631This is kinda important so I'm putting it in the beginning.
Chapter 1 had some updates because there are some parts I didn't like and were advised to change by another writer, so I recommend you at least give it a skim through because some does change the plot a little bit.
But in case you don't want to reread, that's fine, I probably wouldn't want to either.
All you really need to know is that he received FGO as a game and played a few minutes to familarize him with the concept of servants.
Other than that changes are minor.
King saw darkness.
Is this the afterlife? He considers himself to be a non-religious guy, but even he thought there was some kind of afterlife.
Instead, it was just... black.
So, it turns out that the afterlife is just one big nonexistence, huh?
'Well, if I'm going to be here forever, I might as well get comfortable'.
He turned his body around, laid on his back, and put both his arms behind his head, his back sinking into the soft ground below.
The nothingness after life was surprisingly comfy.
...
'Wait...'
Why would an empty void have a soft ground? Better yet, why would it have a ground at all?
Realizing that he had just felt and moved his body, King realized he was just closing his eyes.
'Goddammit, I really thought I died...'
With that, he stood up, opened his eyes, and took a look at his surroundings. He was in the middle of a town, which was burning as far as the eye can see.
...
'Nevermind, I'm in the afterlife after all.' Except, he's not in some void, he's in hell. How else could he explain going from the facility in the south pole to a town that's constantly burning?
'I guess this is fitting for a fraud like me.' He thought back to his life, he never did anything morally reprehensible, but he supposed he did give millions of people false hope.
He sighed and sunk back down into the earth beneath him. Hell wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, he wasn't being tortured or lit on fire for all eternity. He's just stuck forever in the middle of a burning city.
The fire from the burning structure around him isn't scorching him, merely providing some warmth.
Perhaps he's in some lower tier hell? or would that be a higher tier?
"SOMEBODY HELLPPP!" A cry for help woke King up from his thoughts, coming from the burning remains of a building to his left. It's a voice he had heard before.
"Director Olga?" Was his attempt at saving her a failure? Or maybe... they're both still alive somehow?
Arriving at the ruins where he heard the voice, he saw Director Olga inside surrounded by... Undead Skeletons?!
"What the fuck?" King exclaimed.
'Not only does this world have magic and advanced technology, it has fantasy-like creatures too?!'
"SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HELP!" Olga's continued screams broke King out of his shocked stupor. He already risked his life twice to save her, he'll be damned if he let her die after all that.
As fast as he could, King rushed to the scene, stumbling over debris as he did. Stepping between the monsters and Olga, he acted as a barrier between the two parties.
'It's him!' Olga was shocked at the sight of the man being her savior once again.
Rumbling sounds fill the area, The King engine, the thumping sound of the heart of the legendary hero that instills fear in monsters, started roaring. Just like how it goes ever since he became a hero, King will use the reputation he had garnered to turn his fears into the bane of monsters..
...
'Wait a second'.
This isn't his world. Why would any monster fear him here? Better yet, these are Undead Skeletons with no sense of thought, much less a sense of fear. As such, instead of fleeing in fear, the skeletons continued their advance.
However, King stood his ground, his stance upright, towering over the walking bones, the thumping sound from his body getting louder each passing second.
From the perspective of the Director, it would seem as if the man was truly fearless.
'FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!'
She could not be more wrong..
'What am I supposed to do now?!' There's no Saitama, no other heroes, not even basic law enforcement, nothing except the girl behind him, the monsters in front of him, and the barrier his body has become.
'I'm really dumb, huh?' One act of genuine heroism and he thinks he can be an actual hero. Just how overzealous can he be? In the end, he's just a fraud of a hero.
The skeletons are now inches away from him. One of them raised their sword, threatening to strike down the pretender of a hero.
'Well, I suppose I'm about to find out what the afterlife really looks like.' King closed his eyes, preparing to meet his end. He hopes that he at least bought some time for the girl behind him.
Except, the blow never came.
Slowly opening his eyes, King took in the scene in front of him. It seemed that the structure of the building couldn't hold on any longer and the beams of what used to be the ceiling fell down.
Right on top of the skeletons, destroying them.
King couldn't believe his luck, what are the odds of something like that happening? Even in manga, things like these would only happen when the author got too lazy.
"I see... You saw an opportunity to take them out without wasting any energy on magecraft." Olga said behind him, having regained her composure after the destruction of the skeletons. "Clever." She added.
King tilted his head. 'What is she talking about?'
"I saw all of it, you saw the beam on the ceiling about to fall down, and rather than use magecraft to destroy them, you instead chose to preserve energy by backing away and luring them under the spot where it would fall, isn't that right?" She asked him rhetorically, regardless of the truth of the matter.
"...Precisely, Director." King chose to agree with her interpretation, too tired and seeing no point in doing so anyway.
"I remember you. You were the guy that glared at me at the orientation, aren't you?!" Olga accused, pointing her finger at King.
'Really? We just almost got done in by a bunch of walking bones, and that's the first thing you say?' King thought, keeping it to himself. Some people are just like that, he supposed. Some things don't change, even in different worlds.
