other people who used similar magic could do it but his small number of spells made him practice it a lot more than others would have plus his affinity for swords allowed him to use the spell in a much more comprehensive than most would be able to at a much earlier part in his life
Fate/Broken: Kaleid Liner Prisma of Fear
- Thread starter dat_noob1926812
- Start date
- Crossover
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Aah, lemme check that, I thought it was the basic form of reinforcement, which was a basic technique.
But I might be wrong.
Edit: it looks like I was wrong I'll rewrite it in a few days when I have time.
Last edited:
Pride ends here Pt: 1
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Pride ends here Pt: 1
"Well then, you two said this was the last class card?"
That should certainly make life more boring, what am I going to do now? Get a job? Manipulate world leaders from the shadows with my infinite amount of money? Be a responsible adult I suppress a shudder. I make a careful note, not to notice the dead look in Illya's eyes, she should still be able to put a dent in a heroic spirit, right? Either way, it shouldn't matter Sakura had to deal with far worse and could still fight, hell the version of Illya I'm familiar with had to deal with far worse, Luvia looks pointedly at me.
"Yes it is after this we will be collecting the cards, not in our possession and heading back to England."
I wave off her implication and try in a manner I hope is amicable while turning to face the rest of the roof we're standing on.
"Fine, fine if both of you have three class cards each I'm sure everything will be alright, I'll hand you back the one I still have when we're done."
Luvia and Rin tense for a moment before she speaks up again.
"Medea is a class card."
Ah… they figure that out, I shouldn't be surprised it's not that difficult to figure out. Beings inside the mirror world have all been from class cards, haven't they? I feel a slight sinking feeling in my stomach that I try not to show on my face, I perk my head up from where I didn't notice it droop and bringing my hands together as I try to crack a million-dollar smile.
"How about I make a deal with you, for you not to ask that question? Hmm?"
They both stare at me dumbly, what did you really think I was just going to hand over what is quite possibly one of the most powerful living magic casters? Preposterous, not to mention I would become incredibly lonely, I might even have to resort to moving into the Matou house if that happened. I fail to suppress that shudder as I imagine a certain young man's reaction to constantly having me around. This time Rin speaks up first.
"We can't just lie to Kischur Zelretch?!"
I nod.
"Sure you can, there are six anomalies, right? If there are six cards-"
I clap my hands together out of mostly reflex.
"-that makes sense right? As you said yourself, it's impossible for two-class cards to manifest in the same mirror would."
They appear uneasy at my offer before Miyu decides to enter the conversation.
"What do you think you can offer them?"
My smile widens, well this is the easy bit.
"Alright in exchange for your silence Luvia I'll give you the Saber card and the Berserker card in the event I obtain them and Rin already owes me a favour for another unrelated activity, don't you? Do this for me and we'll call it even."
Not that I did that to gain her favour but it pans out nicely. Luvia's eyes light up sparkling with greed as a concerning looking smile spreads across her face, while Rin's Head and shoulders drop slightly appearing as if her will to resist has been crushed.
"I understand…"
Luvia hears Tohsaka's response, eyes lighting up even more as she pounces on the perceived weakness of her rival.
"OOOOO-OH-OH-OH! How unsightly Tohsaka Rin we can only imagine what kind of shameful tasks you took part is while we weren't looking."
I ignore the implied insult to myself as Rin's head and shoulders slump further. Luvia pauses her declaration of superiority, her eyes staring wide at Rin halfway between shock and confusion. Illya and Miyu throwing concerned looks at Rin.
"I accept your deal."
Good, that was a bit of a gamble, but it seems Rin caring about her sister is a constant if contentious point.
"Eh? What are you talking about Tohsaka Rin?! Why would you accept such a deal?! Have you finally released your place in the lower class?"
Luvias second tirade lacks the heart and volume of the first, that should probably take care of this issue for now.
"What do you care Luvia? You're certainly getting a good deal out of this."
She looks at me through the corner of her eye with a tad of uncertainty before glancing to Rin for a moment before waving it off and giving me a response.
"Fine, I accept, I'll be pleased that my superior skills will be recognised over that cheapskate anyway."
I roll back my shoulders that somehow feel lighter and walk in an arc around the girls.
"Excellent, well then with that organised, shall we begin?"
Both of them nod in response, good, I'm glad that's dealt with
"Adding imaginary numeral axis to the fifth instrumental variable, preparing inversion confirming the existence of multiple spaces. Fixation of centre coordinates complete, forming reflective path with a radius of four meters performing partial inversion of mirror world connections."
The world is engulfed in light as I consider how when I leave them to speak like that it still doesn't make any more sense. I glance up around the roof to try and spot the Berserker class servant we're up against. One of the entrances to the stairwell explodes as an obsidian giant holding a large rock greatsword stands and roars at us.
"RAGHTAGHH."
That's not what I wanted to see.
"F-"
I glance at the two ten-year-olds among us.
"-raking scatter!"
"Well then, you two said this was the last class card?"
That should certainly make life more boring, what am I going to do now? Get a job? Manipulate world leaders from the shadows with my infinite amount of money? Be a responsible adult I suppress a shudder. I make a careful note, not to notice the dead look in Illya's eyes, she should still be able to put a dent in a heroic spirit, right? Either way, it shouldn't matter Sakura had to deal with far worse and could still fight, hell the version of Illya I'm familiar with had to deal with far worse, Luvia looks pointedly at me.
"Yes it is after this we will be collecting the cards, not in our possession and heading back to England."
I wave off her implication and try in a manner I hope is amicable while turning to face the rest of the roof we're standing on.
"Fine, fine if both of you have three class cards each I'm sure everything will be alright, I'll hand you back the one I still have when we're done."
Luvia and Rin tense for a moment before she speaks up again.
"Medea is a class card."
Ah… they figure that out, I shouldn't be surprised it's not that difficult to figure out. Beings inside the mirror world have all been from class cards, haven't they? I feel a slight sinking feeling in my stomach that I try not to show on my face, I perk my head up from where I didn't notice it droop and bringing my hands together as I try to crack a million-dollar smile.
"How about I make a deal with you, for you not to ask that question? Hmm?"
They both stare at me dumbly, what did you really think I was just going to hand over what is quite possibly one of the most powerful living magic casters? Preposterous, not to mention I would become incredibly lonely, I might even have to resort to moving into the Matou house if that happened. I fail to suppress that shudder as I imagine a certain young man's reaction to constantly having me around. This time Rin speaks up first.
"We can't just lie to Kischur Zelretch?!"
I nod.
"Sure you can, there are six anomalies, right? If there are six cards-"
I clap my hands together out of mostly reflex.
"-that makes sense right? As you said yourself, it's impossible for two-class cards to manifest in the same mirror would."
They appear uneasy at my offer before Miyu decides to enter the conversation.
"What do you think you can offer them?"
My smile widens, well this is the easy bit.
"Alright in exchange for your silence Luvia I'll give you the Saber card and the Berserker card in the event I obtain them and Rin already owes me a favour for another unrelated activity, don't you? Do this for me and we'll call it even."
Not that I did that to gain her favour but it pans out nicely. Luvia's eyes light up sparkling with greed as a concerning looking smile spreads across her face, while Rin's Head and shoulders drop slightly appearing as if her will to resist has been crushed.
"I understand…"
Luvia hears Tohsaka's response, eyes lighting up even more as she pounces on the perceived weakness of her rival.
"OOOOO-OH-OH-OH! How unsightly Tohsaka Rin we can only imagine what kind of shameful tasks you took part is while we weren't looking."
I ignore the implied insult to myself as Rin's head and shoulders slump further. Luvia pauses her declaration of superiority, her eyes staring wide at Rin halfway between shock and confusion. Illya and Miyu throwing concerned looks at Rin.
"I accept your deal."
Good, that was a bit of a gamble, but it seems Rin caring about her sister is a constant if contentious point.
"Eh? What are you talking about Tohsaka Rin?! Why would you accept such a deal?! Have you finally released your place in the lower class?"
Luvias second tirade lacks the heart and volume of the first, that should probably take care of this issue for now.
"What do you care Luvia? You're certainly getting a good deal out of this."
She looks at me through the corner of her eye with a tad of uncertainty before glancing to Rin for a moment before waving it off and giving me a response.
"Fine, I accept, I'll be pleased that my superior skills will be recognised over that cheapskate anyway."
I roll back my shoulders that somehow feel lighter and walk in an arc around the girls.
"Excellent, well then with that organised, shall we begin?"
Both of them nod in response, good, I'm glad that's dealt with
"Adding imaginary numeral axis to the fifth instrumental variable, preparing inversion confirming the existence of multiple spaces. Fixation of centre coordinates complete, forming reflective path with a radius of four meters performing partial inversion of mirror world connections."
The world is engulfed in light as I consider how when I leave them to speak like that it still doesn't make any more sense. I glance up around the roof to try and spot the Berserker class servant we're up against. One of the entrances to the stairwell explodes as an obsidian giant holding a large rock greatsword stands and roars at us.
"RAGHTAGHH."
That's not what I wanted to see.
"F-"
I glance at the two ten-year-olds among us.
"-raking scatter!"
Last edited:
Pride ends here Pt: 2
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Pride ends here Pt: 2
I notice the legs of the giant tense to jump, Ring FTL everyone outside of this immediate area.
"Command confirmed."
Strings of light leap out, throwing the four girls well out of the way before the world vanishes to yellow for a moment. OK, not a great start, I hover about fifty meters above him when I notice his head turn towards me and the red and gold eyes staring up at me before the entire body vanishes from my sight.
Crap.
"Oh-"
I can see that the others are not taking the sudden movement so well.
"Waa-EEEEEEEEEIIIIII!!!"
I notice that Illya looks around confused on how she moved before she sees me and covers her eyes screaming. My vision fades. I notice blood underneath me, Ring halt bleeding and maintain my vital body processes.
"Oh shit."
RING MOV- I feel my body pitch forward, huh? I consciously recognise pain but I'm not screaming. I don't think I can hear anything, I feel cold, so cold what's happening? Right, Ring cut pain? Am I falling?
"Command confirmed."
THUD.
I don't notice a difference? I think I feel a cold surface on my face. I try to stand and fail to move at all, what's happening?
"Corpsman has been bisected at the waist and gone into neurogenic shock."
Oh, well that doesn't sound good, I place my hands underneath me to manoeuvre myself into a better position. Ah, legs right, Ring could you debisect me?
"Debisect command not recognised."
No, -the yellow around me fades for a moment- I need to think, ugh this is as bad as, as. I can't remember when from, I feel a pressure inside my brain as I try to push coherent thoughts into my mind, eventually I recover enough of my thoughts to think clearly. I drag myself out of the way barely perceiving flashes of light from around me.
"Ring, please reattach the lower half of my body and give me proper medical attention."
The Ring seems responsive to that type of verbal command, although I note that I can't quite hear myself speak as a construct grappling claw grabs what I assume are my legs. I get the sensation of lights flashing off to the side but my focus is too preoccupied to try and figure out what they are.
"Command confirmed."
My hearing returns and I blink a few times to restore my vision, well I know it's just a placebo as my vision should technically fine at this point, physically anyway. I look over and see Rin crouching over Illya.
"-On, Illya you have to get back up now, we're in the middle of a fight."
I pull myself upright shaking my head and scanning for the Berserker and try to consider my options. I shake my head again, wait if they're there then that means Luvia and Miyu are fighting Berserker alone. I hope they can keep him distracted long enough, I briefly consider whether it would've been easier to have fought the entire mage's association rather than face Heracles and let out a chuckle. Too late to get cold feet now I suppose.
"Dead, he's just dead. None of us could react and he just died."
Hm? I raise my hand and wave over at Illya, I mean there's only two guys in here. Meanwhile I try to think about whether using more and more of Rins most expensive gems would be effective at killing Berserker multiple times. Now, I know he's supposed to become immune to whatever killed him the previous time but…
"OI, Illya I'm not dead yet!!"
I fly up to try and get out of the way of any follow-up attacks barely noticing Illya perk up.
"Eh?!"
Right, now that I've drawn attention to myself, Ring can you create a random Faster than light dodge pattern that moves me whenever we lose track of Berserker? Oh and also track berserker.
"Commands confirmed."
Right, I see a ping on… My eyes? Huh? I guess that's what a HUD is like, feels strange. Wait A minute see a ping? That isn't right. I generate a construct shield to meet Berserkers charge.
"RALEGH!"
Oh, Lord, I can feel that in my bones. The shield crumples almost immediately as his blade touches it, alright next. I generate a giant construct lion which pounces on the heroic spirit which shatters on impact.
"Alright you big bastard, let's see what I can do to y-you.-"
He lands heavily over me, breathing into my face, I gulp loudly before jumping back a few steps. He follows and brings his greatsword down on me leaving me barely enough time to duck.
"-fuck, fuck."
Ring fly me out of here. You know, there's something different between being almost killed before you realise what's happening and staring down giant that could crush you.
"Command confirmed."
I mean I know intellectually that the difference in strength between Berserker and Saber is far smaller than that of myself and Saber, but there's something about him that is infinitely more terrifying. I run out of roof to flee to and fall off the edge, where are the others? The Ring gives me a ping with them fairy spread out inside the building. Didn't they notice that he was still on the roof? did they leave me to die? A large hand grabs my head, ah, oh no. he is walking down the building, just a fuck you gravity I suppose. A small voice speaks out from inside the building.
"William?"
Ring get me outta here, please.
"Warning, only possible exit would result in massive cranial damage."
Will I be able to receive repairs after escaping?
"Confirmed."
Ok then make my fucking skull to fit and get me the fuck out of here and repair ple-OOW FUCK! HE'S TIGHTENING HIS GRIP!!
"MPmmph!!"
I swear I feel the back of my head move down while my forehead stays still as my arms beat at his forearm and legs kick at his core more out of instinct than any actual attempt at escape.
"Command confirmed."
CRACK.
"Grugh."
AHGH FUCK WHY DIDN'T I SUPPRESS PAIN FIRST. I feel the right side of my head go numb as my jawbone moves up and inwards at an unnatural angle. PAIN SUPPRESS PAIN PLEASE.
"Command confirmed."
Much bett-
"Crwrwswrw."
I try to let out a sigh by my jaw doesn't quite move as I break down one of the windows with a jackhammer construct and float inside. Ring FTL me out of sight and repair my jaw, please.
"Command confirmed."
