Confringentur 2; a Madoka Magica / Fate/Stay Night sequel

SVS · Dec 9, 2022

[X] Plan: Shooting Star Lance

"Akemi-san, I believe we may have a problem. What are your orders?"

Tomoe-san's words echo in your mind's ear as the nosecone of an ASDF F-15J crests through the clouds, while beside you, "Ah, shit," Kirika's words echo in your ear's ear. "What are we gonna do now?"

"We need to bring the pilot down," Oriko says. Immediately, she realises how awful that must have sounded, and she quickly corrects herself. "Not like that. I mean, we need to force him to land, so that we can hypnotise him into believing that nothing's amiss." Oriko turns to you, adding "Unfortunately, we'll need to do that multiple times. The rest of his squadron can't be far behind."

"So we need to figure out how to down several fighter jets, without arousing suspicion, and manage to hypnotise all of the pilots into believing that nothing is wrong," you say. "All while trying to deal with Sidonia, Sigurd, and whatever the hell that thing is." Your hand instinctively points towards Sidonia's massive kaiju, which even from this distance you can see the emerald streaks following in the wake of Rider's chariot as it rams into the monster. "This is going to be difficult, isn't it?"

A massive ball of fire flashes to your south, lighting up the city's southern edge brighter than daylight. You feel Oriko's hand touching your shoulder, and a faint ghost of a smile forms on her lips ."Now, it's just Sidonia and her monster," Oriko says. "That should make things just a little bit easier."

"Homura, I've got good news," Archer says. "Lancer just defeated Sigurd, and both she and Assassin are heading back to you. Assassin's in need of medical attention, though, so make sure Nightingale is informed."

You don't even bother to respond to Archer before changing your mental channel to contact Kanna Niko. "Asami Saki is still leading the rest of you to us for refills, right? Is Nightingale with you?"

"Correct on both counts," Kanna Niko replies. "We're on our way right now, and I have Assassin with me. Why? What do you need?"

"Sigurd is defeated, but Assassin was injured in the process and is in need of medical attention. Make sure Nightingale is made aware of that."

"Thank you." Now that your business with Kanna Niko is taken care of, you can finally return your attention to Archer. You don't like that you've just left him hanging like this, but it hasn't been very long, and in that time you've come up with the germ of an idea. "Archer, are you able to, I don't know if I'm wording this correctly, but, are you able to bind a hypnosis spell to one of your arrows?"

"Rin could probably do it better than I could," Archer replies. "But yes, I should be able to do that. What's up? What are you thinking of?"

"We need a way to hypnotise that pilot of that fighter jet, but bringing him down to hypnotise him would be… Tricky, especially if we're forced to divert resources away from dealing with Sidonia. I was hoping you could bind a hypnosis spell to one of your arrows and then shoot it at the jet to wash the hypnosis effect over the pilot."

"I see what you're going for now," Archer says. "Yes, that should definitely be possible. What about everyone else?"

"Before that, tell me where Sidonia's gone off to. What's she doing?"

"Last I had eyes on her, she had that giant monster of hers drop her off at Tomoe's building. I don't know what she's planning to do there, but if we can spare it, I'd advise sending a handful of servants after her if we can spare them. Whatever she's up to, it's probably not good."

"Right." You leave Archer to prepare his hypnosis shot, and direct your attention into a message for the rest of your teammates. "Attention all. Sidonia's last known location is the rooftop of Tomoe-san's building," you say. "If anyone can spare their servants, go after her. We need to stop whatever she's planning next."

Affirmative responses come in from Hitomi, Tomoe-san, and Kyouko. Maki Kaoru's servant is already on the other side of the city by now, and you know Matou Sakura – and probably Aunt Illya as well – has trouble responding to your telepathic messages, so you can only hope that you managed to contact them successfully. But even after the affirmative comes from Kyouko, she has a question for you.

"So, Spooky, I know I said I could have Killer help out, but… What about that giant monster thing? Are we just gunna let it run rampant while we get our servants ta gangbang Sidonia? 'Cause, if yer okay with it, ain't Killer got a pretty good move ta use on that thing that just might do th' trick…"

"Been a while since I had the chance to use this," Rider said to himself. "Not since that fight with Teacher, back then…"

Rider spun his spear around in his hand, and tossed it to the ground with a cry of "Diatrekhōn Astēr Lonkhē!" The spear twinkled emerald as it fell, planting itself in the ground with a bright flash, as a dome of emerald fell in a wide arc around Rider, the monster, and the chunk of city they had found themselves in. "All right, big guy, let's see how you like it when you're trapped in here with me!"

Sigils of flame burned at the monster's back, but when it tried to propel its projectiles forward, the flames were snuffed out. "Really, those annoying little fire blasts of yours were the first things that had to go," Rider said, grinning as he gave his shield a heft in his hand. "That, and your connection to your master, of course. She can talk to you, if she thinks you've got anything interesting to say; but she'll be unable to protect you when it's just you and me in here, all by ourselves." The monster roared at Rider, sounding like an erupting volcano, to which Rider could only respond with a laugh. "Is that all you've got, big guy?" he taunted. "Take those flames away and you're just one big target, huh? Even my mortal old man'd have no trouble bringing you down like this!"

In defiance of Rider's taunts, the monster raised its spear up, and thrust forward, sending a torrent of flames blasting from the blazing head of the spear straight into Rider. "Guess it'd be unfair of me to say you can't use your spear, when I'm more than capable of using my own weapons!" Rider charged his chariot into the inferno, shield raised up, projecting the miniature world inside out in front as his chariot slammed forward.

"Hiyah!"

At the last second, Rider had his horses pull down, ducking under the flames and surging forward unimpeded. The monster was quick to refocus its efforts, bringing its spear down lower to meet Rider and his chariot head-on with a new burst of flame. Rider charged his chariot through this as well, before ordering his horses to pull up, causing the chariot to slam straight into the monster's arm.

The monster reeled its arm back as Rider's chariot slammed into it, but quickly retaliated. Its spear arm was swift, and it swung its weapon at Rider and his chariot, over and over. But each time, Rider brought his shield up, slamming the miniature world inside into the spear and deflecting the attack. "Hey, Killer, I sure hope ya know what yer doing," said Kyouko to her servant. "All this action yer getting's really wearing me down, mana-wise. I mean, sure, we got Grief Seeds to spare, but I'd hate ta burn through all'a Spooky and Big White's stock just fer this fight, ya know? We've still gotta beat that other bitch after this."

Rider forced his horses to climb, narrowly dodging a jet of flame from the monster's spear as it swung at Rider from the side. "My apologies, master," he responded, forcing his horses to make a second sharp turn, and then a third in quick succession, as the monster's flaming spear almost nicked their heels. "But try to hold out for a little bit longer!"

Rider would have to take his own words to heart as well, and do his best to hold out a little longer for himself. The monster swung its flaming spear again, and this time, Rider wasn't fast enough to avoid it all together. Though Rider managed to pull his chariot up in time to avoid being swatted by the spear, the torrent of flame left in the wake of the spear's passing still managed to leave a burn on his arm and on part of his chest.

Rider forced his horses into one more quick turn, as the monster did something unexpected. Rather than swipe at Rider with its spear, it swiped at him with its right hand, as a man swatting at a mosquito. Rider swerved his chariot, narrowly avoiding the attack, and the monster brought its hand down, cleaving through a nearby building. "That was close," Rider said to himself. "I guess now that you're not trying to ferry your master around, you're free to use both hands, aren't you? Looks like I'd better be more careful."

Rather than let the fear of losing, of almost certainly dying against this monster that towered several dozen times his size over him, Rider grinned. "This fight just got even more interesting!"

The monster bellowed, the roar of an erupting volcano almost deafening to Rider's ears this close to the monster's head. He charged in again, surging his chariot forward, as the monster brought up its hand. Hand and chariot struck each other at the same time, and while the monster was knocked back as Rider's chariot punched its hand, the monster's hand also succeeded in slamming into Rider.

The force of the monster's blow sent Rider and his chariot spiralling out of control, and it was only thanks to a quick hand on Rider's part that he was able to stabilise his horses and get them going again. "Hiyah!" he cried as he cracked the reins. "Aim for the legs!" His horses surged forward, forcing the chariot into a sharp turn as they slammed into the monster's leg, quickly pulling out as the blow caused the monster to tumble. Its spear slipped from its grasp as it fell, and the monster hit the ground, kicking up a terrific cloud of dust and debris in the process.

Rider brought his chariot around to a safe distance, circling the cloud of dust as he waited for his visibility to clear. A hand, massive and burning, shot forward, and faster than Rider could react the hand had grabbed his chariot. "Whoa!" Rider cried out, as the hand tossed his chariot aside. He narrowly avoiding being thrown from his chariot entirely, thanks only to his hand being tangled in the reins. Even more thankfully, Rider himself was not torn from his hand, and with great difficulty he was able to pull himself back into his chariot-

Just in time for the entire chariot, horses and rider included, to slam into the side of a building. Rider clutched at his head as he scrambled to pick himself up, and the monster emerged from the dust cloud with a fierce bellow, stopping only to pick up its spear before advancing on Rider's position. It must not have been expecting Rider to get up so soon after being thrown, because it was unable to do anything as Rider, his chariot righted once again, shot forward, slamming into the monster's unprotected head.

The force of the blow took one of the monster's horns with it, and when Rider pulled away, circling around to a safe distance, he saw that he had also taken one of the monster's eyes as well. The socket around the burning white ember had collapsed from the blow, and the ember inside had died out. As the monster roared, Rider worked loose a kink in his shoulder, saying "Guess you're not so invincible after all, huh? Nice to see that even you can take a hit."

Emboldened by the success of his strike, Rider charged forward again. This time, the monster was ready for him. It swatted its spear, forcing Rider to swerve to avoid the attack. Flames followed in the wake of the spear's slice, and the monster quickly recovered, thrusting the spear again and flinging a torrent of fire towards Rider. Rider swerved to avoid the attack, and the monster caught Rider off guard with its right hand, swatting Rider and his chariot out of the sky again.

This time, when Rider and his chariot hit the ground, Rider was thrown, and his horses scattered as the monster brought its foot down. Rider was faster, but even still only just managed to avoid being squished by the monster's stomp. "Geez, how'd they manage this?" he asked himself, remembering how much easier of a time Saber and Heracles had seemed to have with this as he'd watched them from above. Again, Rider had to throw himself out of the way as the monster brought its foot down.

But that only brought Rider in range of the monster's reaching hand, which was much harder for Rider to avoid. Unlike Heracles, Rider lacked the raw strength to pry the monster's fingers open, so when the monster's hand grabbed hold of him, Rider knew he was stuck. The hand squeezed, and Rider felt as though his head were about to pop off his shoulders. "Crap… Guess this is it for me, isn't it?" he said to himself. "Only one chance to get me out of this mess…"

Rider could feel the monster's hot breath pouring over him as he was brought face-to-face with the ram-headed behemoth. It stared at Rider, its one remaining eye glaring at him, somehow, despite the lidless ember never once blinking or moving in its socket. This close, Rider could see the shifting black void that was the monster's body. It was nothing, neither skin, muscle, nor bone. It simply was, a black that was blacker than the blackest black, a shadow only given form by the burning outline around the monster's body. Red-orange flames sparked in the monster's mouth as it opened, the outlines of its teeth only visible by the glowing red-orange at the back of the monster's throat; and as hot, ash-laden steam washed over Rider, he knew this was probably the end.

"Unless-!"

Rider sucked in as much air as his lungs could hold, and he let out a loud whistle. It wasn't enough to distract the monster, but it didn't have to be. It just had to be enough that- Yes! Rider's horses, trailing behind them his empty chariot, slammed into the monster's right hand, knocking Rider free from its grasp. Rider plummeted, but he gave another whistle, and his horses pulled up underneath him. His feet touched down in his chariot, and he immediately grabbed hold of the reins. "If we keep this up, I'm going to be the one who dies," Rider said, cracking the reins and forcing his horses to climb. "But… It'd be a shame to end this now, when everyone else is counting on me!"

[ ] Wat do?

SVS · Dec 10, 2022

[X] Plan: Moving the Pieces

"I'm glad there's at least one of us who's staying in one place. Makes it so much easier to coordinate on getting refills."

As soon as Asami Saki and the remnants of her team arrive on your rooftop – not your rooftop, just the rooftop of whichever building you've holed yourself up on, close enough to the battlefield that you can get at least a passing survey of everything that's going on – you sent Oriko, Kirika, and Lancer out. "Sidonia's making a move on Tomoe-san's apartment," you told them. "She's up to something, and I'd like for as many of us as possible to converge on her position and deal with it."

That leaves you, Misaki Umika, Asami Saki, and Kanna Niko on this rooftop, alone but for the two Assassin servants, one providing medical attention to the wounded other, recharging your Soul Gems. "So, what do you think Sidonia is up to?" Asami Saki is the first one to ask the question that's on all of your minds. "Tomoe's place… She had her serpents demolish that one, right? So what the heck is she trying to get done in there now?"

"Maybe it's because she demolished the building that we should be asking," Kanna Niko says. "Sure, you could say that she knew where Tomoe lived, and attacked it just because wanted to hurt us as much as possible." Kanna Niko looks to you for confirmation of her theory, adding "But, I don't know Sidonia as well as you do. Realistically, she probably had some goal she wanted to accomplish, and she thought attacking the building was the best way to accomplish it."

"Tomoe-san was keeping the shard of Dáinsleif safe for us," you say. "If she knew where Tomoe-san lived, it's not too much of a stretch for her to assume that we might have hidden one of her pieces in locations that were easily accessible to us. Remember, she also attacked my apartment, and probably for the same reason. She guessed – correctly, I might add – that I'd probably be hiding one of her pieces there."

You have to pause, and take in a deep breath before you can continue. "But, she'd still need Twardowski's Mirror if she wanted to summon another servant; and right now, Matou Sakura either has that, or she's destroyed it," you say; "And since Sidonia never tried to summon another Archer to replace Atalanta, we can assume she hasn't memorised the summoning ritual, either."

"That's not entirely true," Misaki Umika says to your mind. "She has my Caster with her now. He was the first servant we summoned, and he was the one who helped us refine the summoning ritual that we'd later use on our remaining servants. It's not impossible for him to have given her the information she needs."

"But she would still need to prepare the circle, wouldn't she?" you ask. "It's possible she has one back in her workshop, if she summoned that thing, but we know she's nowhere near her workshop right now. If our remaining servants can all rush her at once, even if she manages to recover the shard of Dáinsleif from Tomoe-san's apartment it won't matter if we don't give her enough time."

Asami Saki and Kanna Niko look to each other, with a certain suspicious expression on their face. "Um, actually…" Asami Saki says. You don't like the sound of that. "When my team and I arrived and saw her and that Matou lady fighting, I saw Sidonia using a ball of Grief as a weapon. It kept changing shape; she'd use it as a shield one second, then it'd change shape and spew out a dozen or so spears from its surface all at once."

"If Sidonia could change that sphere's shape and force it into the shape of a proper summoning circle," Kanna Niko says, continuing from where Asami Saki left off, "Then she could potentially summon a servant from that. It's not guaranteed; I don't actually know how that sphere of hers is supposed to work, so maybe it's not possible for her to turn it into the proper circle to summon a servant. But if it is possible, we should be prepared for that."

