[Quest] Lost Singularity - Fimbulwinter

[Spartacus]

3

Doesn't look like there is any major harm in this part, and I love dark jokes and this may be one.

[Daneel Rush]

We have a tie, then.

The interesting thing would be to pick a representative from each side and have them settle things in the thunderdome, but that sounds like a hassle so figure out a way to break the tie by yourselves as soon as possible.

Just to be safe, voting ends after the very next vote.

[Spartacus]

uh, a tie? I'm not really taking an attention when voting and since I'm very late voting this...
so I'll just change to 2 to ease your job, you might already write the continuation and that would fuck thing up.

[Rafflesiac]

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Spartacus]

Top 10 Anime Betrayals

[Bird of Hermes]

I woulda been down with a thunderdome brawl...

[Daneel Rush]

Drake Family Residence
Day 02
Afternoon Phase - 02
Severe Cold (-17 °C/1.5 °F)

Character Status

Health: Stable
Sustenance: Stable
Warmth: Stable
Stamina: Poor

Well, Maria’s here. Might as well take advantage of that.

“Maria! This person here thinks we’re fighting a Holy Grail War! Can you please come here and convince her we are not fighting a Holy Grail War?”

My loud voice startled the girl in front of me, but I’m more interested in a reply from outside.

“Well of course it fucking ends up being like this! I trudge across all this fucking snow to find you and what do I get? ‘Chop, chop, woman, get to work’!? Well fuck that shit, and fuck you too, Javier!”

“Maria, you know I don’t any of that magecraft stuff! You’re the expert!”

“Then why the fuck did I bother explaining it to you last night!? And I’m no fuckin’ expert! Fuck, you’re so useless!”

“And you’re the only one who can fight those Servants! I’d help you if I could!”

“Then make yourself useful and figure out a way I can beat that goddamn Archer, damn it!”

Everyone is then startled by loud banging. Somebody is striking a hard surface in a repeated show of obvious irritation.

“The fuck is that!?” That somebody is clearly not Maria. I look at the embarrassed-looking Sakura.

“It seems…we are bothering Mister Drake,” she said weakly while stepping away from me, towards the stairs. “Let’s just…wait here a second, I…I’m a little confused right now.”

Just right now?

*** ***

“…and that’s the gist of it. Well, at least that’s what we understand.”

The three of us are now seated around the dining table. In the end, Maria did take over explanation duty.

“Just so you don’t end up saying something stupid and make Boobzer hate us,” she said.

As a side note, Sakura gave a long, hard stare at Maria when the latter arrived. Let’s be honest: with the way Maria’s dressed, who can blame her?

Maria did not hide anything as far as I know; not that we have reason to hide anything: The Servants, the Nazis, and her possession by another Servant; an agent that seeks to restore the Human Order.

Sakura…is showing a difficult expression.

“Your story…it’s a little…”

“Hard to believe, I know,” Maria admits in a dismissive tone. “Nazis in a secret base in South America unleash weather powers by wielding the Holy Grail!”

It does sound ridiculous.

“It’s like a B-movie plot. Besides, everybody knows the secret Nazi base is supposed to be in Neuschwabenland.”

What?

“But anyway, you already saw Archer’s attack, and you’ve seen the zombies.”

Sakura nodded.

“I…also saw the soldiers yesterday, from afar. I didn’t see the, um, swastikas. And I guess the noise I heard yesterday evening was your fight with, um, Rider?”

“Ah, yeah,” Maria said while looking away with a measure of embarrassment. “With all the gunfire, and the collapsing building, and the fuckin’ tank, I guess we were pretty noisy. But anyway!”

Maria drums on the table for no reason.

“That’s how it is. We guess somebody…or a bunch of somebodies, summoned those Servants and froze the goddamned city for whatever reason. And whoever did it is a Nazi or connected to Nazis.”

Wait, how did you reach that conclusion?

“I mean, who else do you think would summon a Nazi Servant and conjure magical Nazi soldier constructs on purpose?”

Sakura nods her agreement.

“If anything, the fact that Nazi figures shouldn’t be able to become Servants implies that Rider was purposely summoned, even if I can’t think of how.”

Maria shrugs.

“Well, to be honest, I just vaguely knew about Holy Grails being a thing until two days ago. All the actual knowledge I’ve got right now comes from Saver…I guess.”