The scenery flickers and I begin running through the building, now I know he can outrun me but hopefully, I'll find one of the others first or he finds one of the others.
I notice the legs of the giant tense to jump, Ring FTL everyone outside of this immediate area.
"Command confirmed."
Strings of light leap out, throwing the four girls well out of the way before the world vanishes to yellow for a moment. OK, not a great start, I hover about fifty meters above him when I notice his head turn towards me and the red and gold eyes staring up at me before the entire body vanishes from my sight.
Crap.
"Oh-"
I can see that the others are not taking the sudden movement so well.
"Waa-EEEEEEEEEIIIIII!!!"
I notice that Illya looks around confused on how she moved before she sees me and covers her eyes screaming. My vision fades. I notice blood underneath me, Ring halt bleeding and maintain my vital body processes.
"Oh shit."
RING MOV- I feel my body pitch forward, huh? I consciously recognise pain but I'm not screaming. I don't think I can hear anything, I feel cold, so cold what's happening? Right, Ring cut pain? Am I falling?
"Command confirmed."
THUD.
I don't notice a difference? I think I feel a cold surface on my face. I try to stand and fail to move at all, what's happening?
"Corpsman has been bisected at the waist and gone into neurogenic shock."
Oh, well that doesn't sound good, I place my hands underneath me to manoeuvre myself into a better position. Ah, legs right, Ring could you debisect me?
"Debisect command not recognised."
No, -the yellow around me fades for a moment- I need to think, ugh this is as bad as, as. I can't remember when from, I feel a pressure inside my brain as I try to push coherent thoughts into my mind, eventually I recover enough of my thoughts to think clearly. I drag myself out of the way barely perceiving flashes of light from around me.
"Ring, please reattach the lower half of my body and give me proper medical attention."
The Ring seems responsive to that type of verbal command, although I note that I can't quite hear myself speak as a construct grappling claw grabs what I assume are my legs. I get the sensation of lights flashing off to the side but my focus is too preoccupied to try and figure out what they are.
"Command confirmed."
My hearing returns and I blink a few times to restore my vision, well I know it's just a placebo as my vision should technically fine at this point, physically anyway. I look over and see Rin crouching over Illya.
"-On, Illya you have to get back up now, we're in the middle of a fight."
I pull myself upright shaking my head and scanning for the Berserker and try to consider my options. I shake my head again, wait if they're there then that means Luvia and Miyu are fighting Berserker alone. I hope they can keep him distracted long enough, I briefly consider whether it would've been easier to have fought the entire mage's association rather than face Heracles and let out a chuckle. Too late to get cold feet now I suppose.
"Dead, he's just dead. None of us could react and he just died."
Hm? I raise my hand and wave over at Illya, I mean there's only two guys in here. Meanwhile I try to think about whether using more and more of Rins most expensive gems would be effective at killing Berserker multiple times. Now, I know he's supposed to become immune to whatever killed him the previous time but…
"OI, Illya I'm not dead yet!!"
I fly up to try and get out of the way of any follow-up attacks barely noticing Illya perk up.
"Eh?!"
Right, now that I've drawn attention to myself, Ring can you create a random Faster than light dodge pattern that moves me whenever we lose track of Berserker? Oh and also track berserker.
"Commands confirmed."
Right, I see a ping on… My eyes? Huh? I guess that's what a HUD is like, feels strange. Wait A minute see a ping? That isn't right. I generate a construct shield to meet Berserkers charge.
"RALEGH!"
Oh, Lord, I can feel that in my bones. The shield crumples almost immediately as his blade touches it, alright next. I generate a giant construct lion which pounces on the heroic spirit which shatters on impact.
"Alright you big bastard, let's see what I can do to y-you.-"
He lands heavily over me, breathing into my face, I gulp loudly before jumping back a few steps. He follows and brings his greatsword down on me leaving me barely enough time to duck.
"-fuck, fuck."
Ring fly me out of here. You know, there's something different between being almost killed before you realise what's happening and staring down giant that could crush you.
"Command confirmed."
I mean I know intellectually that the difference in strength between Berserker and Saber is far smaller than that of myself and Saber, but there's something about him that is infinitely more terrifying. I run out of roof to flee to and fall off the edge, where are the others? The Ring gives me a ping with them fairy spread out inside the building. Didn't they notice that he was still on the roof? did they leave me to die? A large hand grabs my head, ah, oh no. he is walking down the building, just a fuck you gravity I suppose. A small voice speaks out from inside the building.
"William?"
Ring get me outta here, please.
"Warning, only possible exit would result in massive cranial damage."
Will I be able to receive repairs after escaping?
"Confirmed."
Ok then make my fucking skull to fit and get me the fuck out of here and repair ple-OOW FUCK! HE'S TIGHTENING HIS GRIP!!
"MPmmph!!"
I swear I feel the back of my head move down while my forehead stays still as my arms beat at his forearm and legs kick at his core more out of instinct than any actual attempt at escape.
"Command confirmed."
CRACK.
"Grugh."
AHGH FUCK WHY DIDN'T I SUPPRESS PAIN FIRST. I feel the right side of my head go numb as my jawbone moves up and inwards at an unnatural angle. PAIN SUPPRESS PAIN PLEASE.
"Command confirmed."
Much bett-
"Crwrwswrw."
I try to let out a sigh by my jaw doesn't quite move as I break down one of the windows with a jackhammer construct and float inside. Ring FTL me out of sight and repair my jaw, please.
"Command confirmed."
The scenery flickers and I begin running through the building, now I know he can outrun me but hopefully, I'll find one of the others first or he finds one of the others.
Last edited:
Pride ends here Pt: 3
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Pride ends here Pt: 3
I collapse onto my knees as my stomach twists.
"BLEEGHH!!-K-Kuh-Kuh."
I try to avoid my arms landing in any of the vomit on the floor and attempt to stand. Oh god, oh god.
"Hahahahhaaaa!"
I can't wipe the hysterical grin off of my face as I curl up on the ground. OK, ok I'm alive good start, go me. Right, then. I let out a sigh to try and clear my mind, options what can I actually do?
CRUNCH.
"RAAGGH!"
I hear one of the walls a few rooms overturn to dust as my heart begins pounding in my ears. Stop making noise, stop making noise, I barely notice the loss of feeling in my feet and my hands shaking. my breathing increases in spite of my best efforts to reduce it as my vision begins to fade again.
CRACK.
"Huff-huff-huff-huff-huff-huff-."
I glance around the dark and see eyes in the adjacent rooms.
"RAAGGH!"
I-I need to sit down, I need to sit down for a moment. Keeping my eyes on the open doorways I roll my back into the wall as quietly as possible placing my hands onto my face. I peer into the darkness in front of me, jumping at the still face of serval young men I last saw in Libya. I slide and fall over in my haste to back away, no, no I need to think, I close my eyes. I don't have time to remember that right now, I need to get back to the fight. My leg freezes as I try to stand, I take a deep breath.
"Ring light."
When I open my eyes again I see the area around is bathed in yellow light keeping the shadows at bay, as I glance around the room, eyes straining at the shadows in the other rooms. The rooms are empty, there is nothing in those rooms, no one is hiding in the dark with accusing eyes. Why do I have to feel guilty?
"I DID NOTHING WRONG, FUCK OFF!!!"
An answering warcry meets me.
"RAAGGH!"
CRASH!
That sounded closer, I take the Saber card out of my pocket. Right now how does this work? I hold up the card, come on work.
"Install,-"
Nothing happens, fuck why is this happening.
"-ok not the response I wanted."
I stare at the face of the card, how to go about this?
CRASH
"RAAGH!!"
Ok out of time, here goes nothing. I focus as much as I can under the circumstances, right, pour magical energy through the arm into the card. I let my breath out and feel it flow out, great that feels like is working.
"Please don't explode.-"
Lights appear around me, glancing down I see the circles appear around me, one day I'll understand how that works. Ok, I can work with this, the circle cracks with the sound of glass breaking. I let out a sigh and start moving away from the noises, through a doorway on the right and-
"RAAGH!!"
CRUNCH.
I hold my breath, Ring lights off now.
"Command impossible, users fear overwhelms verbal commands."
Ok, plan B, I take off the Ring and the light cuts out, around the next corner and good. I hold my breath listening into the footsteps of the monster.
THUD
THUD
THUD
There's a pause, oh, god please don't have noticed me. I hold the right just over my right ring hand. I hold my breath…
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
Thud
Oh good, he's leaving, I let out a sigh then freeze. No sounds of him coming back? I place the Ring back on and it lights up the room.
"Oh, thank god, now what to do about the card...-"
Oh, there's an idea, could the card hear me if I tried to talk to it?
"-Ahem, evening saber, Artoria pendragon I don't suppose you could lead me your power?-"
No, wait what's an argument that would work on her…
"-you see there are a group of fair young maidens who require your, no our assistance and I'm not planning on leaving them to die.-"
I do need them to get out of the mirror world, which will collapse if I remain inside after berserker dies, but she doesn't need to know that.
"-so umm, help, please? Install.-"
Nothing happens for a moment, ok you need a proper spell? I can't remember anything about what the summoning spell is… but this isn't a servant summoning I don't particularly want another pocket servant, even if it would instead my ability to fight the mage's association.
"-what is a chant that would be suitable? Er-"
God, I'm going to sound like a moron, I focus on the card and channel magical energy into the card again. A circle of purple light arises around me, let's give this another go.
"-I give my body heart and soul to the lady whom I seek, no plea for help shall find me wanting, no obstacle shall stand before me, no evil shall stand before our light and when the clarion call is sounded I shall charge to the fight, in the name of liege and king.-"
The winds rise around me, that's a good sign, right? Although I'm a bit concerned about all the light drawing attention.
"-That which is sacrament I shall preserve, that which is sublime I shall protect, that which threatens I shall destroy.-"
THUD THUD THUD
"RAAGH!"
CRASH
That's getting close again, the circles spark which what appears to be purple lightning.
"-For our glorious light shall know no bounds. For honour is all, chivalry is all.-"
CRASH
Berserker breaks through the wall in front of me, oh fuck he's here.
"RAAGH"
Oh, fuck. He raises his Greatsword.
"-rejoice for the king of Britain shall be our shield!-"
Ok, so that's what I came up with please work. I pause and nothing happens for a moment, my eyes go wide, what did I miss. Ah, I remember.
"-INSTALL!"
I see the blade start to come down before I'm blinded by the purple light and close my eyes. I feel my body violently shift to the right and slam against the wall.
I collapse onto my knees as my stomach twists.
"BLEEGHH!!-K-Kuh-Kuh."
I try to avoid my arms landing in any of the vomit on the floor and attempt to stand. Oh god, oh god.
"Hahahahhaaaa!"
I can't wipe the hysterical grin off of my face as I curl up on the ground. OK, ok I'm alive good start, go me. Right, then. I let out a sigh to try and clear my mind, options what can I actually do?
CRUNCH.
"RAAGGH!"
I hear one of the walls a few rooms overturn to dust as my heart begins pounding in my ears. Stop making noise, stop making noise, I barely notice the loss of feeling in my feet and my hands shaking. my breathing increases in spite of my best efforts to reduce it as my vision begins to fade again.
CRACK.
"Huff-huff-huff-huff-huff-huff-."
I glance around the dark and see eyes in the adjacent rooms.
"RAAGGH!"
I-I need to sit down, I need to sit down for a moment. Keeping my eyes on the open doorways I roll my back into the wall as quietly as possible placing my hands onto my face. I peer into the darkness in front of me, jumping at the still face of serval young men I last saw in Libya. I slide and fall over in my haste to back away, no, no I need to think, I close my eyes. I don't have time to remember that right now, I need to get back to the fight. My leg freezes as I try to stand, I take a deep breath.
"Ring light."
When I open my eyes again I see the area around is bathed in yellow light keeping the shadows at bay, as I glance around the room, eyes straining at the shadows in the other rooms. The rooms are empty, there is nothing in those rooms, no one is hiding in the dark with accusing eyes. Why do I have to feel guilty?
"I DID NOTHING WRONG, FUCK OFF!!!"
An answering warcry meets me.
"RAAGGH!"
CRASH!
That sounded closer, I take the Saber card out of my pocket. Right now how does this work? I hold up the card, come on work.
"Install,-"
Nothing happens, fuck why is this happening.
"-ok not the response I wanted."
I stare at the face of the card, how to go about this?
CRASH
"RAAGH!!"
Ok out of time, here goes nothing. I focus as much as I can under the circumstances, right, pour magical energy through the arm into the card. I let my breath out and feel it flow out, great that feels like is working.
"Please don't explode.-"
Lights appear around me, glancing down I see the circles appear around me, one day I'll understand how that works. Ok, I can work with this, the circle cracks with the sound of glass breaking. I let out a sigh and start moving away from the noises, through a doorway on the right and-
"RAAGH!!"
CRUNCH.
I hold my breath, Ring lights off now.
"Command impossible, users fear overwhelms verbal commands."
Ok, plan B, I take off the Ring and the light cuts out, around the next corner and good. I hold my breath listening into the footsteps of the monster.
THUD
THUD
THUD
There's a pause, oh, god please don't have noticed me. I hold the right just over my right ring hand. I hold my breath…
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
Thud
Oh good, he's leaving, I let out a sigh then freeze. No sounds of him coming back? I place the Ring back on and it lights up the room.
"Oh, thank god, now what to do about the card...-"
Oh, there's an idea, could the card hear me if I tried to talk to it?
"-Ahem, evening saber, Artoria pendragon I don't suppose you could lead me your power?-"
No, wait what's an argument that would work on her…
"-you see there are a group of fair young maidens who require your, no our assistance and I'm not planning on leaving them to die.-"
I do need them to get out of the mirror world, which will collapse if I remain inside after berserker dies, but she doesn't need to know that.
"-so umm, help, please? Install.-"
Nothing happens for a moment, ok you need a proper spell? I can't remember anything about what the summoning spell is… but this isn't a servant summoning I don't particularly want another pocket servant, even if it would instead my ability to fight the mage's association.
"-what is a chant that would be suitable? Er-"
God, I'm going to sound like a moron, I focus on the card and channel magical energy into the card again. A circle of purple light arises around me, let's give this another go.
"-I give my body heart and soul to the lady whom I seek, no plea for help shall find me wanting, no obstacle shall stand before me, no evil shall stand before our light and when the clarion call is sounded I shall charge to the fight, in the name of liege and king.-"
The winds rise around me, that's a good sign, right? Although I'm a bit concerned about all the light drawing attention.
