Fate/Closure [IC Thread]

[hero]

Aya Alayana
Einzbern Forest
Morning Phase
​

"..."

The giant pauses for a moment, somewhat perplexed by your words. Is it surprising for her to see a human stand up for a demon? Or is it that just now she has become aware of your presence? Regardless, she takes a couple of extra seconds to meditate in regards to your proposal... In fact, she takes so much time reaching a decision that you unconsciously begin tapping your feet... It's almost like... Almost like she is talking to someone else... Or maybe talking to herself inside her head, making an evaluation of whether you are worthy to trust. It could also be a plan in the works, a scheme to get the best out of you before throwing you out of the way.

Whatever it is, the wait that nearly lasts for a whole ten seconds proves to be almost enough to force Elizabeth to drop to her knees under the pressure. Ultimately, she manages to remain standing by fueling her already strong ego. The giant might be very beautiful (and by extension very strong!), but no one on the entirety of planet Earth is more beautiful than Liz. And to succumb to the fear of an imminent execution in her presence would be to admit otherwise. That's why...

That's why even if that giant's stats have good scores all across the board, like those of a real hero of legend, she would not falter! That's even more true now that another one is trying to act cool for her sake! She's Elizabeth Bathory! And she hasn't asked for anyone's pity! (although it made her happy for a brief moment)

"You are welcome to try-"

But her response is quickly overrun by the tsunami that is the Great Pharaoh's decree.

"Very well. I am a merciful pharaoh and so I shall offer you a way to amend for the crimes you've committed against these lands."

It looks like you are up to a good start.

Still, much like the devil you've chosen to defend, there is a firm barrier that seems to separate this giant from modern common sense. Case in point, even if you haven't done anything wrong, merely being here is enough to have the weight of guilt being placed over your shoulders. You better forget about it, though. Pressing the matter any further might actually get you killed on the spot, so it is best to play along by her rules. In spite of the clear shift in positions of power, her mind seems to be just as manipulable as that of your new protege's...

"It pains me to say... But You are neither the first nor the most... Troublesome bandits to set a foot where one shouldn't. There is a particularly... Meddling graverobber that has been pilfering gold and jewelry during the night."

The tall woman then wipes any sort of weakness that her lament might have shown, her gaze now sharp as that of an eagle. She follows up by, once more, firmly hitting the ground with her staff, causing a second small quake.

"As the Great Pharaoh, I give you my word! Bring that wrongdoer to me, and I'll see that the slate where your crimes are recorded is wiped clean."

[Airen]

Aya Alayana
Einzbern Forest
Morning Phase

I'm not going to run into a single stable person today, am I?

---Ironic thoughts, coming from a woman that doesn't voice them out loud for once.

Yes, silently drawing on the cigarette as she listens to the giant's words, the woman's first instinct is to say that this little deal is a bad one; much as how she had wound up taking care of a little demon brat without meaning to do so, the idea of having to accept another quest from an entirely separate entity is one that she would instinctively frown upon, especially because this one is not able to hide behind the guise of a child, and thus become someone she naturally takes it easier on, however...

"...Bandits?"

...The frown deepens.

There's something in those words that resonates with the woman, something simple admittedly, but a resonance nonetheless, namely-

"...Very well, I suppose I can do a bit of collection duty."

-as a landowner herself, she can somewhat sympathize with having to deal with unwanted pests on the property. The appearance of such beings is always at least a minor annoyance, one that crosses the line into an actual disturbance once they start stealing things from the landowner, and once they become an actual disturbance, well...

That's when you start kicking in doors.

If that still doesn't get results?

Well...

That's when the flames come out to play.

Of course, it's interesting that a Servant with this sort of detection ability was having trouble finding this so-called bandit, but she could probably twist this situation to her benefit, getting a reason to move unopposed on the land and get someone in her debt in the process, so...

"What do they look like? And where should I bring them when I find them? The Einzbern Mansion?"

Might as well play along for now.

[Bloble]

Assassin of the Distant Kingdom
Miyama - Ryuudou Temple
Morning Phase

The meal truly was delicious. There is nothing that is so filling as a thoroughly rotten soul.

Her bestial spirit has made Assassin impatient, like a newborn kitten excited to simply move and exercise her strength. It's to be expected; when one is summoned, is that not the same as being born anew? Yet, now that she has gotten it out of her system by running around a bit, the youthful energy within the Servant has been reduced to regular levels.

The cat in Ryudou temple thus settles down, silently yawns, tucks her paws beneath her chest, and closes her eyes.

Yes, it was a good meal. And after a good meal the hunter's instincts dim. It is about time for a mid-day nap, isn't it?

...well, that's what it might appear as on the surface. But in truth, the hunt has not ended. Nor is Assassin about to relax.

Some predators hunt through persistence. Others through teamwork, or pure violence. But a cat hunts through patience. It approaches, carefully, slowly, pushing forward as much as possible before pouncing. To blindly leap into the unknown would be foolhardy to the utmost. Instead, as an exemplary Assassin, she will keep her senses stretched to the limit and wait until an opportunity presents itself, if it presents itself at all. Even if it does not, gathering information without revealing herself is already a success. She is hidden and they do not see her, so she will not suffer for remaining hidden.

The Servant's instincts tell her that her eyes are not to be trusted. That something here does not fit. In that case, she doesn't need her eyes. The other senses will fill in. Unlike a human, she does not over-rely on sight to begin with. Hearing and smell alone are both sharp enough to substitute. She can listen in on the conversation while she's at it.

The two below are speaking of nature, but they are indoors. Is that it, then? Is the temple not even here, and they are still outside? An illusion may certainly be at play. Or they might be on another layer entirely. Another Servant may also be hiding in plain sight, if at least one of them is a Master.

That's fine. Two can play at that game, and Assassin is the best at it. While she hides she will listen and smell and feel and gather information and wait, wait, wait until the moment comes, with every nerve in her body stretched to the utmost until then.

[hero]

Yamashita Hiro
Fuyuki's Underground Sewers- ???'s Secret Laboratory
Morning Phase


"...!"

Words that push her back like a strong gale. Emotions that attempt to run her over like a turbulent river current. Having heard your motivations and resolve, a showcase of true courage poured into a heartfelt confession, Luna should definitely keep her mouth shut and accept the helping hand you've offered. This is the first time she gets to see a fragment of the real Hiro, the person that hides beneath the cold mask of a Magus. To stand against it would be rude, unneeded and ungrateful of her. She doesn't want to sound like that because she isn't that sort of person. Besides, Yamashita Hiro is also the first real friend she's made.

"Ahhh! You are so stubborn!"

But she cannot help it. This is a part of her personality, too.

"F-forget the method, you are just getting yourself into more trouble for my sake than what it's worth! And I don't want that!"

She already knows about that weakness of yours - the fact that you cannot protect her. Precisely because of her ignorance, there are only a few things she can compare you to. Not once has she thought of you as an all-mighty warrior or a monster on top of the food chain. You might be seen as a aberration by the supernatural side of the world, a one in a million freak capable of harnessing a power a Mage never should. In her eyes, however, you are just as mortal as everyone else, just a lot more important.

And against this threat, you are little more than an ant.

"You have no idea what you are getting yourself into! There will be no negotiation. That thing... Whatever is inside of me will roast you the moment I slip up and give her the chance!" She shakes her head. "I'm not taking any risks... Not if it concerns you!"

She's a brave woman.

The type of warrior who would fight back without hesitation and who would bite if her hands and legs were tied. Right now, she can't even control her powers. She's as helpless as an average woman. Yet she shows no fear or signs of backing down, even if the one in front of her could easily force things to happen with little effort. But to claim that she's not scared would be a lie... The stench of fear is so strong that you can pick up on it without having to loosen any chains.

Yes, she fears what's inside of her, she fears losing control, she fears tearing apart what holds value to her. And your words are simply not getting through that shell. You'll need to be more clear in order to quench her doubts. Either that or find a different approach.

"So just forget about it, okay...?"

[hero]

Hiyako Tsurara
Dark World – Stray Cats HQ
Unknown Phase


Several days later.

The majority of the Stray Cats crew has gathered in one place at your command. While those of superior hierarchy speak their mind in a closed-off room, the remaining troops remain outside exchanging trembling words and anxious faces. They might not yet be informed of what exactly is the reason behind this meeting, but only a fool wouldn't be able to tell its scope. Whatever is brewing... Is definitely big. That's the thought that crosses everyone's mind as they wait for fate to reveal what is in store for them.

Meanwhile, inside the room in question...

"Our enemy surpasses us in three great aspects. First, territory: The Dweller's rule a great portion of the city and adjacent lands. Moreover, they have established several vigilance and resting posts across the entirety of the Dark World. On paper, approaching them unnoticed is simply an impossibility."

