You'll get back to the Einzbern Castle before you decide on doing anything else, the danger of this new threat that is possibly even greater than Angra Mainyu. Well, that's not true. The existence of a new threat you are unaware of the truth behind is easily more dangerous than Angra Mainyu is. At least with Angra Mainyu you are aware of just how to go about stopping his manifestation into the world. With whoever or whatever is messing with the Greater Grail in this particular timeline, you have absolutely no idea what you're supposed to do. At least not yet. You can make a plan of action once you find out more about what's going on, but right now you're clueless as to what you should do about the threat in Ryūdō temple.

You don't really feel the need to drive at dangerous speeds though, as far as you can tell, you aren't being pursued at this point. Even though you might not have an active pursuer, you still need to get Illya back to safety. While the Grail War hasn't officially begun, it's still dangerous to be roaming the streets of Fuyuki with both the lesser grail and a Servant who is apparently incapable of fighting on account of falling asleep all the time. You don't even know where the hell Avenger got off to, if he's still even with you at all. You're starting to think that he really did stay behind at the temple to confront the evil presence hiding within it. But for what purpose? He doesn't think that he'll be able to defeat this opponent, does he? Though you suppose that if an Anti-Hero has massively increased resistance to the evils contained within the grail, something like an Avenger could probably bathe in them just as Gilgamesh did. Of course, that's making the assumption that your enemy is Angra Mainyu.

"Uuuu~" The sound of yawning in the back seats breaks you out of your prison of concentration. Though it's not Illya who's woken up, instead, your own Servant has finally managed to awaken from her deep slumber. "Master? Where are we?" She doesn't sound very clued in on anything. "Oh! Wait, I know this! This is a car! It's like a... uhm... mechanized horse and cart, right?" Betty does seem to have some sort of knowledge of the Modern World, thankfully. That means you won't have to constantly explain things to her that she's confused about. You get enough of that from Rin, whenever you need to explain technology to her at Sakura's request. You're actually pretty sure that Rin only has any cooking ability at all because she refuses to buy a microwave and use it to heat up convenience food. Not because she considers it lazy, but because she considers it an evil excess of modern humanity that is destroying mystery... or something.

"That's right, Betty. You did sort of sleep through quite a bit back there." Right now, if your Servant is going to fall asleep all the time, you don't really know if it will even be possible to use her in the war to any useful degree. "Do you know if there's a way for me to prevent you from falling asleep or to wake you up? It's kind of important I have at least some way to do that. Otherwise we both might end up getting hurt... Or worse." You really don't want to get yourself killed in this war because your servant was too sleepy to wake up and fight your enemies.

"Uhm... Wake me up when I'm asleep? Uhhh... All of my family told me I was a pretty heavy sleeper..." Betty seems to be lost in deep thought as you ask her the question, looking back at the girl through your rear view mirror as she fidgets in thought. "Oh! Drums might work! Or uh... banging a pot! That should be enough to make me get up! Though it might take a while..." Betty finally ends up giving you an answer, and it's one that you can work with. You're almost back at the Einzbern Castle now, too. You're just pulling into the drive until you realize that something feels wrong. Very wrong. There's a man standing at the door to the castle. A man who appears vaguely familiar to you, at that. You rack your mind to try to remember where you last saw him, and you soon come to realize his identity. You only met him once in the past at the Clocktower, but his appearance stuck out to you. Alan Thorpe, if you can recall his name properly.

'Master.' Betty calls out to you mentally, you had almost forgotten that servants had the capability to do such things, honestly. But you suppose there's no problem in taking advantage of this ability inherent to the link you share with your servant. 'I can feel that he's not alone. He has a Servant with him somewhere.' A Servant? That certainly explains why he hasn't been killed by the homunculi guards... Though the fact that he's standing here completely unopposed doesn't fill you with much confidence for the current state of the three of them.

An enemy master? No... That can't be right, can it? 'Betty. What can you tell about his Servant from here? Do you know where it is?' The boy you met once at the Clocktower may yet turn out to be an enemy after all. How bizarre that things have happened this way.

'It's standing right next to him. I think he's waiting for us.' He's waiting for you? Well, best not to keep him waiting then, is it not?

You frown, before your face becomes a mask of neutrality, attempting to hide your true feelings of anger. If he's even dared to lay a finger on Giselle, Leysritt or Sella, you're going to make him pay very dearly for it. 'Betty, take spiritual form. Only attack on my command or if he makes the first move.' The little girl on the back seat nods, wordlessly transforming into an invisible magical mist.

You step out of your car, and the man standing at the entrance to the Einzbern Castle gives you a wild smile. "Aha! That is you, Makiri-san! I was wondering whether I would get the opportunity to meet you again, after I went through all this trouble to get myself involved in the war. Though I must say, I really wasn't expecting the opportunity to summon my own Servant to arise!" Alan's personality has completely changed from the timid apprentice you saw at the Clocktower. "Guess that I'm not the only person interested in you, after all." Alan shrugs before giving you a knowing smile. "How would you feel if I told you that some meddler has caused another set of Servants to be summoned, Makiri-san?" He sounds like he can barely hold himself back from laughing.

"Another set of Servants... What are you talking about?" You're already not liking the sound of this. What was going to be a simple task of cleaning up a few of the uncooperative servants has turned into a monumental challenge in it's own right. For the first time, you think that defeating Gilgamesh may not end up being the most difficult part of the Fifth War after all.

"It's quite simple. Somebody altered the Greater Grail in such a way that it ended up choosing an additional seven masters to have act in this Grail War." He throws his hands out in front of himself. "But don't look at me! For once, I'm not the one behind this spot of meddling." Meddling? Altered the Greater Grail? Could that have been what caused Sakura and Illya to collapse earlier? "Your guess is as good as mine as to why they thought to do such a thing though." Alan returns to a serious demeanor.

"Just... Who are you, Alan?" This strange man seems to know far too much. Just what is he hiding? He's almost a completely different person from the man you met all those years ago.

"I think that you're intelligent enough to be able to figure that one out on your own, if you just think hard enough, Makiri-san..." Alan puts a hand up to his chin and makes an exaggerated thinking posture. "Hmm... Here's what I'll do, I'll offer you the opportunity to ask me any one question that I'll truthfully answer. If you want to waste such a thing on asking me just who I am, then that's up to you." The aura that Alan is exuding feels far more dangerous than even that of a Servant. There's something very very wrong with this man.

>Ask him your question (What?)
>Tell him to leave.
>Order Betty to attack him.
>Order Betty to attack his Servant while you attack him.
>Write-in...

>>4419631
>Who is your most dangerous adversary?

>>4419633
Support

>>4419631
"Do you know the truth of the world?"

Was this the guy who was kinda enamored by us for our talk with him?

>>4419636
Oh shit, yes, that please.

>>4419631
>>4419636
This.

>>4419631
Backing >>4419636

>>4419640
Yes he is OC

>>4419631
>Who's your Servant?
"He's gonna meet you in a familiar form" said Betty, and "For once, I'm not the one behind this spot of meddling" says him... Nyarlathotep?

>>4419634
switching from this
>>4419636
to this

>>4419631
Wrtie in, Do you know the muffin man?

>>4419678
Oh yeah, his full name is Alan Y.T. Thorpe, should have seen this one coming in hindsight.

>>4419681
Ha cool

>>4419631
>>4419636
support

>>4419681
Damn that's clever

>>4419681
>name is anagram of Nyarlathotep
FUCK OFF I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT SHIT GOT ME AAAAAAAAAA

>>4419696
Ahh niggerman

>>4419696
shit just got real

>>4419678
Aaaaaah
Fuck!
Support.

>>4419631
>Ask him your question (What the fuck are you doing in MY world monster?)
Fucking fake cunts!
I HATE FAKE CUNTS!

>>4419631
>>4419724
Ok enough jokes, changing to >>4419678, but would it be better or worse to call him out on his bullshit by name?

>>4419725
Beats me, is it bad saying an Outer God's name? It can't be worse than having one literally in front of us, and he's clearly expecting us to figure it out.

>>4419696
>>"Betty, wait a second. You mentioned somebody before, a 'he'. Who were you talking about?" You try to eke out one last bit of information from your servant before she fully falls asleep.
>>"Oh... He... He said that he'd meet you soon, and that he'd do so in a... familiar form..."

>>4419727
>Outer God
Nyarlathotep is really more of a priest or demigod. HPL calls him a "herald" a few times. In any case, he's one in the lower order of things compared to the real notables.

>>4419734
Seems liike Type Moon has as much knowledge of Lovecraft as I do then. Anyways, relatively to us he's still kind of bad news isn't he?

>>4419736
Oh absolutely. He's still an outer being, associated with the outer gods, and in the story that first introduces him he accomplishes the apocalypse on his own. He's inferior enough to the real outer gods to bother taking on a human form and taking an interest in mankind, but from our perspective that makes him more of an active danger than Yog-Sothoth or Azathoth, who are nigh-omnipotent but totally disinterested.

So what is this shit just Fate/Apocrypha now?
Do we have our Red team that is all the original masters and servants from the VN version of the fifth war and then a Black team of all OCs or outsiders to that original war that are possessed by eldritch beings with a completely new set of weird foreigner servants?
And if that's the case...what team are we on?
I could see it going either way since we are, in fact, an outsider to that original war with a weird foreigner servant, so for all intents and purposes should be on the Black Team.
But maybe we've been put on the Red Team to help even the odds or something.
What if we'll have to choose between our continued existence in this world and giving the characters we love the endings they deserve before they're killed off by overpowered eldritch abominations?
WHERE THE FUCK DID BETTY'S ORGAN DOG GO?
Jeez, of fucking man, we aren't even a day into this war, and shit has already flipped turnt upside down!

Calling it now, Kiritsugu is the one who fucked with the grail and caused an extra 7 masters.
>>4419740
I really hope it's not that simple. An all-eldritch themed extra team would be pretty boring.

>>4419738
He's an Outer God, but he's not retarded like the rest of them.
You're definitely downplaying him.
I don't really think he needs to take human form.
I just think he likes to.

File: Azathoth.jpg (91 KB, 407x550)

91 KB JPG

>>4419631
>Ask him your question ("Who am I?")
>>4419630
>Drums
>Heavy sleeper
Lovely.

Makes you wonder if
>young lost girl
was Shub-Niggurath.
>arrogant man
was Yog-Sothoth.

>>4419750
I didn't say he needs to; he's just low enough to care.

Don't mind me, I'm gonna post this for future needs https://pastebin.com/LhUfnHD2

>>4419751
I like to imagine Shinji, showing up to Rin's place decked out to the nines with dadware.
Already got the loli carrying case.
Next you gotta get strapped with the loli awaking drums.
Don't forget your loli harness and your fannypack.

>>4419751
Don't wake up Azothoth. That will literally cause reality to collapse.
Also, Nyarlathrope- fuck that name- is really had news not because he's interested in humans, but because he's actively malevolent towards them where as other Eldritch abomination are physically incapable of giving a shit.

>>4419636
Support.

This grail war is all sorts of fucked already.
>>4419740
I doubt it's going to be full Eldritch desu. It would be hilarious tho if Nyarla was just doing all this shit with a normal servant just watching like "wtf?".
He said he didn't fuck with the grail so I'm hoping it's Manaka still.
I highly doubt Angry Manjew would be able to bother the girl who made the Beast of Revelations her bitch.

>>4419792
Lowkey, I just want to see Angry manjew confused at all these squid looking fucks crashing his party.

>>4419757
Ah crap.
I knew I forgot to do something.
Somebody make sure that I don't forget to add that to the next OP post.
Or I'll just link it whenever the status page is updated from now on.

