Ch 167: Well, the peace didn’t last long…

"Hey, Mash, Gudako. Is it me, or is the Director rather disliked? Or is it Lev?" asked Asuka with a low voice, glancing at a table in the opposite corner of the cafeteria. Olga-Marie was eating her dinner while chatting with Lev, and they were the only people seating at their table. And the tables next to them were also empty.

Mash and Gudako were having dinner in company of every newcomer near the opposite side of the cafeteria. If Akeno judged by the number of people present, the Chaldea research station was home for about 150 researchers and technicians.

"The Director is… very strict." said Mash with hesitation, clearly uncomfortable with the subject. "I believe she is a good, honest and hard-working person, but…" she paused as if searching her words.

"…but her interpersonal skills could use some improvement?" suggested Akeno.

"Yes. Aside from Professor Lev, and maybe Da Vinci, I do not think she has any friend. Most people avoid her because they do not want to be scolded."

"I don't like Lev." stated Gudako with a glance at his direction. "I can never guess what he truly thinks."

"Senpai, I know you do not like him, but please to not poison the newcomers with your prejudices. I think he's a very learned and polite person, and his advice is often valuable." chided Mash.

Akeno shared a glance with Asuka and most of the other Masters. Judging from their reactions and small nods, she thought she wasn't the only one who determined Lev to be an enemy and received a System message about it.

Olga-Marie's relative social isolation would make things more difficult. If Lev had managed to make her emotionally dependent on him, the Director would require iron-clad evidence of Lev's duplicity before she would change her view of him. Even an irrefutable proof might not be enough.

"Speaking about Lev, his last name is Flauros. Is it perhaps linked to one of Solomon's 72 demons?" asked Akeno. She had immediately noticed the possible significance of the name, as most of the noble families in the underworld had names corresponding to the 72 demons as well, like the Sitri or Agares families.

"Not that I know of." shrugged Gudako. Mash also shook her head.

"Fouuu." said the furry white… being that sat on the table beside Mash.

Akeno couldn't decide if the cat-sized Fou was a dog or a fox, with his body largely covered by shaggy white fur. Fou had been relatively friendly with everyone, allowing himself to be petted a little, but he made clear that his favorite two-legged person was still Mash.

"I forgot to ask, Akeno. What did you discuss with the Director in her office? She seemed to hate your guts." wondered Chisato.

"Yes. She was a bit put off by our sudden arrival and was wondering if we were planning a hostile takeover or something along those lines. It's a normal consideration for someone in her position, who inherited command after her father's death last year, from what Luvia told us. I reassured her and explained our reason for coming, and she agreed to work with us. So long as we don't cause trouble. Do not cause trouble, please."

"Yes, we'll behave." smiled Chisato.

"I have a meeting with her tomorrow morning to discuss the finer details. We will likely do patrols and other things regular guards do."

"Oh joy, getting to stand beside a door for hours." muttered Asuka.

"I don't think that kind of thing will last long. the Gods would have let us spend more time training in London otherwise." suggested Miwa.

Mahs and Gudako tensed as they looked at each other. They had just been told during dinner about being on the eve of a major catastrophe, and would need some time to adjust. Akeno hoped they would have that time.

Meanwhile, she would have to discuss about having at least half of their members out of the Sanctuary at any given time, just in case. And two or three Servants would be guarding the crystal ball at all times. She didn't want to risk having the artifact and its non-organic content being lost.

…

Akeno sighed in relief as she found herself alone in her new room. It was sparsely furnished for now, but she had been told she would be allowed to add plants and other personal items very soon. She could request to the logistic division for things from the outside to be delivered, although they only did one supply run every six weeks or so. Chaldea wasn't completely self-reliant when it came to food, but they weren't far from it, either.

She used her lightning sense to check for hidden microphones and cameras, then did the same with a magic spell, and didn't find anything strange. She sat on the bed, took her smartphone and called Noah.

"Akeno?"

"Noah. I miss you." smiled Akeno.

"You speak for me, Akeno. As soon as I can join you, We're going on a date, and then we'll make up for the times I couldn't be with you."

"I'm looking forward to it. We're now in Chaldea. Can you activate the video?"

"Sure."

Akeno took the smartphone away from her right ear and saw Noah on the screen. She really missed him.

"I met a few key people. First is Olga-Marie. She has an important role in the original fiction, right? She has an ahoge, so she must have."

