"I know we can't stop you, but I need to know that you're okay with this."
Between Saber, Rider, and Assassin watching over the school - though you still aren't completely sure how far you can trust that last one - you felt secure enough in the fates of Homura and her friends to go take care of some things. Currently, that means talking with Lancer about her role in the coming battles. "Sigurd..." Lancer utters the name as though it were her death rattle, her voice a shaking, husky mess. "I have to fight him... Have to kill him... Nothing else matters but Sigurd..."
"Be that as it may, it's not healthy for you to be going into fights with your mind all messed up like this," you say. "You need to keep a clear head if you want to actually beat him."
It is so hard to keep a clear head when I know Sigurd is out there," Lancer replies. "Is he thinking about me? Is he compelled to fight me the same way I feel compelled to fight him?"
"Mikuni is worried about you." You don't actually know that, but for as few pillars of emotional stability as Mikuni has in her life - Kirika, Lancer, her extended family in Italy whom she only sees once or twice a year - you feel confident that your guess is correct. "We all are."
"I know." Lancer is composed, but holding back, as if any moment the turmoil inside her will erupt and take over. You don't know how many Command Seals Mikuni had to spend to bring Lancer down to this state from where she had been the night before. "I wish it were easier to calm myself, but now that I know Sigurd is here, it takes everything just to hold myself back this much. I know my master would prefer to keep me from him, but every part of me is screaming; I need to fight him; to kill him; to quell the flames that threaten to devour me from within if I let Sigurd live for another day."
"Is there anything you can tell us about him that might let us help you defeat him?" you ask. You don't know if Lancer will even want your help, but you aren't going to let her face this by herself. She's at a disadvantage against him; not only does she have a class disadvantage, but she's also going to have a hard time just keeping her head on straight while fighting him. "I've got a class advantage over Sigurd, and Berserker is our strongest hitter who can match him with a sword. We're going to help you, if you'll let us-" Actually, you're going to help Lancer whether she wants it or not. "-but we need to know what Sigurd is capable of first. You knew him in life; what is he capable of?"
"His strength is exceptional," are the first words out of Lancer's mouth. "He has the strength to fight off an army, and the endurance to do so without ever tiring. He knows the ancient runes, too; I taught him everything he knows." Without any prodding from you, Lancer elaborates, saying "He is proficient with the
Isa and
Tiwaz runes especially; with them he can make blizzards, imbue his body with the strength to win any fight, or empower his sword to break through any barrier." Lancer shakes her head, adding "Not as though he needs the last one; within Gram is contained an anti-fortress Noble Phantasm. It is strong enough to slay a dragon in a single blow, or tear down an entire castle leaving not a single brick or defender behind."
"Is there anything else?" you ask. "What about what he's like as a person? Is there a way to, I don't know, defeat him without having to actually fight him?"
"Sigurd is perfect," Lancer says with the shaking her head. "Perhaps I could defeat him if my mind were not so clouded, but I am doubtful that Berserker would be so lucky. I do not know why Sigurd let Berserker live after I was forcibly withdrawn from the battle, and I cannot say whether his master will allow him to do so again. Perhaps he was only humouring Berserker to fight then, and now that he has chosen me as his opponent he has no interest in fighting another. He was always terribly stubborn like that." For a moment, a sad smile creeps up onto Lancer's lips as she speaks, as though the thought that Sigurd has chosen to fight her is a small comfort she can cherish, before the expression is wiped from her face. "How do you and Berserker plan to attempt to fight him?"
"Berserker has a pretty big sword, and I'm sure I can find something in my arsenal capable of punching through Sigurd's armour," is your response. "I can't speak for a finalised plan, but I think the idea is going to be that we let you set the pace when fighting him, and we'll do our best to keep up. Maybe if he's splitting his focus between you and Berserker, he won't notice me shooting at him from several kilometers away."
"What will you do if you are wrong?" Lancer asks.
"Then that's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get there." You really don't want to think about what might happen if you're wrong.
After ending your conversation with Lancer and leaving the Mikuni mansion, you make for Asunaro to see if you can gather any useful information on the enemy team. It's been a long time since your last visit to Asunaro, seventeen or eighteen months, you think, but the city doesn't look all that different from the last time you were here. You can still make out the same landmarks as last time; there's the
town hall, the local
shopping mall, a
hot dog shack, a boutique
clothing outlet, a
hair salon, a large
dome-shaped building which you once again presume to be a sporting arena because you never bothered to confirm what it was the last time you were here, an
amusement park, and the
sweets shop outside of which you met Kazusa Michiru the last time you were here. She was a nice girl, and you hope she hasn't gotten herself mixed up in of this mess;
or worse.
You also spot some new things that weren't here the last time. There's a new building that proudly bills itself as a
teddy bear museum -
Wait, what? An entire museum, just for teddy bears? Is the owner for real? - and some very conspicuous construction occurring within a few hundred meters radius of the museum. Not the normal type of construction work, either; the kind you've gotten used to seeing in the wake of those witches that have been popping up in Mitakihara lately. Does that mean Asunaro also has a problem with that type of witch; or is there something else at work here?
You don't see anything on your first pass through the city, and are about to give up after your second pass when you spot someone exiting the sweets shop. It isn't Kazusa Michiru, but you'd recognise those low-hanging platinum-blonde twintails anywhere. The combination of a faded green hoodie, cutoff jean shorts, and boots makes Kanna Niko appear very much like Sakura Kyouko; but the backpack she's also wearing makes you suspect that she's cutting class, rather than just not attending school entirely.
Well, things just got interesting, and it looks like you've got a bit of investigating to do. Fortunately, you've got access to some of the best tools of the trade that Projection magecraft can make. You'll stay a fair distance behind her, keeping in spirit form as added precaution, and follow her to see where she winds up. Worst case, you just follow her back to whatever school she came from. Best case, you follow her back to the enemy's base of operations.
Your eyes follow her trail for a little under a half-hour, and in that time she never gives you a clear indication of her destination. She moves from intersection to alleyway, stopping once at a trash can in the local park to dispose of the iced coffee she had been sipping, before returning to her pattern of intersection and alleyway. You don't sense the presence of any servants nearby, neither friendly nor foe, but her movements - calm and deliberate, and yet at the same time without a single apaprent end destination in mind -
keeps your interest mounting.
It's almost as if she's aware of your presence, and is making her moves in an attempt to throw you off her trail.
You follow her until what appears to be the end of her destination, the rear entrance of the apparent teddy bear museum. Either she's into that sort of thing, or there's more going on inside this "Angelica Bears" than meets the eye.
Do you
[ ] Keep watch for a little while longer; maybe she'll come out
[ ] Report back to Homura with news of her destination; if this is the enemy's hideout, she'll want to know
[ ] Go inside and have a look around for yourself; maybe you'll find something worth mentioning to Homura
[ ] Use your biggest swords and raze the museum to the ground; damn the collateral, there's an enemy inside
[ ] Other (write-in)
[Homura] Wat do?