>>4419825
I'll try to remind you when we get over near 950 replies or something.

>>4419759
Would be hilariously awesome. Like a little taiko drum kit

>>4419743
Yeah makes sense based Kerry

>>4419743
How would Kerry have the power to do that.

>>4419631
>>Ask him your question (What?)
Wanna join the Justice Buddies?

>>4419696
Oh FUCK

I hope this guy stays far far away from our imouto, lest we get a BBHotep situation with Dark Sakura. Yeesh.

>>4420023
If he did something like that it would make him number one on Shinji's "To Murder" list.

>>4419631
>Tell him to leave.

Huh, an avatar of Azatoth would even make sense for us. Azatoth dreams reality and our Shinji believes the everything is fiction. For a summon by affinity it makes sense.

Doesn't this mean Zouken will show up with a Servant in tow now?
The one who messed with the grail has gotta be Altrouge doesn't it?

>>4420345
Really it could be anyone. We have got outer gods running around it could very well be one of them.

>>4419678
Fucking support.

Then ask him if he wants to go get a burger later.

You know what would be rich?
If H.P. Lovecraft was a servant to one of his creations. He'd be terrified.
That and I just want him throwing slurs at these nips. Possibly glancing at Jewish women too.

File: Gentleman_Who_Travels_Thr(...).png (235 KB, 700x620)

235 KB PNG

>>4420736
His self-insert actually pops up in Salem - he's supposedly teaching Abby how to control her powers, traverse the Dreamlands, etc.

He could very well appear here in some fashion.

>>4420752
Oh fuck yeah

Kerry is probably a master. And fuuuuck, the Alan Thorpe thing was clever. Goddamnit.

You look at Alan. Who smirks as he stares back at you. Whoever or whatever Alan is, you are already aware that he knows too much. But you decide to put the extent of just how much he knows to the test. A challenge of sorts, to determine just how much he truly knows and whether or not he's bluffing about things. Now it's your turn to smirk as you look at Alan. "Do you... know the Truth of the world?"

The smile on Alan's face does not once falter as he thinks about the answer to your question. "Ah, now that depends on what you consider Truth to be, does it not? One like yourself wouldn't think of anything as being true, and honestly, the same goes for me as well. The only truth in all existence as far as I am concerned is the one who created everything in this universe... nay, everything in this multiverse and beyond." The smile drops from Alan's face. "But if you're asking if I see reality in the same light as you do however, I'm afraid the answer is no. As far as I'm aware, you are destined to never be able to find somebody capable of truly understanding you." Alan sounds almost as if he's... pitying you? "You have no idea what you are capable of doing... of just what it is that you are capable of becoming."

"What do you mean by that?" Alan just made a whole bundle of interesting revelations, but you find yourself only capable of trying to preen more information from the unexpected Master

"Ah ah! Remember, I said only one question!" Alan then proceeds to snap his fingers before casually speaking. "Oh! I'll also promise not to get involved in a battle directly! Wouldn't want this pesky planet to start sending out it's immune system, would we? That would just ruin all the fun!" Alan finally laughs, though it feels ridden with sarcasm and doesn't really feel all that genuine. "Oh right. One more thing..." Alan closes his eyes and seems to focus on something, before opening his eyes and giving you a knowing smirk before finally speaking. "And so... time flows again." Hold on... Time was frozen? Truly? No, that's ridiculous! Nobody should be able to do something like that, even Aoko! He must be bluffing.

File: Second Rider.jpg (83 KB, 910x1024)

83 KB JPG

As soon as Alan finishes that sentence, you see his Servant immediately burst into existence by his side. A beautiful woman carrying a somewhat familiar looking blue spear that seems to be covered in veins... It's startlingly similar in appearance to Gae Bolg. Her hair is a bright red, matching her large eyes, her clothing seems to be some strange form fitting outfit black and dark blue, with a few pieces of golden armor covering some parts of her body. Her outfit is completed by a long blue cape that sways in the wind as her face is framed by shock "Master! The enemy Master and his Servant... they appear to have some form of instantaneous transportation technique! Even I was unable to track their movements!" The Servant sounds completely taken off guard by what to her must've just been a completely bizarre experience of being unaware that time was frozen around her.

"It's of little concern to me, Rider. We were just leaving anyway." Alan's voice seems to have lost it's dangerous tone as he addresses his servant. "That guy is dangerous, and it's too risky to take on his Servant right now, we don't know what it can do or what it even looks like!" Alan seems to quickly flash a smile at you as he slowly works to convince his Rider into seeing things his way. Just who could that Rider be? She looks very similar to Scathatch, but it's obviously not her... Perhaps you'll do some research into just what her true identity could be later on. You feel like you could figure it out with just a push.

"We... We are?" The woman standing at Alan's side sounds suspicious of this sudden apparent change of plan, but somehow you get the feeling that coming to meet you here was the strange man's plan all along. The woman appears to be a little frustrated by having come all the way out to the middle of nowhere, only to be told that she's leaving the moment a threat appears.

"Of course... There was nothing of any value here after all, and we technically aren't supposed to do battle until the last of the Servants are summoned... you know? I don't want us to get into trouble, Rider. It was bad enough that you used your magic to knock those maids out!" Oh. Thank goodness, from the sound of things, the three maids within the castle haven't met their gruesome end at the hand of a Servant who has no right being in the war in the first place after all.

The woman seems annoyed by her Master's supposed cowardice, before eventually sighing and putting a hand against her forehead. "OK Master. We'll withdraw for now, I don't get why exactly you even wanted to come to this castle anyway." She sounds genuinely disappointed in her Master's decision. If you were her Master, you would hate for her to take that tone of a complete lack of faith and happiness in one of your decisions. Luckily though, you feel like you can rely on Betty to support you through any decision you might make... Even if it's a bad decision. Every silver lining has it's cloud, it seems.

"I figured that we might've been able to score an alliance with some people! But you ruined that by casting your magic at those maids!" Alan's voice quickly takes on a tone that you can only describe as 'whiny'. This personality is almost completely different from the one he had mere moments ago. What an interesting and of course, extremely terrifying man that this Alan Thorpe is.

"Master. I apologize if you were unaware of the fact, but usually, when somebody is swinging a halberd at you, they are trying to kill you. I don't think that they were open to the idea of an alliance with you at all." The woman tries to maintain a sense of calm, but you can tell that she's already exasperated by her Master's antics. If only she knew what he was really like, then that exasperation may just be replaced by fear.

"You... You're just saying that because you ruined our chances!" Alan quickly counters Rider's own argument by repeating what he said in the first place. Honestly, you think that Alan might just be trying to irritate his Servant at this point. You kind of feel bad for the Rider, having her Master be somebody who clearly cares very little for her, to the point of somehow freezing her in time just for the sake of privately conversing with you. You'll have to ask Betty if she was also frozen as Rider was... Or maybe you should start calling her 'Second Rider'? You suppose it will have to

"Whatever." The woman, clearly bored with her Master's antics, literally picks him up and slings him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The scene is made even more odd by the fact that only minutes ago, the very same man screeching like a banshee in fear as he's carried away at high speed by his servant felt like the most dangerous man in the world. In fact, his presence feels more dangerous than even Primate Murder's did! Just what the hell is he? You feel like you're on the verge of figuring it out, but you just can't make the last connection.

Status Updated.

Satisfied that Alan and his Servant have left the premises, you look back into the car in order to make sure that Illya is still alright. She's sleeping peacefully still. As for Betty, she seems to have taken a liking to attempting to figure out how to whistle through the telepathic link you share with her. Though she's not having much luck doing so right now. In fact, she was probably doing that throughout the entire encounter with Alan and his Servant. What a carefree girl she is.

>Ask Betty something (What?)
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.
>Make a phone call (To who?)
>Go inside the castle to make sure that the maids are truly alright.
>Try to wake Illya up.
>Write-in...

https://pastebin.com/LhUfnHD2

And here's the status page.

>>4420874
Take illya and Betty inside. Can we use truth to not make our alliance hate her on sight?

>>4420879
Not without at least figuring out the cause of the hatred first.
Which would require either an in-depth magical examination of Betty, which may not be a great idea for obvious reasons.
Or you'll just have to get her to tell you about it.
Then you can think about trying to counteract it.

If the Servant looks like Scathatch but isn't her, I wager she could be Aife, her sister.

>>4420884
Well I don't like leaving her in the car but as long as the ac is on and her favorite tunes playing I guess she'll be OK. Hope we get some time for a good dialogue with her soon.

>>4420874
>Write-in
>Attempt to research Betty, see if you can infer some information from her that could help you stop the repulsion she has on people, or assist you in understanding your own abilities.

>>4420874
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.
>>4420889
We can just keep Betty in spirit form.

>>4420895
OH yeah she couldn't earlier bc she passed out.

>>4420825
I was so distracted by his dropping paperwork act and him being literally named "Alan Clumsy" that I completely ignored the deeper meaning of his name until it clicked.
Oldest trick in the book, he got us good.
>>4420868
>Soshite toki wa ugokidasu
HE SAID THE THING
>>4420874
>Ask Betty something (Was he who you were talking about?
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.
Come on SHINJI, connect the dots.

>>4420893
>>4420874
Actually, I think this can wait until later. Changing vote to

>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.

Our Truth/Reality Marble bullshit also seems to be potentially even more busted than I expected, if this dude is talking about what we could do or become.

>>4420874
>>Go inside the castle to make sure that the maids are truly alright.
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.

Both of these.

>She looks very similar to Scathatch, but it's obviously not her
Time to look into Celtic myths.
My starting guess would be Aife.
My second would be Liath Luachra.
I don't have any more after that one.

>>4420874
>You feel like you're on the verge of figuring it out, but you just can't make the last connection.
...so is it not Nyarlathrope?

>As for Betty, she seems to have taken a liking to attempting to figure out how to whistle through the telepathic link you share with her. Though she's not having much luck doing so right now. In fact, she was probably doing that throughout the entire encounter with Alan and his Servant. What a carefree girl she is.
How utterly endearing. She really is a top class QT.

Anyway.
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.
>Go inside the castle to make sure that the maids are truly alright.
>Ask Betty something (Was that 'him', do you know about what's going on with the extra servant or how this war is gonna work, can you move inside the stopped time, help her whistle)
>Make a phone call (Shirou to make sure he summons Saber, then Monica to get her to check on Sakura and Rin and make sure their summoning goes well.)

So is Betty our daughter/wife now?

>>4420962
I'm personally leaning towards Daughter.
We have enough potential wives to choose from and I personally prefer my lolis to be pubescent, even if only barely so.
I'm sure there are others around here that would disagree with my assessment though.

>>4420874
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.

>>4420962
Daughter. Illya will be our wife.

>>4420962
For now she is daughterzoned imo.
I am open to wifeing her later, but I want to develop our relationship with Illya atm.

Imagine our cute eldrich daughter walking down the street between us and Illya

>>4421003
Blessed image.

Let's see if Betty really has a sweet tooth.

Speaking about waifus, does anyone else think that after this has settled down it might be a good time to drop some hints to Illya?
not like "I love u marry me"
but like "My alliance is with you, not the Ainzbern."

>>4421043
No. I still don't believe Shinji thinks of this characters as people.

>>4421043
We just need to pull some moves like when we first met her and she's in the sack.

>>4421047
Shinji's view of non mook characters is dictated by us, he has shown multiple times that he does care about them.

I think it is possible to reality marble and also waifu

>>4421043
As long as we're subtle about it, this would definitely be a good time to start.

