Quest of Fate - Apocrypha Universe Grail War

[Faux]

Since noone has voted I might as well throw out my own vote.
1. Engage in Autodefenestration

As for Yorkie, I don't know. Maybe someone else has an idea.
For now I'm leaving this choice blank.

[Spartacus]

Faux's 1.

As for Yorkie, idk? Don't kill her, we need info from her. About the person that hired her (probably daddy, but you know...), she will give much more fire power for us as an ally, and there is a Magus Killer coming nearby and who knows who he is /s.

[RoydGolden]

​1: Escape through the window. For Yorkie, take her with us but keep the chains on her for now. We'll decide what to do with her later.

[King Prussia]

1. Escape through the window. My only reason being that escaping the enemy's manor by defenestration in an incredibly badass way to escape and I want Seigi to do it.

For Yorkie, putting away my fan hat for the moment - taking her with us seems the better choice to me. Seigi is currently having a mental breakdown induced by both circumstances and the furious ghost of his little sister taking control, and never in the history of fiction has any protagonist gotten better by staying alone in such a situation. Yorkie is responsible for what's happening, but she's a quite competent magus specialized in mindfuckery - so at the moment, the only character with both the skill set and the willingness to help Seigi getting better.

She's also our only lead on what's going on behind the scenes, so leaving her behind with her shady accomplices when she just failed her mission (presumably ?) may not be the best choice - we can't afford to let a "key witness" go away. We also have no idea where our allies are* and whether or not they may be able (or willing, for Team Caster) to help us. So keeping Yorkie is at the moment our best best to keep at least one potential partner in our vicinity.

* I would bet that Lancer is trying to find us, but being alone (or with Risa ?) she may be a tempting target for the other teams.

[Daneel Rush]

I'm going with King Prussia's plan. Seigi's a MC; if there is a window, he must jump through it. And somehow take Yorkie with us for information gathering; to hell with restoring Seigi, let the little sister rampage a bit longer.

Can Aoi kill Servants? Discuss.

[zikari8]

I propose that we chuck Yorkie out a window

1. Escape through the window

Take Yorkie with us

[SleepMode]

1. Escape through the window

Take Yorkie with us

[Bird of Hermes]

Seigi/Aoi Nomikata
Health: Superb
Magical Energy: Superb
Access to The Root: Level 1
Objective: Escape



York ‘Yorkie’ Lancaster
Health: Unknown (Unconscious)
Magical Energy: Unknown (Unconscious)



“Aoi, I’m not going to let you hurt her anymore.”

In this one singular moment, I can feel myself once more, no longer trapped within my own body aware of the world around me but unable to do anything while another has control. This is been a fucking nightmare, I’ve been captured, hurt on so many levels by someone who I once cared for hurt me but she said she wanted to help.

I don’t know if whoever told her what to do said this was beneficial as it has awoken this vicious spirit inside my vessel but she’s the only one with the knowledge of what’s going on so she’s far too valuable to lose. She’s the only one with the skill set to let me comprehend what’s going on. Shady intentions aside Yorkie is the only one who can save me so I have to save her.

This is what I tell myself.

The truth of why I want to help her is much simpler.

As my sister’s grip on me slips as she basks in the moment, I engage my legs and lunge forwards to York’s frame.

“I don’t know if you can hear but it’s me, the real me. I’m sorry I hurt you.”

Attentive, I hear the banging all around me. Alarm bells, banging on the door, screams off in the distance and… gunfire?!

‘Warning. The Magus Killer has entered the facility.’

Well that’s the last que I need. I’m sick of this bloody place.

I lift up Ms Lancaster’s unconscious body and hoist her over my shoulder like a firefighter to secure her in the best way I can while keeping mobile. I’m surprised at how light she is despite her tall frame, it might be the age gap but she’s always been a little taller than me.

As soon as I know she’s safe, I cast multiple layers of reinforcement upon both our bodies as the last thing we need is to be shredded by glass.

‘Warning. Mana reactors damaged, defences temporarily offline. Rebooting in 10… 9…’

Without a moment to lose I turn to the greatest structural weak point in the facility and perform the most illogical thing as I engage in auto-defenestration.

[BGM]

Leaping forward I kick throw with minimal effort into the outside world. Surrounded by shards I see the reflections of my sibling [ruby=Aoi]Seigi[ruby] as despite the lurch forward, I find myself falling back into an oddly familiar position as my Other takes president.

Reawakened, Aoi finds herself holding onto the pink haired beauty flying in the city scape of this beautiful foreign country. The bustling streets of people going about the towns night life, the gorgeous lights illuminating the area, the tall buildings scraping against the starry sky.

Flying… flying.

No-

Falling!

“Seigi you nitwit! Did you even have a landing strategy?” Aoi screeches out in their shared voice as wind rush meets their face and the heartless bitch that was gravity did its work.

As the glass bounced off their bodies harmlessly like rain, Aoi twisted around in mid fall and faced the glass building.

“Metsu.”

A natural evolution of Nigredo, Aoi’s magecraft was pure conceptualised destruction. It could eliminate more of less anything given understanding and sufficient supply; physical bodies, magecraft that targeted cognition, the erasure of space between two objects…

She smiled as the body was pulled again once more as she landed on the glass, a simple wind cantrip Seigi learned and Aoi was borrowing to keep the given air away from an area for a vacuum to form created a seal under their feet as Aoi walked on the wall.

“Fortunately you have your little… no, big sister to rely on. I’m far older than you now.”