The remaining leaders grimace at the challenge that awaits them in the near future. Most likely, have you never reached your position as the real mastermind behind this organization, they would have refused to comply to this request almost immediately after hearing the name of the competition. That's because the group as a whole is in a good position in spite the loss it has faced in the recent month. In the head of any cold reasoning creature, paying a blood tribute to the dwellers beats having to battle them in an all-out war.

However, precisely because you are the boss, no one objects to the idea. Instead, they focus their thoughts towards cutting loses as much as possible. That is to say, everyone in this room is being participative and efficient. Instead of thinking of 'Declaring war to the Dwellers', they convince themselves it's the exact opposite: 'The Dwellers have declared war on us'.

As Mayumi continues with the briefing, each of them patiently waits for the opportunity that her plan will present, if there is even one.

"Second: Resources. As you may already know, the city acts as the main supply line for the entirety of this domain. Back when the gate between this world and the one we all came from wasn't closed, it was possible to bring resources from one side to the other through means we're not exactly familiar with. While that possibility is no longer a thing alongside the arrival of new survivors, they have amassed enough not to have to worry for a good couple of years. Naturally, that also means they can distribute weapons among their personnel at their leisure. In other words, a battle of attrition won't work in our favor, even if we do combine our forces with other groups."

A one-shot chance.

A high-risk, high-reward scenario where the only option for their survival is to emerge victorious.

That's what the Stray Cats has to aim for.

"And third... Firepower. The Dwellers are numerous but above all are strong as hell. I don't need to tell you that there is at least a dozen of them that count as a 'one-man army', making direct confrontation more than troublesome. In a straight fight there's no doubt that we would be goners... Even if a few of us can hope to stand our ground, in the grand scheme of things, we would definitely come out as the losers of the war..."

Everyone in the room knows and respects Tachibana Mayumi. She was their previous boss, after all.

And that is why everyone can tell...

There is a big 'but' to that statement.

"But! That is also their biggest weakness! That is, they lack the chains to hold back and control such immense firepower! There is no law, no bond that makes everyone stick together or, if there is, it's not enough to keep everyone under the watch of those that truly lead the group. Independent cells are only as loyal as needed to ensure a share of the reward, while others hardly care about benefits and follow them as a source of entertainment. That's where our quest needs to start."

"..."

Listening to the conversation are not only the elite members of the Stray Cat, but also the leaders of the 'Seekers' -a recently formed group of survivors that want to return home above all else- and the 'Hidden Dragons' -A group organized like a Chinese mafia which has agreed to work alongside you-. As trust is still not fully established, they are not physically present. But the fact that they are there through a phone call (in a place where electricity is limited and precious) is already a testament of their will to at least listen to this proposal.

"As per request, I have marked on the map a number of possible locations where these 'stray groups' will likely head towards through the next few weeks. It's not a hundred percent accurate, of course, but the best we could get while working on a budget..."

...

....... And then.

The briefing is interrupted by an extended, large yawn. It comes from no other than Mayumi. Did all the talking make her sleepy? No, rather...

"Ah~ I'm sooo tired boss~ Could you go on...?"

... Rather, she's pushing the spotlight back where it belongs.

[hero]

Alicia Rosenkopf (& Servant Assassin)
Miyama- Streets
Morning Phase


You decide to 'play it safe' and study the mysterious heart blocking the way from a prudent distance. Even if it's hard to imagine something like that being capable of doing any harm to you or your companions, you've already seen plenty of crazy things to support your excessive wariness. From dancing deathly shadows and otherworldly portals to school shoe-lockers with deadly contents, nothing is what it appears to be, and you've got a feeling this is no different. In fact, merely staring at it is already making you start to sweat. It's not that the image presented before your eyes is too disturbing for you to take. No, if anything, the ominous aura that it exudes is what's making you uncomfortable. If you had to put it into words... It wouldn't be wrong to claim that what you feel is a wicked sense of nostalgia. Like being certain that you've seen that shape before, but dreading the next time you'll stare at it up close...

Neither Yuuna nor Assassin appear to feel the same. While they each hold a different opinion on the matter, neither of them seem to be affected by the presence of the beating organ, unlike you, who feels weaker and weaker as each second goes by. In that sense, it can be argued that the defensive barrier that the duo erected before you with their very own bodies is doing little to keep the danger away from you. And that only becomes evident the moment you either manifest that sickness verbally or drop down to your knees holding your chest, whatever comes first. It's like someone has wrapped their palms around your own heart, pressing gently against it. Far from being mere symbolism, the feat itself is rather painful, to say the least. Energy leaves your body at an alarming pace, your vision goes blurry and it's already hard to even hear what's going on around you anymore...

While the maid does her best in order to assist you, the Servant moves to do what it intended to do from the start. Dashing towards the pitch-black heart with her claws exposed, she is about half-way through a swing of her arm when a sudden projectile forces her to stop the motion. While conventional weaponry wouldn't be able to damage a Servant, much less represent an obstacle in carrying out an action in a desperate scenario like this one, her feral instincts had warned her better. In the blink of an eye, the thrown sword landed between her legs, missing her arm by a hair's breadth. A shadow soared above, and a second later, a new arrival made their appearance, landing as through she had come down from the heavens.

"As you are now, that attack will only serve kill your Master. Use that sword instead. I'll let you borrow it." The girl in a black uniform spoke, neutrality present in every movement and gesture. "I would assume folded steel is not your style, however, I am afraid you don't have a choice. If you don't hurry, the curse will root itself too deep to do anything about it."

Kneeling close to the edge of the road was M, the survivor Alicia and Assassin had met during their trip to the School District. While she was still far from being an absolutely trustworthy figure, she had already proved that she knew more than the rest and even provided insightful advice in the past. Having little reason to lie at a time like this, it doesn't look like she wants anything but to save the group from an avoidable tragedy. If Assassin would strike down the beating heart with the borrowed sword, its remains would not scatter and dissolve, instead they would be absorbed by its blade, freeing Alicia from her agonizing torture and restoring her senses, little by little. Were the Heroic Spirit not have the courage to pick up a man-made weapon, then Sakaki would gladly play the role of the hero.

-------

A couple of minutes later.

"..." Manifesting concern, Yuuna helps you back to your feet. "Are you certain you are alright, lady Alicia?"

After the recent experience, you still feel a little out of breath, but the overwhelming pain and weakness is gone and it doesn't look like anything you've suffered will slow you down throughout the day. One could say you were rather fortunate...

"That was a curse born out of a residual negative thought." The group safe for the time being, M decided it was time for another small lecture. "Usually it takes a fairly long amount of time or large fame boost for such thing to be able to manifest physically like that. But it appears Fuyuki is polluted enough to be comparable to an incredibly big ghost house. The good news is that these apparitions will not always be charged with killing intent. The bad news is that most of them do. And not only that: From what I can gather, the pour directly from human hearts and usually attack their progenitor."

A small pause and...

"Living curses usually defy common sense and are tailored to be unfair. I can't fault you for falling prey to one. In your shoes, I might have done exactly the same thing. Thankfully, robots and technology have an edge over them in a way."

It's still hard to understand exactly what happened, but you need to press forward. Although, now that M is here, perhaps you can take full advantage of her presence. Perhaps there is a question or two that you want to ask or maybe it would be good to at least attempt persuading her to join your little trip. Whatever the case, it doesn't feel like she is pressed to leave like she was back in that classroom.

[hero]

Assassin of the Distant Kingdom
Miyama - Ryuudou Temple
Morning Phase


The cat does not make a move. It stays still and pretends to rest, but instead remains attentive as ever. Wary that something might not be as it appears, it does what it does best and simply lazes about. It might seem like a rather unproductive strategy at first glance, in fact, it definitely is in most other fields, but when it comes to recon, it works rather well. Truly, the scene staged before her eyes has been completely normal up to this point. There might have been a few lines and topics here and there that did not match perfectly with the reality surrounding the participants, but nothing that went beyond the normality of humans, something someone like Assassin could never properly understand. Fortunately, time is all that is needed to uncover a chain of lies and the feline did not mind allowing it to pass by.

Their presence draws near. Two females, familiar with each other, sharing different views on what it means to be close to nature. Their presence draws near again. Two girls, discussing the pros and cons of being in a temple that's almost entirely disconnected from technology and such. Their presence draws near again... But it is no longer important to pay attention to their dialogue. It has not changed since the first time and it has happened several times in a short time span. In other words, Assassin was either caught in a time-loop or had fallen prey to some sort of illusion at some point. Thankfully, her cover had not yet been blown. While she might not be where she believes she is, her instinct must have guided her somewhere safe regardless.

Suddenly, though, that too comes to a close. The objects surrounding her begin to either disappear or be replaced by something of similar size, the Servant being the one thing present in the surroundings that does not alter its position or composition in any way. Ah, the illusion is being dismantled, not by the cats wits or might, but rather by the will of its creator. It either fulfilled its purpose or was deemed unnecesary. Whatever the case, Assassin was still within the territory of the temple, past the gate but no inside any of its buildings. This time the yellow-eyed animal would overhear a real conversation.

