Whoops. My bad. Forgot to change mine to chapter 22. I planned to release mine after his, originally.Originally Posted by Xamusel
Whoops. My bad. Forgot to change mine to chapter 22. I planned to release mine after his, originally.
Last edited by RanmaBushiko; May 19th, 2019 at 11:18 PM.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Ah... I see what happened.
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
Wait, am I missing a summon?
Amaterasu, Scathach, Mordred, Mash, MHXX, Semiramis, Archer
Chiron, Astolfo, Vlad, Siegfried, Fran, Avicebron, probably Jack.
Okay, I am not. So what the hell is Photon Ray doing? Unless we're... oh wait, we established TYPE-MARS as an entity, so we may be getting orbital lasers. Hm. I definitely did not see the apology for losing the sword in Chapter 19 though, which is where it should be.
We're missing the Heart of Winter now? (well, it could be the Greater Grail or something, but that's hard to move) That's... suboptimal. Probably our Assassin of Black stole it, and oh, you mentioned Shirou has contact with them. That's bad. Seems strange that Shirou would know about it in the first place though, maybe I need to reread a bit. Could be some other party, but I'm not sure who that would be.
Also, did EMIYA just use Gil's youth potion to turn himself into Prisma Illya Ainsworth-timeline Shirou? I'm not sure that's in the set of things he can do with Unlimited Blade Works, but I guess he pulled it out of his ass, and required a command seal, so eh. That probably won't have nearly as much of a problematic effect on him compared to how it powers down Kid-Gil, since he's not nearly as young, depending on how it affects his Circuits and such.
...good luck with that, buddy."Indeed. I'd rather not deal with Kaleido Ruby and Sapphire AGAIN. That timeline is hell."
The actual loss of the Sword is mentioned in Chapter 4 (it wasn't really brought up "on-screen" otherwise); Erik momentarily panicked over what Krampus was likely to do to him for losing it.
As to the Sword itself . . . On its own, it's a Relic that grants access to the Chaos, Fire and War Purviews - given the number of demigods and beings of divine blood around in this War, it's a potential force-multiplier. If, however, it can act as (or was adapted into) a copy of the local artefact . . .
Well, Altera is a very sweet girl, when she is allowed to be - this is not likely to be one of those times.
*Singsong* Gosh, I suppose we are going to have to wait and see . . .We're missing the Heart of Winter now? (well, it could be the Greater Grail or something, but that's hard to move) That's... suboptimal. Probably our Assassin of Black stole it, and oh, you mentioned Shirou has contact with them. That's bad. Seems strange that Shirou would know about it in the first place though, maybe I need to reread a bit. Could be some other party, but I'm not sure who that would be.
See previous answer.Also, did EMIYA just use Gil's youth potion to turn himself into Prisma Illya Ainsworth-timeline Shirou? I'm not sure that's in the set of things he can do with Unlimited Blade Works, but I guess he pulled it out of his ass, and required a command seal, so eh. That probably won't have nearly as much of a problematic effect on him compared to how it powers down Kid-Gil, since he's not nearly as young, depending on how it affects his Circuits and such.
Agreed....good luck with that, buddy.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
Oooh, yeah, thanks for pointing out the chapter reference. Possible irregular summons, then? Interesting. Or Shirou just has his hands on it for some reason instead of his fancy katana or whatever he had in the movie, which is pretty scary.
Hush you, I speculate/recap/make the obvious attempted deductions because I'm not good at giving feedback on much else, and it's the usual pattern for fanfic. I was rerunning through Trinity, and it's so much fun to watch people speculate, especially with the benefit of hindsight, but also to watch ideas that weren't fixed develop. Also for the big reveals.*Singsong* Gosh, I suppose we are going to have to wait and see . . .
I will add that I love Fiore's "Eh!?", and I'm attempting to figure out what Tamamo is thinking/doing from Frid's speculation, but since I can't draw any conclusions past what Frid has, I don't have much to add to it. I would expect that even if he has tells of lying, he's effectively telling the truth with regard to memories being sealed, since he can't really determine if that's true or not, and Tamamo is more interested in if he has malicious intent and such.
I also do love how Mordred has decided Zelretch is the superior mysterious wizard. He does have more fun with the entire process.
*Chuckles* In order? You'll see, for Photon Ray. You'll see for the Heart of Winter. And Emiya... DOES looks a bit more like that right now. The grey hair had to start SOMEWHERE from too much reinforcement. As for WHY he could pull that off... well, you'll see, later. As for him still looking OLDER... well, his Unlimited Blade Works couldn't make a perfect copy, you know?
And yes, his life will be hell once he realizes that Rin and Olga have Ruby and Sapphire, respectively.
Let's see now... Again, in order? You'll see. Speculation and feedback is just fine with me, and Kieran both. Plus it gets ME to write faster, so there's that part of things.
Fiore's "EH!?" is adorable, and I love it just as much as Kieran does. *Chuckles more*
As for Tamamo... she went from being an epic level God who's better than a used car salesman on selling people stuff, or getting free samples of stuff. Up to, and including, illegal ammunition, I might add. Then downgraded to the level of a beginning Demigod, who's Ichor/Godly Blood barely flows in their veins. Kieran hasn't been told the full story about what the hell happened yet, or what happened to Fenris and Tamamo. So in his eyes, he's perfectly reasonable for wondering WHY she hasn't picked up on him not mentioning everything.
Finally? Yes, Mordred likes Zelretch for free things. She also loves her Master's new truck. Because it's the GUN truck from Sonic Adventure 2/Sonic Generations. And Erik's the sort of bastard to have made it before Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Generations ever came about, due to his "Dr Robotnik" inspired mech designs.
More specifically, it's the Mark 2, that doesn't need his Hoverpod in order to run.
As for anything else, you'll get reasons for things later. Can't spoil everything, after all.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Quite. As I said, by itself, the Relic has some fairly scary capabilities - among other things, depending on the holder's Legend, he could theoretically create up to seven duplicates of himself with the same physical stats, or transform into a fire elemental - or just cause people's minds to shut down for hours at a time (erasing their memory of it in the process) . . . And the effect is transmissible by sight.
. . . If, on the other hand, it's turned into Photon Ray - well, see Fate/Extella for just how bad things can get.
It's not like I mind . . . Honestly, I wish more people would.Hush you, I speculate/recap/make the obvious attempted deductions because I'm not good at giving feedback on much else, and it's the usual pattern for fanfic.
Isn't it, though?I was rerunning through Trinity, and it's so much fun to watch people speculate, especially with the benefit of hindsight, but also to watch ideas that weren't fixed develop. Also for the big reveals.
Likewise - that entire ending of the conversation was spur-of-the-moment, and where it goes from here, I'm looking forward to finding out.I will add that I love Fiore's "Eh!?",
Possible, but I'll leave that to RB to reveal.and I'm attempting to figure out what Tamamo is thinking/doing from Frid's speculation, but since I can't draw any conclusions past what Frid has, I don't have much to add to it. I would expect that even if he has tells of lying, he's effectively telling the truth with regard to memories being sealed, since he can't really determine if that's true or not, and Tamamo is more interested in if he has malicious intent and such.
Indeed.I also do love how Mordred has decided Zelretch is the superior mysterious wizard. He does have more fun with the entire process.
Agreed.
Fortunately, Big Sister has yet to appear . . . "Yet" being the key word.And yes, his life will be hell once he realizes that Rin and Olga have Ruby and Sapphire, respectively.
Likewise.Speculation and feedback is just fine with me, and Kieran both. Plus it gets ME to write faster, so there's that part of things.