King kept his face neutral at the accusation, unsure at how to respond to it. Seeing this, Olga made a face that can be described as between flustered and angered. "W-well, you did save me back in the Command Room and just now. S-so, we're even, right?"
King blinked. He's not about to demand admiration or anything, his fraudulence still far exceeds his heroism after all, but isn't she going to thank him at the very least? He's seen this type of behavior before, it's the same as those kids of Hero Association Executives have. Spoiled kids who believe their position in life make them instantly better than everyone else.
King sighed internally, he usually lets the other heroes take care of them, but he's stuck with her as his only companion for now. Part of him hopes that Ritsuka is also here to share this burden, but a bigger part of him hopes he and Mash are safe in Chaldea.
Seeing as King didn't respond to the truce, she scowled, feeling annoyed at the presumed indignance. "What's your name anyway? I don't remember your face in the candidates list." She asked the hero, partly because she really didn't know, but also because she wanted to kill the one-sidedness of the conversation.
'Damn' He managed to lie to Romani about his identity, but he was a carefree and nice guy, he didn't really want to take his chances with the Director. Should he lie? What is there even to lie about? All his knowledge of even basic geography is rendered useless here.
"Hmm? Why are you being so silent? You are a master candidate, right?" She asked once again, narrowing her eyes. "Spill it! Your name, your country, your education, your title, all of it!" She pressed him harder, forcing him to answer.
"My name is King." He responded; his face, ever so stoic, betraying the panic in his mind.
"King, yeah, I see..." She nodded her head. King felt relieved, perhaps someone shared his name in the list.
"Never heard of it." …Or not. With four simple words, King's hopes were dashed. Perhaps it was naive to think someone else had such a strange name.
"So, who are you really, hm? Someone I've never heard or seen before, conveniently appearing right at the day that Chaldea is about to conduct its first mission... Interesting." She interrogates him more. The monsters were gone, but somehow the tension became even thicker.
"I've told you all that you need to know." The rebuttal came out reflexively from King's mouth.
'What the hell am I even talking about at this point?' It seems that today he is going to find out the limits of his bluffing.
"All that I need to know, well then, alright, I see what you mean." She said as she smiled. King could sense the insincereness of her smile, seeing the anger behind the overly toothy grin.
"Like hell that's all I need to know!" She suddenly shouted, testing King's stoic face. "Who are you?! What is your purpose in Chaldea?! Which family do you come from?!" She assaults him with a barrage of questions, King's face almost faltering at the rapid questions.
"...Why did you save me?" She muttered her last question quietly, her head drooping down. In his panic, King missed her final question.
"I..." King started to speak while darting his eyes around, trying to figure out what to say next. His eyes landed on one of the signs in the ruined building, it said 'Our teachings will make you soar even higher than the stars!'
"...was sent by the stars themselves."
...
Olga was silent for a whole minute. Well, this is it then, once they get back to Chaldea, he's going to get kicked out and meet his end in the cold of the south pole alone. Maybe he'll jump into the freezing sea to make it quick.
"...So, you work for him, huh?" She finally replied, some bitterness in her voice.
'What?' Her response puzzled King. There's no way that his corny answer actually made sense to her, right? Hell, it barely makes sense to him!
"So, it seems my father has another one, hm? Another secret part of Chaldea he didn't bother to tell his daughter about before kicking the bucket? 'Sent by the stars' what a funny sense of humor you had, father." She said the word father with not a little amount of malice, before laughing mirthlessly.
King was concerned now; did he just unknowingly trigger a young woman's trauma by accident? How was he supposed to know that stars were a big part of it?
"Well, then, King, let's go somewhere else, shall we?" She said while smiling at King. She's no longer yelling and pressing him, but King preferred her then to what she's doing now. At least her anger was sincere.
Luckily for him, the tension in the air was interrupted by a voice.
"Mister King! Director Olga! I'm so glad both of you are safe!" The voice of Mash came from outside the ruins. King is glad she's safe as well, Ritsuka must've been one hell of a strong teen to get her out of that giant debris.
Something else about her caught King's eye. '...Huh? What is she wearing?!' She seems to be wearing some kind of armor, though the practicality of it is…questionable.
'What kind of armor has a hole in the middle of the stomach? Her thighs are exposed too!' King also took notice of the weapon she's wielding, some sort of shield/cross hybrid.
Mash descended down to the ruins, followed by Ritsuka close behind her. Ritsuka surprisingly didn't look any worse for the wear after the whole burning room thing.
"...What happened to you?" Olga asked at Mash, looking up and down at her strange appearance.
"Ah, well, Director, you see the truth is that I-" "A Demi Servant, right? I know that you fused with a servant, but why is it suddenly successful now?!" Olga cut off Mash's answer.
"And you, civilian who fell asleep back then, how did YOU become a Master?! Only first-class mages can make a contract with a servant. What did you do to her to become her master?!" Olga levied accusations against the newly minted master.
"What?! I didn't do anything to her, you're way off here!" Ritsuka protested.
King thought back to what little snippet he knew of the game before coming here while the two argued. Masters and Servants, he remembered those terms on the summary on the back of the game's cover. Basically, Servants were ghosts of heroes from the past and Masters were the contractors of said ghosts. It's quite a simple concept, but probably a lot more complicated in practice.