>>4421043
I said it before, but we really suggest a meeting between her and Rin.
The Holy Grail is fucked.
The War, compromised.
Getting her into talks with Rin can only help to distance herself from the Einzbern since they're the type to want to blindly go through with things despite the horrible potentially consequences.
If we can get Illya into an alliance with Rin, it will make everything else much easier.

>>4421061
If the situation devolves into apocrypha-esque team warfare then getting rin involved early makes sense, but for now keeping her at arms length is best for her(and sakura) until we get Illya to understand our positions and win her over so she doesn't just kill everyone the moment she meets them.

>>4421208
She knows something is obviously wrong with the grail. Also, Shinji hasn’t figured out Alan Thorpe is Nyarlathotep yet but doesn’t mean he isn’t. He can guess this is an Outsider though most likely. My guess is he’s somehow taken control of the grail. Should have really asked Alan what we are though. We just had to be chuuni however.

>>4421228
Didn't he specifically say he wasn't the one that messed with the grail?

>>4421228
rin doesn't know anything more then we do and probably knows less, since we have some outsider setting knowledge.

Getting rin involved will complicate things with Illya and the Einzbern maids, also there is the drama with EMIYA possibly understanding we are not normal.

Minimal payoff for maximum risk.
And yeah the fact Shinji didn't figure out the Nyarphotep thing makes me wonder if he even can, like maybe Nyarphy did some eldrich fuckery to stop people making that connection or some shit?

>>4420868
>As far as I'm aware, you are destined to never be able to find somebody capable of truly understanding you.
Is this a "yet, those hands will never hold anything" sort of line?

>>4420874
>Go inside the castle to make sure that the maids are truly alright.
>Grab Illya and bring her inside the castle.
>Attempt to research Betty, see if you can infer some information from her that could help you stop the repulsion she has on people, or assist you in understanding your own abilities.
>Make a phone call (Shirou to make sure he summons Saber, then Monica to get her to check on Sakura and Rin and make sure their summoning goes well.)

>>4421264
>Getting rin involved will complicate things with Illya and the Einzbern maids
I feel like it would only make things simpler to not have to constantly hide our allegiances. The faster we consolidate all our assets, the faster we can use them all to their max capacity instead of being forced to tip toe on egg shells, lest we reveal too much to the wrong party and ruin our little house of cards in an unfavorable way. Rin is already suspicious of what we're up to and Illya, as we all know, isn't fond of liars. Getting either of them to cooperate with the other under normal circumstances would be incredibly hard and would risk making Shinji look like some lying manipulative asshole with a hidden agenda. Which he is, but we absolutely do not need Illya or Rin thinking that.
This bullshit with the grail and with the extra servants is the perfect opportunity to build the narrative in our favor and get everyone together in a way that doesn't force us to reveal our hand more than we need to.
After all, the goal is ultimately to get everyone willing to cooperate, to cooperate anyway.
If not now, then when, because actually fighting Rin, Sakura and Shirou in the name of the Einzbern was never our goal here.

>also there is the drama with EMIYA possibly understanding we are not normal.
EMIYA's also got me worried too, but EMIYA having a massive bone to pick with Shinji for whatever reason and trying to undermine us is something we'll probably have to deal with anyway, if it's actually even happening. Better to deal with it as soon as possible. Rip that bandage right off.

First things first. You need to wake Illya up as quickly as possible and get her to a safe place. Now that Alan and his Servant have departed, you're reasonably certain that the Einzbern Castle is just about one of the safest places left in Fuyuki. Well, just how safe it is is debatable considering that existences like Alan can break in with apparent ease. Not to mention Gilgamesh. Or even the Shadow, though you feel like you've helped Sakura enough that the odds of the Shadow appearing are almost nil. You just can't see Angra Mainyu possessing the girl anymore. She doesn't hold any sort of loathing for the world in her heart anymore, after all. You saw to that when you freed her from her suffering. The truth is that in this war, there's really no genuinely safe place. Not with the monstrously powerful threats roaming about.

Walking over to the car once again and leaving your servant to please herself by trying to figure out how to whistle without a physical body, you open the back door and retrieve Illyasviel from the back seat. You first try to whisper softly to wake the girl up, but she seems to be too deep in unconsciousness for such a method to succeed. You don't really like having to get more forceful with the girl, but you've left her to sleep for long enough, and you need her to help plan your next move, not to mention tell you what exactly her Servant is up to, or if he's even still alive. It would really suck to have Illya lose her Servant on quite literally the first day of the war. Or well, not even the first day, but before the war has even fully started. Especially given that there are apparently another seven Servants that need to be summoned. Well, maybe six, seeing as Alan has already summoned his own Servant. You walk inside the castle as you slowly try to shake Illya back into consciousness, not enough to be uncomfortable for her, but enough that you think will be enough to wake the girl up. You can't see the maids as you walk into the castle, so you suppose that you'll just have to find them at a later point.

You feel like you could probably discern Alan's true identity with the information you have about him, and you keep on trying to do so, only for complete dread to prevent you from fully understanding the identity of the man. He's clearly not a native to the planet, that much is certain with how he spoke of the planet. Could he be a Foreigner, like how Betty obviously is? Or could he be something greater? An off world Divine Spirit perhaps? But then what could he want with Earth? All things considered, the planet must be something of a backwater on the cosmic scale. You feel like you're just moments away from figuring out just who the enigmatic boy is, until you notice Illya finally beginning to show signs of waking up from her slumber, and you lose your train of thought.

As Illya wakes up fully, you place the girl down on the ground, and she looks about sheepishly for a while. "Um. Shinji... What happened? Did we get away?" She still sounds worried about what you can only assume to be the threat at Ryūdō temple. Honestly, with the way this war has already started off, you don't even know if the evil hiding within the grail is even close to being the biggest threat that you face.

"We did, Illya." You quickly work to dissuade the girl's worry. "But... Do you know what happened to Avenger? I don't think he left the temple with us." You would really like to know just what happened to the Servant that Acht believed would be powerful enough to defeat Gilgamesh. It was bad enough just having an Avenger who was apparently that powerful around at all, but if he has somehow been taken by this new enemy and forced to work against you, then things could quickly become a complete disaster. Not to mention that Alan is clearly more powerful than his own Servant.

"I... I can still feel my connection to him. But it's weak. Much weaker than it should be." That definitely isn't good. "I don't even know if I'll be able to call him back to me with my command spells, either!" Illya sounds furious all of a sudden, so, did Avenger betray you after all? Or did something really happen to him at Ryūdō temple? At least the link is still there though, so it's not really the worst case scenario. Illya's Servant hasn't completely been subverted against the two of you already, but the fact that her link to her Servant has been weakened is a major cause for concern. "I don't even know where he is! I can barely even communicate with him, too! Almost as if... somebody is trying to interfere with my connection!" The situation seems to dawn on Illya as she realizes that somebody might just be trying to steal Avenger from her.

"You really think that a person is behind this?" You aren't so sure that it really was a person. After all, it could've been Angra Mainyu manipulating the connection somehow, and you don't really know if there's a person alive strong enough and talented enough with magic to be able to completely subvert a Servant that is supposedly on Gilgamesh's level.

"I don't care if it's a person or if it's a Servant. Nobody is going to steal my Servant from me and get away with it, Shinji. We need to return to that temple and retrieve Avenger immediately!" Illya's voice becomes cold as she directs her anger towards this unknown threat. However, Illya losing control of her Servant, as bad as it might be for you, could provide you with something of an opportunity. Right now, Illya is mostly defenseless in the war. In fact, seeing as you she is incapable of defending herself due to lacking a Servant, the one with the most power in this alliance is you. Illya actually has very little power right now because of this. You could very easily take advantage of that by demanding she answer questions about her Servant, or even by suggesting an alliance with another Master until her Servant has been recovered. You have a lot of options you could take here...

>Agree with Illya's plan to go back to the temple. But have Giselle and Leysritt come with you. Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight.
>Disagree with Illya's plan to head back to the temple, tell her that it's a bad idea that will probably end up with at least one of you being killed by whatever is lurking within the grail.
>Ask Illya to inform you of Avenger's True Name.
>Tell Illya that you'll hold off on the plan to go to the grail and instead try to find Caster somehow. She might end up helping you now that you've had one of your Servants stolen away.
>Hold off on visiting the grail for now and instead go visit Touko and ask her for assistance in the war. She just might be willing to help you out.
>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Which one?)
>Write-in...

>>4421408
>Agree with Illya's plan to go back to the temple. But have Giselle and Leysritt come with you. Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight...

>>4421403
>you've helped Sakura enough that the odds of the Shadow appearing are almost nil.
So sad...
>>4421408
>Agree with Illya's plan to go back to the temple. But have Giselle and Leysritt come with you. Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight.

>>4421408
>Ask Illya to stay behind you when you arrive
>Ask Illya to inform you of Avenger's true name, any details could help right now and you have made it clear you are not going to backstab her.
>Agree with Illya's plan to go back to the temple. But have Giselle and Leysritt come with you. Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight.

>>4421408
I don't know about you guys but getting the maids involved in this sounds like a surefire for them to end up dead.

>>4421408
>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Shirou)
Yes, as much that sounds like the worst idea Illya can't really try to kill him right about now so all should be relatively good. Getting some use of our charisma would be good and potentially getting Saber on our side would be even better.

I despise that whenever the einzberg appear in a fate quest it's always ends the same, with the MC teaming up, trying to get in her pants- or at least the players, and then taking care of OP yet needy loli.

>>4421500
I have no love for Illyafags anon, it just seems to me like it makes more sense then going off to getting dead ended. Right now we have three maids, a nigh useless servant and Shinji, and he can't kill servants like Shiki.

>>4421495
Support.
>>4421500
Yeah it's fucking stupid.
Simping for the Einzbern is fucking prolific in Fate quests.
I bet it's just one samefag.

>>4421518
We can't betray the Einzbergs right now, but I was honestly hoping we'd team up with Shirou and Ron.

>>4421408
>>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Shirou)

Feels like a lot of my players seem to have disappeared for that last update.
Last update only got nine voters, whereas they normally got about double that.
Was it just at a bad time?

>>4421553
Your updates have been changing times a lot.

>>4421560
Yeah my schedule has just been a little hectic lately, so it's difficult to get the updates out in any sort of standardized time.

>>4421408
Take the maids and go to Rins, ask who avenger is, try to convince illya to align with sakura and rin. Once we gather we can discuss shirou. We need to group up.

>>4421561
Not sure what timezone you are but it seemed you got more people around 5am cst and was it 7pm cst?

>>4421408
>>Disagree with Illya's plan to head back to the temple, tell her that it's a bad idea that will probably end up with at least one of you being killed by whatever is lurking within the grail.
We also need to check on our sister(s?) before we head straight into the place we've just fled. And get something noisy to keep the eldritch loli awake.

Whether we later bring along Monica or the maids is up to debate

>>4421563
Also get Monica, I keep thinking she's with us.

>Einzberns are essentially out of the war
Excellent.
Cup dweller really did a solid favour.
>>4421408
>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Shirou)
>Send Sakura SMS and tell her to meet us at Emiya residence with Rin and their Servants, warn them that Grail War is off the rails completely

>>4421408
Switch >>4421429 to supporting >>4421431

>>4421563
Support.

>>4421408
>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Rin)
As much as I'd actually like to shove all the Emiya-related persons into one box, I think that if Illya attaches to Shirou, she won't want to talk to Rin at all, even if everything is going to pieces otherwise.