Peering down as she straffed the building, Aoi could see even more pretty lights down a few floors down. There was more shouting and gunfire though, that wasn’t so pretty. She must have been about a few dozen stories up right now and this ‘Magus Slayer’ or whatever was clearly rushing is way up to the top.

Aoi began to walk downwards keeping a hold of the curse wielding illusionist.

“I’m taking control now. Without me all three of us are dead.” Trapped within body after body, Aoi has had time to grow and develop as a voyeur within every sibling. It was so hard to keep track off the time with each new body, murder and subsequent rebirth but she wasn’t five-year-old. She had developed far beyond that a long time ago, certainly she was no child. Some of the children lived longer than other and sometimes it felt like development was setback further than others. “Though if I am your big sister then how old am I exactly…”

Aoi was born in the 60’s. It took time to reawaken and more to grow. She hadn’t been a child for such a long time and it was oh so liberating that Seigi got a chance to live.
To study, experience love and loss…

That helped Aoi process things so much easier but there were so many incidences that her little brother did something foolish that Aoi couldn’t help but cringe at.

She wasn’t five, Aoi wasn’t trapped in the same mentality she had when her father murdered her which was fortunate as that alone would have felt like a torture layered on top of the one she had lived for the past decades. She was certainly older and more developed than her ‘little’ brother whom had only recently hit the cusp of adulthood but she didn’t feel like she had lived all that much outside of him all to well so there was no way she was a woman in her forties.

Aoi readjusted Yorkie to prevent blood building up in her head, cradling her securing and having her bust pressed tightly against their body.

“If she’s really so important to you little brother I won’t do anything else to her, I might not share the same affection you do anymore but it would be such a shame to put a pretty face and scrumptious body to waste ~”

After all, Aoi had been a voyeur to all of Seigi’s experiences his entire life and the two shared a lot. Similar magecraft, suitably swanky and stylish clothes… and apparently taste in women.

If Aoi could have heard Seigi she would have heard him screaming into the void at that as he discovered that abject horror.

Fortunately for Seigi, Aoi’s little monologue was interrupted by a pair of white-haired individuals leaping out of the window towards them all secured by some off looking equipment.

“Feh, I have no time for these homunculi pillocks.”

Aoi had a lot of time to tolerate the dysphoria of residing in a male body and Seigi had kept up regular exercise as well as a good diet, this meant this body was a splendid combination of athletic and acrobatic, when enhanced by the layers of reinforcement upon it, Aoi found it actually rather splendid in terms of utility.

“Capture the Vessel to The Root, it’s our only- hrgh!”

The utility of this body made it quite easy to leap forward and in channelling the sibling’s shared magecraft, to leap 20 or so feet up upward and drive their foot through the body of the homunculi before twisting and in a single motion; re securing the footing, flicking the first off into the street and plucking the second from mid-air by the ponytail.

Tagged for size

The sudden jerk had made the homunculus drop its weapon down.

Down.

Down.

All the way down.

Aoi took a moment to examine the poor dear.

The poor dear girl in question had a rather petite and underfed figure, looking more suited to ballet. She looked rather cute but it was hard to tell with her face awash with anguish. She could see the homunculi glance to the streets below, then looked at Aoi’s hand that was the only thing holding her aloft now.

Aoi held another’s life in her hands.

It wouldn’t have taken much to let go and watch her drop. Homunculi are factory made and die within 10 years for the most part after all. It’s not like she held much of an existence outside of her orders. It wasn’t any worse that breaking a computer. But the eyes this creature had.

Please don’t kill me, I don’t want to die.

It wouldn’t have been hard, Aoi had only started breathing air again within the last hour and she had already killed quite a few things. It shouldn’t have been hard. Aoi had her life taken from her, she had struggled and suffered but she took it back at the cost of her brother. Now she was alive because of the freedom and choices she had taken from Yorkie.

To live is to take! Take everything you want and give nothing back!”

“Fuck!”

Yet somehow it was the hardest thing Aoi had ever done. She could have just dropped her. She should have just dropped her. Instead Aoi tossed the homunculi into an adjourning window. Maybe Seigi had been influencing her just as much as she’d been reflected upon him.

Aoi could only see this as yet another choice taken from her.

With joy and elation turning to aggravation now turning to disgust, Aoi walked down the wall furiously wilfully blind to the ensuing chaos that consumed the building’s interior.

“The moment me and you are in the clear Yorkie, I’m ditching this shitty hoodie and blonde hair, I’m treating myself to some red dye and a nice suit…”

Aoi Nomikata
Health: Superb
Magical Energy: Great
Access to The Root: Level 1
Objective: Escape

Aoi found this area oddly empty, she could hear people but this area is all but deserted. The desolate ultra-modern layout felt soulless without anyone around and the streetlight gave no warmth. Disappointing was the only word that Aoi could think of at the time. But the tower was caught up in the chaos that the ‘Magus Killer’ was leaving behind so that just left the two women alone together.

“How are you holding up gorgeous?”

Yorkie did not respond. Must have still been unconscious.

Aoi found lines like that always seemed to work whenever Seigi said that to a guy or girl and she wanted to give it a shot herself. Aoi knew the results wouldn’t have been the same but the novelty was nice.

She spent a few minutes walking over to find a suitably sized bench before perching herself on and laying Yorkie down.

“You always did like my little brother an awful lot, if you only woke me up because your employer told you that it was the case…” Aoi stroked Yorkie’s hair and readjusted her glasses. “Maybe I over reacted, I’m not used to having the choice to do anything and my emotions ran a little wild. It’s something I’ll have to get better at if I’m actually going to live a life.

“How disappointing.” A voice of a young male called out, couldn’t have been any older than thirteen.

