Javier: Run into the house with the woman.
Maria: Aura... Slaaaaaassshhh!
Javier: Run into the house with the woman.
Maria: Aura... Slaaaaaassshhh!
The Act of dozing off in the afternoon is a luxury indeed.
Coffee would be nice, though.
[Collection of my Servant Sheets]
Now Revamped!
Well, this is a surprise. Certainly not the first person I’d have expected.
Javier: Write in: Grab the woman, and book it back to the cave. Make sure not to be holding her hand once you find Maria.
Maria: Shoot a magic missile at the darkness!
Ohhhh flash movies. Good times… I can’t believe anyone still even remembers that. What was it called? 8-bit D&D or something?
Likes attention, shiny objects, and... a ball of yarn?
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I joined two years too late...
Javier: Run to the house with the woman.
Maria: Aura Slash.
??????
Day 02
Morning Phase – 03
Severe Cold (-19 °C/-2 °F)
Engulfed by darkness, surrounded by hostile magic and a musky, hypermasculine presence that makes her skin stand on end. This violating darkness is a repulsive mental assault that is making her seriously consider lesbianism as a life choice.
Maria trusts Saver’s superb Magic Resistance, but that Skill only protects her from effects directly affecting her. What then, about magic aiming to affect everything around but her?
In these circumstances, what would Saver do? What would Maria Westinghouse do?
Well of course, mow through everything in her way with ludicrous firepower!
The darkness seized her basic five senses—no, the magic does not affect her, so it is more that this magical darkness has erased all stimuli. However, it cannot take away the profound awareness of her borrowed powers in her heart.
She knows her aura is present, even if its manifestation as light is erased by the dark.
Far more than the purposeless bull crap preached at the church, even more than her grandmother’s tales of a distant, unknown Age of Gods; it is this mighty incandescence that makes her a believer. She now accepts with wonder and awe that at one point in the past divinities truly walked this Earth.
For what else could this golden radiance be but divine?
The day before when she first fought the Nazi soldiers, she struck them at range with a blast of air displaced by sheer physical power. She decides to take this a step further while gripping the sword in her right hand, whose weight is still reliable in its presence.
Maria wills the aura to stretch beyond her surroundings, into her sword, as if she had always known how to do this. It is not a Skill, nor is it a Noble Phantasm. To the legendary being that inhabits her body, this is as natural as existing.
“Creep on this, motherfucker!” She shouts even if she cannot hear her own voice.
She has all but forgotten about Javier. She demands power, turns it into radiance, and pumps it into her blade. Then she gives it a silly name…although perhaps she does it precisely because she can’t hear her own voice.
“Auraaa…”
She feels vindicated when a “pulsation” rushes across her mind. She then and there decides that is somebody’s approval, either Saver’s or the sword’s.
“SLAAAAAASH!”
She acts only on the weight of her sword, raising it above her head before slashing the dark in front of her.
The effect is instantaneous: the world around her rumbles, and a single point of light begins to expand ahead of her, replacing the utter dark with blinding white.
“Fuck yeah! I feel so American right now!”
The darkness is washed away and Maria winces as her senses receive stimulation again and a brief period of sensory overload assaults her brain. Nevertheless, she holds on to her sword, ready and eager to face whatever awaits her in the interior of the cave…
“…huh.”
As the clear image of what lies before her takes shape, she can’t stop herself from going lax and letting her sword rest to her side.
“…unexpected.”
Her exposed skin is singed by chilling wind. Snowflakes fall on her and gently wrap her in white.
She is outside, the uninviting cave entrance some meters in front of her.
“Uh, okay,” she utters while scratching the side of her face. “Kinda underwhelming after all that buildup?”
Yet, that unsettling, creepy presence was still there, watching her; violating her unseen. And it is the fact that it remains, that it has not left after Maria’s defiance, that reduces the possibilities in her mind and establishes a conclusion.
It makes her sigh, as if disappointed at being disappointed.
"I see, I see. So you’re just that kind of loser.”
