Fate/ I Am Humanity Last Hope!?

In the vast and limitless expanse of fog and snow, endless fragments of ice swirled in the wind and collided in a violent whirlwind. Sub-zero temperatures chilled the bones to a freezing degree, as if transforming even the very soul into nothing more than ice.

Here was Antarctica, among the countless places on planet Earth. It was a desolate and hopeless land of infinite blinding white tundra. From one year to the next, there was nothing but desolate snow and intense cold.

Within these desolate ice fields, the wind picked up, and dozens of ice fragments whistled through the air, swirling and condensing into a vast vortex. Within this current existed a massive gray circular building.

The purpose of constructing this place in the midst of the whiteness of Antarctica was to prevent it from falling into the hands of any country in the world. This was the idea behind the location chosen to establish the Security Organization, Chaldea.

To the public eye, Chaldea is officially listed as an organization under the United Nations, becoming an organization of international knowledge, and all that ordinary people knew was that this was a place where the most distinguished scientists conducted their research for the future of humanity.

And they were not entirely wrong.

But beyond science, they also conducted magical research.

Moreover, people were also unaware of the true purpose behind Chaldea. In truth, it was a secret agency founded with the purpose of preventing the certain extinction of the human race.

Inside the corridors of this secret agency, a young man stood in front of a huge reinforced glass window, looking out at the snow falling intensely.

He appeared to be no older than seventeen. With snow-white hair that seemed as soft as silk, he had pale skin without blemishes. His facial features could not be described by mere brushstrokes; he seemed diabolically handsome, especially his pair of eyes that looked like a shimmering blue jewel of inestimable value, containing the blue sky within.

His gaze emitted a profound feeling that could apparently enchant anyone with a mere look.

He was tall compared to others his age, and his slender yet muscular body was covered by a somewhat military uniform with a white top and black sweatpants.

"It's almost time..." Ryusei murmured as he looked at the watch on his wrist, gazing deeply at the snow falling outside.

It had been a year since he had entered the Clock Tower to further his studies. With the school year ending, he chose to conclude his stay in London, as there was nothing more he could learn in that place.

He thought about traveling to Brazil to take a look at the Magecraft of that country, but that idea was thwarted when he was summoned by one of the high-ranking mages of the Clock Tower, who wanted him to represent one of the chosen by the association for a mission of extreme importance.

The details?

A few months ago, the Security Organization, Finis Chaldea, through its inventions, gathered data suggesting that the extinction of the human race predicted to happen in a hundred years would occur in 2019.

That's a year from now.

The cause of this was a particular event that had taken place in the newly manifested "unobservable location" of the city of Fuyuki in 2004, also known as "Singularity F." The Great Order was declared with the purpose of interfering in the past and correcting the course of history, thus forty-nine candidates for masters from around the world were summoned to prevent the extinction of humanity.

He was one of those selected.

He didn't want to get involved in something so heroic, but when he saw he would receive an astronomical amount of money from the Association and some rather useful favors for himself, he accepted for his own selfish reasons.

Ryusei looked towards the Antarctic sky through the window before turning and starting to walk towards the Command Room, where he was supposed to meet the rest of his companions in Chaldea for briefing.

White flashes of memories flowed through his mind about how he had become one of the master candidates. Through a test from Chaldea, it was discovered that he had an incredible aptitude for Spiritron Dives, which was necessary to use the [Rayshift], a technology that sent someone to different points in human history.

Chaldea's greatest specialty was dealing with temporal anomalies after all. And having the aptitude to use this technology was the basic requirement for a master, but of course, that was not all. Only the mages who had what it took to summon a Servant could be called "Masters."

In fact, the Master Candidates that Chaldea assembled was a team based on the ritual of the Holy Grail War.

He learned that the founder of Chaldea was the winner of the Sixth Holy Grail War; he had the brilliant idea of creating his own summoning system called [Fate], but it was incomplete up to the current time...

Ryusei continued walking towards the Command Room where he would meet his colleagues.

Well, that's what he was doing until he nearly bumped into a woman chasing a white squirrel? A dog? It was hard to tell, but it was some kind of animal, and she wasn't paying much attention to what was in front of her, and he almost steered to the side when she tripped and fell face-first to the ground.

It didn't help that they collided at the turn of a corner while the animal was fleeing quickly.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going." The girl quickly apologized, despite having fallen on her rear in the accident.

She had short lavender hair, lavender eyes, and fair skin. She wore square-frame glasses, a gray sweatshirt over a white collared shirt, a red tie, a black skirt, and brown shoes.

Ryusei only looked at this girl apathetically before speaking; his voice was like a sweet immortal wine that people became addicted to its flavor with just a sip.