Though she broadcasts nothing to your mental space, Misaki Umika nods her head, giving her best approximation of an approving grunt through her wired-shut jaw. You sigh, and clutch your head in your hands. "Archer, do you have eyes on the battlefield?"

"Wishing I had better eyes, but sure," Archer says. "I've got as good a view of the outside of Tomoe's building as I can get. What's up? Need me to spot something for you?"

"Misaki Umika thinks it might be possible for Sidonia to summon her servant without Twardowski's Mirror after all."

"What? How? I thought that was the whole reason she needed that book was to summon a servant."

"Apparently not, at least theoretically," you say. "Asami Saki and Kanna Niko both reported that Sidonia had a weapon with her when they encountered her and Matou Sakura fighting: a sphere of Grief that Sidonia was able to change the shape of. Misaki Umika thinks that, with information Sidonia got from her former Caster, Sidonia might be able to force her sphere to take the shape of a summoning circle, and summon her servant that way."

"But, she'd still be stuck, right? With or without Twardowski's book, she'd need an open spot in one of our rosters to summon Gudrun. Lancer said Rider or Berserker, but both our Riders and Berserkers are safe, so-"

"The Saber class has an open slot, though," you say; "And if Sidonia is using the shard of Dáinsleif as her catalyst, then it's possible Gudrun could also fill the Saber class, isn't it?"

"You know, Homura, I really hate it whenever that Misaki girl opens her mouth," Archer says. "Because it's always something terrible. I really hope you're all wrong about this, but just in case, you should probably get in touch with the girls you sent into Tomoe's apartment building…"

"Now, which of my treasures were you hiding here...?"

Sidonia stepped over a pile of rubble, talking to herself as she pushed through the crumbling ruins of the apartment building. "You put so much effort into defending this one building… You wouldn't have done that if you weren't hiding something of mine you didn't want me recovering, so… Where are you?"

As she pushed aside a broken support beam blocking her path, Sidonia felt the pull of her mana lessening. She closed her eyes, and concentrated on the senses of her two servants. "Pathetic…" she muttered to herself. "That worthless Saber couldn't kill her even after all the work I put into modifying him… What a waste…"

Reaching out through the mental connection that her Command Seals afforded her, Sidonia said to her other servant "Caster, Saber has been defeated. Report."

"Unfortunate, but I hardly would have expected anything less," her Caster servant replied. "Your modifications stripped him of anything that could have made him a useful asset, and turned him into nothing more than a meat shield with the same infuriating regeneration that you yourself possess. Frankly, I'm surprised that you would have deviated from the plan to make any use of him at all, unless you've managed to recover the shard and decided he was no longer necessary."

Sidonia didn't bother responding to her Caster after that, and continued her hunt. "Now, where are you…? If they had a Noble Phantasm like that, they would have likely assumed they could just leave you behind after breaking you, so where…?" Her boots crunched against rubble, plaster and wood, until- "Hello, what's this?"

Sidonia leaned over, picking up the dull metal shard that had fallen amid the rubble. She turned it over in her hand, examining the damage. The runes on the reverse side of the shard were still visible, but their red glow had faded, and the black metal was dull, with a large crack stretching down the middle. A glowing red circle appeared in the palm of her hand, and Sidonia analysed the metal shard with a careful eye.

"The curses on this thing have all been destroyed," she said to herself, vanishing her glowing circle as her examination of the shard concluded. "Using it as the key to activate the blood obrez won't be possible anymore. But maybe…" Sidonia grinned to herself, and pocketed the shard as she reached out to her Caster again. "Caster, are you sure that the array you showed me was correct? It looks different from the one in Twardowski's Mirror and from the one I designed to summon Chernobog, so-?"

"I was present for the summoning of Saber and Rider," Her Caster replied; "And was responsible for designing the improved array that was used to summon them as well as the remaining four servants of my former master's team. The theory is solid. If you doubt me, you can always continue to stall until you have recovered Twardowski's Mirror. But I imagine you're running out of time if you've had to make moves to recover your pieces personally, so I would advise you not to hold your breath."

"Fair enough." Sidonia stretched out her other hand, the sphere of Grief that followed her splayed itself out on the floor into an elaborate array. "Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill…"

"I'm sorry we have to help you siege your own apartment, Tomoe-san. I wish there were a better way to resolve all of this."

The eight-man column – actually only two members of the column were men: the other six were all women – advanced carefully through the ruined interior of the building that was formerly Mami's apartment complex. The two men at the front, Saber and Heracles, provided defensive cover for the four squishy masters in the center, while the final two members of the column, Lancers the both of them, brought up the rear as the closest things to ranged servants that the column possessed.

"It's fine, Mikuni-san," Mami replied. "It… It is what it is. Frankly, I can't imagine why Sidonia would have abandoned her giant monster for this place, when it was her familiars that destroyed it to begin with. Even with Saber, Rider, and…" Mami's voice died in her throat as her eyes travelled up the length of Heracles' chiselled backside. "The grey one, assaulting it, I would still think that a perch some dozens of meters tall that is actually capable of defending itself would be a better defensive position than this old place."

"Maybe she's stopped her ta look around for that stupid shard of hers," Kyouko said. "I mean, ya said Assassin broke the thing and left it here under a pile of rubble, right? But she don't know that. Maybe she thinks she can still recover it and use it fer whatever fucking bullshit she's cooked up next."

"I'd like to cook her up next when we're done here," Kirika said, cracking her knuckles together. She scowled, kicking aside a piece of rubble in her path, which echoed as it clattered down the ruined stairwell. "It's like I told Sis before- That bitch threatened my mom. She'll be lucky if I don't whip out the biggest, nastiest, jagged-iest claws I can make and fuck her to death with them."

"Dearest, don't be crass," Oriko said to Kirika. "There's no need to use that kind of language in polite company."

"I don't mind," Scáthach said, shutting down Oriko, but causing the more etiquette-minded members of the column to turn to her with disapproving stares. "Frankly, I agree with Kure one-hundred per cent. Sidonia hurt my sister. I know we've only just started to be on better terms, but I refuse to just let her get away with that unscathed. So please, Kure, be as vulgar towards Sidonia as you feel you have to. You have that right."

"Whether or not you believe Berserker's master to have that right, Scáthach, perhaps it would be better if we all spent more time keeping watch, and less time being vulgar," Saber said, his voice carrying with it a tone of irritation. "I myself enjoy the occasional bawdry drinking song, but now is not the time for vulgarity. We need to be on our guard, especially when we still do not know what Sidonia is planning here."

"Maybe she's planning to lead us into a trap?" Mami suggested. I know Caster had set up a number of magical protections around my floor. Perhaps Sidonia lured us in here, and was planning on either turning those traps against us, or decided to set up some of her own to attack us where we might otherwise think we would be safe."

"Yeah, but if she were gonna go through all the trouble of setting up traps for us," Kirika said, "Why would she think she needed to do it in here? Wouldn't it be better for her if she rigged them up in her own workshop? We already know where that is, and I'm sure she could have come up with something to lure us in there if she thought we'd take the bait."

"I still thinks he's aiming fer that stupid shard," Kyouko chimed in. "Fer all we know, maybe she's got a way ta summon a servant with it even without that book'a hers." Kyouko tilted her head backwards and, staring at Lancer, asked her "Ya said either Rider or Berserker fer that Gudrun lady, right? What're the chances Sidonia could scoop that shard up, then give one'a our Riders or Berserkers the axe before we're able ta get to her?"

"With as many of us as there are now?" Lancer asked. Kyouko nodded her head. "Unlikely. Sidonia may be powerful, but there are eight of us, and only one of her. Even if she is powerful, the odds are not in her favour if we are able to address her strengths properly and cut her off from them." Kyouko mugged the camera that is life, and gave an approving hum, but her haughty bluster caught up with her when Lancer said "However, there is currently an empty spot in the Pleaides Saints' roster for a Saber-class servant, and it is likely Guðrún qualifies for the Saber class as well."

"That can't be good," Scáthach said. "Why didn't you say anything before if you thought that was another possibility?"

"Because Sigurd's power is already immense enough, as it is," Lancer said. "I did not believe that Sidonia would use Sigurd as a sacrificial pawn to make space in the roster for Guðrún, not when removing one of our own Riders or Berserkers would have been that much more beneficial to her."

"But now that Sigurd is dead, and it's suddenly become more convenient for her to summon Gudrun as a Saber," Oriko said. "If only she didn't have such incredible perception-blocking. It's been impossible for me to get a read on her future actions, so there's nothing I could have seen to warn…" Her words died in her throat, and not a moment sooner. A sharp cry of warning pierced through Oriko's mind, and she immediately tuned in, asking "Akemi-san? What's wrong?"

"It's a trap!" Homura broadcast her message to each of the four masters in the column, stopping all of them in their tracks. "Misaki Umika thinks Sidonia might still be able to summon her other servant even without Twardowski's Mirror! You girls aren't safe-!"

A cutting wave of brilliant red and black sliced through the wall to the rear of the column, and it was only thanks to the quick efforts of Oriko, Lancer, and Scáthach throwing up three layers of barriers that the wave of mana did not slice through the entire column. The blast scattered debris in all directions, and kicked up a thick, choking cloud of dust. The human masters gagged on the dust, fanning their hands in front of their faces to try and warm it away. Flames flickered in the hallway, darkened by the dust, but their glow revealed the form of a person, and the sound of their footsteps against the ground heralded their approach. As the dust cleared, they became visible, and Oriko's head turned as the sound of Lancer sharply drawing in breath echoed in her ears.

She was tall, easily as tall as Lancer, if not more so, clad in full plate of dull silver, its polish long-since faded, accented by cloth of black and a gown of dirtied white which swayed with the motion of her legs. Silver hair like moonlight cascaded down her shoulders, almost obscuring their burning, bright blue eyes set against a face that was as pale as it was beautiful, with a small black stop just under the corner of her left eye serving as the only mark which marred her beauty. Clutched in her right hand was a sword, easily as long as she was tall. Made of polished black and red metal and adorned with runes, the blade was split down its fuller, and the two bladed edges intertwined with one another, meeting at a jagged crossguard where a crimson eye sat, roving back and forth as it stared at each member of the column.

But the eyes of the owner of that blade did not rove. They locked firmly onto one target: Lancer. "Guðrún…" Lancer whispered as her eyes met with the other woman's. Lancer's eyes narrowed, and her hand clutched the shaft of her spear tightly.

Another voice joined the fray, smooth and sinister and poison to the ears of all who heard it. "You know, I was really hoping you would have a bit more of a reaction," Sidonia said, stepping out of the shadows and taking up a place just behind her servant's side. She leaned against the shoulder of the taller woman, and singled Lancer out among the crowd. "You know Gudrun, Sigurd was here, until that one killed him."

[ ] Wat do?

NEW
Major character unlocked!

The wife of Sigurd in the Saga of the Völsungs and master of the Wild Hunt in Scandinavian tradition, Gudrun is the final servant to be summoned in this War, and the only one of Sidonia von Borchk's servants to have natively been summoned by her. She wields the cursed sword Dáinsleif which once belonged to her brother, King Högni, as well as command over the procession of the WIld Hunt, and the cursed ring Andvaranaut which she received from Sigurd. Her natural enemy is the Lancer-class servant, Brynhildr, for the part she played, now twice-over, in the death of her beloved Sigurd.

SVS · Dec 11, 2022

[X] Plan: Moving the Pieces, Again (part 1)

A massive cutting wave of black and red tears through the side of Tomoe-san's apartment building, shooting off into the horizon with a sound like a horrible, wailing scream. It's loud, but nowhere near as deafening as the screeching spiders. It's just painful, like the wailing of a million souls crying out in pain. There is no silence. "What was that?" you cry out, reaching out to the minds of your four teammates who were all in the building when that blast shot out. "Is everyone okay?"

"It's Gudrun," Oriko replies; and your blood runs cold. "You were right, Akemi-san. Sidonia was somehow able to summon her without Twardowski's Mirror. She's targeting Lancer. Kirika, Einzbern-san's servant, and I are trying to stop her, but she's-"

The side of Tomoe-san's building suddenly explodes out, and you see Lancer throw herself from the side of the building. Oriko's train of thought is cut short in the blast as she, almost certainly, redirects her focus onto her servant. You see several layers of barrier rise up in front of Lancer, only to shatter before the cutting edge of black and red. Moments later, following after Lancer you see an unfamiliar figure: tall, clad in imposing, dull silver plate, and wielding a massive, jagged black sword in her hands. She swings her sword, and sends another cutting wave of black and red out from the blade, scoring deep gouges in the earth as Lancer dodges her blows.

"She's crazy strong!" Kirika shouts, taking over where Oriko left off. "Like, Auntie's huge Berserker slammed her into the wall just a second ago, but she got back up like it was nothing!"

You'll be the judge of just how strong "crazy strong" really is. You concentrate, and this time are able to breathe a sigh of relief to yourself when attempting to stare at the armour-clad woman does not give you a raging headache. Instead, looking at her, you are finally able to get a good read on something of Sidonia's with your master's vision.

Strength - A+
Endurance - A+
Agility - D
Mana - A++
Luck - E
Noble Phantasm - A++

Magic Resistance - A
Riding - D

Battle Continuation - EX
Madness Enhancement - A
Mana Burst - A
Monstrous Strength - A+
Natural Body - C

Dáinsleif: Sword of Blood-Oath - A++
The cursed sword of King Högni, which never misses a stroke even when it should by all means be illogical, leaves wounds that never heal, and once drawn, will align fate so that someone will always die by this sword when drawn unless the user or target's luck is high; it is also cursed such that the user will not even be able to attempt to withdraw from combat until the blade's bloodlust is sated with the death of at least one person. In addition to the myriad of curses bound to Dáinsleif, the sword also confers to its bearer a number of modifications to their base parameters, including heightened Strength and Endurance, as well as the Skills Battle Continuation and Madness Enhancement. The closer the bearer is to King Högni, the higher the increase to their parameters and to the ranks of these Skills. Gudrun, being Högni's sister and having received the sword from his daughter, receives close to the maximum benefit from wielding her brother's sword. However, the trade-off for these increased parameters and additional Skills is a considerable rank-down in the wielder's Agility and Luck stats.

Guro Asgardsreie: Master of the Wild Hunt - D
In the Scandinavian tradition Gudrun, riding her black horse, is the master of the procession of the Wild Hunt. It is a shared Noble Phantasm between many entities, from Odin, to Frau Holly, Jarilo, and Satan. This Noble Phantasm has two features. Primarily, it summons a ghostly procession of hunters and steeds of many races and many mythologies, be they demons, devils, fae, elves, dwarves, and many more. This mighty army is full of entities who, if their lives were recorded, could be legendary in and of themselves. Being summoned as a Saber, however, and through the use of Dáinsleif as their summoning catalyst, the Wild Hunt is at its lowest possible rank here, and as a Saber summoned without her steed, Gudrun lacks the ability to take advantage of the Wild Hunt's most destructive secondary aspects.

Andvaranaut: Cursed Ring of Affluence - C
Found in the hoard of the dragon Fafnir by Sigurd, and given to Gudrun as part of the treachery which led to his death, Andvaranaut is a magic ring said to bring riches, granting great luck in finding rare materials and allowing one to detect metal from miles away. However, whether by dragon's curse or through the lingering aftereffects of Gudrun's treachery, the ring's power is tainted and the wearer's luck is tremendously decreased. It is also said to confer power, giving an extra rank to one's Strength; but only that, as this particular aspect of it's legend is quite uncommon.