The two kept arguing, undeterred by Mash's attempts at calming them down. King sighed, maybe he should intervene? Mash is too meek and shy to calm down someone like the Director.
"Stop it, you two, there are more pressing matters at hand." King said as sternly as he could. He doesn't know what the hell is going on, but he could say the same about most S-Class meetings anyway.
Both of them stopped talking and looked at him. Olga stared at him with a mixture of hatred and a little bit of... admiration? King couldn't really tell. Ritsuka on the other hand, looked away and felt a little ashamed.
"Thank you, Mister King. Now that we're all here, let me explain about our circumstances." Mash started to explain to the rest about what had happened.
Apparently, they were all 'rayshifted' into this 'singularity'. In layman's terms, transported into this place and time period. They're now in a city named Fuyuki in Ritsuka's home country, Japan, in the year 2004, about 11 years ago from the game's setting.
Mash and Ritsuka had made contact with Romani just a few minutes ago, who relayed all the information to them. According to Romani, most of the staff of Chaldea has been severely injured, with about 30-40 sustaining minor wounds and only 15 are currently able to operate.
"...And what about the master candidates?" Olga asked, low expectations visible in her gaze.
Mash looked downcast. "...Every single one of them except Ritsuka-senpai is seriously injured. All of them are expected to be in a coma until further medical assistance is available. Furthermore, every member of Team A other than me are all fatally injured." She paused. "The Doctor told me to not get my hopes up for them..." She murmured the last part, unable to look the Director in the eye.
"...I see." Olga replied, lips quivering, attempting to mask her feelings. "So, is that why your master is this unqualified civilian?" She motioned to the young boy beside Mash.
"I have a name you know, it's Fujimaru Ritsuka." The young man seemed pretty annoyed at Olga's behavior. King can't blame him, it reminds him of the meetings in H.A. where arrogant suits would come in and look down upon the work of the heroes. These types could never be satisfied could they?
"Very well, then, Fujimaru Ritsuka, because of the dire circumstances we've found ourselves in, I approve you to be the temporary master of Mash Kyrielight." Olga continued, ignoring Ritsuka's protest.
"Now that all available members of Chaldea are present, I expect you all to follow my commands at all times." Olga said, planting her foot down as the leader of the makeshift party.
"Now then, as Romani told you, the first thing we should do is find a Leyline Terminal to gather enough energy to perform a summoning." Her first order given, she began walking out of the ruins, leading the group.
"Ah, please wait for us Director!" Mash ran after her, while Ritsuka sighed and followed suit.
...
King let out a tired sigh, the wait to feast his eyes on Doki Doki Sisters 2 has gotten even longer.
Olga Marie Animusphere was feeling many things.
The most apparent being frustration.
Her day started as expected, it was Chaldea's big day. The day where they would execute their first mission.
Their mission was to figure out why SHEBA couldn't see humanity's future past 2016, and to investigate the possible cause of this singularity in Fuyuki, Japan, dubbed 'Singularity F'. They had gathered 48 candidates from all around the world, 38 mages from notable families and 10 civilians, all with varying aptitudes to perform a rayshift.
The 7 best candidates, handpicked by her very own father, were to lead the operation accompanied by Mash Kyrielight to help with the summoning ritual. These 8 personnel would be dubbed Team A, the very best of the bests in the world.
The candidates would go in, summon their servants, and find out the cause of the anomaly, while she would stand in the command room and bark whatever orders were necessary.
Despite the unfortunate events that lead to her being the Director, she was determined to prove herself worthy to the Animusphere name. After all, if she really is the daughter of her father, something like saving the world should come naturally to her.
Besides, Lev is always there for her if she needs help.
The big day was coming along fine except for 2 unruly candidates. Hell, coming into the command room she even felt proud of herself for once.
But that feeling instead slowly turned into creeping dread as the operation went on.
For some reason, the coffins weren't working. They simply wouldn't rayshift. If it was just one of them, she could chalk it up to one person's inaptitude, but every single one of them were failing.
To add on top of all that, her crutch, Lev, was missing too. At this point her day had already been turned upside down.
In panic, she announced that the first mission will be delayed as the staff will try to figure out what's wrong. It's annoying, but it was a mostly minor setback.
Then, her day went from upside down to a four dimensional wreck.
An explosion went off where she had just been standing minutes prior. Smoke and fire clouded her eyes as she tried to call for help, not knowing the futility of her calls.
When she came to, what greeted her was a scene from hell itself. Injured men and women who, mere minutes ago, were excited at the prospect of saving the world. No one could help her, even so, she cried for help.
In desperation, she imagined Lev coming to help her out of situations she can't solve herself, like he always did. Deep down however, she knew that he would not. She heard explosions go off around the facility, she hoped he made it out at least.
She knew no one would come, why would anyone want to save her over others anyway? She was a failure of a leader whose facility blew up the same day it was supposed to first start its operation.
Even so she continues to cry for help.
Perhaps it is human nature to cling to hope, even when hope itself betrays them.