She's just so cute when she's flustered, I can't help myself.Fiore's "EH!?" is adorable, and I love it just as much as Kieran does. *Chuckles more*
Teasing, on the other hand, is timeless.As for anything else, you'll get reasons for things later. Can't spoil everything, after all.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
DISCLAIMER: Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON, along with whomever they’ve happened to license them to, such as Geneon, Funimation, A-1 Pictures and Netflix.
This is a not-for-profit, just-for-fun project.
Millennia Fortress
Trifas, Romania
Several hours earlier
“ . . . WHAT DO YOU MEAN, ‘IT’S GONE?!’”
While Darnic winced inwardly at the volume of Gordes’ exclamation, to say nothing of the loss of composure it entailed, he didn’t actually disagree with the sentiment. How could—?
“As I stated,” the homunculus repeated, echoing Darnic's own thoughts, “the homunculus-crafting lab where the golem rested has vanished. There is now a great stone wall where the entrance once stood—an ice-cold stone wall that we cannot break through.”
“Nothing is indestructible,” the fat magus snarled. “Saber, go break it down, by any means!”
“No,” Darnic said firmly, causing each person at the table to freeze. As their gazes shifted to him, he elaborated, “Do you imagine this is a coincidence? That almost immediately following an attack which cost us our Caster, whose aim was allegedly to retrieve a ‘world-destroying artefact’ that had ended up in our possession, the area of the castle which contained said artefact is suddenly inaccessible?
“Particularly when it’s been implied that said artefact has mind-altering properties?” he added.
“Y—you can’t possibly be taking that nonsense seriously!” Gordes protested.
“I take seriously the fact that a single Servant—his claims of being a Master aside—was able to challenge many of ours, in succession, withdrawing only when severely outnumbered,” Lancer responded icily. “Clearly, if defeating us had actually been his goal, he could’ve have better planned his attack, and likely decimated many of our Servants—all before the War had officially begun.”
Darnic nodded. For all of the Servant’s pride, which was as legendary as the rest of him, Vlad Tepes was no fool. He had seen it, too—as expected of the military leader of his reputation . . .
“The Servant’s goal was always the golem,” Darnic explained. “Or rather, what the golem contained. Caster’s elimination was almost incidental—had the Servant been willing to stand aside, it’s entirely possible he would have been allowed to. That is not the standard behaviour of any warrior or magus, much less a Servant during a Holy Grail War.”
“Even so,” the larger magus sputtered, “what he spewed was nonsense! After all, a planet-killing artefact from the Age of the Gods—!”
“Archer’s Noble Phantasm could be considered one,” Fiore’s soft voice spoke up, not shyly, but hesitantly; as though she disliked disillusioning her elder. It was a waste of compassion, in Darnic’s opinion; on the other hand, it might actually get through to the slovenly magus.
“It is also a meteor, after all,” she continued, a bit more firmly—more confidence, as she got into discussing the technical aspects of a subject. “Being of the right size, or velocity—or even a smaller one, correctly aimed—would accomplish much the same effect as the invader claimed that artefact would.”
“Indeed,” Darnic noted. “And the sudden appearance of the wall adds credence to the idea of its possessing some level of sapience, if approached with the idea that it’s protecting itself.”
The head of the Yggdmillennia clan scowled. “And if so, it’s chosen a remarkable way to do so. Not only does it have access to the homunculi within to use as guards or batteries, but the lab’s positioning, and the wall’s immunity to conventional force and magecraft . . .”
He glanced at the homunculus, who nodded in affirmation.
Darnic’s scowl deepened. “The wall’s possession of those properties means that any force that is sufficient to bring it down, such as Saber’s Noble Phantasm, is liable to collapse the castle with it.” A sudden thought occurred to him, and he added, “. . . Assuming, of course, that it is a physical wall at all—if its ability to manipulate minds can affect even a Servant, I see no reason why an illusory wall would not suffice.”
Various expressions of concern flitted across the faces of the table, with accompanying mutterings that Darnic could not be bothered to pay attention to—until Lancer suddenly snapped, “What was that, boy?”
Which “boy” the Servant was referring to became immediately obvious, as Caules snapped to attention. “Ah! I—I said that if it’s an illusion, we really ought to have Godafrid’s Fairy Eye confirm it; that sort of thing is what it’s for, after all.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea, Darnic reflected. The boy had a point, after all: breaking illusions was one of the few things that those Mystic Eyes were famous for; the reason they were alternatively called “Glam Sight” . . . By the same token, however, such a thing would be difficult to arrange at the present time, even if the Mystic Eye bearer was not a member of the Red Faction—albeit a double agent, not that he was supposed to know either of those things.
“It would be better to try our own resources first,” Darnic answered, “though I won’t deny that your idea for specialised help has merit—it’s important to keep in mind all advantages available to you, and judge when to utilise them appropriately.”
Young Caules accepted both compliment and rebuke with good grace, for his age; as Darnic had noted in the past, he made a good counterbalance to his sister, compensating for her few shortcomings—though the Head of Yggdmillennia had hopes that Fiore’s husband would better serve the role . . .
“For now,” he continued, “Gordes, your idea also has merit: Saber’s Magic Resistance might make him immune to the illusion, if it is one, and you ought to at least test whether his strength can damage the wall—he is likely to be largely immune to any harmful effects, in any case. If, however, Saber’s attempts prove ineffective, then making contact with Ruler becomes even more important. As the arbiter of the Great Holy Grail War, Ruler’s Magic Resistance ought to be at the pinnacle of the Skill’s expression; and it’s important that no fault of ours is seen in this—situation.”
He smirked. “We might even be able to get Ruler to judge summarily against the Red Faction, as this is apparently the fault of one of theirs in the first place . . .”
“Ah,” Fiore spoke up. “Grandfather? It just occurred to me—there might be one of the Red Faction with a professional interest in Ruler. You see, apparently, the Church sent one of theirs to act as an overseer for the War . . .”
“That would be wholly unnecessary!” Gordes blustered. “It was made clear that the Greater Grail itself would provide an overseer to arbitrate!”
“Yes,” Fiore agreed. “But this one is more than a little suspicious . . .”
As she explained, Darnic frowned in contemplation. His memories of the last Holy Grail War were . . . Hazy. Admittedly, it had been seventy years ago—a long time ago, by any human standard—but as a defining moment of his life, it irked him that his recall of events was not clearer.
“. . . I cannot immediately bring to mind anyone who might fit that description,” he admitted, “but I agree that it certainly sounds suspicious, and that an image might be of help in jogging my memory. You trust the source of this information?” Darnic demanded brusquely, as he ought to, given how she’d lightly evaded the subject of the origin of her knowledge.
“Implicitly, Grandfather,” Fiore answered, quietly but firmly—and if the pinking of her cheeks did not immediately reveal that source’s identity to anyone watching, said observer was a fool.
(. . . And it was to Darnic’s annoyance that three of the magi at the table showed no signs of understanding—but then they were the lesser lights, recruited for raw talent over intelligence. And it was just possible that Roche was simply too young to comprehend.)
“In any case,” Darnic concluded, “that simply makes contacting Ruler even more important. Conduct your tests quickly, Gordes—Saber is the best possible protection we can offer Ruler against treachery, as you are the most gentlemanly of ambassadors, so you and he must seek out the arbiter as soon as possible.”
And if they were too late—or nearly so, at least—it might still be possible to have a summary judgment rendered in declaration of their victory . . .
The alchemist paled, but did not protest, merely grunt in agitated acknowledgement.