Aoi twisted around to see where that voice came from.

“Ms Aoi Nomikata I presume?”

“Master Lazlow Grimmwold.”




“Quite correct, you’ve done a number on my colleague and your would-be rescuers are contained to the building and the shoreline respectively. Right here, right now it’s only me and you.”

“A sealing designation agent against a woman who has survived death.”

“Yes, I’ll have quite the tale to tell after I kick your teeth in but that’s not why I’m here. Now if I knew a fine English lady such as yourself was coming so quickly I would have hung up some union jacks for the bodies to fall on for you, though I will say you know how to make an entrance.”

“So you, Yorkie and whomever your employer is did this specifically to awaken me, knowing the remnants of my soul were trapped within the body of my younger brother? Who are you exactly?”

“Master Lazlow Grimmwold, Tradition Carrier of the Deck and possessor of magecraft dating back to the times to the Age of Gods. Alongside the homunculi, I may or may not have fed a lie to the rest of these lower level employees that you would create a gateway to The Root and grant them immortality?”

“And they bought that?”

“Like discount Chinese food at a supermarket.”

“You cheeky little bugger.”

“I cannot argue with that but my efficacy allows me such a luxury in this line of business.”

“Very well then, you seem to have read your casefile on me. So please, what’s your deal?”

At this Lazlow flicked his wrists and a set of cards shot out of his sleeves into his grasp. Aoi could feel the wellspring of magical energy coming from them. The cards were clean and delicate but merely a container, what was inside was old. Very old, easily older than her. What was inside each card was generations upon generations of magical energy, like multiple crests layered atop each other in a lattice. The presence the cards exuded felt life Lazlow was not a person but a tidal wave, looming over from a distance and able to crash down and wash her away. If was a feeling she could compare to the Caster and Rider servants that Seigi had encountered a few days (weeks?) ago. He truly did possess power from the Age of Gods in his hands.

At this, Aoi lifted Yorkie's head off the lap, stood and began to strafe the child in a circle pattern about thirty feet away.

“I wish to play a card game.”

“Just to let you know Yorkie attempted to teach Seigi a few card games but he was utterly terrible at them but I think I can play a hand at cribbage if you would let me.”

“Cute, but not what I had in mind. If this was your little brother I was facing, I’d keep a hand behind my back and cut an easy hand for him but you…” The boy cracked his neck and flicked again, holding the cards like throwing knives. “If Hiro Nomikata truly did create a vessel that has access to the power of The Root then you are the only person here who could challenge me. I want to see your power for myself.”

“You sound like an upper-class egoist.”

“I’m not a blue blood like the Corvella’s and trust me, my confidence is earned.”

Aoi then proceeded to flex hard enough for the sleeves on the hoodie to break. The ageless woman then smiled, though it was not the charismatic and charm that Seigi had. This was vicious, this was simple venom through and through. Aoi was a woman with issues and she still had shit to work through.

“Very well, show me your hand.”

[Battle Music]

Grimmwold dealt the first hand, flourishing a deck of cards between his hands before lauching a cascade at once, exploding from his hands like a shotgun shell.

Aoi lept upwards as the cards flew into her foothold and exploded like landmines with a thunderous boom! Gliding off down to the left in the open away from Yorkie before landing next to a bus station.

“Hit me, midget!”

A single card was tossed and Aoi allowed her legs to give as she dropped to the floor, this time the card did not explode but instead sliced through layers of steel and concrete on the floor and shredding the station into rubble. She turned to see a wide cocky smile and an irritating laugh come from the boy.

“You ever seen a child do that Nomikata? You’re outclassed, wave a white flag while you still have a hand to wave it.”

Aoi was impressed, little Grimmwold held a significant amount of power even compared to the elite of the clock tower and furthermore he was casually flicking it all out like it was nothing. Aoi knew she was more powerful than Seigi for sure but it doesn’t matter how strong you are when a truck rams into you at full speed. Regardless of the size of your muscles you’re going to be a roadkill pancake none the less. Still probably more appetizing than stargazy pie mind you. Yes, so much as a single hit were to land on her if she wasn’t prepared, Aoi knew their body would be turned to chunky salsa and she’d be dead again.

This wasn’t something she’d allow.

The style of the magus is grace, elegance, confidence and posture. Aoi learned this through Seigi and although he certainly did play off as a cool and confident young man, he had a habit of occasionally letting out his emotions in a way that revealed his true intentions. Aoi wasn’t a magus herself anymore, merely a spellcaster so she cared not for the self-imposed limitations. Lazlow however seemed much the same way as her little brother, he was so carefully poised and acting like a man many decades older but the taunting, the arrogance, the sheer audacity?

This was a little boy wearing shoes too big for him that much was for certain. His emotion was showing.

“Why should I be impressed and something so mundane as property damage? Any liquored up chav wearing a damn tracksuit and a shitty hat is capable of that. What makes you so different you any different to some common yob?”

Aoi wave into arm and hand motions, drawing the air around her, pulling her arms back behind her and channelling her hands behind her, concentration the elements around her, their bodies mana and the shared origin of destruction into a single point forming a glowing sphere.

Rather than releasing the explosive ball of energy, Aoi instead combined a layer or reinforcement upon the legs and combining them with the wind element to propel the body at full speed, vanishing in a blur and reappearing behind Lazlow in an instant!

“A flashstep?” Lazlow spun his head around, fast enough to see the body of a Nomikata behind him but not fast enough to defend.

Status Change

Magical Energy: Great >> Good

“風神拳 - Fūjin ken”

The crackling energy held between Aoi’s hands was propelled, held in a hand and arced upwards as Aoi swung her fist driving through his body and it flicked upward, spinning in cartwheels limply till it broke apart into… cards?