Whatever this…entity in the cave is, Maria has concluded it will not face her directly.
“Or perhaps you’re just that weak and you can only pull off annoying shit like that?”
However, that left the issue of that strange magecraft. She closed her eyes for a moment, looking into herself, but her (admittedly very lacking) knowledge of the mystical arts could explain that phenomenon. Thus, she relied in the ever-reliable Servant who has borrowed her body.
What she received from Saver were two words.
“…Reality Marble…?”
Maria Westinghouse – Profile Updated.Maria’s Decision
*** ***Unknown Office, 54 Almirante Montt
Day 02
Morning Phase – 03
Severe Cold (-19 °C/-2 °F)
Snowstorm
Character Status
I am told to move, and moving sounds like a pretty good idea, so I move. As fast as I can, I trudge on the snow, out of the street and into the house, where the woman still watches me with a look of unchanging alarm.
“I, I didn’t mean to move here!” suddenly complains the woman and what I can now admit is a lovely voice.
Wait.
“Wha?”
“They already saw you! Now they’ll just—” She looks out the immense and utterly shattered front window. “They’re already coming here! Aw, fudgenuggets.”
Did she just say fudge—no, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait.
“You do realize those are…were innocent people, right?” She is looking at me as I had just kicked a puppy.
“Well, yeah. Can’t we just sneak out through the back door?”
“There’s a cliff behind this house! There’s no back door!”
…right. I just came from the top of that cliff. My bad.
Looking around more carefully, we’re not really in a house. The uniformity of the frozen city is already messing with my memory of what this city used to be. These streets are mostly apartment buildings, with small family businesses on the ground floors. This one is no exception: I’m looking at the ruins of what might have been a stationery shop, or some sort of transcription or translation service. A pitiful man remains seated in front of a PC screen, his body encased in ice. A nearby door leads to a room further back, but it is likely the stair access to the upper floors is past one of the neighboring doors outside.
“Uuu…I don’t want to do this…this is all wrong…” whines the woman as she puts on the fingerless gloves with a single gem embedded on the back side of each. Those look like some damn expensive gems.
Well, it looks like we’ve gotta make a stand here, then. In a closed space with an ally; fireballs are out of the question.
The woman is taking point right next to the gaping doorframe. For all her whining, she looks quite ready to pounce on the zombies as they come in. I hafta do my part, so it’s good—
“Ah…”
“Are you alright?”
Well look at this. She was all pouty with me a moment ago, but now she’s all worried.
“It’s nothing. Just stumbled.”
Of course, she doesn’t fall for it, and her forlorn eyes do not leave me.
But this sudden bout of dizziness…Maria’s tapping into my magical power. Guess she’s having her share of trouble. But I don’t think I have a choice here; I, too, have to rely on magecraft. And when it comes to magecraft I can use unnoticed, then it’s gotta be the one spell; the one I’ve practiced the hardest, until I can invoke it with only two words.
The simple, plain magic I’m most confident in.
“Sthūla-Śarīra,” I murmur, as faint as possible to keep it out of the fair lady’s ears.
If spite of further diminishing my magic battery, the dizziness disappears. The lingering coldness that could not be dispelled by just turning on the magic also fades away in its entirety. My body is filled by an ambiguous, general feeling of betterness.
Indeed, it is as simple as that.
This body, this mass of flesh and blood that acts as the vehicle of my consciousness, has become better.
I stand upright, emboldened by the wellness bolstering my body, hoping a confident mien will convince the woman and ease her worry. And there is also…
“I don’t like this whole situation at all. First, I want to make it out of this alive, then I can think about giving the dead their proper rest.”
The woman’s sigh says she clearly doesn’t like it, but she is not insensate nor suicidal. In a ritual of sorts, she kisses the glove in her left hand.
“Anna minulle voimaa.”
And then she whispers in a language I don’t understand.
Wait. If we’re going to fight for our lives…
“Javier, by the way.”
Her tense smile carries a tinge of remorse, as if apologizing for not being able to smile more brightly.
“Sakura.”