"The Chaldea part of the original universe is quite different. It isn't based on a visual novel, but on a gacha video game called Fate Grand Order. One famous for being absolutely ruthless on your wallet, but I digress. The game was all about collecting Servants and leveling their abilities to fight a plethora of enemy beasts, humans and Servants."

"Ok. So what is the setting? Are we going to face invasions from parallel timelines?"

"In the original setting, a certain bad guy used one of Chaldea's prototypes to travel into the past, distributing Holy Grails and the ability to summon Servants to seven historical villains, thus changing the past and sentencing the present reality to incineration. The protagonist and his Servants had to travel into the past and recover them, and some mystical force would correct the damage and return the course of events to what it should be."

"I see. But time travel is impossible, so the Gods have something else in mind, surely… Wait, in that game setting, was Chaldea able to observe alternate timelines?"

"No, unless you're referring to seeing different versions of the future of the current timeline."

Akeno remained silent as she pondered on the information Noah had just given her.

"…I see. In this world, Chaldea seems to be able to… I can make an educated guess, then. We will be sent to other timelines to recover seven Holy Grails."

Noah nodded slowly as she scratched his chin. "Assuming Lilith and the others want to stick to the original setting as much as possible, that sounds likely. Do you wish for me to tell you about the seven original singularities? There's actually more that were added later-on, since the game had existed for some time."

"Yes, please."

"The first is just a small tutorial of sort, and takes place during a previous Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. The protagonist and… Have you met Mash?"

"Yes. Mash and Gudako."

"Gudako, Ritsuka, or Gudao? They are the protagonist and the player's avatar, but their gender changes depending on the player's preference."

"Gudako, and she's definitely a girl. You're going to like her. She has a great temperament." smiled Akeno.

"I do not doubt it. So, the first singularity and tutorial. During an experiment, several explosions cause havoc in Chaldea at the most crucial time. Gudako and Mash end up inside a burning Fuyuki City, where they meet up with Olga-Marie and face waves of skeletons and corrupted Servants, weaker versions of the real ones. The end boss is a corrupted Artoria called Artoria Alter. Once she is defeated, the traitor shows himself, and reveal that while Olga-Marie's soul is with them inside the singularity, her physical body has been destroyed in the explosion that took out Chaldea's control room. I'm glossing over a few things to make it simpler, but Olga-Marie… doesn't make it."

"That’s nasty." frowned Akeno.  "So the Director is fated to an early death?"

"Yes. Although, much later in the game, a hostile goddess coming from outside of the Root appears, and she has Olga-Marie's face, but without her memories. I didn't reach that part, so I can't tell you more. If possible, try to save her, ok? She had a prickly and proud personality, but she's a good person."

"Sure, you do not need to tell me. And the traitor you mentioned is Lev, right?"

"Right. It didn't take you long to figure it out." nodded Noah, and Akeno rolled her eyes.

"Please. The guy is such an obvious villain he may as well carry a signpost… I saw him eat in the cafeteria. What kind of decent person has pointed teeth? Anyway, what about the Second singularity?"

"I can actually think of a few decent people in other timelines with pointed teeth. Mostly dragons transforming into dragon girls. The second singularity is based on the hundred-year war in France. Lev had given a Grail to Gilles de Rais." seeing no recognition in Akeno's face, Noah continued. "A crazy simp for Jeanne d'Arc. When she was burned at the stake, Gilles de Rais forsake and challenged God, and deliberately committed the worst atrocities he could think of, to try to provoke God into a reaction or something. When he was arrested, over a hundred corpses of children were found in his basement, that he had converted into a torture chamber. That's how sick and evil Gilles de Rais is, at least his Caster version. His Saber version is how he was while Jeanne was still alive."

"I almost hope I'll get an opportunity to face him."

"Yeah. Be wary of tentacle monsters if you do. Not the fun kind you got a taste of."

"Don't mention those!" shouted Akeno, blushing, and Noah smirked.

"In the game, Gilles used the grail to summon his own perfect version of Jeanne d'Arc. Jeanne the Avenger, cursed with his own desire for revenge against France and the Church, the Dragon Queen."