“So, he can make card clones.” Aoi pondered. “Then where’s the real bra-”

Aoi was interrupted with a sudden ‘snap’ as she looked downward to see herself standing in the center of a circle formed by what could only be Lazlow’s deck.

“You activated my trap card.”

“Oh boy.”

Then everything exploded.

Lazlow reappeared, floating in mid air 60 feet above the smoking crater. However, his self-satisfied smile soon faded as the smoke faded and he saw Nomikata standing uninjured in the centre, arms outstretched and energy crackling around as his ploy had failed.

This feeling was new to Lazlow, he wasn’t sure he liked it.

A glow began to emerge from the body Aoi inhabited once more and the small lightning crackles faded from her arms.

“Thank you for your little monologue earlier.” Aoi said “Generations of stored magecraft and spells secured in those cards as a container. Now while if wouldn’t be incorrect to say there’s a good chance you’re more powerful than me, you haven’t faced Nigredo before.”

“I know everything that Seigi Nomikata is capable of.”

“True, but what about Seigi and Aoi? Now while my Metsu is conceptualised destruction, Nigredo is decomposition. Think of it like a catalyst in a chemical reaction, once I understand and comprehend what my target is then it can be destroyed.”

“No. No, no, no, no! This is far more than what you can comprehend!”

“Yorkies illusions cursed my cognition. If Seigi hadn’t spent a year dating her, understanding her and her magecraft then I wouldn’t have ever escaped. That had layers and intricacy to it. No matter how powerful it is, a dumb explosion is a dumb explosion. That and with this access to The Root, limited as it currently is, myself and Seigi by extension have gotten far more proficient at Nigredo. I’m not sure how to acuratly mesure it but I think it’s safe to say we’re progressed decades in terms of talent and skill in the past hour now.”

The smile returned to Lazlow, the emotion was still new to him but he was having to work for it. He hadn’t needed to properly exert himself in a long time. “Then let’s take you to university.” He said as he tipped his hat to Aoi.

“That’s not what the line is.”

“Correct, it’s ‘Take you to school’ but you’ve proven to be a beyond the basics.”

Lazlow rose higher and higher still as Aoi conjured a gale of wind to elevate their… no, her body up into the air to meet him.

A set of cards flew out of Lazlows sleeves and materialised as a pair of longswords in his hands.

Spoiler:

Aoi mimicked him, conjuring the elements once more and wrapping them to forge shortened faux katana blades made of pure wind.

Seigi may have not known a single god-damn thing about his ancestral homeland. Aoi was of equally mixed race and grew up raised in England all the same but she had more knowledge and appreciation of the culture of the land.

The two most dangerous masters of the Fuyuki subcategory war flew at each other. Heavy blows clashed with a thunderous boom.

With no buildings around, there was no the earth could not be scared by their clash and the town centre wouldn’t be destroyed by their presence alone. Consecutive blows followed, creating shockwaves that bent the trees.

A slash was met with a parry.

A thrust with a roll over the opponent.

A continuous storm of attacks and clashing power with neither side relenting.

Even though Aoi had no formal training herself in this particular matter, the well of knowledge that was The Root existed. Access was minimal and knowledge came by on a gentle drip basis but technique was transferred with each attack. Every blow that connected granted Aoi new knowledge and information. Lazlow however was born with power and spent his lifetime honing it rather than merely relying on a crest and met her for each attack.

While Lazlow grew frustrated, Aoi grew angrier.

She slowly pushed forwards as Aoi began to rely further of raw power as technique could not be beaten. Aoi’s movements grew wider, wilder and faster with fury pressing further into her target. While Lazlow cared not for decades of repressed rage, he minimised movement and became more elegant now predicting each move before it hit. Wild twists and dashes could not keep up with graceful movements in the air.

Ducking a swipe left her open to a pommel to the head. Betting on a lunge lead to a heel to the stomach.

Status Update

Health: Superb >> Great

That hurt.

“I told you that you were outclassed but I must say you are doing far more splendidly than Lancer did?” The self assured boy taunted her.

Wait, what?

“You see.” Lazlow continued, it’s been a little longer than you think and your servant and whatever the other girl is to you went looking. Now while your Lancer was certainly stronger and more talented than I am, deducing her identity was surprisingly simple as you were observed by Yorkie and various other familiars we have in the city. She did have the legend of being cursed by the divine and her death at the hands it has etched a weakness upon her saint graph. A vulnerability to Oni-kind magic combined with your weakened connection and… well I wasn’t expecting Yamato Takeru go down that quickly. Even at if she was only at a fraction of her true prowess.”

And that’s when Seigi got mad.

Nomikata threw their swords to Lazlows feet and the moment they touched, they exploded upon impact, the moment Lazlow began to fly up, Seigi spun their flying body forward in a roll for the few seconds he held consiousness.

“Nigredo Axe Kick!”

Lazlow Grimmwold was flung downwards sent soaring into the nearest building.

No! Get back Seigi!

But as soon he was down, Lazlow was flying back, card now flickering out around him before burning to nothing in mid air.

He’s using the cards as a separate supply.

This time the two vanished and reappeared in turn. Blows now darting all over the vicinity.

Aoi now back in control, she only had two words to say to Lazlow.

“Don’t move.”

A single swing infused with Nigredo that caused dozens further in mid air as matter was broken down into constrict slashes.

“Urghhh.” Groaned Lazlow, his hat gone, robes torn and face now dripping with his blood. “I suppose with Archer warding off Lancer, Risa and more then it can’t be helped.”

