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A Poisoned Chalice (Fate/Zero, Fate/Grand Order)

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A nice fight scene, glad to see Ibaraki's Noble Phantasm got a good showing. Also nice to see it used intelligently and conservatively, not just thrown out like candy just because she has a ton of energy to use.

Overall, I'd say things are developing interestingly. At this point I think I can see either party winning, and I'm definitely rooting for Ibaraki....but regardless of whether Ibaraki or Caster wins here, I don't see either being that well-off afterwards. Which will be pretty bad for them. After all, even if Da Vinci wins, it won't do her much good if her position gets hit by Atalante's Noble Phantasm the moment she returns to real-space. They're still in a death-tournament, and no one has any reason to assume people won't immediately move to the backstabbing the moment Ibaraki is dead, if not before if enough of an opening presents itself. And if Ibaraki wins, she's spent a ton of magical energy fighting Caster, and will probably have the other Servants on her the moment she gets out.

Either way, things will probably only get messier from here.
 
Rob Rimsill said:
I, uh, watch it for the fight scenes.

(Seriously, the fight scenes are better than the ones in Fate/Zero. You heard me.)
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The fight scenes do tend to be pretty good, ya. I like the Ainsworth's schtick as the Einzbern of Miyu's world, and their magic revolving about swapping one thing's position with another - both the object X is now where object Y was sense, and the more esoteric 'your soul is now in a plush teddy bear'. Personally don't much care about the more sexual aspects of it, either, although I hear the anime upped it a fair bit vs the manga.
 
Honestly, I kind of feel like Da Vinci was too good in this fight. She doesn't operate too well under pressure and I'm not sure if the lessons she had to offer were good ones in the first place. I guess it was an ambush, though, so she might have had time to set things up beforehand.

Mizu said:
although I hear the anime upped it a fair bit vs the manga.
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Can confirm, anime is better than manga.
 
Honestly i hope Ibaraki manages to get someone important here. She was dealt shit hand, what with master like that, and if she died now after all that effort it would feel kinda hollow to me.
 
Rob Rimsill said:
Waver Velvet took a half-step back.

Ibaraki smiled.
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Press F to pay respects for Waver
and make a Troll-Face if you think Da Vinci-Chan has the next surprise at the ready to jump Ibaraki.

Neruz said:
It is theoretically possible that she may not have entirely thought this through.
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Nah, its Da Vinci, you need an evil Tama and a Kirei working together with enough resourses + element of surprise to get the jump on Leona-chan.
My bet is Fake Waver luring the suddenly overconfident Oni into a trap.
 
neogoki said:
Nah, its Da Vinci, you need an evil Tama and a Kirei working together with enough resourses + element of surprise to get the jump on Leona-chan.
My bet is Fake Waver luring the suddenly overconfident Oni into a trap.
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Ah, but you are forgetting; the only person smart enough to outsmart Da Vinci is Da Vinci herself!
 
Kamico said:
Waver, it was nice knowing you
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neogoki said:
Press F to pay respects for Waver
and make a Troll-Face if you think Da Vinci-Chan has the next surprise at the ready to jump Ibaraki.
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I don't like the idea of Waver dying very early in the war and not surviving the entirety of it.

Lord El-Melloi II is pretty much needed in every timeline.

I mean, they just showed up. It's far too early for anything to happen.

We still need to see how the rest of the servants and masters interact with each other. Plus, I'm really interested with how Waver and Da Vinci's dynamics will go from here.

Am I the only one rooting for Da Vinci-chan in this thread?

:D
 
Silvan Eldar said:
Statistically, the odds are you aren't. And on fanfic, you're definitely not based on the reviews its getting. Though, a decent number of them seem to just be rooting against Banana because she's not taking the war as a practical joke or a fun tournament...
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I've been quite surprised at the difference in response, actually. On here the general consensus seemed to be that Da Vinci dun goofed massively, whereas on FFNet they were pretty sure Ibaraki was done for.

No comment on who's got the right idea.
 
Well, there is a possibility that, regardless of who technically wins, all parties could survive and escape from this battlefield.

Hm, even so, Ibaraki knows that she is subsisting upon borrowed time. If there is no other way, going out in a blaze of glory against Da Vinci would not be such a bad end.
 
Ibaraki is not properly trapped yet. Her master is, unlike Waver, still hidden out of the way. Ryuunosuke still has all his Commands left, and so should be able to recall Ibaraki.
 
