30: Grand Order

Ill-fated promise or not, life goes on. Hours become days, become an entire week before I finally broach the subject to Roman.

"So, just when are we planning on getting to work fixing those singularities?" I ask as we exit the training room following morning calisthenics.

He sighs. "Well, until yesterday we had an excuse not to get to work. But since the first pseudo-generator is complete now, and you're fully healed, we really should start drafting our plan of attack."

"Oh, so they finished that thing already? I thought it was gonna take a lot longer than this!" I reply. "I mean, hooking up the grail in place of an electrical generator seems like the type of thing that would be difficult…"

"Well, the engineers did have to kludge it a bit - but at the end of the day, spending some of the grail's magical output to convert the rest of that output into electricity was apparently pretty simple." He explains.

"Eeeh, so in the end we wished for 'unlimited power' like a bunch of shounen villains, huh?" I joke. "You think Goku will come after us?"

"No, 'Chaldea' isn't the mangled name of something edible, so we're probably fine…" Roman says with a laugh. "Anyway, we should have enough gas to support an additional Servant in combat, assuming it's not someone ludicrously powerful and famous again."

"Oi, you're gonna raise a flag, you know!"

"Relax, relax! If we do summon someone else on Mordred's level, they can just tag in and out. It'll be fine!" He chuckles.

Another thought comes to mind. "By the way, considering the Fuyuki Grail supported seven servants, are you sure that one is our limit?"

The doctor sighs. "Unfortunately, converting between magical energy and electricity is pretty inefficient. If we were designing the system from the ground up with a Holy Grail in mind, we wouldn't have done something like that in the first place, but…"

"...But Chaldea didn't have such an item when it was being built, so most of the tech uses electricity, right?" I conclude. Well, it's a pain, but it can't be helped. It's not like we've got the capacity to redesign the entire facility here and now; not with things the way they are.

"That's exactly right." He confirms, and we walk a few more seconds before he sighs and returns to our first subject. "Well, the power issues aside, the truth remains that we're as ready as we'll ever be to start taking on the new singularities, so I should probably talk to the director about holding a meeting over it."

"...I'll miss you, Doctor. Don't worry, Mash-tan and I will start planning your funeral right away."

"Hey! My odds of surviving are at least eighty percent!"

Luckily, Roman didn't have his head bitten off, so we were able to meet in the briefing room a few hours later. Incidentally, said room has been largely cleared of rubble thanks to the Servants' efforts - if I hadn't seen it prior, I wouldn't be able to tell there was an explosion here.

Speaking of disasters, I haven't seen the Director since that embarrassing conversation a week ago. Frankly speaking, she looks like hell - dark circles are visible under her bloodshot eyes, and her posture is horribly slumped compared to the proud woman who had stood in this same room not two weeks ago.

Still, as the last of the remaining staff file into the room, she manages to straighten herself up a bit, and the briefing begins.

"As you're all aware, our situation is dire." Olga Marie begins, her voice a little hoarse. "Apart from the people in this building, every last human being on the planet appears to have been incinerated. We've received some response from the Wandering Sea, but that could just be noise… regardless, they aren't in any position to offer us aid. In total, we have thirty-four staff members and three Servants currently alive. Of that number, eleven staff and one Servant are still recovering from injuries. Of the forty-eight master candidates, only one is not stuck in cryo-sleep. All told, we have a near-impossible task in front of us."

She breathes in. "Seven additional Singularities formed in the wake of Singularity F. Each of them dwarfs Fuyuki in scale and severity. Most of them appear to encompass entire nations within their borders. As such, even resolving a single one of these is an effort that may take several months. Furthermore, according to SHEBA's calculations, if things aren't resolved by January of 2017 it will be too late. In short, every member of staff will need to push themselves to their absolute limits in order for us to even stand a chance."

She draws another breath in, straightening her back to her full height, and thrusts her hand forward. "But, even so! Even so, Chaldea shall fulfil its purpose! We will restore the Human Order's existence! For the sake of all life on the planet, past, present and future, we will not let these so-called 'Demon Gods' fulfil their objective! The mission title [First Order], used for the Fuyuki Singularity, is hereby scrapped. From here on out, Chaldea's mission shall be titled [Grand Order]! In the name of the magical world's highest order, we will reclaim our future!"