"There's no need to apologize. I have part of the blame for not paying attention either."

The girl seemed confused by his words; she asked while getting up, "Aren't you mad?"

It seemed she expected him to yell at her.

Well, considering that this facility was run by mages who were not known for being the polite type, her question made sense.

"I'm not." Ryusei said, staring into her eyes, "I'm not like most mages."

She looked relieved and placed her hand over her chest while looking in his direction; her eyes seemed to shine inexplicably.

"I can tell that."

The lack of conversational skills acquired over the years in this world combined with the extreme trauma he had, prevented him from having any decent conversation with someone, but he made an effort and introduced himself.

"My name is Shiba Ryusei; I think I have a part of the blame in your fall. So, I apologize..."

"No, no, it was my fault! I wasn't watching where I was going." The girl vigorously shook her head and then seemed to stutter before finding her voice and introducing herself as well, "I'm Mashu Kyrielight, a member of Chaldea."

Ryusei felt that Mashu wanted this conversation to continue. Apparently, she didn't have many people to talk to in the facility, but he decided to remind her of what she was doing before it was too late.

"I think it's going to get away."

He said, pointing to the small squirrel running in the distance.

"Oh, Fou," Mashu's eyes seemed to shine when she looked in the direction he pointed. She quickly ran down the hallway while saying, "Bye, Ryusei-Senpai!"

Ryusei almost froze at the way Mashu referred to him. Some locks placed on his memories from his past life were unlocked; she called him as his ex-girlfriend who betrayed him used to…

He took a deep breath and hammered those thoughts to the back of his mind, continuing until he stopped in front of two white doors that resembled an elevator.

He entered calmly, not wanting to waste time standing in front of the automated doors, just to have everyone stare at him. Single digit, first row, where the master candidates who were mages sat. He remembered where his seat was and approached accordingly.

There were no assigned seats, so he took the fourth in the row from right to left. Around him were the other candidates selected by Chaldea to save the world, but all he could look at was the miniature planetary projection in front of him.

This planetary projection was one of the organization's technologies, called [Chaldeas], a replica of the Earth's planetary body, allowing for a display of the status of the world in past and future eras. However, detailed observation of specific space-time locations is impossible without the assistance of [Sheba], a lens that worked as a kind of satellite.

His eyes landed on the stage platform where a woman, clearly no older than him, stood waiting with her back straight, arms crossed, and an indifferent expression.

She wore a black sweater over a white collared dress, red stockings, a bow tie, and black high heels. She had long white hair tied in a small braid on the left side, while the rest of her hair fell over her shoulders. Her eyes were amber, and she seemed to be glaring at anyone who dared to mock her.

Her name was Olga Marie Animusphere, the director of Chaldea. She was evidently waiting for all forty-eight candidates to arrive before starting the briefing, but candidate forty-eight was late.

Ryusei could tell she was nervous by the way her body was giving signals of it alongside a certain impatience, despite her showing no signs of it on her severe face.

"Candidate forty-eight, Ritsuka Fujimaru, has anyone seen him?" Tapping her foot in an obvious sign of impatience, Olga Marie asked with a furrowed brow.

At that moment, Mashu entered with the girl who was candidate forty-eight and led her to a seat in the last row.

He merely glanced at these events before returning his gaze to the director of the organization, who began her speech.

"Well, since everyone is here, let's begin."

"The secret organization Chaldea welcomes you all. I am the chief, Olga Marie Animusphere."

"All of you have been chosen from all over the world, in some cases, rare finds…"

She went on to discuss the details of the mission. Ryusei's attention was stolen when he felt a rather anxious gaze directed at him. He turned and saw Mashu signaling for him to help the girl she had brought, who looked quite sleepy.

As he pondered whether or not he should do that, the director on stage noticed the sleepy girl and walked towards her with a smiling expression.

He realized this was merely to maintain her image.

Reaching the girl, Olga Marie slapped her hard across the face and threw her out of the room. Mashu flinched and looked worriedly at the automated doors that closed behind her.

She looked at everyone in the room like a hawk and asked, "Anyone else?"

No one responded, and as if she had never thrown a Master candidate out of the Command Room, she resumed her briefing and instructed everyone to begin preparations to enter their respective coffins used for the Rayshift, which were lined up in a semicircle across the room.

At that moment, Mashu asked the director if she could go check on the girl who had been previously expelled. Olga Marie gave her permission, and she quickly left the room.

Ryusei followed his colleagues to make preparations, feeling that something was wrong. His instinct warned him that something was going to happen, and he trusted it, so he mentally prepared for the worst-case scenarios…