Tallamee said:
Ibaraki is not properly trapped yet. Her master is, unlike Waver, still hidden out of the way. Ryuunosuke still has all his Commands left, and so should be able to recall Ibaraki.
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The important thing, mind, is that Da Vinci really doesn't need to win here. If all she gave a shit about was Ibaraki dying, she could just fuck around for a bit and then dump her back in the real world, where it is nearly assured that a bunch of Servants who haven't just been in a large fight are waiting.
 
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Chapter 14 - Agent
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    • Chapter 14 - Agent
    ​
    Picture a universe. Not a large one – a couple of hundred yards across, at most. Set it inside a gem, so that the borders of reality shimmer and gleam across a thousand facets.

    Into this universe place a small section of suburban Japan. A street of small houses, low walls, telephone poles. A scene you could find anywhere, except that this street is jammed with cars, covering almost the entire available space.

    Now, populate this universe with two magi and a monster, and set half of it on fire.

    Ibaraki leapt for her foes, eyes flashing – and when an oni of Ibaraki's calibre's eyes flashed, this was not a metaphor. The air in-between her and her targets exploded, fire obscuring her vision.

    From the side, her right hand flew in, blasting through partially-melted houses and cars without losing speed. It was the Noble Phantasm of an oni princess, and there was nothing in this world that even registered as an obstacle to it.

    Again and again it hammered on Caster's guard, bouncing off a bubble air that felt as hard as stone. Harder, even: the Great Grudge would have smashed stone to sand and melted sand to glass long ago.

    Because Ibaraki was not stupid – despite her fondness for simple tactics like 'rush in and smash things with oni strength' – she did not expect any of this to work. Within Caster's bubble, she saw the other Servant muttering to herself. More of her stupid lessons for her Master?

    Ibaraki didn't expect she would be that lucky. An incantation, then.

    She descended upon her foes like cannon shot, skipping across the street as a yellow blur. When she reached Caster's newest shield and swung her sword with all her strength, it cracked – before once again releasing all that energy in a directed blast.

    By now, though, Ibaraki had gotten wise to Caster's tricks, and though she flew backwards she controlled herself – and left a trail of fire from both hands, bathing Caster and her Master in as much heat as she could summon.

    She landed on a rooftop, and kicked off to rocket forward once again, preparing to follow up her fire attack with a physical blow to overwhelm whatever trick Caster had prepared to avoid the attack.

    Another portal? An illusion? Some new impossibility?

    Ibaraki half-expected any of these. But in trying to anticipate the moves of a genius spellcaster, she'd forgotten.

    They weren't in the real world any more, and Caster no longer felt any need to hold back.

    Ibaraki descended – and hit a shock of cold so intense she felt like she'd fallen into ice water.

    Caster held her staff up, a shining white snowflake six feet wide hanging in the air before her. Everything near her was covered in frost, intricate designs in ice spreading across the car windows. With a smile, Caster tapped her staff on the ground – and the snowflake shattered.

    The air froze.

    Ibaraki's flame guttered out, and her breath nearly stopped as the temperature plummeted. Plunged from intense heat to far, far below freezing, the metal of the cars warped into strange shapes – if there had been any glass left in the windows, it would have splintered.

    Her right hand, on course to slam into Caster from behind, almost didn't change course in time. As it was, it swerved frantically to avoid the blue-tinged death zone, and managed to escape with only the thumb passing too close.

    Ibaraki couldn't feel that thumb anymore.

    Frantically, Ibaraki backpedalled, trying to escape from the zone of impossible cold. She didn't know if Servants could freeze to death, but she was prepared to trust Caster on this one. She scrambled over cars, literally burning prana just to keep her core temperature above zero. When she retreated enough that it was merely cold, she ignited once more, and spun to face her opponent.

    Out of spite more than anything else, Ibaraki spat another fireball at Caster. It winked out before it was halfway there, and she scowled. Fine. If fire didn't work, she would try something else.

    Ibaraki stabbed her sword into the ground, and let go of it to seize the nearest car, scrunching the metal in between her fingers. With an underarm sweep, she flung it at Caster, a tonne of metal hurtling towards her fast as an arrow.

    On the other side, Ibaraki's right hand simply swept itself along the street palm-first, sending a wave of metal and glass hurtling towards the other Servant.