"Ah, Ah~ I just can't get used to it. Our realities are way too different..." The first of them lamented out loud. "Things like furniture and human shapes I can replicate without a problem... But smell, sounds and mannerisms are still out of my league. I'm sorry, Yuki-chan, I guess we'll have to do without the usual defensive network."

Now, if the Servant was hiding in a position where she could once more rely on her eyes, she would notice at least two outstanding things about the woman who was speaking at the moment. The first one would be that, while she shared a lot of human features, several others left it clear that she was not part of the human folk. A combination of pointy ears, numerous fluffy tails and the overall environment that surrounded her made 'Yokai' a solid guess, Kitsune being the fairly obvious choice. The second was that, while she did not feel like a Servant at all, her presence alone carried an air of ancestry that spoke of powers far superior from an average, modern Magus. Dressed like some sort of priestess, her alluring figure was more than enough to single-handedly claim any suitors Assassin might have met throughout her life. If instincts were to be trusted, those two would be the sort of pair that would either get along super good or super bad, depending on circumstances...

Pretty much next to her was another girl, much shorter, so short in fact that in spite of being of similar age, she looked like a small kid next to her. She had crimson red hair and a white snow hat as well as a scarf to ward off the cold. There was nothing outstanding about her, except for the fact that she seemed to be much more reserved and levelheaded than her partner. It didn't feel like she was calling the shots, but it did leave the impression that she was the most intelligent or crafty of the two.

"That's fine, Nanami. I would like to get this done as soon as tonight and then go back home. This temple is far too spiritually charged for you to be playing around with your formulas too much, anyways. It's best if we don't draw too much attention to ourselves. With the situation as it is, not just the living, but the dead could turn out to be a problem. Let's spare ourselves of that trouble and keep our hands close to our chest."

Far too relaxed, the fox like woman asked a rather curious question.

"Has any of the others tried to communicate so far?"

The red-haired girl gave an apologetic smile in return.

"No... But we knew this operation would be difficult from the get go. It's likely that we've ended in different layers. We have no choice but carry this out on our own. We still have yet to find the exact coordinates of the origin point, but we should at least start up the device that will get out job done. According to our intel, there is no better place for it than here."

"I am a little worried about you-know-who, though... Will she be okay on her own? She's been rather on edge lately."

"Amaya? Don't worry. It's true that she is still a little troubled after our last assignment, but she's a capable soldier. She'll get through. I am more worried about our 'secret weapon', though... Hopefully it landed next to another member of our team."

"Hmmm~ Hmm~ Now that you talk about this secret weapon, what is it about?"

"Well, I don't really know the details, but it's something we're not supposed to use unless it's absolutely necessary. A sealed Miracle Wielder or something like that... To tell you the truth, I don't even want to know..."

[RoydGolden]

Servant Assassin
Miyama- Streets
Morning Phase

"...!" A sudden instinct screamed at Assassin to halt her attack as a katana came hurtling out of the air towards her, just barely missing her extended arm to lodge point-first between the wolf-eared Servant's legs. "Tch, what do you think you're doing samurai-girl?" Assassin turned to bark at the familiar figure clad in a jet-black school uniform that'd just made her elegant descent. "I'm here to save Alicia, so get out of the way!"

"As you are now, that attack will only serve to kill your Master. Use that sword instead. I'll let you borrow it. I would assume folded steel is not your style, however, I am afraid you don't have a choice. If you don't hurry, the curse will root itself too deep to do anything about it," the girl known as 'M' spoke up in a taciturn yet unwavering voice.

"Tch." Assassin reined in her aggression with gritted teeth. Even if she didn't know for sure she could trust this girl she seemed to know the most about the situation at hand. She couldn't afford to dismiss her advice, not with the life of her Master potentially hanging by a delicate thread. "It's in a little bad taste for a wolf to be swinging around a sword, but I guess I got no other choice. When it comes to tools made for killing, you humans really are top-notch!"

Snarling those words Assassin gripped the hilt of the sword and yanked it free from the asphalt. "Now here we go!" After a few practice-swings to get a feel for it she lunged forwards again and swiftly slashed the pulsating shadow to ribbons. Ending up behind it, Assassin was surprised to see the bits and pieces of darkness left behind didn't scatter and dissipate but instead drew towards her sword like umbral fireflies and absorbed into it. "Just what is this weird thing?" she muttered to herself in curiosity.

But her questioning was quickly cut off by a gasp as Alicia collapsed to the street. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were closed, though at least the color on her face seemed to have returned to a healthier peachy glow. "Is she really gonna' be okay?" Assassin asked warily. Nodding M explained these were the lingering symptoms of the curse the girl had been subjected to and she'd recover to full health within a few minutes. Shrugging Assassin stayed and waited alongside the green-haired maid for her young charge to awaken.


Alicia Rosenkopf
Miyama- Streets
Morning Phase

"Unngh..." Alicia let slip a drowsy groan as she recovered from her fainting-spell. Her faltering attempts to rise to her feet were quickly greeted by a pair of delicate hands holding hers as Takagi Yuuna helped her upright.

"Are you certain you are alright, lady Alicia?" the maid vocalized her concern with a patient expression.

"I'm fine, at least I think," Alicia somewhat tentatively reassured managing to steady her breathing. She held out her hand and clenched it, finding to her relief there wasn't any lingering pain or numbness. "But what happened back there? I just saw that weird thing and started feeling awful. I couldn't even do anything..." the girl trailed off, worry giving way to shame at how she'd proven so powerless in the face of that apparition.

"That was a curse born out of a residual negative thought." Having retained a quiet vigil to the point it almost seemed she'd slipped away like a shade until Alicia woke up, M announced her presence by cutting in with another analytical lecture. "Usually it takes a fairly long amount of time or large fame boost for such thing to be able to manifest physically like that. But it appears Fuyuki is polluted enough to be comparable to an incredibly big ghost house. The good news is that these apparitions will not always be charged with killing intent. The bad news is that most of them do. And not only that: From what I can gather, the pour directly from human hearts and usually attack their progenitor."

She paused and added as if reading Alicia's self-deprecatory expression- "Living curses usually defy common sense and are tailored to be unfair. I can't fault you for falling prey to one. In your shoes, I might have done exactly the same thing. Thankfully, robots and technology have an edge over them in a way."

"Woah, you're that mecha-girl from back at the school!" Alicia blurted out having totally forgotten her worries. "Did you just happen to swoop in time to save us? Ooh, I bet you used a rocket-punch to obliterate that squirmy shadow!" she gushed with stars in her eyes.

"...Didn't quite play out that way," Assassin dryly punctured the young girl's fantasies. "You know, I'm actually the one who dealt the killing blow on that thing," she huffed just a bit jealously. "Was pretty gross just getting close to it too, I'm actually glad I didn't have to touch that thing with my claws..." The Servant gave a vestigial shudder as she reminisced those events.

"Sorry about that, and thank you for saving me back there Assassin," Alicia apologized selfconsciously.

"W-whatever, not like I care." Assassin looked sideways, putting on an air of indifference belied by the small blush on her face. "Just doing my job as your Servant after all..."

"Then," Alicia leaned forward soft lips curved in a smile of unimpeachable innocence, "will you still play it cool if I say when we get back you can pat my head as much as you'd like as a reward?"

"G-gah!" the wolf-eared Servant spluttered and recoiled back, blush darkening. "What's with a shrewd offer like that? You're fiendish, Master. Seriously fiendish! Just which of us is the wolf around here...?"

Alicia giggled. "You're just too easy to tease. You act tough, but caring for others is nothing to be ashamed of you know."

"E-enough of that," Assassin recovered enough to clear her throat, "don't you have some more questions to ask of Miss Bushido? It looks like she's sticking around for the time being..."

"Right, I forgot about that," Alicia said turning back to M. Even though the other girl had helped her she still felt intimidated by her stonefaced demeanor. Swallowing nervously Alicia gathered the will to speak. "You said curses usually attack their progenitor, right? Then that means..." she trailed off with a shiver, "my negative emotions are what created that thing?" Shaking her head the young girl advanced along a different train of thought. "No, more importantly we have to get to the Tohsaka manor soon to find a way to stop this disaster. M, thanks for helping us so far but would it be too much to ask for you to accompany us a little longer? Any more aid could mean a lot in deciding this whole city's fate." Alicia expressed her request with modestly clasped hands, venturing to obtain the help of the mysterious girl.

[RacingeR]

Hiyako Tsurara
Dark World – Stray Cats HQ
Unknown Phase

Of course, outlining the strategy would come down to her. It was only fair.

Well, Mayumi had done her job of outlining the situation quick and easy perfectly. Now it was time to get to the brass tacks.

Tsurara took a step forward, and she felt the attention refocusing on her person immediately, although she’d felt herself being on the edge of the others’ awareness from the beginning.