You are willing to concede; Gudrun is crazy strong. By physical stats alone, she's comparable to Sigurd, trading higher strength and endurance for decreases to her luck and mobility; but it's her Noble Phantasms that get you. Dáinsleif alone is comparable to Sigurd's own sword, but Gudrun also has two more Noble Phantasms on top of that. Though fortunately, you note, her ability to use the Wild Hunt is lessened as a Saber. Perhaps this means you can at least weather whatever awful spiritual disaster Sidonia summoned Gudrun to enact.

You change gears, and direct your focus towards asking a different question of your teammates; "Who else is dealing with Sidonia, then?"

"Me and Mami are taking Saber and the other spear lady, and we're going after Sidonia," Kyouko says. "Really hoping it ain't a fucking stupid idea on my part ta go after her, but outside'a Lancer, I'm the only one here right now that can counter-control her flames; and Lancer ain't in a position ta do shit besides fight this new sword bitch."

You hope that will be enough. "If you can pull Oriko away from her servant, see if she'd be willing to lend you some additional defences," you say. "I really hope she and Kirika don't hurt themselves dealing with Gudrun…"

A flash of black and red burns itself into your eyeballs as another wave washes over the battlefield. It slices through buildings as though they were made of Styrofoam, and a closer examination reveals melted edges in the steel and concrete. The wave is accompanied by a series of fiery explosions, and- Kirika! Your mind reaches out to your sister as you see debris from the explosion being thrown at her, and your heart only slows down when you see Oriko blocking the flying debris with a barrier.

Gudrun advances, and with another swing of her sword she sends another blazing wave out. Riding atop her hulking Berserker's back, you see Aunt Illya scoop Kirika up under her servant's arm, as Lancer does the same for Oriko. Gudrun halts her advance, and you see her head turn as it tracks Lancer, who is currently attempting to get her master to safety away from the battlefield.

"That's Saber's wife?" Asami Saki asks, her voice wavering as she stares. She pinches the bridge of her nose, as if she can't believe what she's seeing. Why's she so much stronger than Saber was?"

"Is she really, though?" Asami Saki turns her head as Assassin speaks to her. "Sigurd was holding himself back. He wanted to fight Lancer, and only Lancer. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me, on top of all that, he secretly wanted to die by Lancer's hand. Gudrun, on the other hand, she has no reason to hold back. The woman who killed her husband is in front of her." Assassin clenches her fist and tries to sit up, but is stopped by Nightingale. "Frankly, I can't blame her. If the man who killed my son were in front of me, I don't think I'd want to hold back, either."

Asami Saki and Kanna Niko look to one another, but neither says anything. They don't need to. The roar of battle would have drowned out anything they could have said.

You see Heracles charge forward, after depositing his master and Kirika. He grabs for the nearest, largest piece of concrete, wielding it like a weapon as he advances. Gudrun swats him aside with the flat of her sword as soon as he approaches, and sends him flying, crashing into the side of a building. She turns to face him, only to be stopped as lengths of chain burst from the ground, wrapping around Gudrun and digging into her with the sharp claws attached to their ends. On a nearby roof you see Kirika, hands pressed to the ground. She's grinning, and as she digs her palms deeper into the roof, you see swirling violet wrap around Gudrun as Kirika activates her runes. Beside her, Aunt Illya runs her fingers through her hair, and her conjured bird familiars turn into massive swords, which she flings towards the now-trapped Gudrun.

In response, Gudrun wraps one of her arms around the sturdiest chain binding her, winding it around her arm and tearing it loose. With a heave, she throws the length of chain up around her, blocking each familiar with a wide, arching swing, before you see that Kirika is being dragged towards her as well. Atop another roof, you see Aunt Illya point her finger, and Heracles picks himself up from the side of the building he had been thrown into, and he charges forward again. He reaches Gudrun in time, managing to break her pull on Kirika at the cost of being blasted through by a wave of black-red mana from Dáinsleif. Lifeless, Heracles falls to the ground in mid-stride, before Gudrun bats him aside and turns her attention to Kirika.

Fortunately, Lancer is there, and she delivers a crushing blow to Gudrun, slamming into her with her massive spear and knocking her aside. Eyes flash red, and with a great cry, Heracles pulls himself up off the ground. Mana flares down the length of Dáinsleif, and Gudrun swings it, sending another wave of black-red crashing towards the pair. Lancer throws up several layers of barrier, while Heracles sidesteps the blast and runs in a straight line along its edge, grabbing for his discarded concrete weapon as he charges. Amidst the chaos, you see a blur of red slip into the battlefield, grabbing Kirika and Aunt Illya before vanishing again. As soon as the blast of mana dissipates, Lancer charges in as well, and together the two strike Gudrun from both sides in a pincer attack.

"You two need to stay out of danger," Archer says, appearing on the rooftop beside you as he deposits Kirika and Aunt Illya. "Seriously. That thing is going to tear you both to shreds, and then where would we be?" Archer glares at Kirika, scolding her, saying "What would your mother say if that thing had killed you? What would I have told her?"

"But dad!" Kirika shouts. "Everyone else is doing everything they can!"

"No buts," Archer replies. "You're going to stay up here with your sister, do you understand?"

"Archer, listen to me," you say. "You really don't want to take that kind of "I am your master" tone with him, but "I understand your concerns. But we need Kirika down there. Sidonia's got an absurd amount of mana at her disposal, and from the look of things, she's keeping Gudrun pretty well fuelled. Kirika is the only one of us who's actually able to drain their mana. That's an advantage we need to be able to take advantage of if we can."

Archer whips his head around and confronts you; "And you think that means I want to see either of my daughters getting themselves killed?"

"But if we don't stop Sidonia, then all of us will die!" you shout. "Me, and Kirika, and mom too! Do you want that?"

"Of course not!" Archer shouts back. "But I- I can't bear to just sit back and lose either of you." Archer stretches himself to his full height, and he clutches his hand over his heart. "Please, Homura, as a father, let me be the one doing the fighting instead of Kirika. I promise you, I'll pull something out of my arsenal that can hit Gudrun. Just… Don't make me stand back and watch as my daughters send themselves out to die. I can't watch the two of you become me."

"It's okay, dad," Kirika says. "Oriko's out there fighting her hardest. I want to be out there fighting with her." Kirika flashes Archer the goofiest grin you think you've ever seen in her face, and she leans in and wraps her arms around Archer's waist before he can say anything in protest. "Besides, Oriko rigged up these really great Soul Gem charms, remember? We won't die, not even if Sidonia kills us."

Archer can only smile at Kirika's words, and he places a hand onto her shoulder as she pulls out of her hug. "If you're already saying stupid shit like that, then I guess there's no helping it. You've already turned into me without me even noticing."

[ ] Wat do?

SVS · Dec 12, 2022

[X] Plan: Moving the Pieces, Again

Mami let loose with a volley of gunfire from her muskets, rotating spent guns out of action and replacing them just as soon as she had fired. But her every gunshot was blocked by Sidonia. The black sphere stretched out in front of her, forming into a bulletproof shield of Grief which caught each musket ball as soon as it hit. Shells clattered to the ground, one after another, and Sidonia's sphere changed shape, spearing outwards in over a dozen black lances.

Oriko pushed Mami out of the way, throwing up multiple layers of barriers in the path of the black lances. They struck the outermost barrier, and both Mami and Oriko braced themselves, either for the weapons to pierce through Oriko's defences, or for them to curve around the barriers and strike at them from the flanks. They did neither. Instead, the black spears dug themselves into the transparent barrier layer and, like a spreading fungus, proceeded to infect the outermost layer. Oriko grit her teeth, trying to hold back a cry of pain as her drones were infected with Grief, but Mami could see her ally's hands shaking, and knew that Oriko couldn't keep it up forever.

But they didn't have to. Before the spears of Grief could break through and corrode Oriko's barriers, Sidonia recalled them, and sent them down the hall in the opposite direction. Scáthach, who had come in from behind to flank Sidonia, was forced to quickly bring up her spear as Sidonia's weapons shot towards her. She spun her weapon, blocking the black lances one by one, but each time she deflected one, it bent, curving around to Scáthach's flank and forcing he to block it a second. In that moment, Saber charged forward, and with his sword and spear he sliced through the blackness of the Grief weapons, severing them from their connection to Sidonia's sphere and halting the attack.

As soon as she was free, Scáthach ducked down low, sliding underneath Saber and invoking her Tiwaz rune to send a wall of spears erupting up from the ground at Sidonia. She brought up her shield of Grief, tossing it out in front of the approaching wall of spears and letting it stick, gumming up the spears and halting their advance. But as soon as it was stuck, Scáthach thrust her spear, and managed to pierce through the sphere of Grief, though she had to quickly withdraw it as soon as she saw fingers of black attempting to claw their way up the shaft of her spear. The sphere of black slipped off Scáthach's wall of spears, and Scáthach quickly leaped backwards as black lances of Grief shot out from the sphere.

Again, Saber sliced through the black lances, severing them from their connection to the rest of the sphere. At that moment, distracted by the team of Saber and Scáthach, Mami and Oriko opened fire on Sidonia, blasting her with musket balls and bolts of mana. Whipping her arm around, Sidonia directed what was left of the sphere into intercepting their combined attacks, and both musket balls and bolts of mana were stopped in their tracks.

"So, this is the limits of your ability to fight me?" Sidonia asked, turning her head in order to taunt Mami and Oriko. "You couldn't do the job yourselves, so you had to call on your cheap little pets to do it for you?"

"Cheap, you say?" asked Saber, brandishing his sword and spear at Sidonia as he slowly advanced towards her. "No more than you, brazenly stealing the servants of others and using them for yourself. Not to mention the way you hide behind that cheap shield of yours. Perhaps you should consider your own position before you insult another's."

Sidonia laughed at Saber's retort; "And you call me cheap," she said. "This is Grief from the Leviathan Seed itself. Call it 'cheap' all you want; your words don't make it so." Sidonia lashed out with her weapon, sending the swirling blackness towards Saber in the form of a single massive blade, which Saber cut through with a single stroke of his spear. Grief splashed across the floor, and Mami and Oriko took a step back as the sizzling black liquid cooked pockmarks into the floor wherever it landed. Sidonia curled her fingers into a clawed fist, and the splattered Grief which had fallen was pulled back in, returning to the sphere and giving it back its shape and volume.

Sidonia grinned again, and Saber took a step backwards, backing closer to his charges as sigils of fire appeared at Sidonia's sides. "Or perhaps you would prefer to feel the sting of my flames, if you think my weapon is 'cheap'." Just then, something wound itself around Sidonia, and she was thrown backwards with a cry of "What the-!" as golden ribbons and lengths of chain, wound around her legs, dragged her to the ground before slamming her into the wall as they snaked their way over her arms and her chest. Sidonia approximated the closest thing she could to a flick of her wrist, and her flaming spears shot out towards her targets. Oriko raised up a layer of barrier, and-

The spears stopped just short of reaching Oriko's barrier, before turning around and bolting towards Sidonia. Her eyes went wide, and before she had the chance to say anything, her black sphere had shot forward, converting itself into a shield which blocked the incoming lances, splashing their fire against the curved edges of her Grief shield. "You little-" Sidonia fumed. "What the hell was that? What did you do to my flames?"

A massive crimson spear broke through the wall, and it was only due to Sidonia's Grief shield coming to her defence that it didn't spear her through. "Ya like it?" asked Kyouko, sticking her head from the hole her spear had carved into the wall. "Bet ya never figured that someone else could use yer own flames against ya."

Kyouko drove her spear towards Sidonia, but only managed to crash it against the shield of Grief as it shot in front of its master. "You little whorespawn" Sidonia spat. "I'll make you pay for-"

Faster than her shield of Grief could react, Kyouko had slipped into Sidonia's zone of control, slamming her fist into Sidonia's jaw and sending the woman reeling backwards. "Don't- Don't ever talk shit about my mom again," Kyouko said. "She- She was a fucking saint fer how much she had ta put up with."

"Touched a nerve, did we?" Sidonia asked, thumbing away the blood dripping from her lip from where Kyouko had punched her. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to send her a nice card after I'm through with your corpse!"

Before either Kyouko or Sidonia could make a move- "Sakura-san, duck!" cried Mami. Kyouko hit the floor, and Mami- "Tiro Finale!" unloaded on Sidonia with a single blast from her cannon. Sidonia was quick to bring up her shield of Grief, but Mami's shot tore through the black sphere, striking Sidonia and sending her flying backwards. Before Sidonia could react, Mami had dropped, pressing her hands to the floor where ribbons of gold and red sprung up. They soared towards Sidonia, wrapping around themselves to create a wave of fists, pummelling Sidonia and only sending her flying further, before breaking apart again and becoming bindings which wrapped themselves around Sidonia, immobilising her. Sidonia's eyes shot to her sphere of Grief, but before it could change its shape, Mami had- "Tiro Finale!" unloaded on Sidonia with a second blast from her cannon. This time, with nowhere for Sidonia to be thrown, the shot erupted into a fiery blast upon impact, bathing the hallway in a warm red-orange glow as the flickering glow of flaming embers was spread out over the hall.

"You will not speak ill of Sakura-san's mother in my presence, Sidonia," Mami said, placing a comforting hand onto Kyouko's shoulder; "And I will not allow you to invoke her name to threaten Sakura-san with, either."

"Funny," Sidonia said. "I didn't think I was giving you a choice."

Scáthach was faster than Sidonia. The instant it looked as though she would break free from her bindings, Scáthach was on top of her, invoking her Tiwaz rune and piercing her through with several spears. In such close proximity, even though the black sphere attempted to spread out into a shield to guard its master, Scáthach's spears still managed to pierce her through completely. As one final hurrah, Saber approached, and with his spear he severed Sidonia's head from her body. Sidonia went silent, her body limp against Scáthach's spears as her head rolled off down the hall.

"Did we get her?" Kyouko asked, eyeing the presumed corpse carefully. "'Cause if not, then-"

Flames sprung up all around Sidonia's body. Mami and Scáthach were both forced to fall back before the flames could lick them, and while Kyouko did what she could, invoking her Sowilo rune and attempting to tear the flames away, they still managed to burn through the ribbons binding Sidonia's corpse in place. It fell forward as flames incinerated the ribbons binding it, but before it could hit the ground, the corpse rose to its feet, and from down the hall, the maniacal laughter of Sidonia's head could be heard. "You shouldn't have gone for the head."

Kyouko, Saber, and Scáthach all struck with their spears, while Mami and Oriko opened fire with their own weapons, but the swirling black sphere that had gone silent upon its master's death sprang into action, forming a dome around the headless body of its master, while also reaching out with a long, black tendril to grab for the fallen head. Saber moved in, slashing at the black tendril with his spear, but when he approached, the black ichor shot out and attempted to wrap itself around Saber's spear. Black fingers clawed their way down the length of the spear, and Saber-

Kyouko stretched out her hand, invoking her Sowilo rune as she called the flames dancing in the hallway to her, and she shot them forward, burning away the Grief that was attempting to climb down the shaft of Saber's spear. But it was too late. The black ichor had managed to grab Sidonia's head, and forcibly reattached it to her headless neck. An obvious, inflamed scar was left over from the forcible transplant, but it didn't seem to affect Sidonia in any way. "I've been preparing for this day for so long. You didn't really think it would be that easy to kill me, did you?"