    Caster smiled, and blew Ibaraki a kiss from above her gauntleted hand.

    A howling, icy gale blew into existence from nothing, and Ibaraki flinched as she was plunged back into below-freezing temperatures. Frost formed on her skin, and her fingers and toes went numb almost immediately. The car she'd thrown was tossed back at her like an autumn leaf in a breeze, and the glass her right hand had swept up blew past her as tiny, sharp hailstones in the blizzard Caster had called.

    With a flash of orange, her right hand batted away the tumbling, spinning car, shattering it to frozen pieces. A moment later it appeared before her, cupping her in its blazing fingers and shielding her from the worst of the wind. With a violent shiver, Ibaraki wreathed herself in a corona of fire. Freezing cold gave way to blessed warmth, and she sighed.

    Her right hand snapped out, crossing the distance between Ibaraki and Caster in an instant. That wind seemed to have used up most of Caster's cold barrier, but Ibaraki didn't risk her hand getting close again. Instead she sent it spinning around Caster, harrying and lunging. Heat and cold went to war around Caster and her Master, who seemed not to mind at all.

    No matter. If long-range combat wasn't working either, Ibaraki would just have to power through and do this the hard way. Ibaraki advanced – not at a rush this time, but at a deliberate walk. Step by step, she plodded through the blizzard. Frost melted before her, running in rivulets down the battered and scorched streets.

    Caster twirled her staff and made an upwards gesture with her gauntlet. The wind stopped, and Ibaraki almost stumbled against the sudden lack of pressure. She wasn't about to complain, but what was Caster doing?

    With a wink and a giggle, Caster pointed upwards, and Ibaraki groaned.

    The Mirror World was too small to have a proper weather system, but apparently the Servant of the Spell didn't care. Clouds boiled and churned in the wind Caster had summoned, growing darker by the second.

    Ibaraki's right hand shot up to try and interfere somehow, but it was too late.

    The rain came first, soaking the street and steaming around Ibaraki's superheated form. It was cold and wet, but she had no time to appreciate this new unpleasantness. Caster pointed her staff at Ibaraki and clenched her fist, and thunder rolled.

    Ibaraki hated thunder. Stupid Ox-King.

    The feeling was apparently mutual.

    Lightning speared down from the clouds, hitting with a shock that left even Ibaraki winded – and the crack of thunder that accompanied it nearly deafened her. She felt her hair rise on end, the oncoming tension that meant another strike was coming, and stepped aside-

    -and the lightning that followed forked in its course to follow her.

    Dammit! Magical lightning wasn't all that hard to dodge, even if it was as fast as the real thing – if you could sense the positive streamers it was as good as a telephone punch, and Ibaraki had had a lot of lightning thrown at her over the years to practice with.

    Unfortunately, Caster was better than that and was doing this the hard way. Real lightning was just the spark that followed a charge, and if Ibaraki was the wrong charge then it was her the lightning would hit. Usually it would seek a better path to ground itself with – but Ibaraki could feel a strange tingle across her body, and suspected Caster was altering her physical properties somehow.

    The clouds flashed, and Ibaraki hurled herself into motion. Forget trying to assault Caster – with a storm on her side she just had too much firepower at her disposal to deal with that way. There was really only one way of dealing with lightning.

    Go inside.

    The door to the nearest house was locked, but that was no issue for a Servant. Ibaraki dematerialised and leapt through it, just as lightning struck the roof. Inside, the quiet and stillness was almost startling. The storm raged outside, muted for now. Caster could probably aim magical lightning through the damn keyhole, but if she was playing with the real thing even she couldn't get at Ibaraki in here.

    Which meant she was probably cooking up something else instead. Damn her. The longer the fight went on, the more in Caster's favour it became as she altered the environment to suit her needs. And it hadn't exactly started out easy for Ibaraki.

    But she needed a moment to catch her breath, to think. So she took her time, and crept through the house.

    For all that the street outside was, well, war-torn, the interior had survived pretty much intact. A normal house, for a normal family… Ibaraki assumed. The design, the layout, the furniture, it was very familiar, and so, so different to someone who'd arrived from hundreds of years in the past.

    Then again, Ibaraki had hardly had the most normal childhood, or the most normal home in her adult life.

