Originally Posted by
BnEl15
Alright, I'll go first, though I wish there'll be more reader participation here.
-A brief google search of "Antardhana Astra" led me to this "Maharaja Vijitasva" guy. The fact that "Antardhana" means disappearance also fits well with Archer using the Noble Phantasm to "disappear" from battle. Admittedly I'm not well-versed in Hindu/Indian mythology, and there's very little info on the guy, but it might still be worth discussing.
-For our robo-zerker, maybe look up someone who had a stiff and robot-like disposition in life (operates with cold logic, barely displays emotions, etc.) or something inhuman, like a golem, automaton, or godly creation like Enkidu.
Nothing else really comes to mind, so I hope there'll be other readers who could come up with other theories or noticed some things I missed.
You were about to yell at everybody to go chase down Maria and Archer but then you got a good look at everybody's condition. Anhur was panting like a dog barely able to stand, this was the most magecraft she had ever used in her short life and she had to provide Rider with enough power to fight on par with that monster Archer.
Caster wasn't doing so hot either. Despite the command seal he was running on fumes, he would probably be hard pressed to summon a pack of lions much less a phantasmal that could fight with Archer.
Rider was, well he looked absolutely fine. In fact he looked happier than he had looked since his summoning except maybe when he and Anhur were playing heavy metal in the penthouse. That was one good thing about this battle, Rider will probably fight with you now.
You yourself aren't feeling too hot either. The adrenaline rush is starting to wear off and you're feeling the effects of the night. You have spend far too much magic and the electrical burns from Maria's first attack are beginning to really hurt. "Alright everyone lets pack it up. We're in no shape to fight now."
Caster gives an audible sigh of relief. "Thank Bast! I really need a cat nap." And he went into his spiritual form.
Anhur gave a smile. "As you wish Naunet. I will call us a cab."
Break
The group collectively collapsed when they made it to the living room. Caster even returned to physical form to take up an entire loveseat with his body and started sketching in his book. Rider chuckled at you all and went into the kitchen to prepare a meal. "Anhur you mentioned earlier that enjoyed vegan curry right? Is that because you are vegan yourself or would a beef curry be to your liking?"
"I do not have a particular preference when it comes to eating animal products. I will be pleased to eat beef curry." You roll your eyes at the display. It seems the two had gotten closer than you had thought when you were at the Church.
"Putting aside food for now we have to gather the data we have gathered from the other servants tonight. The Holy Grail War is an information game and if we can deduce any of our opponents' true names we will have an advantage."
"If we are compiling our data then we should start with those we know the most about, Archer and Lancer."
"That's right Anhur, we saw those two unleash their Noble Phantasms. While the Brahamastra isn't the most exclusive Noble Phantasm it does narrow down their location to Indian Myth."
"Nyaat to mention that Archer used a second Noble Phantasm to escape from the fight, the Antardhana Astra." Caster added. "That seems like an Astra that isn't very widely used by the Indian heroes unlike the Brahamastra. I'm sure narrowing that down will give us a better idea for what Archer is. I'm betting on either Karna or Rama if that level of strength was holding back." You clench your fists at the reminder that apparently Archer, and Rider, were holding back when they were performing at a level above what you believe Caster could.
"That seems unlikely." Anhur said drawing your attention. "Karna was also known for Kavacha and Kundala, golden armor and earnings made from the sun that rendered him invincible. In addition this servant drew power from water to increase the destructive force of his arrows something that does not mesh well with the idea of the child of the sun god."
That was right. You could not forget the water basis of his powers. That would also act as a way to narrow down the suspects.
"As for Rama, while I do not disagree that he would have access to these powers he was said to be a proud king who wouldn't resort to any underhanded tactics. While I understand the actual person can differ from the recorded texts I would not expect the king of Kosala to hide his true power."
Anhur made a good point. "Okay, we can remove Karna from the list and Rama will be at the bottom of our candidates. However we still have Antardhana to look at. I'll get my computer and google who could have that Astra."
"No need." Anhur said before you could get up. "Back at Atlas I was programmed with encyclopedic knowledge of history and mythology. There were two users of Antardhana that are can be mentioned. The first was the hero of the endowed Arjuna. He used the Antardhana in a demonstration of his power. He also used the Varuna to generate water which could account for the water enhanced arrows."
