002 - Fate/Half Astral

After everything calmed down, the group began walking to find a place to rest and make a plan. Fujimaru and Mash led the way, while Ritsu and Fou walked with Olga behind them. Caster took up the rear, keeping watch over everyone.

Ritsu was still beaming, happily admiring the blue Command Spell on her hand. She was humming to herself, completely absorbed in her joy.

"Hmm~ hmm~ hmm~"

"You seem really happy," Olga commented, noticing that Ritsu had been humming for a while.

"Yeah, this symbol is pretty cool!" Ritsu responded, her face glowing with excitement.

"It's the first time I've seen a child like you handle all that mana without any trouble," Caster remarked from behind them.

"That's because I'm half Papa," Ritsu said matter-of-factly.

"You're half what!?" Olga was taken aback by the unexpected statement.

"I'm half Papa, so I'm half Astral."

"Astral? I've never heard of that before," Olga said, clearly confused.

As they continued talking, back in Chaldea, Dr. Roman watched the screen with a serious expression. After what had happened earlier, he was certain that the immense power he'd sensed before came from the little girl.

But why had someone with that much power appeared here? At first, he'd feared she was the cause of humanity's extinction in his vision from years ago. But after observing her behavior, he wasn't so sure anymore. There was something about the girl's innocent nature that made him doubt she would be the one to bring about humanity's end.

Meanwhile they just kept walking, passing along some street, still unable to find a good spot to rest.

But then, "Cuchu, someone's coming," Ritsu said suddenly, and not long after, chains appeared, attacking them.

"Haaaahhhh!" Mash easily blocked the incoming chains with her shield.

"An enemy Servant!?" Olga began scanning the area, searching for the presence of whoever was attacking them.

"Such a shame, my fresh prey managed to avoid my strike," a woman's voice echoed, drawing everyone's attention toward its source.

"Ohh, that's a cool scythe!" Ritsu exclaimed when they saw a woman with long purple hair, wearing a cloak and wielding a massive scythe.

"Well, well, I was wondering when you'd show up, Lancer," Caster said, recognizing her immediately.

"Caster... Why are you siding with these people?"

"Hah? Are you seriously asking that? It's because they're way better than yours!" Caster immediately cast a spell to attack her.

"!?" Lancer had no time to react as Caster's spell fired off with incredible speed. The moment the spell struck her, a massive explosion erupted.

"Aaaaaa!?" Fujimaru was thrown by the strong winds generated by the blast.

"Master!!" Mash cried out toward Fujimaru, worry clear in her voice.

As the smoke cleared, they could see the woman, her cloak now torn and her body covered in wounds. "Caster!! Damn you!! Your spell is completely different from before!" she shouted angrily.

"Nice one, Cuchu! Now as your master, it's my job to help you," Ritsu said happily, raising her right hand and starting to write something in the air.

"Rune!?" Olga looked shocked as she watched Ritsu's fingers trace ancient symbols in the air.

"Spellweaving: Mana Burst," Ritsu announced. After writing a sequence of elemental Runes, she pushed them forward, sending them flying toward everyone.

As soon as the Runes entered their bodies, everyone began glowing in multiple colors—red, blue, green, and brown.

"My body!" Mash exclaimed, surprised at the overwhelming power now surging inside her.

Fujimaru, who was standing up, also felt it—his wounds healed rapidly, and his body overflowed with energy.

"Now everyone can fight together~" Ritsu said cheerfully.

"Pfft, hahaha! Nice one, little master! Now leave the rest to us, you just stay back," Caster said, clearly pleased with the newfound power.

"Young girl, let's do it like before. With this strength, we don't need to worry much," Caster added to Mash.

"Yes!" Mash responded, and the two immediately launched an attack on Rider, overpowering her easily with their enhanced strength.

"You not fighting her too, Olga-neechan? Fujimaru-niichan?" Ritsu asked, noticing them standing still, staring at their glowing bodies.

"Eh!?" Olga blinked, then glanced over at Caster and Mash effortlessly dominating the battle against Lancer.