With an effort, Darnic suppressed a sigh of irritation. Like so many magi, Gordes was unaccustomed to leaving his ivory tower and really dirtying his hands . . . But he knew his craft, and was the Master of Saber—a not-inconsiderable trump card. Therefore, he had to be tolerated (cosseted, when the need arose), at least until the War’s final phase; when only Masters of Black remained, he could be eliminated as necessary.
But, Darnic reminded himself, that stage was as-yet unreached, yet—if not, perhaps, so far away as it had initially been . . .
Present time, same location
“. . . While it may yet cost us on a strategic level,” Lancer admitted, “I cannot say that your decision to withdraw was not tactically sound, Master of Saber—to say nothing of prudent.”
Much as he wished to disagree, Darnic found that he couldn’t; when faced with an enemy Servant who’d already deduced Saber’s identity—one who had already fought him, and several others, to a draw—and the arrival of two reinforcements . . .
Withdrawal was the only reasonable option, he concluded with an internal sigh. Much as I might have wished for him to eliminate the one Servant of Red—or Master—afflicted with the poison, the odds of being able to do so without interference, much less retaliation, were unreasonable. Even if Saber could have survived it, which is not to be taken as a given, Gordes would not—which would have cost us Saber, anyway. And the Black Faction has lost too much already . . .
It was a pity they wouldn’t be able to “rescue” Ruler from the Red Faction’s treachery, or spin events to their favour in her eyes—but they’d lost nothing in the attempt. And, in point of fact, they’d gained a few key pieces of intelligence on their enemies.
“I agree,” Darnic said aloud, at last. “The chance of defeat was too great a risk for too little gain, in those circumstances, as regrettable as it is. More importantly, your assessment of Assassin of Red lends credence to her probable identity as being Semiramis of Assyria, as Fiore’s source suggested—which proves it to be not only accurate, but trustworthy.”
The girl said nothing, but her cheeks did colour—a habit he sincerely hoped she’d grow out of. It made her far too easy to read, even in silence.
“Moreover,” he continued, “it lends weight to that source’s assessment of Assassin’s Master—and based on your description, I do recall a Servant of the last War with that general appearance. I never learned their true identity, but it was the Einzberns’ Servant; the Ruler of that Holy Grail War.”
“A second arbiter?” Gordes spluttered. “Why would that be?”
“Possibly because, in the seventy years since, he has acquired a desire for the Holy Grail—which Rulers, as a stricture of admission to the class, do not possess,” Darnic theorised. “Certainly, he must no longer be considered ‘qualified’ by the Greater Grail, else it would not have summoned the current Ruler . . . But make no mistake: that makes him no less dangerous. It’s impossible to say how much of his former class he might have retained—Skills, Command Spells, and the like—but at the very least, he’s a Master with the Parameters of a Servant. He also undoubtedly has more knowledge of the workings of Grail system than any magus still alive, and possibly even a Noble Phantasm . . .
“And on top of that, he’s had seventy years of training as a Burial Agent—and if nothing else, they excel at fighting—and killing—that which is not human,” Darnic concluded, as he looked around the room. “. . . We cannot afford to take him lightly.”
“In that case,” Lancer suggested, “perhaps we ought to make an effort to retrieve Assassin of Black immediately, rather than simply waiting for Servant and Master to appear? This type of opponent would appear to be their specialty . . .”
Fiore frowned. “Yes—about that, Lord Tepes, Grandfather . . . I think we may have a problem . . .”
Avalon Castle, Phantasmagoria Island (Grail Works, Ltd. Headquarters)
Outside the boundaries of time and space
It is often stated that names have power. This is true, though in the context that statement is usually meant, the degree of power depends largely on the metaphysical laws governing the universe—and somewhat on the ability and skill of the one invoking it.
For certain transcendental existences, however, the rules were a bit more flexible; as such, Ilya was instantly aware of her own being called, and a response being requested . . .
Though the fact that she did recognise the voice certainly helped.
“Hello, Kurai,” she greeted cheerily. “You’re looking well.”
“Do I look like that’s a remotely reasonable name anymore, Ilya?” the former half-drow, now a full-blooded human (if faintly blue-tinged and transparent, at the moment) asked.
“Actually, you look like the ghost of the old guy from the Star Wars movies, but about the size of the princess when she was calling for help through the beeping trashcan,” the Grail spirit replied. She grinned. “Does this mean I’m ‘your only hope,’ Kurai?”
He buried his face in his palm with a sigh, rubbing his temples with thumb and forefinger as he asked wearily, “. . . And just why are you making me regret introducing ‘movie night,’ Ilyasviel-san?”
“You made my onii-chan upset,” Ilya said icily, all humour and lightness audibly gone despite the high, bell-like quality of her voice. “No one does that but me.”
“And I’m sorry I did—I certainly didn’t mean to—but it was the only way I could see of making it work . . . And it did work, according to Rin.” His face rose, and eyes that looked all-but-invisible in the blue-white light of his projection nevertheless shone with an implacable look. “Considering how much in life and pain that some magus families have sacrificed for a lot less—and unsuccessfully, at that—I’m willing to call my choice the right one, in this case.”
“. . . You are still going to apologise,” Ilya grumbled half-heartedly, her only argument in conceding to his logic. After all, she couldn’t really argue, being the living (sort of) example of it . . .
“Of course,” he said politely. “. . . Speaking of magus families, while I think of it, does the name ‘Úa Súilleabháin’ mean anything to you?”
“Gesundheit,” Ilya said immediately, and giggled at his scowl.
“While I don’t disagree with the sentiment, you’re one to talk, little miss,” he bit out. “. . . They’re supposedly a minor magus family in this world, and I wondered if they were made up whole cloth, or actually existed in more than one.”
“I’m afraid you’re on your own, Godafrid,” Ilya replied in a more solemn tone, “just like the rest of us. In that sense, at least, you fit the pattern.”
He blinked at her, before his face met his palm again, with an accompanying sigh. “. . . Of course Rin told you. But then, why—right, upset Shirou, never mind.”
Ilya smirked, inwardly fascinated. As the druid Kurai, he’d had a frightening capacity for intuition; some of it related to his supernaturally keen physical senses, but the rest simply an instinctive ability to read a person that was occasionally funny and/or mildly terrifying to watch in action. Now merely mortal, he was far less capable, obviously; but a lot of the mannerisms—choice of words, general tone of voice, and such—were still the same.
It was easy to see, now, where the lines between the player and the character were drawn. Closer than one might realise, as it turned out, but they were there.
“Back to my original reason for calling—other than to let you know I was alive,” he added hastily, “I wanted to know if you could detect any magical artefacts in the vicinity.”
“. . . Asks the man in the middle of a Holy Grail War involving several magi,” Ilya replied dryly, “including a long-standing family—and the man who is also literally inside what I’m told is a divinely-forged airship.”
“Touché,” he admitted. “All right, I’m looking for a magical sword that’s probably called either ‘the Sword of Atli’ or—I think that ‘Photon Ray’ is actually the name of the technique, so it’s probably ‘the sword of the War God.’”
It wasn’t so much the information pulled out of thin air with no context; when dealing with the man before her, in any identity, Ilya was used to that. Really, it was very much the reason they kept him around. No, the problem was . . .
“Again,” she said, “divinely-forged warship—and by a Norse god, at that. Do you have any idea how many swords are on that thing?”
“Probably not as many as there are lasers, plasma cannons, and pocket nukes,” he said, deadpan, “but I take your point.”
The sad thing, Ilya noted, was that he wasn’t wrong . . .