Sidonia called flames into her hand, but Kyouko was faster, and she successfully tore the rest of the flames away before they could converge into Sidonia's outstretched palm. Without waiting for Sidonia to tear them back from her, she flung them, shooting the entire ball of flames clear through the wall and into god only knew what part of the city. In response, Sidonia held out her hand and, drawing in the swirling embers which illuminated the hallway, conjured a massive fireball in her grip. "Now all of you, on the other hand…"

Sidonia reeled her arm back, as if she were about to toss the fireball, when- It wasn't a gunshot, but something very close broke the sound barrier as it shot just past Sidonia's head. Whatever it had been, it was enough to tear through the fireball in Sidonia's hand, and whoever it was that had shot it had enough of a presence to cause Sidonia to turn her head. "Oh, it's you again, is it?"

There was Matou Sakura. At her left and right were two shifting blue things shaped like serpents. One of them had its mouth open: the source of the shot that had torn Sidonia's fireball apart, no doubt. Sidonia turned her head, analysing the situation. Matou Sakura, Saber, and Scáthach held her in at one side, while Mami, Kyouko, and Oriko held her in at the other. "I see," Sidonia said. "So, that's how it's going to be."

"We have you surrounded," Matou Ssakura said. "I'm assuming there's no chance we could convince you to come quietly, so I hope you've made whatever preparations you need in order to-"

"Oh, don't worry," Sidonia said. "I've made my preparations, all right." Sidonia held out her hand, and flames ringed at her feet in a circle as she said "I even made sure to hurry Caster along, so he'd have everything ready by today."

You're glad that Homura and Kirika agreed to let you take over on the battlefield in Kirika's place. You won't let your daughters throw their lives away for the greater good. You won't let them become you.

You arrive to find Lancer and Heracles locked in combat with Gudrun. For a two-on-one fight, the woman in the middle is managing to hold her own fairly well. She bats away lancer's spear thrusts with her massive, black-and-red sword – Dáinsleif – before, almost effortlessly, turning around and meeting Heracles' blows with strength that appears to match, if not outright exceed, his own, grabbing his weapon as he swings it and slamming it into the ground, before delivering a punishing kick with her leg that actually manages to make Heracles bleed.

You decide to take out the leg first. You ready your bow and, taking careful aim to not hit either of your teammates, loose an arrow. You'll see how Gudrun reacts to being shot with something simple before moving up to anything bigger, just on the off chance that she's able to bat your larger projectiles away and into either of your allies.

Your arrow embeds itself firmly in Gudrun's knee, causing her to buckle and miss her chance to block the swing of Heracles' weapon. You see it connect, hear a deafening echo as metal collides with metal, and Gudrun is sent flying with an obvious dent left in her plate from Heracles' attack. Lancer charges in as soon as Gudrun hits the ground, but she quickly recovers, tearing the arrow from her knee and blocking Lancer's spear with her sword. You can clearly see the blood stain growing under her armoured leggings, but the way Gudrun pushes forward, effortlessly battling Lancer's burning spear with her screaming, blood-cursed sword, it's as if she doesn't feel the pain at all.

Lancer unleashes a jet of fire from her spear, and Gudrun slices with her sword, sending a wave of black-red crashing into the flames and continuing onward, forcing Lancer to bring up several layers of barrier in order to defend herself from it, and even pushing so far into the surrounding city that you're forced to leap from your perch to avoid being torn apart by the wave as it advances. It's just like Saber from back then, you think, recalling the image of the black-corrupted King of Knights as she effortlessly blasted wave after wave from her sword without stopping.

Lancer pulls back and Heracles comes in next. He swings his massive weapon – some piece of debris scattered from a building somewhere, by the looks of it – and it's right on target. Gudrun brings up her sword, blocking the strike and batting it aside. Her sword instantly shatters the concrete slab as soon as it makes contact, but Heracles sweeps his leg underneath the blow, sending Gudrun flying and allowing him to grab for another weapon in its place.

You take the opportunity to unleash something a bit heavier, and your aim strikes true. Gudrun is pierced by your projectiles, but as before, she somehow manages to stand back up, completely oblivious to the pain she should be under as she tears your projectiles from her body. Lancer approaches, and Gudrun is forced to surrender her chance to tear the last one free as she brings her sword up to counter Lancer's blow. But Lancer is faster: she catches Gudrun's swing by the arm, and you take your shot.

The projectile strikes Gudrun in the shoulder, and Lancer gives Gudrun's arm a hefty twist. It doesn't succeed in tearing the arm off, but it does send Gudrun flying. She pulls herself up, tearing your projectile from her shoulder as she steadies her sword. It still doesn't look like she's actually in pain from anything you, Lancer, or Heracles have done to her, but you do notice that she's holding her arm with the injured shoulder a bit less tightly, almost as it the arm wants to hang limply at her side but she's forcing it to move.

"So, both her endurance and her tolerance for pain are through the roof," you say. "Homura, does that about match up with what you saw in your master's vision?"

"Yes. From what I could read, Gudrun's defensive parameters are incredible, and they're only being boosted by her having Dáinsleif in her possession."

"That's unfortunate. Sounds like our best shot at beating her isn't going to be through brute force, but by severing her connection to the infinite mana Sidonia is providing her with, as well as by taking Dáinsleif away from her. Heck, maybe we won't even need to do that last one. I'd bet it's taking a lot of effort on her part to keep Dáinsleif active, if it's really fuelling her parameters' rank-ups like you said. If we're able to cut her off from Sidonia's mana supply, maybe we won't even need to take Dáinsleif away from her."

So that means it's time for your secret sauce. As you continue to watch as Lancer, Heracles, and Gudrun dance to the tune of their weapons crying out, the lengthy, crimson spear takes shape in your hand, twisting as you take hold of it into a form more appropriate to your needs. You nock the crimson arrow on your bowstring, and take aim, waiting for your moment to strike.

You loose as soon as the moment presents itself, and your crimson arrow flies true, striking Gudrun between her breasts and sending her flying from the force of the blow. She flies backwards for several meters, her body ragdolling as your arrow pins her against the side of a piece of building. Lancer seizes her chance and charges in, spear blazing. Gudrun raises her sword up to block the strike, but as black and red mana charges up Dáinsleif's length, you see Gudrun's face twist into one of pain. She spits blood, and is only able to lift her sword enough to parry Lancer's blow, before being forced to kick Lancer away in order to regain her zone of control. She staggers forward, snarling in Lancer's direction as blood mixed with spittle flies from her mouth. With great effort, and forced to use the arm you already wounded, Gudrun tears your crimson arrow from her breast, casting it aside.

This time, Gudrun ignores the pain that's clearly written on her face as she charges mana along Dáinsleif's length. She takes aim at Lancer, and is about to swing, screaming the name of her Noble Phantasm, "DÁINS-" but is stopped before the last syllable can leave her mouth, by the same thing which stops you from taking aim at her again with a new arrow. You see a crack appear in the sky, and a massive hand, endless black wreathed in burning red, punches through nothing to take shape in the material world, and held in its grasp you can make out the familiar outline of Rider and his chariot.

"Hey sis, I've got good news." The battle between Lancer, Heracles, and Gudrun is like a blur. Gudrun is easily the slowest person in the fight, but even then you find that, watching the fight through Archer's eyes, you're having trouble keeping track of everything. It's just a blur to your senses, and only the touch of Kirika's hand on your shoulder is enough to bring you back to reality. "Hey, sis-"

"What is it?" You stop yourself, not meaning to have cut Kirika off. But you're on edge, and you can feel your nerves fraying with each second of battle that passes. "Sorry," you say. "What is it?"

"I've got good news," Kirika says. Good news. Finally. "So, Berserker just reported back to me that Nurse O was able to deal with the giant snake that was attacking our place. We can move Berserker and the Saints lady Berserker out of there, if you wanted to. Maybe if we used Berserker against that Gudrun lady, he could steal her sword from her and then we wouldn't have to deal with breaking it again." Kirika glances over to Assassin, adding "You know, 'cause Assassin's probably going to be out for the rest of this fight."

"I do," you say. "It sucks that we've had to hold them back this entire time." You look to Assassin as well, to confirm Kirika's news, and she nods her head. Her master would have told her, if Kirika's servant didn't. "Maybe..."

"Akemi-san, I regret to inform you that we have a problem."

When you see the sky breaking apart, you could have guessed that you had a problem. When you saw Sidonia's monster punch clean through Rider's duel field, with Rider and his chariot in hand, you have guessed that you had a problem. To hear Oriko saying anything to you, well that's just icing on the cake at this point. "As if we don't already have enough of them. Does it have to do with Sidonia's monster breaking through Rider's duel field?"

"While that's unfortunate to hear, no," Oriko says. So then it's something else. Great. "The servant Caren-san always speaks about having been intimate with; they were called 'Avenger', correct? I don't suppose she's ever mentioned to you the possibility that there could be more than one servant in the Avenger class? Because she's never said anything of the sort to me."

You feel a pit forming in your stomach at Oriko's words, and you have to ask, "Are you... Are you implying what I think you're implying?" As if asking will somehow change the answer you desperately hope that Oriko doesn't give you.

"Unfortunately, I am," Oriko says. "Sidonia is an Avenger-class servant."

[ ] Wat do?

SVS · Dec 13, 2022

Every step was agonising.

It would all be over soon.

They had tormented me. Torutured me. Tore at my flesh with red-hot tongs and forced a false confession from me.

It would all be over soon.

Yes, I was a witch, but I had never killed anyone. Not even my brother or his accursed rat-bastard spawn. No matter how much I wanted to, I had not lain so much as a finger on them. Nor those other nobles they accused me of killing. To say nothing, nothing of the allegations that I'd had intimate relations with the Devil! In all my life, I'd only ever been intimate with other women.

Of course. It was that jealous bitch Albrecht's fault. She'd hated me ever since I broke her heart and left her for a younger woman. Or several. In the nineteen years I'd been at the abbey, there had never had a shortage of beautiful, unmarried noblewomen for me to take my pick of. Of course she would be the one to accuse me of having sex with the Devil. In her mind, any lover I took that wasn't her must have been the Devil in disguise.

It would all be over soon.

My executioners made me walk to the chopping block barefoot. On feet they had burned to extract a confession from me. Every step is pure agony, as the blistered soles of my feet scrape against the rough ground. Couldn't they at least have done a better job of sweeping the path for me? No, that would have been too merciful for them.

It would all be over soon.

Look at how they all jeer at me. The people came out today to see a witch being executed. To them, I'm nothing more than a monster, the thing they tell their children about at night to make them behave. 'Ooh, don't go out at night, or the witches will grab you up and grind your bones to make their flying powder.' Do you know how many times I've heard that one? How many times I've had to hold myself back from correcting the idiot who made that claim?

It's all lies, propaganda spread by those in power to keep people fearful and in line, but the idiotic masses seem to want to be lied to. Anything, tell them anything, and as long as it either scares them or conforms to their already-twisted and incorrect views of the world, they will listen. Just look at how popular the Malleus Maleficarum is. Even if the Church denounces it – and they have, repeatedly – it stokes the imaginations of the fearful and keeps them in line with a system that only exists to stamp out anyone who is different.

How many others like me have had to die because of idiots like these?

How many more will they kill after me?

I hate them. I hate them all.

It would all be over soon.

I could kill them. Kill them all. Incinerate this entire courtyard and everyone in it, and escape. But where would I go? I'm a marked woman, condemned to death no matter where in Pomerania I run to. I can't go back home; Ulrich's bastard offspring would turn me away. I can't return to the abbey. If I'm lucky enough, I might be able to flee into the woods, and live the rest of my life as a hermit. But the pain is too much, and it's all I can do just to stay on my feet. I'd never make it out of the city before being caught, not unless I was prepared to burn all of Stettin to the ground to make my escape. At that point, there's nothing saying that I wouldn't also die as well, consumed by my own flames when I'm in too much pain to escape the burning wreckage.

It would all be over soon.

As I'm forced down, head pressed against the block, I'm asked by my executioners if I have any last words. Really? Do they think this is some sort of comfort, being allowed to say my piece moments before they chop my head off? How insulting. I'd much rather they let me go than let me have a few moments to curse the world and all the stupid, worthless idiots who inhabit it.

If any words left my mouth then, I wasn't aware of it. My senses are awash with pain, and all my thoughts are bent towards the fact that my last few hours on this wretched earth were spent in horrible agony, knowing that every second which passed was one second closer to my death I would never get back.

I hate them all.

I don't feel it when the axe cleaves through my neck. Darkness takes me, and I stray out of thought and memory. My life ends, and-

I awake, gasping for breath. Darkness surrounds me. Even when I attempt to pry my eyes open, there is no light. I'm lying on my back in a puddle of something, some viscous fluid whose texture I can't place. Is this what the afterlife is like? Wet and dark? It would be fitting, for Veles' domain to be both wet and dark when undeath takes me.

I reach up, touching a hand to my neck. I'm still in one piece, and for the first time, I notice that the pain which wracked my body only moments before is gone. I twitch a finger, and a small bead of fire gives me just enough light to see. I'm in a small, enclosed space, surrounded by tightly-packed earth. No way in, and no way out. I have no idea how I got here.

But I can feel it.

I can feel the pull of something, something so much greater than myself that words cannot be created to express how much greater it is. I crane my head upwards, and see that the ceiling is a massive convex dome. Its glossy black surface appears to be made of obsidian, perhaps, inlaid with silver filigree in an ornate pattern I've never seen before. As I look up, a drop of something falls from the ceiling and lands on my face. As I wipe it off, a black streak stains my finger, like the heavy tar stains on the fingers of a habitual pipe-smoker.

I bring the stain up to my nose, and sniff it. There is no smell, not one which I can describe. Another droplet falls from the ceiling, narrowly missing my face and falling into the puddle at my feet. I lean down, and drag a finger across the surface of the water, just to test it. It, too, stains my finger black, and I find myself reminded of something that happened to me, a long time ago.

During my visit to the house of the Lady Nino Klossner, I encountered a very strange-looking wolf in the forest just outside Stettin. It was massive, its black fur more like bristles than fur, and its eyes, four of them, shone a brilliant red. It led me through the woods to the Lady Klossner's house, but when I turned away from it for a moment, the wolf had vanished, and in its place was an effigy made of wood, held together by this same sticky, black, odourless substance. Whatever it is, I apparently have it, and the obsidian vessel which this substance is birthed from, to thank for giving me this second chance at life. Or perhaps unlife. I have yet to rule out the possibility that I am dead and this is what Veles has in store for me in my eternal afterlife.

It would be a cold, empty afterlife if I could never see mother or Clara again.

Nevertheless, I am alive again, and I will not let the lack of my mother or sister stop me from using this opportunity I have been given to its fullest. As a show of gratitude, I reach my hand up towards the convex ceiling, grateful that it's just barely within arm's reach of me. This small hollow patch in the earth is just barely big enough for me to reach, and my fingers brush against its smooth, obsidian surface for just a brief moment; and I know. I know everything. I know what gives me life.

