Quest of Fate - Apocrypha Universe Grail War

[Sunny]

Mm, I suppose 3...?

Not an easy decision, but Rider is a big advantage to have and getting there late/losing energy are both risky in their own ways given the sense of urgency for most of the group.

[Lunasilverhart]

I guess I choose... 4.

We gotta save energy for what's coming.

[Half-Blood Master]

Just to clarify, both 3 and 4 conserve enegry right? the only difference is the speed and whether or not it prompts an attack of opportunity

[King Prussia]

3. Getting ambushed sounds like a fun time in this situation so let's go ! ~

[Spartacus]

3.

[Bird of Hermes]

Fuyuki City - Interior of Tohsaka Residence

Character Status

Health: Optimal
Mana: Good
Access to the Root: Level 2

Looking around, I see that York, Risa and Reiner’s expressions have all changed.

“If Hiro’s already getting our number…” I mutter to no one in particular.

“Then we have to move, now.” Yorkie finishes. Her face is firm and regimented, looking around for escape routes. Commendable, but if the place is truly surrounded then it is in vain.

Rider however looks unfazed. “Do any of you cute youngsters have any suggestions?”

Reiner, looking at his servant not even hiding the fact she was indeed not helping, was not amused. “Are you not going to assist, teacher?”

Eh? Teacher, not servant? Curious.

“You are not the individual that can be told the answer, you’re the sort of man that must find it for himself and you know this to be true.”

As Reiner nods glumly to himself, I make the idoitic notion of opening my mouth. “I can go outside. It’s me they want.” Risa looks at me like i’ve just punched her in the face. I can’t tell if it is the shock of my suggestion or if she just thinks it’s stupid. This is what the me of 6 hours ago would have done but I can play into that perception. “However I’m not giving myself up.”

Reiner gives a firm nod however. “It’s perfect. Say, peasant. Your wind & alchemy, are dust storms in your capacity?” The hatchet might be buried but I’m glad he has not changed.

I give an almost wicked smile. “I am a terrible alchemist, anything related to destruction is my affinity.”

Risa smacks her head having taken 1d4 psychic damage, as Yorkie would say. “How am I attracted to you both romantically and physically?”

Yorkie answers by stealing me a quick kiss on the cheek and another on the lips. “Hey now, our boyfriend isn’t so bad.”

With confirmation of varying degrees of approval and way too flustered by being referred to as ‘our boyfriend’, I walk out the door and immediately am greeted with half a dozen red lights from sniper rifles. Slowly I raise my open hands into the air, looking into the landscape of the night sky and city about to be kissed by the first rays of sunlight. I feel… oddly calm, I know I should not be used to this many life-and-death situations. It’s not fear I feel, but a little… rush.

Excitement.

“I’m feeling motivated.”

With a quick trigger amplifying that ever-present pain my magic circuits roar to life and I drop a knee and punch the ground.

Sand, gravel, crushed stone, all similar elemental compositions.

Destroy.

An instant, structural analysis is complete. A wave of Nigredo cutting the molecules apart by severing the chemical bonds with my magical energy functioning like a catalyst in a chemical reaction, all followed by a sudden blast of force with the match of storm winds of 96 kilometers per hour. A detonation like a bomb sets of surrounding the radius of the manor.

And our time to leave.

All Nigredo, all destruction. Destruction without cost.




[BGM]


We all rushed to the van and Yorkie drove off like a madwoman with all of us jammed in the back in a somewhat undignified manner. With a ghastly excuse for “J-Pop” I think at least blaring out on the radio. But something doesn’t feel right, outside the obvious.


Apparently the Tohsaka household held a reputation for being a haunted house. That however, did not explain the odd pressure that there were a thousand eyes on me and countless creatures crawling on my back.


Mandibles clicking, antennae waving Crawling in a dark, undulating mass of chitin. Legs and wings.


I cannot see it but I can feel it. How… disgusting.

The road is narrow, claustrophobic with the walls squeezing further with the pressure of the thousand eyes of the ghostly creatures on me, leaving little space for what feels like one person, let alone the van.

I can just imagine it.

Bugs bumping the windows, trying to wiggle through the seams of the doors and windows and the undercarriage. Crawling their way through the gaps, over my skin, in my mouth and mouth, ears and eyes-

And I am knocked up lightly by a sudden bump in the road, thankfully. I do not know what suddenly possessed this train of thought. However, out of the corner of my eye I feel like I can still hear the buzzing and stuttering…

Disgusting.