    Enough of this. Ibaraki padded on bare feet up the stairs, taking the time to enjoy the feel of carpet through her toes. In an upstairs bedroom, she stopped to examine a photograph. A family, all smiling, a little girl in the foreground laughing and holding a cat. Ibaraki stood there for a second, expression blank, before carefully replacing the photo.

    She'd had a family, once – not the one she'd started with, but she was happy enough for all that. A life of freedom and adventure on Mt Ooe, with good friends and her beloved Shuten. All she wanted, all she'd ever wanted, was a way back to that life. It wasn't selfish – it wasn't, because it was all for Shuten. If you were fighting for the one you loved, you were in the right, that was how it worked.

    But, just like before, the heroes couldn't let the oni have their way. A war between seven Servants? Hah. As soon as the oni drew attention to herself, it became six against one. Unfair.

    Now, here she was. Trapped, in a separate dimension, against a Servant more dangerous by far than Saber and Archer put together.

    She wasn't in the worst situation possible. Caster had her Master here with her, and Ibaraki was still brimming with energy – even after using her Noble Phantasm and throwing around Prana Burst like it was going out of fashion. But she couldn't actually get at Waver Velvet through Caster's defence, and every bit of power she thew out was another weapon for Caster to turn against her.

    Ibaraki was good at getting herself out of trouble, but even she couldn't see a way out of this.

    … fine. If she was to go, she would go down fighting. For an oni, it wasn't such a bad death. Calling her bone blade to her hand once more, Ibaraki barrelled straight through the wall of the house she'd been hiding in, and resumed her pointless assault on Caster.

    ---​

    In a city in chaos, Kotomine church stood as an island of calm. Separated from rest of Shinto, in its place on the hill, it had not been caught up in the atrocities Fuyuki had seen today. And yet, Risei was troubled.

    Of course he was – how could he not be? From the church doors one could look out over a peaceful forest and hillside… past to the large patches of the city on fire. Smoke rose in great plumes from over a dozen locations, rising like some horrid fungal growth from the city below. They cast the day in shadow, and even here Risei could smell an acrid tinge on the air.

    Such devastation could only be the work of a Servant, or else some terrorist group better organised and better armed than Risei had ever heard of. No. In Fuyuki, in a Grail War? Of course it was a Servant.

    Which meant it was his responsibility.

    And, he suspected, his fault.

    Theoretically, any Servant could have done this. The tendency to start fires suggested some affinity for flame, but really, that was the least of it. Every Servant was too fast to catch, too strong to resist, and could turn intangible at will. There was nothing at all that any normal police force could do to stop them. In fact, Risei could only think of a few reasons why Fuyuki had not been destroyed long ago.

    First, the personalities of the Servants involved. There was no doubt in his mind that Servant Rider could have, if she'd wanted to, easily matched the destruction seen today. However, over the course of rather a few conversations with the woman, he'd found her a genuinely delightful person, and honestly couldn't imagine her doing such a thing – or condoning it.

    The second thing that could keep Servants in check was, therefore, other Servants. Servants could not be policed, as they were too strong – therefore, they had to police themselves.

    Admittedly, they weren't actually incentivised to do this. The closest thing to an authority was the Moderator himself, and he had no actual power over the Servants. What he could do, however, was offer incentives for other Servants, and the knowledge that this was within his power was usually enough to keep even those Servants who weren't as kindly as Rider in check, or at least curtail the worst of their excesses.

    On the other hand, this was really an all-or-nothing prospect. His options were total leniency, or zero-tolerance and extermination. Risei had made the decision on Berserker after discussing it with Tohsaka Tokiomi. He stood by it… but he wondered if it hadn't been a little premature.

    Somehow – probably another Servant bragging – Berserker had found out they were condemned, and had decided they had nothing else to lose. And, yes, that was entirely Berserker's choice and Berserker's sin to bear. But every time Risei tried to muster up some righteous indignation, his eyes would drift to the smoke, and his ears would pick up the sound of a city screaming, and he would think, I caused this.

    If he'd found another way, if he'd tried to find a more subtle solution, if he hadn't tried to play Tokiomi's games with the War. Would Berserker have snapped? Would the thousands of people burning and suffering and dying still be alive?

    He didn't say any of this to the woman at his side, however. He didn't need to. Out of everyone, Servant Rider knew more than anyone how he was feeling.

    Rider had arrived early in the day, and had hardly let Risei out of her sight since. Now, she stood by him as he watched over the city. An observer might have mistook her for a nun, in service to the Church and sent to assist Risei. This observer would have been almost correct. Rider was indeed here to assist Risei, and was indeed aligned with the Church.