The swords faded as Lazlow limply flew off onto the rooftop of a building on the edge of the open space.

“Lets see how you handle this.”

He drew one last card.

“Aoi, you’re right about power from the Age of Gods. So many warriors wielded holy and demonic swords, either amplifying the users own power or containing crystallised mana or ether to create a destructive wave of energy. They could destroy armies, fortresses or even more.”

And an incorporeal sword made of golden light shone in his hands.

“Stop wasting my time and get to the point Lazlow.”

“Well Ms Nomikata, as you said yourself you visualise Nigredo as a catalyst. All reactions need a minimum amount of energy to engage and the stronger the bond between elements the stronger the activation energy requirement.”

“Since when were you a chemistry teacher?”

“Since I pulled out a pseudo broken Noble Phantasm out. One use only but strong enough to rip this city in two. I want to see if you can use your Nigredo.”

“You’ll destroy half the city!

“Only if you try and dodge!”

Utterly inhuman. Lazlow was a magus through and through. Seigi was a magus but also a human. Aoi wasn’t sure.

But she knew what her brother would do.

“Power…” The glow of energy flourished their body and those two sets of shining arms sprouted from her back. “Give me more power.”

“

Stolen Sword of Illusion

Broken False Phantasm

”

"Come on!"

[BGM OFF]

Seigi Nomikata
Health: Normal
Magical Energy: Poor
Access to The Root: Level 1
Objective: Escape



Everything hurts.

My muscles feel burned out, my magic circuits feel like they’re on fire and I feel nauseous. I also have soot up my nose. At least I hope it’s soot.

As I slowly start to come to, I open my eyes to see myself face down on the floor in what was once a building. Now all that’s left is rubble. This entire area is just a mess, It looks like a gas explosion has gone off.

Everything is reduced to smoke ash and rubble. I pull myself off the floor and force myself to stand on my feet.

“Well we certainly pulled that out of our arse, didn’t we Aoi… Aoi?”

I heard nothing. I felt nothing. No call from beyond like when I was in that containment cell. This new power. This Access to The Root no matter how insignificant connection is the path to my magnum opus for sure but Aoi…

I am the vessel of many departed souls and this allowed me access by being both on this side of the world and the next simultaneously. Aoi, my sister was the original. The key. Everything began from her, whether its be my clothes and hair to even my magecraft, all of which were mirrored and amplified in her hands. Her understanding of Nigredo wasn’t as complete as my own but her Metsu was an evolved form of my own craft.

Everything she did while in that incomplete glowing multi-armed state, I could never do that. Not in a few lifetimes. Flying, destroying incorporal concepts all possible given time sure but…

I looked around at the chaos still. It seems like deflecting a false Noble Phantasm sent her into remission. Even with layers of power multiplied, Aoi was a mortal and not a servant. All I know is that Aoi is leagues more powerful than I am and I have a long time till I catch up to her.

My mind wanders. Through the smoky haze however off in the distance I could see a small figure, crumpled yes but moving. Alive!

“Yorkie!”

I run out and see her beautiful frame stirring.

“A-aoi?”

“No Seigi, Aoi’s gone for now.”

“I missed you.”

And she falls asleep again. At least she’s consistant and at least it’s me who’s still awake from a chance.

Now the bounded field keeping this quiet won’t last long. I need to do something now before people come and see that shot has been blown to fuck.

Wiseup!

Access to The Root: Level 1

This is the measurement of Seigi’s power and person in the material realm. The greater levels attains, the higher his state of being is.

Passive Enhancement:

• Vitality and Magical energy restores quicker.
• Magical cost of using Nigredo is significantly reduced
• Effectiveness of Nigredo is increased

Benefits are considerably more powerful when applied to Aoi.

Active Abilities:

• Incomplete Bodhisattva – An awakened state as Seigi begins to walk the path to completeness. Passive abilities are greatly magnified even further still.

Seigi does not currently possess the power that you have witnessed. Aoi is far closer to The Root but her grade will not show itself.

Choice!

Rescue is right at hand! Yorkie is still safe and your friends are coming (maybe)? There’s also what to do with the matter of Master Grimmwold while he’s incapacitated under the rubble somewhere.

Return to your allies?

1. Return to the tower
2. Sneak your way to the docks
3. Run away with Yorkie.

What to do with Lazlow.

1. Show mercy – He’s just a child and he’s clearly been pushed to do things he shouldn’t have
2. Leave him – He’s powerful enough to save himself and a little humility might work wonders. I don’t have any spare time anyways.
3. Kill him – He’s to dangerous to be left alive.

Save the game?

1. Yes
2. No

[King Prussia]

A3 - B1 - C1.

No point in having taken Yorkie for the defenestration tour if we're going to leave her wide open in the cold -and both the tower ("ruined battleground") and the docks ("nobody expected the Russian death squads") are probably unsafe right now. Our best bet is probably to run far away for those places until Lancer and Risa can find us.

Helping Lazlow is the best way to insure his survival - because right now we can be sure that every other participants in this Grail war is coming toward us after the ruckus we made. I don't think any of the other Masters would miss an opportunity to kill weakened competitors*, and at least two of them have a grudge/rivalry going on against poor Seigi.

And wouldn't care about killing an underage participant who overestimated his position.

And as much as an asshole the kid is, I would prefer for Seigi to not leave a kid alone and harmed in the middle of a soon-to-be battleground.

Also there's a Magus Killer** on the run who assaulted Lazlow's base, and it wouldn't expect it was just a visit to bring him cakes. Unless it was to rescue/counter-kidnap Seigi ?