"Mash and the protagonist defeat Jeanne Alter, and the seven other Servants summoned by the grail as her subordinates, making temporary alliances with a few independent Servants, and it turns out that Jeanne Alter is actually a good person. After all, even Angry Jeanne is still Jeanne. The core of their personalities is still the same. Once the MC convinces her to let go of her revenge and help them save humanity, she surrenders and would have become a valuable ally, if that piece of shit Lev didn't backstab her to death."

"From your words, I'm assuming you would like for me to get this Jeanne Alter into our family as well." smiled Akeno. She herself felt intrigued by the notion of two Jeannes, alike yet different.

"I would greatly appreciate it, yes." grinned Noah. "The next singularity is based around the roman empire, and a war between several Servants who were roman emperors in their time. Since Nero is already in your team, I have no interest in any of the Servants involved."

"The fourth singularity is… London, with Jack the Ripper and Nicholas Tesla being notable antagonists. The end of that singularity is where the mastermind behind Lev reveals himself. He calls himself Solomon, but the MC discovers in the final singularity that he actually is Solomon's living Noble Phantasm, Goetia, who wishes to wipe out humanity."

"…Okay? Well, I'm not really interested in the exact content of the singularities at this point. I can always ask later. I'd rather talk about things more immediately useful. What can you tell me about the other members of Chaldea's staff?"

"You're right. I told you about Olga-Marie and Lev. Mash has been subjected to a number of experiments before, aiming to make her a better host for heroic spirits, and as a result, her lifespan is greatly diminished. You do not have all that much time to make her sign a Soul Contract. At least a few months, I think, but maybe not much more."

"Will do." promised Akeno.

"Romani is a good guy. He has a lazy demeanor but is reliable when it matters. He has his secrets, but is still firmly on humanity's side, so don't try to pry into them. Da Vinci is also a good and reliable person, and an unrivaled genius. She shouldn't have a Master currently. I do not need to tell you that a scientist of her caliber would to a ton of good to our faction."

"Other staff members of note?"

"…Is that pompous noble Gladorff, or whatever his name is, present? A purple-haired young woman called Sion?"

"I don’t think so."

"They come in at a later stage of the game, so I'm not surprised. The other people of note are the seven Masters who will be victims of the sabotage and later in the story lead their own Lost Belts. Kadoc, Ophelia, Kirschtaria and so on."

"As far as I'm aware, Gudako was the only Master present in Chaldea before we came in. And I met both Ophelia and Kirschtaria in the Tower." frowned Akeno.

"Ok. There likely won't be any Lost Belt then. Before you ask, Lost Belts were alternate versions of reality where things happened differently, and they competed with each other and with your timeline to become THE reality, and every losing Lost Belt would be destroyed. It seems Lilith-sama and the others do not want to reproduce that part of the game, if the Masters aren't there. A good thing in my book. You won't have to make the choice of condemning other realities to save your own. It would be contrary to their goals to create worlds just to destroy them shortly after."

"I can certainly agree on that… So, save the Director and seduce her, get on very friendly terms with Gudako, Mash, Da Vinci, and possibly others. And go Grail hunting. I have my work cut out for me… Are you done with Takina?"

"She's learning swordsmanship with Reina, now that she has my abilities. Give me a day, please, so I can spend a bit of alone time with her. I'll also miss her."

"Sure, I'll call you tomorrow. Ah, wait, there was something else. What can you tell me about Fou?"

"Fou is one of Gaia's Beasts. His real name is Cath Palug. He is a bit like Ophis. Harmless as long as you treat him and his friends well, but you do not want him angry at you."

"Gaia's Beast? I was under the impression that Gaia was opposed to humanity." frowned Akeno.

"More or less. Fou has been somewhat pacified by Merlin, but that's a long story. As for Gaia herself, she may hate humans currently because of all the pollution and devastation of nature, but she isn't exactly on a war footing with humanity, either. She's mostly passive and endure the slow bullying in silence. We'll do something about that, once we Champions can come here. We don't want to let the situation degrade until she decides enough is enough."

"Yeah. I'm sure having Da Vinci on our side would be handy then."

"My thoughts exactly." smiled Noah.

"Can I talk to Mom?

"Of course. Just give me a moment to find her."

As she waited, Akeno suddenly had a feeling. On instinct, she looked to her left at the foot of the bed, and felt like jumping out of her skin. Fou was there, sitting on the ground, quietly gazing at her.

"Hey, little one." smiled Akeno with a short hesitation. "How did you get there?"

"Fouuuu." replied Fou, before heading for the door. It opened without needing a verbal command, and the Beast of Gaia left just like that.

