Fuyuki City, 1995.
The riverbank at night was slightly cold—more importantly, the mosquitoes were relentless. Anyone sleeping out here was either a drunk or some poor soul who'd been cracked over the head by muggers and gone out cold.
Certainly not someone who'd crossed dimensions and passed out on the bank. That was extremely unlikely.
"My head... Mash?"
The red-haired girl opened her eyes. What she felt first wasn't confusion at the unfamiliar surroundings—it was her quietly calling her companion's name.
Then again, this place wasn't entirely unfamiliar. That unmistakable Kobe Bridge. Fuyuki City, Pseudo-Singularity F—the first Pseudo-Singularity they'd ever tackled together.
"You're finally awake. Let's not have signal trouble again..." A familiar voice came through.
"Doctor... is this a Singularity? Why am I here alone?" Ritsuka tapped her head.
"This probably isn't a Singularity—honestly, the fact that I can contact you at all is remarkable. But do you really not remember what happened?" Dr. Roman's voice came through with static. The signal was bad.
"What?" Ritsuka stared blankly.
"How to explain this... A toad-like creature appeared out of nowhere and spat a high-powered Noble Phantasm directly into Sheba—like it was something hot in its mouth. Surveillance footage caught it. You were alone at the time, and it seems to have caused some kind of adverse reaction..."
"This place isn't as simple as a Singularity. How to put it... it seems like a kind of parallel world? A timeline where human history hasn't been burned away yet. Hard to wrap my head around—given that Singularities exist at all, I'd assumed the Counter Force was completely out of moves."
A woman's voice cut in—da Vinci, the Heroic Spirit summoned by the special observation organization Chaldea: "We attempted to Rayshift backup support to your location, but it seems to have failed."
"More importantly, Ritsuka—check your hand. Something looks very wrong."
"My hand?"
Ritsuka raised her right hand—the one bearing her Command Seals—and found they'd changed entirely. The pattern that had resembled a shield was now a set of scales.
"How...?"
"I'll leave that to someone more qualified to explain." Da Vinci stepped aside.
"It looks like our Ritsuka, as an outsider, may have been selected as a participant in the Holy Grail War." The third voice to come through carried an unmistakable note of exhaustion.
"Fuyuki's Holy Grail War—I was a participant once. The Grail selects its own Masters. Not the most flattering thing to say, but the Grail usually picks exceptional magi... Not that you aren't capable, Fujimaru. But for it to reach across parallel timelines—you were most likely drafted to fill a vacancy."
"A little discouraging." Ritsuka ran her thumb over the new pattern.
"Regardless," El-Melloi continued, "even for your own safety I'd recommend finding somewhere to check the date first. The Holy Grail of this era was, in our timeline, not a benign artifact... On a more optimistic reading: it's possible this world's Counter Force sensed an anomaly and is trying to bring you in—you, an outside Master from another world—as a last resort."
Since this wasn't a Singularity, they hadn't been able to investigate in advance—but even a parallel world should differ only in certain details.
"If the timing works out, I might be able to tell you where to acquire a useful holy relic," he added.
"Understood." Even as a half-rate magus, the girl who'd been carrying the weight of human history on her shoulders adapted quickly.
She had a vague mental map of Fuyuki—though the version she'd seen had been on fire.
Finding a base of operations was easy enough for a magus—a simple suggestion spell on a civilian, nothing more. The basics of the basics, something Ritsuka had picked up along the way. But she hadn't taken two steps before she felt something connecting with her, and simultaneously, the all-too-familiar summoning circle etched itself into the ground before her.
"How is that possible? Are things really this urgent?" El-Melloi's voice went surprised and pained at once.
If the Grail was forcing her hand this quickly, every other Master had already summoned their Servant.
Summoning by affinity alone?
The light faded—no dramatic explosion of effects. The figure that appeared was noticeably shorter than Ritsuka.
White hair. Cat ears. Barely nine years old by any estimate. Her outfit wasn't robes or armor—it was the children's shirt and shorts she'd brought from the last world. Plain, but unmistakably post-20th century. These were what Yimi had been wearing at Marineford.
Knowledge of the Holy Grail War crammed itself into Yimi's head all at once: legends of heroes from every era and mythology.
Along with her incomprehensible class assignment: Ruler.
The Ruler class—borne by saints without wishes, called into service as arbiters when anomalies disrupted the Holy Grail War.
Class-granted information: An anomaly has occurred in this Holy Grail War. As arbiter, you have the authority to investigate the cause and correct the anomaly to ensure the War proceeds normally. Failure to correct the anomaly may result in consequences sufficient to destroy the world.
Yimi looked down at her hands. She'd already been in this world a while before Ritsuka summoned her—the Demon could never arrive before her. But this time the transfer had landed her somewhere stranger than ocean or outer space. Words failed to describe it. Foundation of the World was what the saint had called places like that, and she still didn't quite understand it. Then she'd felt something like the pull from when she'd first summoned the Demon—she'd responded, and here she was.
"System?" She called it up.
The main quest column was blank. Two dashes.
"Where are my quests?"
The cat didn't understand.
"As the Host possesses the class-granted mission for this world, and to prevent Host from being overburdened, the System will not issue quests in this world..."
Yimi's ears twitched. "So if I complete the class mission, will you give me a reward?"
"Host is joking. There's no precedent for demanding a bonus from your day job while moonlighting."
"Mrrow! Teach me how to swear at you!" Yimi demanded, furious.
"While the System does not recommend this, your unreasonable request has been processed—" A list of profanities appeared.
"Useless piece of junk." Yimi selected one and used it.
"..."
Much better. She turned to Ritsuka and raised a paw in greeting, drawing on the freshly-instilled knowledge. "Ruler Yimi. Are you the Master?"
"A new little..." Ritsuka raised an eyebrow. "Heroic Spirit?"
The Chaldea loli squad could still add members?
But she'd never heard this name before.