It was not unexpected. Tsurara had gone out of her way to create a certain air of mystery around herself, along with an image meant to project a certain amount of awe on other denizens of the Dark World which didn’t quite adjust to reality, but that she had found very useful. The leaders and most older members of the Stray Cats knew her well enough to have long forgotten about it, but the members of the Seekers and Hidden Dragon did not, and she could feel the nervousness of the latter even through the phone call, unsurprising given the thorough ass-kicking she had given them not long ago.

“As Mayumi just pointed out, there are very clear weaknesses to the Dwellers’ structure and organization.” She said, in her cold and even voice, and she felt the room temperature lowering ever so slightly. “As such, I have designed a three-steps plan to exploit these weaknesses in our favor.”

“You need to understand that while they’re numerous and powerful, they’re also extremely brittle. Any good gang or organization, especially one that will engage in activities involving survival and combat will put a strong focus on unity and chain of command. These guys seem to have no other agglutinating factor other than basic greed and entertainment. In fact, they seem to have devolved into something that resembles tribalism than anything else.” She made a pause, and sighed. Well, the leader of the Hidden Dragon probably shared her same outlook, as a fellow organized crime lord. Or lady, she wasn’t really sure. They probably understood why she had sighed. “Their whole organization seems to be out of control as a general notion. Most of their strongest members are also their biggest firebrands. They’re arrogant, look down on everyone else, and mostly seem to engage in every masturbative behavior you can think about to stroke their own egos. Thus, they’re highly individualistic and operate in independent groups, or even act as solo players. The first phase of the plan involves them.”

Tsurara pointed at the map which outlined their routes and hypothetical positions.

“Across the next week, we’re going to be hitting all of them. We’ll ambush them, sic monsters on them, play every dirty trick you can think of to take them out. We’ll aim for these same ‘one-man-armies’ that make the Dwellers so fearsome, and use local number superiority to crush them. That they will be prone to underestimating us is something we’ll take advantage of. Let them be arrogant, and turn that arrogance against them. If we succeed, and I believe we have the tools and talent to succeed handily, we’ll have taken out a good chunk of their strongest assets in the opening phases of the war.” She outlined. “Although I will be acting as a coordinator for the attacks along the leaders of our allies, I’ll go out myself to deal with the toughest enemies out there. At the same time, we’ll use some of our numbers to hit their observation posts and resting stops whose existence we know about, specifically aiming to take out or isolate the ones farther from the city. I want to reduce the information they receive regarding our operations, although I’m not counting on being able to keep them blind for long. Thankfully, they have been rather negligent regarding the… operational security of their posts and they have a lot of dispersion, so I think we got a good chance of bagging most of them, and avail ourselves of the resources and support structure they readied for their own use.”

“The main purpose of that would be to spread misinformation and confusion: there are quite a few feints and other kinds of psychological warfare we could pull on them. We’d also be able to prevent them from flanking or ambushing us from those positions, and we can turn their safehouses into ambush spots for those who escape our initial sweep. And trust me, they’re going to be confused. The Dwellers might be experts and survival, but fighting a turf war is another thing entirely, and I doubt they have much experience on that. They simply aren’t going to be expecting us.”

“And that will be what Phase 1 will be all about.” Tsurara looked around the room, and then kept going.

“Phase 2 will be more of the same. We’ll start hitting the observation posts and strongpoints outside the city proper, and ambush the patrols that attempt to go look at the situation or discern what’s happening. I imagine that during this phase, the Dwellers will be able to discern what’s going on eventually, and the other big groups will smell the blood in the water. The Dwellers have bloodied too many noses, made too many grudges, and for what I’ve seen, practically everyone will want a piece of them. Either way, by the end of Phase 2 we’d have eradicated all of their forces outside of the city, or at least dispersed and neutered them, which will create an ideal state for Phase 3. Which is where things will get really rough.” She took a deep breath.

“First, how we go about Phase 3 will depend on the results of the previous two steps, and the conditions we find ourselves in. A big factor will be how many new allies we obtain once the other factions learn what’s going on. We can be a hundred percent certain we’ll get a substantial few, but if we don’t get enough, our situation might get dicey. We also need to gauge their reaction and the general state of their troops.” There was another pause now, while Tsurara considered how to better express what she had to say. Then, she shook her head. “Phase 3 has to be executed a few hours after Phase 2 ends at the latest if we wish to succeed. But the moment before we commit to it is also the only moment we can back down if things look bad enough. If we’re overly optimistic, the Dwellers’ top brass would want to negotiate.”

Nobody missed the sarcasm on her tone. “Don’t get me wrong, if they get organized and manage to calm down enough, they’ve still got the numbers and resources to roll us over regardless. But pragmatically speaking, their top brass would want to negotiate and avoid taking further losses, especially since I can’t see us taking too many losses ourselves in Phases 1 and 2, so we’d be nearly at full strength, and even have fresh reinforcements. However, I don’t think they’d be able to rein in their arrogant jackasses enough to pull a negotiation off. But we’d still be able to mount a good defense and bloody them enough to get them off our backs and weather the storm. But this would be the worst possible case scenario. One I’d really not care to see happening.”

“If we go ahead, Phase 3 will be an attack to the city with the objective to concentrate in one point of their defenses and force it open for a team of our strongest people to push in, execute a lightning attack and take out their top brass. Cut the head of the snake, and the rest will follow.”

“How we go about this will depend a lot on the conditions at the moment: how many allies we have by then, if we’ll be able to siege the whole city, how confused and demoralized or otherwise the enemy is, etc. The factors involved are fairly unpredictable. I wouldn’t be surprised if a good chunk of them surrender the moment we manage to penetrate the city, given their lack of unity, but just being able to get to that point is going to be rough.” Tsurara grimaced.

“Their top brass is perhaps the most dangerous of the bunch, and I don’t mean merely in actual power. You don’t get to the top of a gang like the Dwellers by not being able to rub two braincells together, and while I expect some of the trademark overinflated ego over there, it won’t be in enough quantities to make them incompetent. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if their nominal leaders didn’t know about the shit other Dwellers have been pulling on us. I’m not going to lie, we’re going to take a lot of damage during Phase 3, but it is also the only way I can see we can triumph before sheer attrition gets us.”

“Now, let me clarify something. This is not a war of extermination. We want to force the Dwellers to capitulate. We’ll kill if we have to, when fighting, but if they surrender, we’ll take them prisoner, and we won’t execute anyone unless they give us too much trouble. I don’t expect you guys to be very humane about their treatment for now, not when we need to make sure they’re not a danger to our people, but give instructions to be the least rough you can afford to. First, we do need the information we get from them to improve our intel, and second, if their fighters, especially those on the lower end of the power scale, see that surrendering is a viable way to survive, I expect to encourage them to do so. The less we have to fight, the more of us live through it.”

“Remember. We’re fighting this war because we have to. I know I said that I doubt the top brass signed on the attacks that have been realized upon us, but I may be being overly optimistic. And even if they didn’t, it is clear to me that they don’t really run the show, and this individualistic bunch of overpowered idiots they’ve got running around would end up dragging them to war anyway, and if that happens under their conditions, then we’ll be just plainly fucked.” Tsurara stated, centering her attention on the Seekers and the Hidden Dragon. It wasn’t quite exactly true, but it wasn’t false either. She had seen situations like these before during her stint as a Yakuza heiress, half her life ago, and they never ended well.

“Our objectives are to make the Dwellers capitulate, and capture their leaders if possible. To obtain the information they may have regarding the nature of the Dark World and possible ways to return home, and to divide the city and its resources amongst ourselves. So again, remember that taking the situation to a war of extermination would be extremely inconvenient, to say the least.” Not that she expected the Dwellers to be that merciful if this went wrong, but she chose to not say that.

“This is the plan I’ve come up with after talking things with Mayumi and the others. I am open to listening to suggestions and objections. After all, this is based on the intel the Stray Cats was able to get, and you guys might have better sources or know something we don’t. We’ve considered other strategies as well, but we think this one has the bigger chance of succeeding without leaving a bunch of dangerous idiots outside willing to retaliate and generally make life miserable for all of us. Still, if anyone got something better, I’m all ears.”


There was something Tsurara chose not to say. Politically speaking, if this whole thing succeeded, and especially if she assimilated the remaining Dweller leaders, this would end up with the Stray Cats as the top dogs (heh) of the human component of the Dark World, and a possible general unity of the survivors, with one Hiyako Tsurara herself in charge.

She was not amused by the possibility, but it was what it was. It had been too long, and she needed results. She needed to know about the Dark World. And she wished to end her tiresome role in this charade, and find the death she was surely doomed to, as a woman who had lost her own timeline forevermore.

[Bloble]

Assassin of the Distant Kingdom
Miyama - Ryuudou Temple
Morning Phase

Patience bears fruit.

