37 Burning Order

Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331

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I flew through the portal generated by the Company and found myself inside a wrecked room filled with rubbles. There were fires and debris everywhere and it looked as though a bomb had gone off. At the center of this room, was a burning sphere with several rings orbiting around it. The glow from the sphere wasn't strong enough to overpower the light from the fires that were raging.

"Eh?"

"Error," A mechanical voice called out, "Anomaly found. Anomaly compatible. Restarting the unsummoning program. Beginning Spiritron conversion. Rayshifting…"

I spotted a person with light purple hair trapped underneath a large piece of rubble, with whom I presumed to be the protagonist next to her.

"... Now."

Quicker than I could react, I found myself being flung across space and time.

So this was Rayshifting.

Before I could make out another thought. Before I could even fully take in the sight of spacetime in its most basic components, I found myself being deposited right above a broken and burning city.

The mission called the first section 'Singularity F - Flame Contaminated City: Fuyuki'.

I was falling. The wind brushed past my face and through my hair, causing it to go wild.

Before I could fall further than a height of 30 meters, I came to a halt as I took control of my motion.

Singularity F… what was that about again?

"Fuck."

Suddenly I found myself stumped. I smacked my face once I realized I didn't know the details of each Singularity and Lostbelt. When I played F/GO before I signed on with the Company, I didn't bother reading over a million words and just decided to skip all the dialogue and went straight into the action.

Damn. Not reading has come back to bite me in the ass.

Licking my dry lips, I thought about my next move. Wasn't I supposed to do something about a holy grail or something? I distinctly recall getting a holy grail every time I finish an event or a Singularity. So maybe I must collect it?

Being a kilometer up in the air, my eyes had no problem and swept across this hellscape like searchlights from a helicopter. This ruin of a city. Almost all the buildings were stripped of their windows, revealing the blackened concrete and rebar bones underneath. The fires themselves feel… wrong in a sense. Evil almost.

More than just the fires, I could feel a presence coming from somewhere. It's far, across the Pacific. Based on its relation with Earth's magnetic poles, I could tell it was in the direction of South America.

It was weak, so I chose to ignore it and focus on what was in front of me.

Namely, a structure of East Asian architectural style further inland away from the ocean and the river that splits this place in two. That's where the most amount of magical energy is held. It practically gushs out magical energy like an overfilled cup.

Three guesses as to what's responsible!

I started flying towards it.

As I approached the place, I found a drill held on top of a sword handle approaching me rapidly.

Its travel speed is only about Mach 10. Hypersonic, almost too fast for a normal human to react to.

It was no problem for me. Even in my first ascension state, I had no problem reacting to it.

I reached out as it neared and snatched the drill sword right out of the air. Even as it tried to twist space to escape my grasp, I clamped down on the sword hard enough to cause its metal to groan. That was probably an attack—

*Boom*

The sword exploded with the force of a low-yield nuclear bomb. I was fully enveloped in the resulting fireball.

"..."

Was that supposed to be an attack?

I didn't even need to raise my shield for that. It was… annoying, in the same way that a fly buzzing around you is annoying.

There was another drill sword launched at me. I didn't even bother dodging and smacked it away using a single swipe with my right hand, it was as though the sword was a snowball instead of the deadly projectile it was meant to be

A frown formed on my face as the right side of my body was lit up by the light coming from the sword's explosion.

That was… pathetic. I mean, I guess my perspective is skewed considering I stayed in the SCPverse for over a year but like…

I shook my head and headed towards the tower where the shooter launched those swords.

Moving fast enough to cause a sonic boom, I saw how the figure clad in black and red jumped off the tower in response to my motion. The man… the servant pulled back the string of his bow with another strange-looking sword in place of where the arrow should be.

In the short few instances, before the archer fired his arrow, I observed the sword-arrow. It was a pitch-black weapon with sharp edges spiraling around a thin and long core. Those edges curved outward—

The archer shot it.

I unceremoniously smacked the Mach 10 projectile out of the way with the back of my left hand. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw how the sword curved in the air and acted like a homing missile as it continued to track me.

Curious.