“Saver…a non-conventional Servant outside the seven standard classes,” murmurs Sakura to herself, clearly lost in thought. “Extra class…”

“Oh, thank God, someone actually gets it right,” Maria murmurs as well, her voice strangely warm despite her obvious exasperation. Really, it’s like I’m not even here anymore. But how can I even contribute to this discussion?

“So, I take it Sakura is a magus, too,” I say, just for the sake of saying anything. But, really, I lived over fifteen years as the only person with special powers, and now it’s all magi and Servants and all sorts of bullshit.

“Ah, no, not really,” the easily-embarrassed Sakura refutes with wavy hand gestures. “I just…happen to know a few magi. They have…taught me a few things.”

She smiles as if she could end all wars with her smile.

“I am a professional wrestler by profession.”

I bet I have the exact same flat, wide-eyes look on my face as Maria’s right now. I mean, it does make sense and explains how she made quick work of the zombies and, well, me, but, um…really?

“I get that look every single time, ufufu~”

*** ***

With all misunderstandings clarified, and upon accepting that we’re all on the same side here, Sakura asks us to follow her downstairs, much to my chagrin. Even with boarded windows and the door blocked by a makeshift barricade, wind still manages to seep in and render the ground level noticeably colder than upstairs. A sweater and pants are not nearly enough for this chill; Mister Drake’s clothes are in no way better than what I was wearing, but at least they are not worse either.

Status Change

Warmth: Stable -> Poor.

What I see here are the shattered remains of many display cases. It seems Mister Drake ran a business in this ground level.

“I came to Valparaiso to do business with Mister Drake,” Sakura explains. “We had only spoken by phone before I came here, so…well, we’re not really well acquainted. However, with all that’s happened…I just, can’t leave Mister Drake alone.”

She stops before a closed door at the back and knocks three times.

“Mister Drake, we’re coming in.”

Status Change

Warmth: Poor -> Good.

It’s warm!

Holy crap, it’s so nice and warm here. A heater? They have a working heater here?

“Oh fuck, I want to hibernate here,” promptly says Maria.

I want to find the miraculous fountain of warmth ASAP, but it’s obvious Sakura did not bring us here for that.

I remember.

I guess I’m just another hot-blooded male, because I had forgotten that man until I saw the woman trapped in ice in the middle of this room.

The lovey-dovey couple in front of me at the bank line.

Fuck this frozen hell.

What was probably some sort of workshop has become an impromptu warehouse, stuffed almost to the last spot with boxes of different sizes. It takes me a second lock to realize that most of them are sturdy metal strongboxes. Machines I cannot identify stand abandoned on the worktable and floor, while the owner of the house sits on a corner of the room, his back turned to the frozen form of his young wife. In his right hand he holds a red gemstone, but he puts it down to glare at us. Light comes from the four corners of the room, from devices with the appearance of oil lamps without a shade or a chimney, with a single, glowing gem sticking out of what I would call the burner.

“Sorry for interrupting your work, Mister Drake.”

He clicks his tongue at Sakura’s words.

“…fine.”

After that single word, he turns his chair so as to face us properly, but he says nothing else, as if expecting us to do something.

“Mister Javier, Miss Maria. I would like your opinion on this,” says Sakura as she stands next to the ice tomb.

Wait, wait, are we really having this discussion in front of the husband?

“First thing first: what do ya know?” Maria takes to the problem wasting not a single second.

Really, am I the only person with tact here? Am I doing something wrong?

“Until I found you two, I thought everyone else in this city had been frozen like this,” admitted Sakura. “I also know what happens…when a trapped person dies in this ice.”

The man’s hand strongly gripping his knee speaks a thousand words. I haven’t forgotten, either. Father Scherer and everybody else at the church…I can only hope for their safety…

…wait.

Something…this whole situation…what Sakura just said…

Maria was spared from being frozen because she became a Servant, and she said Saver’s power also protected me from the uttercold. But what about these two, Sakura Edelfelt and Oliver Drake? And there’s Maria’s adventure at the supermarket last evening; what about that man Maria found there? Why was he not frozen as well?

Maria and Sakura have left me behind, already discussing a way to deal with the ice and release Mister Drake’s wife.