"-That which is sacrament I shall preserve, that which is sublime I shall protect, that which threatens I shall destroy.-"
THUD THUD THUD
"RAAGH!"
CRASH
That's getting close again, the circles spark which what appears to be purple lightning.
"-For our glorious light shall know no bounds. For honour is all, chivalry is all.-"
CRASH
Berserker breaks through the wall in front of me, oh fuck he's here.
"RAAGH"
Oh, fuck. He raises his Greatsword.
"-rejoice for the king of Britain shall be our shield!-"
Ok, so that's what I came up with please work. I pause and nothing happens for a moment, my eyes go wide, what did I miss. Ah, I remember.
"-INSTALL!"
I see the blade start to come down before I'm blinded by the purple light and close my eyes. I feel my body violently shift to the right and slam against the wall.
Pride ends here Pt: 4
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Pride ends here Pt: 4
I feel the cracks in the concrete cause more rocks to collapse on top of me, bloody hell how much more punishment can this building take before it collapses? I barely notice the rattling from the shaking of my hands as I stand up, bits of metal appear to fall off my front revealing what feels like cloth.
"Ring heal me."
I feel the comforting weight of a heavy sword in my right hand, using it to aid myself in standing up and grin looking back up. Looks like it works, excellent. The area I'm 'trapped' in the next room from where I was standing before, the wall and doorway of this room and the few above it appears to have collapsed.
"Command failed, corpsman is in perfect physical condition."
Even better, I feel my face stretch further into a grin at that news, brilliant, I can't believe that worked. I steal my body to burst through the rubble that had buried me and reenter the fray.
"Huff."
I breathe out heavily, attempting to bring the shaking back under control.
"Alright, let's do this.-"
I hold the blade in front of me, now how will this work? Will I gain the swordsmanship skills of King Arthur? Because if I don't I'm pretty screwed, I've always been more of an archer or rifleman than a swordsman. I set my shoulders and adjust my feet, fuck it I need to do this. Plan, charge forward stab pull back the sword and prepare to deflect his counter and bring the sword around in an arc to cut off his head, easy enough.
…
Right?
"-HHHUUUUAA!!!"
I burst out from the pile of rubble I was buried in, blade pointed forward with my eyes scanning for my target. Well, he's not been hit by the stab which isn't the best start, the blade harmlessly punches through the air. He's easy to spot, the giant appears to have turned around to begin searching for the others. Damned fool, he spins on his heel bringing the colossal hunk of rock he calls a sword in an impractically large arc.
CLANG
I fail to deflect the blow with my parry merely managing to halt its advance towards my neck, well, I suppose that means the strength is working. Ignoring my failure, I step forward to headbutt the giant, nearly falling over as I pass through the air where he was.
"RA!-"
I catch a glimpse of movement before the world spins as I'm sent through another wall. Was that afoot?
"-BAgh!"
On my feet, I need to get back on my feet NOW.
CRUNCH
"GAGH!"
I feel the dull impact on my bones as Berserker lands on me, slobs of blood and drool leave my mouth as the giant head leans down towards my face. The blade is pinned under one of the giant's legs the other pinning my body.
"RAAAAGH!!"
I raise my left hand and slam it as hard as I can into his shin, once, twice and thr--
"AAIIE!"
STUPID MOVE, Berserker simply lifted his foot and caught my arm underneath it, RING REPAIR BODY PLEASE.
"Command confirmed."
I feel two 'pops' in my left arm as it shifts up and down breaking again. GODDAMMIT, WHY IS HE SO STRONG, RING GET HIM OFF.
"RRRRRGGGH."
I barely manage to stop myself screaming again as I create construct tendrils that ineffectually attempt to pull him off.
"Command failed."
Yeah, I noticed, I see berserkers chest puff up as he lets out another roar.
"RAAGH!!"
As Berserker finishes tearing through the constructs effortlessly a blast of light catches him in the back pitching him forward and off me.
"William, are you alright in there?"
Heh, that was actual concern from Luvia, I'm glad to see they haven't thought about attempting the 'kill me and take all the cards' play. I see the shapes of four figures, two smaller than the others as the light fades.
"A little, thank you for asking."
I hear the flutter of a frilly blue dress land elegantly next to me.
"Excellent, now, you wouldn't happen to know this heroic spirits name?"
Miyu and Illya get to work, jumping and floating around firing beams of light the giant swatting at them like files.
"Heracles the greatest hero of Greece, his noble phantasm is an ability to resurrect himself twelve times while becoming immune to whatever killed him before."
Luvia blinks and Rin who had been pointedly avoiding looking at me up until this point appears to begin paying attention.
"That's insane he's been immune to our gems so far!"
Soo… they haven't broken out the bigger gems yet.
"How many times have you taken him down so far?"
Luvia appears to drift in smooth movements avoiding Berserkers attacks as she attempts to support Miyu and Illya who are dashing around his head.
"Twice, Miyu managed it once with the lancer card and they work together on a mana blast to do it a second time, what about you?"
I shake my head pausing for a moment to bring my thoughts back together before responding. Alright, so the first and second fights didn't really go as planned, no big deal. So what if the greatest hero of Greece has battle instincts that are honed a little bit more than yours, I just need to relax and let the class card lead the way. Yes, that's right, I was forcing my movements before.
"I'm afraid not, spent my time figuring out how to use the Saber card.-"
I pick myself up, raising the blade again. I pointedly try to hide and ignore the wobbling in my arms and legs as I stand, breathing in and out deeply once upright.
"-But it looks like I've got some catching up to do."
I feel the cracks in the concrete cause more rocks to collapse on top of me, bloody hell how much more punishment can this building take before it collapses? I barely notice the rattling from the shaking of my hands as I stand up, bits of metal appear to fall off my front revealing what feels like cloth.
"Ring heal me."
I feel the comforting weight of a heavy sword in my right hand, using it to aid myself in standing up and grin looking back up. Looks like it works, excellent. The area I'm 'trapped' in the next room from where I was standing before, the wall and doorway of this room and the few above it appears to have collapsed.
"Command failed, corpsman is in perfect physical condition."
Even better, I feel my face stretch further into a grin at that news, brilliant, I can't believe that worked. I steal my body to burst through the rubble that had buried me and reenter the fray.
"Huff."
I breathe out heavily, attempting to bring the shaking back under control.
"Alright, let's do this.-"
I hold the blade in front of me, now how will this work? Will I gain the swordsmanship skills of King Arthur? Because if I don't I'm pretty screwed, I've always been more of an archer or rifleman than a swordsman. I set my shoulders and adjust my feet, fuck it I need to do this. Plan, charge forward stab pull back the sword and prepare to deflect his counter and bring the sword around in an arc to cut off his head, easy enough.
…
Right?
"-HHHUUUUAA!!!"
I burst out from the pile of rubble I was buried in, blade pointed forward with my eyes scanning for my target. Well, he's not been hit by the stab which isn't the best start, the blade harmlessly punches through the air. He's easy to spot, the giant appears to have turned around to begin searching for the others. Damned fool, he spins on his heel bringing the colossal hunk of rock he calls a sword in an impractically large arc.
CLANG
I fail to deflect the blow with my parry merely managing to halt its advance towards my neck, well, I suppose that means the strength is working. Ignoring my failure, I step forward to headbutt the giant, nearly falling over as I pass through the air where he was.
"RA!-"
I catch a glimpse of movement before the world spins as I'm sent through another wall. Was that afoot?
"-BAgh!"
On my feet, I need to get back on my feet NOW.
CRUNCH
"GAGH!"
I feel the dull impact on my bones as Berserker lands on me, slobs of blood and drool leave my mouth as the giant head leans down towards my face. The blade is pinned under one of the giant's legs the other pinning my body.
"RAAAAGH!!"
I raise my left hand and slam it as hard as I can into his shin, once, twice and thr--
"AAIIE!"
STUPID MOVE, Berserker simply lifted his foot and caught my arm underneath it, RING REPAIR BODY PLEASE.
"Command confirmed."
I feel two 'pops' in my left arm as it shifts up and down breaking again. GODDAMMIT, WHY IS HE SO STRONG, RING GET HIM OFF.
"RRRRRGGGH."
I barely manage to stop myself screaming again as I create construct tendrils that ineffectually attempt to pull him off.
"Command failed."
Yeah, I noticed, I see berserkers chest puff up as he lets out another roar.
"RAAGH!!"
As Berserker finishes tearing through the constructs effortlessly a blast of light catches him in the back pitching him forward and off me.
"William, are you alright in there?"
Heh, that was actual concern from Luvia, I'm glad to see they haven't thought about attempting the 'kill me and take all the cards' play. I see the shapes of four figures, two smaller than the others as the light fades.
"A little, thank you for asking."
I hear the flutter of a frilly blue dress land elegantly next to me.
"Excellent, now, you wouldn't happen to know this heroic spirits name?"
Miyu and Illya get to work, jumping and floating around firing beams of light the giant swatting at them like files.
"Heracles the greatest hero of Greece, his noble phantasm is an ability to resurrect himself twelve times while becoming immune to whatever killed him before."
Luvia blinks and Rin who had been pointedly avoiding looking at me up until this point appears to begin paying attention.
"That's insane he's been immune to our gems so far!"
Soo… they haven't broken out the bigger gems yet.
"How many times have you taken him down so far?"
Luvia appears to drift in smooth movements avoiding Berserkers attacks as she attempts to support Miyu and Illya who are dashing around his head.
"Twice, Miyu managed it once with the lancer card and they work together on a mana blast to do it a second time, what about you?"
I shake my head pausing for a moment to bring my thoughts back together before responding. Alright, so the first and second fights didn't really go as planned, no big deal. So what if the greatest hero of Greece has battle instincts that are honed a little bit more than yours, I just need to relax and let the class card lead the way. Yes, that's right, I was forcing my movements before.
"I'm afraid not, spent my time figuring out how to use the Saber card.-"
I pick myself up, raising the blade again. I pointedly try to hide and ignore the wobbling in my arms and legs as I stand, breathing in and out deeply once upright.
"-But it looks like I've got some catching up to do."
Some time ago, in another place
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
The snow falls lightly around me, cold and harsh against the expected warmth of my destination.
I barely notice the doors creak as I reenter my home for the third time, caressing the blue ring on my finger.
"Just a little more oil shouldn't hurt."
God, I don't think I've ever been the only adult in the room at a Christmas party, hell I've never even organised a party before. This is far further outside of Kuzuki's realm of expertise, it's not like I want anyone whose coming died or anything.
"I shall take care of it, Master Bartholemew"
I got tired of pacing back and forth inside a few hours ago, however, pacing outside wasn't any more entertaining or relaxing. Adjusting the decorations, making sure the ham was properly prepared, checking the wrapping on the presents. Yes, yes it's all good everything is fine.
"Thank you Kuzuki."
He nods in response.
But my face still burns and heart pounds, eh at least I've stopped my hands shaking, thank you ring. I should leave more of this busy work for Kuzuki anyway, I don't want to reduce his purpose or whatever. He never makes for good conversation at the best of times, the last thing I want is for him to cold-shoulder me even further.
"Gratitude unnecessary but appreciated."
I let out a sigh, this house is always so lonely. I still find myself a little surprised at the response of the ring, I'd never have bet on a non-magical object having such personality, even if it is a bit stiff.
"You're welcome, say do either of you have an opinion on this?"
The last of the dishes are placed on the table, the three prepared presents sit comfortably under the tree. Right good, food check, presents check, plates check, fireplace check, tree check, decorations check, hidden mistletoe check, chairs check, table che-
"All preparations made have been adequate."
DING-DONG
Ah, an arrival, snowflakes flutter to the ground around me as the door creaks open yet again.
"Merry Christmas, Bartholemew-sensei."
"Merry Christmas, Mister Bartholemew."
I'm so glad I stopped the ring from translating teacher in moments like this, It was always so jarring to hear 'Bartholemew teacher' said aloud.
"Excellent, you wouldn't happen to have seen Sakura on your way?"
He shakes his head.
"I'm afraid not."
Unfortunate... oh well, she does have further to travel than Shirou and Miyu. I move further inside vaguely pointing at the presents I'd prepared.
"Oh, and Merry Christmas Shirou and Miyu, there are some presents for you under the tree and dinner can begin once Sakura arrives."
The room is wreathed in the smile of a young girl as she rushes to the tree.
"Ah, you didn't have to do-"
I hold up a hand to stop him.
"Nonsense, with so few people left in the city it's important to make sure that those left remain close, especially if they're members of the same club. Besides,-"
I shrug as I gesture to the happy little girl attacking her presents.
"-It's Christmas."
Shirou breaks into one of his rare smiles as he nods beginning to attempt to move past me to join her.
"As you always say."
Ah, wonderful she's arrived, I remain in his way a moment leading to a loss of his smile.
"Merry Christmas Sakura."
I subtly unwrap the mistletoe, allowing it to hang down as Sakura enters the doorway. Shirou realises why I remained and turns to greet her.
"Merry Christmas Sakura."
"Merry Christmas sensei, merry Christmas senpai."
I don't flinch at the other word I've prevented the Ring from translating as I clap my hands together.
"Now that everyone's here there's a present for you under the tree Sakura and dinner will be out momentarily, Oh and mistletoe."
I helpfully point it out causing Sakura's smile to broaden and Shirou to recoil in shock.
"Eh?! That wasn't there before!!
I nod to Kuzuki and leave Sakura to her work. The flickers of light from the fireplace reflect in the joyous eyes of the child ecstatic at the surprise gifts.
"Now senpai, it's only a quick kiss-"
I relax into my chair by the fire, producing a copy of The Prince from subspace and begin to read from where I left off.
No one should notice that.
After seven pages my nose alerts me to the arrival of food, ah, excellent. I leave the bookmark inside the novel on my armrest. Smiles all around the table as Kuzuki begins slicing the ham, the man himself maintains he expressionless face, but I can tell he's at least a little pleased with himself. I raise my glass to a toast. I take note of Miyu eagerly eyeing up the food, Sakura glancing at an oblivious Shirou whose redfaced and looking down, even as the grin has overtaken his embarrassment.
"To friends and family, in our small city."
Excellent for just one night, everything shall be well.
I barely notice the doors creak as I reenter my home for the third time, caressing the blue ring on my finger.
"Just a little more oil shouldn't hurt."