With a sigh, he elaborated, “You’re either looking for a xiphos—that’s a classical Greek sword with a leaf-shaped blade—made of almost-too-reddish and nearly-luminous bronze, or an anachronistically futuristic-looking bastard sword—meaning like Arturia’s sword, but longer, and in a style like the golden asshole’s—with a rainbow blade. It’ll be tricoloured in the primary colours of light; that’s red, blue and green rather than red, blue and yellow.”
“. . . There’s nothing in your or Rin’s immediate vicinity,” she said. “Given time, I can scan further—but it is going to take time.”
“Anything show up in your clairvoyance?”
Her ability to predict future events in a given timeline was a bit of a crapshoot; she wasn’t omniscient, or as close to it as the Holy Grail could get, because having full access to that ability involved going deeper into being the Grail than she really liked to, given the risk to her sense of self . . .
As such, Ilya shook her head. “Not in my immediate range.”
“Damn,” he muttered. “I figured it wouldn’t be that easy, but there was always the hope . . .”
“. . . How bad is this, really?” Ilya asked. “Are we looking at another Saber Alter situation?”
“If it’s the Sword of Atli, it’s debatable,” was the sighed answer. “At best, it’s just a basically-unbreakable sword—a curiosity, with maybe a little arcane use as a reagent or catalyst. At worst, it gives whoever wields it access to a lot of potentially scary powers; normally, they’d need a Legend score, but given the way magi work, and demigods already around, I won’t say they can’t use it as it’s intended . . .”
He snorted. “And at worst, they use it as a catalyst and end up summoning Krampus—”
“I’m German, remember?” Ilya reminded him, grinning. “I am familiar with the legends . . .” She sobered, and asked, “And if it’s the other sword?”
“. . . Then, there’s a good chance that we’ll be dealing with Sakura and Angra Mainyu all over again, on a bigger scale,” he said heavily. “A literally much, much bigger scale . . .”
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
Oooh, that was quick. And a long chapter too, we are blessed!
Hm. Heart of Winter is... acting on its own? It has some relation to Ymir's will, so it acting independently makes sense I guess (it obviously has a will if it can manipulate minds). Might be Apneic Beauty, since it seems invulnerable (since we Prisma Ilya in here), though that particular effect might kill the homunculi inside, depending on if they need air. Poor Darnic with his second-string Masters. Gordes "the most gentlemanly of ambassadors". Uh huh.
We got a call with Ilya, cool! I always love how I have to work a bit to catch everything going on in these conversations. He made Shirou upset when he apparently died after the entire Spira thing? Making fun of everyone having difficult-to-pronounce names, excellent. I don't quite understand how to interpret "In that sense, at least, you fit the pattern". "I'm afraid you're on your own" meaning the family only exists in this universe, then cross-referencing with "just like the rest of us" referring to their lack of knowledge, and "the pattern" being how he's an interdimensional outsider with meta knowledge? That makes sense. It's also possible to interpret "I'm afraid you're on your own" as "I don't know the answer", then the cross-reference still works, but the the pattern part makes less sense. "But then, why-" is referring to how she's calling him out in an oblique (and thus kinda snippy) manner?
Really like how we're now juggling 3 major artifacts, with the Sword, Heart, and Grail. Chaos ensues, probably. Feels a bit like we have too many characters, in that some of the reference additions, like Touko, Mash, and Olga, feel like they're just there as "look, I'm a reference!", since they haven't had much of a role yet. Mash is making me go "but WHY Mash?", apart from best eggplant being adorable (and road trips, and video games, but I'd like to see her do something other than be cute background with Erik). Might be Magical Girl Olga that's important, and Mash is just the logical servant choice, but that seems unlikely. Not calling out Shishou here because she doesn't really need much of a role beyond being Lancer, and Rin/Archer are deployed from Grail Works, plus are actually doing things. That's kind of a consequence of anything Apocrypha-related, though, especially since you kind of have to fill in the Red masters if you're doing something with them, given 5 of them are nonentities in canon. And introducing OCs for those would probably be worse.
I'll admit, I enjoy the chapter, as well.
As for your statements... it's definitely acting off of SOME form of programming, as you've all read. If it's to "Hole up until Frost Giants can find it" or "Something else" however, no one really knows. And it's rather hard to figure out in Scion: Ragnarok, as well. We've got it planned out, but it's very much a surprise for the end game of the story.
As for Illyasviel, yeah, Kurai/Godafrid really did manage to piss off the Grail Works with the whole "HE DIED?!" bit there. As for her chatting with him. Of course she's pissed. This is the same Illyasviel that thought ripping her brother's mind and soul out of his body, and stuffing it into a DOLL, as punishment for her father abandoning her for HIM, was a good idea. She might love her little brother, and tease him for being bigger than her, by calling him big brother/onii-chan... but that doesn't mean she can't be one evil little lady when she wants to be.
As for the artifacts... yeah, it's a mess. But Godafrid only NOW realizes how dangerous the sword missing could be. That sword's a nasty piece of work, there.
You WILL be getting more of Mash, etc. etc., however. In order... best eggplant/kouhai is going to be in the battlefield soon enough, along with Mordred, and the others... barring MHXX, and sometimes Archer. Erik's going to be more on the sidelines for a bit designing, construction, and figuring out several things. Add in having to give Ruby the same upgrades as Sapphire is getting... you get it, I think. As for why... well, you'll start to see MORE of how she interacts with things, after my next chapter, which should be done Saturday. More "Foushadowing"! Mwahaha. Seriously, though, we have plans involving her.
As for Kairi and Touko, right now they're focused on getting his step daughter to be properly functional again, instead of being "barely alive and functioning". As it is, Scathach is devoting most of her skill into ensuring Kairi's daughter lives until they can get her body more functional, or replace it outright. The resurrection may have WORKED, but it was a bare thing. You will be seeing more of them, but a lot of it at first will be them bothering Erik, interacting with Servants, etc. right now, still. Especially since the Saberface is supposed to be the main character. (Oh, Mordred's going to have FUN with that...)
Olga is getting this as something akin to a rite of passage right now, in the story. She's learning to live rather than be cooped up in an ivory tower, and see WHY she needs to be a leader. So we will be seeing more of her. And considering how LITTLE we've managed to clear for the story outline, we've got a long ways to go. But at the same time, right now she's getting to see how to be a good leader, too.
All of this is relevant. Especially since tomorrow, May 24th is the 2 month mark since the story started.
To be honest with you all, we've only really covered THREE of the main story arcs so far, and it's taken us two months to get this far. You've got plenty more to read in the future, covering them and how the Anarchy in this story intertwines. Especially when some characters figure out neat tricks with some of Erik's technology, to improve plot more. *Chuckles*
Last edited by RanmaBushiko; May 24th, 2019 at 01:37 AM.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
I was wondering if I was making the previous chapters shorter - since I'm playing with the spacing a bit in-file, it's been hard to tell. Sorry about that.
Well, with an ego that big, you need to have it stroked occasionally - and my impressions ofPoor Darnic with his second-string Masters. Gordes "the most gentlemanly of ambassadors". Uh huh.FatsoGordes are that he's not really bright enough to catch any implied sarcasm. The curse of the comic-relief character . . .
Yup. I mean, I imagine Shirou taking the (apparent) death - voluntary or not - of the first person he managed to save kind of hard.We got a call with Ilya, cool! I always love how I have to work a bit to catch everything going on in these conversations. He made Shirou upset when he apparently died after the entire Spira thing?