... Also Archer seemed to be a pretty chill guy last time he appeared, so it would be a good opportunity to meet him properly I guess.

* Maybe JUSTICE wouldn't ? We don't know enough about him, but I would be surprised if he did.

** Okay it's certainly Kiritsugu ? Unless it's a plot twist and it's one of his kids instead. .-.

[Spartacus]

+1 on Prus.

[RoydGolden]

Thirding Prussia's choice.

[Faux]

Despite my personal bloodlust, ending the kid would feel out of character.
So it's a +1 on Prussia's from me

[Daneel Rush]

Jumping on the Borussian bandwagon. +1 to King Prussia's plan.

[zikari8]

+1 to Pruss.

I'm not just jumping bandwagon ok?

[Reiu]

Side Story Protagonist Introduction

Arwyn Penrith
Master of Saber and an anomaly in the Fourth Holy Grail War—of another timeline.

Here, he is simply an ordinary civil servant doing his job.
Born in Northern England (Cumbria), but raised in London.
A barrister working for the Crown Prosecution Service, headquartered in Southwark, who spent more of his adult life inside his office (inevitably buried in casework binders), than outside of it.
Perfectionistic and has an adherence to strict self-justice. Polite and reserved, somewhat prone to being lost in thought.

Not a magus and had virtually zero contact with the world of magi.
But that may be about to change…?

---

The Norwich Case File: Episode 0

(I)

2006, October 15th. On board the Great Eastern Main Line, departing from Liverpool Street. Health: Normal Magical Energy: Great (BGM)

It had been a dreary journey, to be sure, and certainly one out of the ordinary.
It wasn’t often that Arwyn traveled for his work.

After all, it was a never-ending constant of his life that there was more than enough crime to stack the Crown Prosecution Service Headquarters’ desks and shelves, and the resulting Sisyphean caseload of its prosecutors, within its own jurisdiction of London.

Today, however, he was traveling for a cross-jurisdiction case with the Eastern area division—in Norwich.

The grey-white rising steam of a paper cup of tea, resting on the passenger tray.
The even metallic clatter of the railway tracks.
The carriage’s nondescript pale yellow light from above, faintly illuminating his reflection against the nighttime windows.

Arwyn’s mind drifts, as it inevitably does in such times.

For once, he had brought a book. Alastair—Alastair Faulkner, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor, to whom he was a protégé of sorts since his early years as a fresh recruit—had recommended he not focus on work for the journey. It was a dubious idea for Arwyn, but given that his assigned departure of the Great Eastern Main Line was at night, perhaps Alastair had a point.

It wasn’t a particularly efficient hour to be reviewing cases that were now delegated to those remaining at Headquarters, even if he was certain that they were already inundated (as always) and would not be seeing to them in detail any time soon. In other words, that it would only be waiting for him upon his return.

A barely suppressed sigh nearly escapes, but he caught it in time.

The incident at hand, in any case, was as follows.


Firstly, explosions of indeterminate origins; multiple casualties across Norwich and London, in the latter case chiefly centered around the River Thames. None killed yet, but many heavily injured, and some in critical condition. Suspected domestic terrorism, one key suspect arrested.

Thought to be possibly related, but not strictly assigned to him, was a series of gruesome murders in Norwich, occurring across a similar timeline as the explosions. Victims exhibited slash wounds that were determined to be from a bladed weapon, longer than a knife; clean wounds that showed no evidence of any intent but to take their lives. The perpetrator of this was still at large.

A man had been apprehended for the former case, suspected of extremist ideological leanings. It seems that he had been caught red-handed when a witness reported him in the midst of another arson attempt—or so it was claimed.

Given that they had yet to establish a clear pattern between the locations of the explosions or the victims of the blasts, it would be an understatement to say that there were yet mysteries remaining.


Arwyn closes his eyes and recalls the contents of the on-site photographs and autopsies.
His task here, as a public servant, was to see to it that the incident's truth reveals itself with due scrutiny.
Judging from what he had heard, the amount of hard evidence was still sorely wanting, to say the least.

Under such pressing circumstances, it would not be unthinkable for the police to have made a hasty arrest.

…Of course, however flimsy the case, there was still no possibility that the charges would be dropped for crimes with such publicity on the airwaves and papers, at least not without a fight. The risk of embarrassment for the agency and public justice as a whole was simply too great.

Though may be half a foregone conclusion—all the same, as the liaison sent from London, he was there to assist with laying the groundwork for the charging decision on the cross-city bombings.


“…”

“……”

“………”


Before he had realized it, Arwyn had spent a great while simply staring off into space, his book untouched.

A faint wince tugged at the corner of his lips, the only visible trace of a stifled yawn.

He was perhaps not at his best; that, he had to grudgingly admit to himself. He had been working weekends for some time, hardly sleeping, and now here he was on a Sunday night, broken out of his routine only for more of the grind to put in, two hours' of train journey away.

That said, once he arrived, there wasn’t too much left to do for the day except checking into his booking at the hotel.
—Granted, the current day would already be over by then.


“………”


As he looked out the dark window, it hazily dawned on him for the first time that unfamiliar locales did always seem to induce a certain mood in him.

A strange feeling, almost as if he were set loose—
—as if now, set beyond his bounds, he was free to wander anywhere without consequence,
as if even now reminding him of the frailty of the trappings that secured him to the way of life that was all he ever knew; all he ever would know.


He disliked that feeling.

——No, he feared it.

Still in a pensive fog—Arwyn eventually registered the approach of his destination——


(II)

Norwich Railway Station.