>>4421563
+1

>>4421408
Trying to get Illya to ally with Shirou of all people, before she's met him on her own terms, is obviously a losing proposition. I can't imagine why anyone would vote to waste the effort on that.
Talking her into an alliance with Rin to form a founding families triumvirate is much smarter, and I'll support that vote if it gets enough others behind it.
For now though, I'm putting my vote behind >>4421431.

>>4421408
>>4421530
switching to this >>4421563

So uh.. .
When are we seducing the maid?

File: Maids.jpg (457 KB, 730x1000)

457 KB JPG

>>4421638
Soon.

>>4421645
Excellent, because we're missing out on steamy sex with a girl that could quick our ass.

>>4421645
We will get all of the maids, mark my words.

>>4421563
This is a risky idea, but I’m all for it. +1

>>4421664
Too many unknowns and too many possible pieces on the board. We have to find out who the other players are and what they bring.

>>4421563
+1, but also get Monica on board.

So Nyarly's got some sort of mental block thing going on, eh?

>>4421668
Yeah I added a comment to have Monica join us

>>4421408
Switching from >>4421585 to >>4421563 plus Monica.

>>4421408
>Agree with Illya's plan to go back to the temple. But have Giselle and Leysritt come with you. Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight.

Is Monica going to summon Tesla?

>>4421408
>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Rin)
>Find the maids and take them too.
>Also call up Monica to tell her we need her to meet us there too.
>Ask who Avenger is, we need to know what we're looking for and who we're dealing with potentially
Maybe instead of us all going to rin's place, we should have everyone meet at Shinji's.
More neutral ground.

>>4421563
OK so this but we meet at our house and make sure Monica is there.

So it seems that our votes are split three ways so let me try to explain why getting Rin's help is the best option here.

>Agree with Illya's plan to go back to the temple. But have Giselle and Leysritt come with you. Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight.
>Their combat power is high enough that they should be able to make a difference in a fight.
This is false or at least not as true as you'd think. Even with Giselle's extra training, she was unable to deal with a single servant class enemy. As strong as Shinji is, I don't think he'd do much better, and as far as anyone is concerned Betty is still useless in a fight. And even if the best case scenario of this plan does work, we're just back to square one instead of having advanced the situation of us making everyone cooperate. Which is our goal.

>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Shirou)
When I said that we should consolidate our assets as soon as possible, I probably should have mentioned that we should save Shirou for last. Have we all forgotten that Illya absolutely HATES her brother? Have we forgotten that it was only Illya interacting with Shirou on her own terms that made her realize how good Shirou was? Us trying to force her to see the good in him will only make her more resistant to him and make her hate us for trying. No, we need to wait until Illya meets him on her own, or at the very least, wait until Rin or someone else suggests getting him involved. Us being the ones to do it will only weaken our standing with Illya.

The best course of action is getting all our girls in the car (Betty, Illya, Three Maids, and Monica), heading over to Rin's place, and trying our damndest to convince Rin that a great big team up is the best way to deal with all the extra bullshit in the war and that Avenger falling into the "wrong hands" poses enough danger to everyone that immediate action is necessary. This not only solves the problem of getting Avenger back, but also gets us a step closer to getting everyone on the same team, or at the very least, get everyone used to the idea of being on the same team. It might even show Caster how willing we are to work together with others and might draw her out too, or get her closer to wanting to reveal herself once more.

>>4421782
Giselle didn't use lethal force, her and Leysritt will be plenty of firepower, and I want to limit our interactions with Rin as much as reasonably possible.

>>4421792
>Giselle didn't use lethal force
We didn't see the fight, so we don't know if that's true or false, but why wouldn't she and Leysritt have used lethal force to deal with Second Rider when they were specifically told to KILL ANYONE that entered the area?

>I want to limit our interactions with Rin as much as reasonably possible.
Why?
I've given you more than enough reason why getting everyone together is a good idea, but I don't know why you're so hesitant to achieve our main goal.

Going back to Ryudo Temple with only jobber maids as support is asking for dead end.

>>4421408
>>Try to convince Illya to agree to an alliance with one of the other Masters. (Rin, Sakura)
>On your own, call Shirou, tell him to summon Saber and go to the Ryūdō temple ASAP.
There, now instead of forcing an alliance we instead have Shirou come at the last minute and have a big damn hero moment.

>>4421830
Very good idea.
But you might want to wait until we confirm that everyone else is on board for working together first before we accidentally send Shirou there alone. I'm also not too sure about Shinji giving Shirou the call to action, which might lead back to us in a negative way if Illya freaks out and starts asking questions.
Maybe we should take Sakura aside and have her give him the call once we confirm that this alliance is actually happening.

>>4421835
Fair enough, but at least make sure he has Saber sooner rather than later.

>>4421837
Been trying to push for calling him but we keep getting sidetracked. People need to remember that you can vote for more than one thing at a time. Will make things go faster.

>>4421804
>Maids vs Rider
My bad, thought you were talking about her fight with Shinji.
But even if they lost the fight having them with us is better than not having them.

>Having everyone be in the same alliance is our main goal.
Since when? Shinji's never thought anything of the sort, and anons in the thread have never talked about anything like that.
All Shinji wants to do is ensure a happy end for those he cares about, nothing about large grail war alliances.
Personally I just don't like Rin.

>>4421853
But anon how else are we gonna survive the grail war?

>>4421853
>But even if they lost the fight having them with us is better than not having them.
Of course, but we could also just...not risk the lives of our friends.

>Since when?
What part of giving everyone the ending they deserve do you people not understand?
How do you expect to get Shirou with Saber if we're forced to fight and potentially kill Saber? What about Medusa? What about Illya herself, who if we do help her genuinely win the war very well might end up dead if we just go along with the Einzebern's plan.
I'm not saying that making a big alliance was the goal, but having everyone cooperate is the best way to achieve what our actual goals are and as been stated to be the fact multiple times in the text.

>>4421857
Killing enemy Masters when they appear sounds like a good strategy.

>>4421875
But how are we gonna kill outergods?

>>4421877
You don't.
There's only two of them and one is on our side anyways.

>>4421871
Shinji wants to give those who had misfortune endings the endings they deserve, Saber has multiple good endings already so Shinji isn't focused on her.
Medusa may not end up being summoned again, even if she is she should be fine just defending Sakura.
Nobody is proposing we go along with the Einzbern's plan since it leads to Ilya's death.

>>4421886
>Shinji wants to give those who had misfortune endings the endings they deserve, Saber has multiple good endings already so Shinji isn't focused on her.
True enough.
But we have planned to get Shirou with Saber since the start of this quest and it has already been stated to be one of Shinji's goals, even if it isn't a priority, so what's your point? Is your personal dislike for Rin more important than achieving one of our goals, even if it's a minor one in the grand scheme of things? Is getting everyone to work together not the perfect way to both help those with misfortune ends and achieve our more minor goals like getting Saber with Shirou?

>Medusa may not end up being summoned again, even if she is she should be fine just defending Sakura.
Fair enough.
But assuming that she is, the possibility of having to fight Sakura's guardian is a very real one if we continue down this path. We can only keep Rin and Sakura out of Illya's sights for so long, and a truce or alliance will have to be made eventually anyway so why not do it now?

>Nobody is proposing we go along with the Einzbern's plan since it leads to Ilya's death.
What would you have us do instead of trying to get everyone to cooperate then? What's your plan here?

I can tell you mine.
>Get Rin and Sakura on board with the Alliance, and save Avenger for Illya, while maybe calling Shirou in for support.
>Then getting Caster to join in by showing her we're willing to get everyone to work together to stop whatever greater evil has compromised the war.
>Use this new alliance to fight off the remaining servants and masters, who I'm currently assuming will be a bunch of assholes like Alan, whether they're eldrich assholes or not, and their overpowered servants.
>Use the power of friendship to lead the squad and stop whatever fucked shit has taken over the grail.
>Live happily ever after until Tsukihime starts.

It's a barebones plan, and god knows WhatIsAQM likes throwing us curve balls so some details of this whole thing might change, but that's what I'm going for.
What's your plan? What is your personal desired path through this fuck fest of a war?
Because if it doesn't involve working together with Rin, and by extension Sakura and Shirou, then I have no idea what the fuck you're trying to achieve.

>>4421792
>>4421853
Respect. I'm concerned we won't have any choice given the situation we're in, but Rin is worst girl and having everyone in a big alliance smells of Apocrypha. If it's doable, I hope things go your way.

>>4421925
How about just taking things as they come instead of trying to force things?
Waiting to see who pops up and what developments arise and dealing with them appropriately allows for more finesse.
Trying to get a big alliance when as far as they know there's still only one wish or path to the root available is just a disaster waiting to explode.

>>4421946
>How about just taking things as they come instead of trying to force things? Waiting to see who pops up and what developments arise and dealing with them appropriately allows for more finesse.
In a quest about using meta knowledge to make galaxy brained plays on how to best maximize our chances of surviving with everyone we care about and "force" the best case scenario, you want us to just go for broke and "take things as they come"? You dislike the idea of working with Rin so much, that you'd rather risk the lives of the maids and our prospects on the war to just, go with the flow and see where things take us?
I also don't see how constantly having to walk on eggshells to keep our different sets of alliances from figuring out what we're doing allows for more finesse than having everyone know what's up and THEN "taking things as they come" as you say.

>Trying to get a big alliance when as far as they know there's still only one wish or path to the root available is just a disaster waiting to explode.
Given the Holy Grail is utterly fucked and the War is compromised, I'm sure it would be easy to convince all parties involved to put their wishes and path to the root aside until all the extras of the war are dealt with.

Rin haters are so rabid

>>4421974
Our meta-knowledge is already very outstripped in terms of knowing how people are going to maneuver in the war, taking some time to research the new masters and servants while watching the familiar ones keeps us open to act when something unfortunate happens.
Ilya won't get along with Rin since she looks down on her, she won't get along with Sakura since they're the same type of being, and she won't get along with Shirou since she hates him right now, though this relationship has a high chance of developing well if they meet alone for a few days.
Getting Avenger back then waiting and watching events develop is a better idea than just trying to force everyone to get along, and if EMIYA gets summoned again the entire group dynamic you propose has a high chance of being subverted by his traitorous tendencies.

>>4421563
Supporting this plus Monica

>>4421780
Yeah I updated it to that

>>4422012
Why would not forming an alliance give us more opportunity to act if anything it limits the things we can do.

>>4422012
Our meta-knowledge might not help us figure out how the new masters and servants will act, but we can deduce and plan around the ones that we do know just fine.
Illya might not be too fond of Rin or Sakura, and vice versa, but given the circumstances, it's just something they're gonna have to deal with and something we can easily convince them to deal with. They're all women, after all, our charisma should help greatly with pacifying any fights that might break out.

There are only two major sticking points, Shirou and EMIYA.
Shirou shouldn't be too much of a problem depending on how we play things, but I do believe we can make things work out in our favor if we plan everything right. Shirou might not be able to join right away, but his introduction and exit in this upcoming Avenger retrieval mission will definitely spark Illya to want to meet him on her own terms, which has a high chance of developing well if they meet alone for a few days. We just need to make sure he gets the memo to actually leave once he's helped out, if we go along with that part of the plan to begin with.
EMIYA might be a real ass to deal with, and is the real wild card in this whole alliance thing. I honestly can't give you anything that would help assuage your fears on that matter since we have NO idea what is going on with that. But given all the benefits to getting everyone organized, I think that's one major risk i'm willing to deal with as it comes.
Far better than the alternative given it's just, "handle everything on our own and wait a while."

