BXBX NOVEL Chapter 357: Interlude 25
Chapter 357: Interlude 25
"I\'m fine." I slowly slid off the bed. "Thank you...Caster."
She was right, my body felt...odd. I suppose it would take awhile to get used to it.
"I helped too..." Roman whispered to the side.
I shot him a glare immediately and he shrunk down.
Idiot.
....he should have said something sooner.
"Where is – " I didn\'t even need to finish my words before the Rabbit was already jumping into my arms. Its weight and warmth forting.
I couldn\'t help but hug him closely.
"What a smart rabbit. He wouldn\'t leave your side the entire time." Caster noted. "Did Tak – Wilhelm ever note the species?"
"No." I said softly. "How long was I unconscious?"
"Two Days, Director." Roman replied.
"Did Shimoda come back yet....?"
"....no."
"Oh."
It\'s okay, he said he\'ll come back, so he\'ll come back. He\'s just a little late is all.
"What happened to me? I don\'t remember much after being Rayshifted back."
"I wanted to ask you that as well." Caster perked up. "Wilhelm did something to you that made it so your soul could persist for a long period of time. Long enough that I was able to craft you a new body."
"I remember he chanted something, and filled me up with something powerful.I felt something warm flow into me – " I paused, looking at Caster\'s humored expression, realizing the innuendo. "Are you a child!?" I huffed.
"No no, please go on." Caster gestured for me to continue with a chuckle.
"It was mostly a blur after that." I huffed again, running my fingers through the Rabbit\'s fur. "What happened?"
"Well....." Caster tapped her chin. "I haven\'t run that many tests, honestly I\'ve been working on more important things after I made sure you weren\'t going to die. But from what I could tell.....he somehow actualized your soul."
"....actualized my soul?" My eyes widened as I processed what she said. "The Third Magic!?"
"Not exactly." Caster shook her head. "Maybe a facet of it, but not the Magic itself. Your soul was – " Caster paused. "Enlarged? Emphasized? Strengthened? There are a lot of words I can use to describe it but feeling it for yourself may be the best course of action. Suffice to say, whatever he did, it was enough that you were able to sustain your existence without a body when you were Rayshifted back."
"We noticed something though, when trying to run medical diagnostics." Roman spoke up.
"Noticed what?"
"Erm, we were hoping you would know. But, uh, there was a sort of Energy Barrier around you when you came back."
I furrowed my brow, trying to think through it until the Rabbit jerked in my hands. I watched again, with wide eyes as a visible barrier of energy formed around him in my arms.
"....what?" I looked at it in confusion.
"It seems that you aren\'t the only one who got that treatment." Caster perked up, kneeling down to be eye level with the Rabbit. "Fascinating, it isn\'t reserved for only humans."
I looked at what the Rabbit was doing and then at my own hands. Taking a deep breath, I felt a reservoir of energy inside myself that was different from my Magical Circuits and my Magical Energy. It was nearly the same source, but it felt like a different application.
Suddenly, it was if moonlight enveloped my hands.
"Oh, well done!" Caster smiled brightly. "Hmm, I wonder if different colors mean anything. Oh, I can\'t wait to study this more when I have time!"
"This isn\'t harmful?" I asked.
"It shouldn\'t be?" Roman scratched his head. "I mean....It\'s basically coming from your soul. And we\'re pretty sure it has a nourishing effect on the body as is. And, well, I don\'t think Wilhelm would give you something that would harm you?"
"Of course he wouldn\'t." I scoffed, forcing the \'energy\' to turn itself off. It felt more intuitive than when I first activated my Magic Circuits. Easier to manipulate, and a lot more.... soothing.
I could vaguely recall the feelings when he first.....did whatever he did to me.
Protective, warm, secure.
After Lev....
Lev killed me.
Lev Betrayed me.
Lev.....is the cause for everything....
"Director?"
"What?" I snapped out of my thoughts, feeling the comforting softness in my arms.
"You spaced out for a moment. Are you sure you\'re okay? No kind of body dystopia or depersonalization going on?" Roman had a flashlight, shining right into my eyes.