Warning! Incoming Threat!Javier Lucero – Profile Updated.Wise up!
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- Chaaaaarge back inside!
- Stand behind the large window frame, across the room from Sakura.
Originally Posted by Arashi_Leonhart
Maria: Find Javier and report.
Javier: Stand together with Sakura.
Maria: Charge back inside
Javier: Stand together with Sakura
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Maria: Find Javier and report.
Javier: Stand together with Sakura.
The Act of dozing off in the afternoon is a luxury indeed.
Coffee would be nice, though.
[Collection of my Servant Sheets]
Now Revamped!
Maria: I’m going to meta a little and have her report back because after all with Javier...
Javier: Stand together with Sakura! It’s the protagonist choice after all.
Quest of Fate
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Maria’s next action:
- Find Javier and report.
Javier’s Positioning for this Encounter:
- Do our command seals recharge like in Grand Order, or do we only get 3? (Actually, did we even get command seals?) Anyway, if we did and they recharge:
- Write-in: Call Maria to our position.
It'll save time, and we can head back to the cave immediately with minimal difficulty.
My alternative choice would be:- Stand behind the doorframe together with Sakura, however I'm really going to push for this one.
Unknown Office, 54 Almirante Montt
Day 02
Morning Phase – 04
Severe Cold (-19 °C/-2 °F)
Snowstorm
Character Status
I briskly cross the width of the room, pushing my back against the wall while standing next to the woman—Sakura.
“Did you see them?” she asks in a whisper, and I can only shake my head. Out the window I only saw ceaselessly falling snow. However, they must be close.
We stay there, unmoving, regulating our breath. I’m a little embarrassed by how nervous this is making me feel, but things are the way they are: I am a peaceful man. I’ve never been in a fight.
There is no sound but the chilling wind. Where the hell are they?
Sakura looks at me. She’s probably thinking the same thing.
They are outside. They are waiting for us to step out.
They are doing the exact same thing we are.
Can we afford to stay here forever? Of course not. But, Maria will come look for me sooner or later; hopefully sooner. However, can I really—!
“Saku—!”
They were faster.
A single arm shot in like a viper lunging around the open doorframe, closing its fingers on the neck of Sakura’s clothes. She yelps, and with that single sound she is pulled out of the house and out of my sight.
What the fuck.
What the fuck!?
They weren’t only copying our plan; they were hiding just like us: behind the doorframe, but on the outside!
How did they know?
How did they know!?
I desperately look around me, but of course there isn’t anything like a camera, you fucking idiot.
“Sakur—oof!”
And of course, the moment I rush out to help Sakura I am tackled by the other one. I barely feel the fall, because adrenaline takes over.
I kick.
I kick, and lash, and fling my arms because right now I’m not thinking; there is a fucking zombie straddling me and it’s also flinging its arms and now it opens its mouth and reaches down to bite and fuck that shit!
I wince when my fist makes contact with the left side of its jaw; my hand palpitates as if swollen. Fuck, punching people sucks. But I’m zombie-free, so I better get up!
I’m up. For a moment there I forgot I used magi—magecraft. I am better. My punch was unskilled, but it was strong. Even the act of getting back on my feet was made faster and more efficient. The undead takes much longer to stand back up, making no sound, not even some cliché guttural zombie sound.
This thing probably doesn’t feel pain.
Wait, where’s Sakura—what the hell, Sakura!?
I’m not even into wrestling, but I know the name of that move. She’s seated on the zombie’s back, with its arms across her generous thighs, locked by the crooks of her knees, and she’s leaning back, hands interlocked under the zombie’s chin, pulling it along with her and applying pressure to his neck and back.
It’s a camel clutch.
Sakura’s gotten the zombie in a camel clutch. No, wait; she’s also hooked the zombie’s legs under her armpits. Does that get a special name?
The zombie makes no expression, but I can see Sakura’s face reddened by the exertion, blood vessels bulging, eyes reddened by blood, muscles taut by the powerful hold.