However we hear a slight hum, looking over onto our side at the horizon we see a dark unnatural fog swirl in the air.

The flames of the forest seem to have enveloped… the wrong side of the city? This makes no sense at all.

But what is more…

There is something hiding in the darkness.

“Apologies children, it appears that I must take care of this for you.” we hear Rider say to the rest of us, but when we turn back.”

“Is it Hir-”

With what feels like a stolen grace against my lips. Rider’s gone, already vanished into a puff of light.

Update

Rider has left the party to combat the unknown threat.

“Teacher?” Reiner says with his voice completely shaken. That, unfortunately, is all he has time to say as our backs suddenly feel a willowing cold chill on the air slide up our backs like unwanted hands.

“What the HELL are those?!” Reiner shouts.

And there's that sensation of dread again.

Ever moving, creeping/swarming ever forward regardless of how many I could blast, no matter how many you crush, no matter how many you swat and kick and blow away. Coming inevitably closer. Knowing we’ll be inevitably overrun. Every effort is only a momentary delay.
The crunch of carapace under the wheels, but they're still coming.

And a new sound whirls into life, the sound of an engine, a spinning blade…

“It’s a fucking helicopter!” Yorkie shouts.

It’s on the other end of the street like it’s trying to ram us, but one person is leaning out with what seems to be a rocket launcher.

Because of course there is.

“I got it!” I yell without waiting, kicking open the door of the van, I grab a hold of the side and flip myself from the interior to the top of the van.

As the rocket fires, I pull back my fist into an open palm-

Breath, I do not fear the horror behind me, nor explosive whirling death behind me.

There is only…

Power

“Gale!”

-and thrust it forward!

Elemental Conversion was initiated, magical energy was converted into wind, and that wind was shaped according to my will. Following the motion of my palm, spear-hand attacks are performed by keeping the extended fingers tightly compressed together and thrusting directly into some target of relatively small diameter, such as the throat. In many types of karate it is referred to as a nukite. Power with control, destructive power with purpose.

A pressurised jet of wind at a minimum equating to a hurricane force of over 75 mph, and then more magical energy pressured into it, and the rocket turns backward to sender without even touching me.

The helicopter on the other hand, explodes.

But-

Shit.

Shambling. Skittering. The dull hum of thousands upon thousands of wings taking to the air. The gleam of thousands of tiny, faceted eyes.

Out of the flames, in a swarm of countless tiny insects at a ramming speed is-

"NOMIKATA!!!"

I am completely surrounded and grappled with the other man, feeling myself lift off the roof of the car and pulled away, I fight, try to focus and analyse but the chaotic cacophony is throwing off my magecraft. I can feel myself flying… flying… falling…

Falling.

[BGM]

Character Status

Health: Optimal > Good
Mana: Good > Stable
Access to the Root: Level 2

“Hurgh!”

I find myself thrown on top of some godforsaken rooftop flat on my face, at least I know what the cause of that awful feeling was. It was him. I pull myself together, bite through the pain of the impact and force air back into my lungs.

And at the other end of the rooftop. I see a desecrated corpse, obfuscated by the swarm of buzzing crawling insects, crest worms, familiars, locusts, you name it, all until they all coalesce around the central body and combined form of

“Justice…”

The edgelord supreme wastes no time, a flash of magical energy as the insects buzz with magical power. “The Nomikata bloodline ends today!”

“Who the fuck are you?” I ask.

“I am…” He smiles, a flourish of a small bladed weapon in his hand like he hadn’t been practicing it for hours on end. “Seigi Nomikata. Lastborn son of the monster Hiro.”

“Bullshit, that’s me. I know I don’t know much in the grand scheme of things but I know who I am!” I yell back with a rude handgesture stolen from an obscene teenager that betrays me pretense at a gentlemanly disposition before I point at him in accusation. “Who are you, someone who hates me? With no soul, identity or name of his own?”

He laughs, again. I hate it.

“I have no name,” his voice recites in a smooth tone. “I am but two days old.”

That’s… wait, I remember that line. “What shall I call thee? I happy am, Joy is my name,— Sweet joy befall thee!”

“Pretty joy! Sweet joy but two days old, Sweet joy I call thee; Thou dost smile. I sing the while Sweet joy befall thee.”

Drip.

Drip.