I know what I must do now.

I snap my fingers, and the tightly-packed earth which surrounds me moulds itself into sleek walls, forming into a large, cylindrical room with an ornate pattern inscribed upon the floor, the seal of the Leviathan Seed which has given me new life. I snap my fingers again, and two massive doors appear in front of me. My way out.

The doors spring open at my command, and I walk out of the chamber of the Seed and into a recreation of my old workshop, the one which I kept to myself in the basement of the abbey after Ulrich cast me out of the family manor. My eyes rove back and forth over the long rows of bookshelves, greeted by tomes I have not seen in years. When Ulrich kicked me out, I had just enough time to take with me my most important volumes, as well as the effigies of my ancestors' gods which I recovered from the Lady Klossner's house. Everything else, I was too late to save.

Until now. My oldest friends stare back at me, and I carefully run a finger down the ragged, worn leather spine of a particular favourite. I pull it from the shelf, eyes glazing over in longing remembrance, before I set the tome back in its proper place on the shelf. I don't have time to dwell on the return of my old friends, not now. There is research which I must do. The Leviathan Seed has given me a new life in this modern age, but I must be the one to enact my purpose upon the world. I have work to do, much to prepare, and not enough time in which to do all that I must. I'll need to locate the resting place of the sword Dáinsleif – I'll need to secure a passport, as well as fare enough to make the trip to Denmark and back – and have all my preparations ready before the first of November, when my ability to invoke the power of Marzanna will be at its strongest. If I'm lucky, perhaps I will even make it with time enough to spare.

But first, I need clothes, something I can wear outside which will not arouse suspicion in the modern era. I can't go outside wearing the same ragged garments I was executed in. I need something elegant, something modern. Something that comes in black. A hat would be nice, too. I dearly miss the hat which Clara bought for me.

SVS · Dec 13, 2022

[X] Plan: And Now, Back to Fighting

"The servant Caren-san always speaks about having been intimate with; they were called 'Avenger', correct? I don't suppose she's ever mentioned to you the possibility that there could be more than one servant in the Avenger class? Because she's never said anything of the sort to me."

You feel a pit forming in your stomach at Oriko's words, and you have to ask, "Are you... Are you implying what I think you're implying?" As if asking will somehow change the answer you desperately hope that Oriko doesn't give you.

"Unfortunately, I am," Oriko says. "Sidonia is an Avenger-class servant."

The drumbeat of explosions ring in your ears, almost drowning out Oriko's mental voice inside your head, as Ramesses unleashes a bombardment of solar blasts at Sidonia's monster. They connect, causing the monster to give out a great roar, its voice rumbling like a volcano, and it stumbles, just barely managing to stagger back into an upright position. Rider must have been hitting it harder than it looks. The situation looks bleak, but as you see the monstrous figure of Sidonia's horrible beast tossing Rider's chariot - with Rider still in it, no doubt – into Ramesses' flying boat, before immediately opening fire on both Rider and his chariot, and Ramesses' boat along with his entire team, you realise that the reveal of Sidonia's true nature changes less about the situation than you'd like to admit.

"Be that as it may, unless the Caster she stole from the Saints was the one to change her into a servant," Which is something you doubt is possible, based on what Archer has explained to you about the way the servant system works, "Then it's likely she was an Avenger since before any of this ever happened. So at least now we know what we're up against. But the fact that monster of hers broke through Rider's field, that's what we should be worrying about now."

"I'm not sure how much I agree," Oriko replies. "But I will concede that having to deal with three enemies makes out job harder than if we only had to deal with two. So what is your plan, Akemi-san?"

"Get in touch with your cousin. If everything else we've thrown at Sidonia doesn't work, then how about we make use of the one person on our team who has a dedicated anti-Grief skillset?"

"I'll get in touch with Caren-san immediately, then."

You let Oriko go, and turn your head to Kirika, Asami Saki, and Kanna Niko. To the former you say "If Berserker isn't needed at our building anymore, then send him in to reinforce Rider. That thing needs to go down, and at the moment we can really only spare him and Boudica." Kirika gives you a thumbs-up, and you turn to the latter two next, Asami Saki and Kanna Niko. "Get in touch with Maki Kaoru," you say. "Have her send Boudica in to reinforce Rider and Berserker, and also have her send herself in to reinforce the team that's currently fighting Sidonia."

Asami Saki nods her head, and Kanna Niko says to you "At some point, the four of us should also be sent out. We're not accomplishing anything just sitting around here watching everything unfold.

A flash of red tears your attention away. You only see the aftermath, as Ramesses' boat makes its daring escape from the monster's clutches, as beams of sunlight are blasted at its hand and its face. The monster is knocked back, letting loose a terrific roar as Ramesses' boat flies just out of its reach, before Rider's chariot comes in and slams against the monster's arm, knocking it aside and preventing it from reaching its target. In response, the monster opens fire with a barrage of flaming missiles, causing both Rider's chariot and Ramesses' boat to take evasive actions once again.

You just hope it will be enough.

"Hey, Akemi, we need to come in for an emergency landing," says Kazumi, completely oblivious to the fact that, in directing Ramesses' flying boat towards your position, she is in essence leading the monster directly to you. Hoping that it will be enough is, apparently, not enough anymore. "When that thing threw our other Rider's chariot at our Rider's boat, Kanna ended up taking a pretty bad injury to her leg in the crash. She's losing a lot of blood, and neither Mirai or me are able to stop the bleeding. We need to let her down so Assassin can take a look at her."

"Forget that!" Mirai shouts, as though she actually needs to shout to be heard inside of yours and Kazumi's minds. "I need her to keep Rider fuelled. We can't afford to let her down if we want to keep this stupid boat airborne! So just fuck her leg and let's keep hammering this thing while I'm still able to!"

"No!" Kazumi shouts back. "Yes, keeping Rider fuelled is important, but we can't just shrug it off when someone on our team takes a bad injury! Besides, Rider isn't even putting a dent in that thing! We can afford to take a breather for a few minutes while we bring her in for Assassin to patch up."

As it sounds, apparently enough really won't be enough, if you have to choose between keeping Ramesses afloat, or potentially the life of one of Wakaba Mirai's two batteries if her injury is as severe as Kazumi makes it out to be. If you keep the boat team out and active, Hijiri Kanna might die, which would severely impact Wakaba Mirai's ability to keep Ramesses fuelled for the rest of the fight. On the other hand, you need all the firepower you can muster, right now, and pulling the boat team off the line for an extended duration – possibly even permanently if the injury is severe enough to require Hijiri Kanna remaining off the battlefield, where her ability to transmit mana to Wakaba Mirai would be severely hampered by distance – means that you aren't putting out as much firepower as possible, for however long it takes.

You hate when enough just clearly isn't enough.

Berserker and Boudica both hit the monster with their swords. They can only manage to hit the monster not even as far up as its ankle, but whatever part of its foot they hit, it must have been enough to actually do something. The monster roared in pain as it fell to one knee, and brought its massive spear down in a wide, sweeping arc, causing Berserker to scatter and Boudica to block the incoming strike with her shield. The spear was sent careening off Boudica's shield as she deflected it, and for one brief moment, Berserker contemplating attempting to take possession of the monster's spear: it could work, as it was definitely a weapon and Berserker recognised it as such. But he quickly dashed the thought as the monster swung its spear for a second time, tearing a great gash in the rubble-filled earth.

The truth is, Berserker wasn't sure if he could actually wield a weapon of such enormous size. He couldn't even imagine being able to wrap both of his arms around the entirety of its shaft, let alone to hold or even wield it. So he was forced to dodge it, with the knowledge that he and his partner would just have to fight back as best as they could.

Unfortunately, despite being brought to one knee, the monster was far from finished. It reared back its head and gave a deep, booming bellow, as sigils of fire appeared at its back. It unleashed, and it was only thanks to a timely intervention by Rider and his chariot, slamming into the monster's backside, that the two were bought enough time to avoid the incoming bombardment. The monster lashed out, bringing its spear around to the pair so quickly that it created a vacuum wave in its path. But this time, rather than retreat, Boudica held fast. Mana coursed throughout her body, and she braced herself behind her shield, meeting the monster's spear and deflecting its strike, before retaliating- "ESUPRASTUS!" with a blast of mana from her sword. The spear went wide, tearing a massive gouge into the earth, and the blast of mana from Boudica's sword was even enough to score a damaging hit on the monster's arm, a long gash in the burning red-orange outline which ran almost up to its shoulder.

But the monster was not the only one to suffer an injury to its arm in that exchange of blows. "Your arm!"

Boudica looked completely un-phased as she looked to her side, only to find that the vacuum wave created in the spear's passing, even though she had blocked its strike, had torn her left arm off completely. Blood leaked from the stump which jutted out from her left shoulder, but all Boudica could do was brace herself, taking up her sword in her right hand, and cloaking her injured left side with her cape, grateful that its interior lining was already red. "It's nothing," she replied. "This is nothing compared to the pain of being helpless to save my daughters as Roman dogs violated their bodies."

The gash torn in the monster's outline by Boudica quickly healed itself, as did whatever injury she and Berserker had dealt to its foot. The monster pulled itself into an upright stance once again, and stared at its opponents, contemplating them with its one eye. Why? Why had the injury Rider dealt to it inside of his duel field stuck, where nothing else had? Rider slammed his chariot into the monster again, reeling back and around as the monster unleashed its fiery bombardment.

The best Berserker could do was to take shelter inside the monster's zone of control, under its shadow where to aim would mean to hit itself. Boudica was more cavalier, and charged headlong into the bombardment. Even with one arm, she managed to deflect the monster's blazing artillery, whipping her cape around her body in a circle, using it as a shield where her own shield had fallen, beating back the monster's barrage.

The two kept up their attacks, with Berserker swinging his sword as fiercely as he could against the monster's lower extremities, while Boudica continued to barrage it with blasts of mana from her sword. Berserker could have winced, because if he were as cavalier about his mana usage as Boudica were being, he would have burned his master out long, long ago. Instead, he remained cautious, and continued to hit the monster with the strongest strikes he could manage.

But it seemed fruitless. Why? Why was their every attack failing to cause any lasting damage? Berserker delivered a blow that almost cleaved the monster's foot from its leg, and it got back up again. Boudica blasted it squarely in the chest with a bolt of mana from her sword, and rather than be rewarded for damaging it, she was forced to deflect another barrage of fiery missiles. What were they doing wrong? Berserker wondered. What had Rider managed to do to this monster than he and Boudica weren't?

Was it- Was it because inside of Rider's duel field, the monster had been-?

Boudica's sword danced as the monster reached out for her with its right hand, cleaving through its fingers with five clean blasts of mana. But the injury did nothing to stop the monster. It continued, regenerating its fingers and wrapping them tightly around Boudica. She struggled, but could not push through to escape the monster's grasp. Her one arm was pinned to her side, and even though she had the strength to force it, the monster tightened its grip, not allowing her to move it again. Berserker hastened his attack on the monster's feet, and Rider charged in on his chariot, slamming into the monster's hand in an attempt to knock her loose. But the monster braced its arm and, though the barrage from Rider's chariot stung it greatly, it did not let go.

"Arondight – Overload!" Berserker cried out, not caring if unleashing his Noble Phantasm would break his master, if it meant dealing just enough damage to the monster to save his ally. The brilliant burst of mana shot from his sword, cleaving a massive gash through the monster's side. But still, the monster did not let go. It brought its arm up to its mouth, opening wide its black jaws leading to a maw of infinite glowing embers, and dropped Boudica into its mouth. As its black jaws closed again, something resembling laughter escaped from the monster's burning nostrils.

Then, a strange expression fell over the monster's face, as if the impassable expanse of endless black even could contort itself into something resembling an expression. A moment passed, with neither Rider nor Berserker knowing what was happening. The monster wasn't making any moves to attack them, but something was wrong.

Then a terrific explosion wracked the monster's chest, and it fell, tumbling to its knees as some blazing red-orange substance, almost like lava in its consistency and glowing with heat as though it might have been, poured from a gaping open wound, carved out from within just above its open, exposed heart. Out from the hole tumbled Boudica, who was hesitant and unsteady on her feet. She strode through the blazing hot liquid which poured from the monster's open wound, until she eventually collapsed, falling face-first onto the ground.

Rider was quick to swoop in, slamming his chariot into the side of the monster's head and knocking it further to the ground, before circling back around and scooping Boudica up, setting her down on safer ground. The entire left side of her outfit was stained with blood, and her skin and clothing which had touched the blazing liquid was wracked with severe burns. Rider couldn't tell whether she was even alive or not, but he was grateful for the wound she had dealt to it.

Until, despite even Boudica's efforts, the monster managed to pick itself back up again. But by then, Berserker could see it, and he said to his master "I think I've figured it out. The reason why the injury this monster sustained inside Rider's duel field has not healed, but why even the most grievous injuries Rider, Boudica, and I deal to it do. Master, we have to find some way of cutting this thing off from its connection to either its master, to her web of Grief, or to the Great Seed from which they all draw their power. If we do that, and can hit it with a strong enough attack, then maybe…"

[ ] Wat do?

SVS · Dec 14, 2022

[X] Plan: Too Many Cooks

"Hey, Akemi, we need to come in for an emergency landing," says Kazumi, completely oblivious to the fact that, in directing Ramesses' flying boat towards your position, she is in essence leading the monster directly to you. Hoping that it will be enough is, apparently, not enough anymore. "When that thing threw our other Rider's chariot at our Rider's boat, Kanna ended up taking a pretty bad injury to her leg in the crash. She's losing a lot of blood, and neither Mirai or me are able to stop the bleeding. We need to let her down so Assassin can take a look at her."

"Forget that!" Mirai shouts, as though she actually needs to shout to be heard inside of yours and Kazumi's minds. "I need her to keep Rider fuelled. We can't afford to let her down if we want to keep this stupid boat airborne! So just fuck her leg and let's keep hammering this thing while I'm still able to!"

"No!" Kazumi shouts back. "Yes, keeping Rider fuelled is important, but we can't just shrug it off when someone on our team takes a bad injury! Besides, Rider isn't even putting a dent in that thing! We can afford to take a breather for a few minutes while we bring her in for Assassin to patch up."

You know, you really hate it when enough is just clearly not enough.

"Both of you, be quiet," you say, not really in the mood to hear two people arguing inside of your own head. "We'll bring Nightingale over to you." Silencing both Kazumi and Wakaba Mirai, you turn your head towards Assassin and Nightingale, and hope that the former will be able to manage by herself while you borrow the latter. "Pack it in," you say to the rest of your team. "We're grabbing Nightingale and meeting up with Kazumi and her team on Ramesses' boat."

"Finally," Kirika says with a grin. "I know dad told us to stay put, but I can't just sit around here when I know Oriko's out there fighting her hardest." Kirika stands, and makes ready to head out with you, gesturing to Misaki Umika, AsamI Saki, and Kanna Niko, saying to the three of them "Come on, slowpokes, let's get moving. Sis has a plan and we've been sitting around on our asses for way too long."

"Are you sure?" Asami Saki asks. But despite the hesitance in her voice, she stands up, gently giving Kanna Niko a nudge with her foot as she does. She doesn't need to be told twice – likely, Kazumi contacted her next, since it's her homunculus that is the reason you're moving out – and while she gets a move on, Asami saki addresses you, saying "Kazumi just briefed me on what's going on, and said we'd be bringing Assassin to her. What's the plan?"