I stopped pursuing Archer for a moment and focused on the blade. A sense of curiosity hounded my mind at the tracking sword since it was the first time I'd ever met something like it.

I was like a child who had seen a new toy.

Snatching the sword right out of the air, the air around me ruptured at the sudden cessation of movement. The inertia of the sword transferred to the air surrounding it.

I could feel it fighting against my grab. There, I used my other hand to grasp the handle. Then, I started test-swinging it like it was a plastic toy before it suddenly dissolved into particles of crimson light.

Before I could feel disappointed, I found another drill sword coming right at me. I moved out of the way.

As it passed by, in almost slow motion, I had the bright idea of catching it and returning it to sender.

So I reached out to grab the handle of the sword—

*Boom*

It exploded again.

I smacked my lips. Annoying.

Flying out of the fireball, I saw Archer further down the city block. Before I could conjure up an orb of plasma, a sudden primal roar broke the air, destroying the relative silence of the dead city.

Turning to look at the source of those roars, I found a hulking black giant with a mane of black hair and a loincloth wrapping around his waist. The… Berserker had bulging muscles and was wielding a single rough axe-sword-thing.

Berserker stomped the ground and launched himself at me, creating a burst of dust and debris behind him as he did.

At the same time, Archer fired another of his drill-sword arrows that would explode in an annoying manner.

I eyed the two of them. From the perspective of a normal human, these heroes of legends would be almost too fast for the eye to track. From my perspective, both were slow, like they were moving through honey.

Determining the sword would reach me first, I grabbed Tohil's Authority over the flames and manifested a rope of divine fire that caused Archer's arrow to detonate prematurely. Then, I turned the divine flamethrower back onto Berserker.

The servant moved right through the flames without care. It was a poor decision as all that was left of Berserker when it reached me were the still burning ashes.

I was hit by a face-full of ashes. The momentum Berserker built up was still carried by its remains.

His God Hand was no match. But being hit with a bundle of ash was unpleasant.

As I spat out what ashes got in my mouth, I spotted from the corner of my eyes Archer nocking another arrow.

Just before he could fire it I sent out a coherent beam of gas superheated to hotter than lightning. The stream backed up by my Mystery stabbed right through Archer's chest, vaporizing him in an instant despite the beam being no wider than a small flower pot.

Appearing for no more than a second, the plasma melted the asphalt ground underneath it, turning it sticky and glowing shades of red and orange.

Finishing with Archer, I turned to find Berserker fully healed up. He slammed his sword to the ground and charged at me once more.

If I remember, didn't Berserker's Godhand prevent him from dying twice to the same attack? So instead of using Tohil's Authority, I chose to send out invisible blades of sharp wind that cut Herakles down to size.

The first to go was his left arm. The next, his right foot. After that, Berserker's lower half.

The ground behind the servant ripped as chasms opened up since the blades of wind still continued traveling, digging into the modern roads with ease.

Even with only a single arm left, Berserker still tried to crawl forward and kill me.

Given how Fate servants never truly 'die' in a sense, I had drastically fewer issues with killing them as I might with a human.

So I conjured up a small orb of plasma and had it blast Berserker.

All that remained of the hulking giant was a hole in the ground, with its edge and walls glowing like lava freshly spilled from a volcano.

I turned my head and tried to get that satisfying crack, only for nothing to come out.

"Hmm."

My lips thinned in disappointment. I miss that satisfying crack. I really do.

"Now where was I…" I snapped my fingers, "Ah, that's right, I was heading towards that huge concentration of magical energy."

Just as I was about to take off, my ears picked up the sound of multiple heartbeats. Four to be exact. Hearing those things stopped me in my tracks.

Floating there in the air, I turned my head around to try and narrow the direction of where those things came from. The flames and the constant churning of air made it difficult to pinpoint its exact locations

There shouldn't be too much harm in me taking a detour and checking out the Chaldeans.

I took off. Flying above the burning wreckage of buildings, I quickly zoomed towards the direction of the heartbeats. Already, from many kilometers away I can spot four figures in the distance surrounded by fallen buildings and piles of burning debris. Three of the four were standing around the last one, a Servant who was standing on top of a fallen shield.

