The Holy Schlock War Thread

[Dreamerless]

This sounds fine as a write-up for that MU. I'd make Takeru vs Fei if I have time. Excited for your write up on the whole war.

[Random]

If Offense Against Wind B+ totally nullifies Valorous Incarnation A++, rather than just defending against most of it like Magic Resistance or Protection from Wind, then honestly I think the battle is decided right there and then.

That said, some clarification on Tsukuba-dou: it's not a Bounded Field. It's related to Reality Marbles in that it turns you inside out, and it's fair to say that it is a Marble ability, but it doesn't do so by establishing a

barrier

World

. It's the direct ancestor of the Magecraft used with Divine Bodies by traditional Japanese families in the modern day - for example, the Yakou and their Black Chests - from an era in which humans themselves were higher beings than they are now. Ancient humans could use it, Servants can use it, but modern humans can't recreate it unassisted - it taps into the inherent Mystery of the caster's own being.

The simplest go-to in a fight is to enhance the abilities he already has with the attribute of "spirit fire" passed onto him by his mentor, but this isn't actually the proper use. I'll preface this by saying I'm good to ignore it since I both didn't list it outright and would say that even he wouldn't be too happy about pulling it out.

last call spoilers (I guess relatively minor but read at your own risk and don't ruin it for everyone else)

Tsukuba-dou externalises what is internal. Basically, it draws out more of your inner attributes than would normally appear and bares you, alone, before the World. In that sense, it's Ren's total opposite. Put like that, it's obvious that someone else's fire is the tip of the iceberg: it's just the manifestation of what he gained from her - it picked up the attribute of spirit fire on its own because of who he gained it from and how deeply he internalised what he learned at that time. Fire is the output when Takeru makes Tsukuba-dou into its own input, and this is how he usually uses it, because this is what he trusts.

When he makes himself the input - more precisely, in the event that he would rather make himself its input rather than die, which is not often - it's very different. The output isn't fire or water or earth or air, and it's not some esoteric variation like divine wind or spirit fire - in a twist that was so obvious that even the spectators can't believe they ever thought it could be anything else, it's ｢Yamata-no-Orochi｣. The actual phenomena generated have the characteristics of omnivorous venom, and it's self-reinforcing the more he uses it in this way - the more he devours, the stronger his constitution as a living Curse of Orochi becomes, because the more mass/energy/spirit/karma is accumulated and digested into that attribute.

wait then what's orochi

Short answer: Ukemochi's Authority, which spilled out of her after being killed by Tsukuyomi and fell to Earth, but became self-sustaining after consuming countless minor gods.

Somewhat less short answer: after the initial big snake got killed, Orochi isn't really an entity so much as a concept that takes forms via assimilation. If you make a replica of Kusanagi, that replica is also, to a certain extent, the real deal - as what is effectively a ritual offering in the same vein as fruits, wines, or cereals as ritual offerings, the "altar is cleansed" in that the sword is digested into a fragment of Orochi, however small. This is why Muramasa is able to recreate it, this is why Shuten-douji's Noble Phantasm is the poison that killed her, this is why Mochizuki Chiyome managed to inherit Orochi's curse, this is why Wakanuke exists, this is why Orochimaru exists, this is how Kusanagi can simultaneously have been lost at Dan-no-Ura and still be in the hands of the royal family to this day, this is why Tsukuyomi and Susanoo both have contradictory stories of having killed Orochi.

Hypothetically, if this power were to go berserk, he would definitely return to his origins and become Orochi, but his education under Mihitaki that made this Tsukuba-dou in the first place gives him the clearmindedness that he will absolutely never allow that to actually happen, unless the fate of the world or something genuinely demanded that he did.

Anyhow, this was basically just an excuse to talk at length about something I made, so I'm fine with accepting that evaluation.

[DracoScribe]

So irl has me a little busy, but like Draco, I hope to have my summary ready for the weekend. Does the Vote starting Saturday sound alright?

I'm fine with voting on Saturday. Though uh... -looks at the date and then my plans- ...yeah don't think I'm gonna give my thoughts in time... So yeah.