“Yeah, it’s obviously bad all these people are trapped, but…” Maria scratches the side of her head. “Even if we could just, go an’ break them all out, that would be another mess…”

Sakura nods, and I understand. Valparaiso right now isn’t in a “livable” state. If all its citizens still in ice were somehow released, that would just be opening the gates to another catastrophe.

“Yes,” Sakura adds. “But, if it was their frozen state that killed them, then most, if not all of the frozen people would have died by this point.”

And Valparaiso would be swarmed by hundreds of thousands of zombies, which clearly is not happening. Then again, we have no way to ascertain that “dying in an ice tomb = rising as zombie”, but then again, the streets of Valparaiso are littered with ice tombs, not corpses.

“I still want to help Madam Alicia. It’s the least I can do to answer her hospitality.”

Sakura’s small hands slide along the smooth ice. This room’s temperature is above zero, so it clearly takes more than that to melt it.

“I tried punching it—”

Hey.

“—but I couldn’t crack it, not even with reinforcement…hmm, not that I’m good at it.” She gestures towards the husband. “Mister Drake is much better at reinforcing, but…”

“Personal reinforcement is inefficient, anyway,” Maria points out. “Unless you’re a master at it, or you have a spell and system fine-tuned for that purpose.”

“Yes, it is as Miss Maria says. I don’t know about Mister Javier, but Miss Maria’s a Servant…”

“You seriously want me to try punching this?” Maria ponders, rapping the ice with her knuckles. “What about melting it?”

“I…I can’t use that kind of magecraft,” Sakura admits with her already-too-common bashful tone. Is she seriously a pro wrestler? “My Hand des Hölle releases fire too explosively; that wouldn’t be very safe. The best we can do here are Mister Drake’s Jade Lanterns, but…”

“Hmm…” Maria turns to the glowing gems, studiously looking at them as if her eyes could reveal their secrets. Then, just as quickly, she dismisses them to look at Sakura instead. So, what was the point of that?

“So, what can you do, anyway?”

“Maria!” I hiss before I can stop myself but Sakura dismisses the rude words with muffled laughter.

“Ahaha, like I said, I’m not really a magus. Mister To—my father, is quite disappointed with me…for various reasons.”

That smile on your face tells me you’re not bothered at all by that.

“And in these circumstances, I don’t feel I need to hide that my element is Hollow. Conventional magecraft is a little difficult for me.”

Apparently something of major importance has been said, because Maria and Mister Drake are staring at Sakura like she has declared she is actually a man.

My arm is suddenly gripped by Maria’s hand. It hurts.

“Javier, Javier,” she whispers too loudly for the whispering to achieve any purpose. “We found a rare Pokémon.”

What does that even—

“Let’s catch her and sell’er!”

“Do you ever take anything seriously?”

Maria reminds us that she is by a fair number the youngest person in the room, by revealing the broad smile of a child half her age. I guess I’ll ask about this “Hollow” some other time.

“Sure, let’s do serious,” the still-smiling Maria declares. “Javier, you’re pretty good at melting ice; it’s how we’re getting fresh water in our love nest—ow. Dick.”

The only love story here stars my fist and your head.

“Maria.”

“Fine, fine. Anyway, you seem to be decent at heat and energy transfer; wouldn’t be surprised if fire’s your elemental affinity.”

Wait, we have those videogame-like traits?

“So? Want to give it a try at the creepy magical ice?”

And I’m suddenly the center of attention, both Maria and Sakura stepping aside to clear my view of the bulky cocoon of ice in front of me.

Deduction Input

At this point, you can propose a deduction for the following question, or you can choose to dismiss the issue for the time being.

Why were some people spared from being entombed in ice?

1. Write-in.
2. I don’t know (yet).

Decision Time

Who, if anybody, should try releasing Alicia Drake?

1. Javier should review his magecraft and try his best.
2. Aura Sla—no, wait! AURA FIST.
3. So what’s the deal with that "Hollow" thing anyway?
4. Do nothing for now.
5. Write-in.

[Rafflesiac]

The way I see it, there are two reasons that someone wouldn't be frozen: either they're magical enough to resist it, or they're a Master/Master candidate. It's hard to judge the likeliness of the latter option since I'm not sure how many Servants there are, but it's already unlikely due to Sakura and Oliver not really having any reason to lie or hide that fact. Oliver especially, since it's in his best interest to end this shit and defrost his wife and kid. So I'll deduce it's because they were magical enough to resist it; Sakura may be a spellcaster instead of a magus, but girl's still Victini enough to matter.

