628King was looking forward to this day.
The sequel to his favorite visual novel of all time, Doki-Doki Sisters was coming out and he had taken all measures to ensure that nothing would impede his first day of playing it.
Calls from The Hero Association? He'd turned his phone off.
Getting recognized by the public? He had the game shipped to him by mail.
Monsters attacking his apartment? He had requested (read: lied) for extra protection around his apartment from The Hero Association
In short, he has covered all grounds to make this day nothing but playing his most anticipated game of the year. Everything was going so well, he even planned to call Saitama to play the fighting game that he bought alongside DDS2 together, stomping Saitama in competitive games was always a welcome pastime for him.
Everything was going perfect.
"Hey you, why do you keep glaring at me?! Do you have a problem with me?!"
So why is he now getting scolded by some stuck-up girl?!
The people beside the scarred man scooted away from him, intimidated by the sudden loud thumping sound coming from the man.
Both the man and the girl stared at each other, the girl glared at him with a mixture of anger and annoyance, while the man kept his stoic gaze at the girl.
The staring match ended when the girl scoffed at him to continue her lecture (?) to the rest of the room.
The rest of the room sighed internally with relief at the end of the tension in the room. A lot of opinions were made about King from that singular moment, but they can be summed up in a sentence.
'This guy got balls of steel!'
They could not be farther from the truth.
'Holy shit! I thought I was gonna get killed!'
Such was the man's true thought, betraying the stoic look he still sported.
He had no shame in admitting that he, a 29-year-old man, was scared by a girl probably 5 years younger than him shouting at him. To be perfectly fair to him, he wasn't paying attention to whatever it is the girl was talking about. That in itself was perhaps no reason to fear for one's life, but she seems to be the boss of this facility in the middle of the south pole, and that kind of people got enough power to make a nobody like him disappear.
'How did I get here again?'
King was pressing his face to his door.
He peered through the keyhole, looking to see if the coast was clear. He instructed for his games to be dropped off in front of his door, he waited a few minutes after he got the notification just to make sure the delivery guy wasn't going to see him.
He opened the door slowly and looked left and right, not a single soul to be found, perfect. He quickly grabbed his package and went inside.
He quickly opened the cardboard box his games came in and took a look at the games he had ordered.
"Hmm... Street Warrior 6, Tekker 7, GTS 6... Ah, here it is."
He took out his long-awaited game out of the box, a collector's edition of Doki-Doki Sisters 2: Double Trouble, complete with 2 figurines of the game's heroines.
The S-class Hero carefully unboxed the package, as carefully as he can, treating it as if it was his own child. In the end, he set up the 2 figurines on his desk, the artbook alongside his manga and the soundtrack in his drawer.
Walking over to his console, King noticed one more game in the box.
"What's this? Fate… Grand/Order?"
He sure as hell didn't remember ordering such a game, he never even heard of it. Impressive really, since he kept tabs on even small indie games.
"Well it couldn't hurt to try it out a little."
Well that was interesting.
The premise of the game is rather simple, summoning heroes from the past to save the world. Rather generic but it was rather weird that the game seems to assume you know about the world. Maybe it's part of a series?
He stopped after meeting the guy with the green hat, he could continue it later.
Now, the time has finally come.
He marched to his GameStation 7 and placed the disc into the tray.
The Hero sports an excited smile, an expression unknown to the world save for one other man, waiting for his precious game to start.
...
...
Except it didn't.
"What the hell?" King was confused, he bought the game straight from the website, not some 3rd party store. He hadn't heard of any issues about the game on social media either.
Is he just unlucky?
He put his ear next to the console, it seems that the disk is not turning inside the tray. Something seems to be wrong with his GS7. Weird, it worked fine just last night, so he hoped some percussive maintenance could solve the problem.
He slapped the top of his console with a bit of force, not enough to make a loud sound, but enough to make the console shake a little.
Nothing.
He smacked with a bit more force, making a loud BAM noise.
Nothing.
His veins popped, becoming visible on his forehead.
"Goddammit you stupid thing, work dammit!"
He kicked the damned box, sending it flying a little.
In an instant he regretted it, worrying that he might've put a stop to his hobby for a few weeks instead of calling customer support like a calm, rational person.
Thankfully, the video on his tv started, showing the logo of Doki-Doki Sisters with the familiar jingle alongside it.
Guess the manufacturers of the box knew what they were doing after all.
King sighed, relieved that the day he'd been planning for a while didn't just get ruined. He sat down and reached for his phone.
'Hey man, you up for some fighting games?'
He knows Saitama would never refuse a chance to get back at him for the dozens of humiliations Saitama suffered trying to beat him at games.
He might even give Saitama his desired win over him today, he's in a particularly good mood after all, hmm...
Nah, Saitama rage quitting will make his mood even better.
He sat down in front of the TV. Man, he hated his fake reputation as a hero, it has brought him far more trouble than it's worth, but he can't deny that the money is good. He can buy some pretty expensive stuff without making a dent in his wallet.
"Well then, let's start the game... huh?"
Is his TV getting brighter? He's pretty sure he never fiddled with the brightness setting on his TV.
"What the fuck?!" His TV kept getting brighter and brighter. He'd never heard of a malfunction like this!
"Shit! I can't see anything!" The light was starting to blind him! This is definitely not something normal! Can monsters come out of TVs now?!
The light kept getting brighter, engulfing King and lighting the whole room pure white.
The light finally died down, but when it stopped, King was nowhere to be seen.
"Well then, World's Strongest Man, show me how you can save the world."
"Huh, King's inviting me to play fighting games with him."
"I see, will you go, Sensei? I can guard the apartment while you're gone, monster activities are unusually low today. The Hero Hunter also seems to be laying low for now, so I don't need to patrol."