There were times she doubted her own existence, her worth, her right to lead the fate of the world, but here and now, all she wants is to continue living. She still hasn't done anything to prove herself yet, she still hasn't tried that new blazer she saw in the magazine a week ago, she hasn't made a friend other than Lev.
There's still so much she wanted to do.
So she clings to hope, and cries for a savior, a hero.
That's when he arrived.
She remembered him from the briefing, glaring at her with that scarred face, wearing an outfit so casual, it disrespected the ground he was walking by simply wearing it. She thought of him as another arrogant mage, thinking he was above all others because of his family name. Truthfully, part of her still thought of him to be an arrogant mage even now.
But what happened in the command room shattered those notions.
He, without hesitation, ran through fire and pushed her out of the way of falling debris, saving her. The hero that answered her cries was someone she least expected.
When the second debris fell towards her, she truly thought it was over. She would die, unable to achieve anything in life, not even taking one step into her supposed mission.
But then, he pushed her out of the way, saving her at the cost of his own life. Was a mage truly able to do that? All her life, she was taught that mages are power hungry bastards who care about nothing more than personal achievement, something she supposes applied to her as well.
So, when they met again in the singularity, she wanted to know more about her savior. She never saw his name or picture in the candidate list, so she started asking him all of his personal information. Sure, she might have been pushy and intense about it, but she has a reputation to uphold, and her mind is still shaken by today's events.
Then he revealed that he was sent by her father. Sent by the stars, he said, one of the defining symbols of the Animusphere family.
Her father, who was never there for her childhood. Her father, who up and died suddenly without so much as a warning. Her father, who she inherited Chaldea from, without ever being told its workings and purpose. Her father, who chose a more talented mage as heir to the family over her. Her father, who she resented, yet can't help but admire at the same time.
He was working for that man.
What were his orders, she wondered? Did the old man actually have a heart after all and told him to protect his daughter in the events of his death? She wanted to believe that her father actually cared for her instead of seeing her as an unfortunate, untalented heiress to the family.
But she knew the more likely answer: he was sent to watch over Chaldea because her father didn't trust her to lead it in the event of his death. Hell, he probably would've preferred Wodime, the heir he chose, to lead instead. Yes, that was probably it.
But if that was the case, why not let her die? There are people more qualified to be the director in the events of her death. So, why did he go so far as to sacrifice his life for hers?
Thus, her current opinion on him is still.. undecided. She couldn't really trust him yet, he was hired by her father after all, but she can't hate him either, he saved her life three times at this point, at the price of his life on one of them. So, she resolved to find out more about him by observation on this singularity.
Speaking of which, she's also stuck with the last remaining master candidate, a civilian with no prior knowledge of the moonlit world. She acted ignorant, but she remembered his files. Why does HE have such a high master aptitude while she, who trained all her life, has absolutely none?!
She wasn't angry, nuh-uh, not at all, just... curious. Yes, that's it.
Mash was also there, the inhumane experiments done on her finally showing fruit as she is now fused with a heroic spirit. She wasn't proud of what Chaldea, and by extension, her father, did to her, but at least it has a use now.
"AAHHHHH! Where is the leyline point?!" Half an hour has passed since their rendezvous with their objective still nowhere in sight, causing Olga to let out her frustrations.
"C-calm down Director. I'm sure we'll find it soon." Mash, ever the level headed and nice girl she is, tried to calm the Director down.
"...I thought you were the leader of this whole operation." She decided to pretend she didn't hear Ritsuka muttering, for the sake of all their sanity.
"You know what, forget it, let's just rest for now and continue later." Olga announced to the group. It was a questionable decision, considering that they have little to no supplies, but their fatigue won the argument and they all decided to sit down at a soft ground nearby.
They all sat down and rested in silence, until King decided to stand up and walk somewhere. She wanted to demand him to stop and stay there, but she found that she was too tired to do even that.
"M-mister King! Where are you going?" Ah, Mash, she was always such a hard worker, even now in these conditions.
King stopped for a moment, but didn't look back. "Taking care of business." He finally replied, before continuing to walk away.
The rest of the group stared at him, for a while, puzzled, until he made a curve and was out of their sight, then Mash broke the silence. "Mister King! T-That's it! I sense magical energy from where you're heading!"
That got all of their attention. She and the group stood up and started to catch up to him.
So, he can detect magical energy from a distance huh?
Just who is he?
King was tired from all the walking they did. At least he was finally able to rest now. They were all sitting in silence, so it'd be pretty awkward for him to do or say anything.
Still, a man's gotta do his business.
So, he stood up and started walking away from the group to a secluded area. Intending to relieve himself once again. Man, he drank way too much water in preparation for his gaming marathon.
"M-mister King! Where are you going?" Mash asked him from their resting spot. He was about to answer her question, but stopped himself. It would be really awkward and inappropriate for him to say that he's taking a piss especially to a teenage girl.
"Taking care of business." That was the response he decided to give after some thinking. Simple, to the point, and understandable to most.
He kept walking away, turning at the corner of some ruins, getting out of their sight. He walked up to some bushes and started unzipping his pants, determined to get those energy drinks out of his bladder.