"I\'m fine!" I huffed, pushing it away. "I\'m just....." I don\'t even know the right words.
"Right...yeah, I get it." Roman said softly.
No, there was no time to wallow. It\'s no different than how I spent every other minute of my life.
"Caster, I\'m assuming that you were able to get the materials for my body without issue? What\'s the status on our supplies right now?" Because the immediate concern is making sure what staff remained survived.
"You\'re lucky." Caster mused. "I was about to have to scavenge some corpses because our supplies were mostly destroyed –"
I felt a shiver down my spine. It almost made me want to praise her for her ability until I came back to my senses that she was going to use the dead bodies of my subordinates to make me a new body.
"But, the stuff you brought back from Wilhelm was enough in that regard." She finished
"What stuff I brought back?" I blinked in realization. "Where\'s the hat!"
"It\'s right here, director." Roman picked it off the table behind him.
I quickly grabbed it out of his hands. "Good, it\'s not damaged." I inspected it everywhere.
He said he would be coming back for it, I need to make sure it\'s still properly cared for in the meantime.
"A quaint method of storage, it gave me a few ideas for later." Caster spoke up again. "But it\'s thanks to him that we\'re back up and running in any capacity."
"Give me a proper status report." I gently put the hat back atop my head.
"Right, Director." Roman nodded. "82% of the Generators are still not operational. But the critical systems are back online, but they\'re at minimal capacity right now."
"We\'ve directed most of the power to LAPLACE in order to single out the Singularities that we\'ve discovered so far." Caster added in.
"Singularities, plural." I breathed out. "You mentioned that before, you said there were more Singularities."
"We\'ve detected six more but the last one seems to be beyond our reach at the moment." Roman clarified.
"Beyond our reach?" I furrowed my brow. "....so it\'s within the Age of Gods."
"That\'s correct." Caster nodded. "We don\'t have enough power to reach that point. Thankfully, it should be the last Singularity we have to resolve. In the meantime, we\'ve locked onto the next one."
"What about the other critical systems? Are the coffins operational? Is the FATE system usable?"
"At the moment, they\'re at the bare minimum of usability. However, I believe I can bring them up to a better standard within a week. The Materials that Wilhelm left are....interesting. He appears to have given us a form of Crystallized Mana, which has been significant in relieving power issues due to the Generators being offline."
Good, that\'s good news after everything. Even now it looks like Shimoda is helping us out. How bad would things have been had he not shown up? Crystallized Mana is an extremely rare resource, and he just gave it up like that...
I\'m not mad anymore that he lied. I just...hope he comes back soon.
"Do you have reports written up?" I looked at Roman.
"Y-yes, director, I have reports on everything that\'s happened so far. I didn\'t know when you would be up and I wanted to make sure to note everything of importance."
I closed my eyes for a moment before nodding in satisfaction. "Get me the reports, I\'ll take a few minutes to go over them. Then, we\'ll call a meeting with the available staff."
[***]
Everyone was looking at me, like I was some kind of spectacle.
I hate it.
It\'s just a new body.
...I almost died, they could at least stop being so blatant about it.
That perverted Caster. Why did she have to emphasize the fact that it\'s exactly the same in every detail. I didn\'t need to think about how she got all \'that\' the same!
I would have preferred to hold this meeting in my office, but it\'s apparently still a damn crater right now.
And I suppose I couldn\'t have everyone fit. And it\'s not even the entirety of the staff. A good 40% still aren\'t fit for active duty and can\'t even be up on their feet.
Still, it could have been worse. Roman compiled reports from most people that were able. Shimoda saved a lot of people just by himself. Those Talismans of his came in very handy, and we have a store of them remaining. The ease of use is something that can\'t be overlooked, and after we settle everything, I will be having Caster see if she can reproduce them.
"Everyone, listen up!" I slammed my hand onto the table to stop all the mutterings. "I\'m not going to lie or sugarcoat what\'s going on. Right now, humanity is gone." I gave them a moment to process that bit of information. I know I curled up into a ball for an hour when I heard it myself. "The only reason Chaldea still remains is due to the different fields of energy that CHALDEAs is putting off, shielding us from the residual effects. We are the last bastion of Humanity still remaining in the world. There is literally nothing else existing beyond these walls and the surroundings. The world we all knew is gone."