Considering that Ilya's name isn't even remotely real (the closest equivalent, which is Russian, is their translation of "Elias"), she really doesn't have room to throw stones . . . And I hate TYPE-MOON's throwing together "foreign-sounding" names for characters possibly even more than I hate Gilgamesh; would it kill them to pick up a book of baby names, or something?Making fun of everyone having difficult-to-pronounce names, excellent.
It's actually a reference to him being the last/only member of a family, the same that can be said of Ilya (Einzbern), Shirou (Emiya), Rin (Tohsaka), Sakura (Matou), Shiki (Nanaya) . . . It's something of a common theme with TYPE-MOON protagonist characters, eh?I don't quite understand how to interpret "In that sense, at least, you fit the pattern". "I'm afraid you're on your own" meaning the family only exists in this universe, then cross-referencing with "just like the rest of us" referring to their lack of knowledge, and "the pattern" being how he's an interdimensional outsider with meta knowledge? That makes sense. It's also possible to interpret "I'm afraid you're on your own" as "I don't know the answer", then the cross-reference still works, but the the pattern part makes less sense.
"But then, why-" is referring to how she's calling him out in an oblique (and thus kinda snippy) manner?^ Basically this, yes.
Yup. One of them has a simple (not EASY, but simple) solution - but the topic hasn't come up yet. The other two, on the other hand . . .Really like how we're now juggling 3 major artifacts, with the Sword, Heart, and Grail. Chaos ensues, probably.
I know what you mean, and I/we plan to do better, because I hate that sort of thing - but we're still kind of in set-up mode.Feels a bit like we have too many characters, in that some of the reference additions, like Touko, Mash, and Olga, feel like they're just there as "look, I'm a reference!", since they haven't had much of a role yet.
. . . Wow, two dozen chapters in, and we're still in set-up mode . . . Oy vey.
Well, I suppose this is weird enough to qualify as a Singularity . . . Or the "unaltered" timeline certainly does.Mash is making me go "but WHY Mash?", apart from best eggplant being adorable (and road trips, and video games, but I'd like to see her do something other than be cute background with Erik). Might be Magical Girl Olga that's important, and Mash is just the logical servant choice, but that seems unlikely.
No, she doesn't - we were mainly looking at a quality here. We wanted someone on Karna's level, who could put up a fight in a War of this scale, and she fit the bill. Then there was the fact that she was largely compatible with Touko, and . . . *Shrugs*Not calling out Shishou here because she doesn't really need much of a role beyond being Lancer,
Exactly. Thank you for understanding.and Rin/Archer are deployed from Grail Works, plus are actually doing things. That's kind of a consequence of anything Apocrypha-related, though, especially since you kind of have to fill in the Red masters if you're doing something with them, given 5 of them are nonentities in canon. And introducing OCs for those would probably be worse.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
Now, for more plot! And people figuring some things out! But mostly plot.
Chapter 25: A Gathering of Red
The Wolfen
En route to Trifas, Romania
7:00 PM
I smile, as I lead Rin Tohsaka and Counter Guardian EMIYA through my Wolfen. Amaterasu's behind them, not that they've realized it.
"It's rather incredible, that you built such a thing." His voice comes from me, from behind.
"I agree." I smile back at them, then continue walking, leading them towards the galley. Even if the food supplies aren't perfect, we've stocked up well. "It's a pity about Servant Ruler, though. The better antidote might not be perfect, but it should burn off most of it in her system."
"Hmph. I suppose you're right. May I ask more about you, oh Norse God?" I chuckle at her words. "What?! It's not funny! I'm serious!"
I chuckle a bit more, then sigh. It's SO fun to tease Tsunderes. "You're a little Tsundere, aren't you? To be honest, I have others to brief, not just you, tonight. And then I'm going to be spending an all nighter working on fixing my Wolfen, once we hide it in a nearby Lake. Again."
"I am NOT a Tsundere!" I can hear her growling it through gritted teeth, much to my amusement.
"Then why are you proving me right, Rin Tsundere... pardon, Tohsaka."
She's clenched a fist and is shaking it at me, with a pissed off look on her face. "I AM NOT A TSUNDERE!"
"Then don't act like it, Miss Rin. At least I'm not being a pain in your ass, like your Master told me to, when I met him."
She pauses, and then starts pointing at me, twitching. "How the fuck did you MEET HIM?!"
I turn around, smiling. EMIYA looks defensive, but is trying to not grin at Rin Tohsaka's irritation and growing anger. I wondered if he'd have a sense of humor about this. Still, time to soothe the irritated Tsundere. Or maybe she's a TsunTsun? All Tsun, no dere?
"Paris. He wanted to know why the hell we lost the Heart of Winter, and to warn us about it dropping into Romania to be used by Caster of Black as a personal weapon. I dealt with Caster of Black... personally. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it before the rest of the Servants of Black nearly killed me."
Her eyes narrow. "And what the hell is the Heart of Winter?"
I sigh, and then smile wanly. "The Frost Giants from my home universe believed it could drop a 3 mile asteroid on a planet to cause Fimbulwinter: three years of pure winter, with no spring, no summer, or autumn. I don't hesitate to believe them, with how many other prophecies they found coming true in regards to us Norse Gods... As much as I dislike most of the REST of the bastards, they were still family."
She goes still, staring at me with a wide open mouth as I continue talking. "Yeah, a three-mile Asteroid of Doom being able to be summoned by it, and the bastard WENT AND SHOVED IT IN HIS GOLEM NOBLE PHANTASM that was still barely under construction. Your master warned me that if I didn't get it back by tomorrow or within the next three days, we're all fucked, well and truly utterly. Between the third and fifth, is what he said."
She flinches, silently. "Well, shit."
I nod, and then smile a bit. "I also wound up being tech support and upgrade support for Magical Ruby for you."
She twitches. "Can you put an off switch in that thing – or maybe a mute button? Please?"
"Or maybe you could destroy the design?" EMIYA's voice is heard in a growl, his eyes narrowed, and fists clenched.
"Why destroy it when I can put in shut down commands that you can use to disable functions that piss you off, Counter Guardian EMIYA?"
He pauses, going still. Much to my amusement, a look of joy appears on his face, as he basks in the glory of my presence and idea.
Then he pauses, and looks at me carefully. "What's in it for me?"
I smile. It's not a mean smile, or a cruel smile, though. "I could use a teacher for figuring out how your Reality Marble works, and I wouldn't mind looking at the swords you can create using it. I'm trying to figure out how to attune something to Legend, to give it effects or enchantments, without burning my shrunk Legend capacity away."
He pauses, humming. "That's a pretty decent deal for YOU AND ME... but it just doesn't sound quite ENOUGH..."
I smirk. "Isn't one of the guests supposed to be Touko Aozaki? Gee, and I've got a cloning machine I've been having problems with."
"You're offering me a new body." His voice is flat, but with some form of emotion behind it.
"Indeed, I am." Now, will he take it?
"Fuck yes. By all that is holy, I agree wholeheartedly. Get me out of my contract with Alaya, being a merciless killer for it, and I agree to it." I just smile, take his hand, and then shake it. That’s one down.
"Archer. Did you REALLY have to... wait – an off switch? As in a mute button for that damned thing? Make it give me a menu for selecting clothing as well, and I'm in."
I smile more, and then shake her hand, too. "I think this will be a wonderful relationship for us, you two!"
Hah. I might not be as good as my wife is at selling things to people, but I don't NEED more than Charisma to convince people to work with me. Not that I'll tell THEM that, of course...
"So, I've heard good things about your cooking, EMIYA. Would you be interested in trying my wife's fare? Perhaps some recipe swaps between you two?" I grin, as both his and Rin's eyes light up with surprise. Aww, that's cute. He's worried his abilities as a chef might be in peril from better cooking. He should be.