Yet, there is no desperation in her expression. This is no ridiculous last-ditch effort, or a spontaneous burst of madness. It is the focused concentration of a professional who knows exactly what she is doing and giving it her all at it.
…holy shit, she’s kind of cool.
And the zombie’s charging at me.
I’m faster. I sidestep it like a bullfighter, and the undead stumbles all the way into the house, crashing on a desk and all but smashing its face on the PC user’s ice coffin.
I’m faster, and the zombie can’t keep up or anticipate my moves.
My heart still pumps fast, and the awareness of the imminent danger makes my hairs stand on end, but my mind is calm now. This is it; the true blessing that came with studying magecraft.
Anyway, whatever ability that allowed yesterday’s zombie to dodge my fireball, either this zombie doesn’t have it, or it is not based on mindreading or precognition.
…hell, even my thoughts feel faster when I use Sthūla-Śarīra. I love this spell so much; it’s almost unfair.
Now, what do I do? Does punching or kicking even do anything to these walking dead? How do you kill a zombie?
No, this isn’t Hollywood. The way to stop these undead for good is obvious.
I have to break its body until it just stops moving.
My stomach twists in revulsion. It is the part of me that keeps whispering “this used to be an innocent citizen of Valparaiso.” It is a good part, a human part. It is the part that will allow me to move on with my life when this nightmare is over.
But there is no hope left for these monsters. There is no “dezombifying” them. Even if there is, the result would just be a dead body.
I won’t die here, feeling sorry about these poor souls.
I’m not a very religious man, but I promise to pray for each and every single one of you when this is over.
“Mi-Mister Javier!”
I don’t need to ask why Sakura’s is calling out to me. I can see them just as well.
Two more undead, approaching from downhill.
Fuck this shit.
Think. Fast.
Those two newcomers are trudging through the snow at a rather leisurely pace, so we’ve got some time. But I need to deal with these zombies right now.
Choice Time
*** ***
Beyond Their Sight—02
Maria Westinghouse is seated on the white blanket covering Valparaiso. Uncaring of the chill caressing her legs, she rests an elbow on her knee and her head on that hand. Her lower jaw is jerked to one side, turning her face into a somewhat ugly grimace.
“Ugh…I give up.”
After several minutes of deep meditation (?), she has come to a conclusion.
“I have no idea!” she says with a smile, as if coming to an answer, any answer, were relieving enough. With a pointless grunt, she jumps back on her feet.
“You win this time, creepy-ass cave!” she declares. “But I shall return! And I will reveal all your secrets and loot all your treasures! So you damn better have some treasures for me!”
Of course, she receives no response. Only that lingering, libidinous presence roaming every inch of her body.
“Oh whatever. Adios!”
Like some fantasy ninja, she is gone, in the vague direction she assumes she will be able to find Javier.
The whole time Maria was there, she never noticed the Servant watching her every movement from a distance. She did not really need to be there, watching in person, but her curiosity got the better of her.
“An amusing girl,” she murmurs, in a voice that Javier Lucero would have recognized. “It must be nice, being able to live so freely and spontaneously. I’m almost murderously envious.”
Her words carry an unconcealable tinge of mockery that makes it hard to assess their honesty.
She then turns her attention to the deep darkness that is the mouth of the cave. To her good fortune, the being in that cave cannot perceive her presence.
“Nope,” she says, shaking her head for good measure. “Nope, nope, nope. Nope. I don’t need common sense to know that cave’s bad news. Not going there. Can’t make me.”
Planting a hand on her slim waist, the girl of fairest skin sighs and looks in the direction Maria departed with something like a fond smile.
“But, Javier keeps finding allies. Kinda unfair. I wanted to see a solo fight! Man versus zombie, mano a mano! So disappointing.”
Turning her back to the cave and to the road leading to Javier and Sakura, the youthful Servant placidly walks away and towards the frozen ocean. Anyone who looks at her would find her an odd sight: a clearly lovely girl, her lithe body of inestimable delicateness, pristine like an ideal pearl. Yet, what she wears to cover her body is a single rag; a filthy thing that ceased to be white ages ago. The contrast of the girl of immaculate skin and the deplorably dirty piece of linen cloth is too striking, too wrong somehow.
