Angelic.

Where did this ability come from? And did she somehow inherit it from you when you used your blood and Avenger’s Noble Phantasm to create her two nights ago? Could you create your own wings from True Ether? The magical energy within your own body is resonating in the presence of Sophia’s wings; this could be a breakthrough toward discovering the truth about yourself! However, you need to resolve this battle first.

Observing Archer of Black, you can tell that you’re physically stronger than him when you have your own or Avenger's physical reinforcement spell strengthening you from your ability as a Master to recognize the surface-level capabilities of a Servant at a glance. While a welcome fact, it alone isn’t enough to fill you with confidence that you’ll defeat him in a head-on attack, mainly from his choice of weapon and your current position. You face the Archer, each of you near the right wall of the tunnel (from your perspective). Avenger stands to your left, Eugene Messerschmidt stands opposite her, and Sophia is further back, behind Messerschmidt. The Archer is far enough away from you that you estimate you’d need to advance at least 5 paces before he’d be in melee-range, and the holstered weapon that he rests his hand on is a handgun. Common sense renders inadvisable the tactic of charging a gunman when the odds are stacked in his favor to get the first strike.

But perhaps “common sense” doesn’t apply here. You’re dozens of times stronger and have far faster reflexes and reaction times than an ordinary man of your size and weight. Who’s to say you can’t track the trajectory of one or two his bullets and deflect them with your mace as you close in? The Archer himself moves his gaze between you, Avenger, and Sophia, and confidence borne of experience is what you read from his expression. In contrast, Eugene appears mainly focused on Sophia, sparing you and Avenger just an occasional glance from his peripheral vision.

You consider using telepathy to make a plan with Avenger, but doing so could momentarily distract her and provide the enemy Servant a small opening that he’d need to inflict serious damage. If only you had more information to gauge how the enemy would react.

You will:
> Charge forward and attack Archer of Black. You’ll deflect his attacks with your mace as you close in.
> Charge forward and attack Eugene Messerschmidt. Once you move Avenger and Sophia should pressure the enemy Servant enough to cover you.
> Study the situation carefully and wait for an opening.
> Try to talk Eugene and the Archer into leaving. You’ll “let them off easy this time”.
> Something different (write-in)

I’ve been off the board for a while, finally found time to make it back. The suptg archive site is back up, but the TL;DR recap in pastebin could give a quick refresher on quest events if time-constraints are an issue. I can also answer questions that you’d know the answer to in-character.

>>6125001
>> Study the situation carefully and wait for an opening.
Mexican standoff! Been a while, speedy.

>>6125001
>> Study the situation carefully and wait for an opening

>>6125077
>>6125459

One of the funnier options, excellent.

Someone present has memories of watching Cowboy movies

>>6125001
> Study the situation carefully and wait for an opening

> Something different (write-in)
Look behind archer and say "Hey what's that?"

You decide against rushing in, hoping to find and exploit some lapse in the Archer’s concentration. If you can manage to close in, between direct pressure from you and support from your Servant, you’re confident you’ll be able to take him down. You wordlessly maximize the reinforcement spell on your calves and ankles to help you burst forward as swiftly as possible when the time comes. But you need to figure out how to create an opening, so you spend some time observing him. His confident vigilance doesn’t look like it’s going to falter anytime soon. Should you say something, perhaps a bluff to get him to turn his head away from you?

As you consider what to say, Sophia breaks the silence ahead of you, saying, “Hmph. Quite the tense standoff we have here.” Moving her gaze from Messerschmidt to Archer of Black, she continues, “He’s even dressed the pa-... wait, I recognize you!”

“You do?!” You and Eugene both exclaim in unison. The Archer narrowed his eyes slightly, but didn’t otherwise react; Avenger likewise kept her hawkish gaze on the enemy Servant.

“Yeah, he’s Clint Eastwood!” Sophia answered, before asking the man himself, “But how did you make yourself young again? You should be old as dirt!”

“Clint Eastwood? He’s an actor, isn’t he? I don’t see how he’d become a Heroic Spirit.” Eugene pondered aloud. Is Archer of Black not Eugene’s Servant? Come to think of it, the Archer hasn’t called Eugene his Master since you encountered them.

“Have none of you seen ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’? He’s even wearing the same darn outfit as he did in the movie!” Sophia says with a bit of exasperation, pointing at the Archer.

“I suppose I could have, but I wouldn’t remember it.” You reply.

“I haven’t had time to waste on trivial entertainment since I was summoned.” Avenger deadpans.

“I never chose motion-pictures as a hobby, but I could be persuaded watch one in a theater with you later.” Eugene flirts at Sophia.

“Looks like the jig’s up.” The Archer sarcastically remarks as he dematerializes his cigar, “You figured it out. I’m actually a little surprised it took three days for someone to recognize the form I took.”

“The form?” Sophia repeated skeptically, “What, did you turn yourself into a Heroic Spirit so you could look young again or something?”

“You’ve got no idea what you’re talking about, sister.” The Archer replied, “Not my job to clear things up for you neither.”

“You acting like the movie-character? I think he was called The Man with no Name.” Sophia replied, before scoffing, “By the way, John Wayne would’ve handed you your ass and you know it.”

“What?” The Archer said with irritated surprise seeping into his voice as his gaze shifted away from you and Avenger and toward Sophia. That provided enough of an opening for Avenger to begin casting a summoning spell, and for you to burst forward to start sprinting toward the enemy.

A summoned boar charges past you toward Archer of Black. Sophia materializes a polearm and is cut off from charging at the Archer by Messerschmidt, who enters into melee range and clashes his black-bladed sword against her spear. The Man with no Name drew his pistol in a flash and fired one round at the boar’s skull, the next toward your chest, and three more toward Avenger. Focusing all of your strength into a downward-diagonal swing of your mace, you’re about to find out how well you can deflect a bullet.

The flanges connect with the bullet mid-travel right as it enters your reach. Sparks fly at the point of contact, and you manage to push it off course, preventing a lethal injury. However, it still hits the edge of your rib-cage, ripping out some of your flesh. Despite the pain, you continue your charge and swing an upward-diagonal strike toward the Archer’s outstretched arm, hoping to disable his weapon.

Your mainly hit air as he retracts his arm and darts backward, but a glancing hit from an edge of one of the flanges of your mace left a small cut on his forearm. More importantly, his footing isn’t stable as he lands from backing away, so he isn’t able to reposition in time to dodge the boar as it lunges, its tusk cutting his lower torso before he kicks it away. You feel a momentary appreciation for the beast’s tenacity to press its attack in spite of a bullet being lodged in its skull.

However, the Archer’s magical energy suddenly spikes as he aims his pistol to the side of you and says “Colt .45!”. A Noble Phantasm release!

You reflexively turn to where he aimed and take stock of the situation. Avenger had created an earthen barrier in front of her to stop the three bullets that he’d fired at her, she summoned two hounds which were now charging toward Eugene, and the bullet from Archer of Black’s Noble Phantasm release is inexorably on course toward the tunnel’s wall. For an instant you think he fumbled his attack, but then realize that bullets can ricochet, and he aimed at the wall so the ricochet would go around Avenger’s barrier.

There’s no time to do anything. No words or telepathic message could give a warning in time. There’s only time to press the attack against the enemy. You know anything else would give them an opening to exploit to deadly effect. But your own efforts haven’t been fruitless. The Archer’s spike in magical energy is falling off fast, his Noble Phantasm must have burned through a lot of his energy. The wounded boar is reorienting itself further down the tunnel, and the two hounds are sprinting toward Messerschmidt, who’s giving Sophia a difficult time with his trained swordsmanship.

You’re immensely anxious regarding how your Servant will fare against the enemy’s attack, but you need to act immediately before finding out.

Your approach will be to:

> Attack Archer of Black again. Don’t give him time to get distance from you.
> Change opponents to try to surprise the enemy. Attack Messerschmidt with the hounds, trusting Sophia to shift her attack to Archer of Black.
> Something different (write-in)

Also roll a d100 to make a save against giving in to emotions (DC 60 best of 3), or don’t roll the save and see if something interesting happens.

>>6126140
>> Attack Archer of Black again. Don’t give him time to get distance from you.
Now i'm curious

>>6126140
>Attack Archer of Black again. Don’t give him time to get distance from you.
Man, fuck Clint Eastwood.

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>6126171

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>6126140

>Attack Archer of Black again. Don’t give him time to get distance from you.

Rolled 32 (1d100)

>>6126140

> Attack Archer of Black again. Don’t give him time to get distance from you

File: Anger.png (1.88 MB, 1752x975)

1.88 MB PNG

>>6126190

The Archer is the most pressing threat, you need to get him out of the fight. You rush toward him as he tries to put distance between the two of you. He holsters his pistol and unslings a lever-action rifle that he’d hidden in his poncho, aiming at the center of your chest. You try to smash your mace into the barrel of the rifle to throw its firing line off of you, but he retracts the rifle closer to his hip and fires. You’re able to swing your mace back and deflect the bullet away from you, but he angles the barrel down and fires a swift followup shot to your shin that you couldn’t avoid.

A sharp pain in your right leg prompts you to move as much of your weight off of it as possible. You don’t look down, you’d rather not be distracted by the sight of it in addition to the pain. Damn, it hurts. You successfully deflect a third bullet that he fired toward your gut, and you leap toward him with your good leg to try to close in and strike him down with a downward strike to his head. He sidesteps your swing, but rather than aiming his rifle at you again he darts further to the side and faces the boar, which is charging back in at him.

While he avoids serious damage by turning his body away from its charge, the threat that it presents causes him to shift his attention away from you, firing round after round into the beast’s hide, and then he fires a few times at the summoned hounds that were attacking Messerschmidt.

“Thanks!” Eugene says to the Archer, before telling Sophia, “I’ll enjoy exhausting your feisty spirit before breaking you, angel.”

Having a few cuts and stab wounds from their exchanges, Sophia defiantly bites back, “Only thing breaking right now is your stupid, smug face!”

Her wings suddenly start flashing blinding light in rapid bursts. It blinds your normal vision, but this presents an opportunity that you can’t let slip. You close your eyes and try to focus only on perceiving magical energy. You feel your own, permeating your body, but you faintly detect the outline of Archer of Black’s body as well. It’s not as good as seeing him, but combined with your memory of his position before Sophia’s light-flares it should give you enough information to land a hit.

Or so you’d think, but he’s consistently minimized the damage he’s taken from every one of your attacks, and even if he himself was flash-blinded he’ll find a way to dodge your next attack if you don’t try something he wouldn’t anticipate. An idea coming to mind, you leap forward again off your good leg and move into closer range than is ideal to attack again with the mace. As he sidesteps your overextended mace-swing, you draw a gladius from your belt with your off-hand, reinforce it with some of your magical energy, and cut toward his upper arm with one fluid motion. Having moved closer than your mace’s range, the gladius is able to connect with its target even as your opponent hops back.

“Hnh. Not bad, White.” The Archer concedes as blood drips off the cut. He then shocks you by dematerializing his body into spirit-form. Wait a second, how are you supposed to attack him?! You don’t know the types of magic that can damage Servants in their spirit-forms!

