Chapter 2: Chaldea Security Organization

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A roar reverberated across the steel room, the echo reaching every corner of the room.

Gudako watched as her new servant manifested himself on the summoning circle, carrying a massive decorated glaive almost as tall as the servant himself with a single hand. She wasn't fazed his 'grand' entrance as every other Berserker during the days when she first came to Chaldea essentially did the same thing: Hercules, Darius the Third, Lancelot, Lu Bu Fengxian...

She focused her vision and in her vision appeared a small transparent panel.

[Name: Lin Xu (?)

Servant: Berserker

Rarity: One-Star]

This was all she can discern currently, but she was okay with it.

It could've been worst after all.

Gudako, formerly known as...

She shook her head in disappointment. The orange-haired girl couldn't even remember her real name. All she remembered was that she was offered reincarnation by a male God from her world. She was an avid Fate/Grand Order player but to think that she died immediately after she rolled Gilgamesh...

"Sigh..."

The transmigrator from a different world couldn't help but feel dismayed at the lack of her memories. It would've been nice if she had at least remembered her name, but it didn't matter that much. It's like a blunt needle poking her heart, maybe if she remembered her name it would relieve that pain. The only good thing is that her memories of the game remained so she could use that knowledge.

This world, Fate/Grand Order, felt too realistic despite all the UIs that she can see in her peripheral. It felt real-- too real; her servants don't respond with a predetermined script, they act as any other human would.

It wasn't just a game anymore. It may appear to be like a game, but it's as real as her previous life.

It's a real fight for humanity's survival.

Why is she so existential today? 'Oh well, I'll be fine in a few minutes or so. Or I'll just play around with Mashu; she's even more radiant today. If only my twin would appreciate her more...'

Her twin, Gudao, doesn't appear to be transmigrated like her and well... there was something weird about him.

'The way he acts is so...' She couldn't describe it!

Gudako returned to the matter at hand, summoning servants for the survival of humanity.

As she remembered the servant, she just summoned she immediately frowned.

"Tch... come on... give me a better servant..."

While she has never seen this servant before in her previous life, he's probably one of the newer servants released after her death. She was unfortunate enough to be heavily injured in the bomb explosion by the demon in disguise and was forced into the cryofreeze until she was somehow healed.

But seriously?

One-Star?

And his looks are so average! Though, interestingly enough, the question mark by his name brings about many questions to his identity. It was similar to how she would see Waver's status as Waver (Zhuge Liang). Was this servant also similar?

But back to the point, what did she expect from rolling the Free Gacha after all?

Fate/Grand Order utilizes two gacha systems, the free and the saint quartz one.

The free system, otherwise known as the Friend Gacha, can only roll servants from One-Star to Three-Star. The reason why she did it was superstition, 'Spend all my bad luck in the Free Gacha, and then I'll be able to summon something good from the Saint Quartz Gacha.'

To others, it may appear to be her summoning using her kouhai's shield as a catalyst since it represents the 'place where heroes gather,' but Gudako knows that whenever she stands on it, she'll be offered the choice between the Free and the SQ version. Her Saint Quartz was finite, and she employed every 'luck' enhancing technique that she knew, like drawing the servants she wanted, or the one she's doing now: use up bad luck, so only good luck is left.

Gudako pointed at the bench to her right. "Berserker, wait for me to finish my summoning today."

'Please bless me with something good!' She wished to herself.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lin Xu waited for his Master to react. 'Ohhhhh I can't wait!'

"Sigh..."

'Wait isn't she supposed to be all afraid of me and start screaming or something? How come all I sense is disappointment?!'

A crisp feminine voice rang in his head.

[That's because you are.]

"Berserker, wait for me to finish my summon today." His cute Master replied as she pointed her slender fingers at the bench. It was made out of steel; it felt cold to the touch.

Another voice joined. "Hey, you there."

Lin Xu turned around, meeting eye to eye with a samurai swordsman with long indigo hair tied into ponytail and indigo eyes. The samurai wearing a traditional light purple umanori hakama and kimono, light purple tabi and black geta with purple haori and tekkou and carries his sword. He had a small piece of sliced bamboo in his mouth as he watched him. "You're quite sane aren't you?"

He knew the samurai, Sasaki Kojirou. A legendary swordsman and the supposed rival of Musashi Miyamoto.

"How did you know?" Lin Xu tilted his head.

The legendary samurai leaned against the wall, looking up on the bland ceiling.

"I was just guessing. You probably don't know this as you were just summoned, but these days," the man sighed, "Berserkers are more and more 'rational,' they just channel their madness somewhere else."