Akeno wondered how much he had heard. She was absolutely certain he hadn't followed her inside when she came in, and she would have noticed the door opening during her conversation with Noah. It was like he had soundlessly teleported in at some point.

…

"What do you think of our new comrades, Mash?" asked Gudako with a smile.

"I like them, senpai. They seem friendly and dependable. But…" Mash hesitated. There was something about the way Akeno sometimes looked at her Senpai, and also herself, that felt a little… hungry. And it wasn't just Akeno, if she thought about it carefully. Britomart, Artoria and even Sakura…

Mash knew Gudako was an attractive and charismatic person, even is she didn't seem aware of it herself. Surely they weren't having designs on her senpai… did they?

"…but?" asked Gudako.

"…nothing. Don't worry, Senpai! I will protect you!" proclaimed Mash, steeling her resolve. She would stop any and all thieving cats!

"Hum, yes, sure. I will protect you, too." nodded Gudako, confused.

Mash knew her senpai didn't have a clue, but that was part of her charm. She would protect her innocence even if that meant putting her body on the line!

…

Lev Lainur Flauros waited for the door of his room to close, then finally let go of his carefully controlled mask. His face twisted in anger.

This damned Zelretch!

Although maybe his anger was misplaced. It seemed that beings from beyond the Root were stirring the pot. And the way some of the new Masters had stared made it evident that they were suspicious of him.

During dinner, Olga-Marie had told him everything about her talk with Akeno, and it was clear to him that he needed to advance his timetable. Luckily, the preparations for all the important parts of the great plan were completed. He still had to place some of the bombs, but even if something went wrong on that side, Chaldea would only be able to struggle uselessly before their inevitable doom. If they even managed to understand what would be happening and put up a struggle.

Due to the new Masters and Servants, he would have to give up on placing bombs near their locations, just in case, but the really important places should still be vulnerable tonight, and all he would have to do afterward would be to leave and warn his siblings to get started.

…

Akeno suddenly woke up to the sound of an explosion. She sat on the bed, disoriented for an instant and wondering if she hadn't dreamed it, when the room vibrated, and another explosion was heard. And another.

She took her uniform from her inventory and ran to the door, putting on her clothes as the others also emerged from their rooms.

"Looks like it's starting." grimly said Asuka, wearing black pajamas and taking the clothes from her inventory as well.

"Our presence must have spooked them." said Rin.

"Chisato, Miwa, make sure everyone is ready for combat as soon as possible, and that no one is missing or injured. Then spread out by groups, two Masters and two Servants, to see what is going on and search for potential enemies. Artoria, Britomart, come with me to the control room."

"Yes, Master." immediately replied the two Servants.

Akeno was still in the process of putting on her uniform as they ran toward the core of the research center, jealous for a moment of the Servants' ability to change their outfits almost instantly.

They saw panicked people in the hallways, and the fire alarms were blaring. There was smoke, and the glow of flames ahead.

As they came closer, they saw that the sprinklers on the ceiling were doing their jobs, and a bit of magecraft from Akeno and the two Servants quickly put the flames out.

The control room was devastated. It was obvious something had exploded inside. As they entered, they found Romani crouching near a downed technician. Without a word, Akeno crouched near him and used Greater Healing. As she did, she glanced at the two other techs laying on the ground. They were clearly already dead.

"Do you know what happened?" asked Akeno with a soft voice.

"Bombs, obviously." sighed Romani. He didn't feel like commenting on Akeno's magic.

Akeno could see in his face that he was wondering if Akeno and her group were behind the attack, but Romani didn't say a word, and his face quickly softened. He was likely thinking that they didn't yet have access to the control room, and weren't the culprits, even if their arrival might have prodded them into action.

"I heard three explosions." said Akeno.

"One hit the fusion reactor, from the looks of it. We're running on the emergency batteries right now. The other… Oh please no…"

Romani paled and ran out of the command room, what was left of it. Akeno and her two Servants followed him.

She quickly recognized where he was going. The Director's office. Akeno gritted her teeth as soon as she saw that the door had been torn out by an explosion and was on the hallway's floor.

Entering inside, she stopped beside Romani, staring at the bed in shock. He fell to his knees.

Olga-Marie was dead, her body badly mangled by the explosion.

With a heavy sigh, Akeno took a blanket from her inventory and spread it over the remains.