A coolness washes down as it begins to rain down upon us, a light drizzle washing away aches but leaving that ever present pain, now chronic to my body.

“Very well, I would call you William Blake but that would be too obvious.” I say “Infant Joy?”

The nameless one who calls himself Justice clicks his neck loudly with a sharp roll. “Finally, a man of some fucking culture. Infant Joy, bright and beautiful is the meaning of the name I was given upon my birth.”

A name he abandoned, a hatred for… No fucking way.

“...Jin Nomikata.”

However, I can’t believe the bloody thing. I know out of all the ridiculous stuff that’s happened these last few weeks that it may as well happen but you have to draw a line somewhere. You have to draw a line and make a statement and you aren’t going to take this bollocks anymore.

“Nomi… no.”

Justice, no Jin Nomikata however has run out of time and his stance changes, light on his feet as he starts to look me up and down and slowly circle me. “I’m your elder brother you insufferable bloody simpleton. I am the one that got away.”

“You pulling my leg or something sir? You aren’t good looking enough to be my brother, mate.”

Jin’s magic energy flares up and he fires off a warning shot of a black mud-like energy over my shoulder, I roll my head to the side to evade it.

“Our father cannot be allowed to succeed in his path.” His teeth are gritted as she stops in his tracks, preparing to pounce “I will kill the anchor, then the false god, I will destroy the tyrant life work and then I will reunite us with the ghosts of our siblings.”

This is his endgame, a long bloody suicide note to wipe out our entire bloodline, including himself.

“You want the Nomikata’s to all die? Lead by example and kill yourself first.” I spit, I am tired.

I can kill him

I am angry

He wants it

And Jin had made his intentions clear, he made his choice. It’s time I make mine.

Choice

To reunite with your loved ones... and Rin, you need to end this sibling rivalry. Jin will not stop until someone here is dead. How will you do it?

Choice

• Break his spirit

• Break his body
• Break both

What will you do?

• Kill your brother

• There has to be another way

How will you do it?

• As a man

• As a mage

[Alax1991]

Break his body.

There has to be another way.

As a man.

I think it would be better to turn Justice's rage towards Hiro, not towards us. I have the feeling though that Hiro set this up somehow, to kill one of them (preferably Justice).

[Lunasilverhart]

Break his body.

There has to be another way.

As a man.

Please don't make us add to the death toll, Jin. Please.

[Daneel Rush]

* Break his body.
Seigi is not the kind of person out to break a person's spirit, especially not in what seems to be a critical scene.

* Kill your brother
There is no point in claiming "there has to be another way" if we cannot see the way. For all we know, it could be something even more horrendous.

* As a mage
I don't know if Seigi can win a purely physical contest, and I would rather not entrust myself to shounen tropes.

[the god of world-0]

Break his body.

There has to be another way.

As a man.

[SleepMode]

Break His Body

Kill Your Brother

As a Mage

Whilethe prospect of offing a part of family is unpleasant business, Justice/Jin's simply too single-minded/obstinate for any possible alternatives seen and his impressions upon Seigi's consistently poor at best; he's another soul wronged by the father, but at this rate Jin's predicament is more of a case of where​ he's gonna keel over.

[King Prussia]

Break his body.

"Breaking down" his body as it currently is might be hard considering it isn't much of well, a body at all, but I'm also pretty sure we aren't managing to break the spirit considering that Hiro's nightmare laboratories didn't manage to get the job done and in fact, only gave him a motivation to hunt him down at the cost of his own life. How do you want to demotivate this person ?

There has to be another way.

I do agree with Sleepy that he always made a poor impression on Seigi - but to the point of giving Seigi the motivation to kill him ? The man has consistently been an ass but he hasn't really managed to anything to either Seigi or his allies and loved ones. And while it will be far more difficult than just disposing of him and the result is uncertain, what would really be the point of killing him now, on our way to confront Hiro and Morgan ? Do the dirty work for them by disposing of their 'failed' experiments ?

Of all the remaining Masters that aren't allied with us, Jin is bluntly the most innocent in acts and intents when compared to Atsusui and Morgan, a 'permanent' victim that as far as we know, never victimized anyone else. This should be taken into account before deciding to bring him down for efficiency's sake.

As a man.

Because this is a moral stance to be taken and a family matter to resolve. When 'being a Magus' has ever helped solving those ?

[Bird of Hermes]

A frozen cavern is indeed quite beautiful, even if terrifyingly horrific.