"I don't think we need to help them... They're already more than enough for her," Olga said, with Fujimaru nodding in agreement.

"Romani, can you scan our bodies?" Olga suddenly asked.

"We already did, and the scan says both of you are perfectly healthy—nothing's wrong," Romani replied through the communicator.

It didn't take long for Mash and Caster to defeat lancer with ease, and soon after, Lancer vanished after she's died.

"Nice one, Mashu-neechan and Cuchu," Ritsu said cheerfully, suddenly appearing in front of them like always.

"Ahhh!?" Mash jumped in surprise, startled by Ritsu's sudden appearance.

"...You really need to stop popping up out of nowhere like that," Caster sighed, shaking his head at his little master's antics.

"Ritsu, stop disappearing like that!" Olga called out, arriving a moment later. She was still moving faster than usual, thanks to the lingering power Ritsu had given them.

"But as a master, I need to praise my servants for doing such a good job," Ritsu said proudly, puffing out her chest.

"Umm, then I thank you for the praise," Mash replied stiffly, even though Ritsu is not her actual master.

"Hmm~ It's fine. I'm happy if everyone else is happy too," Ritsu said cheerfully. Not long after, the glow surrounding their bodies faded, and the overwhelming power they had felt earlier disappeared.

"Looks like it's already worn off," Olga remarked, staring at her now-normal body.

"Hmm, I still can't use it for too long since I'm still training with it, but my papa can use it forever," Ritsu said casually.

"Your papa... Can I ask who your papa is?" Fujimaru suddenly asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"Hmm, my papa's name is Rei ######," Ritsu responded with a smile, leaving the others even more puzzled.

"Rei? That's a pretty simple name, but I've never heard of any Rei who has a daughter like you," Olga muttered to herself, trying to recall anyone named Rei from her connections.

"Hmm, that's because I'm not from this world~," Ritsu replied casually.

"Not from this world? What does that even mean? Like... you're an alien?" Fujimaru asked, looking confused by what Ritsu had said.

"No, I'm from another world~," she answered cheerfully.

Everyone fell silent upon hearing that, even Romani, who had been monitoring them, paused in disbelief.

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Time passed, and they finally found a place to rest—a ruined school. Despite its condition, it was still a decent spot to take a break.

"Pyuuuhhh..." Ritsu was sound asleep on Olga's lap.

The group was on the school's rooftop, where Caster explained the current state of the Holy Grail War. Everything had started when Saber suddenly changed, defeating all the other servants except for him. The defeated servants then turned into corrupted versions like the ones they had fought earlier.

"So, you have to defeat the servant guarding the corrupted Holy Grail?" Romani asked through the hologram.

"Do you know where it is?" Olga asked.

"Yes, I do," Caster replied, looking toward the direction where the grail was being kept, guarded by Saber and Archer.

"Just leave Archer to me. You guys handle Saber. I've got a personal grudge against Archer," Caster declared.

"Are you sure you'll be okay fighting Archer alone?" Mash asked, sounding worried.

"Haha, don't worry about it, especially now that I've got all the mana I need from my little master right there," Caster laughed, pointing toward Ritsu, who was still sleeping.

During their journey, Ritsu had suddenly felt sleepy, and Olga, concerned about her despite not showing it, ended up carrying her.

"Ritsu, huh. It's just so strange... she's from another world," Fujimaru said, looking at the sleeping girl.

"Yes... but she's so cute, though," Mash added, gently poking Ritsu's cheek.

"Mash, don't disturb her. Let her sleep," Olga immediately scolded Mash before she could wake Ritsu up.

"Romani, did you find anything in the Chaldea database about Astrals?" Olga asked.

"No, nothing. Even Da Vinci doesn't know about that race. We're still searching, but we haven't found anything yet," Romani replied, his voice laced with concern.

"I see, but it's pretty obvious why we don't have any information about Astral since she's from another world."