"I think that could be arranged, easily enough. May I ask why?" He walks, as I resume leading them towards the kitchen.
"She makes all the chefs I introduce her to, cry tears that their cooking isn't as good as hers is." I'm sure they can hear the smugness in my voice. I just don't care. "Anyways, you might be rusty, but I'm familiar enough with you, especially with someone else on the ship that you might know."
"And who would that be?" Rin's voice echoes from behind.
"Mash Kyrielight. Or ‘Mashu,’ depending on Japanese or English translations of the name."
Archer stills for a long moment. "How the fuck did SHE wind up on board?"
"Your master's master was a trolling bastard, and gave her master Magical Sapphire."
"So I have to deal with BOTH OF THEM NOW?!"
"You don't get it. She got the PROTOTYPE." I let them both hear the smugness in my voice. "And who's the only divine engineer you know that can ensure they can be less of a pain for you again?"
He breathes out, and then sighs. "You . . . Still, those things tend to make my life hell. Stupid Class Cards summoning my mind and not..."
"Your mind, hmm? Anything I should know about?"
"I DON'T want to talk about it, Rin. You'll need all your Command Seals to get that information out of me, and I'll kill myself before bringing it up willingly."
She pauses, and then sighs. "Fine. Now where's the-" She pauses her words, as we come into the Galley, even as Mash leads in Kairi Sisigou, Touko Aozaki, Mordred, and – is that Scathach?
I wave, then pause at Mash blinking before approaching.
"Who is this?"
"I'm Servant Archer... of Red, apparently. It's been a while since Chaldea, Mash."
She pauses, and then blinks slowly. "That armor... The one who always hated his name?!"
I glance back, at EMIYA slowly nodding, while she studies him, her eyes narrowed.
"Something on your mind, Mash?" Olga's words echo from where she's getting a soda. "You look like you're thinking a lot!"
"Archer... why do you look so much like when Sempai is born female?!"
Archer pauses, Rin blinks, and I go still, thinking about it.
"Scylla? Could we get a comparison from our own versions of history, get a side by side view of EMIYA here, and Mash's Master, from what data files we salvaged?"
"On it, boss!"
One of the screens light up, showing Shirou Emiya, and Ritsuka Fujimura, side by side.
"Did you ever get any of your female Sempai's past, Mash?" I glance at her, still studying things intently.
"Eh? They look so much alike... they look like they could be siblings! Is that why you're asking, Mash? Though, this looks like cartoons... wait. That boy looks like that guy that just came in? Interesting! Is there anime based on us...?" Olga's voice is quiet, but a bit confused, and eager. I can hear my wife move over to talk with with her.
"Sempai said that he was adopted... but... in the timelines where she was adopted... she was young, and was left with a relative to babysit so she could go to a theme park with them, since her parents couldn't afford both their children to go... she kept her last name, in case her brother survived, but he never found her..." Mash sounds hesitant.
"May I ask, what her brother's name was... Mash?"
Mash goes still, studying Archer. "Shirou. Shirou Fujimura."
Archer goes more still, even as he thinks. "Any relation to Taiga or Raiga Fujimura?"
"Eh? No, none. They were planning on moving to a new city, then most of it burned down on them, from what Sempai said... for the female versions..."
I breathe out, slowly, before glancing at a wide-eyed Rin. Then, I breathe out, and walk over to both Kairi and Touko. "Erik Ulricson. Norse God, sealed to be a demigod due to divinity not working the same way here in this universe. Willing to sign a Geas to not tell about my origins, so long as I'm in this universe? I'd rather not get dissected by the Mage's Association, or Atlas, or any other organizations."
"If you're willing to help us out, in turn, we'll be happy to." Kairi speaks up, quickly. "We need help in stabilizing my daughter's new body."
I glance between him and Touko Aozaki, raising an eyebrow, before nodding. "That's fair."
"Zelretch also mentioned we could get cloning technology out of you, for helping you out." Touko speaks up next. "It's how we gained our truck."
I pause, thinking for a moment over the necessary details, before slowly nodding. "It'll be heavy, but that's likely why he gave you that truck... I can give you the equipment, but you'll have to help me iron out the issues with the equipment before we can say it works perfectly. I've promised Mash, also known as Servant Shielder, as well as Archer, Counter Guardian EMIYA, new bodies from it. It won't do to not fulfill that promise, first..."
They blink, glance at them, before Touko nods. "Fair enough. We'll sign a Geas to it... though we wouldn't mind knowing HOW you're in this universe."
I pause, before pulling out some pamphlets I made on the subject and distributing them, then leaving more for everyone to freely take.
Then I glance back at Rin, who’s looking smug – time to poke the Tsundere button again. "Oh, right. Before I forget to mention it, Rin Tohsaka?" She blinks, and glances up at me. "Would you care to let me have a chat with that lady you and Godafrid are in contact with, Illyasviel? Perhaps tomorrow, say at noon?"
She goes wide eyed, and very still. "How the hell do you know about..." Her voice echoes for a moment, before she goes quiet.
"Seriously, my bugs cover a good two thirds of the country, and we're hearing everything said in it." I just study her, for a long moment.
"Oh. Crap, she's going to kill me, isn't she?" Her voice is quiet.
"Depends on how nice she feels, and how scary I am, I suppose." She glowers at me after my reply, before she sighs, and puts her face in her palms. "Technology should be a curse word! Argh!"
"Isn't ‘tech’ short for technology? Just use that as a four-letter swear word." Archer sounds bemused.
I smirk at his words, “‘Tech’ as a four-letter curse word? I could get behind that..."
She twitches at me, before sighing. "Fine... I'll let her know, and maybe we can figure more things out."
I nod, before smiling as my wife comes in, along with this universe's version of my mother-in-law, food in tow.
Rin studies her a bit, but I can see MHXX as well as Scathach jerk up in surprise. MHXX then proceeds to obviously STARE, even through her armor.
"... Um, Sensei? Why do you have HER as a Servant?" Her voice is somewhat freaked out.
"Honestly? I was trying to contact this universe's version of my mother- in-law through my beautiful wife's copy of the Yata no Kagami. Then she looked back through the mirror, and suddenly we had my mother in law Amaterasu, possessing one of her incarnation's... Tails?"
"Indeed, Son-in-Law."
I nod to my mother in law, smiling, then glance back at her while Scathach just blinks, repeatedly.
"I could use good alcohol, and I've heard you have some on board."
"Not a problem, Lady Scathach. You're a bit different than the version of you from my universe, I'll admit."
She pauses, blinking, then turns to jerk her head straight at me. "Oh?"
I chuckle a bit, while sending some Legion of Coal units to grab the booze she wants. "I tracked my universe's version down to get out of her the secrets to a proper Geas oath. Took a couple years to figure it out, I'll admit."
She tilts her red eyes, studying me. "How was I different?"
I muse, thinking. "Unlike this universe, you weren't stuck in your Terra Incognita. It looks like rather than being simply hard to access, this universe makes them impossible to leave without help. Would you like advice for how to counter that?"
She smiles and nods. I smile as well.
"So, before we all settle down to eat, I'll give you all the basics of what I told Godafrid earlier. In moving from my home universe to this one, due to the planet Earth being rendered lifeless... and my Mars colony I was working on at the time being approached by the same clusterfuck that that effectively wiped out all life on earth; we had to jump ship out of the universe as quick as we could. And in mid-transit, the Heart of Winter, the last great Creation of the Titan Ymir, had a failsafe go off in it, leaving it dimensionally moving out of my ship towards Earth."