“What’s wrong, Eastwood?! Bite off more than you can chew?!” You spit in frustration as you perceive Archer of Black leaving by going through the walls of the tunnel, courtesy of his spirit-form. You have no way to chase him down!

“Taking off the instant he fulfills the minimum conditions of our agreement?” Eugene laughs as he fends off Sophia’s attacks, only a little worse for wear after the flashes of light from her wings, “And here I thought we had a good rapport!”

“Guess he couldn’t stand you either.” Sophia responds scornfully, before glancing back to you, “Ready to kill this scumbag, Anon?”

“Yeah, sure.” Eugene interjects nonchalantly, “Your sloppy technique needs about a year of practice before it’s going to be an actual threat. And as for him, he’s been shot twice, and was stabbed, blasted by mines, and fighting another Servant before that. I’m surprised he’s even standing up at this point. But as cute as your overconfidence is, I really haven’t shown you why True Dead Apostles are feared.” His expression twisting into an unsettling and eager grin, Eugene Messerschmidt asks, “Care to find out?”

How do you respond:
> “Do your worst.” Fight Messerschmidt with Sophia immediately.
> “Let’s say the answer’s no, what happens now?”
>> Sub-option 1: Move back and find out what happened to your Servant, you haven’t seen her since Archer of Black fired his Noble Phantasm at her.
>> Sub-option 2: Try to figure out more about the wings that Sophia has.
> Something different (write-in)

The sub-options are for “Let’s say the answer’s no, what happens now?”, you can do one of those while talking/stalling.

>>6127860
>> “Let’s say the answer’s no, what happens now?”
>> Sub-option 2: Try to figure out more about the wings that Sophia has.
turn the tables with a well timed powerup

>>6127860
>“Let’s say the answer’s no, what happens now?”
>>Sub-option 2: Try to figure out more about the wings that Sophia has.

>>6127860
> “Do your worst.” Fight Messerschmidt with Sophia immediately.

> Something different (write-in)
Mana Sight and see if this guy has some pressure points, direct Sophia to attack him at those points. Though idk if that works on an Apostle lol.

-- Mana Sight: Anon can visualize ambient mana by applying this spell to his eyes.
This ability can also allow Anon to see the pressure-points of nearby people or creatures if he focuses his gaze on them.

>>6127871
>>6128002
This one has it

>>6128167
You make a fair observation, but for now Anon will focus more on Sophia's wings. A Dead Apostle's pressure points would be a bit different from a human's, that's for sure.

Messerschmidt does have a point in that you’d gone through quite a bit leading up to this. You’re still keeping your weight off the leg that was shot, and try your best to channel your magical energy into mending the most vital blood-vessels that have been damaged so far. You haven’t had dedicated practice in healing magic, so the benefit is only marginal; but better than nothing.

You decide to try to buy a bit of time, so before Sophia can rush back in you reply, “Let’s say the answer’s no, what happens now?”

“Huh?” Both Eugene and Sophia respond in surprise. You begin observing Sophia’s wings by focusing your Mana Sight on them. You could already tell that they were composed of True Ether, but perhaps a closer analysis of their structure can lead you to useful insights.

“Who’s to say I haven’t had enough excitement lately and could use a break?” You explain, studying the circulation of magical energy in Sophia’s wings. You can faintly see a main current of magical energy flowing from her back along the upper edges of her wings, and then a multitude of thin strands spreading across the feathers before circulating back with some of the energy dispersing and True Ether radiating off of her body. It seems that this isn’t a transformation that can be held indefinitely, at least not in the way she uses it. But since she showed up with her body somehow saturated with True Ether, she may not notice until she runs out of energy.

“Oh. Did I back myself into a corner here?” Eugene replies, “I asked rhetorically for a fight, but you decided to sit it out rather than go with the flow.” With a grumble, he continues, “I COULD just attack you anyway, but that would be lacking in elegance.”

“This is seriously some kind of moral quandary for you?” Sophia asks flatly. Having studied her, your hypothesis is that if you concentrate enough True Ether in your back and mimic her circulation of magical energy, there’s a good chance that you could manifest the same type of wings, if the feeling of anticipation in your upper back is any indication. Noticing that Sophia’s been radiating a fair bit of True Ether since she arrived, there’s now a rather significant concentration in the air here.

“It’s just not my style to get my hands dirty massacring enemies that lost the will to fight, I leave that to my underlings.” Eugene explains, shrugging, “I guess I got my hopes too high, only the Servants are going to be a challenge after all.”

“I’m not giving up just because you cut me a few times.” Sophia replies in irritation, pointing her spear toward Eugene again. Now that you have a moment to carefully look at it, it’s awfully similar in appearance to the one Perseus used. “If you’re hoping someone’ll kill you, you won’t be disappointed!”

“I’m not throwing the fight just so you can feel good about yourself, my dear.” Eugene yawns, “For all your ignorant bluster, I know how to deal with you.” Raising his sword, he adds, “I may as well thrash you within an inch of your life, shatter your pride into a thousand pieces, and leave you whimpering in fear.”

“You certainly have an active imagination, Messerschmidt.” You interject, shuffling forward and beginning to draw the magical energy around you to yourself with your breath.

“What’s a man to do but bring the delights of his imagination into reality?” The Dead Apostle responds as he flourishes his sword.

“Quit waxing poetic, you Dead Apostles are a clique of hedonistic parasites, and your fantasies no more than mindless carnage and rape under a mask of melodramatic play-acting.” You answer as you tire of Messerschmidt’s blathering, “I will shatter you and your delusions!”

You then:

> Circulate the True Ether in your body to try to form wings like Sophia’s (also roll 1d100 best of three)
> Focus everything on identifying Messerschimdt’s pressure points with your Mana Sight, and work with Sophia to strike him down
> Something different (write-in)

By the way, I've been considering adding a simplistic mechanic to track health and magical energy that could be implemented after the next equivalent of a "long rest". It'd kind of work like this:

Start of fight after a long rest: HP: 100% MP: 100%
> You take a little damage and cast some spells in the course of an update
Next 'round': HP: 95% MP: 95%

Does that sound ok? I feel like it would clarify your capabilities more, both for me as I write and for players as you decide what options to pursue in combat.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>6128928
>>> Circulate the True Ether in your body to try to form wings like Sophia’s (also roll 1d100 best of three)
Lessgo
>Does that sound ok?
sure, that helps

Rolled 95 (1d100)

>>6128928
> Focus everything on identifying Messerschimdt’s pressure points with your Mana Sight, and work with Sophia to strike him down

I suppose learning how to do it would be pretty handy, I wouldnt mind the wings either and rolling is fun. Though I think this way we avoid getting roughed up.

>>6128928
Also yeah thats fine. Also damn that was a good roll

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>6128928
>Circulate the True Ether in your body to try to form wings like Sophia’s (also roll 1d100 best of three)

>Does that sound ok?
Having hard numbers to work with is always good.

Cool, after the next "long rest" equivalent I'll try implementing a health/energy system.

> Circulate the True Ether in your body to try to form wings like Sophia’s
has the majority vote, though it's a little funny that the highest roll came from >>6128995 who didn't actually vote for it. The 95 will be used, of course.

The "Mystery box" is finally cracking open

>>6129422
our mad science experiment has been paying hella dividends. Sophia is the GOAT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_TEgBHyqY4

Taking a deep breath, you draw in much of the True Ether in the air and channel it toward your upper back. Visualizing what you’re trying do quickly gives way to unconscious impulses taking you the rest of the way. The discomfort from your wounds fading from your mind, you rip your tattered shirt off as a pair of Etheric wings burst out of your back in another bright flash. You can move the wings as naturally as your arms, it’s like a reversal of what you think is called the “phantom limb” phenomenon, where instead of having a feeling of limbs that you’ve lost, you’re receiving an immense amount of sensory feedback and muscle memory from appendages that you’ve just gained, but are second-nature for you to use.

[ Character sheet updated: https://pastebin.com/xz3aMkzP ]

You feel your most grievous wounds have started stabilizing to prevent further blood-loss, the pain that was permeating your body numbs, your limbs react more quickly as you try to move them, and your mind focuses. You also find a new intuition surfacing in your mind, and can recognize an Evil in the Dead Apostle that you feel a desire to purge. Renewing your own Reinforcement spell as well, you plant your good leg on the ground and prepare to give your new wings a spin.

“I knew you had it in you.” Sophia responded with a smile.

“Fascinating. Could you really be some kind of incarnated angels?” Eugene remarked, “Perhaps vivisection will clear up what manner of beings the two of you are. I’m excited to find out!”

You and Messerschmidt rush toward each other. He avoids directly clashing his sword against your mace, trying to quickly shift range with his footwork and use feints that don’t strongly commit his blade to get past your guard. From your limited exchanges, you can tell he’s a tougher and more agile than you, while you have an edge in strength. More consequently, you have an ally helping you. Sophia’s spear-thrusts, even if technically amateurish, become far more dangerous when your enemy’s attention is split between them and the strikes of your mace, and he can’t concentrate on cutting down either of you when the other steps in to assist when he gains an advantage.

For some time, you and Sophia spend most of your effort repositioning to try to flank Messerschmidt, while he avoid getting himself surrounded or cornered. A few glancing blows are traded between the three of you, and you find that the Dead Apostle has some kind of viscous, watery film covering his body that softens the impact of your strikes. The first decisive hit comes from a backswing of your mace caving in your enemy’s chest and sending him flying back.

“You’re not half bad, fighting together.” Eugene admits as he lands and looks down at the sizeable dent in his breastplate.

“We’re not here to trade friendly quips.” You reply as you fly forward and attack him with Sophia again.

“Fine, don’t lighten up.” He grumbles as he starts running toward the collapsed end of the tunnel. You suddenly remember that’s where you last saw both Avenger and Aka no Assassin. You have to catch up with him! “I wonder what shape your Servant’s in after taking the gunslinger’s Noble Phantasm!” Messerschmidt laughs as he runs past the still-standing wall of raised earth that blocked some of Archer of Black’s bullets. Right behind him, you cleave into an upper corner of it and launch the debris at him to prevent him from attacking your Servant.

Eugene holds up his free hand to block, but his eyes widen as he swings his sword in front of himself as a beam of concentrated magical energy fires at him from the ground. Looking over the barrier briefly, you spot Avenger grimacing in pain and clutching at a large, bleeding hole in her chest with one hand, but defiantly aiming her staff with the other. Her heart wasn’t pierced since the wound was on the opposite side of her chest, but it was still clearly devastating. You have little doubt that the bullet would have been lethal if Archer of Black didn’t have to fire blind and ricochet it around a corner; thank goodness he doesn’t have some kind of clairvoyance ability.

Looking at Eugene, he’s somehow unharmed by Avenger’s attack, which scorched the wall behind him in two places. Could sword have cut the energy-beam in half? Aka no Assassin had also managed to rise to her feet, and ran to the Dead Apostle’s side still worse for wear from her battle against you earlier.

“Fighting-retreat, blood countess?” Messerschmidt asks her succinctly.

“Fine by me.” She replies.

“You’re not going anywhere.” You respond. After all the trouble they put you through, they’re not getting out without a fight.