"Mister King! T-That's it! I sense magical energy from where you're heading!" Mash once again shouted at him, prompting him to stop lowering his pants and turned his head at her. They were heading straight at him.
'Goddammit! Can't I even get a minute to take a piss?!'
"There! That's the Leyline Point!" Mash pointed to a bright spot around 20 meters from the bush he was about to relieve himself on.
Oh, so he found it by accident, huh? Good for them, really, but it seems the call of nature needs to be put on hold for a bit more.
Mash set up her shield on the ground, apparently making it a 'catalyst'. He doesn't really understand what it meant, but moments later, their surroundings changed, turning into some sort of blue chamber.
"This is... the same as the summoning experiment chamber at Chaldea." Mash exclaimed. Ah, so this is where the whole summoning thing happens.
"-ello? Hello? Good, the communication is back online!" Romani's relieved voice came over from the Chaldea Command Center accompanied by a hologram of himself. His visage is that of a tired man, no doubt from worrying about the fate of the party.
"Good job, all of you, now we can communicate and send ra-" "Why are YOU assuming command, Romani?! Where's Lev?! Put him on!" Olga rudely cuts off Romani, desperation lacing her harsh words.
"WAAHH! D-director, you're alive?! And unharmed too?" Romani asked, surprised at the voice of the Director.
"Yeah, I'll explain that later. Anyway, where's Lev? Why are you, the head doctor, in charge?" Olga brushed off his questions and asked hers once again.
"I'm fully aware I don't have the qualifications to lead Chaldea, but there's no one else, Director. I am the highest ranked member of Chaldea able to operate." Romani answered.
"W-what? What about Lev?!" She asked, panic fully overtaking her tone at this point.
"...I'm sure you've heard that only 15 members of Chaldea are able to work at the moment from Mash, while the rest are injured and being treated by the few medical staff that are available." He paused for a moment, his face slowly turning grim. "...However, at the time, Lev was inside the Command Room Control, the origin of the explosion. There's no way he could've survived." He finished with that statement, crushing any hope Olga had.
"...No way... Lev..." The Director could only mutter those three words, before falling to a brief silence, clenching her fists. "...Nevermind that, what about the candidates?" She pushed on nevertheless, her fists still clenched, threatening to draw blood. King winced internally. Maybe it was presumptuous of him to assume she is just an arrogant nepo baby.
Well, she's still arrogant, but it seems that she does have the qualities of a true leader.
"Well... you already heard right? They're injured so-" "That's not what I'm talking about! The medical staff are busy with the injured staff, just put them in cryogenic sleep in the coffins!" She barked the order at Romani, cutting the good doctor off once again.
"O-oh right! They have those functions! I'll get on it right away!" Romani disappeared from the communication screen, immediately relaying the orders.
"...Cryopreservation without prior consent is a crime, director." Mash spoke up after a brief silence.
"You think I don't know that?! I can't let 47 lives die just like that! Anything else, I can explain once they wake up." Olga's reply came at Mash.
'Prioritizing her subordinates' lives over her own reputation, huh?' She knows how it would look for a director to do such a thing without consent, yet there was no hesitation in her orders. There aren't many high-level executives that King knew who would do that.
'Who knew an arrogant brat could also be a reliable leader?' King thought, her image becoming much better in his mind, not that he should say that to her.
"Whoa... so you can be pretty reliable too, huh, director." …Though it seems that someone else lacked the tact to do the same.
Ritsuka clamped his mouth with his hands after realizing what came out of his mouth.
"Huh?! What's that supposed to mean?!" She glared at Ritsuka, who backed away while holding his hands up, while Mash tried to dissuade Olga from doing regrettable things.
Before Olga could get any angrier, Romani thankfully cut in to give his full report to the director.
"...and that concludes my report." Romani finished his report to the four of them.
In short, Chaldea has lost 80% of its functions and only about 15% of the staff is able to work at the moment, though that number could go up to 50% once proper medical supplies come in . The rest of the staff are unfortunately severely injured to the point that they might not be able to work anymore.
Despite all that, there were miraculously no casualties on the staff's side save for Lev and Chaldea should be able to run normally in a few months time.
The master candidates, however, weren't so lucky, all of them have been put into cryogenic sleep and will be put into a coma until further medical assistance is available. The members of Team A in particular are all in dire conditions, with Romani unsure if their lives can be saved even with further medical assistance.
Standing behind everyone else at the party, Mash bit her lip at the news.
"I've shifted all available manpower to repairing the rayshift system and maintaining CHALDEAS' and SHEBA's states. As soon as external communication is possible, we'll request help and supplies." Romani continued.
"...Good job, Romani, I'll give you that." Olga replied after hearing Romani's entire report. "Alright, I'll approve you as the acting director of Chaldea until I return. While you repair the rayshift system, we shall look into Singularity F." Olga declared.
King made an inward sigh, it seems like he got roped into something insane. Saving the world is really more Saitama's forte than his, so why him?
'Well, maybe this is karma for stealing his valor.' Regardless of how the man feels about it, King still took the reputation that was rightfully his.