I watch them blink, while Rin goes still, letting them think this over.
"When we arrived in this universe, we did so at Mars. It's not been an easy journey back here, and was rather quite draining. We teamed up with Zelretch, who told us point blank that Caster of Black had found the Heart of Winter, and shoved it into his Noble Phantasm, a giant golem of some sort, and would be activating it either tomorrow, the Third, or the Fifth of this month."
"May I ask what this Heart of Winter is supposed to do?" Touko's voice interjects, before I simply nod.
"I'll admit, I should have said that up front. The Heart of Winter was prophesied by the Frost Giants, to bring about Fimbulwinter. They believed it could drop a 3-mile chunk of ice on the planet, to cause a new ice age."
I watch every Master and Servant in the room not already in the know go white.
"And... it's not a joke? It's not bullshit?" Rin's voice is finally shaking with fear, right now. "Oh fuck, I went and got myself into another possibly world-ending cataclysm, didn't I? Damn it, Zelretch!"
I glance at her, and then rub my forehead. "Let's put it this way. I stuffed that thing into a sword to hide it. The shit that destroyed the Earth in my Universe was chasing me all the way to Mars to claim it, because it believed that the Heart of Winter was the key for recreating Ymir long term. You don't have an eldritch abomination stretch from Earth to Mars to reclaim it without... ah hell. Scylla? Pull up a picture of what we saw, please."
I watch them stare at an image on each Television within the dining hall, wide eyed and going still, as they can see 2/3rds of the sky filled with purple, approacing Mars.
"When that chases you all the way to Mars for it, you know it's valuable, and above all, that IT SHOULD NOT GET IT. And I didn't want to give it to that thing."
I sigh, slowly, rubbing my forehead. "Sorry. It's been a long few days... After I got to Trifas, I immediately went after Caster of Black, to reclaim the Heart of Winter. I went in, assassinated everything that got in my way, tried to bargain with him, and when he refused to talk things out, I killed him. Then I warned his Master of the dangers of what he and his Servant had, locked in the basement, before getting assaulted by all but one or two of their remaining Servants. Getting out sucked, and trying to get back in to find and retrieve the Heart of Winter after that proved... difficult."
I sigh, taking a sip of water before continuing. "In that conflict, we badly injured Archer of Black due to Amaterasu, my mother in-law's, efforts. But we've still got a planet-killing device under there. Even if the Servants and Masters of Black are freaking out, and realizing how dangerous their situation now is."
I rub my forehead, before leaning back in my chair. "And then we have Assassin of Red, and her Master, who tried to outright MURDER Servant Ruler, and hurt Archer of Red, EMIYA, here."
I glance at each Servant, thinking. Hmm, that's an idea . . .
"Saber of Red, you're Mordred, the Heir of King Arthur Pendragon, are you not?"
The eyes in the armor narrow, before the helmet pops off. "I am, even if my father did not respect me."
I study the effeminate face, thinking, and then nod. "Well, you're a Saber for good reason. But are you good with driving cars, or trucks?"
She nods, smirking. "Hell yes."
I pause for a beat before grinning. "Do you like the Truck that Zelretch got off me, for to give your Master?"
She grins outright, now. "Fuck yes."
My own grin widens. "Want to drive one of my few spares, while chasing down Assassin of Red, with some other Servants?"
She grins. "Hell yes – I like you already! Hey, Master! Let's make sure to not get this guy on our bad side, huh? He makes nifty things, and I love all of them!"
I smile back, then pause, thinking. "Any skills or things I should know of?"
She looks at her master, and when he nods, she smiles. "I'm male. Call me by the right pronouns, will you? And as for my skills...I can store power in Clarent, then turn it into lightning, as well as use prana to push myself forwards really fast!"
I pause, musing. I have so many IDEAS for that it isn't even funny... Wait. “... Have you seen Star Wars yet, Mordred?"
She thinks for a moment, before shaking her head slowly.
I grin, widely. "I finally figured out how to make something straight out of it, so I think, while I'm getting repairs done tonight, I'll put all the movies on for you to watch in our built in cinema. I think you'll like the ideas, once you realize what I built."
She tilts her head, blinking at me.
I smile widely. "You'll see. You'll LIKE the lightsaber I built, though.”
Mordred tilts her head, blinking. "That a pretty impressive achievement?"
I continue smiling, and nod. "Even if it only has 5 real swings in it right now, it's still capable of cutting through anything from the sheer heat the blade puts out."
She tilts her head, blinking. "How hot?"
I pause, muttering, then look it up. "Roughly the same amount a lightning bolt normally puts out, right now. If you're immune to magically-made lightning, then you should be immune to the heat from THIS as well."
She blinks, before smiling a bloodthirsty grin. "And you want me to cut out Assassin of Red's heart with it or something?"
I nod, smiling the exact same way. "Indeed."
She grins, before turning to her Master. "Oi, Master! We need to stick with this one! HE HAS THE BEST STUFF EVER! Merlin wasn't as good at making neat stuff!"
I'm the only one, I suspect, that notices Fou nodding to Mordred's words. Hmmm... That gives me ideas – if Fou's that smart...
My thoughts are interrupted by Scathach trying some of the Dwarven Ale, then smiling widely.
"Erik, right?" I glance up, before nodding in acknowledgment. "The Norse Gods are famous for their mead, and for their drinking. Care to put that to a test with a drinking contest?"
I laugh, grinning. "Certainly! After everyone that doesn't want to join in and try finishes eating, and goes to bed, we can definitely do one!"
My work on the other stuff I need to do can wait until tomorrow morning.
After 23 mugs of Mead, Dwarven Ale, and Sake, she passes out. Not shots, mugs. But I smile, victorious over her in the drinking contest.
Ahh. My bullshit stamina, how I love thee. Wait. That gives me an idea...!
I smile, then toast each Servant, irregardless of if they're with me, while drinking down mugs of mead, just like that one Knack requires...With a flourish, right? Right. A toast's gotta be SOME kind of flourish!
Five drinks of that, leaves my head woozy, as the room starts spinning. And then I pass out, in my half drunk 6th drink.
Author's Notes:
Erik remembered his knack involving drinking! It was super effective! Or at least, it was effective enough to help with his Legend regeneration. Raise Your Glass is almost broken if you play as a Norse Alcoholic. As for why it isn't, you have to not use Epic Stamina to let it take effect.
As you can see by the rolls, Erik did REALLY well in holding his Alcohol until he just botched the roll entirely, and passed out right into his mug. Luckily for him, Scylla noticed his face in his mug, and got someone to pull his face out of the booze before he could drown in it.
8D10E8 => 4 | 10s: 1
8D10E8 => 4 | 10s: 2
8D10E8 => 3 | 10s: 2
8D10E8 => 3 | 10s: 1, ones: 2
8D10E8 => 3 | 10s: 1, ones: 2
8D10E8 => 1 | ones: 3
End of Day Legend
1/64 Legend. 21 Legend due to follower's prayers. -10 for Amaterasu as a Servant, daily cost. +5 Legend from Raise your Glass
17/64 Legend.
Last edited by RanmaBushiko; May 26th, 2019 at 07:58 PM.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Another chapter, nice. Lots of cooperation going on.
Probably should be "Tsunderes", since it's not possessive, and the second one shouldn't be capitalized unless you're using it as a noun, rather than an adjective. (that is "a little Tsundere" means that she is little, and a tsundere, while "a little tsundere" is more "has some tsundere traits"). Also Lake being capitalized feels weird.I chuckle a bit more, then sigh. It's SO fun to tease Tsundere's. "You're a little Tsundere, aren't you? To be honest, I have others to brief, not just you, tonight. And then I'm going to be spending an all nighter working on fixing my Wolfen, once we hide it in a nearby Lake. Again."