They needed to know the hard truth. If they couldn\'t cope with this kind of thing, it was better to figure it out now and not when important matters presented themselves.
"But we\'re not defeated yet. We\'ve detected the cause for the incineration of Humanity. The Grand Order is still going forward. We will now be entering preparation time for deployment for the Second Singularity." I paused, turning towards Roman. "Roman, you have information on it?"
The Doctor coughed a little awkwardly but shifted his posture and held up a few pieces of paper. "I won\'t bore everyone with the details. But we\'ve narrowed it down to the year 1431 AD, location: France Orleans – Historical Significance, The Hundred Year War."
There was a little bit more light filling all these hopeless eyes.
Good, giving them an objective would increase morale, even if a little bit.
"This location does come with a benefit." I took hold of the talks once more. "As most of you may be aware, one of the casualties amongst the attack was our self-sufficient Greenhouses." All production was utterly destroyed. We barely had anything in storage. "We had enough food to ration tightly through the next few weeks and we may have had to take drastic measures before Rayshifting to this Singularity. However, you can thank the leader of the B-Team for his foresight. He was able to procure us enough foodstuffs to last us even a month or two beyond the Singularity with the rate we\'re going. The good news comes that we will be able to secure supplies within the Singularity and bring it back, alleviating many concerns we currently have."
As for water, we\'re in the middle of frozen wasteland. We can break off chunks of ice and melt it for our needs.
Once again, Shimoda came to our rescue.
Many bags of Rice, different fruits and vegetables. And even Meats that will be preserved for weeks if needed. It\'s more than enough for us to get back on our feet by this Orleans Singularity.
"With the most immediate concerns taken care of. We\'re going to start assigning people to different parts of the facility to start clearing out rubble and see what we can salvage. I\'ll be reading off names, if you have something to add speak up when your name is called. If you practice certain crafts that may be valuable in other places, I expect you to say so." I cleared my throat, looking at the list of names.
[***]
"Alright, everyone\'s here." I looked at the much smaller group around me. "Everyone, I don\'t know if you\'ve met so far, but Caster, introduce yourself."
"Nice to meet everyone officially, I\'m Leonardo Da Vinci. You can call me Caster or Da Vinci if you prefer." Caster introduced herself.
Standing around were the remnants of B-Team and A-Team.
"Is it impolite if I ask –"
"I was born a man." Caster giggled. "I decided to use this body due to my own preferences. So feel free to call me however you want."
"Thank you for the clarification, Ma\'am." Samuel thanked.
"Wilhelm asked the same thing." Caster smiled brightly.
"About him, um...is there any news?" Fujimaru asked the question that everyone had on their minds.
"There is no word yet. We will be proceeding regardless. If you don\'t want to be dead weight by the time he comes back, then make sure you follow instructions." I replied.
"Yes, Director." He stiffened and complied.
"Good, now..." I looked around the room. "Benjamin." My eyes landed on the former drug dealer. "You are on reserve until further notice."
"....is it because I\'m missing an arm?" He looked at me with complete seriousness.
"Yes." I felt myself twitch at his utter bluntness. "You are still one of the only Master Candidates remaining, so unfortunately, we can\'t bench you completely. If something goes wrong, you will have to be deployed even as you are."
"I\'d give you a salute, Director, but I\'m a little handicapped right now."
"...How did Shimoda deal with you?" I let out a sigh. Though, it was better than him acting out in a different way. "I apologize for not being able to offer you proper medical procedures to regain your arm. However, those supplies are being directed at the ones who are not as stable. That being said, I know that Shimoda made you a promise, and I will too. Chaldea will make sure you don\'t suffer a loss once we\'ve solved this crisis."
The guilt at telling this subordinate of mine that we can\'t regrow his arm after I had an entirely new body created for me.
"...Thank you, Director."
"You\'re welcome." I said softly.
Everyone is dealing with what happened in their own way. I.....can give them some leeway for now.