"Yeah, I'll go, no monsters have been showing up lately, I'm hella bored these last few days."
"Say, Sensei, are you good at fighting games? Every time you go to King's place, it seems you always play fighting games."
"I'm good, but King's way better. I've never been able to beat him, not even once."
"Huh? Why'd you always play it then?"
"Well... It's nice having a challenge."
Mash has had quite the eventful day.
Today is the day that she is going to take her first mission as part of Team A, so she had been expecting for the day to be quite eventful, but even then, she couldn't have predicted the events that had transpired.
First, while on the way to Director Olga's orientation, Fou suddenly went away to a random direction. So, she followed it, and when she caught up to it, she saw a boy sleeping, which wouldn't be so unusual had he not done so on the cold, hard ground of the halls in Chaldea.
Still, as unusual as it was, she thought it was a pleasant surprise. Ritsuka, whose name she just learned, seemed like a nice person. Even though he has no prior mage training and most likely less experience with the moonlit world than she does, she still felt obligated to call him Senpai. He's the closest thing there is to a 'normal' human in Chaldea after all, so it's only fitting that someone who has never stepped foot outside the walls of this facility to call him Senpai.
After a pleasant conversation with Professor Lev Lainur, she and her newfound Senpai was on the way to attend Director Olga's orientation. That is, until it happened a second time. Another person sleeping in the halls of Chaldea.
What are the chances?! 2 people sleeping in the halls of Chaldea, on the same day too! Sure, this man isn't sleeping on the floor, he's simply leaning on the walls, but that doesn't take away from the fact that she encountered 2 people sleeping in the halls in the span of mere minutes.
Approaching him, Mash is pretty sure she'd never seen him before, so he's probably another master candidate just like Ritsuka, what a coincidence!
Taking a closer look at the man, she saw the tall man's face. He had quite the rough complexion and a huge claw-shaped scar on his face. Having a scar isn't that unusual for mages, with how many assassination attempts are made regularly on mages, but such a scar on the face would imply that he got it in a frontal fight.
He wore strange clothes for someone who's a master candidate. Today is the big day after all, everyone is wearing their uniforms, except him apparently, looking like someone who just went out for a stroll, but then again, mages are an eccentric bunch.
That being said, even with the man's strange appearance, she couldn't ignore the overwhelming presence of the man, she felt as if she's standing before a great mountain.
As she got closer to the man, she began to hear a loud thumping noise. She was alarmed, thinking someone was shooting off spells in Chaldea, but slowly she realized that the sound was coming from the man.
THUMP, THUMP, THUMP
It was a heartbeat.
"Umm, Mash, I'm not sure that waking him up might be a good idea." The boy warned, putting his hand on his kouhai's shoulder, stopping her from approaching the scarred man. He himself looked a bit scared, some beads of sweat were falling from his forehead.
"Don't be like that Senpai, I'm sure he's another candidate that fell asleep, just like you!" Mash said, though she didn't know if she was trying to convince Ritsuka or herself.
Ritsuka looked hesitant, but relented upon seeing Mash's determined face. In the end Mash's conscience won out over her fear.
"Umm, mister? Please wake up, the orientation is beginning shortly."
Fuck
Fucking fuck
He had hoped that it was all just a bad dream.
That when he opened his eyes, he would be greeted by his ceiling. That he simply passed out from the TV's blinding light and was having some fever dream.
But it would seem that all his hopes were for naught, as concrete proof that this was reality had just shown itself.
King didn't know where he was.
One moment, he was in his apartment, trying to shield himself from the blinding light coming from the TV, next thing he knew he was in a completely different place.
'What the?! Where am I?!' 'Did a monster kidnap me?! Did they finally figure out that I'm a faker?!'
He was in a complete panic, not recognizing the bluish interior of the building he was in.
After a few minutes of pacing around, he calmed himself down, thinking of ways to find himself out of this predicament.
'Okay, King, calm down.'
His hands went to his pockets, whew, his phone was still there. Great, he can just give Saitama a call and he'd be out in a single punch.
Breathing a sigh of relief, King turned on his phone to call one of his closest friends.
No signal.
King's smile turned stiff.
However, that was not the only thing that seemed off.
Of course, having woken up in an unfamiliar building, his first instinct was to open the GPS. WIth the state of the art phone the Association had given the S-Class heroes, it doesn't need a signal to determine his location.
However, the GPS instead displayed an error message.
…
King wiped his eyes, and focused his attention on his phone once more.
The message coldly stared back at him.
King slumped down to the floor, leaning towards the wall. His soul has just left his body in shock.
'Am I dreaming?'
How could the GPS be broken?! What the hell does that even mean?! It was based around the magnetic force of the earth! Is he on another planet or something?!
'...Wait, that's actually not impossible.' Aliens destroyed A-City a few weeks ago after all. Did their friends come to take him as revenge?
King's musings were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps.
Immediately, his fight or flight instincts kicked in, making him stand up straight.
'Shit, shit, shit! What do I do?!'
King thought about his options one by one. He can try to fight them, but that would have such a laughable result he mentally kicked himself for even suggesting it. He could try to flee, but how good are his chances in an unfamiliar place?
Slowly, the footsteps keep coming closer, he now sees the shadows of 2 people walking toward him.
Seeing that his predicament is about to reach critical points, King let out a breath and decided to use his greatest technique. He would lean back on the wall, close his eyes and appear as calm as possible, and scare off his 2 maybe captors away from him.
In short, bluff and hope for the best.
Just like always.
He felt someone slowly approaching him. Okay, this is it, when they get close, he will glare at them with all his strength.