God, I don't think I've ever been the only adult in the room at a Christmas party, hell I've never even organised a party before. This is far further outside of Kuzuki's realm of expertise, it's not like I want anyone whose coming died or anything.
"I shall take care of it, Master Bartholemew"
I got tired of pacing back and forth inside a few hours ago, however, pacing outside wasn't any more entertaining or relaxing. Adjusting the decorations, making sure the ham was properly prepared, checking the wrapping on the presents. Yes, yes it's all good everything is fine.
"Thank you Kuzuki."
He nods in response.
But my face still burns and heart pounds, eh at least I've stopped my hands shaking, thank you ring. I should leave more of this busy work for Kuzuki anyway, I don't want to reduce his purpose or whatever. He never makes for good conversation at the best of times, the last thing I want is for him to cold-shoulder me even further.
"Gratitude unnecessary but appreciated."
I let out a sigh, this house is always so lonely. I still find myself a little surprised at the response of the ring, I'd never have bet on a non-magical object having such personality, even if it is a bit stiff.
"You're welcome, say do either of you have an opinion on this?"
The last of the dishes are placed on the table, the three prepared presents sit comfortably under the tree. Right good, food check, presents check, plates check, fireplace check, tree check, decorations check, hidden mistletoe check, chairs check, table che-
"All preparations made have been adequate."
DING-DONG
Ah, an arrival, snowflakes flutter to the ground around me as the door creaks open yet again.
"Merry Christmas, Bartholemew-sensei."
"Merry Christmas, Mister Bartholemew."
I'm so glad I stopped the ring from translating teacher in moments like this, It was always so jarring to hear 'Bartholemew teacher' said aloud.
"Excellent, you wouldn't happen to have seen Sakura on your way?"
He shakes his head.
"I'm afraid not."
Unfortunate... oh well, she does have further to travel than Shirou and Miyu. I move further inside vaguely pointing at the presents I'd prepared.
"Oh, and Merry Christmas Shirou and Miyu, there are some presents for you under the tree and dinner can begin once Sakura arrives."
The room is wreathed in the smile of a young girl as she rushes to the tree.
"Ah, you didn't have to do-"
I hold up a hand to stop him.
"Nonsense, with so few people left in the city it's important to make sure that those left remain close, especially if they're members of the same club. Besides,-"
I shrug as I gesture to the happy little girl attacking her presents.
"-It's Christmas."
Shirou breaks into one of his rare smiles as he nods beginning to attempt to move past me to join her.
"As you always say."
Ah, wonderful she's arrived, I remain in his way a moment leading to a loss of his smile.
"Merry Christmas Sakura."
I subtly unwrap the mistletoe, allowing it to hang down as Sakura enters the doorway. Shirou realises why I remained and turns to greet her.
"Merry Christmas Sakura."
"Merry Christmas sensei, merry Christmas senpai."
I don't flinch at the other word I've prevented the Ring from translating as I clap my hands together.
"Now that everyone's here there's a present for you under the tree Sakura and dinner will be out momentarily, Oh and mistletoe."
I helpfully point it out causing Sakura's smile to broaden and Shirou to recoil in shock.
"Eh?! That wasn't there before!!
I nod to Kuzuki and leave Sakura to her work. The flickers of light from the fireplace reflect in the joyous eyes of the child ecstatic at the surprise gifts.
"Now senpai, it's only a quick kiss-"
I relax into my chair by the fire, producing a copy of The Prince from subspace and begin to read from where I left off.
No one should notice that.
After seven pages my nose alerts me to the arrival of food, ah, excellent. I leave the bookmark inside the novel on my armrest. Smiles all around the table as Kuzuki begins slicing the ham, the man himself maintains he expressionless face, but I can tell he's at least a little pleased with himself. I raise my glass to a toast. I take note of Miyu eagerly eyeing up the food, Sakura glancing at an oblivious Shirou whose redfaced and looking down, even as the grin has overtaken his embarrassment.
"To friends and family, in our small city."
Excellent for just one night, everything shall be well.
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Got it in one.
Pride ends here Pt: 5
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Pride ends here Pt: 5
The monster swings his sword in a blur of motion in front of me as I find my legs unwilling to move forward. I swallow, ok why am I afraid now I've literally been through worse at this point. I shake my head to try and clear it of the sound of rushing liquid.
"Are you ok?"
I watch the great sword and magical girls dance around each other in the relatively confined space of the building, ducking and diving around his strikes. I take in a breath before I nod and respond.
"Yes, thanks for asking Luvia, you and Rin should probably start heading for the roof."
She nods in agreement.
"The confined spaces of this building limit our movement more than his."
She turns to tap Rin on the shoulder before definitely not dragging her down the corridor.
"Hooooo."
I hold the blade parallel to the ground, letting out another breath to prepare myself to charge back into the fray.
…
My legs have locked.
…
I pear into the shadows surrounding us in the flashes of light from the fight, seeing faces I remember, images of fear from realising they were hopelessly outgunned.
…
"Sod off…-"
That isn't me, what's wrong with me? I need to move, this is unacceptable.
"Alert, non-fear based emotional spetrum presense detected."
The yellow hue caused by the ring sputters and dies for a moment.
"-I WILL NOT STAND BY AND WATCH!"
After all, I wouldn't want the Saber card to cut out now would I. The three combatants pause for less than a second and look at me as the world lurches. One foot forward, then another and another and another and...
"RAAGH!!"
I let out a thematic returning cry as I let the combative instincts of a king take out my movement.
"FOR KING AND COUNTRY!"
I've always wanted to say that in this context. I don't even see the blades as they whirl around the room, barely noticing the back and forth of my footwork dancing me around the room.
"Kyaa!"
Illya squeals as she's almost caught in between the constant clash of swords. I'm forced through another wall as the battle continues the rage. Ring can you accelerate my reaction time and enhance my physical abilities?
"Confirmed. Warning duplicating neural pathways may lead to damage."
I'm grabbed by the left arm and thrown through another wall collapsing on the ground. Can you repair it?
"Confirmed."
I pick myself back up and prepare to let the instincts take over again. This is going far better, but it's always good to have an edge, do it.
"Command confirmed."
Wait, duplicate? I come to a realisation, no wait cancel the natu- The room lights up as my heart thunders in my ears, the world in front of me ceases to make sense as my brain begins burning.
"GARK!"
-r-r-a-a-l-l f-f-l-l-o-o-w-w w-w-h-h-i-i-l-l-e-e i-i-t-t-'-'-s-s a-a-c-c-t-t-i-i-v-v-e-e.
"Command confirmed."
The entire world looks and feels like it crashes into itself for a brief moment before I recognise berserkers blade coming down on me again.
"GArgh."
My own sword barely makes it up in time to deflect, Illya and Miyu stand around me looking for valid a reason to run and opportunity to attack respectively. Huwa? my head hurts almost too much to think. Blood drips from seemingly random points around my body, Ring repair the damage.
"Command confirmed."
Bones click and muscles shift uncomfortably under my skin. Alright, I wipe my face, I suppose it's time to bring them up to speed, I manage to bring the hilt of my sword down on Berserkers nose from under his guard proceeding to shoulder check him through a wall.
"Fall back."
The brief word I manage to get in among the carnage is picked up immediately by Miyu, who grabs Illya's arm.
"Come with me."
The platinum blonde glances at me for a moment before being forced down a hall.
"Eh!? What abo-"
Berserker stands back up in front of me and appears to eye me up for a moment. Perfect gives me an opportunity to consider what I'm about to do. Fighting retreat all the way to the roof, that should give them enough time to fall back. Although I suppose there's no harm in trying…
"Hold on for a minute good sir."
To his credit he pauses his next step giving me another moment, huh, I guess even in his madness he's still supposed to be the greatest of heroes. He breathes into my face through his nostrils, right then, let's have a look at his fears ring.
"Command confirmed."
…
What?! I see nothing, what going- oh, oh no. Ring explain, tell me I'm wrong.
"Subject possesses no yellow light."
Oh, boy, that can't be good, well there's no point dragging this out. Ring, care to explain?
"Thank you for that."
He reacts to my subtle warning by paring my upwards strike to knocking me through another wall, Ring please get me up again.
"Subject does not possess fear causing constructs to be ineffective. Command confirmed."
Hmm… it seems I wasn't actually hurt by that last blow, in fact, I'm not sure his sword actually made impact. I barely notice the movements of both swords at this point king Arthurs instincts combined with my ring enhanced senses are allowing me to put up a convincing fighting retreat towards the staircase.
"Oh."
I realise that Excalibur is buried in Berserkers torso as his bodyweight drags me down a little. I mean, I know that it won't stop him, but I'm pleased with the progress none the less. I remove the sword and cut off his head, right now how to stop him regenerating.
Splat.
I bury the blade through his skull into the floor.
…
What now?
The body glows red as the area is engulfed in powerful winds, the skull melts and flows towards the top of the corpse reforming with the rest of the body. Back to plan A then, they should have had enough time to put back to the roof, right? I begin flying toward the closest window at speed.
"Goddammit."
The monster swings his sword in a blur of motion in front of me as I find my legs unwilling to move forward. I swallow, ok why am I afraid now I've literally been through worse at this point. I shake my head to try and clear it of the sound of rushing liquid.
"Are you ok?"
I watch the great sword and magical girls dance around each other in the relatively confined space of the building, ducking and diving around his strikes. I take in a breath before I nod and respond.
"Yes, thanks for asking Luvia, you and Rin should probably start heading for the roof."
She nods in agreement.
"The confined spaces of this building limit our movement more than his."
She turns to tap Rin on the shoulder before definitely not dragging her down the corridor.
"Hooooo."
I hold the blade parallel to the ground, letting out another breath to prepare myself to charge back into the fray.
…
My legs have locked.
…
I pear into the shadows surrounding us in the flashes of light from the fight, seeing faces I remember, images of fear from realising they were hopelessly outgunned.
…
"Sod off…-"
That isn't me, what's wrong with me? I need to move, this is unacceptable.
"Alert, non-fear based emotional spetrum presense detected."
The yellow hue caused by the ring sputters and dies for a moment.
"-I WILL NOT STAND BY AND WATCH!"
After all, I wouldn't want the Saber card to cut out now would I. The three combatants pause for less than a second and look at me as the world lurches. One foot forward, then another and another and another and...
"RAAGH!!"
I let out a thematic returning cry as I let the combative instincts of a king take out my movement.
"FOR KING AND COUNTRY!"
I've always wanted to say that in this context. I don't even see the blades as they whirl around the room, barely noticing the back and forth of my footwork dancing me around the room.
"Kyaa!"
Illya squeals as she's almost caught in between the constant clash of swords. I'm forced through another wall as the battle continues the rage. Ring can you accelerate my reaction time and enhance my physical abilities?
"Confirmed. Warning duplicating neural pathways may lead to damage."
I'm grabbed by the left arm and thrown through another wall collapsing on the ground. Can you repair it?
"Confirmed."
I pick myself back up and prepare to let the instincts take over again. This is going far better, but it's always good to have an edge, do it.
"Command confirmed."
Wait, duplicate? I come to a realisation, no wait cancel the natu- The room lights up as my heart thunders in my ears, the world in front of me ceases to make sense as my brain begins burning.
"GARK!"
-r-r-a-a-l-l f-f-l-l-o-o-w-w w-w-h-h-i-i-l-l-e-e i-i-t-t-'-'-s-s a-a-c-c-t-t-i-i-v-v-e-e.
"Command confirmed."
The entire world looks and feels like it crashes into itself for a brief moment before I recognise berserkers blade coming down on me again.
"GArgh."
My own sword barely makes it up in time to deflect, Illya and Miyu stand around me looking for valid a reason to run and opportunity to attack respectively. Huwa? my head hurts almost too much to think. Blood drips from seemingly random points around my body, Ring repair the damage.
"Command confirmed."
Bones click and muscles shift uncomfortably under my skin. Alright, I wipe my face, I suppose it's time to bring them up to speed, I manage to bring the hilt of my sword down on Berserkers nose from under his guard proceeding to shoulder check him through a wall.
"Fall back."
The brief word I manage to get in among the carnage is picked up immediately by Miyu, who grabs Illya's arm.
"Come with me."
The platinum blonde glances at me for a moment before being forced down a hall.
"Eh!? What abo-"
Berserker stands back up in front of me and appears to eye me up for a moment. Perfect gives me an opportunity to consider what I'm about to do. Fighting retreat all the way to the roof, that should give them enough time to fall back. Although I suppose there's no harm in trying…
"Hold on for a minute good sir."
To his credit he pauses his next step giving me another moment, huh, I guess even in his madness he's still supposed to be the greatest of heroes. He breathes into my face through his nostrils, right then, let's have a look at his fears ring.
"Command confirmed."
…
What?! I see nothing, what going- oh, oh no. Ring explain, tell me I'm wrong.
"Subject possesses no yellow light."
Oh, boy, that can't be good, well there's no point dragging this out. Ring, care to explain?
"Thank you for that."
He reacts to my subtle warning by paring my upwards strike to knocking me through another wall, Ring please get me up again.
"Subject does not possess fear causing constructs to be ineffective. Command confirmed."
Hmm… it seems I wasn't actually hurt by that last blow, in fact, I'm not sure his sword actually made impact. I barely notice the movements of both swords at this point king Arthurs instincts combined with my ring enhanced senses are allowing me to put up a convincing fighting retreat towards the staircase.
"Oh."
I realise that Excalibur is buried in Berserkers torso as his bodyweight drags me down a little. I mean, I know that it won't stop him, but I'm pleased with the progress none the less. I remove the sword and cut off his head, right now how to stop him regenerating.
Splat.
I bury the blade through his skull into the floor.
…
What now?
The body glows red as the area is engulfed in powerful winds, the skull melts and flows towards the top of the corpse reforming with the rest of the body. Back to plan A then, they should have had enough time to put back to the roof, right? I begin flying toward the closest window at speed.
"Goddammit."
Pride ends here Pt: 6
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Pride ends here Pt: 6
CRASH.
I lunge through the window, shooting upwards into the sky. Roll around the corner and-
WOOSH.
A large object barrels into the sky, giving me enough time to regroup with everyone. Taking careful note of where the two… ugh screw I've been avoiding thinking it but it's accurate, 'magical girls' are staying in the air. I feel the blood dripping off of my body, Illya appears to have heavy bags under her eyes, Should probably get her to stay a bit further back, eh I'll mention it if I get the chance. Everything has gone a bit numb and to be honest with the amount of bleeding I'm doing I am really glad about that.