I turned my gaze at one of the other difficult subordinates of mine. "Hinako Akuta."
The only one left of A-Team.
Half of them were dead, the other half were in the Coffins in a sort of stasis. We couldn\'t even unfreeze them right now because we didn\'t have the confidence in saving their lives. Not to mention the medical supplies we had was simply lacking, it\'s entirely possible they died before we properly diagnosed what was wrong.
It was better to just keep them frozen for now and only try to heal them in an absolute emergency. Though, Roman said that Wodime was perhaps the most likely to be properly healed should it come to it.
"You\'re not Human." There was no point dancing around the subject.
"Is there a problem with that?" She immediately got defensive as soon as everyone\'s eyes landed on her.
"Is there?" I frowned. "Can you Rayshift, can you perform your Master Candidate duties? If not, they say so now, I\'m not going to waste time on you. I don\'t care if you\'re human or not, or whatever you are. You were hired by Chaldea to perform to expectations, that\'s all that matters."
I don\'t know why she hid it, I don\'t care right now. At the moment, we have much bigger concerns and she\'s apparently not with Lev. Not to mention she was friendly with Shimoda, so I believe it\'s fine to trust her.
"...I can do both." Her tension eased. "I can survive a Rayshift pretty much regardless. Which is why your father sought me out initially."
"Most of our Coffins are damaged. Are you saying you can be put into one of the damaged ones and as long as it Rayshifts accordingly, you\'ll be fine?" The issue isn\'t that it can still Rayshift, but the danger to the person inside.
If we didn\'t have to worry about repairing one for her.....that would be significant.
She crossed her arms. "I\'ll survive without much issue. But it\'s not going to be pleasant."
"Good, we can work with that. What\'s your Servant compatibility? And Don\'t quote your file to me, at this point, it\'s obviously all fake."
"I don\'t know, I was never properly tested." She frowned. "I shouldn\'t have an issue with summoning a Servant."
"You\'re going to be going last then. We can\'t waste the resources and power on an uncertainty."
"Fine." She scowled. "If it wasn\'t for that idiot, I\'d be dead anyways. Just....tell me what you want, I\'ll do what I can to help."
"Good." I nodded in satisfaction. ".....do you know anything about Lev?" I hazarded a guess.
"Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that he isn\'t the same as me and not human. Shimoda knew the same and was keeping an eye on him, but he couldn\'t really do anything at the time."
He knew, of course he knew. And I couldn\'t even blame him, what was he supposed to say? I would have trusted Lev immediately and kicked Shimoda out without a second thought....
It\'s my fault....
"Pierre, Fujimaru, Mash, Samuel, and Hinako." I called out their names. "You five will be the deployment team for now on. Due to Mash\'s nature and contract with Fujimaru...we should have enough Coffins operable by the time we can Rayshift to the Singularity."
"....I\'ll run them through some of the training exercises that we did for A-Team. I don\'t\' know what equipment we\'ll have available, but I can manage some things." Hinako spoke up."
"Please look after us, Senpai." Fujimaru smiled brightly towards her.
I think it caught her off guard, because she just sort of mumbled to herself. With how hostile she was when I called her out, she probably expected to be ostracized due to not being human. Frankly, I doubt anyone actually cares but herself.
We had much more important things to worry about.
"We have two uses of the FATE system set up for use." I changed the subject. "Caster put something together and we\'re going to test it." That Crystallized Mana that Shimoda gave, Caster thinks she jerry-rigged something to make it work and not put strain on the generators.
She assured me that nothing would go wrong. The worse case being that the system merely fails to operate as intended.
"Who\'s Summoning?" Hinako asked, inching herself a little bit closer.
"I decided that both Ritsuka Fujimaru and Samuel Washington will perform the summoning. Samuel will be going first in the case that Fujimaru\'s contract with Mash somehow causes interference."
"I\'ll go back to the control room and get ready to record all the data." Roman stated.
"Fine. Caster, stay here in case of emergency." I told her.
"Can do, Director." She said cheerfully despite the circumstance.
In the worse case and a hostile Servant is summoned. However, could caster even manage one on her own? She\'s already stretched thin with the continuous use of her own Noble Phantasm to keep Chaldea from imploding on itself.