You think about things for a moment, of just what your next move ought to be. Avenger still has his link to Illya, that much has been made clear to you. So that means that while he's probably in some sort of trouble and somebody or something is trying to convert him over to their side, they are either struggling to do so or are unable to successfully subvert his allegience to his Master. Well, what little allegiance he has, you should say. Avenger is still an Avenger, and there's really no class more suited to the betrayal of their Master than the class that literally functions off of extreme hatred. However, by that very same logic, it should be incredibly difficult to force them to betray their Master in favor of somebody else. After all, if they weren't happy with the arrangement, they'd just betray their new Master, wouldn't they?

It's strange to be relieved that Avenger feels like the sort of person to betray you at any moment to achieve his own ends, but you suppose that the hateful nature of his class has become something of a blessing in disguise. You do wonder for a moment just what could have caused this to have happened. Did he really try to face whatever was in the grail all alone? Why? Is he just foolishly brave? Did he have some sort of plan? Did he allow himself to be caught in some way? Just what could it be that Avenger is after? Could this perhaps be some plan of his, to get himself forcibly separated from his Master? You can understand just why he might've done something like that. The apparently unlimited Command Spell that has been engraved upon Illya's body would quickly prove to be immensely frustrating to a Servant who wasn't literally insane. To be reduced to little more than a slave at the whims of a little girl must be completely humiliating for even the weakest of Servants. It would really only be tolerable for a Berserker, honestly. A Berserker has absolutely no pride, after all. You can't imagine that a sane Heracles would've taken too kindly to being continually ordered around by Illya like his mad counterpart was... But then again, he was best friends with Jason, so maybe he would have after all...?

After a moment of thinking on the status of Avenger, you finally end up coming up with an idea. You've got no choice but to draw everyone together in order to discuss an official alliance. Especially with the grail so obviously in a bad way. While it might not be a good idea to include Shirou in the discussion for an alliance just yet, with any luck, somebody else at the table will end up suggesting him. But it's really no matter if they don't. If Shirou ends up summoning Saber, he'll probably end up finding his way into an alliance with the people trying to not allow the evil hiding within the grail to accomplish whatever it actually wants regardless of whether you speak of him at a discussion with Rin and Sakura or not. "Illya. We'll have to hold off on going to the temple again for now. I don't know if we're prepared to face whatever lurks within that temple." You give the girl a truthful answer. You feel like if you visit the temple once again, all that you will manage to end up accomplishing is getting both yourself, Illya, and whoever else you bring along killed.

"But we can't just let them get away with trying to steal my servant!" Illya rebuts you, with a rather grumpy tone in her voice. She's still furious that she managed to allow her servant to be taken from her before the very start of the war. That might just be a record in how quickly the Einzbern have managed to mess up winning the grail war for themselves... If you don't count the Third War, where they ruined everything from the moment Acht decided to try summoning the Zoroastrian equivalent of Satan. Honestly, how dumb can you get? Even if they had succeeded at summoning the true Angra Mainyu, summoning the ultimate adversary of a creator deity is just asking to get wiped out.

"I understand that, Illya. But my Servant suffers from multiple weaknesses, so she is of... unclear use during an actual battle." Never mind that you hardly even know what the girl is capable of when she isn't attracting the hatred of people around her or falling asleep indiscriminately.

You can hear what sounds like somebody making an annoyed huffing noise through the mental link, before Betty speaks to you 'I'm actually strong, you know?! You'll see! I was always stronger than my cousin!' The little girl tries to reaffirm you of her strength, but despite her confidence in her own abilities, you doubt that she has the capability to take on whatever being lies within the grail now all alone. Even somebody who is probably a Foreigner like Betty should still be weak to anything related to the Holy Grail, as all Servants summoned from the Grail are conceptually weak to it. Though honestly, you don't quite know how that is supposed to work for a Foreigner. After all, Foreigners are basically just conduits for the powers of otherworldly deities. Hardly the standard servant at all. You really have no idea how a battle between a Foreigner and the Shadow would end up going, and to be honest, you don't really want to know either.

Alright, Betty. Sorry for doubting you. I'll buy you a pillow or something to make up for it, alright?' It's not the best gift that you admit, but seeing as she hasn't really made any sort of hobby or like of hers clear to you apart from apparently enjoying sleep, you can only offer to give her the one thing that you know she is likely to enjoy.

'Really?! Alright!' Unbelievably though, Betty seems to be perfectly happy with that idea of a gift. Wow. This girl must really really love to sleep. Such a mundane gift would've just confused the majority of people upon receiving it, but the little girl's voice is clearly genuinely happy with such an offer, to the point that she seems to have completely forgotten you admitting that she has multiple weaknesses.

You clear your throat, realizing that you just left Illya hanging on your last sentence and waiting for you to continue. "Ahem! Apologies. I was speaking to my Servant, you understand that I can't take the risk of seeing if her voice causes her curse to activate either, I hope." The last thing you need is Illya to suddenly get taken over by the urge to kill your Servant. Even if at this point all she would be able to do would perhaps try to attack Betty with her frail physical strength, or maybe attempt to use her magecraft to attack your Servant. You somehow doubt either of those things would really cause much harm to your Servant, honestly. "As for what I think we should do next, it might sound perhaps a little bit foolish, but I think we should meet with Rin Tohsaka to attempt to form an alliance with her. She should also have summoned a Servant by now, and as such, would be excellent to have on our side. Especially with the grail apparently compromised like it is. There's no point in treating this grail war like a grail war if there's no wish or pathway to the Root to be earned at the end of it, right?" After all, you highly doubt that whatever is lurking within the Greater Grail is just going to allow the war to reach the conclusion it was designed to reach no less than Angra Mainyu by itself did. "First though, we need to find the rest of the maids. We can't have you just walking around without somebody making sure that you're well defended... We'll other than me, I suppose. But I doubt I will be altogether that useful should I end up trying to face off against a Servant by myself." Well, it really depends on the Servant, actually. Against a weaker Servant like one of the generic useless Hassans or a Caster a few tiers skill below Medea, you could potentially manage to use your Truth magecraft to kill them with some luck, but a more powerful Servant like say, Heracles or even Cu Chulainn would end up killing you before you even had the chance to use that magecraft at all.

"Actually, that's a good point... Sella, Leysritt and Giselle should have come to greet us by now! What could they be doing?" Illya realizes just how late her maids are to greeting the lady of the castle. If you didn't already know what had happened here, you'd also be worried for their sakes. But if what Alan said has any shred of truth to it at all, the three of them haven't been slain at all, and are simply unconscious.

You remain silent. You don't really want to say anything about Second Rider until the time is right. With any luck, one of the maids will be able to identify her attacker as a Rider, and you can use that particular piece of information to suggest that the grail may have been tampered with to allow multiple Servants to be summoned. After all, you really don't want to tell Illyasviel about Alan. You feel like he's really your problem and your problem alone. Well, maybe also Betty's problem, if Alan does turn out to be some sort of Foreigner himself.

A quick stroll deeper into the castle reveals evidence of the maids' fight against Second Rider, and Illya is aghast at the damage that has been done to the castle. While the damage itself isn't that terrible compared to how bad it could be, it's quite clear that Illya's concern lies with something else entirely. Seems that she noticed them before you did, but at the top of the stairs leading to the second floor is what seems to be a large crystal of ice. But within that crystal are three familiar looking women. One of them, Sella, seems to have been frozen in the middle of casting a spell, while Giselle and Leysritt guard her with their halberds. It's pretty obvious that at the time of being frozen, they were completely unaware of the attack. "Liz! Giselle! Sella!" Illya runs towards the statue of ice and you follow her. Hearing that they weren't dead from Alan's mouth suddenly feels far less revealing. Especially when you can't actually confirm their status' while they are all still frozen in the ice. "Shinji... we need to break them out of the ice." Illya's voice is cold. Colder than even the ice freezing her maidservants. To her, this day must have just gone from terrible to almost as bad as it could possibly get. Not only was her Servant taken from her, which is likely going to result in her being knocked out of the war, but some of the few people she actually cares about may have been killed while she was gone.

You can't help but agree with Illya though. The sooner that you break the three of them out of the ice, the better. But just how should you go about doing that...?

>Use your Rune Magic to create a runic flame to melt the ice with.
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.
>Use your Self Reinforcement to try to strengthen your body enough to shatter the ice.
>Ask Betty to use her incredible physical strength to shatter the ice.
>Ask Illya if she has any ideas on getting the maids out of the ice.
>Write-in...

>>4422333
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.
Don't want to accidentally burn them.

>>4422333
>Ask Betty to use her incredible physical strength to shatter the ice
>Don't go full throttle though, we want the people inside to stay intact

>>4422333
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.

>>4422333
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.
Don't wanna shatter the ice and fucking mortal kombat, subzero their asses.
Don't wanna use normal rune based fire cause it might burn them.
Truth Flame is the best way to go.

>>4422333
>>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.

>>4422333
>>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.
This shit is going off the rails I’m scared

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...huh. Did no one check Abigail's wiki article? I think our sleepo is right there.

>stronger than Abi
>who has something like B+ or A-rank STR
Swole loli

>>4422464
Based.

>>4422333
>>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.

>>4422464
Welp, that was fucking easy. Good job boys.

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Seriously. Why the fuck isn't this the first thing we did?
I remember someone mentioning that she might be Abby's cousin last thread but I don't remember if anyone actually confirmed it until now.
We really need to be on the ball with this for now on.

Btw, went ahead and looked it up. Second Rider is 100% Aife. Her design is actually based on a fan design from Reddit. Her stats are slightly different from the original though, so I wouldn't be surprised if her noble phantasms were also different to throw us off and keep things fresh. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f20wIoBkESK12NfjCO3fE6hVLdP0F5FY9gU04Ohd3n4/edit

>>4422333
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.

>>4422464
...I'm disappointed I didn't think to look that up. I honestly never thought it could be someone that close to a canon servant.

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>>4422608
I mean last thread people were guessing fucking Elizabeth Howe.
Why nobody looked into the people in Abby's family is beyond me, but given I didn't bother either I can't really say anything can I?

>>4422641
That was me. I was the person who suggested Elizabeth Howe. That's why I'm ashamed.

>>4422333
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.
Alan, you're officially on my shitlist

>>4422777
>777
my nigga, confirmed Alan aka Charles Nyarles is gonna fucking get smoked this quest

>>4422333
>Use your Truth Manifestation to create a perfect flame to burn away the ice.
Breaking the ice normally WILL kill them. see >>4422407

What the actual fuck is happening.
This has gone way beyond off the rails into wtf levels.

Wasn't Illya supposed to tell us who Avenger is?

>>4422878
Well, you have priorities, obviously. You will still ask her, but now really isn't the best time to do so.

>>4422880
Sorry...

>>4422883
There's no need to apologize, anon.

While it certainly isn't good for your magical energy reserves, right now, the best option presented to you for freeing the three maids from their icy prison would be the magecraft of your element. While you consider just shattering the ice, or using a less powerful magical flame to free them, you don't want to take any chances with the safety of the free women trapped within the crystal. For all you know, attempting to free them without using your most powerful ability could end with them getting hurt, or perhaps even killed, should the ice shatter with them inside it.

"Don't worry Illya. I can get them out of that ice, but it's going to take quite a bit out of me." You've managed to get efficient enough that after this, you should be at least capable of using your ability to manipulate truth at least one or two more times before you just completely collapse. Your link to Betty is hardly drawing away any of your total magical energy, after all. You're certain you don't even really need the support of the grail to keep the girl manifested. Though keeping her around without the support of the grail would be quite a drain, Rin was capable of doing such a thing and you know that you have a greater magical energy capacity than she could even dream of having. "Just give me a moment." You open a few of your magic circuits in order to allow the energy to flood through your body and focus that energy on the palm of your hand.