One thing leads to another, and pretty soon I find myself being led to one of those damn [Coffins] again. Don't think about being cut in half, don't think about what would have happened if you'd been frozen in the first loop, don't think about all the things that could go wrong!

"You look pretty uncomfortable, Subaru-kun." Says Roman with a small smile.

"Of course I'm uncomfortable!" I yell. "Who the hell names a life-support system a 'coffin', huh!? Not to mention, everyone who was in one at the start of the last Singularity is a popsicle right now!"

"Yeah, the naming of these things is a bit weird, but I promise, they're perfectly safe! In fact, the whole purpose of the coffin is to prevent Masters from getting sucked somewhere else during the rayshift. If you'd been in one of these to start with, Archer probably wouldn't have been able to suck you into his Reality Marble, you know?" The doctor replies, and I feel another spark of loathing towards Flauros ignite in my heart. That bastard, even after Cu killed him he didn't stop causing problems for me, huh?

"Hurry up and let me in! Hey, how do you open this?" I say, running to the anti-ambush device and prompting a chuckle.

He shows me a button on the side, and I climb into the cockpit-like construction. As I confirm the presence of an emergency release switch, the glass in front of me closes, and the Director's face pops up on a mounted screen.

"As I said before, there are seven singularities - for this mission, we'll be rayshifting you to the one with the least fluctuation compared to the others. Hopefully, this means it'll be the least difficult to deal with, but obviously we've got no way of knowing that for sure." Olga explains. "For the record, this one seems to be in France, A.D. 1431 - just after the death of Jeanne d'Arc. It's encompassing the whole country, so this one may take a while to wrap up."

An entire country in the same state as Fuyuki? I sure hope we find someone who knows what's going on fast, or I'm gonna die of smoke inhalation...

"As before, your objective is to cripple the Holy Grail - or whatever other weird trick they've got propping up the Singularity - by any means necessary. Of course, since there's no way to be certain of where our target is, you're going to have an awful lot of leeway, but for our first goal, I'm ordering you to locate a leyline."

Crap. "Are we gonna be having communication problems again?" I ask, cringing.

"No, all our signs are suggesting that comms will be stable. However, establishing a magic circle will allow us to transfer supplies back and forth from the Singularity - allowing us to supply you with any needed supplies." She replies with a small smile. "Furthermore, it'll let us call up another Servant to help deal with whatever opposition you face there."

"Speaking of that, why aren't we just summoning em' now? Do we not have enough power?" Mordred's voice emanates from the speakers. So there's an audio link between coffins, huh? That's useful.

"Summoning on-site gives us some distinct advantages. Firstly, it'll give us better odds of summoning someone tied to the location. If we can get someone like Charlemagne or Napoleon to show up, that might just end the singularity on the spot. Secondly, it'll make it easier for the planet to pull strings in our favor - it probably wasn't a coincidence that Mordred was summoned in a Singularity where Arthur was the main opponent." The Director says, nodding to herself. "Lastly, it'll make sure we get someone who can enter the Singularity properly. We've confirmed that neither of our current servants will have trouble rayshifting there, but if we were to summon, say, King Charles VII, who should be alive in that era, we'd be unable to send him along with you. Worst case, we could summon someone who's been manifested as an enemy servant within the singularity, and the Chaldean version could end up being overwritten by a servant who wants you all dead."

...Yeah, I could see how that would be a bit of a disaster. Well, it'll probably be fine - after all, considering how big France is, we'll probably have plenty of time to hunt down a leyline before enemies can find us.

Wait, did I just raise a flag…?

"All three of you - good luck, and don't die. We're counting on you. Humanity, is counting on you." She says, and draws herself up to her full height. "Begin rayshift! Grand Order… commence!"

And the world melts into a tunnel of blue light.

The tunnel of light dissipates. For an instant, I stumble as my feet impact something solid, vegetation crunching gently beneath my feet-!

"...therefore, there is no end to this world's madness!" a voice shouts, tinged with glee.