Mad Enhancement is a class skill that every Berserkers have, raising basic parameters and strengthens one's physical abilities in exchange of hindering mental capacities and/or in exchange for their sense of reason. It used to be so that Berserkers lost their sanity in return for more physical abilities, so they were essentially a mad dog. But as new and newer servants are released in Fate/Grand Order, the idea of losing one's sanity for power slowly started to disappear.

Lin Xu's Mad Enhancement was ranked E, the lowest, the same ranking as Beowulf who was apparently "always sane" but just a little bit "ferocious."

The servant offered his hand to Lin Xu, "Sasaki Kojirou, Assasin."

Lin Xu smiled, he had always liked Kojirou for his relaxed attitude. He grasped his hand. "Lin Xu, Berserker."

Kojirou's eyes widened at his new ally's equipment. "Oh, Chinese? I should've known based on your armor." He laughed, "Nice armor by the way."

Lin Xu didn't realize he was already in his generals' attire, it was so light, and he felt as if he had worn it his whole life, it was as if it was a part of his body! His armor was short; he wore long tight pants and short boots. It wasn't too grandeur which he liked; his weapon was also relatively normal compared to the other servants. But, there was a subconscious tug at the back of his mind, telling him that he shouldn't be standing with his own legs... And for some reason, the massive glaive felt 'off' for some reason, it felt more like a butcher's knife than a general's glaive...

Perhaps it was just his Mad Enhancement messing with him. Fortunately, he was able to keep his curiosity and the compulsion to get off his feet in check.

"Thank you," Lin Xu smiled, it was always nice to be complimented. "You can try it on if you want."

"I'm fine, I'm an Assasin you know? I don't think I would want my target to hear my armor clanking!" Kojirou smiled.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The two stopped and turned to the source of the voice.

Lin Xu could see someone in yellow in front of his new Master. Kojirou visibly frowned as he unconsciously gripped sheath.

"GILGAMESH-SAMA!"

'Oh god.' Lin Xu didn't want to be summoned on the same day as him of all people, as it'll just attract the Babylonian King's attention.

Clank, Clank.

The two can hear the sound of armor grinding against one another coming closer and closer. Lin Xu could hear the erratic breathing of his Master coming closer as well.

"And this is Lin-san, he was summoned just moments before you."

'Why are you introducing me to the Gilgamesh?!' Now Lin Xu was forced to interact with the King! He looked up, his brown eyes meeting a piercing crimson--almost bloodlike stare. Lin Xu grumbled internally as he offered his hand to the King of Heroes. He quickly averted his eyes as he remembered the half-god's attitude towards those 'unworthy.'

If Lin Xu were still looking at the Five-Star King in front of him, he would've seen his smug expression.

Clank, Clank, Clank...

His hand stayed in the air as the sound of armor clanking grows ever so more distant.

He didn't mind being left hanging. As a matter of fact, he was quite happy. He didn't want to deal with Gilgamesh. Perhaps some other servant would've challenged Gilgamesh, but he didn't want to earn the ire of the King.

"S-sorry!" A worried voice came closer as Lin Xu met eye to eye with a girl with lilac hair and lavender eyes. She wore rectangular frame glasses, a grey hoodie over a black shirt over a white collar shirt, a red tie, a black skirt and tights, and brown shoes. The girl practically screamed waifu material as she had the traits that made many players cherish her-- he too was one of them.

"My name is Mashu, sorry for senpai's lack of formality! She's just too excited after summoning Gilgamesh-san. Please don't take it against her!"

'What a sweet girl, even cleaning up after her senior's mess. If only I had a cute girl like this...' Lin Xu was envious of Gudako, how can she not see the precious girl in front of her the whole time?

Mashu turned to Kojirou, giving him a quick bow as she turned back to Lin Xu and continued, "Welcome to Chaldea Security Organization. By coming here, you've accepted our call to aid humanity in their survival."

Chaldea is a laboratory-observatory that recruits talented scientists and magi for the purpose of observing both the magical and scientific aspects of the world. They have a single goal: "to preserve the reign of the Human Order, above all else." Through SHEBA, the Near-Future Observation Lens, the extinction of humanity would supposedly arrive in 2020, the cause being in Singularity F, located in Fuyuki City 2004. Chaldea recruited 48 Master Candidates in 2019 to interfere with the past and correct the course of history for the survival of humanity.

"As of today, Chaldea current supports 120 servants and about 19 staff members. We originally had a lot more... but with the successful sabotage, we had lost a majority of our staff..."

120 servants weren't much as Chaldea was initially meant to maintain the servants of 48 individual Master Candidates!

"We'll begin the tour starting with the lounge which also serves as the cafeteria."