As Assassin waits, the trap enfolds around her, weaving a simple, repeating illusion to entrap any who would intend to interact with it. No, to call it simple would be a disservice; it was certainly an impressive illusion, one Assassin herself could not see the true form of. It is fortunate, then, that all she had to do was wait it out without revealing her position, like defeating a bluff in a hand of poker simply by sticking to the fundamentals.

Yes, the fundamentals have been effective today. Reconnaissance is going well. Two targets identified, with more being mentioned, including mysterious devices and sealed weapons.

How almost interesting.

The cat silently yawns, stretches, and opens its eyes, finally glancing down at the scene below and taking in everything.

A dog and a girl, eh? Neither of them is a Servant, so attacking this very moment could work just fine... but Assassin does not stoke the flames of her killing intent. And not just because the dog might have some yokai abilities, or because the girl is likely a magus. Neither of them is a Servant, so neither of them is provably a Master, either. She has no innate desire to attack those not directly involved in the Grail War when she's already had her fill of souls this morning. Not unless it's profitable for her. Or amusing. Which in this case... there is something more amusing she can do. And profitable.

The two below can hear nothing but the sound of the morning wind rustling leaves. Above and away from them, Assassin shifts imperceptibly, her very presence in the world diminishing even further as she stills. No longer is she relaxing. All muscles tense, one by one. Her senses heighten to their peak. Her instinct sharpens further and further until she is aware of every hair on her body and every micro-movement in those two's bodies.

Deeper.

Deeper.

Deeper into darkness, into the shadows, into the place where eyes do not look.

Assassin immerses herself in it while leaving a path open to strike. This is the ancient hunting style of all felines. Stillness combined with speed, an art so deadly that humans invented iaijutsu as a pale imitation. One might even say her stance, unseen by all, is a promise that there will be no second strike.

Because she will strike at these two strangers. It has been decided.

However, the details remain in flux, so they will be decided last. Indeed, curiously, there is no killing intent yet. The key to starting the engine has been left out.

A certain 'trigger' will be enough. In that moment, when 'that' happens, everything will change.

Until then, Assassin will continue to wait.

[Tobias]

Yamashita Hiro
Fuyuki's Underground Sewers- ???'s Secret Laboratory
Morning Phase

Perhaps it was a difference in ideology. For Hiro, there wasn't any risk to great for a concurrent increase in magical power or magical knowledge. To put that another way, if something was raised which had a 99% chance of death, but carried a profit of increasing ones abilities by one hundred and none times. morally, the correct choice was for him to risk it.

Practically it wasn't quite that simple since it was hard to quantify the potential loss of other, more high success strategies, but the premise stood. A magister had to be willing to take risks.

...And, he was becoming increasing convinced that Luna herself was some sort of magus. Atypical, perhaps, but who was he, a demi-Servant to judge? Therefor it was likely unhindered by the blocks on her memory, Luna herself would be recommending the same path he was. So it was not immoral to push her. Or maybe that was sophistry he told himself. Even if it wasn't though...no, especially if it wasn't, there was still the flip side of that same premise.

Which was, this was a Luna whose moral structures had not been shaped by her lineage, nor any guided developmental path. In other words, her risk aversion here therefor, could be argued to represent her truest feelings, feelings that might not have been able to express themselves had her memory not been damaged.

...From there came an interesting, if somewhat unpleasant thought. Say instead, it had been Luna who had used the lightning within her to drive back Berserker, contracted Assassin, and had guided him instead, weak and goalless without memory or motivation. What if instead it had been Luna, arguing the fire demon within had to be tamed, and Hiro himself, unwilling to risk her life in the attempt?

From every conceivable viewpoint, with what he knew, Luna would be the one who was correct. Even if he was separated from the wrap, doomed to be burned and eaten, it would still be incumbent upon him to bring forward the fire, because without it he could not stand on his own two legs. A magus unwilling to struggle didn't deserve the life he saved. And yes, a magus had to be willing to risk not just himself, but others too. Some would tell you that was even preferable, though Hiro was not prepared to go that far.

...And yet...would that him, free of every lesson but the ones learned in the here and now be wrong? Would his feelings have no merit? It felt wrong to say that would be the case.

Plus as a practical matter, as upset as she was, judging from the fact that the lightning within her appeared to have been evoked by stress and emotion, attempted to cajole it now was another of those low success strategies. At best.

It definitely wasn't because it was hard to turn aside someone else's earnest desire to prevent you from coming to hard. Mages didn't think that way. This was just the most logical decision

It was only through a feat of nigh Herculean willpower that the young lad repressed a sigh of defeat.

“I understand. I also know that you know I don’t approve. I will not belabor the point. I cannot guarantee the offer will always be open, but I will try to be of assistance if and when you should reconsider. I would offer my continued support for instruction but…”

The black haired boy momentarily put two fingers to his forbear, sweat bearing noticeably on his brow. “…It seems I need a moment to collect myself.” He said, walking oddly stiff legged away.

The Jungle God was hammering away behind his eyes. It didn’t like something she considered “her” property being ornery. Hiro wasn’t sure if that was strange or quite to be expected. Servants did not have moral values equivalent to the modern age, and the fire spirit was quite willing to consider humans as slaves whom should offer their minds and hearts to her.

Strangely, despite that, this did not seem to be the primary facet of the fire demon to accept this course of events. Rather, a secondary, less widely known facet of the Goddess appeared to have taken offense.

In return for service, the fire spirit had been known to offer instruction in the tools needed to enhance the longevity of the tribe. And it was becoming increasingly clear the jungle spirit very much disagreed with disobedient children who skipped instruction. Hiro of course knew that there was nothing that could be done, it’s not like Luna could simply be compelled against her will.

The problem, and the source of the Demi-human’s quiet but curious internal struggle, was the Fire Demon was quite fine with involuntary compulsion, when the situation called for it.

Forcing his mind away from the fruitless struggles, Hiro idly found himself standing in front of the strange orange statue that decorated one part of the room. It appeared to be less important then the more eye catching representation of male genitalia hanging over head, but in its own way was quite interesting. It was the only thing in the room that more or less appeared human. To put that another way, it might represent some sort of assistive device that was intended to facilitate operation of the computer or the golden…thing.

As it had eventually not roused upon entry or any of the audio stimulus that had been presented up until this point, Hiro concluded if it could be activated and/or operated, a more direct interface was required.

This was dangerous but with the fire demon actually itching for a fight anyway, and the logical deduction that this was unlikely to be a guard of some sort considering the lack of reaction to their presence this far, the threat it presented appeared lower then the reward.

With that in mind, the young magus decided on a gradually increasing scale of prodding, first with a simple greeting, then a physical examination to discover any activation keys. If neither of these yielded results, then he would attempt more magical or commanding techniques.

The good thing was, even if nothing at all worked, a mental puzzle to set his mind on would give himself something to focus on, so he could at least hope to return to Luna with something resembling equanimity. If she presented herself, perhaps they could work on it together, though the young boy rather thought she as well might need a moment to gather herself.

”Unidentified device, I offer a greeting, and an assurance I mean no harm. Will you respond to me?” Hero said, beginning the process of examination he had mentally laid out a moment prior.

[hero]

Aya Alayana
Einzbern Forest
Morning Phase


"I must confess I have not been able to see anything beyond his shadow. In Egypt, such thief would have met his end undoubtedly fast, but here I am afraid he has done enough to prove he has the advantage. He certainly has experience with the layout of the castle and has even learnt how to disrupt my clairvoyance. Once he runs deep into the forest, his presence disappears, as do my belongings. I've been practicing Hide & Seek ever since, honing my skills so as to intercept this one elusive flea... And I have come a great distance, if I say so myself."

The giant briefly closes her eyes, draws a charismatic smile and puffs up with pride, as if expecting praise for all those hours of sweat and effort. With her extreme size offering a natural advantage and her magecraft increasing her surveying abilities even further, it goes without saying that the Pharaoh is indeed the most suitable for catching a sneaky foe amongst those present. Comparatively, Aya Alayana and Elizabeth are better at doing the opposite, that is, making others run away for... Slightly different reasons. The point is, for the ruler of this forest to entrust this quest upon yourselves, even after you dared to invade her territory, speaks of just how anxious she is to rid herself of this problem. Well, even if at first glance you are terribly unprepared for such task, the Alayana move only forward. You have tackled worse cases of tax evasion in your past. You are sure to find a way to turn this situation around eventually.

In the meantime, you'll use this opportunity to move across this terrain unhindered and learn more about the current situation.

"Alas, as one meant to rule, the role of apprehending him should not fall on the Pharaoh but on the shoulders of the common folk. Yes, perhaps a similar mind is required to carry out task. Bring that demon with you tonight. Corrupt as she is, she'll be a good guide."

... Is she talking about Elizabeth? Coming last place in this struggle for power, she has been left hanging in the background, waiting for an opportunity to recover the spotlight. With no outstanding traits besides her noisy and rebellious nature, she's not the sort of member you would hire for a searching party... Even so, the Pharaoh speaks with utter confidence in her words. She might be able to see underneath the underneath.