White. Blue. Crystalline. Stillness and motionless and yet ever mobile. Water overhead and water passing your ankles in the ice. Snow in cones under shoots. Icicles encroach in the corners, but the ceiling is a reverse bubble, faceted but smooth. Ice that lasted millennia could be gone in a week.

Above all else, a bitter cold that could almost freeze the soul itself. With the Russian tundra as inhospitable to human life as it was, a Fimbulwinter was not needed to show humanity a frozen hellscape, for it already had one.

A hooded figure composed of mist stepped over the flash-frozen ice that would stick to the foot and peel off the flesh of those foolish enough to tread across it - completely unfazed. And as the phantom approached a wall of stone, it continued to stride. It’s figure flickering before it slowly phased through.

Like a spectre, a phantom, a ghost, the incorporeal spirit would not cease its mission. Past the futile barrier, there was not a throne room, a magnificent workshop, but instead there was a stone slab, a pathetic little campfire and a dying old man under a blanket.



“Are you, a spirit of… vengeance?”

A feeble voice, weak and desperate, unbefitting of the 500 years of dedication of Zouken Matou echoed throughout the cavern. Weak and raspy like knives on a chalkboard.

The phantom state of matter paused, for this question caused it to ponder its existence. It was here to self-determinate, to think of itself as an individual.

“My name is Jin, and I am Justice.”

“And I smite thee.”

In a single motion at the speed of thought, the spiritual shroud manifested a hand that plunged into the pus-ridden body of Zouken. As Jin, the spirit of justice ripped out a large crest worm, the rest of the body broke down. The body of Zouken had long since been turned into a collection of worms, with his soul bound to a single central worm - with the main worm forcibly exorcised, the others deteriorated and curled up into dead husks.

Zouken would not normally die so easily. That has all changed since the Third Holy Grail War.

“D-darnic stole my grail, y-your kind is supposed to kill the guilty! It’s his fault, all his fault!”

Indeed, this pathetic existence had lived for so long he had forgotten the reason for his dream.

“Makiri Zolgen.” spoke JIm, his voice resonated with the authority of a king in this corner of hell. “You have long since sold your soul, chasing after a victory that was never meant to be yours. All the innocent lives you have destroyed, perverted and warped, the people you’ve devoured. It’s only fair if I-”

“-Eat you.”

With the consumption of Zouken, ending the haunted Matou line in this world, the ghostly spectre began to manifest. A physical body.

Somewhere in Fuyuki

Character Status

Health: Good
Mana: Stable
Access to the Root: Level 2

“Seigi.”

“Jin.”

“Brother.”

“Brother.” I raise my right hand and grip the left shoulder fabric of the suit I am wearing and pull, throwing the jacket and shirt over my head to reveal my naked chest and arms.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

It is starting to rain lightly, the light impact of the cool water against my bare skin and the fresh scars from my bout with Morgan almost makes me twinge with pain.

He gives a menacing smile of acknowledgement.

“I see you carry your own scars as well!”

Looking at him, I look back on out previous bout, the heated core in his body was a ball of magic circuits, the insects that crawled in and out of his body as an extension of his body…

“Scars is putting it lightly!” I yell back. “So what are you, a Dead Apostle residing in a corpse? Or perhaps…” I think back to basic fundamentals of magecraft. Much like the law of equivalent exchange in alchemy, curses have a cost to them of great value, inevitably resulting in a backfire of sorts.It’s part and parcel of curses unless avoided, delayed or shunted onto someone else. There’s no such thing as a free curse so that part is an absolute, it’s just a matter of how small or large. Even Gandr is an accumulation of bad karma. “The process that created me, attaching souls to the new life, you’re a broken aspect of it.”

Justice, or rather, Jin’s smile turned to a smear.

“Yes, Seigi. I am a bit of malignant data. I am a Wraith. The souls of the dead are attached to this world due to past grudges, regrets and other sorts of unfinished business that they had during life. In lieu of haunting an area, I haunt my bloodline. I am a shard of your existence given form. I slew the last Matou and appropriated their crest worms as my anchor to this world, my original body has long since been destroyed after all.”

I can’t kill him. He’s already dead.

“So why throw the suit?” Jin asks. “A demonstration of your superior masculinity?”

“Not really.” I say. “This is a rental, and I respect the person who it belonged to to wreck it.”

“No, it’s not that. There’s more. You seem disappointed? Why not access your power than Hiro Nomikata gave you access to and start burning blue. Don’t you like your godhood?”