    But as a saint, she was a little higher up in the hierarchy than a mere nun.

    Given this, a hypothetical observer might also have been confused over her outfit. It looked a little like a nun's habit, with long flowing tails and a headdress. But it was a little more… form-fitting than nuns tended to dress, with slits uncomfortably high up the legs and thigh-high boots of all things. Risei hadn't brought it up. Rider didn't seem embarrassed, and had even referred to it as her 'holy garment'… so it was probably fine.

    Lust was a sin, Rider was far too young, and now wasn't the time.

    "It's terrible…" said Rider. Like Risei, she looked out over the burning city, her deep blue eyes troubled. She bit her lip. "There must be something I can do. If I were down there…" Her fists clenched.

    "I know," said Risei, putting his hand on Rider's shoulder. "Your heart goes out to those in need. Mine too. But… all I can do is have faith."

    Rider turned to Risei with a forlorn expression. Like this, Risei was very aware of how much shorter she was than him – sure, she could shatter dragonscale with her bare fists, but all he could see right now was an unsure woman in need of help. "All things according to His plan? Father, I don't know if I'm strong enough to just accept that…"

    "Accept it? Certainly not. I won't tell you that the Lord works in mysterious ways – he works through us, his servants… or Servants, as the case may be." Risei smiled down at Rider, and she returned it weakly. "No, we are all of us bound to do what we feel is right – and let God show Himself through our actions. When I spoke of having faith, I meant in Tokiomi."

    "Yes…" Rider looked down. "I trust him, I do… and it is not as if I resent being commanded to protect you!"

    Risei chuckled, despite everything. "I do not resent being protected by you, either, Rider."

    Rider smiled briefly, before her face fell again. "Only, is this really the best use for me? I did not mind defending Tokiomi's home from Archer, and I understood why it was best for me not to pursue Berserker. But now, with all this…" Rider gestured at the city. "Can Tokiomi really mean for me to do nothing to stop Berserker from running wild? I will do as he commands, and I will keep you safe from harm, Father, but…"

    "You feel duty-bound to do more," Risei finished.

    "Yeah. Ah, that is," Rider corrected herself, blushing, "Yes. I do." She straightened, and held her cross-shaped staff upright.

    It was refreshing, to have a Servant who was of the faith. As a necessity, Risei had interacted with Rider more than any other Servant – and had been surprised and pleased when Rider reached out to him outside of 'working hours'. He'd taken her confession, over the phone, and when that was done they had simply… kept talking.

    Risei had been a priest long enough to recognise someone who was crying out for emotional help and support. At a guess, Rider wasn't getting everything she needed from her Master. Risei wasn't sure he was qualified to act as a spiritual leader to a literal saint, but if Rider was happy with it then he would do his best.

    "I have known Tokiomi for his whole life," he said. "I was placed here to oversee the Third War, did you know that? Well, I was. I have watched Tokiomi grow from a hot-headed and excited young boy, to a teenager desperately trying to appear dignified and level-headed while being the same clumsy dork he always was inside, to a man who became the perfect cold-hearted magus he wanted so badly to be.

    "I fear he lost his innocence somewhere along the way. I think the boy he was would be surprised if he learned what it would cost to become the man he is. But throughout the years, in some ways – perhaps the most important – he has not changed at all. His talent as a mage, yes, that stayed. His intelligence, certainly. Most of all, his drive, that is exactly the same. As a boy, he would stay up far too late, attempting this spell or that. As a teenager, he researched everything he possibly could about the Grail Wars – I practically had to throw him out of the church so he would stop pestering me about the Third War.

    "Tokiomi is not the man I hoped he would aspire to be, and I pray for his soul as I pray for all my flock. Many magi are demons in human form, and I often worry that it is only Tokiomi's sense of decorum that prevents him from sinking to their depths. But, Rider." Risei looked Rider dead in the eyes. Above all else, he needed her to understand this.

    "Tokiomi's whole life has been spent preparing for the Heaven's Feel ritual. He is a smarter man than I, and knows secrets of magecraft and strategy I would lose myself in. I may not trust him to act as a moral paragon – but I trust him to do his best to win this war in a way he can be proud of."