Well, it's not like there's any way out of this singularity, so he supposed he'll play along with the world's demands. Still, if his world can withstand city destroying monsters by the weekly with the dogshit leadership of The H.A., then this reliable director of a girl who is admittedly also arrogant, hot headed, and angry at him should lead them just fine, right?
Right?
"Huh…since when did you become so brave, Director?" Romani immediately clamped his mouth, far too late for it to have any effect, however. King could see Ritsuka holding in laughter at the sight of his mistake being repeated.
"You and Fujimaru need to practice keeping your mouths shut." She scowled at Romani and sneered at Ritsuka, causing both of them to slightly jump.
"Anyway, on the account of our lack of experience and supplies, our exploration of Singularity F will be limited to finding the root cause of the singularity." Olga recomposed herself and gave the final word on the operation. From the sound of it, King hopes it would be a simple expedition and nothing else.
"Before we end communications, there is something I need to tell you all." Romani announced to the group.
"The FATE system should now be able to work." The statement made Olga widen her eyes in surprise.
"The FATE system?" Ritsuka asked, simultaneously voicing King's question as well.
Romani then went on to explain that it is the summoning system that Chaldea uses or at least planned to use, as it had never been stable until this very moment, only ever managing to summon 3 servants over the course of Chaldea's 11-year-old existence.
"However, it would seem that Mash's successful transformation into a demi-servant has made her shield into a catalyst capable of stabilizing the summoning process." The group turned their heads to Mash's shield, where she had planted it, the blue light still emanated from the shield, the center of her shield being the source of said light.
"As such, we can't let this opportunity go to waste. I'll send over some Saint Quartz; they are crystallizations of the concept of a heroic spirit. The R&D section has been working on how to engineer them to help with the FATE system ever since Chaldea existed. It was still a work in progress, but with Mash's shield we may have a chance to summon servants." He further explained the system. Within a few seconds, 6 rainbow-colored star-shaped diamonds appeared on top of Mash's shield.
"We calculated that at least 3 Quartz were needed to summon a servant, though there is a chance that they'll just disappear into magical energy. 30 is the optimal amount, but with humanity's circumstances, I doubt the throne would be picky, so I sent 6 for each King and Ritsuka." With that, Romani finished his mini lecture.
"Best of luck to you all. Feel free to contact me in an emergency." With that Romani cut off the communications, leaving the four of them with the crystals.
Ritsuka walked over to the crystals, picking up one of them. "Servants, huh? They're basically heroes of the past right?" He said, mostly to himself. Despite the situation they're in, the boy can't help but crack a smile.
"A fan of heroes, Ritsuka?" King decided to start small talk with the teen, neither of them have been talking much since the briefing started.
"O-oh well, uh, I guess you could say I was a pretty big geek about the heroes of history when I was a kid." Judging by the glint visible in his eyes, it would seem that he did not lose his admiration even as he got older.
"Man, I'm wondering what kind of hero would show up, maybe a Japanese one like Minamoto Yoshitsune? Or a foreign one like Hercules? " Despite the unforgiving situation he's been thrown into, the teen couldn't help but marvel at the thought of meeting heroes of the past.
A light slap found its way to Ritsuka's back. "Stop daydreaming, will you?" Olga snapped Ritsuka out of his stupor.
Ritsuka pouted at her and let out a half-hearted 'fiiiineeee, Director' before walking to the center of the shield, 3 crystals in hand.
"Heroes, huh?" King picked up and inspected the remaining crystals. He isn't quite sure what the 'heroes' of this world would entail, especially compared to his own. In his time, heroes are more of a profession than a title, but even so, he couldn't really recall any sort of stories about heroes of the past.
"Before you two go and start summoning, let's set up a basic camp around here." Olga gave her first order in a while, prompting Ritsuka to grumble a bit.
King grunted as his backside met the hard ground one again. Between the walking he's done in the past hour and carrying people in the command room, this was the most exercise he's done in a long while.
Ritsuka sat beside him, while Mash was still setting up the base camp supplies Romani sent them. He still doesn't understand it completely, but it seems that being fused with a servant made her stronger than a regular human. Director Olga was resting in her tent that was set up, saying she needed free space to think about their operation.
After everything that happened, it seems like today's ride had finally slowed down for King.
'Man… what am I gonna do after this?' Keeping up the pretense of a mage is unlikely, with his extremely limited knowledge of this world, it would crumble at the first question thrown his way.
It's not like he can rely on some unbelievable sequence of coincidences of events like what happened with Saitama. What are the odds of something similar happening to the same guy?
Speaking of Saitama, he wonders about his absence in his own world. Frankly, he doesn't think much would change, he's not the hero people think he is after all. At best, there would be some public panic about his disappearance, but the world will be just fine with his bald friend around.
King sighed. Still, there's no way out of this world for now, so he needs to keep this up as long as humanly possible, lest his chances of returning go from slim to none.
"Hey... King." Ritsuka suddenly said, breaking King out of his musings. "...You ever had a girlfriend?"
Ritsuka had been going with the flow for the last few hours.
From the sudden meeting with the tall man beside him, to the explosion and subsequent rayshift here, Ritsuka hadn't quite the chance to stop and think about the events that lead him here.