It’s three-on-two. Avenger is immobile but looks like she can cast a spell or two. You and Sophia both are holding steady, you think you can maintain your transformation a while longer.

> You’ll tell everyone to focus on the blood countess, making sure that you eliminate a Servant takes priority
> You’ll tell everyone to focus on Messerschmidt, he’s clearly a Master so eliminating him could also cut off an enemy Servant
> Avenger can focus her spells against one enemy (pick one), while you and Sophia attack the other
> Attack one enemy with Avenger’s support (pick one), leave the other to Sophia
> Tell Avenger to focus on blocking their retreat
>> You’ll attack Messerschmidt while Sophia attacks the blood countess
>> You’ll attack the blood countess while Sophia attacks Messerschmidt
> A different strategy (write-in)

As you can see there are variations/sub-options in some of these choices.

>>6130707
>> You’ll tell everyone to focus on Messerschmidt, he’s clearly a Master so eliminating him could also cut off an enemy Servant
the assassin is kinda unimpressive

>>6130707
>Tell Avenger and Sopha to focus on Messerschmidt, you'll deal with the Assassin

>>6130720
While Assassin was pretty unimpressive against us, she has an anti-woman weapon and she had a better track record against Avenger throughout their fight.

>>6130834
>The Anti Women Noble Phantasm
The Chudjak Regalia?!

>Tell Avenger and Sopha to focus on Messerschmidt, you'll deal with the Assassin

File: Girl-talk.png (597 KB, 2048x2048)

597 KB PNG

>>6130834
>>6130938
A bit of split-focus, let's see how things go.

For now, here's an interlude that I've been sitting on for a while.

Girl-talk

Outdoor dining at a cafe in the Sumida ward

Leaning back in her chair, Nijou Kaguya said, “Now that we’re almost finished with lunch we can move on the Senso-Ji temple next. There should a pretty strong… Spirit Font was it, Kokutou-san?”

“Yes.” Kokutou Mizuri replied, sipping her iced tea before continuing, “It’s one of the strongest ones in the city, so visiting it should make our coins able to pump a lot more magical energy to our Servants.”

“Your knowledge of the city’s leylines is impressive, Master. Is it a specialty of yours?” Roland asked, as earlier that day the two girls and their Saber-class Servants had discovered several Spirit Fonts with Mizuri’s guidance, augmenting the effectiveness of the coins that Mizuri and Kaguya found on themselves when they became Masters in the Holy Grail War.

“You could say that.” Mizuri puffed with pride, explaining, “The leylines here are about the same as they are in the real Tokyo. I’ve done surveys of them in the past, so I’m familiar with the area.”

“Part of a ‘magical internship’?” Kaguya asked jokingly.

“Yeah, but I’ll get in trouble if I go into much detail, sorry.” Mizuri answered apologetically. She knew she’d need to share some of her knowledge of how magecraft works to lend credibility to the advice she gave her ally, but it still nagged at her to reveal more to Kaguya, who had been an ordinary, albeit rich and well-educated, girl before the Akeldama Holy Grail War began. Preserving secrecy was of paramount importance to mages, and it shocked Mizuri to this day that whoever organized this Holy Grail War indiscriminately pulled people with no knowledge of the magical world into it.

“Fine, keep your secrets.” Kaguya replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. “It astonishes me that in spite of my upbringing, a new side of the world could surface out of nowhere like this. It’s frustrating to be caught unprepared and out of the loop.”

“I think just about everyone that was brought here was unprepared and out of the loop.” Mizuri gently retorts, mollifying Kaguya a little before shifting the subject, “Like Yatsu-kun said, he met three other guys who didn’t know what was going on either, and Roland’s first Master was in the same boat.”

“I wonder if we’ll run into them.” Kaguya thought aloud, “I take it you’ll be ready to wipe their Servants out when we meet them?”

“Just like that?” Mizuri asked, a bit surprised at her ally’s intention to resort to violence immediately.

File: Map.png (230 KB, 1448x1135)

230 KB PNG

“Our Servants were already strong to begin with, and they get stronger with each Spirit Font we find.” Kaguya replies, “The two of us are on the same page with what we want to use the Holy Grail for, but opening our alliance to too many people is going to make a mess of things. We should be ready to thin the herd, unless they give us a good enough reason to work with them. But we’ll still negotiate from a position of strength and milk them for everything they’re worth.”

“Hahaha.” Mizuri softly laughed as she was reminded of Kaguya’s ruthlessness, “Your plan makes enough sense, so I’ll be your partner in crime Nijou-san.”

“No one has legal jurisdiction here, so technically nothing we do is a crime.” Kaguya laughed, “Or do you want to check the prices for our lunch and leave money to compensate the abandoned shop for our looting?”

“Uh-oh, my wallet’s empty! I have to turn myself in!” Mizuri joked back, “Please bail me out Nijou-san!”

“I might, if you become my lackey like how Yatsu-kun did.” Kaguya replied, “If you don’t want to do it now the offer will still be open after you’re behind bars.”

“You would drive that kind of a bargain.” Mizuri answered, slightly disappointed. Sipping the remainder of her tea, she then stood up and rebutted, “I’ll just commit to my life of crime and have my Servant bust me out of jail!”

“In that case, let us be off!” Roland said before darting behind the wheel of the sportscar that he’d been driving the four of them around in that day, “Your chariot awaits, Master.”

Shortly afterward, they crossed the Sumida river and headed for the Senso-Ji temple. As they arrived, they found that it was far from peaceful there.

“You two target Messerschmidt!” You say as you move back, assisted by your etheric wings, to block the enemy’s escape route out of the tunnel. Sophia moves in tandem with you, intercepting Eugene with a thrust of her spear while you intercept Aka no Assassin with a strike from your mace.

“How tiresome.” The Assassin hisses as she stumbles back to avoid your strike and materializes a staff in her hand. While she’s been weakened by her wounds, she’s recovered enough of her agility to prove a difficult target. You focus on holding your ground and preventing her from escaping, hoping to find an opening to land a decisive blow.

“Flattered as I am by the female attention, I have other matters to attend to!” Messerschmidt remarks as he tries to parry Sophia’s strikes and either dodge or cut Avenger’s magical attacks with his sword, which you observe disrupts spells when it contacts them. Even so, he isn’t able to flawlessly keep up with attacks from both his front and back, and a cut across his cheek from Sophia’s spear causes him to come to a startled realization when the wound didn’t heal.

“Why so shocked Eugene?” Sophia mocked, “You’ll wear the grizzled look well, for however long it takes me to kill you!”

As you glance at the Dead Apostle from your peripheral vision, you can see him surging his magical energy in an intricate pattern all across his body. Destroying one of Avenger’s magical energy-beams with his sword, he recites “Crushed beneath the Waters, drown in the Ocean of Betrayal”.

In an instant, a pulse of magical energy surges out from Messerschmidt, filling the immediate vicinity before throwing your perception out of whack. The air around you becomes dark and opaque, and heavily presses against you from all directions. Your breath is crushed out of your lungs by the pressure, and you can barely see the silhouette of the Assassin that you’ve been fighting. However, Messerschmidt’s ability seems to have affected her as well, you see her stumble forward, apparently dazed. This is your chance!

Focusing only on the enemy before you in spite of your breathless state, you step forward and channel all of your strength into an upward-diagonal strike of your mace that crushes her ribs into her chest and sends her flying back to the pile of caved-in rubble formed by the explosions of the mines that sealed that end of the tunnel. Bracing your free hand on your knee to stop yourself from falling forward, you turn back to where you last saw Messerschmidt. As you do, the crushing pressure and darkness that infected the air begins to fade.

You see that Avenger managed to clamber up, leaning against the earthen barrier she’d drawn up earlier, but hyperventilating and barely able to point her staff. Your heart sinks as you contemplate how hard she’s been pushing herself, and sinks a bit further when you see Sophia. Lying on her stomach, one of her wings hewn off halfway to the base and her weapon fizzling out of its materialized form.

“He got me…” She murmurs, looking at you apologetically as the rest of her wings fizzle out as well, “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t... a wasted effort.” Avenger replies as she splashes a potion onto her chest-wound. You wordlessly move over and help her seat herself. Looking at you, she continues, “I hit the Assassin with a curse... that should stop her Master from using a Command Spell to withdraw her.”

“Go to the devil….” Aka no Assassin wheezes, lying immobile on her back and coughing blood before passing out.

You help Sophia shakily rise to her feet as well, who says, “We should act quickly, yeah? I’m wondering if I should eat her Spirit Core.”

“What?” Avenger asks with wide eyes; it took you a few moments to process when Sophia said, but you’re similarly puzzled. Sun Wukong said something about that when you fought him, but you never really nailed down all of the details of what happened.

“I’m pretty sure it would make me stronger, but it also could… taint me?” Sophia replied with uncertainty in her voice.

“Did you do that to Perseus?” You ask, beginning to grow suspicious, “That spear you had looked like the one he used.”

“I- I can explain!” She stammers defensively, “And let me be the one who explains it to Anne later, please!”

“If you think you’ll gain power, then do it.” Avenger responds, cutting straight to the immediate issue, “Use that power to aid us in future battles. You proved yourself today.”

“Th-thanks Avenger.” Sophia replies, but hesitantly mutters, “I’m not sure….”

How do you respond:

> “I agree with Avenger, we’ll need your power. If it’s there for the taking, seize it.”
> “Do what you feel is right. Be decisive and stand by your choice.”
> “If you truly believe you’ll be tainted, let me swiftly end this. You can find power within yourself.”
> “You’ve made me wonder what would happen if I consumed a Servant’s Spirit Core. Actually, I’ll stop wondering and try it myself.”
> Something else (write-in)

>>6133182
>> “Do what you feel is right. Be decisive and stand by your choice.”
Acquire +1 Self-Determination

>>6133182
>“Do what you feel is right. Be decisive and stand by your choice.”
On the one hand MORE POWER. On the other, I don't think it should be too much of a problem since Assassin doesn't seem to have any skills that alter her mind.

>>6133182
>> “You’ve made me wonder what would happen if I consumed a Servant’s Spirit Core. Actually, I’ll stop wondering and try it myself.”
Mystery Box?

>>6133222
>>6133246
This will be it, now I need to decide how things develop.

“Do what you feel is right. Be decisive and stand by your choice.” You say, not trying to push Sophia in one direction or the other. She understands what happens if she eats a Servant’s Spirit Core better than you; you are curious of what were to happen to you if you did the same, but this isn’t the time to experiment on that curiosity.

“That’s fair.” Sophia says at length. Leaving your side and walking over toward the downed Assassin, she continues. “I’ll be the only one responsible for my decision and its consequences.”

You walk back to your Servant to examine her injuries, but something feels off when you look at her. It’s the same feeling you got when you looked at Aka no Assassin and Eugene Messerschmidt. You could recognize that your Servant’s very being included an evil presence that you felt an instinctive desire to purge. It’s part of how the Etheric wings that you manifested influence your perceptions. You clench your fist painfully to distract you from this uncomfortable fact. Regarding her wounds, she appears to have stabilized them, but entering intense combat again looks inadvisable to say the least. You ask her, “What do you make of Sophia’s ability?”