"And her unique ability to buff someone, even making me and Fujimaru feel overwhelming power, will be a good help"

"But isn't that going to be bad for her? She's just a child, and she's getting involved in this war?" Mash said, sounding worried.

"But we have no other choice; we need to fix this singularity and get back to Chaldea," Olga said while stroking Ritsu's hair, thinking to herself that her hair color, which was black and white like that, was really unique too.

"Well, we can think about that later. For now, is everyone ready? We should finish this before Berserker suddenly shows up and makes our fight harder," Caster suddenly said to them.

They all agreed to quickly resolve the situation and began walking toward where Saber and Archer were located.

Olga carried Ritsu and let her sleep, at least until they reached that place.

No one spoke as they all focused on their surroundings to avoid being attacked suddenly.

They passed through many destroyed paths, to the point where Olga had to hand Ritsu over to Caster so he could carry her while she navigated the terrain.

But strangely, even though Ritsu was being moved around like that, she did not wake up at all and continued to sleep soundly.

Soon, they finally arrived at a cave that seemed to have no end at all.

"The Holy Grail is inside there," Caster said while looking into the depths of the cave.

But then suddenly, Ritsu's eyes opened. "We're here!" she exclaimed and jumped from Olga's hands.

"Ritsu??" Olga panicked, fearing she would fall after jumping, but Ritsu landed easily and stared into the cave.

"This is where I can feel the disgusting energy," Ritsu said with a tone full of disgust.

But then Fou suddenly landed on Ritsu's shoulder. "Fou!"

"Behind!" Ritsu shouted, and everyone immediately turned to look behind them.

"Is that...? An Archer class servant?" Olga said as she saw a man with white hair and tanned skin appear above them.

"Heh, you finally showed up, Archer," Caster said after he recognized who was coming.

"Uncle Shirou!" Ritsu suddenly screamed when she saw who it was.

"...Hah!?" Everyone stared at her in surprise after hearing what she said.

Fujimaru blinked in disbelief. "Did she just call him 'Uncle'?!"

Ritsu just grinned happily. "Yep! That's Uncle Shirou!" She waved at him like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Pfft! Hahaha! I can't believe someone like you knows a cute girl like this!" Caster laughed loudly, pointing at Archer.

Archer, keeping his usual stern expression, looked down at Ritsu after a brief silence. "...I don't know what you're talking about, little girl. You've got the wrong person."

Ritsu shook her head confidently. "No, no, you're definitely Uncle Shirou, the one who always sneaks me food when Papa and Mama aren't looking!"

A tense silence hung in the air for a second as everyone processed what she just said. Archer just stared blankly.

"Like I said, I don't know who you are, little girl. But since you're with them, that makes you my enemy too," Archer said coldly as he summoned an arrow and quickly fired it toward them.

"Watch out!" Mash rushed forward to protect them, but she was too slow, and it seemed impossible to make it in time.

In a split second, both Olga and Fujimaru instinctively shielded Ritsu, hugging her tightly in an attempt to protect her.

But before the arrow could reach them, it suddenly burst into flames and vanished.

"Hey, hey, did you really just try to attack a little girl like that? You've really fallen low, Archer," Caster smirked, having cast the spell that destroyed the arrow.

"Tch." Archer clicked his tongue in annoyance as he summoned another arrow, preparing to fire again.

"Mouuu! Uncle Shirou in this world is bad!!" Ritsu looks visibly angry quickly began writing a Rune in the air once more.

"Spellweaving: Spell Boost!" The Rune glowed and then sank into her body.

"Fire, Water, Earth, Wind!" Elemental symbols representing the four elements appeared in her hands, each glowing a distinct color.

"Æther Blast!" The symbols merged together into a single massive spell, and Ritsu unleashed a beam of multicolored energy directly at Archer.

"Oi oi oi, this is bad!!" Caster immediately panicked, sensing the overwhelming power behind the attack.

Everyone quickly leapt to the side, dodging the incoming blast.

*BOOOOOOMMM!* A massive explosion of multicolored light erupted from Ritsu's attack, sending shockwaves through the area as it hit Archer.