Illya lets out a breath of relief as you claim to be able to get the women frozen in the ice out safely. "Just don't go overboard, alright? Right now, you're the only person left that I can rely on." It's strange just how quickly things seem to have taken a turn for the Einzbern. How odd that things have taken such a turn. Years ago, you had imagined that the Einzbern could end up being one of your greatest adversaries, almost on par with Gilgamesh in how much trouble that they could give you. But between Alan, the new evil hiding within the Greater Grail and a whole new round of Servant summonings, the Einzbern aren't a threat at all. Well, you already worked to neutralize the threat they would've posed anyway, your alliance with the family was going to see to that. There's a part of you that is glad that Illya is relying on you so much, but you try to keep that feeling suppressed. The last thing you need right now is to start having everyone rely on you and you alone. Even you can't handle that much responsibility forced upon you, you think.

"Very well, Illya." You focus on creating a flame as a source of heat that is capable of affecting only ice. It's really quite funny how powerful the ability to manifest truth is, yet both times you've used the ability outside of training have just ended up in you using it to create fire. That's not to doubt the effectiveness of such conceptual fire that can selectively burn a target though. After all, it enables you to basically go about doing things that would usually require a surgeon's precision, like extracting the Crest Worms from Sakura, with incredible haste. The manifested fire incinerated the creatures living within Sakura in seconds with very little trouble.

Of course, you'll have no issue with doing the same to this ice. Magical or not, the moment that you bring the small flame you had created in your hand in contact with the flame, it does something really quite incredible. The flame doesn't just melt the ice, no. The moment that it makes contact with the magical ice. The ice encasing the maids bursts into flames itself! You weren't expecting this outcome, and thankfully the flames don't seem to take more of your magical energy as they somehow burn the ice than they otherwise would.

Illya however gasps in terror as the flames engulf the giant ice crystal and the maids trapped within it. But you can tell that they will be fine. The flame itself is really only capable of affecting the ice. You can tell that much from the fact that despite the sudden inferno within the castle, absolutely nothing else is catching. "Shinji?! What did you do!?" Still. Illya isn't aware of just how your powers work, so to her, this must just seem like you've decided to incinerate her maids.

You try to make your voice as calming as possible as you respond to the girl. "Don't worry, Illyasviel. They will be perfectly fine. My magecraft is quite unique in how it works." Illya has a complicated expression on her face, a mixture between shock, suspicion and uncertainty. It's very obvious that the girl just doesn't know what she's supposed to think as she witnesses the flames, but the relief on her face is palpable as the flames dissipate after having finished consuming the entirety of the ice. Leaving nothing behind after doing the impossible and somehow burning ice. You don't quite understand just how something like that is supposed to work, considering it completely breaks all logic and reason. But the three maids that were trapped within the ice each fall to the floor as they are freed of their icy prison.

They are all conscious too, thankfully, if groaning in pain and discomfort while they are on the floor. Seems like being frozen alive has taken quite a lot out of them. Illya is quick to run over to the women on the floor to try to help them to their feet, and of course, you provide assistance. Helping both Leysritt and Giselle back to their feet while Illya attempts to try to use her almost non-existent physical strength in order to help Sella back up to her feet. You notice that the two maids are still shivering from being trapped within the ice as you grab their hands to lift them to standing positions.

Sella, after a few seconds of Illya struggling to lift her back to her feet, eventually manages to get up. Though how much of it is from her own effort and how much Illyasviel managed to actually help her is debatable. You don't really think that Illya's frail body really managed to provide Sella with much assistance, but regardless of how much help Illya provided, all three of the maids seem to be back on their feet, and other than the three of them still shivering from the coldness of the ice they were contained within, don't really seem the worse for wear. Sella and the other free maids then almost in sync look down at the floor and try to avoid meeting Illya's gaze. "L-lady Illyasviel. We failed in our duty to protect the castle. An enemy Master and his Servant, who I gather is Rider, were able to break through the defenses and neutralize the three of us. I accept full responsibility for this failure." Sella tries to take the blame for the failure, but by the look on Illya's face, you can tell that the girl doesn't care about that at all.

Illya's only response to Sella so selflessly trying to take the blame all by herself is to wrap her arms around the usually stern woman and hug her. "I'm... I'm just glad that the three of you are alright. I was so worried!" The little girl remains that way for a moment before breaking away from Sella, who quickly retreats from Illya, still obviously ashamed at her failure to fulfill her duties. Giselle and Leysritt are similarly quick to back away from Illya, and silently stand beside Sella. Then Illya turns towards you and gives you a beautiful smile. "Thank you for helping them, Shinji." The smile warms your heart a little bit, but unfortunately it doesn't last for long, as a visage of determination soon appears on Illya's face. "But we need to act now. I don't want Avenger working for somebody else. We'll obviously need to go and meet the Tohsaka girl as soon as possible."

>Agree with Illya. Go see Rin at her house.
>Call Sakura first, try to get Rin to go to your house and hold the meeting there.
>Ask Illya for details about Avenger before actually going to discuss events with Rin.
>Suggest another plan first (What?)
>Write-in...

>>4422965
>Ask Illya for details about Avenger before actually going to discuss events with Rin.

>>4422965
Call sakura and have them meet at our house. On the way ask illya about avenger.

>>4422969
+1

>>4422965
>>4422969
Support.

>>4422965
Backing >>4422969

>>4422969
Supporting.

>>4422965
>>4422969
Supporting this.
I'm glad we didn't fatality the maids.
Fuck Alan.
Fuck Aife.

>>4422965
>>4422969
This.
Additionally, make sure they have their fucking servants when they arrive and contact Monica to tell Shirou that Saber needs to be summoned as soon as possible and to prep the house for visitors. She's not a maid, but if she could make sure the place isn't a mess that would be great.
Don't tell Shirou about the meeting or the danger, just tell him to summon his waifu and be on high alert for fuckshit.

>>4422965
>>4422969
Support

If that Rider really is Aife, I fear for Cu.

>>4422965
Support >>4422969
>>4423131
It is time to play the role of family psychiatrist.

>>4422969
Support

>>4423131
I love cu

>>4422969
+1
We gotta give Rider1 a vehicle, if she's around.

>>4422969
Support.

>>4423060
Yes, fuck Alan.

>>4422965
this is good, going for this >>4422969

>>4423539
Could we give an armored Ferrari with automatic weapons and black keys equipment installed?

"You're right about that, Illya. Allowing your Servant to be used against us would be a disaster by every metric." Seriously. If you actually can rescue Avenger somehow and get him to return to Illya, then that's just what you'll do. Even if you haven't really found yourself with any sort of inclination to help the Servant of Revenge actually stay alive outside of his own use to you, as far as Illya and the Einzbern are concerned he is a very useful servant to have on side indeed. Especially if their belief that he is capable of doing battle with the King of Heroes is one grounded in facts, instead of just being Acht's wishful thinking taking over.

But really, you doubt that Acht would bother to go through all the trouble of summoning an Avenger once again if he wasn't absolutely certain that it could function as a trump card against Gilgamesh. Acht must at least be aware of the overwhelming power held by the King of Heroes, he must've at least been observing the events of the last war in some way. Even if he wasn't, he should at least be partially aware of just how powerful Gilgamesh is. Even top class Servants are powerless against him, should he actually get serious. So if a Heroic Spirit wouldn't work, could the Einzbern have summoned a Divine Spirit? No. That wouldn't make any sense. Enkidu would completely ruin any chance a Divine Spirit would have at defeating the King of Heroes, so while that might seem like a good idea at first glance, summoning a purely Divine Servant against a man who has access to one of the greatest Anti-Divinity Weapons on the entire planet is just a ridiculously terrible idea.

"I do need to organize something before we do anything though, so please. Bear with me." Before you ask Illya about just who Avenger actually is, you need to make a phone call first, and step outside of the castle by yourself in an attempt to get better phone signal. You fetch your phone from your inside pocket and end up making a quick call to your sister. Hopefully, she's woken up as well by now. You can't imagine Rin letting her just remain unconscious for long, especially not when she didn't have to sprint away from a potentially deadly threat and just had Sakura next to her in the relative safety of the Tohsaka mansion. You dial the number for Sakura, and after a few minutes of waiting, the lovely, if a little nervous, voice of Sakura comes through the other end. "Onii-chan?" Sakura still sounds a little bit groggy from her own forced sleep.

"That's right, Sakura." Of course, the first thing you should do upon calling Sakura is to find out how she's doing after being forced unconscious by the strange evil lurking within the Greater Grail. "You're not hurt at all are you? Do you recall anything from when you fell asleep that might warn us of just who could've been behind this attack on you?"

"Oh... I'm fine now. I almost bumped my head when I fell down earlier, but I guess I just got lucky." Sakura allays your fears. Looks like she's truly alright after all. Thank Goodness. You don't know just how you might react if she were to truly get hurt as a result of this war. You can only imagine it would be very poorly. "And... Uhm... Sorry, but I can't really remember much at all about what I saw before I fell asleep." Sakura sounds apologetic as she denies any knowledge that could help you with this mysterious new enemy.

"I need to ask you a favor... Well, I actually need you to convince Rin to do something for me." Sakura will have far better luck at convincing Rin to do something than you ever would. Almost a decade's worth of subconsciously wanting to make things right with Sakura has turned Rin into something of a doting older sister, honestly. Though she doesn't let that particular side of her show when you're around.

"Oh." You can't help but feel like you can hear a tone of disappointment in your adoptive sister's voice as you bring up Rin. While you and Rin have tried at least to get on a little better with each other... at least when Sakura is around. Rin is still quite a difficult person to get to like you, regardless of just how much you might try to improve your relationship with her. It seems that your personalities are just too clashing for the two of you to ever really be able to be anything other than vaguely friendly to one another. "Well. OK then, what do you need?"

You think on how best to phrase things before continuing. "I'm going to need you to bring her to the Makiri Mansion so I can discuss an alliance for the Grail War with her. You too if you've also become a Master, Sakura." Really, even if Rin and Sakura only have EMIYA and Medusa as their Servants, respectively, just those two represent a great increase in your odds of actually succeeding at an assault on this unknown existence. Even if EMIYA will remain likely to betray Rin and the faction for the shot at stabbing himself in the back. Which really sounds completely ridiculous when you say it like that, but it's also completely literal. Even if EMIYA never really quite succeeds at making Shirou give up, in like... any timeline. Well, at least not any you can remember, at least.

"R-right! I'll see you then!" Sakura sounds excited about something as she ends the phone-call, but you don't get to ask her what she's actually excited for. It surely can't just be to see you, can it? You see the girl more than enough, really. She tries to spend as much time with you as she is physically capable of doing so at this point, after all. You don't really think that such levels of obsession are healthy for her at all, and you've been trying to get her to pick up a hobby, but it seems that she isn't interested in anything unless you do it yourself. Even trying to get her to join a club at school was a fruitless effort.

Just as you finish up the call to Sakura. Illya leaves the castle with her three maids in tow. Sella having apparently gotten over at least some of the shame she felt at failing in her duties, from the look on her face. You want to tell the three of them that it's not their fault and that they performed admirably against an opponent like a Servant. But you feel like that would be overstepping your bounds when Illya is literally right next to you... or well, approaching you. You greet Illya and her entourage with a smile. "Good news. I've managed to organize a meeting with potentially two Masters." Well, Rin is a guaranteed Master, but Sakura's own situation is a little foggy. You don't really know what to expect when it comes to Sakura and her own status as a Master. Well... That's not entirely true. You did give your Sister the mirror that would allow her to summon Medusa should it come down to her needing to summon a Servant, after all.

