Chapter 9: ...Hope You Survive the Experience

Center of Antarctica

Chaldea Security Organisation

2015 AD

While the members of her group make their way to their posts in Chaldea, Susan makes her way to a vacant lab in the subsections of the headquarters and unpacks the research equipment for her, Karin, and Tsunade's research pertaining to Ramiel's blood. Once done she takes an elevator back upstairs towards the main lab and arrives just in time to see an irritated Olga stomp her way out with a casual Ramiel following behind with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette in his mouth.

Watching him follow the director without an ounce of urgency once again makes her wonder how someone so powerful could be so easy going. Every powerful person that she's met from her world has some form of intensity to them, whether it be their posture or character. Ramiel however is completely easy going without a sense of urgency at all. Even after killing a vampire that had assaulted his home he just spent the night having sex with Esdeath before checking up on them in the morning.

"Our resident dragon/vampire almost caused the director to blow a fuse earlier." says Karin's voice, shaking her from her thoughts.

"What did he do?" asks Susan with a sigh. Despite having known him for a week only, Susan is sure that his easy going attitude will not only get him in trouble sometime, but will also piss off people with Olga's temperament. If she were to be honest, it reminds her of her brother sometimes.

"Well, she had him scanned." answers Karin.

"Oooh." says Susan with a wince.

"Yup, she didn't appreciate his absurd stats nor his nonchalance about them." says Karin.

Before Susan can answer her fellow scientist, her communicator beeps into life.

"Susan, the director's speech is almost over and Lev has called Dr. Roman to the Control Room. Intercept him." orders Natasha through the communicator.

Natasha's order brings a silence to the hallway as Karin and Susan process her words. Seconds after Natasha's orders came through, her communicator once again beeps to life with Doctor Roman's whereabouts. Bidding Karin goodbye, Susan takes off into an Aura enhanced run, she has a Doctor to save.

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Smoke and fire fills the room, causing the survivors to cough as they try to regain their bearings long enough to exit their coffins. Still disoriented from what was obviously a bomb, it takes Hancock a few punches to shatter the door to her coffin and a few more seconds for her to crawl her way out. Even as she stands from the rubble however, she can't help but wildly look around for Ramiel. With the multiple coffins and bodies strewn about the room she finds it quite difficult, especially with the smoke constantly filling her eyes and the flames prickling at her skin. With no sign of him anywhere Hancock's heart begins to beat wildly in her chest as the worst possible outcome comes to mind.

Ignoring the screams of those dying around her or the noise of the system sounding off every function that is out of order, Hancock begins to rummage through the rubble, lifting collapsed walls and anything that obstructs her vision to the floor. With every failure she feels her heart skip a beat and nervousness set in.

Before she can become anxious however, she hears his voice call out "Everybody, sound off." he says in between coughs.

Following his voice, it doesn't take her long to find him as he lifts a massive piece of rubble to retrieve a teenager with short lilac hair, lavender eyes and fair skin.

Having been in the center of the blast, Ramiel's clothes have barely survived the experience, with a good portion of his combat uniform being shredded or burnt off, showing his skin underneath as it heals at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"Hey, you're going to be alright." he tells the girl with a small smile before looking up at her. "Empress, you survived." he says with an even bigger smile that makes her heart skip a beat. "I'd thought the worst when you were the only one not to call out."

"I'm fine. A-are you well?" she asks somewhat hesitantly.

"Once I get all of the blood out of my lungs I'll be fine." he says before forcing himself to cough out a mouthful of blood and making her heart stall for a moment at the sight.

"Better." he says as he wipes the blood from his mouth. "What's your name?" he asks the girl lying on the ground as he gently picks her up and lays her down on his lap.

"M-Mash. Mash Kyrielight." replies the girl between coughs.

"Mash, that's a pretty name." he tells her as he gently pats the top of her name.

"Senpai… you should go." she says as the system makes another announcement

"Unsummon Program, start. Spiritron Conversion, start." says the system.

"Um… Sen… pai? Would you mind… holding my hand?" she asks while the system countdown begins and her body begins to astralise.

With a reassuring smile on his face, Ramiel takes her hand just as the system countdown reaches zero and they're all enveloped in a bright light.

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Fuyuki City

2004 A.D.

The first thing Hancock feels as the rayshifting process comes to an end is the burning heat and the feeling of a powerful curse pressing down upon her body. As the light from the rayshifting dissipates, she finds herself in a city engulfed in flames. Flames that are most certainly cursed and are definitely caused by something magical.

"Something's wrong." says Ramiel behind her, causing her to turn to face.

"What do you mean?" she asks. "Isn't the first Singularity a city contaminated by flames?" she wonders as he approaches a burning house.