The Servant noticed me first. It was the same Archer as before, only this time he seemed… less evil. The aura around him appears calmer, like cold steel. Archer evaporated away and entered spirit form, leaving the other three. The girl with the purple hair then grabbed the fallen shield as the other two cowered behind the demi-servant.

Mash, the only Shielder Servant in the game.

I slowed down as I approached. Hovering about ten meters away and nine feet above the ground, I was the one to break the tense standoff.

"So you're Chaldea. Here to save humanity?"

A brief pause. Then the white-haired woman peeked out from behind Mash. Olga.

"Y—" The woman's voice cracked before clearing her throat, "I mean. Yes. I am the Director of the Chaldean Security Organization, Olga Marie Animusphere. May we ask who are you and what are your goals?"

I thought about it for moments before speaking again, "I am a wanderer between worlds. Goddess Kukulkan, going to wherever humanity needs me the most. I see things have gone out of hand."

As I said that I looked around me, prompting the other one, a male teen in his older teen years to look around too.

"A rogue servant traveling the Kaleidoscope? And Kukulkan of the Mayan Pantheon?" Olga muttered under her breath, "Anyway, that's not important."

The white-haired woman bowed with false reverence. I could tell it was false since it was very different from how Bethany and those who followed her would bow. For one, it's far shallower.

"O' Goddess, please, we of the Chaldea Security Organization require your aid—"

"Alright."

Olga stumbled over her words. Clearly, just like members of Tau-5, she didn't expect me to just accept their requests.

"I uh." Olga cleared her throat again, hurriedly saying, "Thank you, Goddess Kukulkan. As you already know my name, allow me to introduce my fellow compatriots."

The magus gestured at Shielder, "Mash Kyrielight. Shielder-class demi-servant." Then she glared at Gudao, muttering under her breath, "Make him manifest!"

Ritsuka panicked a bit before the tattoos on his right hand glowed, whereupon Archer manifested 100 meters away on top of a building. His bow is drawn and in the place of where the arrow should be was another blade I've never seen before.

"Um, sorry about that Goddess Kukulkan! That's Archer-class servant…" Olga turned to face Gudao, whisper-yelling, "What's his name?!"

"Um, he didn't tell me."

Olga smacked her forehead in frustration. I could spot droplets of sweat coming down the sides of the woman's cheeks. "Um, apologies again! That's a no-name Archer." Lastly, Olga gestured at Fujimaru, "This commoner is Ritsuka Fujimaru."

Wow, Olga is tense. She looked like someone who could bolt at a moment's notice.

"There's no need to be so tense," I reached out a hand, with a smile on my face, "We're all trying to save humanity here. We're all allies."

Olga hesitated. She looked like she wanted to do anything other than shake my hand. After a few more seconds of deliberation, the woman nodded and returned the handshake.

Then, through that physical contact with Olga, I did a bit of corrective measure by replicating a part of the Third Magic on a small scale. In short, I solidified Olga's soul through Pan-Human History me's Authority over the seas.

The woman instantly backed away as she detected something must've happened. She appeared horrified, probably scared of whatever I did. She screamed, "What did you do?!"

"You were dead," I replied.

During that year I stayed to help humanity rebuild, I experimented extensively with the Authority over the seas. Through creating that immortality fruit, I discovered just how versatile and powerful Divine Authorities were. More than just being able to control the seas, they are able to control entire concepts and manifest them without a cause.

So long as something comes from water, my alternate self's Divine Authority over the seas can control it. Thus, it was very versatile, yet even so, they weren't able to separate that eternal afterlife from the concept of humanity.

"Eh?" Olga froze.

It suggests whatever made humans intentionally gave them the island for an afterlife. How horrible.

"It's simple really, you were a wandering spirit without a physical body. I used my Authority to solidify your soul."

Silence, then she uttered slowly as if scared, "... what?"

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AN: I HAVE RETURNED*

*with Fuyuki and Orleans done.

Anyway so the current schedule is such: every time I complete a certain number of chapters, I'll post them.

Your comments are like caffeine. I need a large source of caffeine to work faster on future chapters.