But now, in the silence of the city's eternal night, thinking is all he could do.
He wonders how his parents are feeling right now, are they worried about him? Are they angry at him for taking such a shady job?
He wonders how Olga and Mash are doing, both having lost a close friend and teammates respectively.
And finally, he wonders…
'Am I going to get out alive?' Back in the command room, in the heat of the moment, he was truly ready to give his life to the purple haired girl who had guided him through Chaldea.
But now? The reality had sunken in for him, and for the first time since coming to Chaldea, he realized just how fucked the situation is.
Here he is, a mere teenage boy fresh out of high school, thrown into some grand world saving operation as the only surviving candidate.
'Should I quit after this mission is over?' He entertained the thought of it, seeing his parents again, apologizing for going away so suddenly, and then getting the scolding of a lifetime. Suddenly, the scolding that would usually annoy him seems so desirable now.
He knows it's wrong to think about quitting when there is so much at stake, not to mention how his new kouhai seems to rely on him now as a master.
So, in an attempt to push those thoughts away he decided to make small talk to the man beside him.
"Hey… King." Ritsuka finally spoke after a while, intending to chat the time away.
But his mouth stopped.
'Wait, what am I even going to talk about?' Time slowed down as he began to rack his mind. He didn't know King's exact age, but judging from his looks, he couldn't possibly be younger than 30, hell he may even be in his 40s.
What kind of topic can a middle aged man and a teenager even share?
'Shit, think Ritsuka, think!' He really should start thinking before actually acting.
'Let's see, a topic that would be universally understood by men…'
"...You ever had a girlfriend?"
…
'Fuck'
Alright, maybe saying the first thing that comes to mind isn't the way to go. Lesson learned, think, debate options, and then act.
Still, what's done is done, so Ritsuka braced himself over King's response.
Truthfully, he still felt somewhat intimidated by the older man, even after having spent a good chunk of the day with him. The older man had some 10cm over him, not to mention the scar on his face, those factors combined with his overall stoicness honestly unnerved him, even if he hadn't really done anything bad.
Still, he protected Olga and led the party to this very leyline, so surely he isn't going to blow up on him, right?
Right?
"...I see what you're trying to do." King's response came after a few seconds.
Ritsuka froze.
"I know how worried you are, but there's really no need to rush it" The scarred man continued.
" Maybe you're not sure you can do it, maybe at times you even want to quit." At this point Ritsuka can only listen, stunned.
"But so what? The fact that you're at this point shows me you still want to do it. You're still young, there's still a lot of time for you to decide what's right, but I can tell from your eyes, and the fact that you're asking me, that you haven't given up hope."
"Never give up that hope and I know you'll make the right decision in the end." With that, King finished his speech.
For what felt like hours, Ritsuka could only stare in response.
'How did he know?!' Ritsuka didn't consider himself a bad liar, not a particularly good one, but enough to get by.
But somehow, this man, King, had not only seen through his shabby attempt at a facade, but also deduced why he even did it.
Ritsuka was nothing short of amazed at his companion, but after a few seconds had passed, he also began to take the advice in.
'The right decision, huh?' He thought about it, how Mash had come to rely on him as a senpai, and how Olga, despite his misgivings with her, needed a master to help her after she lost her closest friend.
Maybe he isn't some grand hero or any kind of exceptional individual, but here he is, at the point where could decide what to do next.
And he decides to take the only path he sees as right.
'I'm sorry mom, dad, I think I'm going to see this through.' Ritsuka stood up, seeing the fire around him. It's scary, everything about this is scary, but he will try his best, and in the end, he will make the right decision.
"Thank you, King, I needed that." King met his gratitude with a small smile.
Ritsuka walked towards the camp, feeling a little more relieved at the thought of such an exceptional man having his back.
Maybe, he can do it after all.
King was surprised he did that as well as he did.
When Ritsuka started talking to him about having a girlfriend, King was rather confused. Why would the teen ask that to a 29 year old guy now? The teen's eyes were rather conflicted as well.
But when he looked at the camp and saw Mash resting beside the campfire and Olga's tent, it clicked in his head.
'Ah, he has a crush on both of them.' The question about romance, the conflicted look, and the fact that there are two young beautiful girls around could all only lead to that conclusion.
King thought about deflecting the question, but seeing the teen's desperate eyes, and the fact that there are no other guys around, King realized he was the boy's only hope.
Still, at 29 years old, King was ashamed to admit that not only was he a virgin, he's also a relationship virgin.
So, wanting to save some dignity, but still give advice, King decided to spout off some lines he remembered from that Doki Doki Sisters manga spinoff.
He paraphrased a lot and it wasn't the best advice, seeing as it's from a manga, but it seemed to work.
"Thanks, King, I needed that." King merely smiled, happy that Ritsuka will be able to experience young love despite King's own inexperience.
Sometimes you have to guide others to things you can't have.
Breath.
In and out.
Inhale and exhale.
These 3 mantras had been repeating in her head ad infinitum.
For the last few minutes, Olga Marie Animusphere had been using these words trying to stop herself from breaking down.
She can't allow herself to falter, not in the middle of such an important mission.
She can't allow herself to be more of a failure than she already is.