“Looks like they might hold on until Maria arrives to save them. But, my poor Javier, that will only make things harder for you.”
She continues talking to nobody in particular. Perhaps she very much likes the sound of her admittedly lovely voice. Perhaps she can’t stand the vast monotony of the city entrapped in ice and cold. Or perhaps she is just that lonely.
“After all, how long do you think you can keep your association with Maria a secret?”
Resting the back of her head in her hands, the Servant looked up at the grey skies. A lone zombie walked past her as if completely unaware of her presence. When a single snowflake fell on the tip of her nose, she giggled.
“Oh, what to do, what to do…keeping Javier a secret could get me in trouble with Master, and Master is scary. But if Javier and Maria get killed and everything goes the Boss’ way, well…that would be boring. Ah, decisions, decisions…”
She stopped suddenly, as if those last words had triggered a switch in her. Eyes widening in realization, her arms slowly dropped limp to her sides, even as her lips stretching into a broad smile.
“Ah, I see, I see…!”
Whatever realization brought laughter and delight. She jumped on the snow like an excited child and pirouette like a ballerina, merrily laughing the whole time. The zombie some meters away still did not pay her any heed.
“I see…! So this! This, is what it means to live!”
Her dainty steps became a merry trot upon reaching Errázuriz Avenue, with the hills to her left and the frozen sea to the right, as she crossed the very spot where Maria had engaged Rider the day before. Turning right towards her favorite place in that dead city, the lively Servant laughed her way across the harbor to its very edge, until there was nothing but frozen ocean in front of her. A lone cargo ship groaned in the distance, slowly crushed by encroaching ice.
“Let’s both do our best at living, Javier Lucero.”
Location Unlocked
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2. Join Sakura and whale on her zombie together.
Freeing up Sakura will help our odds in combat. Also the partially unwrapped Godiva is Assassin, I assume. And everyone is against Maria for some reason? The thot plickens...
Last edited by Rafflesiac; July 31st, 2018 at 07:53 PM.
The first choice sounds like the cliched thing a zombie apocalypse movie will do, so:
1. Take the sturdiest object I can find and bash its head until it stops twitching. In case of lacking a sufficiently sturdy object, use fists.
Also, it's not isekai without harem
You can discussThe OG RequiemConQUEST and other Quests in Discord (disc is much more active here).
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2 - Help Sakura with her zombie.
Javier SMASH!
1). Take the sturdiest object I can find and bash its head until it stops twitching. In case of lacking a sufficiently sturdy object, use fists.
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Javier: 2) Join Sakura and perform a Team Attack.
The Act of dozing off in the afternoon is a luxury indeed.
Coffee would be nice, though.
[Collection of my Servant Sheets]
Now Revamped!
1. Take the sturdiest object I can find and bash its head until it stops twitching. In case of lacking a sufficiently sturdy object, use fists.
Sakura probably won’t like it if we don’t show that we’re confident in her ability to fight her own battles. Also, Maria’s on her way back. There are merits to her finding Sakura on top of us, but they would take time that we don’t have.
Last edited by Draconic; July 28th, 2018 at 11:51 PM.
Likes attention, shiny objects, and... a ball of yarn?
F/GO Supports
I joined two years too late...
Just so you know, there is a tie. I'll wait another day before I turn to the good ol' coin toss.
Catalog of Somewhat Original Servants
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2 - Whale on her zombie together
Almirante Montt Street
Day 02
Morning Phase – 05
Severe Cold (-18 °C/-0.5 °F)
Snowfall
Character Status
Sakura.
She’s got her zombie immobilized, so let’s whale on it until it drops, then take on this one together, hopefully faster than those two can make it here.
“Saku—!” I manage to voice as I turn towards her—
Crack.
It’s a chilling sound. Muted, blunt, so very fucking real.
