Quest of Fate - Apocrypha Universe Grail War

[RoydGolden]

Well, with this interlude it's obvious Lancer is Yamato Takeru so it seems my guess early on was correct. Yay me!

As for the vote, I'll go with 2. She's the natural person to confide to, especially since we've pretty much chosen the Risa route at this point.

[4score7years]

2

[Rafflesiac]

1

[Bobin]

Can we converse with Lancer telepathically?

[Daiki]

4. No time to play around. Stuff to do.

[Bird of Hermes]

Can we converse with Lancer telepathically?

Yep!

--Edit--

Also I updated the OP for the new info on Lancer

[SleepMode]

2

[Zurvan]

1

[Bird of Hermes]

The Apartment
Morning - Too Early



“Nrgh”

Risa’s pinned on top of me and I can’t get up unless I wake her up. Besides, I’ve held off on talking to her about a few important subjects anyways so it’s better I rip off that band-aid now.

With my ‘free’ arm, I slowly manoeuvre it out of the bed and adjust it so it’s facing towards her head and not to anything below. Carefully, my hand moves to her and I gently caress her hair, tangled and knotty like a birds nest in the morning as it may be but from my experience it’s one of the nicer ways to be woken up.

As expected instead of jolting awake in shock, she gently stirs till she tilts her head and smiles at me

“Morning Seigi, you big softie.”

I open my mouth to answer but as I do so, I hear a stomach growl. The two of us both look down assuming it was ourselves. Our eyes look back up and meet each other before giggling a little, it’s a nice end to yesterdays fun schenanigans with a warm childlike laugh. Not something I’ve had much of an opportunity until now.
Risa carefully moves off me and Lancer, dragging half of the covers with her as well, the cold air sending uncomfortable jolts all across my skin, more or less forcing me up as well. With Risa draped in the duvet, I make an awkward hop and skin to the closest set of trousers I can find, not wanting to be the only one dressed in their underwear.

“Hungry?” I hear Risa ask as she hands be a bowl of cereal. Generic store brand chocolate flakes, a part of me was hoping for something nicer but given Risa’s tastes I’m not surprised, can’t stop me from being disappointed though.

“Not quite sure why you’re in a hurry to get dressed Seigi,” I hear Risa say from the kitchen “I mean Lancer looks as lo-“

I scream as I feel a jolt of electrical energy blast at me, causing the bowl to land on my head and pour milk and cheap knock-off food all over myself. The pain is fleeting and fades as quickly as it came but my hair is still comically spiked up. Risa’s face is contorted in the most ridiculous manner as she struggles not to laugh at my expense. I myself haven’t had any caffeine yet this early in the morning so I’m too tired to care. After about a minutes worth of drying myself off in the bathroom I return so see Risa put on some rather short shorts and a crop top and put the covers back over Lancer. Her gaze is warm and loving, like of like a hearth in the middle of a cold winter.

“I thought you didn’t like her.”

All I receive in response is a raised eyebrow.

“You’ve been hesitant around her earlier but you’ve been warming up to her very fast. I was wondering if there was something up.

There’s an almost vacant look in her eyes, almost as if her brain is trying to process an answer. Even she couldn’t deny that she was less cagey than earlier.

“Well er,” Risa mumbles out hesitantly “naturally you’d be cautious around summoning a heroic spirit and she seemed to be robotic at first which unnerved me even more-”

“Yet you and she now seem fine now so I’m just wondering, what was the thing that made it click?”

After I asked the first question, I just seem to be spilling out more and more, even I’ve noticed that Lancer’s less confrontational too. Risa looks down to her feet and points up awkwardly to me.

“Umm, Seigi?” she stutters “Your hair.”

I dash to a mirror and the tips of my spiked by electrified hair are blond.

“Ah damn it, I’ve ran out of hair dye.”

Risa’s composure shifts now the conversation has been deflected back to me “I didn’t know you were a natural blond.”

I take a slow breath in through gritted teeth before adjusting myself to the elegant grace of a magus, aside from being only half clothed, and my hair looking like a nightmare.
“Five years ago… I saw that my father had the same hair colour as me in an old picture so I bought some hair dye the next day. It was a part of my rebellious phase and it kind of stuck with me. This would have stayed a lot longer if it hadn’t been for your… book.”

…

The room is filled with an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.

…

“What is it?”

“Would you just reveal your families secrets? You do it first.”

1) Yes
2) No

3 Command Seals Remain

=====================================

So with my laptop breaking down a few weeks ago and losing everything I'd written - after getting a new one I've finally managed to construct something resembling an update.

[4score7years]

1.

[SleepMode]

1

[Rafflesiac]

So with my laptop breaking down a few weeks ago and losing everything I'd written - after getting a new one I've finally managed to construct something resembling an update.

Boy oh boy do I know what that feels like.

1

[Bird of Hermes]

The Apartment
Morning



It seems that I won’t be able to get anything further out of Risa till I give something in turn, it makes sense given the equivalent exchange in alchemy can be applied to most things, even human interaction.

“Ok, you ready to take notes?”

As we both sit down, Risa picks up her book as if to take notes. I begin with a lecture probably plagiarised word for word from my father about the Nomikata family with me as the fourth generation.