He collected his belongings and stepped off the train, with hardly any awareness of his surroundings.

He set out—

Past the lamplights of the railway station—

Past the streets of dance music blaring at night—…

Past the graffiti-splattered alleyways—……





(III)


2006, October 16th.
?????

“…………”

“…………?”

Where was he……?

It wasn’t like him to get lost. At least, sense of direction was one thing that had not been lacking in him. He had looked up clear directions to the hotel from the station well in advance, and had made sure he would not forget it.

Then again, this was wholly unfamiliar territory, and his mind had certainly been—

—in a fog?—

—Had been wandering;
so much so, that he must be imagining things.

(BGM)

The lights shed upon pavement by the street lamps were dim, so dim that the boundary between shadow and light and night seemed almost blurred.
Or was that only in his mind…?

A drooping figure.
An abandoned retail mannequin?

A metallic smell in the air, sickeningly vivid.

Bright red eyes.
No, those eyes clearly looked straight at him.

A pallid face,
a mouth from whose corners, trails of blood spilled languidly, sluggishly.

“Oh?” The figure straightens up, sniffing the air. “A lucky haul for today. You wouldn't happen to be a magus, are you?

“...Then again, a magus would never fall for something like this, I don't think.”


In his fog, Arwyn registered the figure tossed aside something it had been holding—someone—like a limp sack of flesh, like a scene out of his composite night terrors.


Advancing, stepping forward so that only a few paces between them remained, the stranger remarked,
“Still, looks like you have quite the prana-rich blood there for an ordinary human.
Just what I need."


A glint of craving red.


“I’ll be taking it.”

A long-lost legend.
An unwitting inheritor.
In this tale of magi, the curtain rises on the story of their “anathema.”

The Norwich Case File:
0.intro (I,II,III) end.
/ (OP)

---

Bonus!

Submit and vote on the FC for the Dead Apostle encounter if you all would like. Go wild.
There will be a choice coming up later down the line, but for now this is just the prologue; a teaser of sorts.

[Bird of Hermes]

For maximum /stay night correlation, I think we need a tall purple haired individual for our dead apostle.

[SleepMode]

First contribution:

Large

[warellis]

For maximum /stay night correlation, I think we need a tall purple haired individual for our dead apostle.

Should they have long hair as well?

[Bird of Hermes]

Should they have long hair as well?

Eh, doesn't have to. I mean we already have an FC from Three Houses which I'm biased towards because i luv that game.

[Bird of Hermes]

Seigi Nomikata
Somewhere in Fuyuki
Health: Normal
Magical Energy: Poor
Access to The Root: Level 1
Objective: Survive



[BGM]

Well this has been a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. I certainly wasn’t planning on having a minor mental breakdown, getting possessed by an angry lesbian ghost who just so happens to be my dead sister and beating up a pre-teen but sometimes you just need to play the cards you’re dealt.

Even if those cards explode.

Actually, I take back what I say. I’ve had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week. And I would quite like to go home. I would say that I’ve been struck with a sudden sense of weakness, however after this week I’m frankly getting quite used to a constant sense of discomfort and pain, it’s rather concerning.

Regardless; no broken bones, minor bruising, minimal cuts and poor attitude. A quick run down shows that I’m more or less fine for now though I’m likely to ache like hell tomorrow. I have a great need to be melodramatic and complain in such a way that would make Shakespeare think I’m chewing the scenery however I can’t stay here. I need to get out of here and-

I look back at the pile of rubble beside me.

I could leave Lazlow. It would be easy, just take a few steps to pick up Yorkie and walk away. After all he hurt Lancer and tried to face against

Aoi

myself

for the sheer hell of it to see what he was capable of. He’s a magus through and through, doing whatever he wants for the sake of his own bloody excuse for ‘progress’. It would be easy but he’s like 5. I might not be my father but leaving a child to die isn’t too far different from killing them yourself. The Nomikata name has enough disgrace on his hands thanks to fa… No, not that. ‘Father’ is a title that should be earned, Lancer thought of hers as ‘Emperor’ first so why should I give him the grace he hasn’t deserved. His name is Hiro, I should start addressing him as such.

I might be a magus but I’m also a human. And I am better than Hiro.

I turn around and face the chaos.

The smell of brimstone and sulphur.

The slow, racking wheeze of my lungs as I breath in this filthy air.

The burning sensation in my muscles when Aoi used it as a conduit to The Root.

The fact my bones feel on the verge of splintering.

But I continue on. After all I am becoming used to being in constant chronic pain though I am not yet ready to experience that transcendence that defied all laws of nature.

The burning blaze is hellish and that Aoi could wield such furious power, that I could too…

That scares me. It’s calling deep from a well, like a pit I may never come out of.

I walk towards the pile of rubble and start pawing at it, slowly pulling each rock off and tossing each heavy rock to the side.

“Master Grimmwold? Lazlow, can you hear me!” I cry out best as I can in this dry raspy state.

I hear no response.

After minutes of digging, I move onto the next cluster of rock?

“Lazlow? Lazow!”

Did Aoi kill him? Did I kill him?

Did we just murder a child because they stood in our way?

After the next cluster I move to the next.

I killed him.

I move to the next when I can’t find a body.

He was just a child. Children don’t end up like that on their own. Someone made him like that.

I move onto the next.

I still killed him though. He was an obstacle in my way, and I removed him like he was just that.

I keep digging.

Some twisted bugger warped an innocent boy into a weapon, and I killed him for it.

There should at least be a body.

I keep searching.

Where are you ya little shit!

I stop and look around. Every stone is unturned now. I can’t find him. No one is here is this musty crater, no one but me right now.