He is right. I hate that he is bringing it up now.

“I don’t, it’s not the power but what it took to get it and what it means.”

“I don’t follow.”

“I mean, aside from the obvious decades of murder it took… It’s a level of strength I can’t reach on my own. Something I didn’t earn for myself, something that no matter how much work I did I wouldn’t be able to achieve by myself.”

“And knowledge on your limits disturbs you? Should you not rejoice that you were able to stand upon the graves of others?”

“I have been pushed my whole life to be strong but this is something I will never be able to achieve by myself. By my pride as a magus, and as a man… I hate that.”

Jin’s circuits hum as his stance stabilises into a combative one, legs wind with a glint of silver and a knife in hand. I slip into a kokutsu dachi martial stance.

“So Jin, when I beat you down. I’m not doing it as a vessel of power, but as my own man.”

“Time to die.”

[BGM]


He kicks off the ground and runs straight towards me, he swings his fist full force at a speed no ordinary man can avoid!


But I’m not ordinary.


His fist swings through an empty space, I shift my weight and twist - tossing his body over my shoulder. His body slams loudly against the floor and he rolls away quickly jumping up back for another go.


He flicks his wrist with his knife to draw my eyes, a feint - following up with a kick! I shift back and catch his leg.


Analyse


Using the divinatory aspect of my magecraft, I feel the flow of his sanguine and shift my weight to counter his movement and knock him down to the ground again. This time I won’t give him a second chance.

Wham!

I drive my fist with a veil of Nigredo down towards his skull. He dips out of the way a second time and avoids the impact. Rolled onto a three point landing, he looks at where my fist is, and the relatively sizable crater it left.


“That would have been my skull-!”


I can’t help but smirk, I must look like an arsehole. Tch, so unbecoming of a gentleman.


“I don’t need infinite power to cave a person’s head in.”


I almost call him a mongrel but that might be pushing it. I want to make him realise something of his own accord but he has to do it for himself.


He moves again, his arms are open for a grab, a veil of black mist surrounding them! I raise my own arms with my own magecraft active to strike my own forearms into his and as they collide, sparks fly.


I drive a knee up into his stomach, he keels over in a gasp of pain and I activate my limited hemomancy aspect to feel the flow. As I move to flip him, I feel the motion of his body and shift my arm to block a wild kick to the head.


“You’re getting closer, Jin.”


I’ve hit him just once and not all that hard but they seem to be leaving an impact. His stance is wild, all over the place. If he was born from the same source as me then he should be able to tap into the greater force for some knowledge… but it’s all wrong.


Either I’m stronger than I think, or his body is giving out.


As we return to our original positions, he stretches his hand.


“Gandr”.


A flicker of black light at the speed of a bullet aimed right at my head. The muzzle flash from his finger of residue energy gives me enough time to call on the image of pain and activate my circuits and move my body in the opposite direction of my previous evasive manoeuvre.


Divine, analyse-


“Gah!” It grazes my right shoulder but even then I feel an unnatural tiredness, as if all of my energy in my right arm goes numb. “You’re a quick shot, not bad.”


It seems I cannot quite dodge bullets yet. Jin however just snarls


“We’re trying to kill each other, you’re leaving openings and complimenting me! WHY?!”


“Have you never been congratulated on anything before?”


He hesitates, which is all I need.


“Nigredo.”


I drop to one knee and punch the floor, unleashing a wave of destruction as the cement, brick and clay break down, a chaotic magic wave emanates from my fist! Even with indirect contact, the shockwave flays his body and sends him spiralling over onto all fours.


“Now, Rubedo.”


The fourth stage and the completion of the magnum opus, or at least my improvised version, by infusing some of my own vitality, I feel the exhaustion and also the refinement, parts of my body have lowered their energy requirements in order for me to allocate the energy elsewhere, simple optimization. I charge and kick at his skull like a football, his nose explodes into blood.


His head is glowing with traces of lines akin to magic circuits across his face - even reinforcement isn’t enough to prevent this. So I strike.


My first kick is low, toward the side of the knee, my second to the ribs and my third to the jaw. With all the might he puts behind it, his sliced flesh still buckles and the bones crush to dust underneath. And with the flow of the sanguine I analyse with each strike I know his next move.


“Gandr… onslaught!”


Power


I close my eyes and I can hear opening and buzzing. I know he is opening up and having every crest worm fire a curse at me.