Mashu led the way as Kojirou, and Lin Xu followed. The samurai followed merely because he had nothing to do. "They serve amazing food there you know? While we servants don't need to eat, many of us still choose to do so because it serves as a reason to continue staying here you know?"

"Our chefs are professional, sometimes even servants will join the kitchen," Mashu added on.

They walked for about a few minutes and then they stopped in front of an automatic door.

"The lounge is in the middle of the organization; it is also the biggest as it was originally intended for the majority of the heroic spirits to hang out in." She took a step forward, and the door opened.

Lin Xu couldn't help but feel excited-- he had always wanted to test out Emiya's cooking!

As he walked in, he was surprised by just how big it is! It is about 110 meters long and 110 meters wide! It could support at least 400 people!

There had to be at least 30 servants here! There were servants eating together, eating by themselves, and even playing around with their food!

"Oi, Alter, you've been eating the same thing for three days straight."

"And? Who even let you speak to me?"

"Why doesn't Master pay more attention to me?! I want to kill, kill, kill, kill that gol--"

"What?! There's ghost pepper curry on the menu today?!"

"JEANNE, MY DEAR JEANNE!"

"KUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"CAKE! CAKE! CAKE!"

"GOHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!"

"Mommy! Where is mommy! We want to go back!"

"WUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"SHUT UP! IM TRYING TO EAT!"

"GO EAT SOMEWHERE ELSE YOU DUMB DOG!"

"WHAT YOU SAY TO ME?!"

"Sorry, they're a bit riled up today for some odd reason...." Mashu apologized.

As Lin Xu took in the environment, he saw that there are all types of tables, ranging from small to long. All types of equipment from a high-end blender to multiple massive steel refrigerators! There are even different instruments laying about, and if Lin Xu was right... then that's a St#inway Grand Piano!

Wait... Lin Xu took a moment to realize what's in the far back...

'Is that a Pl@ySt4tion 4?' He could distantly see a guy with a double-sided anime t-shirt playing the console, the person appeared to be transfixed by the game.

He focused his vision... only to see a dating sim!

On a massive curved screen no less!

A cute girl appeared and then a few options appeared:

1. "Of course I'll sleep with my cute imouto!"

....

The player immediately chose the first choice without even waiting for the rest of the options!

'This...' Lin Xu was amazed by the decisiveness of this character!

As if fate willed it, the player turned around, revealing a characteristic black beard.

The two looked at each other.

If Lin Xu still had glasses, he would've pushed it up, using the light to turn his lens full white, but alas, he no longer had them after his transmigration.

Despite being meters apart, Lin Xu nodded twice and mouthed something to Blackbeard, and Blackbeard nodded twice back.

They appeared to have achieved a natural understanding of one another, like Newtypes communicating with each other.

"Look," Kojirou said as he nodded towards the right.

He turned right and saw a few people and servants in the open kitchen cooking; he gulped as he could practically smell the delicious curry coming through.

Some servants waved at Mashu as she waved back. They also saw Lin Xu and took a while to size him up.

Kojirou watched as Lin Xu didn't know what to do. In the end, Lin Xu decided to just straighten his posture and change his angle so that he would look as cool as possible.

He quickly turned around as his eyes narrowed.

Malicious intent!

He saw two people staring at him. He couldn't fully see their appearance, but he could tell that they both had black hair.

He would've approached them, but the gentle voice of Mashu stopped him. "Let's go to our next stop."

Mashu then led them out of the lounge as they stopped in front of another automatic door, this time the door had a logo of a scissor on top a comb, and on top of that is a small crown.

"This is Salon de Marie; some servants come here to do a makeover if they feel like trying something new, it's closed every Wednesday."

'So it's not open today huh. It's not like I'm going to go there anyway.' Lin Xu touched his short black hair. 'If I wanted to go bald I can do it myself!'

Kojirou nodded and spoke, "I come here to get my hair treated and get cut a few centimeters every week or so. Marie is pretty good at doing what she does; you should come here sometimes."

"Let's head to the fitness center shall we?"

They took the elevator, apparently, Chaldea has a lot of floors but considering that it's built in Antarctica and 6000 meters above surface level, 'I guess it should only be natural.'

The door opened, and they stepped out, Lin Xu was immediately reminded of his fitness center in his college. The multitude of equipment, the air-conditioned room, and the sweaty men.

Of course, he only went to the fitness center once.

And never returned.

Never.

Lin Xu could hear distant noises in the fitness center.

"MUSCLE! MUSCLE! MUSCLE!"

"▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅!"

"ASAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Lin Xu shook his head and decided to ignore those sounds.

"Ah, I thought I was dreaming when I saw you here Mashu." A majestic voice came from a figure approaching them.

