Chapter Text
Lev Lainur left the Control Room that was repurposed for the briefing, and started walking through the sterile, white halls of Chaldea.
To any Chaldean employee that ran to the impromptu briefing room, the Head Technician's expression would look serene. His soft smile and closed eyes, accented by his eccentric green clothing and a recognizable hairstyle, radiated peace, as if he was enjoying a pleasant stroll.
In reality, however, that assumption couldn't be further from the truth. The gentle demeanor was just a mask, and behind it thoughts were churning at inhuman speeds. Lev Lainur was merely the identity of the man Flauros possessed. The demon was in Chaldea to execute the last step in the grand plan of his king: getting rid of the facility. After thousands of years of preparation, setting up events and distributing Holy Grails across the past, all that was left was to lure the whole place into Singularity F, a distortion Flauros had created himself, and blow up the Control Room before the pathetic humans even had a chance.
And yet, despite everything being done already: Chaldea on the path to rayshift into the singularity, bombs planted and simply waiting for Lev to send the signal once the masters gather, he was still running into complication after complication! That brat, Olga, was about to start the briefing, and yet there were pieces missing. Most Masters were there, but Mash and the forty-eighth one were still missing. Sure, he was an utterly worthless civilian they dragged in from the streets to fill in the UN's quota, but Lev Lainur Flauros was nothing if not thorough. To top off the irritation, that useless medical head, Romani Archaman, wasn't in the Control Room at his monitoring station, under which Lev set a bomb just for the weakling.
Lev forcefully uncurled his fingers and fixed his smile back into serene expression. It wasn't time to show frustration, not yet. All of it didn't matter. He still had time, and victory was a foregone conclusion anyway, Lev Lainur thought as he walked through the long white hallways of Chaldea. The 48th Master is a part of civilian filler, and is 96.47% likely to be still near the Chaldea's entrance due to exhaustion from the simulation. Lev, having calculated that, kept moving towards the facility's entrance, past the windows staring out into the endless snowstorm. Soon enough, he was proven right, as he heard voices, Mash's voice to be precise. Lev kept smiling as he approached, hearing what seemed to be the middle of a completely benign (useless) conversation.
"...seems to like you, Senpai." Mash's voice, discussing something with someone else. If his guess was right, it was about the so called "Fou" that she seems to tell everyone about despite Lev never even seeing the critter. Still, her so-called Fou wasn't important right now, Lev thought as he came closer to the pink haired girl animatedly talking to what seemed to be a completely average teenager.
"There you are, Mash." Lev interjected. "I've been looking for you everywhere. This won't do, wandering around the halls right before the briefing." Then Lev turned to the boy with bright hair and blue eyes, standing there in the white Chaldea's Mystic Code, looking sleepy and completely out of his depth. "Ah... And you... You must be the 48th master candidate. My name is Lev Lainur, a simple technician working for Chaldea, and your name is..?"
"Uhh, Fujimaru Ritsuka, sir." The boy answered, Mash nodding nearby with a happy expression. Finally found a friend, huh? Pity it won't last. Flauros thought with dejection as he got ready to answer.
"Well, Mash, Ritsuka, I believe that the briefing will start soon. We need everyone there, be they one of the 38 mages we have hired, or one of the 10 talented public applicants." What a joke. Most of the Master Candidates were worthless, only Team A being actually important in the project. "You should lead him to the Control Room, Mash. He surely needs help finding it. In fact, I should go with you, otherwise Olga would yell at me for leaving you and the new Master all alone if I left now."
As he led the two humans through the halls into the orientation center, he discreetly checked the phone connected to Chaldea's systems. It seems Romani Archaman still wasn't there. Well, not like the briefing will matter to him, I'll just call him up when it's time for him to die with the rest. After putting the phone back into his impeccable suit, he kept leading the clueless Master and Mash towards the Control Room, answering benign questions about Chaldea while keeping the same serene expression that he always had.
After entering the Control Room, Lev discreetly guided the forty-eighth Master and Mash to the last row, before turning around and marching to the front of the room.
Upon seeing him finally arrive at her side, Olga Marie breathed out and calmed down slightly. It was overall too predictable: she relied on him with almost everything, like a child hugging a blanket. Taking his arrival as a sign to start the briefing, the young Director walked to the front, cleared her throat and brought up the blue holographic presentation, beginning the speech. Briefing, ugh. Such a fancy word for a pep talk made by a little girl. Lev wanted nothing more than to scoff at this meaningless posturing, but maintained his usual serene, peaceful expression.
"Welcome to Chaldea Security Organization, everyone." Olga Marie began, her voice amplified by the audio system installed. Puffing out her chest and trying to project unearned authority, she continued. "My name is Olga Marie Animusphere, the Director of Chaldea. All of you have been selected, or discovered, from across the world due to your unique talents—"
THUD.