-and then, the ground gives way, and I barely have time to fill my lungs with air as my body is swallowed up by an endless expanse of deep black water.

A/N:

Those who have read Fate/Strange Fake, please join me in a familiar shout of exasperation that will probably become a running theme in Orleans.
Prelatiiiiiii!

Anyway, sorry for the lateness. I'll try to have the next one out before Saturday.

Reviews:

orion399 said:

Since Mordred seems to be sticking around without her Clarent, what do you think will happen when Chaldea eventually goes to the London singularity?

Not sure. But something like "Hey, gimme your Clarent. Mine broke." isn't off the table.

Guest said:

Will car not participate in losbelt.

Undecided. It's a long way off, so I've got time.

When will you update?

Right. Hugging. Now.

Is it possible for wrath or pride car kun to be summoned even though that's unlikely?

Possible. But unlikely, for now.

When will re zero characters appear? I mean there was maybe a cameo, but unsure.

Subaru's in almost every chapter, you know? (I'm dodging this question on purpose)

Reinhard should be above berserker as a servent, but I'm confused, about which class Reinhard? His dp being something like Da Vinci makes tons of sense.

He can only be summoned as Foreigner on Earth. In the other world, he'd be a saber, and he'd be a lot stronger than on Earth.

In any case, yeah, he surpasses Berserker!Herc, but Heracles has the possibility of surpassing his own legend and overcoming Reinhard. He's a hero, after all.

Tazzmania said:

Hey sir great chapter and that omake is pretty awesome and glad that in that omake Subaru summoned garfiel. hope for more omakes like this and what if Subaru summoned reinhard ohhh boy power creep lol. So you already watched the new fgo opening? And if you know ORT aka the type mercury how would it fare in the re zero world can anyone beat ORT? And what will be their reactions to ORT? Anyways great story and keep up the good work

Reinhard won't be appearing in this story until Subaru's return to Lugnica.

As for the ORT, I won't comment on that thing. We really don't know enough about it for me to have a developed opinion yet. Hell, it's worth noting that in the actual material on it, it's listed as "ORT - Type Mercury(?)" so there's a decent chance that it's not even Mercury's TYPE. Pretty sure that in Olympus the Alien God implies it's actually from the Oort Cloud, which is nifty.

Sonicdude8 said:

Now that I think about it, would Subaru's constant dying and resetting during the Singularities have some negative effect on the restoration of the Human Order? I mean, I can sort of see something like a new sub-singularity, or remnant, or something being made due to that. Perhaps one where not only Subaru, but also the enemy Servants remember the alternate timeline where he dies. It would be interesting to see how Subaru's greatest trump card is rendered nearly useless there.

Any plans I have for such a thing are very secret right now.

shahmeeralikhokhar said:

Will Hassan be brought back seeing that it was mentioned he can be summoned again but him being an alter

So what I was thinking can't you give him a new arm?

A bionic arm

Like how you modified Mordreds sword you could technically by twisting the rules can do that.

Think about it from Cursed Arm Hassan to Steam Punk Hassan!

But if you are not interested that's okay as well.

Please respond kindly. Thank you

Probably not... but, well, it's possible I guess.

Mizen said:

Nice chapter as always. How would you create a Medaka Servant?

I wouldn't.

In all seriousness, it'd have to get real weird, and I don't really wanna think about it right now...

Daemon of Wrath said:

And question, is it possible for Subaru's Cor Leonis to have him take on Ophelia's Connection with Surtr in the Lostbelts? Or is it at least possible for him to form a connection with Surtr like he did with Flauros to sever the connection to Ophelia so she wouldn't have to destroy her Mystic Eye, thus her life?

Surtr's more nasty than Flauros... frankly, he'd probably end up very on fire.

Speaking of which, wouldn't Ophelia's Mystic Eye see the different possibilities when the bombing took place and find the best way out of that disaster since Subaru shifted some things? Or was it still extremely bad to the point nothing changed?

Nah, she'd still be stuck in the coffin, so she's outta luck.

Because I think Subaru could've been good friends with the members of A-Team(probably not Beryl due to his character...Daybit is a maybe...maybe Subaru would be at least amiable terms with Hinako). Sad that we won't see it...unless you have something planned.