"Wonderful! I'm sure that after we trick them into helping us, that your Servant and Avenger will be able to crush their Servants when they least expect it!" Illya joyfully sentences the two Servants to death. Honestly, managing to lose so much in a single day must be truly playing havoc on Illya's mind at this point, so you don't really know just how much you can take of what she says that seriously.

As you move to walk towards your car, you notice Giselle moving in the opposite direction, presumably towards her own vehicle to drive to your home. While you were intending to drive Illya yourself, you must admit that you do enjoy the idea of being driven about though. While you do enjoy driving by itself. It is quite a focus intensive activity. Which means that you won't be able to discuss things with Illya nearly as well as you otherwise could if you just allowed one of the maids to drive you.

>Allow one of the Maids to drive, you wanted to ask Illya a few questions anyway (What?)
>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.
>Make another phonecall before setting off (To who?)
>Write-in....

>>4424111
>>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.
>>Write-in....
Initial-D this shit!

>>4424111
>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.
>Break out the expensive car and Initial-D this shit.

Make sure to play Eurobeat while doing this.

>>4424122
This is a fucking great idea. +1

>>4424111
>>Make another phonecall before setting off (Shirou)

>>4424111
>Allow one of the Maids to drive, you wanted to ask Illya a few questions anyway (Avenger's identity, strengths, abilities)
Driving is cool and all, but we really ought to learn about Avenger.

>>4424111
>>4424152
Support

>>4424111
>>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.

Put on the Eurobeat. its time to Drive!

>>4424111
>>4424149
support

>>4424108
>>4424109
>>4424111
I'd say
>Call Emiya and ask if anything has happened
If he summoned Saber, that can be a good way to ensure we aren't getting fucker over by whatever cosmic fuckery is upon us. If not
>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.

Depending on how I count the vote, there's a 3-3 tie for either first calling Shirou or deciding to Initial D your way back to your house.

>>4424111
>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.
>Blast that Eurobeat with all you got. Initial-D as blatantly as possible.
REMINDER ILLYA IS RIGHT THERE
REMINDER WE HAVE YET TO TELL HER ABOUT SHIROU
REMINDER SHIROU IS STILL OFFICIAL PROTAG OF HIS SIDE
REMINDER SHIROU STILL HAS AVALON INSIDE HIM THE WHOLE TIME AND HE KNOWS IT
JUST LET THE MAN SUMMON HIS WAIFU ON HIS OWN, HE'LL PULL THROUGH

>>4424410
Considering all that has happened, the chances of Artoria being summoned as Shiro's Saber went from 100% to a 90%, not good odds.

>>4424414
If I wasn't careful about tipping our hand to Illya and risking shit later to the point where even if we survive a Dead End things get precarious in the leadup and afterward, I would be voting for the Call Shirou option first thing. I hope when we let Illya and the maids into the apartment to have Monica handle them, they won't be spying on us calling Shirou outside the apartment in secret. That's the best way I feel we should go about it, because I want to get Shirou cleared up ASAP. Putting him off too long for my liking, honestly.

>>4424417
I'm actually surprised we didn't go full autismo in making Shirou as strong as possible and minmaxing the hell out of him. Perhaps it'd be better if we tried to do some training regime with him and do combat training to sharpen him as fast as possible, if mana and recovery isn't a problem for us.

>>4424423
First it was Zouken paranoia, now its Illya paranoia. Damn bitches stopping us from hanging out with Shirou and making him be the best sword autist he could be.
>do combat training to sharpen him as fast as possible
>to SHARPEN him
Nice

>>4424433
Considering the prospect of not one, not two, but several outer entities and the fact we have alpha murder Loli breathing down or neck I'd say just let her find out, literally tell her that we might be facing something much more dangerous than even the three families combined could handle and then train with Shirou till one or both get a zenkai boost because no fucking way Shirou won't go full super Chad if we minmax him at the best of our power. No school, no nothing, only bros.

>>4424111
>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.

>>4424403
I'm willing to add >Call Shirou onto my vote here >>4424117 as long as we Initial-D this shit.

Who initial ds a Bentley?

>>4424435
This is pathetic. He'll be fine on his own and we already gave training him some tine during the timeskips. There's no reason to waste time babysitting him now.

>>4424111
>Allow one of the Maids to drive, you wanted to ask Illya a few questions anyway (AVENGER'S NAME)
Fuck cars, I want answers.

>>4424476
This, don't let Shirou fags ruin this.

>>4424111
>>Make another phonecall before setting off (To who?)
SHIROU SHIROU SHIROU

>>4424111
>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.

>>4424111
>>Demand that everyone drive with you instead. While you might not be able to talk with Illya too well, you're definitely better at driving than the homunculi maids are.

"Actually. I'll drive. It's potentially dangerous out there, and I think I've got the best chance of dealing with that." You stop Giselle in her tracks as you decide that you'll be the one doing the driving. Of course, while it's not like you don't have any faith in the woman's ability to operate a vehicle, you understand that you are almost certainly a better driver than she is, and if you end up encountering something dangerous on your way back to your home, you are the best candidate for actually doing so. Of course, if you had a Rider with you, you would almost certainly allow them to be the one driving. Medusa behind the wheel of your Bentley, for example, is quite a terrifying thought. You can't imagine just what lengths she would be able to push the already very high spec vehicle to.

Giselle offers no argument as she turns around to look at you. "Very well. I shall defer the driving to you, if that is what you think is best." Giselle is a little less formal with you than the other maids are... well except maybe Leysritt, but it's not really for Leysritt's lack of trying. She's really doing her best, but unfortunately, the steps made to make the maid into what she is have permanently damaged her mental capacity. Even so, she still tries to replicate Sella's perfect etiquette. It's really something to be admired, honestly. How despite her obvious difficulty in doing so, Leysritt will still try to copy Sella... Most of the time. Sometimes, Leysritt obviously gets tired of the perfect maid routine that Sella tries to keep up at all the time.

"Oh, you're driving us again, Shinji?" Illya doesn't sound too bothered by the decision either way. Of course she wouldn't, your skill in driving cars is basically at the level of racing car drivers, though of course you didn't actually put that statement to the test with Illya in the car with you... Well, you might have gone just a little bit too fast on your return to the Einzbern Castle. The girl quickly jumps into the front passenger seat and the maids all filter into the seats behind while you start the car up. You wonder if Illya would enjoy it if you were to drive a little bit less safely? If she's anything like her mother, terrifyingly dangerous driving ought to be something she enjoys. Then again, there's really not going to be much to be fearful of with you behind the wheel, so with a smirk, you press play on the car's in-built CD player as you start to build up speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljwUlY9WW1I

You put the pedal to the metal and really just start showboating all the way back to your house. Much to Sella's clear dismay in the backseat. She tries to hide her fear, but whenever you look at the three almost identical faces sitting on the back seats, One of them is always looking distinctly uncomfortable. It's clearly not going to be either of the stoic, superhumanly strong and durable combat homunculi who are worried about traveling at high speed in the vehicle either, and Illya doesn't seem to care about the danger represented by going at such speeds. However, she seems to be having so much fun with your apparently reckless driving that you don't really want to ruin it by making her think about her lost servant and asking questions about Avenger. That can just wait for the actual meeting. You don't even know just how much information Illya is going to be willing to share about him either.

You had originally wondered whether or not spending so much time learning how to drive so well was a good idea, but as you look at the excitement on Illya's face as you do a handbrake turn around a particularly tight bend at high speed, you think that it might've been worth it after all. Of course, for all your skill at driving all sorts of vehicles, you're still no match for even Saber when it comes to riding things. Never mind somebody as talented as Rider... well, Medusa as a Rider. You're probably going to have to make a mental note to start referring to Servants by their true names now, just to prevent yourself from getting confused about them. Those two have skill that is quite literally supernatural, after all. Your only hope at getting any better at driving than you already are would be to have them train you, and even then, you aren't really sure if that would work at all. Is it even possible to be taught to ride animals and vehicles as well as somebody like Medusa? Maybe you'll just ask her for lessons, if she ends up being summoned. You suppose that you'll find out just who Sakura and Rin's servants are soon enough. With any luck, the identity of the two of them won't have changed any from how things went in the story you are aware of. Though you aren't really sure just how you're going to deal with EMIYA.

Your drifting through the city of Fuyuki eventually comes to an end as you pull up to your house. Rin and Sakura should have already arrived by now, and Sakura has probably let herself in with her key. The bounded fields of your house are strong, and anybody attempting to force their way in is in for a nasty, and potentially quite lethal surprise. The core of the defense is a bounded field that reacts to the Od of whoever is trying to break through. To a person with absolutely no ability to produce magical energy and thus no magic circuits, they will fall terribly ill. Not dangerously ill, though. Just ill enough that they wouldn't dare continue trying to break into your home. However, it reacts quite differently should somebody with the capability to use magecraft attack. You designed your bounded fields in such a way that the greater your magical energy, the more damage you take upon trying to force your way through them! Of course, you had wanted to replicate the Bounded Field around the temple, but such a project would've taken months that you didn't feel like spending. Especially given that you had no idea how dangerous this war would turn out to be. Of course you knew there was going to be at least some threat involved in the grail war, that's why you've spent so long getting yourself prepared for it. But to you, nothing is more dangerous than the threat of the unknown, and it seems that your actions have caused the future to massively veer off the course it should have taken, to the point where the Einzbern summoning an Avenger isn't even close to the worst change!

Illya looks at your home with an appraising eye as she exits the car. You don't really like being judged for it, especially when you could easily afford a far larger house. But there comes a point where such huge homes become impractical, especially when you don't have the ability to staff your home with maids and butlers who are guaranteed to always remain loyal to you until their dying breath. She doesn't say anything though, so you think that she has at least accepted that your house is of tolerable size. Of course, quality wise, it's easily on par with anything the Einzbern have to their name. You spared absolutely no expense in restoring the tattered ruined mansion back to a livable state, and as such the original beauty of the building has been fully restored, and in some ways, enhanced upon what it was once before. Of course, it's a little bit lonely, being as large as it is with only yourself, Monica, and for half of the week, Sakura, living in it. You hadn't realized before, but now you don't have the roar of the engine and the music basically deafening you, you can hear the faint sounds of sleeping through your telepathic link to Betty. Did she... fall asleep? Well, at least she's still actually somehow following you in spirit form, even if she's not technically conscious.

You walk up to the front doors of your mansion and open them with a flourish. "Follow me, everyone, I imagine that they'll be waiting for us in the dining room." You call backwards, and Illya and her maids are following you silently. Though Sella does seem to be suspicious of your home, continually looking around the rooms with apprehension in her eyes as you lead the four of the Einzbern to the meeting area.

When you finally reach your Dining Hall, you quickly spot Rin and Sakura sitting about in silence. The two of them are clearly on edge. As you'd expect them to be, honestly. There aren't any Servants present in the room though so you don't know whether or not either of them have summoned the Servant you are expecting just yet. Sakura perks up as you enter the room, while Rin sinks in her seat a little bit. Sakura quickly stops looking at you as you walk in and starts staring at the four women accompanying you with a very deep gaze. Almost as if trying to uncover the identities of the four of them, only for Rin to speak first. "Oh? You brought the Einzbern along with you as well? Did you intend to make this a founding family reunion, then, Shinji?" Her voice is laced with sarcasm.