    Rider bit her lip. "It's not much to go on, is it? I had hoped my summoner would be like me… and, well, like you, Father. A person who… if not virtuous, is at least trying their best to act in accordance with the Lord's decrees. But the Grail seems to have matched me with my Master for other reasons. I would hate to think I was defined by my negative traits…"

    Risei sighed. "I wouldn't presume to have made an insight into your inner heart within a couple of days, but I do have an idea as to how you two are similar."

    "Mmm? How's that?"

    "I think…" Risei smiled mischievously. "…that I will keep that to myself. Rest assured, though. I do not find it a bad quality, in either of you. If you are worried that you will begin to act as coldly as Tokiomi does, do not. I literally cannot imagine you acting without regard for others – that is something I have been able to tell within a couple of days."

    "Thank you, Father." For a moment, man and spirit stood in silence, contemplating the events of the day.

    Then a pulse of magic almost blew them both off their feet – not with force, but with sheer presence. Risei's head snapped round to the west, where a column of smoke was reforming itself into a new shape. An arrow pointed downwards, indicating an area in Miyama, and as Risei watched the top of it formed a snarling wolf's head.

    "The sign for Berserker…" Rider breathed. Her eyes hardened. "I must go. I need not protect you from Berserker if Berserker is not here – that is Caster's work, and a better Servant you will not find for stalling another. This is a call to arms, Risei!"

    Risei waved her off. "I have lasted this long without you watching over me. Do as you feel you must. I will be fine."

    "Thank you, Father." Rider turned to go, then stopped. "I will let Tokiomi know. Perhaps he will ask your son to persuade Lancer to guard you."

    Unlikely. Lancer was a weapon of last resort, their last trump card in the War. "Perhaps," said Risei. "Go!"

    Rider dematerialised in a flurry of purple-blue sparks, and Risei watched them fade into the air.

    When she was gone, he slumped, every minute of his age showing on his face. This damn War. He was too old, and the young were too good for it. Typical of magi, to ruin everything around them.

    But he had to soldier on. The Grail could cause untold harm in the wrong hands. Tokiomi wasn't exactly the perfect choice, but he was a damn sight better than most. And, if nothing else, Saint Martha would keep him honest.

    Or Kirei. Risei allowed himself a smile. What if Kirei won the war? With Lancer, it was all but certain he would be one of the final two Masters. He chuckled. If it came to that, he wasn't worried at all. Kirei was a man of the cloth, after all, and his own son. He was a fundamentally decent human being, who just needed some guidance. At the moment, that was Tokiomi, but Risei trusted his old friend not to lead his son astray.

    Yes, engineering the War so that Tokiomi and Kirei won it was the right thing to do. All Risei had to do was make sure Fuyuki survived it.

    ---​

    Five minutes.

    Five minutes of fire, five minutes of violence, five minutes of launching everything she had… but that was all.

    Ibaraki hung in the air once more, scorched by lightning, frostbitten by cold, bruised and bleeding from a hundred effects she couldn't even name. Her right hand had been sealed in an zone of looped space, and was hurtling towards Caster over and over within the same twenty-foot area.

    Caster herself stood, not a hair out of place, in exactly the same spot she'd been in when she arrived in this world.

    "Very well, mage," said Ibaraki, trying to sound calm and dignified no matter much she wanted to scream and cry. "You have beaten me. Slay the oni, and boast to all your hero friends how you defeated the leader of the Mt Ooe bandits in single combat. You will know it to be lie, but how convenient for you that no-one can see what happened in the world you trapped me in."

    Caster clapped her hands together, and her gauntlet and staff vanished.

    "Well!" she said, turning to her Master. "I won't lie and say that was a close one, but that certainly was an interesting challenge. For a genius like myself, the outcome was never in doubt, of course – but, Master, did you learn something?"

    "You learned to fear the wrath of the oni-kind-"

    "I think I get what you were trying to demonstrate," Waver Velvet said, rubbing his chin in thought and looking at where Ibaraki hovered. Almost every spell you used had some twist to it, that made it harder to cast initially but saved on power in the long run. Rather than brute-forcing physics, you changed the causes, so your results were a lot more stable. And for larger effects, you used pre-existing spells to reinforce them – and buy yourself time to set them up without interference from Berserker."

    "Interference? I would have torn you to pieces and left each one in a different province had I-"

    "Very good!" said Caster. "I'll let you in on a secret – not a single spell I've used today was beyond your power. Even with the diminished prana of the world today, even with the levels of Od you have available, you could have cast it all. The only limit is your skill, and your knowledge of the world to support it. And that's what you have me for!"