And that is how he got here.
"Umm, mister? Please wake up, the orientation is beginning shortly."
King opened his eyes, turned his head and glared at the source of the young girly sound.
"EEP!" The purple-haired girl screamed, backing away from the scarred man.
Her companion, a young boy of similar age, immediately shielded her with his body. He defiantly stared back at the man, though his shivering body betrayed the strong front he put up.
"U-Um, w-we just wanted to tell you that Director Olga is going to begin her orientation soon. Y-you're a master candidate, right?" She managed to squeak out the word even though her entire body was shaking with fear.
The boy looked back at her incredulously, as if asking her if she really still wanted to tell the tall man about the orientation.
'Director Olga? Orientation? Master Candidate?' King was even more confused now; he doesn't know what any of that meant. That, compounded with the GPS error and the TV bright light, made King think that this wasn't some simple kidnapping.
Well, putting that aside for now, it doesn't seem like either the boy or the girl had any ill intentions towards him, if anything it seemed like they wanted to help him.
'Well damn, now I feel guilty.' What should he do now though, apologize and explain his circumstances to the 2 strangers?
...No. it's still too early to let his guard down, maybe he should just play along with what they think?
Hopefully, the unbelievable amount of times he had to bluff his way out of situations as a fake hero would help him here.
"...Yes, yes, I am." He finally replied after almost a minute of silence.
The girl sighed in relief and stepped forward; the boy reluctantly stopped shielding her.
"Well then, do you want to go there with us? We're heading there as well." The boy stared at her in disbelief, it seems that he didn't trust the Hero just yet, King couldn't blame him, after all he just gave a death glare to him and his companion.
"...Sure."
"Great! By the way, my name is Mash Kyrielight, and the one beside me is Fujimaru Ritsuka." Both of them made a tiny nod at him.
'Hm? Those names sound somewhat familiar.'
"And your name is...?" The black-haired boy spoke to the blonde man for the first time, distracting him from the thought.
"...King, it's King" Both of his newfound companions stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly not believing that his name was simply King.
It was true though; his parents really did give him the name King. Maybe they had hoped that he would grow up with exemplary traits like a king would have. Fat lot of good that did.
"Well then, mister... King, let's go to the auditorium." His companions started to walk away and King was going to follow them before something that struck him as odd stopped him.
...
'Wait a minute...'
Did they not know who he was?
Now, King isn't the type of person to scream "Do you know who I am?!" when a person doesn't recognize him, but to be perfectly honest, after his life got turned upside down by a certain baldy, someone not knowing who he is was a practically nonexistent event.
Whether it'd be as The World's Strongest Man, the 7th ranked Hero, or simply King, he would always have people approach him for autographs and the like. Hell, that was the entire reason he wore a hoodie and a hat every time he went out since then!
The sudden teleportation, the broken GPS, the unfamiliar words, and now this, just what the hell is going on?!
His thoughts were interrupted when he saw both of his companions away from him and he quickly closed the distance, walking quietly with them while musing on his predicament.
Did he get teleported to a secret facility on the abandoned continent that is trying to restore civilization there by raising children there from birth? Or is it something far simpler, an illusion by a monster targeting King?
Or, ha! Maybe he got transported to a different world altogether?
King shook that last thought off his head. Stupid him, things like isekai only existed in manga and anime.
King and his teenage companions continued walking, the silence broken up by Mash telling King about how she met Ritsuka just today, among other things.
"Well, here we are."
King and both of his companions entered the room, it was a large room, filled with many high-tech machines.
There were a lot of people in the room already, around 40ish people had gathered in the room.
King looked around the room, scanning it, there's a lot of computers and the like, though none he had ever seen before.
However, definitely the most eye-catching thing in the room was the giant holograph of the earth spinning.
The... Earth?
...
Something in King broke.
You wouldn't be able to tell from his face, a skill he unfortunately had to learn after ascending into 'heroism'.
Inside however, King was sure his heart stopped for a few seconds.
A globe holograph model of the earth, not something unusual at all. He saw a lot of those in the Hero Association. However, something about this globe is weird.
You see, the entire thing is different from any geography that King knew.
Multiple continents, separated by water, instead the single supercontinent King had learned and accepted as fact when he was a kid.
'Am I really in a different world?!'
Goddammit he thought of that as a joke! Not an actual prediction! And this is so damn different from the usual isekai plots! Where's the medieval fantasy setting?! Where's the reincarnation that is supposed to give him a second chance at life with his prior life's knowledge?!
King's thoughts for the next several seconds could only be described as a mess of continual screams.
King continued to scream internally for a few seconds before coming to his senses and looking around him.
'Ah, it seems that Mash and Ritsuka already found their seats.' He walked to an empty seat in the middle of the room and sat on it.
'...Wait, Mash…?' Now he remembers why her name sounded familiar, it's the same name from that damned mystery game! So he really is transported to an entirely new world, no denying it now.
He tried to remember every detail in that small snippet he played, but as hard as he tried, he only played 5 minutes tops. All he could remember was the name of the facility, Chaldea, and the summoning system of the game.
'I would've played it longer had I known it would come to this.' His eyes had lost all the life it once had, though to other people, it instead looked like he was intensely angry, something that made the people around him scoot away just a little bit farther away from him.
Through his peripheral vision, he saw a girl enter and take the center podium, seems like the orientation is about to start.
...Right, that's how he got here.
Honestly, after the revelation that he got isekai-ed, he wasn't able to pay attention to the girl. Unfortunately, his disinterested look had changed to a scary glare, another unfortunate thing he learned to do while in public. Seemed like it drew the ire of Director Olga.