[Dreamerless]

So who do y'all think will actually win? Since votings tomorrow and vidi didn't post the day 2 writeup. Japan ftw?

[Vididii]

So who do y'all think will actually win? Since votings tomorrow and vidi didn't post the day 2 writeup. Japan ftw?

[Morg van Destro]

Alright. No one else is, so I'll say it.
I'm here for Africa. I think they have a good chance of winning so long as they keep to the river, forcing the other teams to fight them on their terms. Unless the Rulers pull some tricks out their butts, though at least one of them is likely to back them, the other teams will have a hard time taking them down.

[Vididii]

I'm kinda here for Greece, just due to the fact that when the grail pops up, they can just zoom in and snag it, easiest thing in the world

[Skull]

I'm mostly curious to see who does Team Britain fall against. It's fairly obvious they can't win, so which pair is the combination that does them in is what interests me.

[Dreamerless]

Im for Japan

[WhiteFrenzy]

Greece has the shortening distance bullshit, the zoomies, the charisma to get to the Rulers' good side and no enemy on their way to the Grail. Not to brag but they could sweep without a single thrown punch.

[BnEl15]

I'm mostly curious to see who does Team Britain fall against. It's fairly obvious they can't win, so which pair is the combination that does them in is what interests me.

Imma just pit them against the war's main threats, Greece and Japan.

- Against the Greeks, I can see Cal holding his own for a while in a defensive battle. It helps that A&C isn't in any hurry to end them, but they're all just too fast for Cal to land any significant blows. Unless Bentham is able to disable A&C's pseudo-immortality and Zeno's distance/acceleration bullshit, Greece would just whittle down Cal's health little by little. The good news is that once you take their speed and immortality away, the battle becomes significantly more manageable for Cal.

- Japan is... much more complicated. I'm not too worried over Mitsuhide. It's Takeru that I'm sure everyone here is worried about. In the absolute best-case scenario, Bentham would be able to take away Kusanagi (and this is already a very difficult thing to do since Takeru actually has the smarts to form a counterargument to not have his divine sword taken, won't be as easy as turning off A&C's immortality). But even without Kusanagi, Takeru still has Tsukuba-do (which Bentham can't take away due to it being closer to a learned ability instead of something stemming from "natural rights"), and he's still more than capable in good ol' fisticuffs.

Not too sure how they would fare against the other teams (though they would stomp Unas if given the chance), but for now, I think they'll probably fall to the Japanese.

[Ismail2002]

While Amr is just fishing in some remote part of the park, just casually not caring about this war. If someone got to him, he would probably just say wait until I catch this big one here before you kill me. I am here on vacation. After all, like after the disaster with Unas, he probably knew he doesn't have a chance of winning the war, nor does he want to. So, yeah he probably treats this like his long-due vacation.

[BnEl15]

Actually, y'know what would be cool to see in a Brits vs. Greeks confrontation? Cal and A&C duking it out in the battlefield, while Zeno and Bentham are duking it out in a seemingly civil, but tense philosophical debate as the battle unfolds. The combatants' Skills are constantly, chaotically turned off and on depending on which philosopher has the upper hand at the moment. The results of the physical clash is significantly tied to the results of the philosophical one.

[Morg van Destro]

Are we... done then?

[Vididii]

yeah fuck it why not- who wants next prompt? (limited to not doubles)

[DracoScribe]

...id like to volunteer
but my mind is blanking on ideas atm so because of course it is
so if someone else has an idea i dont mind

[TQG Imaginatorious]

How about the weakest war? One where all the servants are weak ones, I mean the Alexandria one were all quality so why not the opposite?

[BnEl15]

...Are we not leaving the prompt to Random and Anju, assuming we have no objections with Japan winning? Would also be nice to give Anju another chance at the prompt after her last war ended unfinished, but that's just me.

Well, I don't have any ideas myself, so I'll leave it all to you.

[Ismail2002]

How about a capture-the-flag war, where each team holds a fragment of the grail and the first team that collects them all is the winner, or an escape room HGW where each servant holds a piece of a clue to escape the labyrinth and the goal is to be the first one to get out.

[Vididii]

Yeah I'm fine with Anju getting round 2