    "Stop ignoring me!" Ibaraki shouted.

    Caster seemed taken aback. "Pardon? Darling, do be quiet, I'm trying to teach my student here."

    "I am Ibaraki-douji, the terror of Kyoto! I can not be so lightly set aside!" Ibaraki stamped her foot, but it didn't quite have the same effect in midair. Rather than an earthshaking stomp, she just kind of waved her foot around, and started to spin sideways a bit.

    "Oh, you were super scary, really!" Caster said. "I even sent up a flare asking for backup for other Servants, although I guess I don't need it now… if you'd started to win I could have brought them in to the Mirror World. I'm not certain what would have happened if I died, but you could certainly have captured my Master and forced me to release you that way, in which case having someone on the other side would have been only sensible… sorry, Berserker, are you having trouble?"

    Ibaraki was now tilted halfway, and continuing to spin. She glared at Caster.

    "Ooh, such an adorable pout! Master, Master, look how cute she is!"

    "I am not cute!"

    "Yes, you are! Oh, it's such a shame you had to be such a disaster, or the Moderator would have never conspired with Tohsaka to get you killed."

    That was news to Ibaraki. "The… Moderator?" She was now horizontal, her hair hanging straight down over her eyes.

    Caster waved a hand, as if it wasn't important. "Yes, yes, they're in league, it's obvious they're doing this to try and distract Archer from attacking them and give them space to prepare something else."

    Waver looked at her, clearly trying not to smile. "Caster, we should probably get this over with before the 'terror of Kyoto' flips upside down. Her dress is short enough as it is, and while I'm all for making her pay for her actions, humiliating her like this is… well, it's not my thing."

    "Mine either, to be honest," said Caster. "She's for dressing up, not for lewding – she's a little scrawny for one thing, and while the blonde hair is nice she hasn't taken care of it at all- oh, you meant in general? You're so straight-laced, Master." She reached inside her dress and pulled out a glass bottle of pink liquid. "Still, at least I don't have to worry about you misusing this…"

    Uncorking it, she flung the contents at Ibaraki. It sprayed out, forming itself into a mist, which drifted inexorably towards her. Something told her that inhaling would be a very bad plan.

    "What is this? Answer me!" she snapped, craning her head back to avoid the tendrils creeping towards her.

    "It's a little something I put together as a last resort, of course," said Caster cheerfully. "Alchemy is hardly my specialty, but nothing is impossible for me, and potions have all sorts of uses. I call this one a Suggestion Solution!"

    Ibaraki froze, her stomach dropping. "You mean…"

    "Mind control in a bottle!" Caster preened. "I'm a genius, so you never stood a chance against me, but you were really rather impressive. I'm not in the habit of throwing away valuable resources, you know." She turned to her Master, hands on her hips and a severe expression on her face. "Now, I increased the concentration so this would work on Servants, but don't go getting any ideas, Master. Just because she's cute doesn't mean you can do anything funny with Berserker, that's not OK at all."

    "I wouldn't!" sputtered Waver Velvet, his face turning red. Ibaraki fought even harder to keep her head away from the mist. With a thought she dematerialised.

    Caster laughed. "Darling, I just said I made this stuff to work on Servants, what on Earth made you think turning into a spirit would help at all? Down the hatch dear, there's a girl…"

    Waver Velvet sighed, but made no move to stop his Servant. "Berserker, you brought this on yourself. Hopefully… hopefully you can do some good before you die."

    Sanctimonious prick. In that moment, Ibaraki hated him. She'd been dissatisfied with Ryuunosuke, but she could get along with him so much better than this cowardly mage who acted tough when he didn't do anything to win…

    … oh, right, that was her way out of here.

    SUMMONER! she screamed in her head. Summoner, summon me, now!

    There was silence, but Ibaraki could feel his confusion. Wasn't she already summoned? She almost screamed in frustration, but didn't want to open her mouth while the pink mist coiled around her.

    With your Command Spell, idiot!

    The mist of Caster's potion was all around her now, casting everything in a pink glow. Ibaraki held her breath, not knowing if it would do any good, and her vision got hazier and hazier. Sounds became muted – but Caster's voice cut through like a knife, impossible to ignore.