Divine, analyse, destroy.


“Metsu.”

I’ve been struck with Gandr before, I know it - accessing information - A simple curse originating from Scandinavia, which decreases the physical health of the target. A Finn Shot is a variant with enough power to be capable ofphysical interference akin to a bullet. This many at once would be more akin to an execution by firing squad.

Character Status

Health: Good > Stable
Mana: Stable > Poor
Access to the Root: Level 2

I unleash my magecraft and I feel the existence of each magical bullet dissipate into a nothingness. I may not evade bullets but I can be bulletproof in… some instances… But given Nigredo is supposed to be as natural as breathing to me, that was still exhausting.


Jin however looks flabbergasted.


I lean in, offering my face and tap at my jaw.


“Hit me.”

Character Status

Health: Stable (Yellow) > Poor (Orange)

He doesn’t disappoint as he drives an uppercut into my jaw, snapping my head back and forcing me to stagger.


“Come now, where is all your pompous grandeur. Aren’t you going to say ‘how your fists know no equal’?”


“Boy you’re about to meet someone whose skull knows no equal”.


I drive my head into his and he folds like a wet paper towel. This is too easy, I don’t like it.


“Come on Jin, Justice, whatever. What are you fighting for. And don’t say to kill Hiro or vengeance or anything.”


Jin looks like he’s about to vomit, he’s retching but there’s nothing in his body to expel.


“What do you live for? You’ve had a second chance that none of our siblings have had and how have you spent it? Have you tried enjoying yourself, savouring the simple pleasures of life? No, I don’t think you have. You’ve wasted it on melodrama.”


“I raise an elbow and drive it into his back, knocking him flat. “You had a second chance and you wasted it, didn’t you? Do you have any friends? Did you tell anyone you cared about them? Will anyone miss you? COME ON BROTHER. WHERE’S YOUR FUCKING RAGE?! YOUR BLOODY PRIDE?! WHERE IS YOUR MOTIVATION?!”


Divine, analyse-


There is someone off in the distance, they have a weapon, aimed at… Jin


“Reverse gale!”


I call upon a deluge of wind and pull the assailant out of the shadows and grab them by the throat.


“Sent by Hiro, no doubt. You would hurt me or anyone in my true family again.” Lazlow, I already killed a kid didn’t I? This doesn’t really compare, does it? I analyse his body as my magical energy flows through him, picking out any and all structural weaknesses.


“Die.”


I cast Nigredo on a human target without holding back, I snap my fingers and his entire body turns to dust, before blowing freely in the wind.


“What the actual fuck…” Jin coughs through all the pain and blood, "You've been holding back your whole life... you could have killed me at any point?"


"I don't like breaking things, though it seems to be the only thing I am good at.”


[BGM]


And on cue- He runs at me, I’ve pissed him off.


“Gale” A concussive blast of wind propels me forward. I outstrench an open hand and as I fly onwards and grab Jin by the throat. I overshoot as we’re both over the railing. Wait, do we have our prospective defensive spells up?


I however do at least. Blasting across the railing, I drive him down - slamming him into the road below, shattering under the impact. I cough as I lift up his limp body and looking around, I see we’re in a street filled with a few vacant cars. I look at him before throwing him into the debris.


“You ok bro?”


Silence.


“I fucking hate you.” a voice calls out underneath the sheets of metal.


There he is.


After a little buzzing and grumbling I see him start to crawl out of the wreckage.


I stride over.


“Yes!” I yell for everyone to hear. “Get angry!”


I pour a little trickle of more magical energy into my circuits and direct it into my fist. No matter how many times I hit him, how many bones of his I break, how much I destroy his body without killing him, he is getting back up. That’s the power of the human spirit I guess.


So I will exorcise it.


“Albedo!”

Conceptual purification, the second stage of alchemy. The magical energy channels through and several motes of flickering silver light, glittering like stardust and with a wave of my hand, I fling them at Jin’s body, hitting him head in the chest.


Nothing seems to happen, till his body flops down and rising, slowly is a translucent spectre of his form.


“Did you, kill-”


“Not done yet! ORA!”


With Albedo still channelled, I ran up and assault his ghost.

"---!"

And I unleash a torrent of blows with the closest thing to Godspeed I can achieve. With each blow I feel a tangible impact, seeing the spirit write in pain under the purity of the light.