That, or she is a little bit of an idiot, as well.

"Oh!" The giant exclaims, almost as an afterthought. "You must absolutely not get close to the Castle. Not now or ever! The place where the Pharaoh resides... Is not somewhere you should barge in without invitation. Understood? Now go, I shall await your return at dusk."

The conversation is over.

With this, you are granted the opportunity to retreat unharmed. In the end, you didn't get as much freedom as you had hoped you could bargain for, but now you have a little more information as to what it is that you should do in order to reunite with your two proteges. Now, what's left to decide is what will be done between now and the scheduled meeting with the mysterious chief. Whatever you go for, it seems you and Elizabeth will be sticking together for the time being...

[Airen]

Aya Alayana
Einzbern Forest
Morning Phase

"Very well, I will be in this forest come dusk."

Not quite the ideal outcome, but something she could accept considering the circumstances.

While she had been hoping for free range of the property in it's entirety, a restriction like 'don't get too close to the castle' is entirely subjective in nature, so long as she doesn't barge onto the premises themselves, she can just claim that she was following orders under her own interpretation of those orders, in other words...

She can probably get close enough to see the castle itself, without clearly violating the verbal agreement; of course it's for the spirit's own good that this is the case, if she wanted someone like herself to catch a thief, then the best way to go about it with her skill-set was simply to make the castle a cage of sorts, let the thief go inside and start his next batch of robbery, and then...

Form a circle outside the castle itself, a Bounded Field of living fire. So long as she was present to keep it on a leash it shouldn't spread too far, and considering the thief apparently had to run to escape from the giant, it was probably a safe bet to say that they weren't capable of space-time manipulation of any sort, in other words, she probably didn't have to worry about teleportation, in which case the circle of flames should be a good enough boundary, a way to keep the target in a general area while Elizabeth subdues them...

Simple, but effective.

She takes another draw of the cigarette, then...

"Come along now, little idol."

...She offers no chance for the girl to reclaim the spotlight, indeed, simply turning to move into another part of the forest now that she is allowed to do so without having to worry about a potential fight against a ghost-liner level entity, the flame-haired woman maintains her casual airs, never once looking back to make sure that the girl is following her, because she is convinced that the spirit effectively has no other options than to do so...

It's certainly...

A reversal of sorts of the usual Master-Servant dynamic.

Of course, she wasn't a Master of any sort, but...

Well, who turns down a mostly-obedient familiar of this level?

The child clearly needed some form of guidance anyway...

"This forest is home to quite a few spirits, but they shouldn't approach me when I'm conscious, doing so would simply spell their doom." She reports to the dragon-girl with absolute confidence, silver-smoke dancing on her lips, "Bring me somewhere where we can observe the castle from afar, or at least some sort of open area, without all of these trees."

Simple orders.

"If we're going to work together, I want to know everything that you are capable of, going into any sort of team-conflict without at least that much knowledge is suicide."

She chuckles, before finally turning her head behind her...

"...My name's Aya, by the way."

Saying this with the barest hint of an amused smile, and-

"Aya Alayana. Fuyuki is my... Kingdom, as it were."

-continuing on into the forest, unburdened by mortal fears.

"Going back to it would take too long however, so it seems it'll just be the two of us. One more than my usual, but I suppose I can make it work."

At least she doesn't seem keen on fighting the younger girl's presence?

[hero]

Yamashita Hiro
Fuyuki's Underground Sewers- ???'s Secret Laboratory
Morning Phase


As a way to both calm your mind and be productive, you take it upon yourself to investigate the orange machine. In spite of its humanoid frame, its 'old-school' design and materials heavily contrast with the idea of postmodernism that the rest of the laboratory tries to convey, making it a certainty that it falls short in trying to reproduce the essence that the genuine article possesses. A Magus would, at first glance, would opt to view this invention as a puppet or perhaps even an exotic golem of sorts, however, several clues scattered across its body also distance it from any of these categories. After all, it is something powered not by Magecraft but purely by science instead. Although such a construct would be hard to find in this day and age, assuming it can still operate, you can probably name at least twelve different groups capable of its manufacture and hidden from the eyes of the public.

"..."

Surprisingly enough, your greeting does receive a response, it just happens to be a sound that just barely escapes your hearing ability. It almost felt like a grunt or perhaps even a man's last breath if that makes any more sense. Regardless, you can't sort it anything but a coincidence and upon there being no follow up, you decide to continue your work with a slightly more invasive method. Unfortunately, in spite of the knowledge passed down to you by the Yamashita Group and the matters they were involved into, this piece of gear proves to be beyond the scope of what you could handle or at least incompatible with your past experiences. So, when the lack of an activation switch makes itself evident, you are left with virtually no clue as to how to crack this puzzle. Thankfully, it is in these times that Magecraft becomes increasingly useful. And while normalcy might still be a difficult subject to tackle, the world of the arcane and what concerns the subjugation of others to your will, you might not be as ill-equipped as you originally seemed to be.

But then, just as you are about to turn orange scrap into a new kind of guinea pig, a curious yet not entirely unfamiliar 'click' close to your ear appears to inform you that you might not actually get the chance to proceed. Because you still were struggling to actively suppress the influence of the demon within, you quickly find yourself in a position where your supernatural instinct has arrived late to the party, a 'mechanical finger turned gun' pointing at your head with an unbelievable steady aim. And yet...

"Why... Why did you have to stop...?"

The words that come out of its artificial mouth with a tone low enough to be called a whisper are not quite the ones you would expect in a situation like this one. Between the initial question and the almost inaudible grumbles that follow, you have gathered almost enough evidence to claim that, one, the robot has not just been brought to life and instead has been 'active' for at least a good dozen minutes, and two, it is a container of lust so strong that it can manifest grief upon failing to see the consummation of the act that should have taken place between Luna and you...

"Anyways, lady, I went through a lot of trouble to get inside this junk, and even more to make it work, so I'd appreciate it if you could keep your weird magicz away from it for the time being. I am willing to talk things o-Hey!"

It was at that moment that something hit the robot in the head, interrupting its machine-like speech. The makeshift projectile -probably just a random, expensive and relatively heavy piece of equipment lying around the lab- had crossed a distance of at least five meters before reaching its target, fact that spoke of the talent of the pitcher behind the feat. You see, Luna was not the kind of girl to stand around with her arms crossed even after a heated debate, and she already had in mind to approach you again to hopefully continue working the way you had up to this point, almost completely unaware of your inner struggle with the beast. The thing is, she does not take it kindly when someone is hostile towards her friends, or at least it must have been that way in the past because she didn't hesitate to go on the offensive.

"H-Hey! I said stop! Damn it!"

Offensive which might extend indefinitely until someone does something or the potential weapons in the environment run out.

[hero]

Hiyako Tsurara
Dark World – Stray Cats HQ
Unknown Phase


"You must have gone crazy..."

The initial response to your plan is visibly negative. While not all of the leaders choose to discard etiquette and openly say it to your face, the reality is that the three step plan you have come up with has failed to meet their expectations. True, they can trust that there is some groundwork behind your proposal, that it is not some spur of the moment decision that you are gambling on. Your name precedes you, you have earned enough respect through the years to be able to summon parties in a meeting that decades ago would have been thought as impossible. And that is the reason why those present have not yet stood and left, and why those on the phone have not ended the call, even though electricity is a precious and scarce resource around these parts, let alone long-distance communication...

"Your Excellency, if you allow me..." Spoke one of the more well-mannered veterans. "As leaders of our respective groups, we have taken it upon ourselves to veil for the well-being of our communities. As it stands, we cannot afford to send our people to the battlefield when there is no certainty that a majority of them will come back alive. While it is true that the Dwellers represent an obstacle that occasionally gets in our way, the losses we suffer cannot be compared to those an all-out war would bring. In our particular case, while we do possess armed units that assist in the hunt of monsters and the gathering of materials, I don't believe they are personally prepared for something of that scope in the short term. If we combine our forces, I have faith that we should be able to take a stronghold or two... But to send them against the so called 'one-man armies'? That is something I must say 'no' to. They are referred as such for a reason. Even suppressing one would mean suffering heavy casualties."

A momentary pause, and then the man added some words of advice:

"Arrogant as they might be, the Dwellers have proven time and time again to be the most powerful militia there is. So it would be foolish of us to underestimate them now because of their particular personalities. Even their weakest grunts are taught how to properly handle firearms and perform military martial arts techniques. In comparison, our weakest links prioritize rudimentary survival and can't handle themselves as well in a direct confrontation. They'd be sitting ducks in most cases."