Hinako is here as well.....but I don\'t know if she can handle a Servant either.
At this point, we would just be destined to fail and I shouldn\'t worry about it if the worse happens.
The only reassuring thing right now was the rabbit in my arms.
"What do I need to do, Director?" Samuel asked.
Shimoda did a good job, his subordinates are generally polite and follow orders. "Mash will be the anchor. Her shield is supposed to be a place where Heroes Gather, as a means to facilitate the summon." And that\'s the only hint that Father left about the identity of the Servant they summoned.
We\'ll have to salvage what\'s left of the library and pour through the books on English history and mythology. Thanks to Shimoda – once again – we have a significant hint that we can work towards.
"And the FATE System does most of the heavy lifting. You just have to be the one to bridge the link and accept the contract."
"I\'ll do my best, Director." The Texas replied.
"Good, everyone stand back. Don\'t get caught up in the summoning and influence it in any way." I commanded.
Mash deployed her shield. "I\'m ready, Director."
She hovered defensively of everyone else and Caster was standing, ready as well.
"Roman, can you hear me?"
"I can hear you, Director."
"Good, initiate the Servant summoning!" I commanded.
"Shifting power to the FATE System. All readings are in the green, and a path is opening up!" Roman replied immediately.
The room began to light up and a significant amount of Magical Energy flooded it.
"I think I feel it!" Samuel braced himself.
"Don\'t fight it, accept the link." I ushered him forward.
It appeared to successfully take hold as he was attached to something. Whether that was a Servant or not was yet to be determined. The Magical Energy swirled around, but a form began to take shape and I felt extremely relieved even when I couldn\'t see the figure itself.
A Servant was summoned, either by extraordinary circumstances, or we were at the point where the Counter Force was letting us have nearly free rein.
Regardless, it would be a huge morale boost for everyone else.
The Ether vessel formed, and a familiar outline appeared in our vision.
"Damn, summoned as a Caster again." That blue haired annoyance scratched his head. "Caster Servant – Cu Chulainn here to help." He looked around the room, eyes lighting up. "Oh hey, Farm boy! Good to see you again."
"Caster!" Samuel exclaimed. "You\'re back."
"Haha, looks like it. Damn I\'m lucky, you still got my spear?"
"I have it in my room."
"Nice." He looked around again. "Where\'s my Junior?"
"He..."
"He has yet to return." I interrupted.
"Ah well, I\'m sure he\'s fine. Gonna be hard for someone to put him down after seeing him fight." Cu grinned. "Well, I look forward to seeing what nonsense you guys get up to on this side of the fence. Got some information from the summoning, sounds like you guys need all the help you need. May not be my Lancer self, but count me in to any fights you guys are getting into."
"Your help is greatly appreciated."
"Oh? And who\'re you little lady?" Cu walked over towards Da Vinci.
"Also caster~" She giggled. "You can call me Da Vinci-Chan if you want."
"I may just do that."
"Go flirt somewhere else you two lecherous creetins!" I huffed.
The stupid Casters just laughed at me.
"And a Nature Spirit?" The newest Caster glanced at Hinako
Was that what she was?
I could see why she didn\'t want anyone to know. God knows what the Association would want to do with her.
"Good, and now everyone knows." She groaned.
"Excuse me, Caster" Roman\'s voice sounded over the rooms intercoms. "Would you mind sticking around for the next summon, in case they aren\'t as....amicable."
"Sure, sure." Cu shrugged. "Doubt something bad will happen considering the circumstances. But I\'ll hang around, see who gets summoned. On a side note, keep my spear as far away from this place as possible."
"Something wrong with it?" Samuel asked.
"yeah, it might summon my Teacher." Cu snorted. "Trust me, you don\'t want that to happen."
"...I\'ll take your word for it."
"Or at least wait until the other kid is back. He somehow placate her, so.....who knows." He added with a shrug.
"I guess I\'m next?" Fujimaru asked.
"Yes, do it the same as Samuel."
"Um, Director. If you don\'t mind me asking....I thought you could only do this with one Servant. Are you just Mash will be fine if I try and summon one?"