"To leave me here to die alone, apparently," Assassin moans. "At least make sure to give me a hero's funeral when you're finished."

"Oh behave, will you?" Nightingale chides Assassin. "The wound didn't even come close to scratching your spiritual core. You'll be fine." Nightingale shuffles out of her red shawl, and hands it to Assassin, pressing it tightly against her injured shoulder. "I've done the best job I could of closing the wound up already. Just keep pressure on it and don't do anything that would agitate the wound, and you'll live."

Assassin pouts, and rolls her eyes as she says "Not even going to leave me with some painkillers, I see."

"Enough," Kanna Niko says. "Assassin, are you ready to go?" Nightingale nods her head, and Kanna Niko asks you "How are we supposed to get there? It isn't as if we can just fly over there ourselves, but if we tell Kazumi and Mirai to bring Rider's boat in closer, we might just cause that thing to start targeting them if they stand still for too long. So how are you thinking of getting us over there?"

It isn't as if we can just fly over there ourselves.

But what if you could?

With the many roars of battle almost encircling the city from all sides, it's difficult for to you find even a moment of peace in which to concentrate. But you have to. For Madoka. Focus your mind on thoughts of Madoka, if only for just a second. Your bird familiars *pop* into existence - and right about now, you find yourself wondering whatever happened to the other familiars you sent out. You've yet to hear anything back from them, even though you sent them out ages ago – and say to Asami Saki "We're going to fly there."

"Sure…" Asami Saki sounds incredulous. She looks incredulous. "So, um… How, exactly, are we flying there again?" she asks. "Are those birds really going to be strong enough to carry us?"

"There's only one way to find out."

"Sis, I really don't like the way you said that," Kirika says to you. "But, I'm going to trust you anyway, because I know you're not going to do anything that'll intentionally hurt us."

You really don't want to dwell on what this looks like, because from your perspective, you've climbed inside of your bird familiar's mouth like fish in the mouth of a pelican, or perhaps a hotdog in the mouth of a particularly ambitious seagull. You'd prefer to think of the former, but you know you've only ever seen the latter in person. In actuality, you aren't sure that your bird familiars even have openable mouths: they have beaks, you know that much, but you aren't actually sure they can open them.

But you're getting off-topic. The point is, while you can imagine what you must look like, travelling by mouth inside your bird familiars, from the outside you don't actually know what you look like, or how – presumably – gross you look when your bird familiars all but vomit you and your company out onto the deck of Ramesses' flying barque.

Wakaba Mirai recoils, getting a disgusted-sounded "E~w" escape her mouth. "Didn't you have a better way to get here?"

"I'd rather not even dwell on it," you reply. Nightingale is with you, and so is Kanna Niko, who immediately scopes out Kazumi's position on the barque, where the two head over. You can just barely see Hijiri Kanna huddled in the corner behind Kazumi, and that is a lot of blood. You aren't going to dwell on what happened to her, either, or how badly chewed up the rear of the barque is.

"Rider's chariot must have hit you guys pretty hard," Kirika says to Wakaba Mirai. "Anybody else need medical assistance, or just the dummy?"

"She's not a dummy!" Kazumi snaps, leaving her girlfriend's side to stare down Kirika. "She's not perfect, and she's made a lot of mistakes, but she deserves to be treated like a human just as much as anyone else does! So I want you, and you too-" Kazumi almost immediately pivots from pointing to Kirika, to pointing to Wakaba Mirai, "-and everyone else who's been saying mean things about her to stop!"

"Will all of you stop screaming?" Nightingale says. It's phrased as a question, but you've heard that tone often enough from your cardiologist to know that it isn't. Nightingale looks up to Kazumi and Wakaba Mirai and says "If the two of you are planning to continue operating as a combat unit, then I'll have to pull her. I can't effectively treat her injuries if you're constantly engaging and disengaging that monster."

"If you pull her, then how the hell am I going to keep Rider supported?" Wakaba Mirai asks.

"I'll take her place," Kanna Niko offers. "I've still got a transmitter. If you give Kanna's to Umika, the two of us should be able to make up for whatever she wouldn't be giving you."

"No, I'll take her place," Asami Saki says. "You and Umika may have more mana combined than I do, but you're also a hell of a lot more versatile than I am. What the hell can I do? Shoot lightning at stuff? Akemi's nurse can do that, but wa~ay stronger. I'm completely outclassed in this fight in a way you two aren't." Asami Saki lays a hand onto Kanna Niko's shoulder, saying "Right now, we're going to need yours and Umika's abilities a lot more than we'll need mine."

"Not to mention you'll be in the same boat, literally, as your girlfriend," Misaki Umika says, as though the colour commentary is desired at the moment. "Frankly, I don't particularly care one way or another."

Without another word, Kanna Niko slips her transmitter off of her finger, and hands it to Asami Saki. "Just remember, you're here to support Miria, not to fool around with her while the rest of us are doing the hard work."

Asami Saki slips the transmitter onto her finger, and shoots a deadly serious glare in Wakaba Mirai's direction. "Don't worry," she says to Kanna Niko. "I'm not going to get up to any funny business while we're working. Come on, Niko, you know I'm better than that."

"Maybe, but we both know that Mirai isn't."

Maybe it was unwise to order Misaki Umika to assist the team fighting Gudrun, since it's otherwise completely impossible for her to communicate with them outside of – oh, you don't know – directly writing her commands in the air in front of them with her magic. But the team fighting Gudrun is going to need additional versatility to make up for the smaller amount of people currently fighting her.

Granted, you've got three servants fighting her already, but if she hasn't gone down now, after Archer has joined in, then maybe the additional versatility isn't unwarranted after all.

You just hope that was the right call. But a call you're far more comfortable with making is to bring yourself, Kirika, and Kanna Niko to reinforce the team fighting Sidonia. She's the real threat here: stop her, and both Gudrun and her giant monster immediately lose their connection to their master, which should make them that much easier to kill, if not kill them outright in and of itself.

You just wish travelling by bird familiar with a cleaner, and less weird-feeling prospect.

Your birds spit the three of you out on top of the roof of Tomoe-san's building. This is only the second time in what feels like as many minutes that you've been spat out by them, and it's only remarkable at all because you don't notice it when your birds swallow you up to transport you. It's like nothing you've ever experienced before, and the complete non-sequitur nature of existing one second, and being inside the mouth-pocket-whatever=the=hell-you-call-it of your familiar the next, with no transition in-between to give you an idea of how it actually happens.

But once again, you're getting off-topic. You're letting your mind wander to thoughts you shouldn't be thinking of in the middle of combat. Least of all not when explosions are going off in the distance, the entire southern edge of the city is awash in flames, and there is literally a giant monster battling with several of your servants just to the south of your current position.

But speaking of that giant monster… Kirika taps you on the shoulder as you descend the ruined stairwell from the roof down to where the fighting is taking place. Probably the same floor as Tomoe-san's apartment, if you had to guess. "Hey, sis, Berserker just got in touch with me about an idea he had."

"What is it?"

"So, Berserker noticed that an injury that thing sustained while it was fighting Rider inside his duel field hasn't healed over, but that every other injury they've dealt to it has. He even said that Boudica carved a huge hole in the monster's chest, from the inside out, and it still managed to heal and get back up in under a minute. So he had an idea."

"What's the idea?"

"He thinks that if we can somehow cut that thing, and maybe Sidonia as well, off of one another, or maybe off of their connection to all the Grief the city's saturated in, we might be able to stop them both from regenerating. Didn't that Matou lady have something set up to that effect?"

"She did. But I think Matou Sakura was waiting to activate her counter-array for when Sidonia tries to activate her blood obrez, to cut her off completely," you say. "But, as long as we can keep any part of any Dáinsleif away from Sidonia, then we should be good."

"You know, both Lancer and Rider have Noble Phantasms that create alternate pocket worlds," Kanna Niko says. "If we use one or both of those, that should be enough to cut her off, shouldn't it?"

"Maybe," you respond. "But until we know what we're looking at, as far as Sidonia being a servant is concerned, then we should hold off on telling Scáthach or Ramesses from unleashing their Noble Phantasms. Ramesses especially, if Wakaba Mirai can't support him." There is also Archer and his Unlimited Blade Works you could call upon, if neither Kazumi or Wakaba Mirai can support or are willing to activate their servants' Noble Phantasms.

You know you've reached the correct level when, after bursting through the door, you find yourself choking against a thick cloud of smoke, flames, and Grief. The lights have died, and flames licking the walls are the only source of light available to you amidst the darkened hallway and the choking black smoke.

Oh, yes, and of course all the people who are here fighting Sidonia. That should be the bigger giveaway. As soon as you see Sidonia- There she is! You master's vision here; and this time, pushing past the blinding headache that attempting to look at her gives you – Oriko must have had to push past the same headache if she was able to see Sidonia for what she truly was – you can finally see exactly what you're up against; And you don't like it one bit.

Strength - E
Endurance - E
Agility - C
Mana - A++
Luck - A
Noble Phantasm - A++

Avenger - A
Item Construction - D
Oblivion Correction - A
Self-Replenishment (Mana) - A+
Territory Creation - C

Independent Manifestation - C
Magic Resistance - B
Mana Burst (Flame) - B
Self-Modification - C
Witchcraft - A

Twardowskis's Mirror: Infernal Treatise of the Magical Arts – A
A tome of magic written by Jan Twardowski, courtier to King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland, all the magic he learned under the tutelage of the Devil. Allegedly. The more skeptical may simply claim that Twardowski got lucky, or that he plagarised his research from other, now-unremembered mages of greater stature than he. Regardless of the truth of this book's origin, what is undeniable is its raw magical power, giving the wielder the ability to summon and bind spirits - including servants - to the summoner's will, mastery over all the elements, and countless other secrets thought to have been lost for centuries. Unlike other Noble Phantasms, this book did not belong to Avenger in life, and had to be manually obtained by her after her summoning. As such, it is possible to take possession of Twardowski's Mirror away from her.

Dáinsleif: Sword of Blood-Oath – A++
The cursed sword of King Högni, which never misses a stroke even when it should by all means be illogical, leaves wounds that never heal, and once drawn, will align fate so that someone will always die by this sword when drawn unless the user or target's luck is high; it is also cursed such that the user will not even be able to attempt to withdraw from combat until the blade's bloodlust is sated with the death of at least one person. In addition to the myriad of curses bound to Dáinsleif, the sword also confers to its bearer a number of modifications to their base parameters, including heightened Strength and Endurance, as well as the Skills Battle Continuation and Madness Enhancement. The closer the bearer is to King Högni, the higher the increase to their parameters and to the ranks of these Skills. However, due to Avenger having never possessed Dáinsleif in life, she is not granted any of the boons to her physical parameters, nor is she affected by the bane to her Luck. Additionally, because this Noble Phantasm is one which Avenger obtained after her summoning, it is possible to take possession of Dáinsleif away from her.

Walpurgisnacht: Celebration on the Witches' Sabbath – EX
Avenger's ultimate, and only "true" Noble Phantasm belonging innately to her, is a recreation of the fabled "Witches' Sabbath" described in legend. The ritual requires access to an immense amount of magical energy to perform, as well as absolute fealty to the pagan Slavic gods of old, but in exchange Avenger is granted control over a Beast derived from Slavic folklore. Additionally, through the sacrifice of twelve witches (with the Beast itself acting as the thirteenth participant of the Sabbath), the summoned Beast's power can be magnified 12-fold. However, sacrifices of fewer witches will not result in a lesser increase in power: it must be all twelve, or none at all, for the summoned Beast to reap the benefits of the sacrifice.

[ ] Wat do?

NEW
Major character unlocked!

Sidonia von Borchk, servant Avenger, one and the same. Given a second life after her execution four-hundred years earlier by the collected curses contained with Walpurgisnacht's massive Grief Seed, and compelled to perform acts of hate and suffering by her nature as an Avenger-class servant, Sidonia will stop at nothing to see the complete eradication of all non-magical humans on earth. She considers it recompense for all the evil they have committed against her kind over the centuries, completely blind to the fact that hate and suffering can only create a world with ever more hate and suffering. Perhaps, had she not died with so much hate inside of her heart, a less destruction-minded Caster-class Sidonoia could have used her incredible magical talents to enact positive change upon the world, but now...

SVS · Dec 15, 2022

[X] Plan: Too Many Cooks (part 2)

As soon as you see Sidonia- There she is! You master's vision here; and this time, pushing past the blinding headache that attempting to look at her gives you – Oriko must have had to push past the same headache if she was able to see Sidonia for what she truly was – you can finally see exactly what you're up against; And you don't like it one bit.

In that moment, Sidonia turns her head in your direction, as though she knew you were looking at her, and she sneers. "Oh, it's you," she says. "Brought your sister and the little homunculus problem child too, I see. What an interesting combination." Without even moving her hand, Sidonia sends a jet of fire screaming towards your position. You're quick to react, and the flames crash against a wall of both ice from your Isa rune, and against barriers thrown up by Oriko in your path. "I have to say, after she sold your family out to me, I didn't imagine that you'd actually end up siding with the little problem child." You feel your hand clenching into a tight fist. She has no right to taunt you with threats towards your family.

"Oh, wait-" Sidonia stops herself, and considers Kanna Niko more closely. "How did you manage to heal your arm? Did you have to grovel and beg for forgiveness from the people you betrayed to me? Did they fix your little arm up after I went through all the trouble of grafting it onto you like you asked me to?"

"Guess again," Kanna Niko says, before dropping down low, slamming her hands against the floor, and sending a wave of fists made from debris directly into Sidonia.

Sidonia makes no movement to counteract Kanna Niko's attack. Instead, a black sphere, shimmering with colours that shouldn't exist – a sphere made entirely from Grief – shoots out in front of Sidonia, flattening out into a shield against which Kanna Niko's transmuted fists crash without effect. "I've decided," Sidonia says, her voice seeming to amplify itself through every corner of the hallway, "That I'm going to kill the three of you first. The little homunculus problem child, the one who is always getting in my way, and her sister, just to make her suffer before she dies."

Flames converge onto Sidonia, and she releases them in a massive bursting wave that spreads out in all directions. It tears through walls, windows, support beams, anything and everything in its path as it surges outwards. Was she holding back her true powers all this time? Or is her strength increased exponentially because today is November first and she's channelling the power of her god? Even behind the barriers thrown up by Oriko, you can still feel the sweltering heat of Sidonia's attack as her flames wash over everything in their path. You can't imagine surviving this without Oriko's barriers, no matter what sort of protections are set around your Soul Gem.

Then, you hear the sound of voices straining. You can make them out: Kyouko, Tohsaka-san, Matou Sakura, and Scáthach; you can hear all of their voices straining against the roaring inferno Sidonia has set against you, and eventually, you hear their straining voices winning out. With their combined efforts, the four of them wrest control of the blazing inferno away from Sidonia. It's done its damage: everything that had been above your head is now gone, completely blasted away by the flames, but the inferno has died out, or more accurately been swallowed and redirected by the magic of Kyouko, Tohsaka-san, Matou Sakura, and Scáthach. You can see a pair of bright red Sowilo runes blazing, several red-hot gemstones held in Tohsaka-san's hands, and a large creature made of flames at Matou Sakura's side that looks like a six-legged lizard.