'Man... What the hell am I supposed to do now?' He doesn't know what kind of world this is. Are there monsters? Is it a one-world government? Are there professional heroes? Where is he supposed to start?
He supposes he can try his luck with whatever organization this was, after all, he already successfully bluffed his way into an important meeting. How hard can it be right?
Right?
SLAP
King's musings were suddenly broken by the loud sound of a slap echoing through the room.
"There's no place here for someone who sleeps in the middle of a mission briefing. GET HIM OUT, NOW!"
Oh man, it seems Ritsuka was as bored as he is. Poor guy. He might not trust King, but he was willing to defend someone he just met from someone that scared, that alone probably puts him way above the 7th ranked hero in heroism.
"Alright everyone, briefing dismissed! Now get ready for your first missions!" And with the director's dismissal, everyone started leaving the room one by one. King doesn't know a single thing about what is it they are going to do but goddammit he's in too deep to get out now.
As he followed the rest of the candidates, he figured there's something crucial he needs to do before heading off to some unknown mission for God knows how long.
"Hey you, where's the bathroom?" He asked the candidate closest to him, a white-haired boy around Ritsuka's age wearing a black shirt with a gray jacket over it.
'Ah, that came out way ruder than I wanted.' Don't blame him, he's still shaken from the whole isekai thing.
"O-oh, um, it's not far from this room. Just go outside, turn right, and you'll eventually see the bathroom sign." The candidate was startled, but was able to compose himself enough to answer King clearly.
"Thank you."
"Oh, uh, yeah, y-you're welcome." For some reason, it seemed like the kid was more surprised that King thanked him than when King rudely and suddenly asked him a question. Thanking someone after you ask them a question is the norm, right? Even teachers thank students after asking them a question.
King headed towards the bathroom, leaving the group of candidates walking away.
'Oh, it really isn't far at all.' A few steps after turning right and King can already see the bathroom sign. Thankfully, this world seems to use one of the 2 languages from his own, the alphabetic language, rather than the more widely used logogram language, but King is quite adept at the former, so it's no trouble for him.
Getting inside, King looked around the place. There doesn't seem to be anyone here. For the first time since entering the new world, he was alone.
...
King fell down to his knees, finally relaxing and turning off his 'Public Mode' he'd been forced to wear. He's hyperventilating, his mental fatigue reached its critical point long ago and then broke whatever limit King thought his mind had when he saw that globe model.
A few minutes passed and King finally found the strength to stand back up again. The best thing to do now is to continue his bluff. If he can bluff his way to being The World's Strongest Man, then he should be able to bluff his way into this new world.
Well, that's what he wants to believe anyway.
Sighing, King finally entered one of the stalls to do his business, only to find that the stress is preventing his bladder from working properly.
"...For fuck's sake." Too tired to truly curse at the situation any more than he already did, King zipped up his pants and went towards the exit.
Getting out of the bathroom, King noticed that he had made a fatal mistake.
'Ah... Everyone's gone.'
He didn't know the way around and there's no Mash nor Ritsuka to help him now.
He's well and truly lost now.
He feels like he sighed way too many times today, but he can't help it. What should he do now? Explore mindlessly, hoping to find the right way in the big facility?
Before he could think more about what to do next, a voice greeted him.
"Good day, sir, how are you doing today?"
A friendly looking man in a green outfit and green top hat approached him with a smile on his face, greeting him.
'Oh, I remember this guy!' He was the guy that helped Mash and Ritsuka in that prologue he played a little.
He's pretty sure this is the first time someone talked to him without any sort of fear since he came here.
"Just fine, thank you." He really isn't, but he doubts telling anyone that would be a good idea.
"Good to hear, say, would I be wrong to assume that you are another master candidate? The others have already gone to the mission room, so I'm confused as to why you'd be here, mister...?"
"It's King and I had to go to the bathroom just now. I don't want my stomach to jeopardize the mission you see." This man was quite friendly, maybe King can drop his facade? After all, no one in this world knows who he is, so there's no reason to pretend that he's some strong superhero.
"Ah, yes, perfectly understandable. I am Professor Lev Lainur, one of the technicians in Chaldea." Technician, huh? So he should be pretty knowledgeable about the workings of Chaldea.
"Are you a mage? Or just a normal man who got chosen to be here? Either way, it's pretty shocking to get sent to the south pole, isn't it?" Lev laughed out loud; King however, simply remained silent.
'The south pole?!' Even if he's in a different world, King understands what that means. The south pole is a snowing tundra caused by the lack of contact by the sun it gets compared with the other parts of the planet, King assumes it's the same way here.
Also, did he just ask if he was a mage? Does magic exist in this world? Or is that simply a title given to scholars?
"Yes, Mr. Lainur, quite." Not knowing what else to say, King merely agreed with the sentiment.
"Please, call me Lev, if there's anything you need to know, feel free to ask me." With that He turned around and started to leave.
'Wait, no, shit! Don't leave me now!' He's the only person so far in Chaldea that he had a full pleasant conversation with, he needs to at least get 1 good info out of this guy.
'Think, King, think!' Let's see... he said he was a professor, right? That must mean that he's someone important here, probably working on something big too.
'Alright let's go with that, then.'
"Lev."
The man turned around to face King.
"I heard you've been working on something."
Lev Lainur Flauros was having a good day, for today is a most special one. Today is the day that his master's plan will finally take place.
Yes, today he would kill the inhabitants of Chaldea. It had been a plan that was decades in the making, so you could say that Flauros was quite ecstatic to finally see it all fall into place.
So happy he was in fact, that he decided that before killing all the puny humans in Chaldea, he would make small talk with a candidate he happened to see, listening to some of the last words humanity will ever make.