Also 1) Ganbatte Javier! Worst case scenario Alicia dies, Oliver kicks him out and we all get to feel horrible, but hey it's worth a shot. Also morally speaking it's not like it's any better trying to defrost some rando on the street.

- - - Updated - - -

Or maybe being on a leyline nexus could've prevented being frozen? But that hasn't been mentioned at all, so that's just shooting in the dark, plus there's no indication of the hostel being that special, so I'll stick with my prior assumption.

[Spartacus]

The spared people are most likely magically adapt, curiously besides Maria, they seems aren't a true mage. The baddies need them to be not a true mage somehow to perform some sort of ritual. I don't think we have enough information yet to determine anything though.

1. We might found our niche protagonist ability from this. Maria might be too powerful and kill the person inside, and I don't think knowing Sakura's magecraft will help us in this particular situation considering she didn't do anything about the frozen people until now.

[Bird of Hermes]

I agree that those with magical potential seem to be safe from getting frozzed. Not necessarily a magus outright as apparently just having Magical Circuits seems to be enough. However I'd say we need more research to reaffirm this hypothesis.

I propose 1 & 3 as Fire seems a natural counter but Sakura can probably help out with this. I don't necessarily know how but it's a hunch.

Also I propose Maria doesn't use mega punch, she'll probably do some harm to the people inside.

[SleepMode]

No need to repeat what's already been said.

1​

[SpoonyViking]

My first instinct is to agree that it's probably people who are magically adept in some way who weren't frozen, but if it were so, wouldn't Drake's wife have been spared? I mean, it's an assumption, but if he's a magus, it stands to reason his wife would have at least some Magic Circuits, right?

Anyway, my guess is that the people who weren't frozen initially are those that were somehow, for some reason, chosen by the Human Order. (Going a bit meta-gamey: we know for a fact Sakura has the potential to be a Master, even if she might not be aware of it in this timeline.)

As for what to do now, is it possible to first learn more about Sakura's Hollow element? Maybe it's possible to use it together with Javier's Theosophy to try and defrost people. If that's not possible, I'm going with 1.

[Daneel Rush]

NPC Profile Update

Oliver Drake – Profile Added.
Sakura Edelfelt – Profile Added.

Oliver Drake’s Jewelry Workshop
Day 02
Afternoon Phase - 03
Temperate (13 °C/55 °F; Indoors)
Severe Cold (-17 °C/1.5 °F; Outdoors)

Character Status

Health: Stable
Sustenance: Stable
Warmth: Good
Stamina: Poor

(BGM)

I stand in front of the block of ice encasing Oliver Drake’s wife, whose name I still haven’t quite caught. I am aware I am being watched by the three, but that is irrelevant. Right now, there is only ice in my field of view, and the fuzzy shape of the woman inside.

This ice…is truly abnormal. I stand right in front of it, but I don’t feel the cold I would expect to feel in its vicinity. This ice…even in this room with temperature above freezing, I think it is not losing any heat.

“Why?” I start. “Why is Mrs. Drake here frozen, and we are not? Well, Maria doesn’t count, she has freak Servant powers.”

“You really don’t know how to talk to a lady with a big-ass sword.”

“But really, why did Mrs. Drake freeze and not Mr. Drake?” I pay no attention to Maria’s stupid retort. “We know it’s not related to gender; I’ve seen zombies both male and female, and Sakura’s right here.”

“Sakura here,” a young woman who has apparently being infected by Maria responds with a smile.

“It could be related to health; something like, strong people were spared the ice, but I would feel too arrogant claiming that I was not frozen because I was stronger.” I pause. “And if I made the threshold of physical health, then I think there should be lots more unfrozen people.”

“I have no reason to believe Madam Alicia’s health was lacking in any manner,” Sakura states.

Like a student in a classroom, Maria raises a hand to claim attention.

“If this was caused by magical Nazis—God, that sounds so fucking stupid.”

I let mine and Sakura’s facial expressions speak for themselves.

“Anyway, could it be related to blood purity?” she proposes. “People are spared if they are ‘Aryan’ enough?”