    "Now, Berserker, here is what I want you to do…"
     
  • Threadmarks
    • ....huh. Caster is definitely playing the long game here, although for what gain? It's nice to see that Ibaraki is going to be in the fight a little longer, and Ryonousuke being reminded of his Command Seals might end up being a clutch play to upend whatever Caster's setting up.

    Martha is adorable, and probably one of the only genuinely good people in this fustercluck of a Grail War. I hope that she doesn't get hit too hard by whatever Caster's plan is, but she's definitely going to take it to the face.
     
    Da Vinci with nobody to crub her less than heroic traits and a reason to be ruthless.
    Here is to hoping she won't fall of the slippery slope.
     
    Well, things are looking pretty grim for Ibaraki. One one hand, she's not dead, on the other hand, she's still very much in danger of that.

    Personally I can imagine three routes go forward, off-hand anyway. One, Da Vinci has Ibaraki hunt down and kill her Master. This would go against her stated objective of not letting the resource she represents go to waste, but it does take care of the serial killer problem without having to do the deed of killing Ibaraki herself. The second would be to keep Ibaraki in reserve till they need her, pull her out in the middle of a fight to blindside the enemy. But this would be fairly dangerous, since the more time you give Ibaraki the more time for the potion to wear off and even if that's not an issue the more time you give for her master to pull something. The third and final path I can see, would be to direct Ibaraki to fight one of the war's 'under-dogs', with instructions to loose the fight and die. This would give that side an additional command seal, and upset the current balance of power. This would increase the chaos and give Da Vinci more time to prepare.

    ...I hope I'm wrong, for Ibaraki's sake.

    Anyway, nice chapter, looking forward to more.

    Though, I'd have thought Da Vinci would use a machine of some sort for the mind control.
     
    Silvan Eldar said:
    Though, I'd have thought Da Vinci would use a machine of some sort for the mind control.
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    I considered introducing Da Vinci's wonderful toys in this chapter, but decided against it. They'll make an appearance. As to why I decided on a potion rather than a machine or a spell - something that does the same functional job as Rule Breaker (in the 'take control of a Servant' narrative sense, not the contract-erasing mechanical sense) should really be something prepared beforehand and not something she can whip out whenever, so a spell was out.

    Between a machine and a potion, then, in keeping with the efficient, based-off-real-science theme I have going for Da Vinci, a potion makes more sense than a machine to me. There are already such things as mind-altering substances, after all.

    It may or may not also be worth noting that Casters also make very good supports. Medea managed to upgrade Kuzuki to fight Saber. You should probably assume Da Vinci can figure out similar enhancements - and apply them to the Servant of Madness. Having her fight another Servant and aim to lose seems like a terrible waste...
     
    Honestly who else is somewhat sicken at the idea of fucking Tokiomi summoning such an awesome big sis like Martha who'll punch all those who are wicked.

    I mean seriously a part of me is hoping that she does eventually dual/fight against Atalanta and either hears or at the very least gets an inkling of just why those two are trying their damn hardest to kill Tokiomi.
     
    neogoki said:
    Da Vinci with nobody to crub her less than heroic traits and a reason to be ruthless.
    Here is to hoping she won't fall of the slippery slope.
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    She's a Caster working for someone not Ritsuka.

    She's fuckin toast.

    Parks_98 said:
    Honestly who else is somewhat sicken at the idea of fucking Tokiomi summoning such an awesome big sis like Martha who'll punch all those who are wicked.

    I mean seriously a part of me is hoping that she does eventually dual/fight against Atalanta and either hears or at the very least gets an inkling of just why those two are trying their damn hardest to kill Tokiomi.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    On one hand, there's a lot Tokiomi legitimately did not know or assumed incorrectly about Zouken and he would be very angered to know of her current state.

    On the other hand that has nothing to do with the rape worms, so bleh.
     
    Martha and Tokiomi probably got matched up on the basis of both being religiously Christian and trying very hard to maintain a dignified demeanor appropriate to their stations at all times.

    Risei himself implies here that Tokiomi used to be like Rin when he was younger, except more dork than tsundere.

    Unfortunately Tokiomi grew up to become someone who puts acting dignified as a mage over any semblance of actually understanding people. He completely fails to understand ANYONE around him except Risei in canon, leading to him blundering to his demise.

    On an unrelated note; Ryuunosuke is part of my phone's dictionary for some reason. Weird.
     
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