A blonde, scarred man by the name of King, something that struck him as odd since he didn't remember ever seeing that name on the candidate list. Perhaps it was a nickname or maybe a title he fashioned himself with, mages are an arrogant bunch after all.
The man seemed to be somewhat of a recluse, keeping the same stoic gaze throughout the whole conversation. To be honest, Flauros felt a bit uncomfortable, something about the man just seems a bit strange to him.
But it matters not, after all he and every master candidate in Chaldea are all going to die in the next 15 minutes or so. So, he bid him his leave and finally execute his master's plan.
Everything was going well.
That is, until King opened his mouth again.
"Lev."
The man turned around to face King.
"I heard you've been working on something."
For a brief moment Flauros froze.
Does he know?
No, there's absolutely no way anyone in Chaldea knows what he was going to do, especially not the man that just entered the walls of Chaldea for the first time in his life. Perhaps he was thinking of someone or something else?
"Me, oh no, I'm just a techni-"
"There's no need to lie Lev."
Now, Flauros' entire body seized up, his mouth completely dry and his pupil dilating.
The man in front of him, as if oblivious to what Lev is going through, continued.
"Someone like you is always working on something, even if no one else knows about it. But I'm quite a perceptive person, I know you're working on something big."
He knows.
HE KNOWS!
HOW THE FUCK DOES HE KNOW?!
"W-w-w-well King, I-"
"No need to tell me anything Lev, I know you can't tell anyone about your 'project', after all, it's something that will affect all of Chaldea, isn't it?"
...
For the first time in his millennia-long existence, Flauros found himself speechless.
This... man, this fucking bastard had somehow figured out his master's plan, which at this point had been brewing for thousands of years...
...on the first day he had entered Chaldea.
"Well, I'd advise you to be careful, there's no telling who might want to ruin your project, hell, it might even come from where and when you least expect it." King continued, as if oblivious to the metaphorical stake he'd been pounding into Flauros' soul.
Flauros could only numbly nod before going back the way he intended to.
"Ah, before you go, can you point me to the direction of the mission room?" Without even looking at him, Flauros pointed in a random direction, not even bothering to look where it is he's pointing, he's sure the scarred man only kept up the facade to mock him.
Who is this man?! Is he Marisbury's hidden weapon?! How did that bastard keep him so hidden for so long?!
He had never heard anything about a secret weapon from his master, as such Flauros could only rationalize that somehow Marisbury's secret weapon had managed to avoid even the eyes of his master.
Even so, the man is obviously a genius, able to deduct such a complex plan within minutes, maybe even seconds of meeting Flauros. Who knows what kind of strength he has for Marisbury to trust him even beyond his death?
One thing now is for sure, he has to alter the plan slightly, even if it means that the results won't be as satisfactory, it is still better than nothing.
Lest the man, King, put a stop to it all before it could begin.
King is proud of himself. Not only did he correctly guess that Lev had a secret project he'd been working on, he also correctly guessed the circumstances Lev has had on his project. He was pretty sure Lev was left speechless by his deducting skills.
He was sure that it was the start of a blooming friendship between the 2 men.
As he saw Lev go to a different part of Chaldea, no doubt to continue his secret project for the benefit of Chaldea, King himself went the way the professor had pointed him towards.
'Hmm, let's see here...' In the hallway where Lev pointed to, there were a lot of rooms, not unlike the rows of rooms in an apartment hallway. Is this really the place where the candidates take on their first mission?
'Hmm, it's too soon to judge, this is a new world after all.' Maybe these rooms have teleportation capabilities? Or perhaps the candidates' missions are to control drones from them? He truly had no idea what it is they are doing after all.
Well, he doubts that someone like Professor Lev would lead him to the wrong direction, he'd been here far longer than he is, so he should know the way around the place. With that in mind, King decided to randomly pick a door, expecting to see some of the candidates inside.
"Who gave you permission to come in?!"
"I was told that this was my room!"
Instead, there were only 2 people in what seems to be some sort of bedroom. 1 of them was a familiar face.
King's face turned menacing, though it was supposed to be a sour face, realizing that Professor Lev, intentional or not, had misled him.
Maybe King's sudden deduction shocked him too much?
Both of them turned to him, noticing the new occupant in the room, and had mixed reactions.
"EEP! Please don't kill me!"
"Mister King?! What are you doing here?"
"You know him?! Is this a planned assassination?! HEEEEEELLLLLLLLP!"
...
Goddammit
After a good minute of 2 people screaming each other and 1 simply dying inside while sporting a menacing look on the outside, they finally calmed down and resolved the misunderstanding.
The guy with the orange hair was one Doctor Romani Archaman, the head of Chaldea's medical department. He was slacking in what turned out to be Ritsuka's room, not knowing that the owner of the room had finally come to Chaldea.
"Ah, so you're Fujimaru Ritsuka huh, nice to finally meet you. A-and your friend is...?" Romani nervously glanced at King, still a bit shaken from King's (unintentionally) menacing look.
"This is King, he's another master candidate that me and Mash met on the way to the orientation." Ritsuka sighed, seems like he had it rough too.
"King? I don't remember any master candidate of that name... Say, uh, King, is that really your real name?" King is slightly miffed at all the confusion directed at his name, is it unusual for someone to have 1-word names in this world?
"Yes, yes, it is, just King." Romani seems slightly weirded out for a second, but his eyes lit up afterwards.
"Wait a minute, I think I remember someone getting yelled at by the Director other than Ritsuka, that was you, wasn't it? Man, you must have some serious balls to return her glare!" He really doesn't, he just learned to look fierce trying not to shit his pants while in a public space.