“Currently I can only theorize about the Spirit Core business.” She answers, “If she goes through with it now, I’ll carefully analyze what happens. I also have some questions for her about the Etheric wings.”

You look back at Sophia, who’s been silently looking down at the enemy Servant for the past few moments. You suppose she’s been collecting herself to determine her course of action.

“I haven’t been in this world long.” Sophia says aloud, “But there are things that I’ve begun to form sentimental attachment to. Things that I treasure. I don’t understand the purpose of this sentimentality, if there even is one. But I know that it is real to me, and that I don’t betray myself by holding it dear.”

Kneeling down and extending claws from her fingertips, she continues, “And in this world, precious things can easily be stolen or destroyed by those with power. The circumstances of my ‘birth’ prove that all too well. So, in order to keep what I treasure, I need… more power!”

In a sequence of swift motions, Sophia uses her claws to cleave open the Assassin’s chest, tear out the Servant’s heart, stuff it into her mouth and gulp it down her throat. Standing up with a jolt, Sophia braces herself against the tunnel’s wall as her body begins to shake with spasms.

Conjuring an intricately-patterned magic circle in the air that shifts its shape, orientation, and color, Avenger quickly reports, “That Servant’s Spirit Core is infusing into her body, and transforming it. Her Magical Energy density and circulation rate have both increased significantly, and are being reconfigured. I believe it’s to permanently assimilate a portion of the Assassin’s power and ability. Most interesting.”

Surprising you, in brief flashes you can see in Sophia the same kind of intuitive data that you get when you look at a Servant, due to the Master-Servant contract that you have with Avenger. Her power is fluctuating, but having an overall upward trend. Seeing that your vampire companion hasn’t regained control of her body, you respond, “She’s encountering resistance. Is she going to be alright? Could the Assassin’s Spirit Core be fighting back against her and trying to reassert itself, through her?”

“I don’t think so, but she should maintain her sense of self even if it is.” Avenger replies, “Though if she starts a rampage, I’d ask you use that new power of yours to hold her down while I use my Noble Phantasm to make her more compliant.”

Baleful Pharmakeia, that Noble Phantasm could be used to bend Sophia’s mind to your will; you’d rather not use that as anything but a desperate last resort. You take no pleasure in violating the will of others, and knowing Sophia she may not forgive you if you tried it on her.

“I’m going to try something different.” You say as you walk over to the shaking vampire. After putting your weapons away, you catch your companion from behind by wrapping her in your arms and try to hold her still. Startled, she tries to thrash free and nearly succeeds, but you have the advantage in your position and hold firm. You then calmly tell her. “Sophia. This power is something that you’ve chosen to seize. You control this power. It does not control you.”

Her struggling slowly decreases in intensity, and eventually she fully relaxes with a relieved sigh. “I said this was my responsibility. You didn’t need to step in… but I appreciate that you did. Thank you, Anon.”

Releasing her, you ask, “How do you feel?”

Turning around to face you, she looks over your body carefully before locking eyes with you and answering, “I feel… different. Stronger.” Grabbing your hand and pulling it close to her lips, she maintains unbroken eye-contact as she licks the blood off of a small cut you’d gotten on the back of your hand during the previous battles. She then gently sucks remaining blood off from around the cut before releasing your hand with a kiss and concludes, “More alive.”

You’re… not sure how to process what just happened. You glance down at your hand. The cut had closed from your maintaining the Angelic Transformation, and now it’s been licked clean by Sophia’s unexpectedly-bold gesture, which left a small, lingering sensation that you don’t really understand. Is this a feeling of physical intimacy, unorthodox as the stimulus was? Now that you think about it, you also had a warm feeling in your chest after restraining her earlier. From the look on Sophia’s face, she appears to be amused at your confusion.

What are you going to do now?

> Ask Sophia about what she’s been up to since you last saw her, she wanted to have a chance to explain what happened between her, Perseus, and Sun Wukong
>> Optional: tell Sophia that she can lick your other wounds clean if she wants to
> Confer with Avenger about where you ought to go next, now that the enemy has retreated and a Servant has been eliminated
> Fumble through your pocket and use the telepathy-crystal linked to Truvietianne and check on how she’s doing back with Koko and Suzaku
> Something different (write-in)

>>6135275
>> Ask Sophia about what she’s been up to since you last saw her, she wanted to have a chance to explain what happened between her, Perseus, and Sun Wukong
whew. I don't know about that one, chief

>>6135275
>Ask Sophia about what she’s been up to since you last saw her, she wanted to have a chance to explain what happened between her, Perseus, and Sun Wukong
Between you and me, I favored Truvi since I felt there was some early chemistry between her and Anon.

>>6135275

> Ask Sophia about what she’s been up to since you last saw her, she wanted to have a chance to explain what happened between her, Perseus, and Sun Wukong
>> Optional: tell Sophia that she can lick your other wounds clean if she wants to

Going to test something real quick that could simplify the recap if it works:

>>5676055
>>5676057
>>5676058
>>5680355
>>5680359
>>5680362
>>5680364
>>5680366

Also Sophia has a stat-sheet now if you wanted to check it out.
Link to stat-sheet pastebin directory in the OP

>>6135913
Ah neat so she got a second regeneration which needs magic and blood, and a neat looking noble phantasm? She could really use that blood and magic.

***I wanted to directly repost the actual updates, but unfortunately if you want more detail than broad-stroke summaries you’d need to skim the thread archives starting at thread 8. It’s safe to assume that Sophia accurately reports everything that she experienced or knew about while she was gone.***

“Well… glad to hear you’re feeling better.” You say in a measured tone, and decide to deactivate the Angelic Transformation now that it appears the situation has stabilized. With a deep breath you draw back the high-purity Magical Energy that circulates in the Etheric wings and cut off the outgoing supply. The wings themselves reflexively fold onto your back before dematerializing.

“That’s all I get? Tough customer.” Sophia pouts briefly, “By the way let me complain real quick: that Assassin was a piece of… ‘work’. Yes let’s go with ‘work’.”

“You don’t have to tell me.” Avenger responds hoarsely, rubbing her throat gently from a seated position on the ground.

“Did you learn something about her when you ate her Spirit Core?” You ask, and then recall, “You also said you wanted to give an explanation of what happened between you, Perseus, and Sun Wukong.”

Sitting down on a block of rubble, Sophia replies, “Looks like the ceiling isn’t about to cave in now, so have a seat and get comfortable. This could take a while to explain.”

She begins by telling you that after she eat Aka no Assassin’s Spirit Core, her mind got pulled into a sort of waking-dream where the Assassin tried to torture her in a castle’s dungeon and wrest control of her body in a desperate bid to cheat death. Your calming words helped Sophia focus and conquer the phantom-remnant of the enemy Servant, and in the process she learned the Servant’s True Name: The Blood-Countess Elizabeth Bathory, using the persona of the Vampire ‘Carmilla’.

“I don’t have encyclopedic knowledge of random historical figures and book-characters, but that’s what she said.” Your vampire companion reports.

“Instead you have encyclopedic knowledge of film-actors.” Avenger retorts, but amends her statement after seeing Sophia begin to glare at her, “I’m not mocking you, you recognized a Servant with it after all.”

“Almost anyone could recognize Clint Eastwood.” Sophia quietly grumbles, before going back to what happened with Perseus and Sun Wukong. Her story matches with what Truvietianne told you for the events leading up to when the clone of Sun Wukong knocked her unconscious, and you further hear that Sophia ate Perseus’ Spirit Core with his assent after he’d been fatally wounded by Wukong. You’d like to believe that she’s being honest with you and wasn’t simply taking advantage of the Lancer’s moment of weakness; her uncomfortable admission that she nearly did so shows that the idea was on her mind. Afterward, she fell into a trance not unlike the one you witnessed a moment ago, but fought a phantom of a monster called “Gorgon” seemingly with the assistance of a phantom remnant of Perseus before her body’s condition stabilized. The copy of Sun Wukong was still tough enough to manhandle her, but she eventually gained the upper hand with the help of a fortuitous lightning-strike.

“I’m pretty sure you have Ryuuta’s Caster to thank for that one.” You remark, “He’s careful about how he fights, hasn’t really revealed his hand so far.”

“Huh, neat.” Sophia replies, “I’ll try to do something nice next time I see him. I wonder when that will be... I’m kind of on Rusalka’s leash right now, not that I like it.”

She then explained she learned that Rusalka was one of three Dead Apostles that all were summoned to the world of Akeldama, the other two being Eugene Messerschmidt and Jester Karture, the last of which you hadn’t yet the displeasure of encountering. After briefly testing Sophia’s abilities, Rusalka noted that she either lacked the characteristic set of Dead Apostle Mystic Eyes or they were for some reason dormant. After sundown yesterday she went with Rusalka’s group to skirmish against a faction of Servants that you haven’t encountered yet. A Saber-class Servant and Rusalka’s wights were eliminated during that battle, and Sophia gave you descriptions of three other Servants that trickled in during the course of the battle: a different Saber in a business suit who used two katana and unpredictable swordplay, a Caster who was ‘more of a musician than a wizard’ in her words, and a helmeted Archer who fought from horseback and had a bone to pick with Diomedes.

“I figured that if I was stuck with them I may as well try to kill a Servant, maybe save you guys the trouble later.” Sophia explains, “The only Servant who died was that one Saber, and that was because of Rusalka’s Berserker and this huge other Berserker that worked for a guy called Mathers who teamed up with Rusalka. I think she use some kind of poison gas delivered by an artillery shell that she threw at the Saber to throw him off his game and get an opening for herself and the other Berserker to end the fight.”

“Do you know where this skirmish took place?” You ask. You hadn’t met the surviving Saber or Caster, they and their Masters might be interested in joining you against the overseer, and you wouldn’t need to smooth over any tension from being enemies in the past.

“Uhh, I don’t have the best sense of direction.” Sophia admitted, before rubbing her temples and thinking aloud, “I know they said it was in the western part of the city, and there was this region-name thing. Started with an ‘N’ I think.”

You retrieve the city map that you’d folded and put in a pocket, and see that “Nerima” or “Nakano” wards may be what Sophia was thinking of. Perhaps you could check those areas out later.

You then hear that Rusalka and Diomedes had set up a wooden statue of Athena that radiated a large concentration of the high-purity Magical Energy that can form the True Ether, and they let Sophia absorb enough of that energy to eventually manifest an Etheric replica of Perseus’ spear Harpe and the Etheric wings that you instinctively copied after seeing her use them.

“That statue must be the Palladion.” Avenger remarks with a grimace, “I don’t know the exact details, but it’ll make whatever base Diomedes and Athena are using extremely difficult to attack.”

“What can you tell us about what the Palladion does?” You ask.

“It was a holy image of Athena that guarded the city of Troy, in a sense one of the oldest and most powerful ‘icons’ that grant the owner divine protection. Despite their advantage on the open field, the Greeks couldn’t prevail against the city’s defenses until they first sent two heroes in to steal it. Diomedes was one of those heroes.” Avenger explains.

“So it seems that when we find them, a direct assault on Rusalka’s base probably won’t be very effective.” You consider, “Yet the Palladion has a history of being stolen, perhaps we could use that to our advantage.”