Lin Xu felt depressed just looking at the person. Forgoing the armor and his helmet, The figure's well toned tanned muscles exposed themselves for all of the universes to see.

This was someone Lin Xu respected deeply: Imperator Caesar Flavius Romulus Augustus, the founder of the great Roman Empire.

If Fate/Grand Order based servant rarity (stars) on lore, then Romulus would be Five-Star minimum. Why else would Romulus only be Three-Stars? His Noble Phantasm designates wherever his spear lands as "Rome," and since the land turns into his home turf, it then powers him up via Fame Boost.

Fame Boost is when a servant is in the land where their legend originated, giving them at the very minimum a whole letter grade upgrade in their parameter, and considering just how integral he is to the history of Rome; his fame boost would likely do more than just boost his parameters.

However, what truly makes Romulus amazing is his skill, Imperial Privilege EX. Imperial Privilege is the essence of what a King is: "I can do whatever I want because I'm a King," the skill grants the user any skills they desire so long as they can relate it to something they already know. For example, Romulus can say that he can pilot planes because it's similar to driving a chariot, and then boom, he can now fly planes better than Manfred von Richthofen. Imperial Privilege EX is so strong that the class of the user doesn't matter as the skill allows the servant into a class they otherwise would have no business being in. Romulus' Imperial Privilege is so good that he can even grant OTHER servants skills that they do not possess. His Imperial Privilege is ranked so high that he WILLINGLY sealed his own high ranking divinity which shouldn't be possible!

People joked that he used Imperial Privilege EX to lower himself from a 5☆ to a 3☆ so that people can roll him for free! Servants above 3☆ require Saint Quartz to roll, and SQ are a limited resource unless one starts pulling out their wallet!

"Who's this?" The Divine Ancestor asked as he pointed at Lin Xu.

"Lin Xu, it is my honor to be graced by your presence." Lin Xu quickly offered a handshake.

Romulus smiled and accepted his handshake. He then proceeded to pat him on his back and asked a random question. "Tell me, why do you train?"

'I don't.' Lin Xu wanted to say, but he couldn't leave the wrong impression on the founder of Rome.

Lin Xu took a while to think of an answer and then stared at the crimson eyes of the Founder and responded. "To become strong enough to transcend abstract concepts like time."

Romulus took a second to think, and then laughed merrily. Slapping Lin Xu on the back constantly as he tried to hold himself in. "I like you. When you come to the gym make sure to hang out with me, together, we will both defeat time!"

'Holy crap, did I just set myself up? Can I leave? Please?' Lin Xu awkwardly smiled as he nodded repeatedly.

They walked back into the elevator, and as they waited, Kojirou nodded understandingly and repeated to himself, "To train one's body to be strong enough to defeat abstract concepts like time. That's a good one."

'Can you not?!'

Mashu was quiet the whole time as if she was thinking about something as well. "To train oneself to overcome the concept of time."

'H-Hey!'

They then stopped at the floor where the lounge resided, since apparently, that is also where the residential area is.

"The other floors are mostly just for staff to deal with, rarely do servants go there on their own volition. I would've shown you the library today, but it is currently under renovation after the sabotage, it should be done by Friday. I'll bring you to your room."

"I'm going to go take a nap, see you later." Kojirou yawned as he started to head back towards his room.

After a few minutes of walking, the pair stopped in front of a metal door.

"This is the Berserker area; the walls are reinforced and enchanted by Casters to be sturdy. If you need us to renovate your room to your choosing, please contact any of the staff members, and ummm, one more thing," Mashu looked at Lin Xu apologetically, "please don't take it against senpai."

Lin Xu smiled and brought his hands on top of Mashu, uncharacteristically patting her on the head. Her smooth hair felt nice. "It's fine; it's not every day that you see the King of Heroes after all."

Lin Xu rested his hand on her head. This kind-hearted girl still didn't push him away which was nice, the only other time he was allowed to do this was when he was petting his dog. After a second or two, he let go. "While you may take care of your senpai, you have to remember to live for yourself as well!"

There is something about this girl that no one else knew except for a specific doctor and her, that she didn't have much time left.

He then walked into his room and turned around, giving her a mega-watt smile.

"And if you ever need someone to talk to, you can come to me!"

And the door gently closed itself.

If the door had stayed open for a little bit longer, he would've seen the girl standing there confused.

-----------------

Although it shouldn't be possible, Mashu could feel the warmth emanating from his words. Her eyes lowered as she stared at the ground. She had so many questions to ask, she wanted to ask him if he knew her condition, she wanted to ask him why he said those words, and above all else, she wanted to know why his words felt... comforting.