"Well then, seeing as we all got yelled at by the director, why don't we all rest here for a while and become friends?" That was probably the nicest thing anyone have said to king all day. Is it pitiful that King is crying tears of joy internally from such simple words?
"...Sure, this is my room anyway." Ritsuka seemed a bit annoyed that his room is now filled with 3 people when he just wanted to rest alone.
"Well then, why don't I start by explaining Chaldea in better detail..."
King's head is spinning.
After finding out that he was in a different world, King had some wild speculation about what's going on in this new world he found himself in.
But nothing could've prepared him for what Romani told him.
'Observing the earth on all time periods, including the past and the future, and travelling to that place and time?' King was at a loss for words. Something like that is far too advanced for his own world.
Romani told them in detail about the kind of organization Chaldea really is. In a nutshell, it's an organization made to preserve humanity's existence by observing anomalies that happen in places all over the world over different eras.
King's brain was about to short circuit from the info dump that Romani gave him, and that's not even accounting the fact that magic exists in this world!
Magic! Like the ones in fantasy manga!
Romani threw around many other words he didn't know the meaning of, like servant and prana among others, but honestly, he didn't have enough brain power to ask about it further right now.
"...and yeah, that's basically all you need to know about Chaldea." As Romani finished his lecture, King looked over to Ritsuka, who seemed deep in thought about what he had just been told. Huh, at least someone else here didn't fully know either.
King himself kept his stoic face the whole time, probably the hardest time he ever had while doing it, and he once went face-to-face with a dragon-level monster for God's sake.
"Hmm, that's weird, I thought for sure that Lev would come pick me up by now. I should actually be in the command room by now." Romani said while anxiously staring at his watch.
"Well, whatever, I'll take what free time I can get, Lev is probably still setting things up and taking longer than expected." Romani shrugged. He sure is a carefree guy, huh?
"Well, now that we're all friends, I'll treat both of you to some cake next time we go to the cafeteria. What do you say?" King smiled internally; Romani is the nicest guy he met so far in Chaldea.
"Hell yeah! I thought you were a sleazy guy, doctor, but it turns out you're a pretty alright!" Ritsuka jumped up to his feet, excited over the prospect of free food.
"Huuuh?! Why would you say that?" Romani had tears in his eyes while playfully trying to punch Ritsuka. King smiled at this, is this what it feels to be in a group of friends? The only friend he had before this is Saitama.
"Oh yeah, King, I almost forgot to ask about you, can you tell us a bit more about yourself? Where you're from, how's your family doing, That sort of stuff. I remember processing through Ritsuka's file, so I know a bit about him, but I don't remember going through yours at all. Sorry bout that, maybe I was too sleepy that day." Romani sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
King froze up. He doesn't know a single thing about this world's geography. He doesn't even know enough stuff about the world to make shit up! Maybe he should try starting with his family and avoid other topics as much as possible?
"Well, I-"
Before King could say anything more, the lights went out.
"What the? Did something happen-"
BOOM
The sound of a huge explosion cut Romani off before he could finish his sentence.
The lights in the room started flashing red.
"Emergency, emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and the Central CommandRroom."
The PA system blared through the building, broadcasting an emergency throughout Chaldea.
"Central Area's containment wall will activate in 90 seconds. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once. Repeat. Centr-"
Lev Lainur Flauros cursed.
What is he cursing at exactly?
Many things, really. His luck, his own incompetence, that stupid brat that always comes crawling to him when something goes wrong, the A team, every master candidate in Chaldea, and just about humanity as a whole.
Among others.
But if the Demon God Pillar had to choose just one thing, it would that damned man.
That scarred face, that blonde hair, that goddamn look he gave as he laid down the plan Flauros' master had been working on for millennia-
The man called King.
Never have Flauros experienced such hatred before that encounter.
Since that unfortunate meeting, Flauros' mind had been in nothing but distress. How could he have known?! He, a man he had never seen in Chaldea before, a man even his master had no knowledge of, gave an ultimatum to a Demon God Pillar with barely looking at him.
His words were vague, but Flauros received the meaning well.
'I know what your grand plan is, and I can put a stop to it if I choose to'
Why the man decided to toy around with him instead of ending him there and then, Flauros didn't know. Perhaps King merely did it on a whim, wanting a reaction out of him. Maybe he was a sadistic psychopath who doesn't care about humanity and simply did it because it amused him.
Or maybe even... he's a clairvoyant and making Flauros urgently alter his plans was the best route for humanity's future. If that was truly the case, then that would mean that his master was somehow blindsided, something unthinkable to Flauros.
Shaking his head, he focused back on the results of his emergency plan.
To be honest, looking at it from a human perspective, one would still call it a huge success after such a drawback.
Humanity was incinerated, that part of the plan was always going to go as planned, but the situation inside Chaldea did not.
Every master candidate in Chaldea was seriously injured, Flauros doubted that any of them would be able to walk unaided for the rest of their life even if they recover. After the unexpected obstacle, something like that would be considered a huge win for a human, but all of them were supposed to die, and for a Demon God Pillar, even the slightest deviation was an unforgiveable mistake.
Hence, Flauros can only look at the result of his actions with disappointment and disdain, he had even failed to detonate the bomb under Marisbury's brat! Now, she's running around the place like a wild duck, at least that brought him some amusement.
If there is any silver lining however, it was that the A Team, Marisbury's ace in the hole, had all been injured beyond help, by the looks of it, they would only last another minute or two.
Although, with the revelation of the hidden trump card known as King, he isn't sure the death of A Team is as good of news as it would've been.
Sighing out loud, Flauros started thinking about how he would answer to his master; he couldn't possibly be pleased by these unexpected developments.