“I’m sorry Lazlow.”

I walk back over to Yorkie. I tried to look for Lazlow, I tried to help him.
I tried.

Maybe that’ll help me sleep tonight.

Seigi & Yorkie
Somewhere in Fuyuki

The flames have been burning for a while now.

The building didn’t outright explode but damage caused by

Aoi

myself

as well as that magus killer must have reduced the structural stability for it go collapse in on itself. I was able to take Yorkie and move out of its boundary field before the fires started. There weren’t any screams from that building, people just stood and stared in horror from what I could tell. There were some children crying, it was likely the first time they saw something like that.

I hope they all got out. I mean, I’ve murdered a child tonight after all. I need something to go right to justify all this otherwise I’m no better than Hiro.

But speaking of answers…

There’s a couple of empty buildings nearby the church. With all the focus on the blazing building long behind me now, it’s easy to just dissolve the lock on the door and walk into an empty house.

A small survey of the place and everything is in some sort of order. No electricity but there’s still a little bit of running water and some non-perrishable food in a couple of cabinets in the kitchen. There’re still possessions around the house, quite a number of books (and unreadable because I can’t read Japanese). A board game that kind of looks like checkers, the upstairs has a master bedroom and two smaller rooms, one is an aggressive blue with childish decoration and had a model kit in there with what looks like toy robots, the other has painted in more subdeued feminine colours with pins of various locations and people on there. I pluck a couple out of frame and take a closer look, there’s a redhaired girl in most, likely to be the person whom this room resided in and lots of people there; schoolfriends, a cute looking athletic guy with orange hair who looks a little older than me, an older guy who I guess you would say is hot in a ‘tired silver fox’ kind of way despite the fact all his hair and clothes are black like it’s the late 90’s and a girl dressed in red and black with twintai-

That’s Rin Tohsaka.

I might not no anything about Japan but you’d have to live under a rock and not know who the Tohsaka’s are in the world of magecraft. Her family was one of the three that started all this Holy Grail War malarkey until they gave up on using the Grail to get to The Root. The gave up on that when things buggered up around World War Two now seek a new path in becoming one with the universe with Chinese Kenpou while learning magecraft. I haven’t seen her in a year but I had heard she was romantically involved with the heir of the Edelfelt family, then again there are some rumours regarding her sister…

Of course, Rin grew up here before she moved to London. It looks like this girl knew her.

I pluck another picture, one that the girl who lived here must have taken. It’s one of Miss Tohsaka, that cute guy, the older man and a girl in purple… Sakura Edelfelt, Rin’s sister. This girl must have been their neighbour. I’ll have to re-introduce myself to the Tohsaka’s and Edelfelt’s once I go to London. *If* I go back to London. First I’ll need answers.

And speaking of answers…

I put the photographs back and head into the large spacious living room. Yorkie’s where I left her, asleep on one of the large sofa’s.

Slowly, she starts to stir. Groaning and rubbing her eyes in a sleepy haze before giving off a big yawn, normally I’d say it’s cute and I’m certain that Aoi would too considering just how much we apparently have in common.

“Hey” I say, giving her a shove.

She’s out of that cutesy haze and more of a grump.

“Well that was rude.”

“So is kidnapping.”

“Urgh, fine.”

Yorkie wipes her face before sitting up, her face still exhausted and looking downward.

“So, what is it you want? Here to vent out your frustrations and beat me into a bloody pulp? This place looks remote enough. Or are you here to kill me Aoi?”

“Ao-no! It’s Seigi.”

“Glad it’s the nice one of the siblings then.” She gives a dismissive wave, still avoiding my gaze. “We didn’t make the best start and I don’t think she likes me very much.”

Actually, she thinks you’re scrumptious.

“I don’t think so either. What I need right now is answers, I’ve had a terrible couple of days and a lot of questions. So you’re going to talk.”

“Sure.”

I’m a little taken aback by this, I was expecting a lot more attitude and conflict especially given all this horse shit lately.

“Really?” I say, unable to hide my disbelief and my expression clear as the moon in the night sky.

“Yes. Attitude isn’t gonna get me anywhere. I’ve got no leverage, no backup, no nothing. Frankly after seeing what Aoi can do I’d be a pretty dumb hoe if I just gave you lip.” She shook her head and flicks her hair out of her face. “I’m sure your friend Risa would call me that anyways, she was bloody pissed after seeing what happened to your Lancer but Risa at least got what she wanted from that encounter – though those two were easily the most persistent that Lazlow and I fought… it’s not like I’m going to see Blytheseel anyways so-”

Yorkie shifts upright, her face now steels with resolve and voice firm and dignified as she can be. This side of Yorkie is not a side I saw often when we were together but the girl has two faces and can switch between the two at the drop of a hat.

“So then cutie pie” Yorkie asks “What do you want to know?”

Question Time!

You now have a chance to uncover more mystery to the truth of the Nomikata lineage and the war at hand. You only have enough time and energy to ask three questions:

1. What’s happened to Risa and Lancer?
2. What has happened during the time I’ve been locked up?
3. What other allies do you have here?
4. Who are you working for?
5. How long have you been planning all this?
6. What do you know about Aoi/Hiro’s plans?
7. Where is Hiro Nomikata?
8. Tell me about a servant and master pair in the war? (select who)
9. What did you have next planned?
10. Are you still in love with me?
11. Who came to try and rescue me?
12. Write in!

- - - Updated - - -

Quest Master's Note

Sorry for the delay of the better part of a month, my job has been utterly kicking my teeth in and then Fire Emblem Three Houses Happened.