrow. Tonight was what it should have been. All about us." She gave a satisfied "mmmm." resting her head on my tummy as I ran my fingers through her short Lilac hair. The night had been perfect. There was no other way to describe it. Soon I heard the soft sounds of Mash sleeping and laid back deciding to join her.​