"Soo… glad you all made it, we've gotta kill this guy about… nine-ish more times. So yeah strategy, given how this is going I think we need to crack out the really expensive gems."
I hope to fuck he doesn't push himself beyond his legend, I mean it doesn't make much of a difference given I can't even think about nine new was to kill him, but every little bit helps. I regain my balance as my left foot slips, almost allowing Berserker to almost take off my head.
"Eehh! I can affo-"
BOOM!
Berserker crashes back down onto the roof before charging into the centre of our little group, locking blades with me while knocking Illya and Miyu away.
"-rd that!"
"Kyaa!"
Something wet runs down my left arm and right leg as several of my strikes bounce off of Berserkers skin. Even if I expected this it's still demoralising to have my strikes rendered ineffective. Miyu recovers faster and begins firing at berserkers eyes, not actually damaging him but distracting him enough to give me an edge.
"Are you seriously worried about that right-"
I duck under his guard and roll, blade bouncing off of his ribs as I pass. Well, that was unexpected, I spin raising my sword again. Liquid flickering into the night as the combat instincts of two legendary heroes continue to batter against each other.
"-now, being broke doesn't mean anything if you're too dead to use the money anyway!"
Seriously, my perspective changes as I bend my body in half just in time for me to see his greatsword pass over my face, I think I heard something about Kotomine deliberately destroying her family's wealth or something… but Tokiomi isn't dead so that shouldn't be happening… I see grasp her head shaking it furiously.
"Aaaahhh, fine. I don't care!!, then I'll use the gems."
I nod mostly to myself, hmm it seems like that caused her a little bit of distress. Side-step and thrust, maybe I should reimburse her? Parry and, oh? Was that a spin I swear this fighting style makes no sense to me. I remember how she nearly killed me and decided to convince Luvia to throw out our deal and strongarm me into compliance… another bounce from the tip of the sword, maybe if she asks maybe I'll consider it.
"Around five should be enough!"
There's a pause as I feel the colour run from her face, attempting to focus my eyes on the opponent in front of me. While using me as a proxy with ring enhanced reflexes King Arthur has been putting up more than a valiant effort I see no reason to make the fight any harder. I notice liquid roll the left side of my forehead forcing my eye closed. Ah, fuck, I have a go at wiping it off failing miserably, well, this is life now.
"EH?! What do you mean five, how to do know that?!"
Or was it three? Better to err on the side of caution, particularly given the nature of this opponent. I'm backed up a bit now, no doubt attempting to compensate for my current lack of depth perception. In spite of her complaints, she does draw out five gems and moves in to engage Berserker.
"RAAGH!"
He suddenly spins clockwise launching his blade towards me with a burst of speed.
"Graagh!"
Which I barely grounded myself in time to not be sent flying.
CRASH.
"Kyaa!"
It appears Rin was less lucky, Ring check her vitals. I notice my left arm go limp as that side of my neck feels like a pulled a muscle.
"Subject is alive."
Well ok, that's a start is she about to die?
"Miss Ri-"
Illya turns her attention away from the giants as he knocks her into the floor with a flick of his wrist as Miyu sends another mana blast at him.
"Subject will likely expire soon if no action is taken."
Well, that's not great, I fly over to the rubble of Rins Landing site and point the ring at her holding the sword parallel to the ground.
"Miyu I'm afraid you're going to have to keep his attention for a minute."
For a terrifying moment, I feel berserkers eyes bore into me before Miyu appears to tackle him into the through the ground we're standing on.
"Understood."
I notice flashes of light from under me as I order the Ring to heal Rin, I feel tired I feel…
"Command confirmed."
The Rings voice snaps me awake again. I watch over Rin as her injuries repair themselves and Luvia climbs up next to me.
"How can he be this strong?"
I begin to plan my response but collapse onto the floor.
"Wh- are you alright?"
It feels like my insides are getting torn up and I physically can't scream. My head my head is burning, stopstopstopstop.
"Hauk-hauk!"
Ring fix me, please.
"Command confirmed."
Alright, I keel over again.
"Hauk-hauk!"
I think Someones talking to me, but I can't hear anything. Ring what's happening?
"Corpsman's body is collapsing."
I feel the blood on the floor on my face, Ring why?
"Duplication of neural pathways has exceeded safe limits, corpsman's body is not designed for prolonged use at current levels."
Cease it, please.
"Command confirmed."
"Raugh!"
I feel like I was at the front of a train when it crashed into a wall. Ugh, I drag myself upright yet again, Ring please repair any lingering damage.
"Command confirmed."
I shake my head as the pain begins to fade.
"Are you going to be alright?"
Almost certainly not, I nod as the remaining windows on the floor beneath us get blown out causing the ground beneath us to shake.
"Yes, I'll be alright, regretting my choice to get strongarmed into this but alright."
At least I've stopped bleeding and hurting now, alright then, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Now I think the archer card should be able to take him down what six? Seven times? maybe I can do it once more with a full Excalibur if I get an opening, then there are the gems so that's twelve deaths at best… huh? Glad that works out.
"I think that the math works out in our favour..."
Luvia glances confused at me, no wait Archer was injured when they fought, wasn't he?
"Whatever do you mean?"
I start counting on my fingers.
"We need to kill him twelve times for twelve labours-"
I hope.
"-and I think my math is off."
She gazes at me as if I've explained precisely nothing as Rin appears next to me and places her hand on my shoulder.
"Mr Bartholomew, could you clarify why you let me almost get killed?"
I glance at her 'not so friendly' smile.
"Why do you think I let you do anything-"
The two magical girls manage to escape long enough to reach the roof again and link up with us.
"-besides perhaps I'm a little annoyed about you blowing off my hand and setting up a quasi-protection racket.
She removes her hand as her eyes widen.
"That wasn't on purpose and you were tricking us first!"
"As much as it pains me to admit it I must agree with the gorilla."
"What did you just say about me?!"
I move myself in between them as the giant make another landing.
"Can we focus! Illya activate the archer card then repeat after me."
Illya appears aloof barely appearing to register my words.
"Wha-"
Oh goddamnit, the giant dispurses our little strategy meeting Rin, Luvia and Miyu jump out of the way on their own while I meet his blade.
"GODDAMNIT!!!-"
I interpose myself directly between Berserker and Illya, double-checking that no one else is in the way of what I'm about to do.
"-Miyu I need you to keep his attention for a second!"
I feel the right side of my head give as I take a hook to the face, my ribs as I take a knee.
"Understood."
I quick glance behind tells me that Illya is still stood still, I feel a dogged determination far beyond anything I thought I would have myself as I rally to hold him back.
"Awawawaw-"
"RAAAAA!!!"
I manage to knock him back a step as Miyu uses her body as a projectile to send him back further. I send a construct to grab her and pull her out of the way as I raise my sword, feeling my left arm begin to burn.
"Negh, Excalibur!!!"
I bring the blade down as fast as I can feel liquid drip off of my arm the smell of burning flesh filling my nostrils. A blinding light erases the top half of his body, his legs land loudly on the ground. The Saber card leaves me as I order the Ring to heal my body.
"Command confirmed. Alert command failed left forearm remains extensively damaged."
I glance down seeing my forearm halfway between burnt and melted, I mean the skin is definitely melted but the flesh underneath appears burnt. I turn and shake Illya, knowing that berserker will be back up in no time.
"Illya wake up!"
Her eyes appear lost as she looks at me, oh hell.
"Wha-"
Ring can you shock her.
"Command confirmed."
She jolts bolt upright, eyes coming to life.
"Kyaa!! What was that for."
"We don't have time, activate the archer card or give it to me!"
She hesitates for a moment before removing the card from her holster and nodding. Good, we will need that card to win, I feel a tug on my clothes.
"Mr Bartholemew, we're going to survive this right?"
Not triggering that flag, I shake my head.
"No there's a good chance we're all going to die."
Her eyes widen again and she attempts to back away, I feel something enclose my head, oh shit.
"wha-"
The world spins as I'm torn from my conservation quite literally. After crashing through more concrete I get back up in time to see Illya about to get mulched by Berserker, well I guess it's time for the last-ditch effort then. I gulp and ask the Ring to FTL me to Berserker, placing my mangled left arm on his back.
"Medeas, gonna kill me for this.-"
I think Illya mutters something in the background.
"die."
Berserker begins to turn at my comment as I focus energy into my arm. I am focused, certain on what I will accomplish in the moment, never planning ahead properly and taking life as it comes.
"-Reenforce."
Because no matter how much I practice I never pulled off that spell, something about being unable to predict how much energy an object could absorb without exploding, she did say I'd figure it out with time and I'd like to think that time is not right now. He freezes for a moment eyes, mouth and nostrils beginning to radiate light as he screams into the sky.
"RAAAAGH!!"
I feel a rumble in the distance, the clang of a hammer on hot metal rings form the other side of the giant as cracks begin to appear through his skin.
"NNGGGHHH."
Ring suppress pain, now that I can see my arm I witness the flesh and skin melt off purple lightning crack off around it. Now that I think about it, that's probably not healthy.
"Command confirmed."
As the light starts blinding me as I realise that I should probably shield everyone, ah it appears that someone is more onto it than me. Ring shield my body please, also perform continuous repairs on me as well.
"Command confirmed, command failed left arm remains significantly damaged."
There's a long boom and I slip into unconsciousness to the sound of grinding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ugh."
I try and bring my body upright noticing that my left forearm kind of cuts off, Miyu standing over me.
"Wha- oh shit!"
"You're alive."
I shrug shaking slightly and stand, Ring would you kindly heal any remaining injuries.
"Command confirmed."
My arm begins to regenerate, ok that's better.
"What's happened?"
She begins to lead me away.
"Luvia asked me to collect you, Berserker has been defeated."
Oh, well that's pleasant, I let out a sigh and relax.
CRASH.
I lunge through the window, shooting upwards into the sky. Roll around the corner and-
WOOSH.
A large object barrels into the sky, giving me enough time to regroup with everyone. Taking careful note of where the two… ugh screw I've been avoiding thinking it but it's accurate, 'magical girls' are staying in the air. I feel the blood dripping off of my body, Illya appears to have heavy bags under her eyes, Should probably get her to stay a bit further back, eh I'll mention it if I get the chance. Everything has gone a bit numb and to be honest with the amount of bleeding I'm doing I am really glad about that.
"Soo… glad you all made it, we've gotta kill this guy about… nine-ish more times. So yeah strategy, given how this is going I think we need to crack out the really expensive gems."
I hope to fuck he doesn't push himself beyond his legend, I mean it doesn't make much of a difference given I can't even think about nine new was to kill him, but every little bit helps. I regain my balance as my left foot slips, almost allowing Berserker to almost take off my head.
"Eehh! I can affo-"
BOOM!
Berserker crashes back down onto the roof before charging into the centre of our little group, locking blades with me while knocking Illya and Miyu away.
"-rd that!"
"Kyaa!"
Something wet runs down my left arm and right leg as several of my strikes bounce off of Berserkers skin. Even if I expected this it's still demoralising to have my strikes rendered ineffective. Miyu recovers faster and begins firing at berserkers eyes, not actually damaging him but distracting him enough to give me an edge.
"Are you seriously worried about that right-"
I duck under his guard and roll, blade bouncing off of his ribs as I pass. Well, that was unexpected, I spin raising my sword again. Liquid flickering into the night as the combat instincts of two legendary heroes continue to batter against each other.
"-now, being broke doesn't mean anything if you're too dead to use the money anyway!"
Seriously, my perspective changes as I bend my body in half just in time for me to see his greatsword pass over my face, I think I heard something about Kotomine deliberately destroying her family's wealth or something… but Tokiomi isn't dead so that shouldn't be happening… I see grasp her head shaking it furiously.
"Aaaahhh, fine. I don't care!!, then I'll use the gems."
I nod mostly to myself, hmm it seems like that caused her a little bit of distress. Side-step and thrust, maybe I should reimburse her? Parry and, oh? Was that a spin I swear this fighting style makes no sense to me. I remember how she nearly killed me and decided to convince Luvia to throw out our deal and strongarm me into compliance… another bounce from the tip of the sword, maybe if she asks maybe I'll consider it.
"Around five should be enough!"
There's a pause as I feel the colour run from her face, attempting to focus my eyes on the opponent in front of me. While using me as a proxy with ring enhanced reflexes King Arthur has been putting up more than a valiant effort I see no reason to make the fight any harder. I notice liquid roll the left side of my forehead forcing my eye closed. Ah, fuck, I have a go at wiping it off failing miserably, well, this is life now.
"EH?! What do you mean five, how to do know that?!"
Or was it three? Better to err on the side of caution, particularly given the nature of this opponent. I'm backed up a bit now, no doubt attempting to compensate for my current lack of depth perception. In spite of her complaints, she does draw out five gems and moves in to engage Berserker.
"RAAGH!"
He suddenly spins clockwise launching his blade towards me with a burst of speed.
"Graagh!"
Which I barely grounded myself in time to not be sent flying.
CRASH.
"Kyaa!"
It appears Rin was less lucky, Ring check her vitals. I notice my left arm go limp as that side of my neck feels like a pulled a muscle.
"Subject is alive."
Well ok, that's a start is she about to die?
"Miss Ri-"
Illya turns her attention away from the giants as he knocks her into the floor with a flick of his wrist as Miyu sends another mana blast at him.
"Subject will likely expire soon if no action is taken."
Well, that's not great, I fly over to the rubble of Rins Landing site and point the ring at her holding the sword parallel to the ground.
"Miyu I'm afraid you're going to have to keep his attention for a minute."
For a terrifying moment, I feel berserkers eyes bore into me before Miyu appears to tackle him into the through the ground we're standing on.
"Understood."
I notice flashes of light from under me as I order the Ring to heal Rin, I feel tired I feel…
"Command confirmed."
The Rings voice snaps me awake again. I watch over Rin as her injuries repair themselves and Luvia climbs up next to me.
"How can he be this strong?"
I begin to plan my response but collapse onto the floor.
"Wh- are you alright?"
It feels like my insides are getting torn up and I physically can't scream. My head my head is burning, stopstopstopstop.
"Hauk-hauk!"
Ring fix me, please.
"Command confirmed."
Alright, I keel over again.
"Hauk-hauk!"
I think Someones talking to me, but I can't hear anything. Ring what's happening?
"Corpsman's body is collapsing."
I feel the blood on the floor on my face, Ring why?