"The flames aren't supposed to be cursed." he says while looking at the burning building.

"How bad is it that they're cursed?" she asks.

"I don't know. There are so many things that can go wrong during the Fuyuki Grail Wars that it's impossible to know which one we're in using the meager amount of information that we have." he answers just as a group of skeletons appear around the corner and rush them.

Summoning the Nameless Daggers to her hand, Hancock makes quick work of them with no effort.

"The skeletons are different too." says Ramiel as he stands next to her and observes the completely black skeletons. "We need to regroup with the others as fast as possible, my information is most likely useless now." he says.

"I can sense Esdeath, Natasha and Tsunade in the East, and two other people towards the north." she tells him.

"Those two must be Mash and Olga. I had hoped that Olga would be well enough physically her not to be taken along, but it seems that her body's condition is critical enough for her to be rayshifted." he comments as he lights a new cigarette.

"Esdeath and the others can take care of themselves well enough, while Mash and Olga will most likely need our help." Hancock tells him, earning a nod of agreement from him before he blasts off towards the two.

Following closely behind him, Hancock tries to come to terms with her emotions. Emma and the others had told her that she was falling for him, but she hadn't believed them. Or rather she did believe them but was simply in denial. With Lev's attack on Chaldea however she can no longer claim to be in denial. The way she had reacted to his disappearance is proof enough for her that she is actually falling for him.

Increasing her speed to arrive next to him, Hancock glances at him from the side to see an expression that she's rarely seen on him. Brows furrowed into tight knits, clenched jaw, and biting hard on his cigarette, it's obvious to Hancock that this new development has him worried; a feeling that is mutual for her considering the possible outcomes that can occur in Fuyuki Grail War according to him.

Tapping him on the shoulder, Hancock offers him a reassuring smile that seems to relax him before he replies with a grin.

With a less tense atmosphere, the two draw closer to their destination just to hear the voice of Olga scream.

Increasing their speed once again, the duo round a corner to see Mash fending off an army of black skeletons with Olga supporting her from behind. Unfortunately for the duo it's only a matter of time before they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of skeletons.

Without saying a word, the two join the fray. Between their almost impeccable teamwork and overwhelming power, they make short work of the skeletons.

"Mash, director, I'm glad to see that you're ok." says Ramiel as they come to a stop in front of them.

"Senpai! You're ok!" exclaims Mash with a smile.

"Tōsen, do you have any idea what is going on?" questions Olga.

"There was an attack at Chaldea just as the rayshifting process was about to begin." informs Ramiel.

"What?" replies Olga in disbelief.

Before Ramiel can answer, everyone's communicator comes to life with static as Dr. Roman's voice comes through.

"Hello? This is Chaldea Command Room? Do you read me?" asks Roman.

"This is Mash Kyrielight of A Team. At this time I've completed the shift to Singularity F. The director and two other masters are here with me. Mind and body intact." answers Mash before turning to Ramiel. "Ah…Senpai, what's your name?" she asks.

"Kaname Tōsen." he replies.

"Right…Kaname Tōsen is my new master, can you please register him as an official researcher." Mash tells Dr. Roman, causing Ramiel to look at his hand with a raised eyebrow.

"I didn't even notice." mutters Ramiel under his breath

"Wait. Master? Mash, are you a demi-servant now?" asks Roman with barely contained excitement.

"Yes. Speaking of…Master, you have a massive and pure amount of magical energy, how come you weren't part of A Team?" she asks.

"Believe it or not I only became a member of Chaldea today." he answers. "However, we can always talk about that later. Right now we need to regroup with the others and make a plan." he says.

"Tōsen is right. What's the situation at Chaldea, Roman?" asks Olga.

Releasing an audible sigh, Dr. Roman takes a second before answering. "Not good, director. We lost the majority of the staff in the explosion and those who didn't die are in critical condition. Most of the masters died in their coffins and those who didn't are in a coma. Most of the systems are down and the only ones that seem to be working just fine are the three main ones needed in order to complete the singularities. They seem to have been protected by something. As of right now, Chaldea only has 31 remaining staff members including you guys." explains the doctor.

Looking at Ramiel, Hancock can see him relieved that Konan and Raven were successful in protecting the systems. She can also see his remorseful look when Dr. Roman mentioned that the majority of the staff are dead. Olga and Mash however don't take the news as well and a horrified look appears on their faces.

"First off, cryopreserve all surviving master candidates immediately. We'll worry about reviving them later. Second…Is…Is Lev ok?" asks Olga.

I'm sorry, director, but as of right now we can't confirm his status. Lev is missing." answers Dr. Roman.

"What do you mean he's missing?!" questions Olga.

"We've been looking for him, but he's nowhere to be found." says Roman.