Then you hear a cry, and Maki Kaoru lunges towards Sidonia, clad from head-to-toe in her shiny black armour. She strikes with her fist, and almost manages to make it to Sidonia, when- "Insolent little girl. Did no one ever teach you to respect your elders?"

Maki Kaoru's arm is caught in a web of Grief, just centimeters from Sidonia's face. The convergence is entirely black-on-black, but even so you can see fingers of black crawling up Maki Kaoru's arm, melting away at her Ultimate Shield and digging into her flesh. Maki Kaoru attempts to pull her arm away, but Sidonia's web of Grief has her in a tight hold, and-

A gold spear plunges into Sidonia's chest, slipping in just out of her peripheral vision as her attention is kept on Maki Kaoru. Droplets of black drip from Sidonia's mouth as she turns her head, snarling at Saber. "If you're going to chastise a child for not respecting their elders, then what about someone who's older?" Saber asks, tearing his spear out and delivering a kick to Sidonia's head. It's too close for her Grief shield to block, and when the blow connects, Sidonia is sent flying. Immediately, the web of Grief binding Maki Kaoru breaks apart, and she withdraws to Kanna Niko's side.

Sidonia picks herself up and, before she can do anything to address the injury Saber has just dealt to her, is immediately forced to counter another strike from Saber. Her shield of Grief forms in front of her as Saber slices through it, but it's enough to buy her time to step back, putting her just into the line of fire of a barrage from Tomoe-san and Oriko. Quickly, you join in with your arrows, and the three of you press the attack. Sidonia responds to your attempts with a counter-barrage of flames, and you bring up a wall of fice to defend yourself, but Sidonia's attempt is quickly defeated by Tohsaka-san, as Saber and Scáthach charge in from opposite sides. They lash out with sword and spears, only for their weapons to be intercepted by a tangling ring of spikes which erupt from the floor. The grief-made constructs grab hold of Saber and Scáthach's weapons, giving Sidonia just enough time to blast them both with a close-range burst of flames, before leaping out of the circle.

"Why are you all so hell-bent on stopping me?" Sidonia screams. "When I'm done here, I'll create a new world where the magical needn't fear for their lives anymore! Where the ignorant masses who have spent countless centuries persecuting us will have all perished! Why can't you see that I'm trying to do you all a favour?"

"Because you aren't," Tohsaka-san says. The burning gemstones she's holding are crushed in her hands, and she blasts Sidonia with a hailstorm of mana bolts, forcing Sidonia to raise up her Grief shield to block them. "If you think killing all muggles will make the world of mages a safer place, then you've sorely underestimated just how fucked up the average mage truly is! All you'd be doing is letting that fucked-up-edness out in the open! You'd be killing seven billion people just so that the few who remain can stratify themselves into a hierarchy based solely on whose families are older, and every single mage on the bottom of that wrung would be vastly worse off than they are now!"

"Be silent!" You can see it; can see how Sidonia is slower than Saber or Scáthach, which forces her to rely on her Grief shield to block their attacks automatically, rather than to allow herself to outpace them. She doesn't have the speed for that. "You know nothing of the suffering I've had to endure, for no other reason than because I was different! My own brother hated me! He couldn't stand the fact that I was different from him!"

A bolt of water strikes Sidonia in the face. You should rephrase that, because it sounds like Matou Sakura shot at Sidonia with a squirt gun. Allow you to rephrase yourself, because it was much, much more akin to her hitting Sidonia in the face with a high-pressure water cannon. "Mage society is no different!" Matou Sakura screams back to Sidonia. "My stepbrother hated me, too! He was jealous that grandfather chose me to be the next heir and not him! If I'd been a normal girl and not the daughter of a mage, then I could have grown up in my own home, with my real family, and not had to endure a decade of suffering because mage families are the worst thing in the world! Growing up, I couldn't tell you how many days I just wanted to be normal! Your insane, genocidal scheme would make what I had to endure the default!"

"You're wrong! I'm doing this to save our kind!"

Sidonia lashes out at Tohsaka-san and Matou Sakura with a tremendous burst of flames, but with great effort, the pair manages to withstand and contain the blast, absorbing its force into more gemstones and another six-legged lizard familiar. Scáthach springs into action, lashing out with a flurry of thrusts from her spear, but Sidonia blocks each of her blows with her Grief shield. But Scáthach is faster, and manages to slip her leg underneath Sidonia's barrier, delivering a sweeping kick to her leg which knocks Sidonia to the ground. As Scáthach brings her spear down, Sidonia rolls out of the way, and her shield reshapes itself into a wicked black spear, which thrusts itself at Scáthach.

But Oriko is there to block the strike with her barriers, and while the black spear digs itself through each of Oriko's seven layers of shield, Saber comes in, slashing through the weapon and sending the puddle of Grief slinking back to Sidonia. "Stop getting in my way!" The sphere of Grief reforms at Sidonia's side, and she sends it shooting out again, taking on the form of many spikes this time. Oriko is shoved behind Saber and Scáthach, who counter the surging black spikes with their sword and spears; and while they defend, you and Tomoe-san go back on the attack.

You bring up your bow, and unleash a volley of ice arrows into Sidonia, while Tomoe-san opens fire with her muskets. Kanna Niko crouches down to the floor, clapping her hands and sending a column of fists surging towards Sidonia as she joins in the attack as well. Even Kirika joins on, ducking down to the floor alongside Kanna Niko and sending a wave of black shadows across the floor to where Sidonia is standing. Sidonia's black shield whips around, blocking your combined barrages and-

Kirika's shadow touches Sidonia's, and a circle appears on the ground at her feet. "Got you!" Kirika declares, before announcing "Time Alter: Double Stagnate!" For a brief moment, it appears as though Kirika's attack has succeeded, and Sidonia's movements appear to have slowed for a second or two. But then a burning red ring appears around Sidonia, slicing through Kirika's circle and returning Sidonia's movements to their normal speed. As if she'd never been slowed down, Sidonia launches into a flaming barrage, concentrates on the five of you while her defensive efforts remain concentrated on blocking attacks from Saber and Scáthach.

"All right!" Kirika declares, "If that won't slow her down, then how about this!" Kirika takes off running; Sidonia tracks her movements, blasting at her with a fiery barrage, but is never able to hit her faster opponent. For one, brief, idiotic second, Kirika lunges into Sidonia's zone of control, slashing at her and raking her claws across Sidonia's chest before she even has time to defend herself with her Grief shield, before ducking back out as another flaming barrage from Sidonia continues to track her. "Up we go!" Kirika proclaims, as she- "Dearest, wha-Ouah!" picks Oriko up on her shoulders and dashes back out. "Now you're not a dead fish on your feet, Oriko!"

"Dearest, I'm never a dead fish," Oriko replies, earning a snicker from Kirika as the two dash to safety, while Sidonia is too busy beating back an onslaught of blades from Saber and Scáthach, or the constant magical barrages from Tohsaka-san and Matou Sakura, to be able to respond to Kirika's aggression.. "But thank you."

Sidonia ramps up the pressure of her flames, cranking their intensity up as she continues to launch blast after blast on everything in her line of sight. You and everyone near you; Tohsaka-san and Matou Sakura; Saber and Scáthach. Somehow, despite the wounds Saber, Scáthach, Tohsaka-san, and Matou Sakura have managed to deal to her, Sidonia barely seems to be slowing down at all. How? How is she still able to keep going even after everything you've pumped into her? You, Tomoe-san, Oriko on Kirika-back, and Kanna Niko are blasting her with everything you've got, but Sidonia just shrugs it off. Kyouko, Tohsaka-san, Matou Sakura, and Scáthach are doing everything they can to keep her flames under control, but Sidonia just keep spitting out more and more flames without ever running dry. Saber and Scáthach keep pushing back against her as aggressively as possible, but that stupid Grief shield of hers just lets Sidonia block them. She's slower and physically weaker than either of them, and when she does take a hit from one of them it's devastating, but then she just gets back up again and keeps going! She's like the Terminator!

"Damnit!" you cry out. "Isn't there anything we can do to stop her?"

An answer comes to you from Heaven. You eel static electricity crawl up the back of your neck: the only warning you'll get before a missile made entirely from lightning bursts through the wall, striking Sidonia and sending her flying, crashing into a pile of rubble that had once been part of a wall. "How about with that?"

[ ] Wat do?

SVS · Dec 16, 2022

[X] Plan: Too Many Cooks (part 3)

Dead eyes flash crimson as Heracles pulls himself back from death, making no hesitation in grabbing for a new weapon as soon as he has risen. "Berserker!" Illya cries out, as just a moment too late you see Gudrun charging up her sword with a massive burst of mana. You grit your teeth, feeling as though you've been going in circles for this entire fight, and you abandon all sense of self-preservation to throw yourself into the front lines.

"Back me up!" you call out to anyone who can work with you, as you slide into position just ahead of Heracles. He grinds to a halt, just shy of running you over, and you hold your hand out with a cry of "Rho Aias!"

As Gudrun unleashes a brutal blast of mana from Dáinsleif, your seven-petal-shield springs out in front of you, backed up by a barrier thrown up by Lancer, and some unknown defensive array throw out by- "Misaki?" You don't have time to ask how she got here, or why her, why here, why now? But if she's throwing up a shield, you'll gladly accept her help. Her spellbook flares over with waves of blue mana, and while you don't know what spells she's casting, you can feel them.

Gudrun's mana burst washes over your team's barriers, eroding them, carving through them one by one. It's strong, strong enough to tear through several defensive layers all at once. But it's burning through them slower than it would have burned through Heracles alone. It's bought you time, time enough for you and Heracles to both get the hell out of the way as the blast from Dáinsleif tears through the last of your defensive barriers with a ferocious explosion.

When Gudrun returns her focus onto Lancer and Heracles, you slip in, drawing on Kanshou and Bakuya and slicing at her when her guard is down. Misaki sees this and casts another spell. You don't know what it is, but when pale blue rings of mana appear around your wrists and ankles, you guess that it must be some sort of strength- or speed-enhancing spell, and you'll gladly accept either. Gudrun is quick to refocus onto you as you approach, but by then you've already struck her and slipped out of her guard, leaving her wide open for Lancer to come in and batter her with a punishing blow from her spear, aiding by another spell from Misaki, as evidenced by the blue rings around her own wrists and ankles. Gudrun takes the hit and rolls, but doesn't have the time to pick herself up before Lancer comes in again. Instead, she brings up Dáinsleif, blocking Lancer's spear strike and returning fire with a burst of mana. Lancer retreats for a moment, only for Heracles to- "Hey Big Guy, catch!"

You've made your speedy retreat out from Gudrun's zone of control, and with the free moments which Lancer's attack have afforded you, you've called upon the image of the sword Durandal. Unmodified, you nock the sword upon your bowstring, and loose it at Gudrun. She dodges it, as you had expected, but she was never your target. Heracles was. Sensing your cue, Heracles reaches out with his massive hand, catching your sword in mid-flight. "Way to go, Berserker!" Illya cries out, "Now let her have it!"

A lesser mind might have taken that literally, and simply given the sword to Gudrun. Heracles takes literally to a whole other level, and proceeds to give it to Gudrun with renewed vigour, which is only added to when you see the tell-tale signs of Misaki's spellcasting appear over Heracles. You ready more arrows, and loose them onto Gudrun, forcing her directly into Heracles' path. He brings her to the ground with a kick that leaves a noticeable dent in her armour, before driving Durandal home, straight down. Gudrun is forced to bring Dáinsleif up to block the strike, and retaliates with a burst of mana. It slices clean through Heracles' arm and sends the limb flying.

Rather than give in, Heracles proceeds to smash Gudrun's face in with his still-remaining arm, before quickly reaching out to grab Durandal from his severed limb as it flies through the air. But it's bought Gudrun enough time to pull herself to safety. Not nearly safe enough, though: you, Illya, and Lancer all open fire on Gudrun with whatever you have at your disposal, and Gudrun is battered with a hailstorm if swords and burned by Lancer's rune of fire. Lancer takes it one step further and throws her spear in as well, slamming it into Gudrun and knocking her back

Gudrun skids to a halt, staring down Lancer with Dáinsleif in a ready stance. But it isn't Lancer who comes at her. Lancer opens fire on Gudrun, but it's Heracles who comes charging in, tackling Gudrun from the side and grabbing hold of her head with a newly-regenerated right arm. He slams Gudrun into the ground with a force so great it kicks up a storm of shattered debris from the street, and Gudrun is sent flying as Heracles finally releases his hold on her.

Gudrun attempts to right herself in mid-air, but Lancer is faster. She shoots up on jets of flame, rocketing past Gudrun and slamming into her with her spear, which sends her rocketing back down to the ground. Gudrun leverages a burst of mana from Dáinsleif, and coasts to the ground on an explosive cushion of mana. As soon as she lands, you take aim again, and loose a volley of swords onto her. Caught unprepared for you, Gudrun is forced to take the majority of your volley. That, combined with the monstrous fireball thrown at her by Lancer, which impacts with a tremendous explosion, forces Gudrun to take a knee.

That knee is just enough to save her from being decapitated, as Heracles comes in swinging with Durandal. A burst of mana from Dáinsleif severs both of Heracles' arms, but he quickly rebounds and sends Gudrun flying with a flurry of kicks. Kirika could learn a thing or two from watching Heracles move his legs, you think, before Heracles bounds forward, grabbing Durandal's handle in his mouth and charging at Gudrun with another swing. She brings up Dáinsleif and blocks his strike, but by now his arms have regenerated, Durandal leaves his mouth, and Heracles uses his new position to hammer Gudrun from the side with Durandal.

You can't tell if that most recent attack actually managed to pierce her heavy plate, or if the blood you're seeing at Gudrun's side is merely residual damage from her accumulated other wounds that's finally showing itself. Either way, it's good news for your side. What is less good news is how, in spite of her injuries, Gudrun barely seems to be slowing down. It's not the Grief-fuelled regeneration forced upon Sigurd by Sidonia's modifications: this is pure iron-willed endurance on Gudrun's part. If she weren't under Sidonia's control, she might have even made a welcome ally to your daughters' cause.

Regardless of any admiration you may or may not have towards Gudrun's sheer force of will, there is still a battle raging on. Heracles clashes blades with Gudrun, and she retaliates, counter Heracles with a stroke from Dáinsleif magnified by a burst of red-black mana in a wide cutting arc. Heracles pulls back, falling just under the cutting wave, and Lancer comes in next, and with her spear and a massive fireball manages to send Gudrun flying backwards.

Gudrun picks herself back up, and is immediately forced into an almost-game of almost-baseball when Heracles decides to start throwing debris at her. Hey, there's a lot of it just lying around, and it'll keep her occupied, so you're all for it. As Gudrun bats aside the massive concrete blocks thrown at her by Heracles, you take aim, loosing on her with a volley of swords. They connect and deal serious damage, splatting blood across the ruined concrete as your swords embed themselves into Gudrun's back and shoulders. Her body shudders for a moment, and that's time enough for Lancer and Heracles.