“Oho, that’s an ambitious idea.” Your Servant replies, interest audible in her voice, “We’d need to be careful to avoid committing a sacrilege and getting hit by a curse from Athena, but I could get quite a bit of use out of such a powerful tool.”

“Well, that’s about it.” Sophia concludes, “Rusalka also has this girl named Miko who has special eyes that can see spirits and auras. She’s kind of like a long-range radar for things like Servants that have a lot of Magical Energy, so I should warn that it might be difficult to sneak up on them.”

“They don’t lock themselves away in their base all the time though.” You observe, “If we could figure out when it wouldn’t be heavily guarded, the possibility is there.”

File: self_propelled_artillery.png (1.89 MB, 1370x713)

1.89 MB PNG

You discussion is interrupted by a booming sound that you recognize as the self-propelled artillery from earlier. Now that you think about it, they’d ceased fire shortly after you engaged Aka no Assassin; is Messerschmidt challenging you to take to the field again? You don’t care to admit it, but the fights in this tunnel have worn you and your Servant down. Though your wounds are stabilized, you’re not sure how much longer your Magical Energy supply will last if you don’t get food and rest. Perhaps Avenger could make a stimulant potion to get you recharged long enough to destroy the artillery and quickly disengage.

“They’re the ones targeting Anne and the others to flush you out?” Sophia asks, which you affirm with a nod, “Well, I’m ready to kill them when you are.”

“If the dead weight being in danger is a continued problem, simply move them. I can manage that with my teleportation ability easily enough.” Avenger argues, “The Caster’s territory is set to expire soon, we may as well relocate ourselves and contact him later if the need arises. Then the enemy will waste their time in an attack without a target.”

Next, you’ll

> Have Avenger teleport herself, you, and Sophia back to where Truvietianne, Koko, and Suzaku are and decide on a place to relocate once you’re there.
> Have Avenger make you a stimulant potion and then teleport herself, you, and Sophia to a position where you can observe the enemy artillery and prepare an attack.
> Something else (write-in)

>>6137605
>> Have Avenger teleport herself, you, and Sophia back to where Truvietianne, Koko, and Suzaku are and decide on a place to relocate once you’re there.
not taking the bait

>>6137605
> Have Avenger teleport herself, you, and Sophia back to where Truvietianne, Koko, and Suzaku are and decide on a place to relocate once you’re there.

>>6137605
>Have Avenger teleport herself, you, and Sophia back to where Truvietianne, Koko, and Suzaku are and decide on a place to relocate once you’re there.

File: Tachibana Suzaku.jpg (58 KB, 1058x720)

58 KB JPG

You can’t help but come to the conclusion that the enemy is provoking you to attack them because they have some kind of ambush or trap prepared at the site of their artillery that could turn the fight to their favor, especially since you’ve been worn down as much as you have. Avenger’s suggestion to relocate and deny the enemy a target to strike sounds more convincing to you than rushing out to fight again.

“Your plan is sound, the quip about ‘dead weight’ notwithstanding.” You tell Avenger, “We don’t need to wipe out the mobile artillery if we can relocate and they won’t even know where we are. Please teleport us back to the hotel and we can decide on a new place to go.”

“Gladly, I’ve seen enough of these tunnels for today.” Your Servant replies as she prepares to cast the teleportation spell. “I’m relieved you see reason here Master.”

“Can’t say I’m pleased we’re letting them off the hook.” Sophia grumbles, “But I get why you’re calling it quits. It’ll be nice to see Anne and Koko again, at least.”

In a flash, you find yourself back at the hotel that you were using as a base, and quickly go over to the room where Truvietianne, Koko, and Suzaku were holed up. Your Servant lets you support her as you walk, and Sophia follows behind.

As you enter the room, Truvietianne is the first to greet you, “Welcome back, are-” quickly noticing Avenger’s wounds, she reflexively raises a hand over her mouth and says with concern in her voice, “Oh dear, will you be alright?! What happened?”

Koko and Suzaku are also startled at the sight, and you explain, “The enemy set up traps and had a couple of Servants in the area. We destroyed one Servant and forced the enemy back, but decided against pushing into their next line of defense.”

“I can get you a new shirt if you want.” Suzaku offers, as you tore your old, tattered shirt off earlier. Sometime you ought to see if you can find armor, or at least clothes that can hold up in these superhuman battles. Meanwhile, Koko stares quietly. She’s probably just surprised at the state you and Avenger arrived in and doesn’t know what to say. Probably.

Poking her head into the room for the first time, Sophia surprises the others, saying, “I found out what was happening and lent a hand too. Hi everyone!”

Koko remarks, “Oh, you’re back! Je-, no, you go by Sophia now, right? How did you ditch the people who kidnapped you?”

“I mean, they had their own shit to deal with and Rusalka lost her wight minions in a battle last night, so rather than waste time imprisoning me or whatever they let me leave, assuming I’d go back before long.” Sophia replied.

“Just like that?” Suzaku asks as he leans back in his chair and sips something from a styrofoam cup before continuing, “They didn’t do magic that tracks or bugs you or something?”

You freeze up when you hear the man’s speculation. That WOULD be the logical thing to do if they had the capability. Letting Sophia leave their base to fight some of their enemies while unwittingly gathering information on others made far more sense than letting her run loose without any kind of supervision. The mood in the room takes a more somber turn as the others come to similar conclusions.

“Well, they never SAID anything like that. And I don’t remember them casting a spell on me.” Sophia nervously argues, “And they have this girl who can see Servant and Dead-Apostle auras from a long distance already, it’s not like they’d really need to….”

“I have a bad feeling about this.” Avenger says, “Didn’t you absorb a lot of Magical Energy from the Palladion? They would have an ulterior motive in letting you do that.”

“Rusalka’s been curious about what kind of power I have, I think they just wanted me to develop it.” Sophia replies with rising trepidation. “Avenger, you can run a scan on me right? We don’t need to start getting ahead of ourselves and jumping to conclusions!”

With a sigh, Avenger answers, “It’s not so simple as waving my hand to find out. Athena would know how to make something like that nearly undetectable. There are options, but they’re either too time or energy-consuming to use in our current circumstances.”

Sophia shrinks against the wall and bites her lip hard enough for it to start bleeding. Seeing her pained expression, you estimate her state of mind to be rather upset. She really put herself at risk to help you, and you don’t like seeing her racked by guilt on something that there isn’t even any proof she’s guilty of. It makes sense that Diomedes and Athena wouldn’t let her use their power without getting something concrete from it, but that’s no more than Suzaku’s speculation. However, you’d be risking information leaking to a very dangerous enemy if that speculation was on the mark, especially as you decide on where to relocate to avoid Messerschmidt’s harassing attacks.

“I… I should go.” Sophia mutters with her head down as she quickly leaves the room.

Truvietianne stands up to follow her, saying, “Sophia, wait!”

You’ll

> Follow Sophia with Truvietianne
> Follow Sophia but stop Truvietianne
> Stay here, but let Truvietianne follow Sophia
> Stay here, and stop Truvietianne from following Sophia
> Something else (write-in)

Sorry about the wait

>>6140578
>> Follow Sophia but stop Truvietianne
Its okay LSAD

>>6140578
>> Stay here, but let Truvietianne follow Sophia
don't get in the way

I'll narrow the options to
> Follow Sophia but stop Truvietianne
> Stay here, but let Truvietianne follow Sophia
in case another vote comes in.
If it doesn't I can roll to pick one of them sometime tomorrow.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

You let Truvietianne rush past you chasing after Sophia.

Koko and Suzaku slowly stand up, unsure of how to react. Koko asks, “Should we… follow after her?”

“I think the two of them could benefit from privacy, and Sophia had something that she wanted to talk with Truvietianne about.” You reply before taking a seat, “Let her go alone.”

Sitting back down, Suzaku nervously apologizes, “Hey, sorry things escalated like that. I didn’t mean to start drama.”

“Don’t apologize.” Avenger replies, “That was a helpful observation. Were it not for my fatigue and injury I ought to have noticed it myself.”

“Master, remind me of that man’s full name.” Avenger then asks you telepathically.

“Not you too.” You inadvertently reply, mildly disappointed that neither Sophia nor Avenger seem to be particularly good with remembering names. Now that you think about it, your short-term memory isn’t half bad. A shame anything before the past few days is a blank. “Tachibana Suzaku, Tachibana being his family-name.”

“Mr. Tachibana, I recall hearing that you have a wife, is that so?” Avenger asks him.

“Oh, yes, I do. Why do you ask?” Suzaku replies.

“In that case, as a token of my appreciation I’ll give you a potion later that’ll ensure you enjoy yourselves the next time the two of you have sexual relations.” She answers without hesitation or trepidation.

“Eh?” Suzaku and you both say in unison.

“EEEEEEHHHHHHHHH?!?!” Koko yells before barely catching the edge of a desk in time to stop herself from falling over backwards in her chair, “W-what was that?! Are you thinking about stuff like that all the time like it’s nothing?!”

“I’m aware it’s a generous reward. I’m feeling magnanimous at the moment.” Avenger replies, apparently not understanding the reason behind Koko’s shock.

“Well, I’ll gladly accept your, uh, gift.” Suzaku responds, “You’re not joking around right?”

“Completely serious.” Your Servant confirms.

“At any rate…” You say, changing the subject, “The reason we came back is that we decided continuing battle would be a less wise approach than using Avenger’s teleportation ability to relocate to a different area and let the enemy fire on an abandoned base.”

“Would’ve been better if you killed all the zombies, but we don’t always get everything we want.” Koko responds, “Well, should we go where Yumigawa-kun and Matsuda-kun were going? It was the Senso-Ji temple.”

“That’s the point of consideration.” You reply, “As a group we aren’t in condition to charge into battle with reckless abandon, so it’d be preferable to avoid combat and go somewhere unlikely to have enemies nearby. Alternatively, if we quickly reunite with the others at the temple there’d be strength in numbers, but the area where they were heading could have a fairly high chance of making contact with the enemy.”

“Could you get the city-map back out?” Suzaku asks, “If we figured out all of the areas near people who’d want to attack us, we could pick a spot far from those enemies, maybe around the edges of the city?”

“And if there’s someone we haven’t met before nearby, we could talk things out if they aren’t undead monsters.” Koko adds.

After looking over the map, it seems that the south and central areas are where most of the enemies you’ve encountered so far are located. From Sophia’s report, it appears a group of Servants that you haven’t personally encountered yet and are at odds with Rusalka’s group are somewhere in the west. You don’t recall anything going on in the north aside from Rider of Red and his enigmatic Master Abraxas mentioning encountering an enemy up there, and you haven’t had any news of activity in the eastern part of the city.

You’ll decide to go:

> To the west
> To the north
> To the east
> To the Senso-Ji Temple
> Somewhere else (write-in)

>>6142917
>> To the west
enemy of my enemy yaddayadda

>>6142917
>> To the west

After deliberation, you decide to go to the west, since you don’t expect to immediately run into anyone there that has a grudge against you based on your experience and Sophia’s report of who she saw there, and you may be able to work out an arrangement with the faction there that had been antagonized by Rusalka’s group.