Da Vinci entered the room, radiating anger. She stopped by the bed.

"Oh no…"

"My friends are patrolling the research center." said Akeno. "Are there security cameras? logs of who opened what door? Anything we can use to identify who did this?"

"…I think I already know." grimly said Da Vinci. "After the explosions, just before coming, I consulted the entry logs of the reactor room, and Professor Lev came inside just ten minutes before. There was no reason for him to go there in the middle of the night, and why is he not here right now if he is innocent?"

"The professor? Why would he do that?" protested Romani.

"We'll find out. I'll go check for injured to heal, and spread the word that Lev is a suspect. We will search for him." suggested Akeno.

Romani and Da Vinci nodded, not really paying attention to her. They would need some time to process Olga-Marie's passing.

Akeno was very angry, even if she knew that Noah would revive Olga-Marie. Angry at herself. She had let herself be blindsided, thinking that bolstering the security of the research center could wait until after the planned meeting with the Director. She wanted to laugh at herself, for having worked hard for nearly two years, subjective time, only to commit such an amateurish mistake. Scathach would have harsh things to say to her during their next training session, and she would deserve every word.

"Akeno, what's happening?" shouted Gudako as she ran down the hallways with Mash.

"Terrorism or sabotage." flatly replied Akeno. "Lev is suspected. Da Vinci says he entered the reaction room ten minutes before a bomb exploded inside."

"What?" exclaimed Mash, completely flabbergasted.

"Shit! I knew he was up to something! We need to inform the Director." said Gudako.

Akeno grabbed her arm as she was about to run past her.

"I'm sorry, Gudako. Another bomb exploded in her office. She is…" said Akeno with a soft, pained voice, releasing Gudako's arm.

"That's… a lie, right?" said Gudako in denial, shaking her head.

"I'll accompany you back if you wish, but… don't lift the blanket. You don't want to remember her as she is now."

Mash, her eyes starting to fill with tears, took Gudako's hand and squeezed. With uncertain steps, they walked toward the Director's office.

Akeno sighed again and searched for her companions.

…

Thirty minutes later, the leaders of Chaldea, as well as Mash, Gudako, Luvia, Akeno and the other Masters gathered in the cafeteria.

"First things first." started Da Vinci, her voice angry. "Lev is confirmed as the culprit, and I have no indication of anyone else being complicit. We deplore six victims, all fatalities. The Director and five technicians. There would have been many more if it hadn't happened in the middle of the night. The injured have been completely healed. I now believe that he has been plotting this for a long time, and the arrival of the special investigators prodded him into immediate action."

She looked at Romani, who cleared his throat.

"I am assuming temporary command." he said wearily. "The technicians and the security team, as well as most Servants, are scouring the station, opening every container of maintenance shaft to search for Lev or for more bombs. But it seems he's gone."

"Why? Why did the professor do this?" asked Mash, still not willing to believe it had happened.

"We do not know yet… And there is something else. I tried to contact the Association, and it didn't work. I thought the communication relay might be damaged, but it seems to be in working order. So I took a satellite phone and went outside to get a better reception. And there is something very wrong with the sky."

"The sky?" asked Akeno, and Romani nodded.

"Its pitch black. The stars should be visible, but they aren't."

Luvia tried to use her own smartphone.

"I'm not getting any signal. It should be able to connect to a satellite even in the absence of a ground relay."

"Could we be isolated in another dimension, to something similar?" asked Asuka.

"I cannot say for sure." said Da Vinci. But the energy requirements for this would…" Her words trailed off when a researcher ran to them.

"Everyone, some strange beings have appeared in the infirmary! One of them says she is Alaya!"

"What?" exclaimed Rin.

Romani was already on the move, trotting toward the infirmary. Akeno and everyone else followed closely.

Once they were all inside, the infirmary was packed. They were all surrounding three strange beings. The first was a small sphere of flames looking like a blue sun, surrounded by two glowing blue halos constantly rotating around it.

Laying on a bed behind it was a beautiful woman with long green hair. A naked woman. She was unconscious, and her body was transparent, as if she was a ghost.

The third being, floating beside the first, was some kind of blue glowing cube. Each surface was made of nine smaller cubes, and Akeno could see that those smaller cubes themselves were made of still smaller cubes, like a fractal image.

"I am Alaya." said the first being. "We need your help."