"I had forgotten your lack of education, you must have only picked up bits and pieces so far." I couldn\'t fault him for his ignorance right now. He would need a proper run down later. "Servant compatibility refers to a broad spectrum of Servant-related premises. The most obvious is the inherent ability to perform the required summoning, which is also the most important. But a high compatibility also means the ability to contract multiple Servants without problem. And according to what Roman told me, you have the highest compatibility out of everyone here. Enough that it reached the point where we stop measuring it."
"Oh." Ritsuka blinked. "As long as Mash is fine."
"Senpai, it\'s alright." She smiled towards him.
"Alright, I\'m ready." He stepped forward.
"Roman, begin the second summoning." I ordered.
"Power being sent to the FATE system again. A path has been opened up!"
Ritsuka held out his hand just like Samuel as the Magical Energy swirled around once more. Another silhouette began to take shape and I was ecstatic that we managed to summon another servant.\\
However, my body tensed once I saw who it was.
"Servant Saber answered your summons. Artoria Pendragon – The Tyrant of Knights." Her yellow eyes looked around the room.
"Oh wow, look who it is. Another reunion, huh? Guess we arent\' going to be enemies this time around, eh saber?"
"Do I know you?" The Saber servant replied.
Hmm, did she not retain her memories? Is Caster just an outlier in that respect. Maybe it\'s a good thing that –
"Don\'t lie, I saw you recognize us when you were first summoned." Caster grinned.
Saber clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"You....are the same Saber from before?" Ritsuka hesitantly asked.
"I am." She said without a shred of shame.
"And you\'re not going to attack us?"
"I am summoned as your Servant. I will answer to your orders." She said simply.
"Oh, alright. Welcome to Chaldea, Saber." Ritsuka smiled.
Saber blinked, same as myself. How quickly he was accepting of her when she was a terrifying enemy not a few days ago. She didn\'t respond, but took some glances around the room.
"Looking for someone, Saber~" Caster hummed.
"Hmph."
"Maybe someone with red hair?" He pressed.
"Cease your foolishness, Caster." Saber scowled.
"Hmm, should I tell him you weren\'t looking for him then? Might make him a little depressed that you didn\'t care."
"Do not test my patience." She growled.
"Kid\'s going to have a broken heart. You should have seen how angry he got after you disappeared and that other guy popped up and said he was responsible. Shit, it made me think he just lost the girl he loved, cause that was not a normal reaction."
"D-do not make me bring my sword to bare, Caster. I am not above putting down a stray dog." Saber scowled, but...was she blushing?
"Is that a promise? Let me get my spear, and I\'ll show you who would have really won that Grail war." Cu just seemed to continue to egg her on.
I let out a sigh.
This place was going to get extremely chaotic.
But atleast we had some Servants now. Things were...looking just the tiniest bit brighter.
"And you, Girl with the shield." Saber snapped her head towards Mash. "You and I will be sparring starting today."
"Bwah?" Mash let out a confused noise.
"I will see if you are worthy of wielding his Shield."
"You know about my Shield?"
Saber looked at her and frowned. "I see, you do not know. Very well, if you prove yourself, I will tell you its origin. Why he didn\'t tell you himself, I do not know nor care. But I will not allow you to walk around with that shield and not be properly trained with it."
.....an unexpected windfall.
"And you will be joining in." Saber grabbed Ritsuka\'s collar. "I will not have my Master be inexperienced."
"Uh....."
"Not a bad idea." Caster spoke up. "Farm boy, you\'re joining in. Let\'s get this rag tag group up to par, eh?"
"Hmph, you are alteast useful for something, I suppose." Saber sneered towards Caster. "This girl can use a training dummy, so you may join."
"Oi, I\'m going to grab my spear. Need to put a bitch in her place. I\'ll apologize to the kid later for beating up his girlfriend."
"I apologize Master. It seems your organization will have to summon another Servant." Saber twitched in annoyance. "For I fear there will be a dead dog here soon."
I take back what I said, this can only end badly.
Now.....I just have to wait for Shimoda to come back.
[***]
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