“Since we don’t know how aggressive the faction there is, we ought to pick a teleport-location that’s far enough that they wouldn’t immediately respond to our presence.” You conclude, as they may mobilize and attack you if they think you’re attempting to ambush them.

“But you do want to have the option of talking to them.” Koko said, “A spot a bit outside the borders of ‘Nerima’ and Nakano’ should work well enough.”

“We should move to a Spirit Font so I can better prepare basic security measures.” Avenger advises, “Sites with religious significance usually have one.”

After consulting with the others present and doing a quick search in a computer, you find that the Jorenji Temple in the Itabashi ward looks to be a promising place to start from.

“We need to find Edelfelt-san and Sophia before we go.” Koko reminded you as you shut the computer off.

“Let’s all go have a look.” You reply, and you go out to the hotel’s main lobby to find Truvietianne turn to greet you.

“Sophia was dead-set on parting ways with us for now.” She informs you, “It’s a shame, since I could tell there was something that she wanted to discuss with me but just said ‘there isn’t time’ when I pressed her on it. Anyhow, what did I miss?”

You take a minute to bring her up to speed, and she replies, “A sensible plan, but we ought to leave a message of some sort here to say that we all left together for when Rushorou, Ryuuta, and their Servants return.”

“I’ll handle it.” Avenger says, “It’ll be simplistic so that if a third-party sees it they can’t use it to track us.”

With all arrangements made, your Servant then teleports your group to the temple. You see a bronze statue of impressive size as you appear there.

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve seen this Buddha in person yet!” Koko exclaims cheerfully, before adding with less enthusiasm, “Even if it’s a replica that the overseer made like everything else in the city, it’s just as impressive as I’d expected.”

“I’ll get to preparing a couple of Bounded Fields to secure the area.” Avenger says.

Tapping your arm, Truvietianne quietly says, “Before she left, Sophia said that you’d done something that could hint at your identity. Do you know what she meant by that?”

Not having heard her, Suzaku says to everyone, “Do you think we could find some food? It’s been a while since we last ate.”

You take a look around the area. It’s quiet, no signs of movement in your line of sight and you’re not detecting any Servants in the immediate vicinity.

File: Jorenji_Temple_Buddha.jpg (233 KB, 1000x667)

233 KB JPG

You are feeling a bit hungry yourself after the battles you’ve been through today, though you imagine you could wait a little while longer if you needed to. As you had suspected, when you activate your Mana Sight you can see that the magical energy in the air here is fairly dense, having both the normal magical energy and some of the higher-purity type that converts into the True Ether. You’d probably be able to manifest the Angelic Transformation if you took some time to make use of the ambient magical energy; maybe Truvietianne would have some idea of its significance.

You decide to:
> Go with Suzaku and anyone else who’s hungry to find food
> Advise everyone to stay in the temple for now, and take some time to show Truvietianne the Angelic Transformation
> Take some time to show Truvietianne the Angelic Transformation, but don’t pressure Suzaku and Koko to stick around if they don’t want to
> Something else (write-in)

>>6143898
>> Take some time to show Truvietianne the Angelic Transformation, but don’t pressure Suzaku and Koko to stick around if they don’t want to

>>6143898
> Take some time to show Truvietianne the Angelic Transformation, but don’t pressure Suzaku and Koko to stick around if they don’t want to

“The immediate area seems deserted.” You announce, “I wouldn’t venture far from the temple grounds, but you should be able to find something nearby.”

“You’re not planning on coming with?” Suzaku asks.

“I have some ‘magic stuff’ to work on.” You reply, and add to Truvietianne, “What Sophia was referring to earlier.”

“That’s ok, we can probably find a food-stall close by.” Koko responds, “We can make enough for everyone.”

“You’re too kind.” Truvietianne says, bowing her head slightly in a grateful gesture.

Koko and Suzaku head out together, and Avenger comments, “I’m first preparing a bounded field to detect intruders. I’ll tell you if anything suspicious occurs.”

“Thank you.” You say, pleasantly surprised that she’s taking a measure to ensure the noncombatants’ safety. Addressing Anne, you continue, “I can explain more as I get to the part of the Spirit Font where the mana concentration is the highest.”

Using your Mana Sight, it doesn’t take you long to find that the majority of the ambient mana is not actually coming from around the bronze Buddha statue, but instead from the adjacent temple structure. You lead Anne into the structure while explaining what Sophia showed you and how you replicated it while in the subway tunnel.

“Remarkable.” She responds at length, “It sounds as though Sophia was able to achieve the transformation by saturating herself with Age of Gods magical energy from the Palladion, and you drew on what she radiated after she activated it herself. Could you try to manifest it using just the modern, lower-purity magical energy? We could try the Age of God mana or incrementally-mixed concentrations of both energy-types later to see what happens.” Her excitement grows as she plans experiments to soon put into practice.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you.” You say, and begin to draw in the magical energy that the Spirit Font is emitting, mainly the lower-purity type that you visualize as a golden dust.

“It’s outside my area of expertise, but having a willing test-subject more than makes up for it.” She answers, “And I can learn more about something that I knew little about, compared to making incremental improvements to my already-developed gem-magecraft.”

“So you find the process of learning gratifying.” You reply, “For now I’m on the same page, since this matters to me. Both to learn about my true self and to strengthen my ability to finish this war. Do you know much about angels?”

“Mainly the broad strokes.” She answers, before doing a pirouette. As she turns around she somehow found the time to set a pair of eyeglasses on mid-turn. “They’re a type of divine being that enact the will of God, as the concept of a personified God is understood in the religions commonly attributed to originate from a man named Abraham. That God is in a different league from the likes of Athena or even chief gods like Zeus or Odin, but only interacted with the world in a limited context. The angels were his functionaries, and I believe the most powerful class, the archangels, were considered peers to chief gods. Now, as the religions developed their understanding of the nature and duties of the angels developed with them, leading to some apparent inconsistencies between the oldest and newest conceptions. Afraid I don’t know much more than that, the priest Fyodor might have been able to explain more.”

“That’s alright. Incidentally, that spin with the glasses might make for a good party-trick.” You say, though you’re sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘will of God’ before. Racking your brains, you eventually recall that Caster of Black mentioned it in passing the other evening. You then attempt to manifest the etheric wings with just the lower-quality modern magical energy type. You don’t get more than a pair of short, brittle golden stubs poking a few inches out of your back before they start crumbling.

“Hah, as I expected!” Anne puffs with pride, “To manifest part of a being that only was known to physically manifest in the Age of Gods, it stands to reason that you’d need magical energy of a comparable purity to reconstitute it!”

“It’s a good thing there’s a little bit of that magical energy trickling out of the city’s leylines, then.” You remark, and begin to specifically filter just the higher-purity type into your body. You’re mostly unbothered that Anne told you to conduct an experiment when she expected the result to be unsuccessful. Mostly. At least you learned under controlled circumstances.

“I’ve wondered why that is.” Truvietianne replies, “Modern Tokyo’s leyline configuration was replicated, so why would it emit any of the Age of Gods mana? Is it instead simulating the purity concentration of a different era? What era, and to what end? Could it match the mystic-era of the magecraft that was used to enable the Akeldama ritual summoning?”

“That’s too many questions for anyone lacking a sheet with the answers to keep up with.” You laugh, “But don’t stop on account of my complaining.”

“Then I won’t.” She says, pretending to be offended, “I’ve also been thinking about where the energy’s been coming from. It’s puzzled me that this Akeldama City’s leylines even work. Did Triscus Adajio replicate an entire planet to generate magical energy and vent it through the leylines? It sounds preposterous on its face so I’ve had to think, what exactly is this world running on? The most modest explanation would be that there are magical energy reactors hidden some distance underground that power these replicated leylines.”

“That is a comparatively simple explanation, but wouldn’t we have noticed something like that by now?” You respond.

“We haven’t been looking for them.” She answers, “But if there aren’t anything as simple as reactors underground, the alternative I conceive is… troubling.”

“You have to tell me now that you’ve ominously foreshadowed it.” You tease.

“Taken the bait I see.” Anne teases back, “Well, it goes back to how ‘the Greater Grail’ was used in the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars, where it was coupled to the leylines to enable the ritual. The Holy Grail could be integrated into the city itself, an inexhaustible energy source maintaining the condition of the artificial world; in other words, it’s unclear how you could wrest control from the overseer if you’d be fighting for control of the entire city’s leylines.”

“That could be a tricky proposition, but I don’t see how it’s particularly troubling. Especially if we can get enough Servants aligned in a bid to rebel as we’ve been planning to do.” You reply.

“Oh, that wasn’t the troubling part.” She clarifies, “The problem is if the Holy Grail is also the lynchpin maintaining the entire artificial world of Akeldama. In the past I visited the Clock Tower in London, and while there I sat in on a joint lecture from the Departments of Modern Magecraft and Astromancy, where they mentioned theoretical spacetime-distortions that they called ‘Singularities’. Regions outside both the future and past of the timeline, in other words outside the normal temporal axis. Having the potential to damage the very fabric of history. Dismissed as nothing to be concerned about because they’d need an inexhaustible energy source, such as a Holy Grail, to sustain themselves, and the only such Holy Grail was decommissioned. Until now, where we find ourselves in an artificial world, potentially cut off from the past and the future of the real world, and potentially sustained by a Holy Grail.”

“How could you possibly remember something like that.” You deadpan in astonishment.

“Since my late Servant’s untimely departure, I’ve had a lot of free time.” She deadpans in response.

“I see.” You rely. Having nothing to add to your friend’s sudden concern regarding Singularities, you instead use the high-purity Age of Gods mana to manifest etheric wings using the True Ether this time, and you’re able to do so with minimal difficulty. You and Anne take a bit of time testing the wings’ range of motion, flexibility, and sensitivity to touch before you leap into the air to test your mid-air maneuverability. It’s unexpectedly exhilarating, to feel the air glide along you as you leave the ground behind, needing only your own body to traverse three dimensions.

As you begin gliding back down, a thought occurs to you. It may be useful to see how carrying someone affects how you fly, in the off-chance you’d need to do so in the future.

> Pick up Truvietianne and fly while carrying her for a bit.
> Land and call it a day for that experiment.
>> Check on your Servant; or
>> Check on Koko and Suzaku
> Something else (write-in)

>>6146155
>> Pick up Truvietianne and fly while carrying her for a bit.

>>6146155
>> Pick up Truvietianne and fly while carrying her for a bit.
> Pick up Truvietianne and fly while carrying her for a bit.
I can't believe he started signing A Whole New World

“Aaaaah!” Anne yelps as you place one arm behind her knees and the other behind her back, pulling her off-balance as you pick her up and kick off the ground again, “W-what are you doing?!”

“Seeing how flying is different when I’m carrying someone. It may be useful for later on.” You reply casually, “It’s fair you take a turn being the test-subject.”

“You could’ve said somethi-!” She starts complaining as you suddenly stop to shift direction.

“Hmm, turning and acceleration are a little different. As expected, knowing by experience gives a fuller picture.” You remark.

“Stop ignoring me!” She pouts, punching your bare chest with a sour look on her face.

Changing to a smooth glide, you respond, “Well, it’s funnier for me and more exciting for you when it’s a surprise. Thank me later.”

