A private chat on a certain social network:
Flue: "Well, that's about the size of it... Let me just give you my conclusions.
"Snowfield is dangerous.
"To be honest, I want to get out as soon as I can.
"I mean, this is nothing like I was told.
"'Course, no one mixed up in magecraft would ever tell the truth unless they're forced to, but even taking that into account, it's still crazy.
"The core of the ritual's probably based on the one in Fuyuki, but its scale and its foundation have gone completely out of whack.
"First off, the Ghostliners.
"You veterans call 'em Servants. You said seven of them fought when it was in Fuyuki, right?
"Well, I tried checking with my astrology, and this in on a whole other level. There's nearly twice as many things I wouldn't want to mess with—more than twice as many, going by some disturbances in the stars that I can't tell if they’re Servants or what. I was watching the front of the hospital last night. First there was a three-headed dog, then two hundred of what looked like phantasmals showed up out of nowhere and went at it with a Heroic Spirit I'd be scared to even stare at too hard. After that the magical energy got too disturbed for me to observe anything properly.
"You better not tell me that was Cerberus and a bunch of demons. Either way, things that don't belong on this side of the world are swaggering down the main street of an American city. If this is a dream, I want to wake up. It'd take a pretty childish mage to send me a dream like this.
"Just explaining what happened after that is a pain.
"I've attached an encrypted pseudo-video recording. Use magecraft to decompress it on your end.
"But if you think it's a hoax I cooked up, that's all I've got.
"I won't get mad if you're suspicious.
"If I were in your shoes, I'd be demanding my money back and sending a curse or two right about now.
"Of course, you're not like me, so maybe you can see it a different way, Mr. Scourge of Mage Society."
El-Melloi II: "That nickname was uncalled for."
El-Melloi II: "Anyway, thank you for your report. It sounds like the situation is getting worse than I thought."
Flue: "You can say that again. I thought that crater in the desert was the worst it could get, but it's been shooting past that and dragging the whole city down to a new low twice a day."
Flue: "Anyway, what's the deal with there being too many Heroic Spirits?"
Flue: "The land here is pretty good for leylines, but from what I hear, it still doesn't measure up to Fuyuki. It doesn't make sense that more Heroic Spirits than usual got summoned in spite of that."
El-Melloi II: "They're probably priming the pump."
Flue: "Yeah?"
El-Melloi II: "The first several Heroic Spirits summoned were used as a catalyst to intentionally disturb the leylines and temporarily draw in magical energy from elsewhere in the Americas. It's a drastic measure, like inflicting damage on the body in order to stimulate an immunity."
Flue: "So, in order to summon seven Ghostliners, they summoned and sacrificed another six? They used those crazy Ghostliners as a catalyst like you'd use chicken blood? Isn't that a bit too out there to believe?"
El-Melloi II: "In order to push seven pendulums to the fore, they shoved...probably five or six pendulums into them from behind. Ordinarily, that would only move an equal number of pendulums, like a Newton's cradle, but the supervisors who shaped the land simply have to add enough power to push the seventh pendulum. Now that the first set of Heroic Spirits have served their purpose, they will probably be absorbed into the land over time in order to preserve the balance."
Flue: "That's not a pretty thought. I only half believed what you told me, but I bet that guy in the shiny gold armor really is the Akkadian King of Heroes. The instant I took a look at his star through a far-seeing spell, my head spun and I thought it was going to scramble my brains. They must be out of their minds if they're using up someone like that as disposable kindling—not even material for the Grail."
El-Melloi II: "Exactly. It's hardly what you'd call a sane idea, regardless of whether you're talking about mages or about people who have nothing to do Mystery. Such methods speak to a group with disdain for Mystery as such. That's who you ought be calling a 'scourge.'"
Flue: "Are you really one to talk when you're analyzing Mystery over instant messages, even if they are private?"
El-Melloi II: "At present, fewer mages devote their efforts to spiriton hacking than to communication via magecraft. Any method carries risks, but given the limits of my abilities, this is probably the safer option. Even if it is intercepted and read, any ordinary person will assume it's some kind of joke and there's no need to hide it from anyone who's already on our side. In fact, the more serious any proper mage is about concealing Mystery, the harder they'll work to erase those ridiculous reports for us."
Flue: "Would any mage really care about talk like that?"
El-Melloi II: "Well, that will change in a few more years. The handheld devices called 'smart phones' that have begun to appear on the market recently will probably become common enough to have an influence even on mage society. As the danger of Mystery being recorded increases, methods of secrecy will have to change. It could end up being easier to seed dummy stories and label everything fake news. That's all the more reason I want to avoid a needlessly large-scale ritual like this creating holes."
Flue: "You talk as much as always. Or I guess 'type' in this case. I can't believe you can run off a wall of text like that in under a minute. You're not working some kind of magecraft I can't catch in with all those letters, are you?"
El-Melloi II: "You give me too much credit. The games I play for fun sometimes require exchanging condensed information quickly."
El-Melloi II: "Besides, I could never incorporate a concealed formula of such a high level that you wouldn't notice. Still, even online and in writing, the way you talk doesn't change."
Flue: "I'm not used to it. And using your real name as a screen name is actually a reference issue. It'd suck to slip up and poison yourself with your own curses."
Flue: "Well, anyway, I'm going to poke around here a little more and then get out when the going gets rough. Everyone who tries to leave gets hit with some weird curse and comes back under mind control, but I'll do a reading to find wherever the curse is thinnest."
El-Melloi II: "Sorry. I'm truly grateful that you were already in the city."
El-Melloi II: "I managed to make contact with one of the masterminds—the chief of police—and form a temporary alliance, but I was only able to get partial information out of him. Based on what he told me, it's likely that he hasn't been informed of everything that's going on either. That what makes your objective information so helpful."
Flue: "Oh, I just came 'cause I thought there might be some nice jobs on offer. A magecraft-using mercenary has to be quick on the draw if he wants to keep himself fed. Putting you in my debt ended up being the most profitable choice. You're a real lifesaver."
Flue: "...Just asking, but there won't be any other Lords heading out here, will there?"
El-Melloi II: "That won't happen. Old Rufleus of the School of Spiritualism is currently away from the Clock Tower on business, but he isn't the type to visit the scene in person. Even if something did go wrong over there, he would only shrug that 'matters have merely reached their natural conclusion.' Although he does appear to take some interest in Ghostliners."
Flue: "Good. It's enough to know that there won't be any more dangerous people showing up in this town. As it is, it's so full of people in my line of work that I've got to be careful not to tip my hand."
Flue: "Speaking of which, one of my colleagues who's made a bit of a name for himself in Asia is apparently participating as a Master. Well, he's still a rookie compared to the real experts...but he makes up for what he lacks in magical energy with survival skills you wouldn't believe. The guy's like some kind of puppet. His name's Sigma. You'd better warn your little student to steer clear of him."
El-Melloi II: "Thank you for the warning."
El-Melloi II: "I already wish that I'd warned Flat more about how dangerous the Holy Grail War can be."
Flue: "That stings a little, considering I came here hoping to get paid."
El-Melloi II: "My apologies. I meant no offense."
Flue: "I know, Your Lordship."
Flue: "Well, I've got a situation I need to deal with here, so I'll be signing off now."
Flue: "I got a weird bit of guidance from the stars earlier. I included it in my report."
Flue: "I'll be in touch if I find anything out, so remember to add a little extra to my payment."
—Flue has logged out.
Originally Posted by Sandstorm77
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