“Dying is not an excuse to abandon a fight!”

I beat him down, over, and over, and over again. Each impact a blow from my own power, albedo ridding the raw unprotected spirit of any and all impurities before one drives inwards - if this spirit had guts and bone they would be crushed.

“Metsu!” I call out, summoning conceptual destruction, the ultimate evolution of my magecraft as I see it.

The soul is a separate existence to the body but it must reside in one in order to exist in this world. Having exorcised the spirit from the body… I must pull it back - destroying the space in between the body and spirit to have them unite.

One final flash of energy…

Jin stands there utterly aghast, after all that… he still stands. It’s… admirable. I like that about him. The look of confusion on his face, he is having trouble comprehending what happened.

“Why did you bring me back!” He yells at me filled with emotion. He doesn’t look angry, it isn’t angry that fuels him anymore. He is no longer a slave to his darker desires.

“To make a point. I have not given you permission to die yet or give up on yourself for that matter.” I say.

This battle can only end one way.

However, a stupid part of me wants to help him. He did not want it a few minutes ago that is for certain, yes my help is entirely for selfish reasons. It is not to justify my existence, I simply want to see him smile.

Now? Jin's eyes are different, like a hot headed idiot fighting for the thrill, because this is his life he’s chosen and he likes it.

"Typicial, I've been on a suicide mission my whole life. I'm against my final enemy who I can never defeat and I am about to fade away one final time... Now I'm about to die" Jin squares up. "I don't think I want to." Jin says.

“That’s right brother.” I am his immovable object, his unstoppable force. He can’t beat me. I could have killed him right away but… “We are alive, we are not what they made us.”

“I am alive, my choices are my own. I’m gonna kick your ass, not for justice, not for vengeance, but cause I wanna.”

His body is still standing but it has minutes left. There is a black hole in his chest from my last blow, his skin is cracked open like a broken clay pot, the limbs on his left side is bent in all the wrong directions and I can’t hear any buzzing. The crest worms must have nearly all died out from my onslaught.

He raises a fist one last time. Knife in hand.

And I raise mine.

We stomp one foot forwards, ready to strike!

It’s all over-

[BGM OFF]

“Wha-?!”

I shift my weight and push my arm into his, knocking his blade out of his hands before pulling him in for a hug. His body feels cold to the touch, thin, almost desolate as if holding him too fightly will cause him to crumple like a paper cup.

“Jin, I forgive you. Everything you’ve said, everything you have done. I forgive you because I know you will not.

“W-Why?”
“You were made to be a monster, like me. Monsters should forgive monsters. Who else will?”

His form flickers, waning for a moment. before it starts to disappear entirely.

“You and I… are one.”

And the little flickers of energy left, float into me. Like two threads in the same stitch, I feel myself bind together tighter, stronger. Whole. I can feel his warmth, his smile.

I feel complete, almost at peace. I can see clearly now.

“So, this is what it feels like…”

My hand twitches involuntarily for a split second. I don’t know if he’s another voice in my head or if he’s finally at peace but I know one thing.

I am Seigi Nomikata and I am very much alive.

Questmaster Notes:

Access to The Root is now at Level 3. At Level 4, Seigi will Become an NPC out of the player's control. At Level 5, an instant Game Over is achieved.

The NPC sheet and Access level 3 sheet will be available shortly, from which you will choose one access note.

[Bird of Hermes]

Apologies for the delay.

Choices!

Please see the Access to the Root, Level 3. Select one and only one

[SleepMode]

1. Aspect of Heracles

Dunno how to explain it, but the concept of overpowering impossible odds seem to come off the strongest off of Uncle Herk, and hoo boy does Seigi need it.

[King Prussia]

1. Aspect of Heracles

Better to take as a model the demi-god who managed to go back and forth from the Underworld to save someone from it, since soon enough we're going to fight Morgan and we'll have to try something to save Lancer from her (even if the chances of success are slim...). And considering Heracles' the demi-god who was tortured by a distant parental figure just like Seigi is and that Hiro is currently using Ilya's corpse to power-up his Grail ? Beating him up with this aspect would just be poesy.

[Lunasilverhart]

Aspect of Heracles, no question!

[Spartacus]

Herk.

[zikari8]

Heracles

[Half-Blood Master]

1. Aspect of Heracles

Better to take as a model the demi-god who managed to go back and forth from the Underworld to save someone from it

And do it twice in different occasions, no less!
+1, of course