My great grandfather accomplished nothing of renown by himself for as a first generation member he was forever an apprentice, but he served as the founder of our crest, he was our foothold. My grandfather was the second head of the family and while yet to find out our affinity or ‘niche’ he constructed his own system where organic matter (preferably human bodies) were transferred into pure magical energy, it was a clever union of necromancy and alchemy but inefficient as recent development by the Galiast family had all but rendered it redundant.

My father, the third generation was something of a prodigy. Although it wasn’t as if he could compare to Clocktower elite like the Archibalds but he was a splendid learner, creating things as a teen that even adults of his generation had trouble with – such as the bloodline specific scrying lens. Although he lacked raw power, he had a great level of finesse and technique. It is grating to speak of him in such a way.

As I get onto the subject of myself… I’m honest. I only hold a portion of the crest with the majority still held by my father. I tell her about my only real ‘achievement’ thus far, Nigredo. Nigredo is the first step of the Hermatic tradition and I talk about incorporation of the Magnum Opus into my formula. Destruction without creation. As a sign of faith, I perform a demonstration. Taking an egg from the kitchen counter, I leaving it balancing in my open palm and break down the atomic bonds that hold the structure together. In a flash of light, the egg is reduced to a small pile of dust in my hand. I go further into the discussion, telling her how I used it against the Master of Saber – after reading on my grandfathers principles, I broke down the curse flung at me into its broken down constituent of pure magical energy. I tell her about my theorised effects of elemental affinity, how my Wind’s chaotic nature assists with the rate of reaction while earth would focus on stability and not be compatible while fire and lightning’s destructive nature may even simply cause the initial structure to explode.

“Nigredo is the first step of the Magnum Opus, how one creates the prima materia which at the same time symbolizes completion of the spirit and self. I myself am incomplete and as a result the incomplete form of magecraft spiritually and mechanistically is a natural fit.”

I hear Risa scribble down all these notes furiously much like how I would work on her notes back at our times of study. It’s almost hard to believe it’s been months since then. Even so it’s not as if our roles have switched, we’re still in a mutually beneficial partnership thus far… which brings me to my last hurdle.

“So Risa,” the words come out of my mouth awkwardly like I’m fumbling over it “there’s this thing I’ve been meaning to speak with you about.”

“I hope it’s not a love confession” she jokes nonchalantly.

Words fail to come out of my mouth, so I take the easy option to deal with any building anxiety in my chest.

I pass her my fathers notebook.

One that contains the truth on his ‘Proficiency’. Pseudo-Necromancy and Spiritual Surgery. How it combined over three and a half decade’s worth of so-called garbage to build an heir with worthless magical circuits to an average mage.

Her expression can only be described as pure blank horror.

“Seigi... We can’t let him keep doing this, especially with Reiner Corvella.” her gaze is vacant and off. I move closer as if to comfort her but as I do but she sticks out an arm to block me getting closer “I-I need some air.”

Risa gets up in a hurry and storms out of the door. I don’t quite hear what she says, something about needing air. I sense a foul intent saying I shouldn’t follow her.
She didn’t even tell me about her book. Not that I blame her though, this was heavy. I’m not meeting Kishitoba-kun and Caster till this afternoon so I have a morning to kill.

1). Spend time with Lancer (Write in what you do)
2). Chase after Risa
3). Explore Fuyuki (Select pre-existing location or new)
4). Go to the Church, they’re supposed to be impartial.
5). Forget about Risa and meat with Team Caster anyways (with or without Lancer)
6). Storm the Temple by yourself in broad daylight
7). Write in!

[RoydGolden]

2: Chase after Risa. Not blatantly, just maybe tail her to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble.

[Bird of Hermes]

Distance specified, got it.

[Bobin]

4

It's been a whole since we checked in with the Church actually. Any comment they would have on the war would be useful. It might be necessary to prepare a reasonable excuse to get through to them though, and leave a note for Risa I guess.

[Daiki]

4.

[zikari8]

Honestly, I see limited value in going to the church. Though she's not completely tight-lipped, I don't think the sister there would just divulge useful information. Unless one of the masters is going on a murderous spree that threatens the secrecy of magic, I don't think she'll give us much to work with.

On the other hand, scoping out the land could prove much more useful. We may find traces of another master's magecraft, signs of combat, or maybe end up locating the final master.



We already have know where three of the masters are: The temple, the sewers, and the hospital. So, other key locations to scope out would be Mt. Enzou/The cavern, Shinto in general, and the School (Less so this one)

Considering it's one of the big keypoints for magical stuff, I'd say Mt. Enzou would be good to scope out.

3) Mt. Enzou. Take Lancer with us for safety.

[Rafflesiac]

2

[Daiki]

Honestly, I see limited value in going to the church.

The Church is supposed to stay neutral when it comes to Masters. That doesn't cover rogue magi (Nomikata Sr). If they have info, they have no reason to keep it a secret.

Considering it's one of the big keypoints for magical stuff, I'd say Mt. Enzou would be good to scope out.

3) Mt. Enzou. Take Lancer with us for safety.

So, you want to engage hostilities with Rider?