The Queen of Shadows

Chapter 9: Face to Face

Chaldea

Roman was just finished taking his break and was walking back to the operations room. Making his way through the halls of Chaldea with a cup of coffee in hand, he hears commotion coming from one of the engineering departments. His curiosity piquing, Roman walks up to the doorway where the noise was coming from and listens in.

"Alright, let's try this again..."

Roman recognizes the voice of Da Vinci, who hasn't shown up at the operations room since the masters and servants left for Scotland. She had been secretly cooped-up at engineering and neglected to tell Roman what she was working on.

"Proof of concept, test 4. Ignition in 3... 2... 1!"

Roman then heard the sound of some kind of engine whirling to life, but it didn't sound like any jet engine he had ever heard. His confusion only grew when the "engine" sputtered and whined down, giving way to a disappointed Da Vinci.

"Huh... looks like I still have some kinks to iron-out. Whatever... I'll get this right eventually... let's see what this does..."

It sounded to Roman as if Da Vinci was building some new toys, and she was about to test out another one.

Just what is this all for? He wondered.

"Transmodifiers, test 1. Activating in 3... 2... 1!"

What he heard next sent Roman's mind reeling. It sounded like the buzzing of robotic insects followed by a combination of surging mana and warping metal. Roman had no idea what that was, but whatever happened made Da Vinci ecstatic.

"Yes! It worked! Now to try it on something bigger..."

Roman raised an eyebrow at that. He checked his watch and decided to return to his post, leaving Da Vinci to her own device. What ever she was working on, Roman will inquire about it when she was ready to show it off. This was history's greatest inventor in her element, and Roman was cautiously optimistic that her new toys would be of great use to Chaldea.

That brain of hers just never stops working...

In an abandoned building in Edinburgh, Zenith sat in front of his computer in a dingy, blacked out room. On it was images of files stolen from a Clock Tower outpost he raided days ago. They depicted background information of the Chaldean masters and their current roster of servants. From what he gathered from these, he figured it wouldn't be wise to risk a direct confrontation, especially not with the small number of servants he has now. Chaldea had selected mages as master candidates for their potential to command multiple heroic spirits, but even in his case that only got him so far.

Fujimaru and Rutherford are Chaldean masters as well. With the numbers advantage they have, I'll need a surprise attack ready for when the time comes to steal their objective. I just need more information first.

Where are you fools heading?

Beside him was a floating globe-like artifact that had an ever-shifting surface of liquid bronze that showed the land mass of England close-up over Scotland. There was a blue spark travelling across the surface heading to a representation of the Isle of Skye. He took a long glance at the globe and asked himself:

"Now what could be up there?"

Zenith was not alone. In the same room were his servants; the armored Saber, the masked female Assassin, and the hulking, stoic Berserker. Assassin shadowed the master while Saber was standing against the wall, cross-armed and tapping his booted foot impatiently.