Before he went, he took a look at Olga, that damned girl, always pestering him when even the smallest thing didn't go her way. He aimed his magecraft at the ceiling above her, killing her personally should alleviate some of the anger he accumulated today.
BOOM
The blast hit the ceiling above the girl, causing her to make a face of dread, satisfied at seeing this, he finally disappeared, returning to his master.
Fujimaru Ritsuka was having quite a bad day.
It all started when he was suddenly taken away from his house by some men in black that he now knows work for the organization where he had applied for a job. Honestly, he thought it was some sort of scam, the work details were kinda vague and listed Antartica as the workplace's location, he thought it was some sort of joke or ARG, but the pay is unbelievably high and he was desperate for money, having just freshly graduated from High School without plans for college.
After he got on the van, he was immediately bombarded about information about 'The Moonlit World'. Apparently, real, actual, magic exists! They dropped this on him on the way to the airport, not really giving him any time to think about it. He thought it was some highly elaborated ARG at that point. That line of thinking quickly died when he got on the private jet.
After he landed on Antartica, he was blindfolded while being taken to his new workplace, to make sure the place stays a secret apparently.
When he got to the place, he immediately went through some testing on his capabilities, doing a simulation on fighting with servants, who are basically ghosts of heroes from the past.
And after all THAT, he passed out in the middle of the halls. Out of shock or out of exhaustion? He didn't really care. What happened next was probably the best thing that happened today though. A pretty girl (and a little animal named Fou) woke him up, called him Senpai, and helped show him around! What kind of straight young boy doesn't dream of such a scenario happening at least once in their youth?
Anyway, he met with King after that. To be blunt, he still doesn't trust the guy, what kind of man would glare at a young lady simply trying to help him out?!
The bad luck didn't stop there, either. In the important orientation by Chaldea's Director, Olga Marie Animusphere, he fell asleep on the front row, got slapped awake and then literally kicked out of the room. Can you blame him? He passed out just a few minutes ago! AND THEN, he was also excluded from the first mission!
Though, in hindsight, that was probably a blessing in disguise.
Afterwards, Mash woke him up (again) and guided him to his room, where he would probably get some rest.
Then he found a man lying on top of his bed.
Then King entered his room out of nowhere a few seconds later.
He was quite upset that what was supposed to be his time to rest was interrupted by 2 different people. In the end though, it was all good. Romani not only gave him a way better lecture than Olga did, but he also promised to treat him to a cake!
King... just stayed silent the whole time.
Still don't trust the guy.
After such an eventful day, Ritsuka wanted nothing more to jump to his bed and let the realm of dreams take him away.
But that wasn't what fate had in store for him.
"Quick! This way!" Romani shouted at Ritsuka and King, all of them running, following Romani to the Command Center.
A big accident seemed to have happened and now the entire facility was in emergency mode. At first, Romani told both him and King to leave the place and evacuate, but Ritsuka wanted to stay. How could he escape knowing that people are probably dying as they speak? Not to mention, Mash was also still in the Command Center!
What surprised him though, was that King also wanted to stay. He didn't say anything, but he kept staring at Doctor Roman without moving a single inch, which eventually made Doctor Romani relent and led them to the Command Center.
Huh, maybe he'd misjudged King, he must have some pretty solid morals to do that.
After a minute of running, the 3 men arrived at the scene of the explosion, the room was completely in shambles, the entire place was on fire, the walls and ceiling threatening to collapse at a moment's notice. All, but the CHALDEAS, the model of the world and all its timelines, stayed intact.
"I'm gonna go down to the underground power station. You two save as many survivors as you can." Romani said, heading downstairs to the power station.
'This is terrible...' As Ritsuka scanned the room with his eyes, he saw all of his fellow candidates, all of them seriously injured, blood staining their clothes.
Groans of pain filled the room as Ritsuka tried to look for a single girl, the girl who lent her helping hand to him twice in one day, the girl who called him Senpai because he's the most human-like person she had ever met.
"MASH!" Ritsuka shouted. He found her; her legs have been trapped under a piece of the ceiling that fell off. Her breathing is ragged, blood staining her once purple hair.
"Sen... pai...?" The teenaged girl breathed out, barely able to speak.
"It's gonna be okay, Mash! You're gonna be okay!" Ritsuka said as he futilely attempts to lift off the debris that trapped Mash.
"No... no, Senpai, it's fine... you can't save me anymore... Please, save yourself... run away..." Every word that came out of her mouth was like a spear piercing through Ritsuka. What did she do to deserve this?!
Ignoring her words, Ritsuka kept trying to pull her out to no avail when all of a sudden, CHALDEAS emitted a loud whirring sound and turned bright red, something that attracted the attention of the pair.
"Warning to all observing staff. CHALDEAS' current status is changing.
SHEBA's observed near future data is being overwritten.
Detecting no traces of humanity on Earth in the next hundred years.
Unable to confirm humanity's survival. Humanity's future is not guaranteed."
After the sudden announcement, the doors that were leading out of the room closed shut, depriving them of any hope they had of leaving alive.
After a few seconds of silence, Ritsuka sat down beside the still trapped Mash. "Well, at least we'll die together, huh, Mash?" He said with as much cheer as he can muster, flashing a grin to his kouhai, trying his best to comfort her in their last moments.
Mash stared at him for a moment, before replying with a smile of her own, gentler than his own.
"Unable to access values of vitals of coffin Masters.
Unable to reach minimum persons required for rayshift. Seeking eligible masters...eligible masters discovered.
Reestablishing with Number 48 and unassigned number as Masters.
Unsummon program start. Beginning Heroic Spirit conversion."
They both barely listened to the announcement, instead they simply lay beside each other, savoring what few seconds they have together in silence.