The dull noise echoed through the precise acoustics of the Control Room, cutting the Director's speech off. She instantly stopped, and Lev also narrowed his eyes, scanning the seated crowd of masters who were also looking around for the distraction. It took him less than a second to locate the source of the sound: plain to see, in the far back row, the forty-eighth master candidate - the nobody that Lev just wasted time searching for - had fallen asleep. And not just lightly dozing off, but falling into a deep, comatose-like slumber. His head hit the desk in front of him violently under the effect of gravity, producing a dull noise they all heard.
For a second, Flauros's internal calculations stumbled. This was an anomaly that Lev didn't even bother to consider the possibility of. After all, what kind of imbecile would fall asleep during a briefing for a mission that would determine the fate of all of humanity? This pathetic excuse for a human, apparently.
"You... You absolute... How dare you..?" Olga was already furious, her face coloring red in anger. She stomped off the podium and marched up the stairs of the Command Room to the back row, her heels clinking against each step. Mash, sitting beside the sleeping boy, looked like a deer caught in the headlights: confused and terrified, trying to shake the boy awake to no avail. The rest of the masters were either snickering or looking at the boy with derision, with Team A in the front being very annoyed at this derailment.
Before Lev could move forward to deescalate the situation, Olga was already near the boy's desk, wounding her arm back, before delivering a sharp slap across Ritsuka Fujimaru's face that instantly woke the boy up. He bolted up, his bright blue eyes widening in confusion and terror upon seeing a furious Olga looking down on him.
Before things could escalate further, Lev smoothly went up the stairs and put a hand on the Director's shoulder, frowning at the terrified civilian master. Lev interjected with a soothing voice. "Olga, please calm down; we still have an orientation to finish." He implored. You still need to stand over the bomb I planted, so keep your head cool for now, was what he thought. "You can deal with punishing him after we complete the Rayshift." No, you can't, but I'm sure it's okay to dream.
Olga breathed in sharply and tried to calm down, before announcing. "Fine. Get him out of my sight. I don't want someone who doesn't understand how serious this is participating in the mission anyway." She snapped her attention to Mash, giving the orders. "Kyrielight! Bring him to his room or something, and then report back for the Rayshift."
"Y-yes, D-director!" Mash stammered at being called to attention, before grabbing Fujimaru and leading him out of the room while Olga walked back down the stairs and returned to the podium in order to continue the briefing.
Lev's attention was instantly brought back at that. For his plan, all the masters should have been in the blast zone, even a civilian like number 48, but... did it really matter? Instantly running the numbers, Lev reflected on what he knew. Master Candidate 48, Ritsuka Fujimaru, part of civilian hire. Filler. Practically non-existent magic circuits. Absence of any magical knowledge or training. Rayshift aptitude must be high enough to score, but probability of successful Rayshift without protective Coffin after bomb detonation: 0.033%.
Negligible. Convincing Olga to bring him back or chasing him to drag him back into the Control Room would be a waste of time and effort on Lev's part, so he supposes leaving him to wander the hallways should be fine. He would probably die either way.
With that, Lev withdrew his attention from the boy who had already left the room and focused back on the briefing. There were no more distractions and the rest of the meeting passed without further incident. Soon enough, the improvised assembly hall was dismantled, leaving Chaldea's Control Room in all its glory, rows of desks with holographic computers, Rayshift Coffins and a glowing blue sphere hanging above it all.
The preparations for the Rayshift into Singularity F was scheduled right after the briefing, and Lev could see various technicians were already going around the Control Room, checking the equipment and preparing all the systems and monitors for the operation. Near the Coffins, Lev could see Olga overseeing Mash and the forty-seven Masters preparing for the Rayshift and getting in the coffins. It seems it was time for the final moments of the plan.
After noting that almost everyone is already in place, the only notable exception being the Head of Medical, Romani Archaman, Lev took out his phone tied to Chaldea's systems and called the doctor. "Romani, we're about to begin the Rayshift. Could you please come here, in case something happens? Team A is looking good, but other teams appear to be slightly worse off, probably from the stress before the mission." From the other side of the call, he could hear the doctor yelp and shuffle nervously. No doubt slacking off before I interrupted him.
A nervous voice answers. "Oh, uhh, hey, Lev. If you say that, then I probably should grab some anesthesia to give them, shouldn't I? Heh..." He should arrive within 5 minutes at most, 2 on average, considering he probably never even left the infirmary for the briefing. Thinking that, Lev answers, impatient, but not letting it show. "Yes, hurry up, would you? I'd rather have you here as soon as possible. It's a two minute walk here from the medical wing, so don't waste time."
With that, Lev hangs up and puts the phone away. He approaches the Coffins, standing to the left of Olga, who is entirely too focused on the tubes where the Masters lie, waiting to be sent into the Singularity. At least she's standing on top of the bomb. I guess she did SOMETHING right. Lev thinks to himself while checking for the detonator. It still works, connected to all the bombs. One brief glance around the room doesn't yield any obvious anomalies in the Command Center, so everyone is probably ready for the mission, which also means right where he set the bombs.
Finally, Lev thinks, and, just as the Rayshift procedure is about to begin, puts his hand in a hidden pocket in his coat, and presses the trigger.