"Duplication of neural pathways has exceeded safe limits, corpsman's body is not designed for prolonged use at current levels."
Cease it, please.
"Command confirmed."
"Raugh!"
I feel like I was at the front of a train when it crashed into a wall. Ugh, I drag myself upright yet again, Ring please repair any lingering damage.
"Command confirmed."
I shake my head as the pain begins to fade.
"Are you going to be alright?"
Almost certainly not, I nod as the remaining windows on the floor beneath us get blown out causing the ground beneath us to shake.
"Yes, I'll be alright, regretting my choice to get strongarmed into this but alright."
At least I've stopped bleeding and hurting now, alright then, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Now I think the archer card should be able to take him down what six? Seven times? maybe I can do it once more with a full Excalibur if I get an opening, then there are the gems so that's twelve deaths at best… huh? Glad that works out.
"I think that the math works out in our favour..."
Luvia glances confused at me, no wait Archer was injured when they fought, wasn't he?
"Whatever do you mean?"
I start counting on my fingers.
"We need to kill him twelve times for twelve labours-"
I hope.
"-and I think my math is off."
She gazes at me as if I've explained precisely nothing as Rin appears next to me and places her hand on my shoulder.
"Mr Bartholomew, could you clarify why you let me almost get killed?"
I glance at her 'not so friendly' smile.
"Why do you think I let you do anything-"
The two magical girls manage to escape long enough to reach the roof again and link up with us.
"-besides perhaps I'm a little annoyed about you blowing off my hand and setting up a quasi-protection racket.
She removes her hand as her eyes widen.
"That wasn't on purpose and you were tricking us first!"
"As much as it pains me to admit it I must agree with the gorilla."
"What did you just say about me?!"
I move myself in between them as the giant make another landing.
"Can we focus! Illya activate the archer card then repeat after me."
Illya appears aloof barely appearing to register my words.
"Wha-"
Oh goddamnit, the giant dispurses our little strategy meeting Rin, Luvia and Miyu jump out of the way on their own while I meet his blade.
"GODDAMNIT!!!-"
I interpose myself directly between Berserker and Illya, double-checking that no one else is in the way of what I'm about to do.
"-Miyu I need you to keep his attention for a second!"
I feel the right side of my head give as I take a hook to the face, my ribs as I take a knee.
"Understood."
I quick glance behind tells me that Illya is still stood still, I feel a dogged determination far beyond anything I thought I would have myself as I rally to hold him back.
"Awawawaw-"
"RAAAAA!!!"
I manage to knock him back a step as Miyu uses her body as a projectile to send him back further. I send a construct to grab her and pull her out of the way as I raise my sword, feeling my left arm begin to burn.
"Negh, Excalibur!!!"
I bring the blade down as fast as I can feel liquid drip off of my arm the smell of burning flesh filling my nostrils. A blinding light erases the top half of his body, his legs land loudly on the ground. The Saber card leaves me as I order the Ring to heal my body.
"Command confirmed. Alert command failed left forearm remains extensively damaged."
I glance down seeing my forearm halfway between burnt and melted, I mean the skin is definitely melted but the flesh underneath appears burnt. I turn and shake Illya, knowing that berserker will be back up in no time.
"Illya wake up!"
Her eyes appear lost as she looks at me, oh hell.
"Wha-"
Ring can you shock her.
"Command confirmed."
She jolts bolt upright, eyes coming to life.
"Kyaa!! What was that for."
"We don't have time, activate the archer card or give it to me!"
She hesitates for a moment before removing the card from her holster and nodding. Good, we will need that card to win, I feel a tug on my clothes.
"Mr Bartholemew, we're going to survive this right?"
Not triggering that flag, I shake my head.
"No there's a good chance we're all going to die."
Her eyes widen again and she attempts to back away, I feel something enclose my head, oh shit.
"wha-"
The world spins as I'm torn from my conservation quite literally. After crashing through more concrete I get back up in time to see Illya about to get mulched by Berserker, well I guess it's time for the last-ditch effort then. I gulp and ask the Ring to FTL me to Berserker, placing my mangled left arm on his back.
"Medeas, gonna kill me for this.-"
I think Illya mutters something in the background.
"die."
Berserker begins to turn at my comment as I focus energy into my arm. I am focused, certain on what I will accomplish in the moment, never planning ahead properly and taking life as it comes.
"-Reenforce."
Because no matter how much I practice I never pulled off that spell, something about being unable to predict how much energy an object could absorb without exploding, she did say I'd figure it out with time and I'd like to think that time is not right now. He freezes for a moment eyes, mouth and nostrils beginning to radiate light as he screams into the sky.
"RAAAAGH!!"
I feel a rumble in the distance, the clang of a hammer on hot metal rings form the other side of the giant as cracks begin to appear through his skin.
"NNGGGHHH."
Ring suppress pain, now that I can see my arm I witness the flesh and skin melt off purple lightning crack off around it. Now that I think about it, that's probably not healthy.
"Command confirmed."
As the light starts blinding me as I realise that I should probably shield everyone, ah it appears that someone is more onto it than me. Ring shield my body please, also perform continuous repairs on me as well.
"Command confirmed, command failed left arm remains significantly damaged."
There's a long boom and I slip into unconsciousness to the sound of grinding.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Ugh."
I try and bring my body upright noticing that my left forearm kind of cuts off, Miyu standing over me.
"Wha- oh shit!"
"You're alive."
I shrug shaking slightly and stand, Ring would you kindly heal any remaining injuries.
"Command confirmed."
My arm begins to regenerate, ok that's better.
"What's happened?"
She begins to lead me away.
"Luvia asked me to collect you, Berserker has been defeated."
Oh, well that's pleasant, I let out a sigh and relax.
one thing that you should fix with this chapter is a lot of time when he was speaking I couldn't tell whether he was thinking things are speaking them cuz you are missing the part of the English language that tells you that someone is speaking out loud but just him and not the other characters for some reason mostly.
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Did I miss some quotation marks? they should be bright yellow.
Respite Pt: 1
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Respite Pt: 1
I stagger over to where everyone else is standing, oh that can't be good.
"What's gone on here?"
Illya stands in her archer garb twitching, Luvia and Rin keeping a wary distance.
"The class card hasn't left her yet."
As I approach I can see the extent of the damage to her small frame, blood runs down her arm and face and she stands slightly off centre placing more weight on one leg.
"I can see that Rin but if Berserkers dead the-"
The earth beneath us rumbles cutting me off, I wait till after the ground stabilizes before I continue.
"-n we need to leave here as soon as possible if we can get-"
Rin turns to me as lighting crackles in Illyas hands.
"We can't leave her like this!"
I raise my hands in a, oh, my left hand is still gone I swallow and raise my hand and stump in what I hope is a calming gesture.
"I'm not saying we do, I was going to suggest that we sit Miyu next to her and open a portal back."
Luvia interjects as I try not to hyperventilate.
"We don't know how she'll react to that, after seeing what she did to berserker I have doubts about the gorilla woman's choice of helper."
One issue at a time, one issue at a time, one issue at a-
"What did you call me?!"
I let out a deep breath and Rin and Luvia go back to each other's throats before Miyu interjects forcefully.
"That's enough!-"
Body shaking and two eyes boring holes into the two older women Miyu finally snaps at them.
"-Illya was the only person who didn't want to be here…-"
I cock my head to the side with a blank stare, as Rin and Luvia awkwardly look away... I feel like I've missed out on one or two things going on behind the scenes, I gulp quietly and carefully consider my next words.
"And we will help her once we aren't in a collapsing world."
Miyu rocks back and forth on her heels while responding.
"but, but…"
Ok, so some semblance of reason and logic are appearing to get through to her
"Look-"
I'm cut off yet again by a more violent shake as the sky begins to crack open, light pouring in.
"-If we don't do this we all die anyway so what's the point!!"
She nods, shaking slightly less. Miyu takes up position next to Illya listing another twitch that puts me on edge, but nothing further happens as she raises her stick and begins.
"Saphire."
"Very well, eliminating imaginary axis from instrumental variables. Central coordinates established.-"
I let out a sigh, meaningless drivel, I swear. The magic circle spread out under our feet as another low rumbling signifies further destabilisation.
"-Establishing mirror road within an eight-meter radius. Returning to the normal world."
I let out a sigh, perhaps this is all going to be alrig- the sky shatters like glass and falls towards us just before the light envelops us.
"Are we-"
"Rho -".
oh, dear.
"-gonna be alright?"
"-aias"
I feel rather than see the shield shatter with the explosion scattering the five of us as we arrive back on the normal world.
"What was that?"
I glance across the mostly intact roof at the five girls accompanying me… wait. Illya's back in her magical girl outfit and appears to have woken up.
"Eh?"
Rin's exclamation sums up the mood pretty well, Illya's expression is one I can only explain as half-way between confusion and horror at a more tan-skinned doppelganger… hold up. People don't have doppelgangers, she winks at us.
"He-he, I should be off now."
Luvia attempts to ask a question, while Rin shouts an order as the tan-skinned girl attempts to jump between us.
"Who are you?"
"Stop her!"
Hmm… how to go about this…
"Pardon ma'am would you mind tal- AH FUCK!-"
She slides under my right arm cutting off four of my fingers and kicking my knee in before jumping off a building.
"-Haah, mmph!"
Fuck, why is it always the hands?
"Miyu stop her!"
I fumble on the floor with my stump and thumb attempting to take the ring off my finger.
"Yes."
"Nngh!"
Come off damn it, I pin the finger on my lap and try knocking it off with the edge of my nail I grit my teeth against the pain.
"Illya, chase her!"
Tink-tink-tink.
"Wha-"
The ring falls off and lands in the pool of my own blood as I try to manoeuvre it onto my thumb.
"C'mon, c'mon."
A flurry of footsteps approaches me then stops as two blond drills sit next to my head.
"Let me help you with that."
A pair of gloved hands grab the ring.
"Cheers."
I nod.
"Now where do you need it?"
I present my mostly ruined right hand.
"Nngh, please place it on my thumb."
She nods and very carefully places it on the digit. Ring reattach fingers and regrow my hand.
"Command confirmed, alert mystical overload preventing regeneration."
I let out a sigh, of course, it is.
"Ahem.-"
I turn back to Luvia.
"-Would you mind helping us track her down?"
Ahh…
"As much as I'd love to do so I kind of want to fix myself up then never have anything to do with the magus association ever again."
Trying to play with things I don't understand has only ended poorly so far I see no reason to continue. She huffs at that before responding.
"Well, you were the one who suggested she use the card, you should've foreseen this happening."
I sigh again, consciously ignoring the heat I feel in my face. Fuck it, I can't be bothered thinking about this.
"A-fine, I do something about her before I get my hand fixed."
I feel another cold gaze in my back.
"You will do so now, the archer card is now missing."
My eye twitches at Rins words, I'm sorry I missed the part where that was still my problem? Surely that means- no, no fine just for tonight then it's over and I don't have to mess with magic until I'm prepared.
"Haah, fine I see what I can do."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I'm back, sorry about the unannounced hiatus, but I got busy with life and realised that when I'm not being driven insane by Uni I actually do not enjoy writing this story!
So I'm going to put effort into some of the other projects I've been working on behind the scenes and officially put this story on hiatus...
I will return to it and finish it at some point. (I'll probably post another update to the story before the end of the year because I refuse to leave a fic unfinished again!)
I stagger over to where everyone else is standing, oh that can't be good.
"What's gone on here?"
Illya stands in her archer garb twitching, Luvia and Rin keeping a wary distance.
"The class card hasn't left her yet."
As I approach I can see the extent of the damage to her small frame, blood runs down her arm and face and she stands slightly off centre placing more weight on one leg.
"I can see that Rin but if Berserkers dead the-"
The earth beneath us rumbles cutting me off, I wait till after the ground stabilizes before I continue.
"-n we need to leave here as soon as possible if we can get-"
Rin turns to me as lighting crackles in Illyas hands.
"We can't leave her like this!"
I raise my hands in a, oh, my left hand is still gone I swallow and raise my hand and stump in what I hope is a calming gesture.
"I'm not saying we do, I was going to suggest that we sit Miyu next to her and open a portal back."
Luvia interjects as I try not to hyperventilate.
"We don't know how she'll react to that, after seeing what she did to berserker I have doubts about the gorilla woman's choice of helper."
One issue at a time, one issue at a time, one issue at a-
"What did you call me?!"
I let out a deep breath and Rin and Luvia go back to each other's throats before Miyu interjects forcefully.
"That's enough!-"
Body shaking and two eyes boring holes into the two older women Miyu finally snaps at them.
"-Illya was the only person who didn't want to be here…-"
I cock my head to the side with a blank stare, as Rin and Luvia awkwardly look away... I feel like I've missed out on one or two things going on behind the scenes, I gulp quietly and carefully consider my next words.
"And we will help her once we aren't in a collapsing world."
Miyu rocks back and forth on her heels while responding.
"but, but…"
Ok, so some semblance of reason and logic are appearing to get through to her
"Look-"
I'm cut off yet again by a more violent shake as the sky begins to crack open, light pouring in.
"-If we don't do this we all die anyway so what's the point!!"
She nods, shaking slightly less. Miyu takes up position next to Illya listing another twitch that puts me on edge, but nothing further happens as she raises her stick and begins.
"Saphire."
"Very well, eliminating imaginary axis from instrumental variables. Central coordinates established.-"
I let out a sigh, meaningless drivel, I swear. The magic circle spread out under our feet as another low rumbling signifies further destabilisation.
"-Establishing mirror road within an eight-meter radius. Returning to the normal world."
I let out a sigh, perhaps this is all going to be alrig- the sky shatters like glass and falls towards us just before the light envelops us.
"Are we-"
"Rho -".
oh, dear.
"-gonna be alright?"
"-aias"
I feel rather than see the shield shatter with the explosion scattering the five of us as we arrive back on the normal world.
"What was that?"
I glance across the mostly intact roof at the five girls accompanying me… wait. Illya's back in her magical girl outfit and appears to have woken up.
"Eh?"
Rin's exclamation sums up the mood pretty well, Illya's expression is one I can only explain as half-way between confusion and horror at a more tan-skinned doppelganger… hold up. People don't have doppelgangers, she winks at us.
"He-he, I should be off now."
Luvia attempts to ask a question, while Rin shouts an order as the tan-skinned girl attempts to jump between us.
"Who are you?"
"Stop her!"