Reaching her arms around your neck, Anne hugs herself tightly in and whispers in your ear, “If you muck this up you’re breaking my fall.”

“Moot point.” You confidently respond, and begin practicing more maneuvers with sudden shifts in momentum. Over time Truvietianne’s trepidation begins to shift to excitement, and you attempt more and more dynamic movements. These test your own limits, as well as remind you of the g-forces that could disorient or injure your passenger if you get careless. Eventually the wings begin to feel stiff, it seems extended or strenuously acrobatic flight can cause you to hit a limit even if you still have magical energy to spare, so you decide it’s time to glide back down to earth.

“There, what did I tell you?” You remark, with a modest effort to stop it from sounding like gloating, then let the etheric wings dematerialize after you land.

“I’ll admit you got me to enjoy myself.” She concedes happily, “So, are you going to set me down now?”

“I could.” You reply, but add with a slight smirk, “But I could also keep carrying you like this. You’re too light to tire my arms out so soon.”

“You don’t want to let me leave your arms, is that it?” She asks as she playfully begins squirming in your grip, “Getting greedy are we?”

“Is it greedy to make the most of a peaceful respite?” You ask, “I had another surprise for you, too. Interested?”

“Depends on what it is.” Anne says warily, “If you want to run or jump up and down the courtyard carrying me, I refuse.”

“I can confirm that we’ll be standing still for it.” You reply, “All you have to do is close your eyes for a few moments.”

“Very well then.” She says, shutting her eyes. You briefly observe the light movement of her chest, feel her gentle breath, just warmer than the breeze that ruffles her silky blonde hair, and finally focus on her soft, pink lips. You continue to experience a craving that you still don’t understand, but on an impulse decide that now is the time to indulge it. You lean forward, close your eyes, and press your lips against hers.

“Mmh!” Truvietianne starts, her head jerking back slightly in surprise but she doesn’t otherwise struggle or resist. You just keep your eyes closed and follow where you felt her lips moved back and meet them again with yours. This time she relaxes and the two of you press your lips against each others’ and forget about the world outside. You rest your mind from conscious thought and instead experience, feel. The curious craving that had quietly been building in you is being satisfied, and you feel a sense of relief like and yet unlike that of satisfying other appetites. You wouldn’t care to put the feeling into words, anyway. You simply want to wordlessly express your desire to Truvietianne Edelfelt, a girl, magus, ally, friend; perhaps closer than friend.

Eventually the two of you regain your sense of time and space.

Your next action will:

> See how your Servant’s work is coming along
> Find out what Koko and Suzaku got up to
> You recall that you’d planned on contacting the Master of Rider of Red with a telepathic crystal to share information again; you could check if he responds to you now
> Something else (write-in)

>>6147564
>> See how your Servant’s work is coming along
y'know what, i liked that

>>6147564
> See how your Servant’s work is coming along

>>6147564
> See how your Servant’s work is coming along

You separate your lips from Truvietianne’s, and the two of you silently gaze into each others’ eyes for a time. You’re not sure what to say at this point, but you can’t just stand here all evening.

“I’d been wondering what doing that would feel like.” You eventually say, “I found it pleasant.”

“I could say I found ‘doing that’, as you so eloquently put it, pleasant as well.” The girl in your arms teasingly replies, before shifting her eyes toward the sinking sun, “But it seems that time has gotten away from us.”

“You’re right.” You respond as you set Anne down back on her feet, “I ought to see how Avenger’s doing with her work.”

“I’ll come with you, there was something that I wanted to ask her.” Anne replies, and the two of you go back to the bronze Buddha statue. Avenger isn’t there, and you can tell that she’d moved to a different part of the temple grounds at some point. It takes just a moment of concentration for you to locate her and walk over to her. You’re a little surprised by what she’s doing: in a garden, in the center of a circle of stones and surrounded by some shrubbery, she’s sitting in a small trench dug into the ground, filled with water, and having misty, herbal-scented vapors slightly obscuring your view.

“Greetings, Master.” She says, “I decided to help myself to a little luxury. Only room for one in the ad hoc hot spring, I’m afraid.”

You respond, “That’s alright, have you secured the temple?” You avert your eyes slightly, though some lily-pads floating in the water also preserve your Servant’s modesty.

“I’d say so.” She answers, “I set up a barrier around the perimeter of the temple grounds that will physically deny intruders entry without my assent, and a bounded field extending in a wider radius outside the temple to detect anyone in the general vicinity. I’ve also drawn up this cozy bath over a leyline node and given it healing properties; you can use it later if you’d like to, Master.”

“Oh. Thank you.” You reply, imagining that a warm bath would be quite comfortable, especially if it also heals wounds, “By the way, Truvietianne said she wanted to speak with you about something.”

“Yes.” Anne confirms, “Avenger, would you be able to teach your Master how to convert the lower-purity magical energy into a purity-level comparable to the Age of Gods magical energy? From our experiments earlier I’ve found that it would be a useful ability if he could learn it.”

“He should be able to, yes.” Your Servant answers, “That’s something I’d planned on discussing eventually anyway, given his elemental affinity.”

This could be helpful. You’ve found that the Age of Gods magical energy is generally more powerful, doesn’t mix well with the lower-purity stuff, and now that it exclusively is able to be used to materialize your etheric wings. If you’re able to convert and purify the more common energy, it might also increase the total amount of energy that you can have at your disposal.

However, that’s not the only option; something that your fight with the gunslinger Servant, Archer of Black, has made you concerned about is the fact that an enemy with ranged attacks could prove very difficult for you to fight when you have no ranged options of your own. Perhaps Avenger could teach you a basic ranged attack-spell?

> Ask Avenger to show you how to convert between the two magical energy types (roll 1d100 best of three as well)
> Ask Avenger to teach you a basic ranged attack-spell (roll 1d100 best of three as well; higher DC than above)
> See if Koko and Suzaku have found some food, you can train when you’re not aching with hunger
> Something else (write-in)

Rolled 28 (1d100)

>>6148869
> Ask Avenger to show you how to convert between the two magical energy types (roll 1d100 best of three as well

As if I'd pass up on having God mana

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>6148869
>Ask Avenger to show you how to convert between the two magical energy types (roll 1d100 best of three as well)

>>6148869
>> Ask Avenger to show you how to convert between the two magical energy types (roll 1d100 best of three as well)
might as well roll the last

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>6149154
Dammit

You decide that learning how to convert between the ether and magical energy types should take first priority, replying, “Then I’d like to go over it now, our experiment earlier found that only the True Ether that manifests from the high-purity magical energy can properly form the Etheric wings that Sophia and I are able to create.”

“Very well, I’ll free up the mana emanating here for a while.” Avenger replies from her bath. You activate your Mana Sight and find both types of magical energy, and as expected the lower-purity type is the majority.

“Now that’s settled, I’m going to check on our friends and see what they’ve found. Best of luck!” Truvietianne says as she leaves.

Avenger then explains that you should concentrate the lower-purity magical energy into higher density, and at the same time add a spin to it while still holding it together. At first you aren’t sure what the spin is supposed to accomplish, so you decide to compare a small amount of the purer magical energy with a compressed clump of the less pure magical energy, and you eventually begin to recognize a few qualitative differences that are difficult for you to put to words. You take a deep breath, hold your palms a small distance from each other, and focus your elemental affinity to start spinning the compressed, impure mana, attempting to discern what changes are necessary to increase the purity.

Eventually, with your Servant’s guidance you find that attributes similar to ‘viscosity’ and ‘insularity’ are what you’re trying to eliminate with your manipulations of the energy, and at last get the hang of doing so. You let Avenger know that she can go back to resting in her bath, while you take some time to test the limits of your new skill and your body’s capacity to store magical energy. With the steady stream coming up from the Spirit Font, you drawn it in, convert it to the purity of the Age of Gods mana, and infuse it into your body as you could do beforehand with either type. It won’t be long before you can purify mana reflexively.

By doing this, you find that your total capacity for magical energy has also increased substantially! You ought to be able to maintain your spells and abilities for longer periods of time now. You also are famished, it seems infusing magical energy alone doesn’t satisfy your body’s need for the more mundane forms of nourishment.

“A single Servant has entered the general area.” Your Servant suddenly informs you, “They seem to be moving quickly, but not directly at us. Could be a scouting action, or they could be looking for a fight.”

How do you respond:

> “We’ll confront them together, and either come to an understanding or chase them off. Preferably the former.”
> “We don’t need a fight right now if we can avoid it, let’s make sure the others are back in the temple and try to wait them out.”
> “Wait here and keep recovering for now. I’ll find the others and make sure they’re back in the temple, and call for you with telepathy and order you to teleport over if the situation requires it.”
> Something else (write-in)

The second front

Senso-Ji Temple, Asakusa city, Taito ward

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MeCQPXEgK4

“The overseer moving his chapel into this temple was a rather gaudy design choice.” Yumigawa Rushorou remarked as he proceeded into the temple grounds, spotting a familiar and out-of-place structure within. The journey that he, Matsuda Ryuuta, and their Servants made to the temple was generally uneventful, with Lancer of Red simply driving them through the city in one of the many abandoned vehicles lying on the road. They avoided drawing attention to themselves, though at Caster of Black’s suggestion they made a brief stop at a shrine in Torikoe when he identified it as having a fairly strong Spirit Font. After staying in the shrine for a short while, the two young men increased the power of the coins that they held to amplify the magical energy that they send to their Servants.

“Indeed.” Caster noted as he entered, “The overseer’s ability to ape the layout of the city of Tokyo is remarkable, but the illusion begins to strain when he makes his presence known.”

“Before we go in, I’ve been wonderin’.” Ryuuta said, “People built temples and shrines around Spirit Fonts intentionally, right? The pattern’s gettin’ a bit obvious.”

“You are correct, Master.” Caster answered, explaining, “Mankind was once much more cognizant of the subtle energies that emanate from their surroundings. Your people in particular had a remarkable understanding of how to build in a manner that almost blends into the land, though that understanding has faded with the passage of time and the adoption of industrialized mass-construction.”

“Wasn’t it also true that having a high mana density in an area makes magecraft more effective?” Rushorou asked, recalling a conversation he’d had with Caster the day before, “The area near a Spirit Font should have a relatively high density.”

“Also correct. I’m pleased the two of you are keeping up with the deluge of new information.” The old grey-bearded man confirmed, before the group of four walked up to the entrance of the out-of-place chapel and pushed open its doors.

“Triscus Adajio! Show yourself!” Rushorou shouted into the empty sanctuary.

“We’re gonna have some words with you, so quit hiding!” Ryuuta added with the same intensity.

“The overseer will be with you shortly.” A disembodied voice announced calmly, though at the same time with a gruff coldness. Immediately afterward, a Servant in the form of an old man with white hair and a close-cut beard, wearing black armor and wielding a hammer on a polearm materialized at the foot of the chapel’s central altar.

Before either of the Masters could respond, they were surprised to see their Servants step forward with hands on their weapons.

“You’re the overseer’s bodyguard?” Caster of Black asked rhetorically with a hint of tension in his voice, “I did not look to find something like you here.”