"Arjuna." You say worriedly. "If that is our enemy I really don't like our odds. Who is the other possibility?"
That would be Maharaja Vijitasva. He was a king who saw the god Indra steal horses from his father. However as Vijitasva was a pious man he believed that Indra has a good reason for doing this. Moved by his faith Indra gifted him with the name Antardhana and the ability to disappear at will."
"Could Antardhana have used this Varuna you mentioned Arjuna could?"
"No there is no mention of Antardhana using any other astra other than the one he was named after. However I believe that he is more likely to be the true identity of Archer than Arjuna."
"Why?"
"Despite being able to use the Varuna to create water it is a small part of Arjuna's legend, barely mentioned in a single passage. Meanwhile his most recognized weapon was the Agni Gandiva, a bow given to him by the god of flames Agni. Even if he was trying to hide his identity he should not have been able to completely divorce his Saint Graph from the fire of Agni to use the Varuna. It would be similar to Caster summoning a dog rather than a cat."
Caster bared his teeth at Anhur. "Don't even joke about that. I would never betray my friends like that!"
You stifle a giggle from Caster's antics. "Calm down. Nobody thinks you would actually do that." Caster backed off and went back to drawing. "But even if we can rule out Arjuna if Antardhana couldn't control water, or wasn't said to use the Brahamastra how could he be our Archer?"
"Well even though he was not recorded to have the skills Archer displayed that doesn't necessarily mean anything. In life Caster was not recorded to be able to summon Knights of the Round Table and Rider able to control flames." As if summoned by his master saying his name Rider arrived holding two plates of Beef curry.
He gave on to Anhur then sat down next to her with his own plate. "Anhur is right. While heroic spirits are very much tied to the tales told about us we can still have hidden skills that weren't recorded in life. My contractor may be right and this Antardhana might be Archer." He then took a bite of his curry and grinned. "Wow I really outdid myself this time!"
You don't fail to notice that he didn't bring you or Caster a plate. You also don't fail to notice that Anhur doesn't offer you any before digging in herself. "Wow this is amazing Rider! How did you make something so amazing!?"
Rider laughed it off. "Oh it wasn't that impressive. All I did was get a recipe from the internet. This modern age is so convenient!"
You clear your throat getting their attention. "We still have three more servants to discuss. Next on the list is Lancer. She's an Indian hero like Archer, but I couldn't tell if they knew each other or not from their legends so that won't help narrow it down. What does help though is that Lancer was using a club and not a spear. Are there any Indian heroes that used a club specifically. Oh!" You quickly remember the hand to hand comabt she engaged in. "And any that were known for wrestling techniques."
Anhur took another bite of her curry and thought about it for a moment. "There are two that come to mind. One is the Pandava brother Bhima. He was said to wield a club and had the strength of ten thousand elephants."
"Hmmm." You think hard on this. "Ignoring the fact Bhima was recorded as a man Lancer doesn't seen particularly strong physically. Against Saber she had to rely on her technique to fight Saber. Who is the second?"
"Duryodhana, the mortal enemy of the Pandavas and leader of the Kauravas. He was said to be Bhima's greatest rival with a feud that started since they were children. He was considered the greatest wielder of the mace the world had ever known and was only defeated by an illegal move during mace combat with Bhima."
"I'm not sure what to think. We don't have much on Lancer other than she's from India and wields a club. Caster any thoughts?" You turn to your servant who doesn't even look up.
"Heck if I know. I mean Bradán was completely lying about Lancer being Percival, but why would he do that knowing that her Noble Phantasm would just completely reveal the lie. He had to know Archer would use Brahamastra if they had fought before, he didn't seem shy about using them. Something weird is going on and I cat figure out what it is."
That was a surprisingly insightful look at the situation from Caster. You turn to the other to get their opinions. Rider is more interested in his curry than the conversation but Anhur agreed. "Alright then. So we can put down that we have no idea about Lancer but Bhima and Duryodhana are our biggest options. Next on the list is Saber. From the sword I think we can all agree Samurai."
"That is correct, I also noted that she seemed close to unleashing her Noble Phantasm at one point. Did she say anything that would give a clue to her true identity during that?"
You repeat what you can remember of the words Saber said. "I can't think of anything in particular about those words relating to samurai, do you Anhur?"