That…actually takes me a few moments to think through. Naturally, my eyes turn to the least European among us.

“European ancestry from my father’s side, three generations away,” confesses Sakura with her usual, almost disdainfully calm smile. It’s like she’s imperturbable, but I know otherwise by now.

“British parents,” adds Mister Drake in a gruff tone.

“German grandparents in both sides.”

“Wow, that actually makes me the least Aryan person here,” says the natural blonde with the most Caucasian features I’ve ever seen.

“But I don’t think that works,” I refute. “This is Valparaiso. There are lots of families descended from European immigrants. There are probably thousands of people in this city with at least as much ‘Aryan’ blood as Sakura here.”

“Hmm…yup, makes sense,” admits Maria.

“So, what do we,” I continue, pointedly looking at Sakura and Mister Drake. “have in common that Mrs. Drake and the majority of Valpos do not?”

Oliver Drake was a second faster than Sakura.

“Magecraft.”

“No, wait,” Sakura then added. “If it were a matter of resistance to magic; that is, if this ice is just some advanced form of physical interference, then it’s not really about magecraft. It’s just magic circuits.”

“She not a magus?” Maria asks while pointing at the woman in the ice. Mr. Drake shakes his head.

“Not a single circuit.” He follows with a scathing-sounding snort. “Not that I think myself a magus either.”

“Mister Drake doesn’t belong to the Association,” Sakura says as an explanation of sorts. “Not many in this country do. We’re very far from London, after all.”

With that said, her eyes turn down as she takes a clearly meditative posture.

“But, it is true that in a city of this size, the number of people with magic circuits must be very low…if this is true, then…”

Sakura has detached herself from this room, and the look of her face tells me she’s not having pleasant thoughts.

“Well, for now let’s work with that,” Maria declares, seemingly uncaring of Sakura’s hidden worries. “That means we can assume that, like, at least 99% percent of the people in this city are frozen.”

She grimaces.

“That’s a lot of potential zombies. And we still don’t know why some people have already become zombies and others haven’t.”

That’s right. Is some cruel mastermind handpicking encased people and turning them into undead? Or is their death and subsequent “zombification” dependent on some unknown variable?

Fuck, this is really so much bigger than us. And that’s why everybody wants to try to do something about the block of ice in front of me, Mister Drake’s personal stakes notwithstanding.

They told me to try melting it, but…is it really possible?

This magical ice, feels sturdy, like rock rather than solid water. It’s intimidating.

I had a good meal, but I didn’t have the chance to use Atanor. Or rather, I didn’t want to use it in front of Sakura. I still feel the tiredness from this morning, but I gotta push myself a little. It’s not just for Sakura’s and Mister Drake’s sakes.

We need to prove ourselves that we can do something. That, in some way, we can fight back against this frozen world.

…we?

Nah, this is all about my worthless pride. I’m sorry, Father, but it looks like I haven’t grown up after all.

So, how do we do this? My spells, the fruit of my efforts; which among them can help me overcome this challenge?

Character Profile Update

Javier Lucero – Profile Updated: Magecraft section completely unlocked.

I have two options: I can use Alambique to channel the heat from those lamp things into the ice, or Fireball to convert my own magical energy into heat. Which one is better? It’s hard to tell; I don’t know much about those lamps. But a sustained casting of Fireball right now might be pushing it a little, so let’s go with…

Choice Time

What spell to use against the ice prison?

1. Alambique.
2. Fireball.
3. Try to think of something different.

Warning!
Because Javier’s current Stamina level is too low, the choice is made automatically.

“Please help me move those lamps over there?”

A minute later, the so-called Jade Lanterns stand on the floor close together. I am also seated next to the lamps, one hand hovering over them, taking in their combined heat. These gems, they’re basically lightbulbs—no, they are an inversion of the concept of a light bulb. To these gems, it is their glow that is wasted energy. In any case, there is plenty of warmth striking my hand, to an even uncomfortable degree.

It is trivially easy to turn on the magic. This painful warmth in my hand closely matches the sensation I always use as my “switch”. There is, however, a gripping feeling in my chest, and my vision sways for a second.

Don’t think too much of it, Javier. The more you dwell on your tiredness, the worse it’ll be.