Many of those present agreed with what the man had to say. Even Mayumi gave an understanding nod. He might have been sent to the Dark World at an old age -as evidenced by his perpetually old features- but it seemed that had only fortified his wisdom and patience. So, the first problem to tackle was rather simple: With you, the Stray Cats had the necessary firepower to have a decent chance against one or two big names, provided an ambush is set up properly beforehand, but the majority of the other groups will need much more than that to get by. Logically, they would rather suffer a long and painful death in the long run than to risk going out all at once during a suicide mission. The leaders are not scared themselves, they are just weighting the lives of their underlings and the risk involved versus the promised rewards, and they are not very fond of the overall result. Even if, by some sort of miracle, the entire thing would work out, it would leave them weakened against the other groups... A fight to decide who would become the next 'The Dwellers'... That would be the worst possible outcome.

"Hmmm... You mentioned their chain of command is rather weak..." Another, much younger and mischievous leader, cut in with a possible suggestion. "How about hurting them from within? It's true that it's been long since they've last accepted new people into their ranks, but you could certainly present a strong case as to why you should be allowed to join. If sabotage is going to be our weapon of choice, we need to have someone capable of pulling the strings so wind starts blowing in our favor. 'The City' is their home-turf and you can bet it's filled with traps and other dangerous devices we don't even know about."

This one has a point, as well, although his intentions might not be as well-meaning. Even you, someone blessed -or cursed- with extraordinary power, would require to pay a blood tribute to even be considered as a potential member of The Dwellers given the current circumstances. To turn your sword on your on people for a chance to pull all of this off... Is that a price you'd be willing to pay? That's not what your father taught you... Regardless, it is a dire situation that requires a dire response, and so the final say is in your hands...

"We could find someone to bribe." Another one of the present suggested, not quite fond of the idea shared before his own. "Although that would be rather dangerous... If we cannot trust this person, whoever it might be, we might be walking straight into a grave of our making..."

Tachibana did have something else in mind, but the desire not to be the source of the spotlight in combination with the conversation dynamics so far have kept her silently staring from a corner.

In the end, no one seems to reach an agreement. The plans come and go, they are diverse and many, all trying to build up from the framework you provided, but none seems to convince the majority of those in the meeting.

Yes, the consensus is...

'We need a miracle.'

And at that very moment...

*Thud-!*

The door is violently pushed open, and two Stray Cat agents burst into the room, looking completely out of breath. They shouldn't be allowed to barge into a private meeting like this, so naturally all attention immediately focuses on them, but before anyone can issue a word of complaint, they dare open up their mouth:

"L-Leader...! The s-sky... An entire city just... Fell down from the sky...!"

At a time like this...

A new piece finds its place into the board, disrupting the status quo it had been trapped into!

[hero]

Alicia Rosenkopf
Miyama- Streets
Morning Phase


"... I cannot say for sure. But it would be best not to dwell on it for too long. Regardless of whether that apparition was drawn to the physical realm because of your influence or not, worrying too much might wake another kind of inner demons. Light-hearted thoughts can be the best tool against these sort of things, and from what I can gather, you seem to have no problems on that field. Perhaps you were just unlucky to be targeted. That sort of thing can happen in a chaotic environment like this one."

The mystery behind the living shadow might be a curious one, but it's not the one you need to solve right now. Deciding to follow M's advice, the group quickly drops the topic in favor of one more focused on solving the problem at hand, rather than figuring out its exact mechanics. You tell M that you are headed towards the Tohsaka Residence, where you hope to find some clue as to how to put a stop to this calamity before it deals any further damage to the reality you know. Sensing that you might be on to something, the robot girl takes a couple of seconds to process everything that has happened and the weight of your proposal, her expression unreadable. Sooner rather than later, an affirmative nod leaves it clear that she is willing to cooperate with your team for the time being.

"The truth is... I was on my way to ask for your cooperation as well." M would confess the moment she recovered her sword. "I've lost some of my gear during a... Rather unlucky encounter, thus leaving me trapped in this layer alongside the rest of you. Now, my life is not in danger, however, I am rather fond of this unit, and so I would like to avoid its termination, if possible. If we work together, I am certain we could find a method that would benefit us both."

Right.

M is a robot. A scout unit from somewhere far away. It's hard for a little girl to grasp the details, but in retrospect it makes sense for her to have had some sort of traveling tool. How else would she have arrived here? And then, there another possibility you had not considered. Given what she has just said and the way she said it... It would not be strange for someone to be controlling remotely from a distance. Then the one in front of you wouldn't be M, the real M, but rather an avatar of sorts... Before you can finish that train of thought or even walk far from the spot where you encountered the black heart moments ago, a bright light brings the party to a halt once more. This time, however, there is no danger involved, as M quickly speaks up to explain she is the one responsible.

"This is a sequence, a formula." She begins. "I guess it would be the equivalent of Magecraft from where I come from. Several key differences here and there, but ultimately the same goal."

As the light begins to dim, you spot several square-shaped sigils rotating in mid air, each slightly bigger than the last. They slowly descend and descend on the ground next to your feet and those of the other members of the group. For a novice in Magecraft like yourself, it must be quite the sight. None of your spells are as flashy...

"If we continue our march down the hill as we are, we're likely to bump into at least two more encounters like the one we just had. Time is not on our side, so we have to make this a quick trip to the Tohsaka Residence. Thankfully, I can make an arrangement like this. I present you: 'Grasshopper times twenty'. Just step on it and the spell will take care of the rest."

Then, casually, right before following her own instructions, she adds with a soft voice that almost feels like a whisper:

"... Don't worry, I'll catch any of you who messes up."

Stepping onto the sigil, M is immediately and without delay catapulted high into the air, a travel course that resembles that of a cannonball rather than a grasshopper...

Forget landing...!

Can your body even withstand being thrown at such high speeds...?!

You glance at Assassin and then at Yuuna. The latter does not seem to be scared in the slightest...

Truly maids are ready for anything, huh...?

[Tobias]

Yamashita Hiro
Fuyuki's Underground Sewers- ???'s Secret Laboratory
Morning Phase

...Well now. Though Hiro had hoped some level of material gain might be gleaned from accessing the strange creation, in truth, his vision of such had been at the most on the level of a homunculus, and a limited one at that. Something like a single minded entity capable of assisting with basic tasks or responding to previously calibrated stimuli. That was not at all what presented itself however.

Now, it was worth noting, there was some implication that might have been the original premise of the creation considering the implication that whatever was now speaking was not the original creation but some form of secondary consciousness that was, for lack of a better word, squatting within. Though it was also possible that it had been the original progenitor whom had crafted the shell for the express purpose of possessing it, as it did now.

That was an interesting line of thought, but one that wasn't the most useful right now. Several things had occurred in quick succession, first, it had armed itself, and then Luna, sweet soul, defending him despite their recent disagreement had begun a rather....unconventional...method of attack.

...Thing is, Hiro was probably more on board then one might have expected.

"P-pervert! Peeping Tom! And who are you calling 'lady!'" Hiro's face noticeably reddened as he began to process certain secondary aspects to the new revelations. Had Luna acquiesced to his idea earlier, the creepy man would have gotten more then an eyeful, and obviously it would be at least somewhat Hiro's fault some random pervert got a look at Luna's naked body, though obviously the majority of the blame would rest with the offender himself.

It...probably said a lot that while Hiro did take a few actions in the next several seconds, as he shifted his grip on his walking stick to a ready position and leveled it in an accusatory fashion, he went out of his way to not do anything at all to stem the tide of debris coming from one embarrassed mage/nurse/lightning thing

"You had better start explaining yourself sir, or its not gonna go well for you!" the young lad threatened angrily. In the back of his mind, he remembered the weird thing had apparently shape shifted a weapon, so he resolved to keep a wary eye for any further shifts. If he spotted one, it was gonna get the business end of his shaft.

[hero]

Assassin of the Distant Kingdom
Miyama - Ryuudou Temple
Morning Phase


"Mages have become the black sheep of society..." After a brief silence, the red haired girl continues, small hints of regret present in her voice. "ASM, UNIU, MWCD... Even now, all these organizations continue use mass media to demonize Magic and supernatural phenomena in general, which makes our already tough work tougher. After everything that happened... I understand why the world would search for someone to blame, but I also feels it pushes us dangerously close to vicious cycle of self-destruction. With the odds stacked against us, it is becoming more and more common for some departments to disregard any attempt to protect public image in favor of more efficient methods to carry out our duties, no matter how inhuman they might be. It makes you wonder just how far we'll get..."

It quickly becomes apparent that the speaker is not a Magus of the traditional kind. In all honesty, it sounds as if she is feeling sorry for being part of what a Magus is supposed to be: A heartless, ambitious individual willing to put their research above all things possible. A Magus walks alongside death and this girl does not seem to understand it. Then again, a lot of what she says collides with what little you know about this time and age... Just what kind of individuals are you dealing with here?

"Aren't we like... Undercover heroes, though~?" The fox girl replies, drawing a playful smile in an attempt to get rid of the sudden sour mood. "Fighting evil... Keeping them safe... All while being branded as the bad guys of the story?"