"Something to do with storms and sisters. I am afraid I can't come up with anything specific. There are many tales of samurai saving groups of sisters but the storm may refer to the storm god susanoo. It could be possible that Saber is one of the Japanese emperors who held the Kusanagi as one of the Imperial Regalia which was obtained by the storm god while saving a group of sisters."
"An emperor." You ruminate on that. "That sounds good to me. If we use that to narrow our search then getting even the slightest sliver of extra information could give us Saber's true identity." You smile. You have gained some very impressive information during this last battle. Not only that but Caster's identity was useless to the other masters as his powers seemed to be out of the bounds of his legends and only Maria knew anything about Rider and he had barely shown off his powers. "All that is left is figuring out what the deal with that metal berserker was. How could an android even be summoned in a Holy Grail War, even if we had that sort of technology it wouldn't have enough mystery to ascend to the throne of heroes."
Rider scoffed. "Of course you would think that. Robotics isn't a new field Naunet, it is a long forgotten art. The original golem of Shem who's power began to rival that of the Hebrew God before being stopped. Or what about Talos who we created to protect the city Crete. And even if it wasn't a robot in life there are other ways for a servant to gain such a form. The skill Innocent Monster can result in a servant being shaped by public perceptions of them. Perhaps that was Issac Asimov who due to his writing was turned into one of the robots he described in such detail. You cannot limit yourself to such a weak way of thinking."
You're getting real tired of Rider's attitude but he did save you earlier and you cannot risk him choosing not to fight again. "You said the original Golem, tell me more."
"It is such a boring story. A Rabbi created a Golem in the same way that his God created Adam out of dirt and brought him to life by inscribing a variation of the name of his God in his forehead, Shem. Despite the Golem fighting to protect the town he was built in for a time eventually his power kept on growing to the point that the Rabbi feared he could no longer control it and eventually this Golem would rebel against his God. So before the creature could grow to big he erased the word that gave it life which caused the Golem to fall apart. In the end his body was stored in the attic of the church in case they ever had need of it again."
"What sort of abilities did this Golem have? Anything that could relate to the black smoke?" You ask.
"Well the Golem was said to be able to turn itself invisible and had powers over the dead. Perhaps the death powers have something to do with transferring wounds."
"Alright. Based on simply the physical parameters of Berserker being so hight that it being a modern figure who was known for being robot like or associated with them wouldn't be the case. I have a good feeling about that Golem theory but it is possible that it could be the Talos or some other ancient automaton. Anhur run down the list of servants and possible identities."
"Yes Naunet. First is Archer who we have deduced to be Maharaja Vijitasva. Next is Lancer who is currently unknown but we have the possibility of it being Bhima or Duryodhana of Indian mythology. Saber is most likely a Japanese emperor and we can narrow that down further through more interaction. Lastly is Berserker who we are tentatively calling the original Golem."
"Good. This has been a productive meeting." You begin to get up to go to the kitchen when Anhur stops you.
"Wait Naunet. Isn't there something else we need to discuss? Did you get any clues to the location of the Contract?"
"The contr-" You manage to stop yourself in time. "Of course, the reason that we came here. Unfortunately no real lead have shown themselves. I think we can rule out Maria as she knew I was an alchemist but didn't try to use the contract to force me to let her kill me."
"Very well. I am sure that with both of us looking we will find the contract in no time." You think you might hear some sort of sarcasm in her voice but you quickly dismiss it. Anhur was programmed to be nothing but loyal to you. You go to the kitchen and see the Curry Rider made and got yourself a plate. The jerk didn't offer you any even through you had burned through all the spare matter in your digestive system with the Vamperic Reactor Core.
As you eat the annoyingly good Curry you think of what to do next.
A.) Speak with Caster. Write in if you have suggestions on what to say.
B.) Speak to Anhur. Write in if you have suggestions on what to say.
C.) Speak to Rider. Write in if you have suggestions on what to say.
D.) Go to sleep. And in the morning
D.1.) Visit the church. That priest might have information on berserker's master.
D.2.) Find Bradán. He was your ally last night and it might be a good idea to figure out where you stand now,
D.3.) Find another master. After last night new alliances are to be expected. That Berserker is a powerful servant and it would be good to have powerful allies, or even to have him as an ally.
A.N. So we have had our first Servant naming session. With regards to the Golem story I did fuse together two of the more famous stories into one to make it a little easier on me. Hope ya'll liked this.
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