Hmm… how to go about this…
"Pardon ma'am would you mind tal- AH FUCK!-"
She slides under my right arm cutting off four of my fingers and kicking my knee in before jumping off a building.
"-Haah, mmph!"
Fuck, why is it always the hands?
"Miyu stop her!"
I fumble on the floor with my stump and thumb attempting to take the ring off my finger.
"Yes."
"Nngh!"
Come off damn it, I pin the finger on my lap and try knocking it off with the edge of my nail I grit my teeth against the pain.
"Illya, chase her!"
Tink-tink-tink.
"Wha-"
The ring falls off and lands in the pool of my own blood as I try to manoeuvre it onto my thumb.
"C'mon, c'mon."
A flurry of footsteps approaches me then stops as two blond drills sit next to my head.
"Let me help you with that."
A pair of gloved hands grab the ring.
"Cheers."
I nod.
"Now where do you need it?"
I present my mostly ruined right hand.
"Nngh, please place it on my thumb."
She nods and very carefully places it on the digit. Ring reattach fingers and regrow my hand.
"Command confirmed, alert mystical overload preventing regeneration."
I let out a sigh, of course, it is.
"Ahem.-"
I turn back to Luvia.
"-Would you mind helping us track her down?"
Ahh…
"As much as I'd love to do so I kind of want to fix myself up then never have anything to do with the magus association ever again."
Trying to play with things I don't understand has only ended poorly so far I see no reason to continue. She huffs at that before responding.
"Well, you were the one who suggested she use the card, you should've foreseen this happening."
I sigh again, consciously ignoring the heat I feel in my face. Fuck it, I can't be bothered thinking about this.
"A-fine, I do something about her before I get my hand fixed."
I feel another cold gaze in my back.
"You will do so now, the archer card is now missing."
My eye twitches at Rins words, I'm sorry I missed the part where that was still my problem? Surely that means- no, no fine just for tonight then it's over and I don't have to mess with magic until I'm prepared.
"Haah, fine I see what I can do."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I'm back, sorry about the unannounced hiatus, but I got busy with life and realised that when I'm not being driven insane by Uni I actually do not enjoy writing this story!
So I'm going to put effort into some of the other projects I've been working on behind the scenes and officially put this story on hiatus...
I will return to it and finish it at some point. (I'll probably post another update to the story before the end of the year because I refuse to leave a fic unfinished again!)
Last edited:
Respite Pt: 2
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Respite Pt: 2
Ring regenerate my left hand.
"Command failure."
I let out a sigh and crack the reattached fingers on my right hand. Alright, can you detect the approximate time it will take for it to disperse naturally?
"Command confirmed, based on current degradation mystic overlord will disperse enough to allow accelerated cellular regeneration in five minutes and forty-five seconds."
Wonderful, wait, how does it work? You said accelerated cellular regeneration. I deliberately ignore a brief movement in the shadows below me.
"Corpsman's fear of permanent injury is used to power artificial rapid cell division generating exact copies of previous cells."
Right... so that's what it was doing when I asked for healing… that... makes... sense, it's what I would do if I were using exotic 'healing' someone, next... Ring scan for Illyasviel von Einzbern.
"Command confirmed. Alert, two results present."
Well, isn't that bloody fantastic, I drop down to the street level and dim my glow. So considering how quickly 'Archer' cut me to pieces, I should probably attempt some facsimile of stealth. Give me constant visual updates on their locations.
"Command confirmed."
Two icons appear in my vision one up high and far away, and one almost directly on top of me.
…
Ah fuck.
I generate a 20-millimetre flak cannon construct and point it at the nearer Illya icon.
"Oh, you finally noticed?"
The 'Archer' drops down from the lamppost above me; I wave my currently stubbed off left arm.
"I've been a bit distracted."
I open fire and generate a construct shield as she throws a white and black sword at me.
Snikt snikt.
I think for a moment, ah Kanshou and Bakuya! Wait...
"Eh?"
My confusion matches that of my opponent, as I stare at the blades buried up to the hilt in the shield and then at her face.
"Ahahaha!"
I can't believe it actually worked, these constructs have been very unreliable against magic.
"Hmm… I didn't think that it'd adapt that quickly. What a pain, haah, after I went through all the effort of ensuring you had minimal fear to work with too."
She lets the blades fade as she backs up.
"Eh? You knew this would happen."
The blades fade. Wait, what did she mean by ensuring I had minimal fear to work with?
"That's one of your problems Mr Bartholemew, you're too oblivious. In a fight, you have to pay attention, like now."
Snikt snikt.
I generate another shield construct just in time to stop another assault, causing the same result. Following up with a construct replacement left hand.
"One of my problems?-"
As the blades disappear, I drop the shield and grab her throat with my construct hand.
"-gotcha-"
Hmm… I've killed a lot of people since arriving here mostly lesser-known slavers and torturers, but I don't think I've killed a child yet… wait some of those guards looked pretty young.
"-To be fair I've probably got a long laundry list of problems, but for some reason, I still feel ticked off. Not only did you cut off four of my fingers, get caught, but now you're critiquing me? I mean I don't mind a little critique, but I'm less inclined to listen when you're trying stabbing me even less so when I have them beat."
Maybe I should let her kill me? My construct grip loosens slightly as I shake my head, don't think that way. Ring sleeping gas her face please.
"Command confir-"
"Perhaps you sh-"
Snikt snikt.
"-Gah!"
"-med."
I lose the hand construct as two more blades enter my stomach and shoulder, respectively.
"Haah, I knew fighting you would be such a pain, you always find ways to ignore injuries, perhaps you are a masochist?"
Ring heal me please.
"Command confirmed."
I drag myself back upright.
"I'm more concerned that you know what that word means frankly."
She lets out a small giggle.
"I know lots of things. For example, your weapon can be so much more versatile, I've seen you use it like that a little bit. But you still always end up using it as a glorified club."
She returns to the top of the lamppost.
"Hold up! Rewind a second what did you mean by 'ensure that I had minimal fear to work with?"
She points Bakuya's blade at her mouth.
"Who knows anyway I've got what I wanted now anyway, thank you for the meal."
What does she mean by-
Snikt snikt.
"MOTHER FU-"
I cut myself off before finishing as two generic swords impale my feet.
"-nngh."
Ring cut the pain receptors in my feet.
"Command confirmed."
I see the archer fly up- no wait she's jumping, the building as I remove the swords from my feet.
Ring fix my feet, would you?
"Command confirmed."
I crack my toes as feeling returns into my feet, that was… unpleasant. I'm still concerned about what she meant though; I should link up with the others.
…
I consider the stab wounds I just had healed.
…
Slowly.
I shake my head as I begin power walking in their general direction of the other Illya Icon.
I gotta get my head in order, or I'll lose my mind again.
"I'm starting to hate magic."
A loud screech of straining wheels draws my attention back to the real world.
"What the- Jesus Christ!"
An expensive-looking silver car pulls a Frankly impressive handbrake turn and stops in front of me.
Ok so I know intellectually that I'd be ok after being hit by a car, but an object that big moving that fast is still startling.
The vehicle manages to take out a trashcan and almost topple a streetlight, the door is thrown open, and ahead of long white hair emerges.
"Ahh, perhaps I need to work on my driving again…"
Red eyes, white hair so an Einzbern Homunculus.
…
Probably.
...
Is that profiling?
…
Problems for later.
The fact that she's not dressed as a maid… I pat myself down and attempt to regain some semblance of calm, by body pitching into a half bow before my mind catches up to what's happening. It never hurts to be polite.
"Lady Einzbern, I presume."
She smiles, tilting her head to the side.
"My, my aren't you a polite young man, if only your clutter wasn't throwing me off."
I raise one eyebrow as I stare down at her, clutter? Is that an insult? No, I'm not going to take offence to that if I don't know what it means.
"...might I inquire as to why you nearly hit me with a car?"
She places a finger on her lips, a contemplative look on her face.
"Hmm... I didn't think I was that close, ah!-"
She perks up.
"-interrupting a lady isn't very polite., now I wanted to ask you why you're here?"
She pauses, and I nod.
"Yes?"
"and if you could help me find my daughter?"
I strain not to look in the direction the ring told me Illya is. It might make everything easier if I got her involved… or it could open another whole can of worms. No, not planning ahead has fucked me over a lot since coming here… well, in general, it's not a good idea.
I should probably learn something from that.
...
Does that make me irresponsible?
…
I wish I wasn't so tired.
"Alert magical buildup detected."
That can't be good... stalling it is then.
"I'm not sure what you mean, I kind of live here."
Well now at least, hmm… now that I think about it I do live here. The low light glints across her eyes as something flickers in the corner of my vision. Is that a bird?
"Hmm… I came home early to check on how my lovely daughter was but found that she seemed upset about something and refused to tell me...-"
She pouts. I feel so unnerved, but this is a perfectly normal thing for her to be concerned about. Why do I feel like I'm disarming a bomb?
"-Then I found that she'd snuck out of the house when I went to check on her.-"
Oh, dear, I think I see where this is going.
"-of course I did what any parent would do and started stalking her.-"
I feel like she didn't need to put it like that.
"-After I tracked her down, I found her on top of a large building with you and your friends."
Oh fuck, that sounds bad.
"Friends is a-"
I'm distracted by something in the corner of my eye. Is that a bird?
"so-"
Something pulls on my leg.
"WAA-"
THUD.
My face impacts the pavement before being hoisted into the air as I'm hung upside down by my leg. Well, I'm definitely difficult now.
"-Did you just hit me with a bird?"
"Ahem, I'll ask you directly-"
What the fuck is this? Her expression never changes.
"-where is my daughter?"
I try to slow my breathing, ok, ok normally I'd be more than happy to help someone in a situation like this. However, for some reason, I'm in a hostile frame of mind right now. Certainly, nothing to do with nearly getting hit by a car, let's try deflection.
"What does th-"
Something flutters around me. Is that a bird?
THWACK.
"OW."
I feel my backbend under the impact of a large object, oww fuck. What happened to my environmental shield?
"Please try and remain on topic, it's past her bedtime."
I don't have to deal with this; I can fly. Ring get me out of here now!
…
Nothing happens, what the fuck is going on? I look at the hand I still have and find my forearm wrapped in a glowing light blue string, the ring is completely obscured as the strings fit around like a gauntlet.
Ah.
"My my, were you thinking of escape?"
Oh no, oh, no-no-no.
"No?-"
Before she can interject, I point in their vague direction, directly at a building.
"-And that way a couple of hundred meters, I think."
I hope. Whatever she has suspended me in the air cuts out, causing me to crash onto the pavement.
"Oomph."
This is ridiculous, I just fought Heracles... and only ended up mostly dead, how can a mere modern magus overwhelm me? I land on the concrete in a heap before getting yanked to my feet by my arm.
"Would you mind showing me the way?"
Yes, actually you are clearly completely insane, very stressed and somehow bypassed the rings defences. I glance down at the bindings of light around my wrists.
I should really stop being surprised by these things.
I let out a sigh and put on my best smile.
"Of course."
So then taking a gamble. Ring are the Illya's, both still in the same location they were before?
"Negative."
I stare at the point where the Ring is showing me their location, now on top of each other.
…
Makes sense Archerllya appears to be bothering normal Illya but are you sure about that?
"Confirmed."
It doesn't look like she has moved… Ring am I insane or is she still on the roof.
"Subject 'Illya' remains in the same building."
Then why did you? I frown and look at the ring. Wait, are you giving me sass?
"Subject sass unknown."
...
Oh well, it's not like it matters. Hold on; Ring is the translation still working?
"Confirmed."
Right, so I've still got something working, that's a plus.
I turn around the last corner and point upwards.
"Up there, I think."
She walks to the front door to do… something to it.
…
I wish I understood magic more.
I follow her into the building as she makes directly for the lift.
"Now, how was it that these worked…"
I raise an eyebrow.
"Would you like a hand?"
She shakes her head.
"No no, I can do it, Kiritsugu showed me how it was done once."
She presses the down button bringing her shoulders back a smile radiating from her face.
I'm actually not sure what pushing the incorrect button on the lift will do.
Ding.
The doors open and we enter.
"Ah, which button goes to the roof?"
Well, the highest floor number is twelve, so that's a good place to start.
Ding.
The doors close then open again, ah so that's what happens.
"Ah, what went wrong?"
I push the button again, and the elevator begins moving.
"Don't worry about it."
"I'll have to ask Kiritsugu to take me to a big city next."
I nod.
"Right."
"Don't think this means you're getting off."
"Hm?"
"You were very naughty and need to be punished."
Wha-? I give her a sidelong glance as I try to appear unflustered.
"What?"
Woman, I am eighteen I feel like you're being unnecessarily demeaning.
"But that will have to wait for later; I'm more worried about my precious Illya right now.-"
Why do I feel like she just said something very concerning?
"-You really don't seem surprised by any of this."
I shrug.
"I'm in the know, so to speak."
She pulls her hands to her face miming shock.
"Eh, are you a stalker?"
What? I feel my face burn up.
"Huh? What? No, of course not! I mean in the know about magic."
What the fuck?
"Hmm, reaally? I was beginning to wonder after seeing you this second time? And now to find you tracking my daughter… are you perhaps a lolicon? fufu."
I blink, trying to calm myself down and let out a sigh. Ah, she's taking the piss out of me isn't she, it's best not to fall for the bait.
Who even talks like that? Hold on.
"What do you mean by 'this second time?'"
I close my eyes to remember, I don't think I've met her here before, but I feel as if I've forgotten something...
"Hmm, I suppose you were distracted at the time, but you've been busy since Libya."
Libya? When was I in? Ah, right, the human trafficker.
"I wasn't aware you were there."
Ding, the doors open, and I ignore what I think is some movement to my left.
"The moonlit world has been in quite a stir since your debut… hmm… although I guess it's been a mess for a little while.-"
It's what?
"What does that mean?"
She walks out of the elevator.
"Eh? Why aren't we on the roof?"
"I'm afraid we'll have to walk up the stairs for the last floor, but what do you mean by a me-"
And… she walks off, I let out a sigh and move to catch up with her—problems for later.
"-If you keep ignoring me, I'm going to leave."
"Of course, I'll deal with you later I'm more worried about my daughter than you.-"
Somehow that makes me feel more dread...
I let out another sigh.
What the hell is she planning? I feel like she's running circles around me!
...
Christ this is what it must be like to talk to me, minus the torture.
...