"Umm... Sen...pai?"
"Yes, Mash?"
"Can you please... hold my hand?"
Without saying anything, Ritsuka gripped the girl's hand as tightly as he could. Both of them smiled at each other, waiting for their imminent demise.
"Rayshift beginning in 3. 2. 1.
Entire process clear. Beginning First Order demonstration."
King didn't know what took over him.
He should've run away, hell, even the good Doctor told him so.
When Ritsuka said that there were people dying, he couldn't move himself. It was as if his feet had been planted into the ground itself.
And when both of his friends started running, so did he.
Why?
If this happened a few weeks, or even a few days ago back in his own world, he would've lied and escaped.
So why now?
He does not find himself heroic, and even if he is, he doesn't have any of the capabilities necessary to help others. Every piece of heroism and strength people thought he had all belonged to his bald friend.
Yet, in spite of all that, he found himself running.
He doesn't know what he is going to do when they reach that room, or if he can even do anything to help. However, he already came this far, so if nothing else, he will at least try.
When that door opened, the scene looked familiar to him, it was just like when people cried his name as a monster ravaged about, not knowing that everything they heard about him was stolen valor.
Back in his world, he would simply bluff to the monster in question, hide, and somehow when he got back out, the monster would already die, something he now knew was done by his close friend.
But there is no Saitama now, nor is there a monster to defeat.
Just dozens of people, injured and asking for help.
Romani had gone down to bring the situation under control, while Ritsuka had rushed to help his purple-haired friend that, to be brutally honest, seemed beyond help to King. That left him alone, standing before some 40 injured people, all groaning in pain.
He did say that he was going to at least try, and that is exactly what he is going to do.
Having been in numerous scenes of monsters' rampages in the past 3 years, King had known about the priority of victims, even if he never helped himself. So, he did the best he could, dragging away the victims who were close to dangerous areas, like collapsing walls and burning debris, to more open areas.
"Huff, huff, goddammit, this is more tiring than I thought.' King was sweating bullets, drenching his white shirt. He knows he isn't athletic at all; his tall figure and scarred face makes people think that he has a 6 pack under his shirt, but he has never worked out once in his life before.
After that, he tried adjusting the positions of as many of the injured as possible, thinking back to all those first aid classes he took for extra credits.
After a few minutes of doing that, he collapsed, sweat drenching his entire body, the heat was too much for him to endure, how he made it this far, he didn't know. He had done all that he can do. Now all he is able to do is pray that Romani returns soon so that the injured can get further help.
"HELP! IS ANYONE STILL THERE?!"
A voice rang out through the room, grabbing King's attention. He knew this voice.
Director Olga was at the center of the room, quite far from where he was.
BOOM
The sound of an explosion rang out, though seemingly only heard by King. It was the ceiling right on top of Olga, it was going to fall on her!
King was too far from her, even if he managed to push her out of the way, he would definitely be the one crushed under the ceiling.
Yes, it wasn't worth it. It would be so easy to just stay still and do nothing, just like he had done throughout his 'hero' career.
So why did he find himself running again?
Why?
"Why don't you just become the hero people think you are?"
Ah, right.
Those words Saitama said to him that day affected him more than he cared to admit.
Maybe that's why he's running right now.
Maybe deep inside, he wants to be the hero people think he is.
Maybe, just once in his life, he wants to do something that can be called heroic.
"Director Olga, watch out!" The girl noticed him and immediately looked to where he was pointing, but instead of running away, her face was filled with dread and she was frozen in fear.
'Dammit!' Please, let him make it in time!
The ceiling started its descent, threatening to crush the girl beneath it with each passing millisecond.
However, at the very last moment, King managed to reach her, tackling and pushing her out of the way. Both of them laid next to each other, panting.
"Are you okay? Director Ol-"
Before he could finish that sentence, a cracking sound interrupted him. Suddenly the ceiling above them was about to fall as well. Curses! He didn't consider the explosion would affect the area around it as well!
King looked at Olga, she seemed to have noticed as well, her body freezing up once again. He looked back at the ceiling that was about to fall. There was no time for both of them to get out, with his exhausted state and her going stiff in fear.
...Ah, well, his luck was going to run out one day.
With what strength he had left, King pushed the young director out of the way, just as the ceiling was beginning to fall apart. The director stared at him with wide eyes, in shock and disbelief at what he just did.
"Rayshift beginning in 3.
The ceiling began falling at him.
2.
Huh, he always heard that your life flashes before your eyes before you die, but he saw nothing. Maybe his life was uneventful in terms of memorable moments. He thought back to his world, he doesn't have a lot of friends, huh? Well, he hopes Saitama can find a new gaming buddy.
1.
The falling debris was right in front of him now.
'Ah, well, at least I did something heroic for once.'
Entire process clear. Beginning First Order demonstration."
Well, it took some time for me to mentally prepare and start writing something.
Do tell me what you think about this... thing I've written in the reviews, preferably what you don't like about it so I can improve.
Updates will come biweekly ideally, but it could be a month depending on my mental state. If this story goes for more than 3 months without a single update, I'm probably in a really bad mental state.
This chapter was pretty long, I kinda got too excited writing it. Normal chapter length will probably half this give or take.
One last thing, the only Fate media I've actually consumed is FGO. I'm not a story skipper don't worry, though I started pretty late, around 2 years ago (during fate/zero event rerun). My knowledge of Fate characters that originated outside of FGO is purely through famous scenes, servant profiles, wiki pages, TV Tropes, story summaries, and community discussions, so if there's a moment where I get the lore wrong or a character is too OOC, feel free to scold me in the reviews.
See you next chapter (Hopefully).