I construct a channel in my mind. Then I render myself into the channel. Heat flows naturally from warmer objects to colder objects; I am merely the instrument of that law.

My right hand rests on the cool ice. It takes direct contact to feel anything from it. The heat from the lamps is concentrated within myself. It needs an outlet, otherwise the channel will overflow, spilling all that energy into my body and burning me from the inside.

“Alambique,” I murmur, shoving all that stored heat through the gaps between water molecules.

Light.

Light pours out of the ice block.

“Wha…” I can’t tell whether it was Sakura or Maria who uttered that. I don’t care.

I can’t pull my right hand away from the ice.

(BGM stops)

“Hel—” I barely manage to speak before the ice’s radiance gathers into—

Spoiler:

—

Absolute cold.

Killing cold.

A living, predatory cold worming into my body like liquid nitrogen flowing through my veins.

It burns.

It burns!

It buuurns! God!

“Ugh…agh…!”

Warning! Status Change!

Health: Stable -> Poor
Warmth: Good -> Poor

Magic circuits forcefully locked. Shut-down impossible.
Javier is paralyzed.

It’s not just my hand stuck to the ice; the whole body goes stiff, paralyzed by sheer pain. I think Sakura’s trying to pull me away to no avail.

Everything burns: my skin, my muscles, and something deeper, more fundamental, as if the very foundation of the self has been doused in liquid nitrogen.

It’s pointless! I can’t—I can’t pull away!

It creeps up my arm—if, if it reaches my chest…if it reaches my heart…!

…

…no…no!

Don’t think about the pain! Think about what this means!

I…Javier Lucero…doesn’t flinch at the first obstacle! I didn’t make it this far by giving in!

My arm…my right arm is burning pain. I can’t hear my own voice; I barely feel the tears running down my cheeks.

Sakura…Sakura said she tried punching this ice. The ice didn’t retaliate like this against her.

That means I am doing something right!

I keep pumping heat into the ice, even if my arm feels like every single pore has been stabbed with a needle, all the way to the bone.

It’s not enough.

It’s not enough…! At this rate I’ll just die and achieve nothing…!

Think! Think through the needles stabbing in your skull—!

My sight blurs. It goes black for a moment.

Next thing I know, my face has dropped; drool would fall unimpeded on the floor if my mouth were not dry.

Can’t breathe.

My chest. It burns.

I…can’t…

Warning! Major Status Change!

Health: Poor -> Critical
Warmth: Poor -> Critical
Stamina: Poor -> Critical

Critical damage to right arm.
Moderate damage to internal organs.
Imminent death.

*** ***

Maria had eased herself against the door, resting her head in her entwined hands. She knew it sounded rude, but she had no particular expectations. If Javier’s magecraft pulled it off, great; if not, well, it was no big deal to her. She did feel for Oliver and his wife, but expecting a solution to this ice coffin issue was a little unreasonable. None among them was an expert in magecraft, so they had no real way to understand this phenomenon to a helpful degree.

Nevertheless, it was magecraft. For most of her life, the only magus in her life was her grandma, and she rarely displayed her arcane prowess. She had only met a handful of other magic users in her travels, but it wasn’t like she had aimed to find magi or learn from them. It just so happened that the people that could help her belong to either the Association or the Church.

Maria had not seen many other people wielding magecraft, so of course she was curious.

She could get some idea of what Javier intended to do based on his actions, even if she did not know much about his magecraft. Instead of using his own magical energy converting it into heat, he would use an existing heat source. It felt like the sort of efficient things Javier would do—again, based on what little she had learned about him—, but, if Maria were to be completely honest, she did not think it would cut it.

This solid, magical ice would not be defeated with a half-hearted effort.

When Javier cast his spell and the ice began to glow, her body tensed in soundless alarm.

Then the light coalesced into shape, and something—a switch in her mind she did not know she had—triggered inside her.

(BGM)

“Aaah…”

It felt like distance had stretched, like Sakura’s efforts to pull Javier away were not taking place a mere two steps away from her. Oliver Drake stood feebly, his face that of a man watching whatever remnants of hope he had left being mercilessly smashed. Even Javier’s sounds of agony vaguely reached her, minute murmurs tickling the deep ends of her ear channels.