Still, despite her best attempts, tears are slowly showing themselves through her eyes.
'No, don't! Think about what the staff would say if they saw me, what father would say, what Lev would-'
Something cracked inside her.
Tears started to fall, at first slowly, but as time went on, more water spilled from her eyes.
"Lev…" Olga fell onto her knees, using her sleeves to try and wipe the tears away.
She had tried her best to keep it in, but the reality that Lev, the man who helped her when her father died, helped her run Chaldea, the man who raised her in her father's stead when he was too busy, is gone forever has finally hit her.
Realizing her tears won't stop, she shifted her hands to her mouth, hoping that no one would hear her wail. The last thing Mash, Ritsuka, and King need is seeing a failure of a leader break down.
She didn't know how long it took, but tears eventually stopped flowing down.
She looked at the mirror in her tent, the tears had left a trail of wetness on her cheeks and a mixture of mucus and spit were still dangling off her mouth.
Despite what she often saw in books and shows, crying is a very ugly act.
The mission needs a leader, and a capable one at that.
But the girl in front of the mirror was a far cry from that.
'Ritsuka and Romani were right.' She scolded them when they slipped up, but inside, she agreed with their assessments.
Without Lev, she is an unreliable director at best and a liability at worst.
But that doesn't matter now.
The mission needs a leader and she is the only one who could fill the role.
She could only hope that she's enough.
Wiping her face as cleanly as she can, she steeled herself and walked towards the outside.
As lacking as she is, she will try her damned best to make Lev proud.
"Alright, come here all of you! It's time to start the summoning ritual!" Olga's shouting voice can be heard from across the camp.
Hearing her voice, the rest of the investigation team gathered around Mash's shield. The shield of unknown ownership laid on the ground, shining brightly, creating a bright blue chamber.
The sight of the weapon drew all of their attention, the blue light emanating from the circular centerpiece of the shield acting as a door from which heroic spirits shall emerge to save the world.
King looked on with a stoic face, still not knowing what to make of the concept of a servant.
Ritsuka had enthusiasm written on his face, though a closer look would reveal some anxiety alongside it. He tightly gripped the stones in his right hand.
Mash stared at her shield, wondering whose shield was so great that it could be declared 'the place where heroes gather'.
Olga looked straight ahead, further than the rest, doing her best to hide her still puffy eyes.
…
"...So, uh Director?" It was Ritsuka who broke the minutes long silence.
"How exactly do you perform a summoning ritual?"
Olga stared at him for a few seconds, her face going through confusion, anger, and realization before settling on putting her palms on her face.
"...Right, I almost forgot you were a civilian hire." She stopped for a moment before motioning Ritsuka to come closer to the shield.
"First off, put the Saint Quartz that Romani gave you on the center of the shield. You too, King, let's not make this any longer than it needs to be."
The two walked towards the shield, Quartz in hand.
Nodding to each other, King and Ritsuka laid the stones down and stepped back, the two now besides Olga.
"Now, the FATE system uses Chaldea's resources to provide the necessary magical energy to summon and maintain a servant, so even non-mages like you, Ritsuka, can be a master, while mages, like King here, can save energy."
King gulped while Olga continued her mini lecture to Ritsuka.
How long can he keep this charade up until someone demands to see his magecraft?
"...and now, to perform the first summoning, you two need to use an incantation. Follow my lead." Olga stuck her hand out to the light, mimicked by the two candidates beside her.
"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let black be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate."
The Director recited the words from memory, having had dreams in her childhood to be in the shoes of Ritsuka and King.
"Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth."
The two candidates repeated after her, with each and every line of the poem like incantation, the light emanating from the shield grows ever brighter.
"An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell."
Mash stood by, breathlessly watching the calling of heroes in front of her eyes.
"From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!"
The light grew even more intense, forming patterns that now adorn the shield, and orbs that surround it.
Eventually, a larger orb forms at the center, floating above the shield itself. Power in its purest form can be felt by those around, so strong even the most ordinary of men can feel the radiant power emanating from it.
FInally, the orbs surrounding the shield began to spin, turning into the colors of rainbow in the process, so fast that to the naked eye, it looked like a ring had formed.
The ring continued to spin, until an explosion of pure power happened as the ring multiplied and immediately collapsed on itself, leaving a blazing pillar of bright blue light.
The four people watching let out a breath, only now realizing how long they had been holding it.
From the dying light of the pillar, two figures emerged.
Hey.
It's been a while.
You know it would be pretty nice if I could explain the year long absence with something big, like a coma or that I lost the means to write a story.
But no, I just got demotivated from it and got scared of finishing the second chapter.
Shoutout to that one review who thought I became homeless, by the way.
Anyway, I'm in a better place now, so if chapter 3 comes out in 2024, just chalk it up to me being a lazy ass instead.
You know, you would think that in a year I would've consumed Type/Moon media beyond FGO, but honestly nope. So, if I get things wrong or extremely OOC, just get angry with me in the reviews.
Anyway idk when chapter 3 comes out, I'm projecting 3 weeks because of tests, but it may be closer to 3 months who knows.
I am going to keep writing, though.
Later