The Youkai's contagious lively attitude does the human girl cheer up a little, even if there is no falser truth than what she just said. How could them, who instead of lending a helping hand have chosen to only look after themselves, be called heroes? Then again...

"That's just like you, Nanami. Maybe you're right."

Even though she has seen the worst of it... Even though she does not completely understand human nature...

Sometimes she can be the most human of them all, wrapping a warm sheet of fantasy over your weary body during a cruel winter night...

... Time passes.

You overhear their conversation as you wait for the perfect signal to strike, a trigger that has been defined by you and no one else knows. With each minute that passes by, the condition changes slightly and you have to envision new ways to finish off the target, but said detail is ultimately insignificant. Like a sharpshooter adjusting its aim, it supposes no effort to you. However...

However not even you can extend a perfect opportunity forever...

It's an odd sensation in the back of your head, an ominous feeling that announces the presence of an existence that is beyond the realm of man. It is the signal that marks the arrival of another of your kin, although not exactly. As of an instant ago, at least one other Servant has set foot on this holy territory, a fact that, for the time being, appears to be only known by you.

The Old Man of the Mountain? No. He's a coward. He is not the type to make a move, but rather the one prepared to flee at any moment. If that is the case, it wouldn't be to crazy to assume that he has been investing his time in setting up an escape route rather than following an assassination plan similar to yours.

It's too early for the mist to manifest Blackened Servants, but you can't discard the possibility. In either case, you are looking at a encounter with either a mindless Heroic Spirit or a fully-fledged Legend... And even though your Presence Concealment promises a peerless stealth experience, there is something with this presence in particular that makes you extraordinarily wary, your instincts adamant on retreat altogether being the best course of action.

However...

Staying and challenging that danger in your own special way might yield some gains, and if you are fast and clever enough, you might even score a kill or two at some point.

In the end, it's up to you.

[Bloble]

Assassin of the Distant Kingdom
Miyama - Ryuudou Temple
Morning Phase

"Fufufu."

It is time.

The cat's presence has by now sunk into the depths of nothing. Those two can no longer notice the hidden Servant. Not because she is a perfect ghost, but because their senses have dulled. It's normal to be on high alert at first, when visiting a new, dangerous location. Yet no living being can sustain such a state for long. It is inevitable that one will relax when nothing reveals itself, just as those two have done. They are wide open. In this moment, she could take both of their throats in one motion, should she desire it.

How fortunate, then, that another Servant has arrived at the mountain.

Assassin does not strike. Her killing intent never manifests. Instead, a pair of invisible eyes peers down at the two girls below, finally carving into memory their appearance, before slinking away to other parts of the temple.

They have not brought out this 'device' they mentioned. So it must be here somewhere. Assassin does not know what it is, or what it does, but she is curious enough to die for it all the same.

There is something important here. Now that another has arrived, the situation is finally urgent enough to begin moving.

Before the other Servant arrives at the temple, the cat will 'assassinate' her target, whatever it may be.

[RoydGolden]

Alicia Rosenkopf (& Servant Assassin)
Miyama- Streets
Morning Phase


"..."

Alicia stared flatly and with jaw agape at the spot where M was launched almost comically through the air. The concentric sigils still thrummed softly on the ground, beckoning more passengers for this rather outrageous mode of travel. "No way, can you seriously expect us to go along with this?" Alicia bewailed towards the figure who'd become a mere twinkle in the horizon seconds ago. "I mean, she even admitted she'll be fine if her body gets destroyed, but we'll actually die!"

She paused her outburst to glance at Assassin and Yuuna. The latter still wore an unruffled expression on her face, as if stepping into a magic square and catapulting herself ungodly feet in the air were no less part of a normal daily excursion than escorting her lady's children out to catch the bus. The wolf-eared Servant on the other hand... brandished an enthusiastic grin that stated she knew full well how insane this was and was 100% along for the ride. "Alright, this kind of transportation is more my style! I may be a beast of the forest but being able to soar through the air like this sounds awesome!" she spiritedly exclaimed.

"You're both insane..." Alicia ruefully concluded looking back and forth between the pair. "But I guess if we have to make it to the Tohsaka Manor on time then there's no other choice," she went on steeling her voice. "Assassin, do you really think this will work?" The blonde spared a final meaningful gaze at her Servant.

"You kidding, do you really think I'll leave it to robo-girl over there to catch you? I'll definitely protect you Master," Assassin promised, her grin shifting a couple notches from crazed adrenaline-junkie to reassuring big sister.

"Okay, here goes nothing I guess," Alicia said walking up to the awaiting sigil. The girl took a deep breath, calming the swarm of butterflies in her stomach as she convinced herself this would end in anything but her horribly splattered corpse impacting the ground at millions of miles an hour. "This is what the heroines would do in all those novels I read, nothing can be accomplished unless you take a single step forwards," she murmured to herself before setting foot within the square.

-Fwoosh!

Even expecting it and readying herself as best she could, the sensation was still unbelievably jarring. In less than a second from her foot making contact with the sigil Alicia was rocketed skyward at mindblowing speeds. "I regret everything, I'm totally gonna' diiiiieee!!" the girl wailed into open air, wind pummeling her face making her blonde hair billow about wildly. Terror evacuated every attempt at rationality from her mind, replaced by the overwhelming instinctual thoughts of any land-dwelling creature that suddenly found itself absconded dozens of meters in the air; oh god, oh fuck, Jesus, why did I ever think this was a good idea?!

Suddenly another fwoosh filled the air, and Alicia felt a pair of comforting strong arms wrap around her. She looked up and that same dauntless grin greeted her again, an expression that told her everything was going to be okay even in the darkest situations. "Told ya' I was going to catch you, Master," Assassin whispered in her ear. Her voice was mischievous, almost smug, but right then Alicia didn't care that her Servant was milking the moment for all it was worth; she just wanted to hold onto her tightly and never let go.

"Assassin..." she gasped with relief, rosy hue rising in her cheeks. Nestled safely in Assassin's arms a giddy weightlessness overtook her body as she for the first time became aware of the more pleasant aspects of being so high aloft. The cityscape below was almost like a toy model with trees jutting out like toffee sticks as she stared at them from her elevated perch. The whole scene felt unreal, like a fairy tale and that made her the one being carried in the arms of the handsome prince, spirited away to realms more phantasmal and wondrous than she could imagine.

...Wait, prince? Alicia ground those thoughts to a halt, realizing they were leading somewhere her conscious mind hadn't granted permission to. Besides, Assassin were certainly far from a prince. She was vulgar, mischievous, belligerent and loved teasing her way too much. Really she was more like the beast the prince would slay at the end of his adventure, only to turn out way more popular so the readers end up liking her more and writing all sorts of fanfiction shipping her with... Ah, her thoughts were going weird places again. What was it about Assassin's arms around her that made it so hard for her to focus and keep her mind on a single topic?

Alicia's musings were finally cut off by a vertigo-inducing drop in the pit of her stomach as the two of them reached the apex of their trajectory and began plummeting through the air. "Better hold on tight Master!" Assassin yelled against the wind buffeting them with a vengeance.

"Iyaaaaahhh!!!" Alicia screamed and clung tighter around her Servant as the clear panorama of scenery became an uncontrollable blur that raced up towards them. "Flying is such bullshiiiiitt-!!" She may've happened to let slip some rather unladylike phrases in her descent, ones that no innocent young maiden would be caught dead uttering, but those would surely be excused given the circumstances.

After a short but terrifying few moments of freefall Alicia to her surprise found their velocity slowing as they levitated gently to a stop just above the ground. (This must be part of the spell M mentioned) she thought to herself before the unnatural weightlessness dispelled and Assassin landed lightly on her feet. "Well that was weird, but fun," the Servant remarked.

"Phaaagh..." Alicia was far less composed, panting and gasping with her cheeks flushed when Assassin set her down on the ground. "I never want to do that again..." she moaned between catching her breath.

"But it looks like we're at our destination," Assassin said looking up at the western-style mansion that rose up in front of them. "My bestial instincts are starting to tingle just getting near this place."

"So this is the Tohsaka Manor huh?" Alicia asked turning back and forth at her companions. Yuuna had come down only a few seconds later, landing with perfect poise and grace as her maid uniform rustled around her. (Huh, maids really are amazing) Alicia thought briefly admiring her composed figure. (She's just like Mary Poppins...) The imagery of a certain movie she'd watched in her childhood randomly popped into the young girl's mind before she hastily shook her head to dispel it.

On the other side M had already completed her journey and was standing with an analytic expression on her face as if scanning the surroundings for any detail out of place. Having confirmed that everybody was there in one piece Alicia gathered her remaining courage and stepped forward. "It looks like we'll have to go in if we want to find any clues."

"Got it." Assassin grinned encouragingly taking her charge's hand. "I'm more at home skulking about in forests, but ransacking human settlements isn't bad for a wild beast either."