"Then look better!" screams Olga.

"Of course, director. However, right now we still need to come up with a plan." says Dr. Roman.

"First, we should see about summoning at least one more servant." says Ramiel.

"Hmmm, it would be best to do it on a leyline. I'm getting readings of a strong one 2 km southeast from you guys. Get there and summon one first. We'll talk some more after that once I get the backup generator into a better condition." says Dr. Roman before cutting off the signal.

"Southeast? That's where the others are." says Hancock just as Ramiel's communicator turns one.

"Can anyone read me?" says Natasha's voice through the communicator.

"We hear you loud and clear Natasha. I'm with the director and Mash. What's your situation like?" replies Ramiel before Olga can say anything.

"You guys are ok, that's good. Tsunade, Esdeath and I are fine, but we've been dealing with an army of skeletons and have only been able to get rid of time a few minutes ago." reports Natasha.

"You must be the others that Hancock was talking about." says Olga. "There's a leyline somewhere near your position, so stay where you are. We'll meet you there." commands Olga.

"Roger." says Natasha before she cuts off the communication.

"At the very least it seems that we didn't lose all of the masters." says Olga with a somewhat relieved sigh. "Although I wish that the other members of A Team other than Mash had made it." she comments.

"That's not possible. You were at the very center of the explosion with the A Team being the closest masters to you other than Esdeath and I." says Ramiel as Hancock abruptly senses a very powerful presence hurtling towards them.

"Incoming enemy!" She alerts the others. "They're powerful, maybe even more powerful than you." she says while looking at Ramiel.

Cursing under his breath, Ramiel turns to Olga and Mash "You two need to go immediately. We'll stay here and take them down before catching up to you."

"That's not wise, master. If it's a servant it would be better if I stayed to help you." argues Mash.

"Not in this case. You don't know what you're capable of yet, so facing an enemy of this caliber will be too dangerous for you. Besides, you need to get the director to the leyline to regroup with the others." explains Ramiel.

Before Mash can respond, something massive barrels past them and smashes into Ramiel, sending him flying through a series of buildings.

"Senpai!" exclaims Mash as she tries to run towards him, only to have Hancock stop her right where she stands.

"Don't." she says as she pulls Mash back. "He's fine, but you need to listen to him and regroup with the others." commands Hancock and she keeps a wary gaze on their enemy.

"If you don't go, he'll worry and he won't be able to fight properly. Besides, the faster you regroup with the others the faster you can summon a servant and the faster you can come back to help." adds Hancock, crushing any argument that Mash was about to formulate.

With a reluctant nod Mash picks up the frozen director and runs towards the leyline.

Turning back towards the enemy, Hancock sees Ramiel smash his way out of the building he was buried under.

"This is not how I expected the first 15 minutes of the singularity to go." he says as he grabs the torn up upper half of his combat uniform and rips it from his torso before stepping towards the enemy servant.

"RAAAGH!" roars the monster, for it could be nothing else other than a monster mad with blood lust that releases such a presence.

Standing at a massive eight feet three inches, the black giant is a being made of pure muscle weighing at least 300 kg. Wearing nothing but an armored kilt and bands around his ankles and wrists, the berserker's hard and powerful muscles are in full display to the world as it puffs out its chest and releases a massive roar that shakes the very ground they stand on and releases a terror inducing blood lust into the air.

Frozen in her place, Hancock can do nothing but watch as Ramiel and Heracles study one another. Throughout her entire life she has never faced such a terror inducing blood lust. Not when she was a slave, not when she escaped, and not even when she met other powerful beings from her world.

"I'm going to need help against him, especially since I can tell that some of his parameters are higher than they should be." says Ramiel, shaking her from her terror induced shock. "However, I would prefer if we had a third person to help, so you'll have to summon a servant while I buy you time." he tells her before launching himself at Heracles and sending the berserker flying with a punch that creates a shockwave.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Hancock finds a sharp piece of broken metal and proceeds to cut herself until blood flows out. Using the blood she draws a summoning circle on the ground even as Ramiel and Berserker's battle shakes the very earth.

Finished, Hancock stands in front of the circle and begins to chant and the summoning circle starts to glow.

"Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let red be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate." "Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again. Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling."

With each spoken line the summoning circle's glow increases until it reaches the point of being blinding by the last line. As the final words leave Hancock's lips, there is an explosion of light that forces her to avert her eyes.

When the light slowly recedes, Hancock turns back to her servant.

"Servant Rider. What are your orders master." says the soft and melodious voice of her servant, a servant that she easily recognises, the very same servant whose powers that she possesses, Medusa.

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AN: Here it is, the official beginning of the first singularity. As usual, tell me what you guys think.