"Not exactly, Rin. We all need to discuss what's going on with the grail, after all. Especially as it might be corrupted somehow. If that's the case, then it might not even be capable of granting wishes at all." Rin's eyes narrow at that. It's not like the girl actually has any wishes for the grail, but hearing the words 'Corruption' and 'Grail' together could only really mean a failure on the Tohsaka's part to actually protect the grail from outside influences. As the Second Owners of Fuyuki, ensuring that the grail isn't seized by rogue magi or other supernatural nasties should be the duty of Rin and the Tohsaka family as a whole. Of course though, the original corruption was done in a grail war, and whatever has happened to the grail now obviously wouldn't have been something Rin could have resolved by herself. Still, now that everyone is together, this is your chance to actually attempt to secure an alliance.

>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>Request that Sakura and Rin reveal their Servants. There isn't really much point of keeping them in spiritual form right now.
>Ask Illya if she would mind revealing the identity of her Servant to you, and if not in front of Rin and Sakura, then instead in private.
>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (What?)
>Request some different information from somebody else at the table. (Who do you want to ask and what do you want to ask them?)
>Write-in...

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
I can't believe that Initial-D won.

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>Request some different information from somebody else at the table. (Who do you want to ask and what do you want to ask them?)

Ask only Sakura if she summoned her servant, but no More than thay

>>4424641
>>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.

>>4424641
>>Request that Sakura and Rin reveal their Servants. There isn't really much point of keeping them in spiritual form right now.
>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (Two sets of Masters-Servants)
Shirou this Shirou that, holy shit I just want to have Saber around to Eckscaribaa the bad guys, is that too much to ask?

>>4424641
Introduce everyone, request servants to be shown. Ask illya about avenger in private. Maybe show the maids around the kitchen or private quarters afterwards? We want to make everyone comfortable. Also check on Monica

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (two sets of servants)

>>4424641
>Write-in...Introduce everyone personally.
I have no doubt that Illya will be able to see the clear conflict of interest in having our beloved sister and pseudo-sister also in the war, but I'm sure we can finesse that worry away if we take initiative with the introductions. And if we could convince Rin and Sakura that the Einzbern was able to help with the saving of Sakura in some way that would go a long way to help endear everyone together.
>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (Clear corruption of the Grail by an unknown entity. The existence of two sets of masters-servants as proof by Betty, Show off our servant without triggering everyone)
>Request that Sakura and Rin reveal their Servants. There isn't really much point of keeping them in spiritual form right now.
>Ask Illya if she would mind revealing the identity of her Servant to you, insist she shares with the group so we can better help her get her servant back.
If we show off Betty as a sign of good faith then that will prompt at least Sakura to show off her servant and will hopefully then get Illya to tell us about Avenger.

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
Why did we abuse a Bentley like that?

>>4424679
Because we must acquire
S H O W M A N S H I P

>>4424678
Betty is asleep, and showing her off is definitively something we DON'T want to do yet.

>>4424678
Also where the hecky is Monica? You'd think she would have popped her head in by now or something. All these people fucking around in her house.

>>4424679
We have so much money that we could buy a fleet of Bentleys. It's fine.

>>4424683
She should be near by, now would be a good time to try and drum her awake.
Also we could always keep her wrapped up in a sheet, warn the girls about her curse and try to keep them calm if it still doesn't work.
It wasn't too hard to snap Illya out of her blood lust, it shouldn't be too hard with Rin and Sakura given they aren't murderhobos like Illya is.

It's important that we try to have control of the conversation as much as possible and lead by example.
If everyone sees us going out of our way to be open and honest then that will prompt the others to do the same. We can't expect everyone to share if we aren't willing to after all.
With the Holy Grail compromised, we SHOULD all have the same goal at this point, and having info about the other's abilities is vital to proper cooperation moving forward.

>>4424687
But can we say the same about their servants? I'd rather not risk having a fight break out in the middle of our house and ruin any chances of an alliance.

>>4424701
Well then just keep the sheet on her.
Hell, I'm willing to give out her true name in lieu of showing her off physically. The important bit is that we show we have faith in the people collected in this room and that they need to spill if this alliance thing is gonna work.
We need to take the first foot forward if we want to make this work.

Just leaving it at introductions, dumping some info, and hoping for things to playout for the best seems silly to me.
We need to establish trust and we need to establish a clear goal for this alliance as soon as possible.

>>4424711
Alright alright, I'll take your word for it.
>>4424678
+1

>>4424687
Do not use the drums. You don't Azathoth waking up.
No idea what inspires murderous rage, maybe witch trials?

If we're going to be a hot-blooded driver, I'd like to petition that next time we make our soundtrack Rev on the Red Line, by Foreigner. I think my reasons are self-explanatory.

>>4424770
Double Vision would also be a good driving song of theirs.

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (two sets of servants)

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (Grail, second set of Servants)

>>4424770
I still want to get a weaponized ferrari for rider to ride in.

>>4424678
Supporting

>>4424641
>>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (Grail, second set of Servants)

>>4424641
>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (Grail, second set of Servants)

>>4424641
>>Have everyone introduce themselves to each other first, while you might know everyone at the table, things might get a little bit awkward if you don't get everyone properly introduced.
>>Reveal some information about the war in an attempt to secure an alliance between everyone. (Grail, second set of Servants)

Seeing as the two girls that were already in the room are still warily eying the new arrivals, you decide that the best approach to get things started would be to actually properly have everyone introduce themselves to each other. "So. I've brought everyone here together to discuss the potential of an alliance until we can all figure out just what on Earth is going on with the grail. First off though, I think it would be best if everyone here introduced themselves." Best to try to calm tensions before getting into anything serious.

"Of course." Illya is quick to jump on the opportunity. "I am Illyasviel von Einzbern. Future Head of the prestigious Einzbern family as well as the key for the Einzbern to finally reclaim the Third True Magic." Illya is not humble in her introduction at all, and you don't really know whether or not it's even possible for the Third to be claimed by using the grail anymore. It's a kind of ridiculous thing to think of saying, but surely there must be another way to reclaim the Third Magic that wouldn't require something so prone to failure as a grail war is. The damn things have basically become comedies of error at this point. Where powerful magus families all try their best once every fifty years in order to completely ruin their families' future or get themselves killed. Honestly, the last war was particularly bad, in which the only person who managed to come out of things at all OK was Waver, and even then he's going to be living with the shame of being unable to help the man he decided was his King in his battle to the death for the rest of his damn life. "These are my three maids. Sella, Giselle, and Leysritt." As their names are called out, each of the women do a short curtsy.

Rin doesn't look impressed by Illya's boastful introduction, nor does she really look like she cares that much about Illya at all, really. "Right." She says a single word that contains so much sarcasm and derision for Illya's statement, that she doesn't even feel the need to continue that particular line of speech. Instead she launches into her own introduction. "I am Rin Tohsaka, the Second Owner of Fuyuki and Master of Archer." Archer himself doesn't bother showing himself, and Rin quickly decides to explain things. "Archer said that he wanted no part in any of this and decided to go and sit on the roof instead. He apparently wants to keep the area well scouted out in case anybody tries to sneak up and attack us." While Rin clearly disagrees with Archer's current plan of action, even if it's just a cover story, it's probably one of the wisest things he could actually do right now. Especially if Alan tries to pay you a visit. Actually, when you think about things, EMIYA, being a Counter Guardian, might have invaluable information about Alan and just what the hell he is. He must've met somebody or something like him in the past... or well, future, in his case.

"Uh... Uhmm... I'm... Sakura Makiri-Tohsaka..." When Rin appears to be done with her own introduction. It's Sakura who is the final person to introduce herself. You're both thankful and a little disappointed that Monica is absent from your meeting with everyone else, but then again, it's not really like she would've had much to add to the meeting. You like Monica, but you doubt she'd be much help here, especially not in potentially risky negotiations. She's really much better off being used as a weapon or a guard. After all, that's the reason that you hired here in the first place. Not as an advisor or a tactician, but because of every living human magus you've personally met, only the two Aozaki sisters are likely to have superior skill when it comes to blowing things up. "I'm Shinji's younger sister, and the Master of Rider!" Sakura snaps you out of your pondering on Monica's whereabouts as she declares herself to be Rider's Master with quite some determination in her voice. Of course, you're also glad that Sakura ended up summoning Rider after all... Though until you actually see the Servant, you can't actually determine whether or not she's Medusa or not.

Unlike Rin's Archer, however, Rider does make an effort to reveal herself upon her name being called. Her incredibly long lavender hair and distinctive outfit revealing her identity to you instantly. It seems that your worrying about the potential identity of Sakura's Servant was all for naught, and that she ended up summoning Medusa after all. You'd really like to say you could read Medusa's emotions from looking at her, but that damn blindfold covering up her face has made that quite impossible. Maybe Touko will make her some Mystic Eye killers if you ask nicely enough? She ends up getting a pair of the glasses at some point anyway, at least in Hollow Ataraxia. Rider however remains silent as she... looks(?) around the room and at the Einzbern. Not bothering to say anything past revealing herself on Sakura's wishes. If you didn't know all that you knew about Rider, you'd almost call her cool and mysterious for this act. But you know that all you need to do to give the poor youngest sister post traumatic stress disorder is to have Illya jump at her. Well, any little girl would probably achieve the same effect. Stheno and Euryale really did abuse their youngest sister, after all. Really, after you've seen how these Servants act when they aren't fighting a war, it's really very difficult for you to actually take them all too seriously.

"Well then... Aren't the two of you going to bring your Servants into this discussion? They're with you, right?" Rin suddenly begins speaking again. "They might have at least some useful input for solving whatever you think has gone wrong with the war, and I'd also like to see just what sort of Servants the two of you summoned." Rin's request would honestly be quite reasonable under normal circumstances, but with things as they are now, that's not exactly a request you feel would be a good idea at all.

>Tell Rin that you can't let her see your servant, as she seems to be afflicted by a curse that causes people that see her to hate her. Let Illya explain about Avenger.
>Tell Rin that you can't let her see your servant right now because she's asleep and also tell her that Illya's Servant has been captured somehow.
>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?
>Just try to evade the topic and try to move on to discussing something else (What?)
>Write-in...

>>4425314
Option 1

>>4425314
>Tell Rin about Betty’s curse and let Illya explain whats happening with Avenger.

>>4425314
>>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?
WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

We need all the trust we can get. So I would choose option 3.
But there's need to be more input. I don't know, put her in some robe or something?

>>4425314
>>Tell Rin about Betty’s curse and let Illya explain whats happening with Avenger.

>>4425314
>Tell Rin that you can't let her see your servant, as she seems to be afflicted by a curse that causes people that see her to hate her. Let Illya explain about Avenger.

>>4425314
>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?
>Warn everyone about the curse that causes people to hate her.
Seems like a reasonable precaution.

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>>4425314
>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?

>>4425314
>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?
We are explaining the curse before we do this correct? I don't see what the fuss is about.

>>4425314
>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?

>>4425314
>>Try to wake up Betty and have her reveal herself. What's the worst that could happen?

hmmhmhmhmmhm

Medusa or archer insta gibs Betty. Good job brainlets

>>4425314
>>Tell Rin that you can't let her see your servant, as she seems to be afflicted by a curse that causes people that see her to hate her. Let Illya explain about Avenger.
>>If she insists on seeing her then let her.

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760 KB JPG

>>4425364
Sometimes you just GOTTA

>>4425314
>Tell Rin that you can't let her see your servant, as she seems to be afflicted by a curse that causes people that see her to hate her. Let Illya explain about Avenger.