“Hoooh….” The bodyguard exhaled in a growl as he scrutinized the Caster, “Your True Name is a fractured, shifting thing. Perhaps you’ve taken countermeasures against scrying.”

“Can we dial down the…” Ryuuta began to suggest their Servants lower their weapons since they hadn’t planned on beginning their encounter with a fight, but his voice trailed off as his eyes met those of the black-armored Servant. The young man was no stranger to street-fights, and over the years he’d developed reliable instincts for detecting hostility at a glance. At that moment, it felt to him as though every neuron his brain was screaming for him to prepare to defend himself if he didn’t want to immediately be killed. That was the chilling menace he felt from meeting the gaze of the overseer’s bodyguard. If he were to try to put to words what he saw in those eyes, he’d say something along the lines of ‘barely restrained primal rage’.

“We didn’t come to start a fight.” Rushorou said to pick up where Ryuuta dropped off, his coolheadedness due mainly to his relative ignorance of what the other three in his group had detected. Fortunately, in this instance his ignorance cost him nothing as the armor-clad Servant silently stood by until the overseer soon emerged from a door at the back of the chapel.

“I beg your pardon for the delay, and do excuse my bodyguard. He takes his duty rather seriously.” The man in black robes said as he walked to the dark-armored Servant’s side. Holding up his hands he gave the ironic benediction, “Peace be with you, I am Father Triscus Adajio. We meet once again for the first time, Yumigawa Rushorou and Matsuda Ryuuta.”

As Rushorou paused to take note of the seemingly paradoxical phrasing Adajio had used, Ryuuta began, “Yeah pleased to meet you and all that, you know our names so we’ll skip introductions. Tell us what exactly this Akeldama world is and where we are.”

Walking toward them down the aisle with his bodyguard, Adajio reached into his robe and answered, “I may be able to expedite this by giving you all a set of brochures that explain the gist of your circumstances.”

“Brochures?” Ryuuta repeated quizzically.

“Yes, a certain amnesiac acquaintance of yours sarcastically suggested the idea the other day.” Adajio replied as he handed a brochure to Ryuuta, who started looking at it more to make sure it wasn’t a joke than to get information from it. “I’ve put both English and Japanese on it, so it should be legible to the war’s participants.”

“Could I have one as well?” Rushorou asked, and the overseer gladly obliged. Taking a few minutes to look at the conveniently foldable document, he found that the information lined up pretty much exactly as the anonymous albino Master and Truvietianne Edelfelt reported to them the other day; that much was reassuring. However, the same holes in the reported explanations were present.

“This is all well and good, but the question of ‘why’ remains.” Rushorou eventually commented, “What are you trying to accomplish by overseeing this Holy Grail War, Adajio? Did you organize it yourself, and if not, who assisted you?”

The overseer’s eye twitched before he replied in a measured manner, “I’m a touch surprised you’re interested in such details. Should you not be more concerned about achieving your desire, and your heart fill with gratitude to the almighty God for granting you this good fortune, than inquiring about mine? I’m not an active participant in the war and won’t be using the Holy Grail myself.”

“That doesn’t make your involvement less worthy of scrutiny.” Rushorou argued, “What motivates a man who holds all of the secrets of the Holy Grail to relinquish it to another, if he even intended to do so in the first place?”

“You bring up a fair point, but as a member of the clergy I have extensive training in setting aside my personal desires when in service of my Lord’s will.” The priest replied in a relaxed tone.

“And which Lord is that, hmm?” The Caster asked with biting sarcasm, “I doubt the one whose cross you wear.”

“Insinuate what you will, Caster, but the presence of the Holy Grail should be evidence enough of where my loyalty lies.” Adajio replied with irritation beginning to seep into his voice. However, he calmed himself as he continued, “Now if you really must prod into my personal history, I may as well inform you that my sect’s values aren’t in complete agreement with the ‘orthodox’ positions of the church that you may be more familiar with, so dismiss any apparent inconsistencies on that basis.”

“To be frank with you I’m not knowledgeable on either’s position on the use of magical rituals. You should be free to explain your sect’s position, since it seems revealing the existence of magic doesn’t carry the same kind of prohibition to you that it does for conventional mages and the church.” Rushorou pressed, not satisfied with the overseer’s overly broad excuse for his actions.

“Young man, you’re veering into a complex and tangential topic.” Triscus deflected in a patronizing tone, “Even if we don’t prioritize preserving what the borderline-profane practitioners of magecraft call secrecy, an initiatic organization such as mine can’t go and put all of our own secrets into the public domain. Now, I suppose I can at least tell you that executing the Holy Grail war here is an expression of our religious devotion, as it presents a unique opportunity to become closer to God.”

“How in the hell is kidnapping thousands of people and getting most of them killed getting you closer to God? Is he as fucked in the head as you?” Ryuuta spat, by this point disgusted by the overseer’s mocking demeanor.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s improvising a fiction that we haven’t the means to verify or disprove. And it seems time is on your side for now, Triscus Adajio.” Caster said, “Two Servants are approaching the grounds, either in search of us or at least to claim the Spirit Font here. We should either leave or fight them from a position of advantage, and the inside of this chapel is not ideal.”

“Yes, I would ask you to vacate the premises before beginning battle.” Adajio said, “I and my modest facility cannot aid one side or another, you see. Should either you or this new party intend to lay permanent claim to the Spirit Font here, I’d politely recommend you choose a different strategy.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” Ryuuta said as he turned to leave. His mind made up, he was glad to end their conversation there, short as it was.

“One last thing, actually.” Rushorou said, addressing the black-armored bodyguard this time, “What about you, sir? Are you as devoid of personal desires as the overseer?” After asking the question, the young man realized why his Servant was silently vigilant and ready to spring into action during the entire encounter and conversation, identifying at last the old man’s subdued malice.

“I haven’t patience for questioning, boy. Be thankful my role has me maintain neutrality.” He growled as an aura as black as his armor cloaked his body in a flash before it swiftly faded out of view.

“We must leave, Master.” Lancer of Red told Rushorou, no longer needing additional persuasion.

After they stepped out of the chapel and let the doors close behind them, Caster quietly told him, “Don’t regret your speaking up at the end, lad. That monster’s brief outburst revealed more of his true nature.”

“Glad it was helpful to you.” Rushorou exhaled, a bit shaken from the encounter.

“So Kaichou, you wanna try talking to the Servants on their way, or just beat it?” Ryuuta asked.

As the four continue walking away from the chapel, Rushorou answered, “If you’re in agreement with me that Triscus Adajio can’t be trusted, then I’d say meeting them to give diplomacy a chance is worth the risk. But have your Caster make use of the high-density mana here as a precaution in case they turn hostile.”

“Sounds good to me.” Ryuuta replied with a thumbs-up, “That shady priest gave me a real bad vibe… oh Caster, have we met the Servants that are coming before?”

“You have met one of them: Kuro no Archer, who landed the finishing blow on Sun Wukong with his Noble Phantasm.” The grey-bearded old man answered, “Unfortunately I can tell at a glance that the other Servant is the kind of eccentric and impish fellow that I wouldn’t trust half as far as I could throw him. I haven’t seen a Master accompanying them.”

Recalling Kuro no Archer’s hotheaded temperament and taking into account Caster’s report, Rushorou reconsidered with a sigh, “We should be ready for things to get dicey, then.”

>>6150975
>> “We’ll confront them together, and either come to an understanding or chase them off. Preferably the former.”

>>6150975
> “We’ll confront them together, and either come to an understanding or chase them off. Preferably the former.”

>>6150975
>“We’ll confront them together, and either come to an understanding or chase them off. Preferably the former.”

“We’ll confront them together, and either come to an understanding or chase them off. Preferably the former.” You tell your Servant.

“Very well.” She responds, briefly vanishing into her Spirit-form before reappearing dried off and clothed in her normal dress, “But we should prepare ourselves before we depart. On that note….”

She casts her Reinforcement spell on you, greatly augmenting your physical abilities.

[Your Strength, Agility, and Endurance all increase by a full rank while Avenger’s Reinforcement spell is active]

For a few moments you deliberate on whether you ought to also preemptively activate the angelic transformation; coming at full battle-readiness could cause the intruding Servant to attack first and ask questions later. Then again, being better equipped to protect yourself could deter an attack long enough for you to persuade them against fighting you. You take a breath as you settle on your decision; you begin circulating your magical energy to your back and solidifying it into wings composed of the True Ether. You experience a brief calming sensation as lingering pain from your wounds received earlier today is soothed again, though you feel a sense of trepidation when you look at your Servant. Again you detect the presence of evil in her, but more than that it’s an instinctive revulsion that you feel that unsettles you. Your Servant hasn’t done wrong by you, and you don’t like that this transformation affects your mental state in the way it does. What exactly are you sensing, anyhow? Something inherent to her nature?

“Is something wrong, Master?” She asks you with her eyes narrowing.

Averting your eyes, you answer, “It’s alright, we should teleport toward where the incoming Servant is.”

“Right.” She replies tersely; perhaps she’s intuitively noticing that something is off. “How close do you want us to be?”

You consider briefly, then reply, “Close enough to be in earshot, but far enough that they shouldn’t think that we’re trying to ambush them. Preferably we can avoid a conflict.”

“Understood.” She replies, and teleports the two of you onto a rooftop where you can immediately spot a Servant that you recognize: Rider of Red, moving through the air in a flying chariot. He quickly turns his chariot to face you and decelerates to a halt.

Holding a bow, his hand begins to move toward a quiver at his waist but stops before drawing it, loudly proclaiming, “Well, there’s a surprise. Have the two of you decided it’s time to do battle? I’m ready if you are!”

You respond, “We weren’t sure who you were when you entered this area, and we’d prefer to avoid a battle with you. What brings you here?” Looking at the Rider, you also sense that he has the same type of evil that you noticed in your own Servant.

“We’re simply patrolling the borders of our territory for intrusion. Though I’m pleased you appear to prefer to maintain our truce.” You hear a familiar voice clearly reply. Looking to Rider of Red’s side, you at last see the face of the magus who identified himself as Abraxas. He appears to be a few inches shorter than you (about as tall as Sophia), having somewhat unkempt brown hair and wearing eyeglasses and robes colored black and white.

“It seems we meet in person around the time we’d planned to speak again, Abraxas.” You respond to him, “Would you like to trade information as we did in our last encounter?”

“That mace you have, do you fight with it?” The Rider asks you suddenly.

“I’ve gotten a fair amount of use out of it, yes. Why do you ask?” You answer.

“You chose your weapon well. It is the weapon of a king.” The Rider proudly replies as his bow dematerializes, and in its place draws a mace of his own. Unlike yours, it lacks bladed flanges, instead being largely spherical at its striking-end, but including a small spike at its tip. “I’d like to see how well you wield it!”

You’ll reply:

> “You know what? You’re on, Rider!”
> “I’d need to decline, as I said I’d like to avoid unnecessary battle.”
> Something else (write-in)

I think this will be the last update of the thread, but we can get votes in before the thread slides off the board.

>>6152723
>> “You know what? You’re on, Rider!”
We pulled out the wings, it'd be a waste not to

>>6152723
> “You know what? You’re on, Rider!”
Sounds fun, and we could use the practice.