Heracles reaches for the biggest chunk of concrete yet, which may even have been part – or most – of a house, and flings it at Gudrun. As she recovers from the injuries your swords dealt to her, Gudrun swings Dáinsleif, intercepting the thrown house and blasting it to rubble with a powerful burst of mana. Circular arrays in glowing blue appear at Gudrun's feet, and Misaki's spell binds her place as Lancer descends, blasting her with a massive fireball before retreating, and allowing Heracles to come in, driving Gudrun into the ground with a solid kick. The force of the blow creates an explosion of debris, one which is only accentuated by the ensuing blast of red-black mana as Gudrun makes her counterattack.

Lancer doesn't let her have that. Without even waiting for the dust to clear, Lancer sends a massive fireball straight down through the center of the explosion. Heracles, now engulfed in flames– "What the hell did you do that for!" –emerges from the explosion and slams into Gudrun again, quickly recovering from the burns even as Gudrun sends another burst of mana towards him.

Lancer drops from her aerial position, throwing up several layers of barrier in front of Heracles. You're too far away to lend any assistance of your own, but MIsaki is there. You can't imagine how difficult this is for her to keep up with: a battle of servants, and hers are the only pair of mortal eyes watching everything unfold. Her brain must be working at a million kilometres an hour to keep up and cast her spells in a timely manner. Which, to her credit, she manages to do successfully. You see another blue circle appear on the ground at Lancer's feet, and her barrier's strength increases, just enough for her to grab Heracles and throw him out of the line of fire as Gudrun's blast of mana cleaves through her barriers.

Before Gudrun can act again, Lancer is on top of her, slamming into her with her spear. Gudrun meets Lancer's spear with Dáinsleif, and retaliates by punching Lancer in the jaw. It's a brutal punch, and even from here you can hear the sound of Lancer's jaw breaking before Gudrun blasts her away with a burst of mana from Dáinsleif. Gudrun raises up her sword, flaring black and red mana all along its length. You take aim, and hit her dead-on with a volley of blades, but even that isn't enough to stop Gudrun completely. She's strong enough to wield Dáinsleif one-handed, so with her other hand she tears your swords free, as she continues her swing one-handed. She gives a cry as her mana burns brightest;

"DÁINSLEI-!"

She never manages to finish. It comes in at such speed that, for a moment, you weren't even sure what you were witnessing. Only once it's stopped, and you see the length of chain binding Gudrun's sword-arm to her side, nail stuck through her throat to keep her from calling out the name of her Noble Phantasm, that you're able to make out the form of a certain violet-haired Rider, coiled around Gudrun's body like a snake. "I've got you now," Medusa declares. Gudrun struggles against Medusa's bindings, but like a constrictor snake, the harder she struggles the harder Medusa's hold on her becomes. Misaki, seeing her chance, tears through the pages of her spellbook and, finding the right one, sets a brilliant, glowing blue seal on the ground at Gudrun and Medusa's feet.

"What are you waiting for!" Medusa calls out. "Hit her, now!"

[ ] Wat do?

SVS · Dec 17, 2022

[X] Make a Broken Overedged copy of Gae Bolg and use it on Gudrun

Gudrun raises up her sword, flaring black and red mana all along its length. You take aim, and hit her dead-on with a volley of blades, but even that isn't enough to stop Gudrun completely. She's strong enough to wield Dáinsleif one-handed, so with her other hand she tears your swords free, as she continues her swing one-handed. She gives a cry as her mana burns brightest, calling out the name of her sword;

"DÁINSLEI-!"

She never manages to finish. It comes in at such speed that, for a moment, you weren't even sure what you were witnessing. Only once it's stopped, and you see the length of chain binding Gudrun's sword-arm to her side, nail stuck through her throat to keep her from calling out the name of her Noble Phantasm, that you're able to make out the form of a certain violet-haired Rider, coiled around Gudrun's body like a snake. "I've got you now," Medusa declares. Gudrun struggles against Medusa's bindings, but like a constrictor snake, the harder she struggles the harder Medusa's hold on her becomes. Misaki, seeing her chance, tears through the pages of her spellbook and, finding the right one, sets a brilliant, glowing blue seal on the ground at Gudrun and Medusa's feet.

"What are you waiting for!" Medusa calls out. "Hit her, now!"

Oh, for the love of-!

Not that you aren't grateful for Medusa's intervention, but there is no way in hell you're going to sacrifice her to put down Gudrun. Heracles backs down; he's not willing to do it either, evidently, but you can see Lancer charging up a flaming meteor at the tip of her spear; and then there's- "Archer, what's the holdup?" Homura, who, along with Kirika, you really hope is staying safe and the hell away from the fighting like you told them to. "Misaki Umika says that Medusa has Gudrun pinned, but nobody is making a move on her. Why is that?"

"Because Medusa is being an idiot and neither Heracles nor myself are going to sacrifice her to put Gudrun down," you reply. Lancer just might, though, so if you'll excuse me I need to think of a way to drop Gudrun without also killing Medusa."

You've got one shot at this. Fail, and you'll have to explain to Sakura why her servant is dead. A chill runs down your neck, and you wonder: did something already happen to Sakura? Would Medusa be so willing to throw her life away in a fight like this if Sakura were still around and in need of her?

You push past that disturbing thought, and get to work doing what only you can. "Trace on," you whisper, as a great red spear takes shape in your hand. You nock it to the string of your bow, coursing all your mana through it in order to Overedge the hell out of that thing, and take aim, calling out as soon as Gudrun is in your sights, "Gudrun, we're going to eliminate you right here! We're not going to let your master get away with what she's doing!"

"GÁE BOLG!"

As the crimson bullet leaves your grasp and streaks towards Gudrun at lightning speed, you call out a second time, "Rider, get the hell out of there now!" From the corner of your eye you see a twinkle of blue, Misaki casting some spell or another, but for a moment, it looks as though you were too late, that Medusa wasn't going to be able to get out of there in time. Your crimson arrow slams into Gudrun with enough force to knock her back clear across half of the arena. But when you see Gudrun, with your brilliant red spear-cum-arrow stuck straight through her chest, you breathe a sigh of relief to see that Medusa isn't also impaled on your projectile. You see veins of blue creep up Gudrun's neck and radiate out from the wound in her chest, and you know it was a fatal shot.

But even a blow straight through her spiritual core isn't enough to stop Sidonia's servant, apparently. With your keen ears, you can hear the pained gargling of Gudrun's voice through the puncture wound in her neck, but only blood, not words, comes out. But there's more. "Stay back!" you call out to Lancer and Heracles when you see it lying on the ground. "Rider's gotten serious about this fight now."

Rider takes off with a running start, leaving behind the strip of spellbound purple cloth as her eyes shine violet. Gudrun raises her sword, and for a moment, you think it's incredible that she can withstand Medusa's gaze and barely be slowed down. But so could Saber. Gudrun swings her sword, blasting at Medusa with a bolt of mana, but Medusa is already long gone before Gudrun's stroke can fall.

Gudrun swings again, blasting at Medusa's afterimage, but once again Medusa is already long gone. Medusa hasn't yet gone in for an attack, so you take aim with your bow, and say to Homura "Tell Oriko to have Lancer coordinate her ranged attacks with me. I don't want her accidentally hitting Medusa in the crossfire."

"Understood."

You loose your volley, and Lancer joins in, blasting at Gudrun with a fireball. Your strikes connect, and Gudrun turns her attention onto the both of you. Medusa chooses that moment, when Gudrun is distracted, to strike, and lashes out at her, beating Gudrun with her chains. Gudrun turns to face Medusa and immediately swings at her with Dáinsleif, but Medusa parries the attack with her nails, sending the bolt of mana blasting off into the sky. Gudrun swings again, but this time Medusa leaps over the swing, wrapping her chains around Gudrun's sword-arm and pulling. She sends Gudrun flying, but Gudrun's strength manages to win out. She grabs for the chain wrapped around her arm with her open hand and, using a blast from Dáinsleif to orient herself, counter-swings Medusa, slamming her clear through the side of a building.

You and Lancer waste no time in opening fire on Gudrun again, blasting at her with swords and bolts of flame. Illya joins in as well, running fingers through her hair and sending her bird familiars-turned-swords streaking down onto Gudrun's position. Anything to make her burn through her tremendous supply of mana until her Battle Continuation stops being able to keep her alive.

Medusa recovers from being thrown through a building and comes charging back into the fray. Gudrun raises her sword, but falters for a moment as their eyes lock, and the charge of mana flaring up along Dáinsleif's length fizzles for just a brief moment. It's enough to allow Medusa to slam into Gudrun at full force, hitting her with a powerful kick as her legs crackle with brilliant blue arcs of mana, and you see Misaki grinning with her hand over an open page in her spellbook. Medusa's strike digs into the deep wound in Gudrun's chest, sending her flying with enough force to kick up a mushroom cloud amidst all the dust and debris, and Gudrun is sent flying.

Gudrun recovers, and you can hear the pained gurgling of her words failing her. A blast of red-black mana clears the smoke, and you can see that one of Gudrun's arms has gone grey. Not that that does anything to slow down the implacable swordwoman, mind you: she only needs one arm to effectively wield Dáinsleif , and as soon as Gudrun has righted herself, she sends another blast of mana towards Medusa. Agile as ever, the blast misses Medusa by several meters, and Medusa continues her dance around Gudrun's body, her chains flying this way and that, striking Gudrun with every pass over her.

Clearly having enough of that, Gudrun grabs for the chains as they fly past her. Her arm is all but dead on her body, but that doesn't stop her from using its dead weight to wrap around the chain, nor from pulling on it with her teeth to drag Medusa down to her level. Medusa falls, and Gudrun readies another burst of mana along Dáinsleif's edge, only for the blast to be parried by Medusa's nail and sent flying. When next Gudrun sends a burst of mana Medusa's way, it is with her dead arm, and the blast tears away the calcification to return her arm to normal.

You take that opportunity to open fire on Gudrun again, blasting her position with swords loosed from your bow, while Lancer sends torrents of fire. Medusa turns her Mystic Eyes onto Gudrun's legs, locking her in place and forcing her to endure yours and Lancer's blows. Tearing her dead legs free from the ground, Gudrun turns to face Medusa as she charges in again, only to be met with-

You can't hear her voice, but you can see Illya directing Heracles like the conductor of an orchestra, using her familiars as guides to his throws as he tosses concrete debris and chunks of buildings at Gudrun, keeping her distracted. Gudrun swings Dáinsleif, sending a blast of mana towards Heracles, but Medusa grabs her from behind and, wrapping her chains around Gudrun's body, forces the blast to wide and high over Heracles' head. With her chains stillw rapped around Gudrun's body, Medusa drags her along, tearing Gudrun's body along a path through the debris, until Gudrun is able to take control of Medusa's chains and use them against her, tossing Medusa through another building.

You and Lancer both open fire again, and it isn't long before Medusa recovers. Blue mana streaks down her legs as she charges in to deliver another kick to Gudrun's chest wound, but this time Gudrun is ready for her. Their weapons clash, violently, kicking up brilliant explosions as Medusa somehow manages to overpower Dáinsleif again and again with her tiny, nameless nails. You doubt Medusa can keep that dance up forever, and when you see red-black mana flaring all over Gudrun's body, you call out to Medusa "Get the hell out of there!"

As if she couldn't tell herself to do just that. Gudrun's entire body explodes over with red-black mana, and you decide to do maybe the stupidest thing you've done all day. You lunge in, getting right between the blast and a Mystic-Eyes-active Medusa, and throw up your hand with a cry of "Rho Aias!" Twinkling in the distance, you can see Lancer and Misaki reinforcing your shield with barriers of their own. "Thank you," Medusa says, straining to keep her eyes shut for as long as you are near. "For trusting me to handle things this far. I should have known better than to leap in without a plan or a way to communicate with all of you."

"Don't mention it."

"Now, let me finish the job."

You know Medusa hasn't just been leaping all over the battlefield for no reason. She's too smart for that, and as soon as Gudrun's explosion of mana dies down, you can see it. Phantasmal chains shimmer into existence from well over a dozen points on the arena, all converging on Gudrun as they become solid on Medusa's grasp. Medusa gives her chains a firm pull, and they all converge on Gudrun, locking her down. You beat your retreat as Medusa's eyes snap open, flashing violet as they lock onto Gudrun, and at Gudrun's feet you see a brilliant blue array forming. There's Misaki, standing in the same spot as ever, looking down on Gudrun. The light reflecting off her glasses flashes blue, and the very earth at Gudrun's feet becomes her prison, trapping Gudrun in a sphere of earth wrapped over by dozens of Medusa's chains.

But somehow, even that isn't enough to hold Gudrun. You can see flares of red-black mana pulsing through the cracks in Misaki's earthen dome, can hear a chain snapping as it's caught in the blast. You hope Medusa knows what she's doing. Somehow, the smile on her face tells you that she does.

"Bellerephon!"

Medusa rakes her nail across her neck, and a gleaming winged horse of the brightest white tears itself free from the wound. Completely unphased, Medusa mounts it in a single, swift motion, and urges it forward. Just as Gudrun manages to blast her way out of the earthen done, Medusa's Noble Phantasm slams into her, and the ensuing explosion is bright enough to make even the sun appear dim in comparison. You see Medusa being thrown from her mount in the explosion, before it screams out of the mushroom cloud and she swiftly re-mounts it, urging it into Gudrun for a second time.

When the dust and the brilliant light finally fade, and Medusa brings her steed in for a landing, you see Gudrun, lying there on the ground. Her plate is shattered, her eyes look dull and lifeless, and the blue veins radiating out from the wound in her chest have almost dyed her entire neck and under her chin in their hue. Black-red mana sparks violently from her ruined body: both her arms are missing, and Dáinsleif is lying discarded on the ground some meters away, its black blades smoking.

"Was this… Really… All I was good for…?" Gudrun somehow manages to choke out, in spite of the blood frothing from both her neck wound and her mouth. "Was I… Really summoned… Just to die like this…? You hold your hand out, staying both Medusa and Heracles from approaching. Gudrun struggles to pull herself up, but the severity of her injuries is too much, and she gives up, falling down onto her back again as soon as she tries. "Without ever… Getting to see Sigurd… Again?"

"The woman who summoned you only did so after throwing Sigurd's life away," Lancer says. You'll let her approach Gudrun. "As for you, she only ever wanted you for your sword. I imagine that, after helping her throw this world into chaos and ruin, she would have also betrayed you as well."

"I don't… Need to hear that… From you… Brynhildr…" Gudrun croaks out. "Sigurd… Didn't even… Love you…"

"Is that what you believe?" Lancer asks. "You could never have held Sigurd's heart without treachery, yet you claim, to the end, that it was me he never loved?" Lancer brings up her spear, spinning it around in her hand until the heavy, heart-shaped head is pointing down. "I pity you, Gudrun, I truly do. I'm sure you truly did love Sigurd, with all your heart. But then, Fate was never kind to any of us, was it?"

"Farewell, Gudrun," Lancer said. "Let us never meet again, in this life, or any other." Lancer brought her spear down, severing Gudrun's head from her neck. The headless body gave one final shudder, before disappearing into motes of gold.

Medusa reaches down, collecting her blindfold and reattaching it to her face. "We should get going," she says to you and the others. "There's still two more of them to deal with, right?"

"Right," you say. "Homura, Gudrun's been defeated, and the rest of us are in position to tackle the two remaining objectives. [ ] What's the plan?" You just hope you aren't too late.

Confringentur 2; a Madoka Magica / Fate/Stay Night sequel

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