Hehe, TsunTsun. Accurate. No questions asked about "before the rest of the Servants of Black", I guess they did see Erik fighting already.
Heheh, love this turn of phrase. "Reality Marble Works" should probably not have capitalized Works. I'm not sure that everyone should understand what Legend is and what it means, considering they have no frame of reference for it, so it might make sense for Erik to use some analogous term. (I.e. enchanting for weapons).as he basks in the glory of my presence and idea.
Always interesting to see EMIYA motivations. A clone probably gets that instance of him out of contract (well, it extends his incarnation to a normal lifespan) but probably he's still on the Throne and so forth. Still a very nice opportunity to have a life. To be fair to Erik, he actually does have very good offers here, so he barely needs Charisma beyond not seeming like he's lying about his capabilities. I don't recall how good Tamamo's cooking is without Beni-ema's training, but she's up there, and being a (former) proper goddess probably helps. Smug Erik is smug.
I'm a bit confused about why EMIYA hates Sapphire so much, I don't recall her being such a pain. Ruby is awful, and we know it, but Sapphire hasn't proven that much trouble, unless it's just about getting Installed in general.
I'm VERY confused about the timelines here. F/SN takes place in 2004, Shirou gets adopted around 1994, and F/GO takes place in somewhere around 2016-2018 for first arc. Assuming Ritsuka has memories, they must be at least 4 in 1994. Therefore by 2016, they'd be 26. That seems... older than is usually implied in game.
Rin's response to technology is pretty standard for her. That Blu-ray player was a pretty big problem for her. Interesting how the Isle of Skye counts as Terra Incognita in Scion (I was going to ask what that was, then remembered it's a fatebinding thing). I'm a bit surprised Mordred specifically calls out being male, since Erik didn't misgender him in dialog (though he did in description). Wooo, we're getting use out of the lightsaber!
That is a LONG drinking contest. What's the alcohol content of Dwarven Ale? Mead is wine-level, sake is similar, maybe a bit higher, so I'm not sure if they'd be something you drink in shots. Maybe sake. I also don't think Raise your Glass is supposed to work like that, with the "Once per scene" restriction, but okay.
Let's see now... yeah, I'll change it to Tsunderes.
He wasn't wearing a body cam, but with all the tiny microphones, etc. watching? There's footage. Maybe not GREAT footage, but footage. Hilariously enough, there's also footage of him and his friend's fight against SURTR from the original universe. And the fight against Jormungandr.
I'll also change Works to lower case, and make the edit.
Tamamo... got STUPIDLY good at cooking. Most games limit the skill cap to 5. We didn't.
With Emiya, it hints at WHY he hates them when he references Class cards. Gee. I wonder why he hates them and class cards so much?
As for Ritsuka... I've judged that she'd be a year old when the fire happened. I still have a single memory from when I was a toddler, pulling myself up using a blanket on a bed, then crawling around it, and looking out a screen door, myself. So a single memory of playing with her brother would be simple enough. (Plus, some kids get on free for airlines, buses, theme parks, etc when they're that young. So it FITS pretty well.)
With Rin and technology, Kieran's had some issues with technology, too. "Tech should be a four letter word" is one of his favorite things to say.
As for dwarven ale... it's not actually SAID, unfortunately. As for the "Once per scene" restriction... One, he's in a new universe, with much different rules. The scene rules are a little more iffy here, compared to the solid deal they were in his home universe. Two, we didn't have that restriction when Kieran ran the Scion game, so I didn't even think of it.
On a side note, you're finally seeing less of Erik, as he finally moves to be a background character, and more of the rest of the Red faction, at least from my chapters. There might be SOME politics, but it's going to be more background politics, him announcing discoveries over the intercoms, etc.
He needs to get back to work on repairs, after all, and building neat stuff.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
More or less. The actual quote is "'Tech' is a four-letter word for a reason!"
. . . I usually end up saying this at least once a game session.
This is true. As long as they made the rolls to take it, I let them get away with it. If it helps, the entire contest is basically an extended stunt, so it should work out just fine.Two, we didn't have that restriction when Kieran ran the Scion game, so I didn't even think of it.
“Love will be cruel to who it entices — love will have its sacrifices.”
— Carmilla Theme
"Evil isn't the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it's a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference."
―Jim Butcher, Vignette
I hate to bug you and your buddy, Kieran, but when are you two going to update the story? Is it going to be once a week between chapters?
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
*ahem* This post was originally going to be a stupid duplicate of my prior post. I apologize for that. My problem is that I have a crappy laptop right now... ouch.
Anyway, how much of the story's plan did you get outlined, exactly?
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
We're CLOSE to being done. I finally got my next chapter written up, and he's proofreading it right now. Though, if the proofreading goes too long, I'll be busy for about an hour, or so, around 6 my time (4:45 my time right now). As for why, real life interfered, and it's 6,400 words. With heavy, HEAVY formatting.
MHXX speaks in bold, from her armor altering her voice. A third of my chapter has her talking. It's not exactly EASY to make all that bold.
As for why it takes so long? We're in a D&D game together that someone else is doing, on Fridays. Add in a lot of other things on my end, and on his end... well, real life isn't always easy to deal with. On a relevant note, I tend to leave him chapter chunks before I fall asleep, for him to read and look over. He didn't get it at all this morning until I logged on just 30 minutes ago.
We've got the bulk of the events outlined, though not the firm details on which Servants will fight WHERE or WHEN, so we can decide on where things will go for better effect, and better explosions. We do have it nailed down for how injuries will occur, though, and who gets taken out of the fighting, or killed, where.
We also talk out about WHY a Servant might die, and if they're likely to survive it, or hold on for a bit longer, even when they shouldn't.
Edit:
It looks like he's too tired to finish proofreading, and writing his side of things, so he's going to go to sleep.
If anyone wants to give questions for the interludes, go ahead and write them up. I'll try to write something up, but I need some questions for Shirou to ask Sakura/Semiramis.
Last edited by RanmaBushiko; June 2nd, 2019 at 11:15 PM.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
Important question came up... how much of the Sakura/Semiramis situation did you explain in the appropriate interludes?
- - - Updated - - -
...again? It gave me the duplicate post error a second time! Ugh...
Xamusel's Fanfiction Profile
For those that don't necessarily care if my fics aren't all Type-Moon related.
Hmm... this is a bit of a surprise these days.
An archive of my works on the forum that's pretty accurate.
Note that I don't wish to be seen as an idiot any longer. I can't always promise better works than before, but I can sure as hell try, alright?
Don't you hate that?
Last interlude, is the one you've first met her. I haven't written another since, since there's not really been any concrete questions, just rather vague questions, as well as working on keeping up with the main story line.
You can read it here.
Keep in mind that Sakura Ulricsonr Frostdóttir is very much a monster in these interludes, one much like all demigods, and Gods that the Titans get their hands on. But at the same time, opting to join or not join her, in the end, won't effect the eventual ending.
It will, however, affect certain paths the side story can go in, as well as certain perspectives you get to see before the interludes are done, showing the original timeline.
I'm starting to suspect that talking with Kieran influences my rolls on Fate/Grand Order Heavily. How else can you explain me talking with him, then rolling for 30, only to get 3 Archer of Shinjuku on my second ten roll?
I write like Douglas Adams. Proof: http://iwl.me/s/696f37bd
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