Grand Order, Start

All the alarm sirens in Chaldea started going off.

"Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in the Central Power Station and Command Room. Central Area's containment wall will activate in 90 seconds. All staff must evacuate from Gate 2 at once." The Chaldea PA announced.

The PA began to make another announcement, but we ignored it.

"That explosion just now, how could it happen?" Romani said out loud.

Not missing my chance of being a dick, I said to Romani, "You ask me but who should I ask?"

Romani's lips twitched as she looked at me with a 'wtf' look, to which I just shrugged my shoulders.

Shaking her head, she made her way to the monitor in my room and said, "Monitor, show us the Command Room!"

I arrived in time to see the Command Room fill with fire and rubble.

"This is the Command Room? Wait, isn't Mash in the Command Room?" I looked at Romani and asked her.

Romani's face became grim.

She looked at me and said, "Ryuu, evacuate right now. The containment wall is about to close, so hurry up and get yourself out before it's too late! I'm going to the Command Room."

After saying that, she ran out of the room and headed towards the Command Room, and left me and Fou behind.

I looked at Fou, who was staring at me.

Sigh, I smile and said to Fou, "Let's go save Mash."

Fou!

(A/N: Fou said, "Fou?")

Both I and Fou ran out of my room and caught up with Romani.

Seeing me and Fou running towards her, Romani said in a panicked tone, "What are you doing? This is the wrong way, Gate 2's that way! "

"I know," I said to Romani with a cheeky smile.

"You're heading to the Command Room with me? I know that having more helping hands is better, but-" I interrupted whatever Romani was about to say by picking her up in a princess carry and began sprinting down the hall.

"You are a bit slow, so let me carry you," I said to the now dumbfounded Romani.

"O-oh, ok…" was all Romani managed to say in a small voice.

Looking down at Romani's face, I saw a faint blush.

Ara? The King of magecraft, Solomon is blushing? How cute.

(A/N: I was planning to tease Romani but it didn't feel right.)

After running for a few minutes, we all arrived at the Command Room.

Putting down Romani, I looked around and saw corpses of Chaldea staff on the floor.

"This is where the explosion originated. This explosion was not an accident, it was sabotage." Romani said while looking around the destroyed room.

"Generator operation stopped. Power level critical. Switch to backup generator, error. Please make the switch manually," the Chaldea PA announced.

Hearing that, Romani's face became grim. Looking at me, she said, "I am going to the underground power station to manually switch the generator. Hurry and go back the way we came. You can still make it."

With that, Romani rushed out of the room and headed for the underground power station.

(A/N: Fou disappeared somewhere?)

A few seconds later, the silent PA made another announcement.

"System switching to the final phase of Rayshift. Coordinates, AD 2004, 30th January, Fuyuki, Japan."

My heartbeat started to rise, palms sweaty, knees weak.

"Laplace's shifting protection established. Singularity's additional factor slot secured."

I felt the sweat drop roll down my back.

"Unsummon Program set. Please start final adjustments."

That was my cue to start searching for my cute kouhai, Mash.

I started to quickly search the rubble for Mash.

And when I finally found her, she wasn't looking too good. The game downplayed how badly Mash was hurt.

"Senpai…" Mash said in a soft voice when she saw me.

"Hang in there, Mash. I will get you now," I said as I slowly began to remove the rubble around her.

"It's too…late for…me. You can't…save me. Please…run," Mash said in a slow and broken voice.

I knew that it would happen and Mash would be fine but that didn't stop me from feeling like shit.

While I continued to carefully remove rubble on and around Mash, I heard a fizzing sound behind me.

The CHALDEAS core that was supposed to be blue that represented humanity was gone and was replaced with blazing red.

All of humanity beyond Chaldea's barriers was gone, just like that.

"Ah…" I heard Mash's shocked voice behind me.

"Warning all observation staff. Chaldeas' state has changed."

Really? I didn't notice.

"Unable to detect the existence of mankind 100 years in the near future on Earth."

Well, you can thank Goetia for that.

"Unable to confirm human survivors. Unable to guarantee mankind's future."

"CHALDEAS…has turned red. No…never mind that. Senpai…you need to leave…now," Mash said, still shocked at the current development.

I finally got rid of all the rubbles that were trapping Mash. I slowly helped her stand up when another announcement sounded out.

"Central Area, sealed. 180 seconds till internal containment procedure."

"They…shut off…the area. Now…we can't…get out," Mash said with panic clear in her voice.

"Don't worry, we'll figure out a way," I said to Mash.

Mash's face became grim but didn't say anything.

"Coffin vitals: Masters Baseline not reached. Rayshift requirement not met. Searching for qualifying Master…Found."

Finally, it's starting…

"Candidate No. 48, Yagami Ryuu rest as Master."

I could feel my heart racing.

"Unsummon Program, start. Spiritron Conversion, start."

"Sen…pai. Can you…Hold my hands?" Mash said as her body started dissipating into golden particles.

I looked at Mash and sighed. I pulled her into a hug with my left arm around her waist and my right hand slowly patting her head.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine," I said to her and continued to pat her.

"Hmm," was Mash's reply.

"Rayshift starting in 3, 2, 1. All procedures are clear. First Order, commencing operation."

I closed my eyes and the world around me went silent.