Sakura shrieks and jumps backwards and away from the zombie, but that’s not a problem. It lies prone and face-down; only its head moves. And when its eyes find me and fixate on me, the bizarre image brings my mind to a halt for a moment.
It gasps and bites and the air, shaking its head as if trying to pull itself forward to attack me, but its body cannot respond.
Sakura broke its neck, and its entire body from the neck down has stopped working.
Whatever it is that allowed these dead people to keep functioning, it relies on a functional spine.
What the hell are these “zombies”?
“Mister Javier!”
My everything is better. That includes my response to dire warnings and my reaction time.
I do not think. I just throw myself into the snow to the side, and the second zombie again rushes past like a charging bull, barely missing my back. Again, whatever power allowed yesterday’s zombie to dodge my fireball did not help this zombie predict my own dodge. What is the difference? Was that zombie just special?
The undead has nothing to crash into this time, except Sakura. But this young woman, scared as she is, is a pro at this. A moment later, this one too is caught in Sakura’s grip, one of her arms wrapped around its head from behind while the other seizes its trunk almost like a bear hug.
“I’m terribly sorry,” she whispers before brutally twisting its neck like something out of an action movie. Holy fucking shit.
My feelings must be visible on my face, because the moment our eyes meet she releases something like a whimper, drops the broken body like a sack of potatoes and looks away.
“Ah, um, I…”
Dropped shoulders, hand fiddling—nope. No, no, no.
You don’t just break a zombie’s neck and then act all bashful about it. It doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t work like that!
Also, watch out, it’s still trying to bite your ankle.
Sakura shrieks again as she hops away from the zombie by her feet. As for me, I’m more worried about the two very mobile undead closing in on us. The thick layer of snow on the street slows their approach, but it would make our attempt to escape just as slow.
“Ah, my bag…”
Seriously?
“Wanna wait for them inside again?”
Sakura expectedly frowns.
“But, if we go inside, they…”
That’s right.
The first two somehow knew where we were standing inside, and prepared an ambush accordingly. A second attempt at ambushing might just result in a second counter-ambush.
So, it looks like we make our stand right where we are…even if Sakura’s groaning to herself.
A person who doesn’t like to fight, despite fighting like a boss.
Must be tough (sarcasm).
“Zombie says wha’!?”
“Eh? Wha-what?” Sakura’s startled by the sudden, new voice. I’ll just roll my eyes over here—what the fuck, Maria!?
Some fucking light…energy…thing just flew past the space between Sakura and I, right before smashing into one of the incoming undead. Whatever vocal complain I had in mind is smothered by the blinding whiteness that follows the impact. I can’t look down on Sakura for shrieking at this: it’s like staring at the fucking sun.
“So, wassup?” I hear Maria suddenly by my side. “Besides zombies, I mean.”
“I’m fucking blind, Maria. Is this what you’re using my magic power for?”
“Yup. Isn’t it the coolest thing?”
“Beat the other one the normal way, please.”
“I don’t wanna be a grownup like you.”
“You’re already a grownup!”
“Ehehe, I’m a grownup, he says—wait. Javier; have you been checking me out?”
“Maria!”
I must insist that this entire exchange takes place while I still am fucking blind. Ah, right, my sight has also been made better, so my sensitivity…goddammit, Maria.
A hand lands on my shoulder, and it is far more relieving than I could imagine.
“Thank you, Sakura.”
“Oh, come on!” Maria shouts from a distance ahead, hopefully while dealing with the last zombie. “How the fuck do you know it’s not me!? Are you saying my hands aren’t soft!?”
What the hell is that idiot rambling over there.
“Can you see already?” I ask of Sakura even as she seems to be trying to support me on her shoulder.
“Yes. It’s alright—”
Something explodes. It is deafening, and heart-clenching, and a blast of cold wind and snow sprays my body.
I no longer feel Sakura’s hand on me, and the lack of visual awareness brings my heartrate back up. My chest hurts from nervousness and exertion, far more than when I was fighting the undead.
The unknown is terrifying.