That's a secret.

Crown of Reaper said:

Say, last chapter Mordred said something about coming with Barusu back to Lugnica. Is that even posible? If so, will he take other Servants with him? 'Cause that would be an interesting consept for a Fanfiction.

Spoilers.

Also, on a different note, is Dantes able to be summoned by Barusu? Is any other Extra Class Servant able?

Yes. In fact, Dantes, Kintoki, and Mordred were the three SSR candidates for Subaru's first servant (the others being three-star or lower). As for other extra classes... well, Petelgeuse and co. are all foreigners and have pretty good odds of turning up.

H said:

How would the servants react to roswaals spell to possess the bodies of his descendants/blood relatives which he used to live for 400 years possessing his son grandson etc and the roswaal they meet would be roswaal from re zero world coming to Chaldea as the real him not a servant

"What, you too?" -Prelati

"Euch." -Everyone else, pretty much.

X said:

Why does mordred view Reinhard as sketchy And how would the servants react to reid

What's up with the single-letter names...?

Anyway, sketchy was maybe the wrong word... basically, he reminds her of some annoying people.

Reid is a secret for now.

Fate said:

As a red haired dude named Reinhard fan, he is Gil level in re zero with their Gil, and satella summoned as c or b, where gil becomes a useless servent with his legend not bond, and top teir among top teir in fate. The dragon is beyond servent like fafnir, but with high divinity. Subaru all version qualifies as caster, avenger, beast, berserker, foreigner with lust and sloth being not, wait lust would be pe*****, s, the lust ones too op. Sword saints are are arturia leve, cough sorry. The dude who made karagari is like the first Chinese emperor, or the best rider the one called king of conquerereeeee, Betelgeuse is Gilles, Gil is the tiny king, sekhemet is a berserker with ex strength thank her witch factors. Julius is at best Lancelot though I highly doubt that. All archbishops are top and high servent. Zerest would be interesting. The demon Williams is high servent or Kintoki level along with Garfiel. The first king of lug, is don't know and not sure. The strongest of kar, and vol are both top tier, so is Emilia tan who has puck as a noble phantasm, and so is ekidnut, echidnut, echidna is actually fem merlin. So Subaru is Zhuge l., sword saints are Kar(the winter king might fit this), Musashi, arturia, Gawain etc. I sacrificed myself with the number thirteen. So praise me.

That's one hell of a wall of text... Is your enter key broken or something?

Well, I don't have that many problems with what you're saying, though it's all really confusing. Worth noting that in a lot of cases servants can differ from their living counterparts; Reinhard actually loses to Reid if both are summoned as servants, but not if both are alive (thanks to the way mystery works).

Similarly, some archbishops may get nastier as servants than they were when alive.

Fat again said:

Well sorry for all that, it was cause of boredom to be honest. The advice I would give is to not burn out(maybe keep ideas and see the direction they would go by making a short one page draft), learn a few more vocabulary, I hope that you did not break your arms, or get stitches like I do in the past(that was scary, I did not even look at it). I don't think you need to be more descriptive, but rather spare.

Hm, yeah, vocab is kind of a problem for me nowadays. I used to be a bit more varied but by this point high school me who knew hundreds of weird words is long gone. Also this started as writing tips and somehow morphed into advice not to break my arms, which was a bit weird...

Rambukala said:

why...

why did you put a "what if" summoned servant scenario in my head...

I was the true villain all along. Just who do you think was behind the incineration of humanity in this fic!? It was me! The writer! (lol)

oh god...

how will other peps back in Chaldea react to Vanir...

They won't. Because he's not canon. There's absolutely no possibility of this turning into an isekai quartet fic.

NONE!

SoftItalics said:

Subaru! Save Wodime!

Too late. Wodime is a popsicle. (for now)

And Nasu-Speedwagon

Too late. Lev is a husk. (for now)

Lostbelt 6 draws closer. Its Depth Rank is EX; Olympus' Rank was A... What the hell do you think we'll see?

Eternal camelot probably... though as for what form that takes... I hope they have spaceships. I really want it to be a silly space setting where MHX suddenly has plot relevance or something ridiculous like that.