She felt her senses fade—no, that was wrong. Her senses could not be sharper. It was her mind that dismissed all irrelevant stimuli. The edges of her sight faded into dark, removing the other people from her awareness. The matter of the ice and the woman inside it lost all relevance.

In that very moment, there was only Maria Westinghouse, the glowing script on the surface of the ice, and somebody else.

Maria read the cuneiform script, and the words were like acid in her mind, dissolving her reason until only one thing remained: that other, in her head, directing her thoughts.

The enemy.

The enemy!

DESTROY!

Servant Profile Update: Saver

Personal Skill Unlocked!

Great Crown Inversion Impulse – B
(All Information Locked – Requires “Homunculus Remnant”)

*** ***

I gasp as consciousness returns unexpectedly.

It’s numb. Everything…I…pain…numb…

“Miss Maria!”

That…Sakura…

The pain… use this pain…focus…

What…is happening…? It’s loud…it’s bright…what’s going…Maria…?

“■■■■■■■■—!”

Spoiler:

Source: Artwork by 若葉

I’m not…I’m not attached to the ice anymore. My arm…don’t feel my arm. My back…Sakura’s holding me.

Maria, Maria is…attacking the ice?

“■■■■■■■■—!”

Wrapped in golden light, Maria has struck the glowing symbols with her sword. Now, it looks like she’s the one stuck, but she pushes her sword forward without hesitation.

Maria doesn’t budge…but neither does the ice—no.

That’s not it.

I get it…I think I…!

But, she won’t pull it off like this…!

“Maria…!” I gasp out, but between the ringing sound at the point of impact and Maria’s own inhumanly roars, there is no way she could hear—



She is…looking at me.

She stopped, and she is intently looking at me.

Is she…really Maria?

…

…ah, damn it, I…blacking out again.

“You can’t…like this…we have to…”

I…don’t feel anything below my neck.

“Javier!”



Today’s been the absolute fucking worst.

*** ***

END OF AFTERNOON PHASE

Character Status

Health: Critical
Sustenance: Good
Warmth: Critical
Stamina: Critical

Loss of function of right arm.
Moderate damage to internal organs.
Javier is unconscious.

Players have lost control of Javier Lucero until he regains consciousness.
Javier Lucero is not supplying magical energy to Maria Westinghouse.

Players have limited control over Maria Westinghouse.
Maria Westinghouse is under the effect of Independent Action.

Warning!
Javier will not regain consciousness until Health and Stamina rise above Critical levels.
Health cannot be raised above Critical with natural rest.

Quest Master’s Note
In light of the current circumstances, Evening Phase Setup will take place at the end of the first Evening Phase scene.

[SpoonyViking]

Yikes!

Wait... No choices available?

[Rafflesiac]

Well, I didn't see that coming.

Also cuneiform? Fucking dammit, the only person on this board I know of who reads it is the snickering GM. But is the ice a Caster's work, or an artifact's?

- - - Updated - - -

But hey, at least Javier's not hungry!

[Bird of Hermes]

Well... it was a good idea and we tried.

Did it work? No.
Would we have been better off not doing anything? Probably
Do I regret it? Honestly, no.

It'll be interesting what happens next to say the least.

[Draconic]

If she cut off our arm to save us, can we all agree to go back to the save point though?

[You]

If she cut off our arm to save us, can we all agree to go back to the save point though?

having your arm cut off and getting a replacement magical arm = TM protag status

[Rafflesiac]

Indeed, his ideal is to one day be able to ingest all components, perform all alchemical processes inside his body, and then throw up (or evacuate, whatever works) the completed result at the end.

C-Can Javier lay golden eggs? Also crap, I doubt Sakura and Oliver can heal people, so that leaves finding a healer in 12 hours (how???) or raiding a hospital or something.

Cuneiform reaction + Great Crown + theme song = Saver is Mesopotamian/Babylonian?

[Bird of Hermes]

C-Can Javier lay golden eggs? Also crap, I doubt Sakura and Oliver can heal people, so that leaves finding a healer in 12 hours (how???) or raiding a hospital or something.

Cuneiform reaction + Great Crown + theme song = Saver is Mesopotamian/Babylonian?

It’s Daneel we’re talking about, Mesopotamian/Babylonian Servants are an unmatched expertise of his, if Saver isn’t then frankly I’d be shocked.