“What’s going on!?” I hear myself shouting, all the while blinking heavily. The first thing I see being white snow does in no way help my recovering vision.
“It’s fuckin’ Archer—ah-gaaah!” Maria’s voice is drowned in a staccato of explosions like a mortar barrage.
I can recognize pain.
“Maria!”
“Archer!?” Sakura’s turn to shout. “Like Servant Archer!?”
“You think—ugh, I’m just a lunatic with a sword, or wha—!?”
It’s like I have stepped blindfolded into a minefield, and I’m standing on the only safe spot while every single mine is blowing up around me. But is it really?
Am I really safe?
I feel myself being thrown to the side.
My ears then groan in agony as a sequence of explosions strikes them from way too close for comfort. I might have screamed, but it’s impossible to hear anything but explosions. Something sticks painfully into my back, perhaps a shard of brick or broken glass.
A second person and I roll two or three times…ah.
I can see again.
I see the ceiling of the small business where this whole mess started, the frozen PC user, and the crown of Sakura’s head as she is half-pressed against me. There is most certainly quite the amazing body beneath those thick clothes.
The explosions do not cease; one after the other, traveling down the street.
“Maria—”
“She is getting away,” Sakura interrupts, getting back on her feet faster than even myself.
Wait, it’s suddenly frigging cold…oh.
I did not even realize when my magic shut down. I lost focus back there. I think I can live without Sthūla-Śarīra now that the zombies are dealt with, but I’ve still gotta fight the weather. It’s bad enough that my clothes are wet from all the rolling in the snow and crap.
“If she stays here, we’ll be caught in the barrage.”
“Is she—” I look outside, but I can only see the irregular craters of at least a dozen impacts on the street we were just standing, as if Almirante Montt had been carpet-bombed by rather small ordnance. No, the front wall of the building we’re inside of is already ominously cracked. It might be dangerous to stay in here much longer.
Maria is fighting against the one doing this?
Bu-but, she’s just an idiot with a sword.
“Is she okay?”
Sakura averts her eyes. Why is she doing that?
“Sakura, is she okay?” My voice is more insistent this time. It no longer sounds like a plea, and the dark-haired girl takes a step backward. Now she is looking at me cautiously; really, do I look that scary?
I’m not threatening you, girl. I just need to know.
“She…has already taken several wounds.”
My feet manage to take exactly two steps before my mind catches up with them.
I have to…help her? Why?
Well, because I don’t like the idea of the only person I know who can possible end this mess dying.
How?
…I don’t know.
How can I help her? What can I do to help her against a legend brought into existence?
I’m sure she is aware of it. Probably more deeply than even myself. It is the one thing we didn’t talk about last night. The one question we both carefully avoided.
She has been gifted with awesome, supernatural prowess. Strength, speed, reflexes, agility, toughness; she’s got it all.
But, that’s it.
That’s everything she’s got.
Servants are heroes and monsters from history and myth.
She’s just a super-powerful girl with a sword.
Anybody can see the difference.
It’s not that I have to help her. It’s just that she needs help.
I don’t know what I can do about it. But I have to do something. Anything.
I could even screw up and doom us both. But, dammit, I have to at least try.
“I have to find her—”
“No.”
This time, I only get to take one step.
Sakura didn’t physically stop me. She just opened her mouth and said a single word. Yet, the word stopped me.
She’s no longer acting cowed by my demanding words, nor embarrassed by her badass wrestling moves. She is not quite the pillar of reliability that only shows up when she’s in action, but she is looking at me straight in the face.
“I must ask you to come with me,” she says, the firmness in her tone and uncharacteristically-hardened expression not matching the respectfulness of her words.
“If you are a Master in a Holy Grail War, then you know more about this situation than I do.”
A valid, albeit mistaken, assumption.
“So I must ask you to come with me and tell me everything.”
If I hadn’t seen her break the necks of two zombies with her bare hands, I might have even made fun of her for her tough act. But, things being the way they are, I can’t just ignore her and go after Maria.
After all, beating up zombies together does in no way make us friends.
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