I consider my exploits overseas for a moment.
...
Most of the time.
Irisviel throws open the door to the roof.
"Illya! Mama has come to pick you up from playing with your friends!"
A quick scan of the roof reveals Miyu apparently unconscious with Illya shaking her. Illya turns to us, eyes wide.
"Eh?! Mama, what are you doing here?"
Illya looks at me while I try to edge my way to the streetside of the roof, then she looks back to her mother.
"I-ll-ya, you can't stay up so late, and doing so in the city with strange men is definitely a no-no."
I feel my face burn up as I pause my escape. Don't take the bait, don't take the bait.
"Hold on; I'm going to have to interject here, you're making this sound like this is my fa- ack?!"
Something flickers as the strings around my hands reappear before tightening and pulling me down.
"Mr Bartholomew are you ok."
...
Was that a bird?
Another blow comes down one me as I hit the ground.
"Language please."
I hate this.
"I wasn't PLANNING on swearing-"
She leans over to my ear.
"I meant please do not interrupt me when I'm disciplining my daughter?"
I let out a heavy sigh.
"Haa-"
I walk over to the side of the building.
"-By all means, continue."
Irisviel claps her hands together and cocks her head.
"Now, I-ll-ya, what do you think you're doing out here so late?"
Illya turns to me with pleading eyes and I shake my head.
"Sorry no, listen to your mother."
Irisviel turns to me.
"Hmm… I thought you wanted to leave?"
I nod.
"Goodbye, and good luck."
And I step off the edge, and enjoy the fall down, ahh I need to relax more… whatever part of my mind that keeps making me feel bad about killing people can't be healthy, I should probably talk to a psychiatrist about it…
"Hahahahaha."
I laugh hysterically into the night. What would I even tell them, I don't think patient confidentiality extends as far as to cover serial vigilante-murder. Wait do human traffickers have bounties on them? They should do.
I let out a sigh, why am I worried about that? It's not like I need the money. I guess it's that part of me that dislikes missing out.
I walk down the street; walking has always been good to provide me time to think, Ring show me which way is my 'home.'
"Command confirmed."
A flash of yellow appears in my view. Hmm, when did I start to think of this as home? I could probably get back to where I came from before arriving but… I don't really feel the need to find a way back; it's not like I was going anywhere. Maybe I wanted to take advantage of this new lease on life? I let out a sigh.
"Haah."
So much for that, what am I gonna do with my life now? I've never really accomplished much before arriving here, sure I've gotten a few awards had my parents say they're proud but never really felt proud of myself…
Hell, what've I accomplished here? Saved a couple of people killed a couple of no-name human traffickers and criminals? No, anything I could do on a wider scale might get the universe deleted.
…
Unless I made that no longer a concern? Maybe with some kind of reality anchor to get the world bound into existence? It'd need to be a big anchor, what would it even be bound to? I'll see if Medea would be interested in that later if she's not… I'm sure I could bribe or threaten someone into helping me.
There's a plan, from that I could try improving things here and there and not be as worried about accidentally causing the deletion of the entire world.
I'll see if I can find any members of the 'Moonlit world' who'd also think that's a good idea… Ring put that on my to-do list after 'find Sakura a therapist' and 'make friends'
"Command confirmed."
Right now that the thinking is sorted, I should arrive home. Ring FTL jump please and fix my hand, please.
"Commands confirmed."
My vision blurs as I blink tiredly and feel my fingers extend.
Ugh, tonight hasn't been fun.
I crack the knuckles of my newly regenerated hand as I approach my front door—a slight pressure on the side of my head and… pop.
I wince as I open the door, ah so I guess she set up a bounded field or something.
…
What are the chances she didn-
Clink.
A dull grey stone blade smacks me in the neck as I stare into the gaping skeletal maw, ah the skeletal warrior things… When did she build those?
"-Ow.-"
I generate a construct Rhodesian ridgeback that proceeds to pull out its spine causing whatever magics hold it together to break down.
"-Medea, would you kindly turn this 'security system' off?-"
Clunk.
"-Ow.-"
I turn around to see another one pulling it's 'sword' back after having struck me in the back of the head.
"-Any time you please.-"
I catch the warriors wrist and try to twist its arm.
Pop.
It claws at my face with its other arm.
"-Doggo kill.-"
The ridgeback tears its skull… face-thing-of-gnashing-teeth off, letting the rest of it fall apart as the light comes on upstairs.
"-Good doggo. Are you ignoring me?-"
I hear a loud sigh from above me as she floats down into view staff and robes lowering.
"-Good morning, sorry for waking you up."
She holds the bridge of her nose.
"What happened to your arm?"
Ah well, I imagine that's what she would notice first.
"Ah, well there's a good reason for that."
She glares at me, sending a shiver down my spine… I mean, I hope she won't be that mad about it...
"There had better be; I did that as a favour."
"I fought and killed Heracles a few times."
She regards me levelly before frowning.
"Ah… how did you survive that?"
I blink. Uhh by running away? By being hard to kill?
"By being difficult to kill."
She shakes her head.
"No, I met Herakles while I was alive. He should've been able to kill you effortlessly."
Ouch, thanks for the vote of confidence…
"Well, he's been turned into a card now."
A concerning smile spreads across her face.
"Did you not attempt to 'save' him? I thought that was your intention?"
I lift the hand with the ring on it and point at it.
"I might have mentioned a few times that this thing is related to fear?"
She nods.
"Yes?"
"Well my plan was to use it to poke at your, as in all of the 'heroic spirits' insecurities until they broke themselves out, do you know what I saw when I looked at what Heracles was afraid of?"
She shakes her head as she allows me inside; I use the ring to take my shoes off.
"No, I can't imagine what he would be afraid of."
I nod.
"Exactly I saw nothing, nothing to work with. Not that he had much of a mind left to work with anyway."
I shrug eh what can ya do one out of… was it five… could be worse. I let out a sigh.
"A shame with a pocket Hercules I'm fairly certain I could strong-arm just about anyone. But that's assuming I could get him to listen to me instead of just murdering everything around him."
That comment earns me a sidelong look and a nod as I walk into the kitchen, now food… I don't really want to break out the good steak or lamb for a quick meal; maybe I could make up some stir fry with the chicken breast? No, that'd need rice, and I don't have any prepared. Ah I know I take a frozen mince pie out of the freezer.
"Is that why you do things? on a whim, you risk your life several times to save people so that we can be useful tools for you?"
I nod, taking the mince pie out of the packet.
"Basically yeah, either that or pity."
I wince. Ah, that's insensitive isn't it, she's not gonna get mad about that is she? She raises her forearm to her head, shaking it.
"I can't tell if that is incredibly foolish or brave."
I suppress a sigh of relief, looks like she didn't that's good, I don't really have many friends here. Hmm… was I holding my breath?
"Oh that's easy, foolish, or more reckless I'm not brave at all."
She blinks as I feel some beads of sweat on my forehead, and I start the oven and place the frozen pie on top.
"Hmm… I'd have expected you to start bragging about your accomplishments as evidence of your bravery."
Ring, Raise the temperature inside the oven to… I check the box 180 degrees.
"Command confirmed."
Excellent.
"Going on a power trip, assuming no one is strong enough to stop me and actually being brave are two very different things. Plus fighting is always a little fun, either way, I'm glad I saved you at least..."
I'm not sure where I'm going with that… I shake my head to clear my mind... Right open the oven, set the dial to a hundred and eighty for 15 minutes, insert the pie.
"Are you planning on eating the entire pie?"
…
Does she want some?
"Yes, I was."
…
"Didn't that box say it serves four?"
"Do you want some?"
She continues to stare at me as I try to shrink out of her sight...
"please stop judging me."
…
So then subject chan-
"I require your assistance with something."
Oh? That's unexpected; she has helped me out a lot.
"What with?"
She's a competent magic user, what could she possibly need my help with?
"I was performing an experiment, and things went awry, and I believe you would be useful in bringing it back under control."
I frown. An experiment?!
"You haven't been doing anything that will kill us all have you?"
She narrows her eyes at me.
"I am not so careless as to do something like that, no I created a diorama."
A what? Why do I feel like there is an unspoken 'like you' in that sentence? I raise my hand slightly.
"What's a diorama?"
Her eyes narrow further.
"Perhaps it would be easier if I showed you."
I follow her to her room, hmm… I don't think I've actually been in there since I fixed it.
"Soo… what's the nature of the problem?"
I hope this won't take too long; I don't want the pie getting cold.
"In terms, you would understand, I was running what you would call a simulation and lost control of it."
Wait, I assume it's a magic simulation or something how would she lose control of it? I highly doubt that it's a computer simulation, I shrug.
"Right that happens sometimes, why not end it?"
She gives me a sidelong look like I'm a moron.
"That was the first thing I tried, they resisted."
Eh who resisted? She opens the door revealing a room filled with models causing my eyes to go wide. I haven't seen this many models since my father left. I walk towards the left wall covered with ships bottles and several small globes depicting cities, a smile growing across my face. A quick glance across the room shows me the far wall has a desk with several in-progress pieces and a... Saber... model… where did she even get that? The right wall has background pieces, paints and a concerning number of scenes depicting a blond man being tortured… are they moving? Probably best not to ask about that. The centre of the room has a large scene of a ship rolling across the waves.
"Models?! You didn't tell me you collected models. Whenever I ask what you were doing, you'd talk about magic or deflect. Oh, I haven't seen this many models for years! Can I take a closer look at them?"
I feel like a kid in a candy store, oh, where to start, where to start! I look at the first ship on the display cabinet on the left wall, if I had to guess it looks like a galley, maybe an Egyptian one I'd guess given the stylized eye on it? It looks a little tall though… wait this is the same ship that was in the centre isn't it?
"Wait, so you use collect model but don-"
She lets out a sigh.
"-Nevermind I'll show them all to you later, first I request your involvement with this."
She draws my attention to the model in the middle of the room. Hmm? There seem to be little model people scurrying around the boat? She moves her hands around it… zooming… out?
"This is a Diorama I made of Greece, complete with scale models of the entire population."
...
So that's what a Diorama is, I assume it's ancient Greece given the ship...
…
"Why?"
That seems like… a lot of work.
"I wanted to run an experiment to see if I could have resisted Aphrodite, however…"
Ah, definitely ancient Greece then… buut... that seems like an unhealthy hangup.
"Are you alright?"
I can't imagine that is a healthy way to deal with this.
"What?"
I fidget for a moment, ahh how to put this...
"Ah, I can't imagine that this is an easy way to deal with a personal hang-up if you need someone to talk too I literally live in the same house."
There's a silence for a moment as she regards me levelly.
"I don't believe you're in a position to be worrying about other people."
I shrug, eh anything to keep me busy really, as tired as I am I really don't want to go to sleep again.
"Of course I'm concerned, you don't think I dragged you outside because I didn't enjoy your company do you?"
"Hmm… I thought it was because you felt indebted to me?"
Ow, I thought we were closer friends than that.
"If that was the case I'd just call it rent, much easier to deal with, do you not enjoy hanging out?"
That earns me another sidelong glance.
"Haa either way before I get your help with this I'm going to need to rebound your arm."
Eh, ah fuck, this is gonna hurt.
"I assume that has something to do with the diorama?"
"Quite I created it by layering bounded fields over it day after day until it created something akin to a reality marble and if you crudely break the spell, it might set them free."
Eh?
"You mean they can escape?!"
She pauses her preparations for a moment as she considers her answer.
"Yes, I granted them some level of sentience in order to ensure complete accuracy."
Oh well, that should make this fun. I hold up my arm and grit my teeth; alright, let's get this over with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And with that, we are back from the dead call it a late Christmas miracle.
I told you I'd update this before the end of the year. So a lot happened there, and hopefully, it wasn't too confusing or too badly written to read.
I've got some vague vision of the path directly in front of me now so that should be fun, but my god online law and science uni was hell.
I'm not really good with subtlety or any kind of emotional writing, and I now think that if I leave my half started fic's my google drive, I'll never start them so... I'm thinking before the New Years I probably start uploading what I have already done to force me to write more. To incentivise me further, I'll even post a couple of the working titles of the ones that are the most ready to be uploaded. Fate: Altered/Twilight, Fate: Chaotic/Order and Ciaphas Cain: Saber of the Imperium.
P.S: Help me fate has taken over my life, not all of the works in my drive folder are fate related I swear.
But yeah I'm officially ending the hiatus, it probably won't me my previous thousand words a week thing, but hopefully, I'll write something.
Ring regenerate my left hand.
"Command failure."
I let out a sigh and crack the reattached fingers on my right hand. Alright, can you detect the approximate time it will take for it to disperse naturally?
"Command confirmed, based on current degradation mystic overlord will disperse enough to allow accelerated cellular regeneration in five minutes and forty-five seconds."
Wonderful, wait, how does it work? You said accelerated cellular regeneration. I deliberately ignore a brief movement in the shadows below me.
"Corpsman's fear of permanent injury is used to power artificial rapid cell division generating exact copies of previous cells."
Right... so that's what it was doing when I asked for healing… that... makes... sense, it's what I would do if I were using exotic 'healing' someone, next... Ring scan for Illyasviel von Einzbern.
"Command confirmed. Alert, two results present."
Well, isn't that bloody fantastic, I drop down to the street level and dim my glow. So considering how quickly 'Archer' cut me to pieces, I should probably attempt some facsimile of stealth. Give me constant visual updates on their locations.
"Command confirmed."
Two icons appear in my vision one up high and far away, and one almost directly on top of me.
…
Ah fuck.
I generate a 20-millimetre flak cannon construct and point it at the nearer Illya icon.
"Oh, you finally noticed?"
The 'Archer' drops down from the lamppost above me; I wave my currently stubbed off left arm.
"I've been a bit distracted."
I open fire and generate a construct shield as she throws a white and black sword at me.
Snikt snikt.
I think for a moment, ah Kanshou and Bakuya! Wait...
"Eh?"
My confusion matches that of my opponent, as I stare at the blades buried up to the hilt in the shield and then at her face.
"Ahahaha!"
I can't believe it actually worked, these constructs have been very unreliable against magic.
"Hmm… I didn't think that it'd adapt that quickly. What a pain, haah, after I went through all the effort of ensuring you had minimal fear to work with too."
She lets the blades fade as she backs up.
"Eh? You knew this would happen."
The blades fade. Wait, what did she mean by ensuring I had minimal fear to work with?
"That's one of your problems Mr Bartholemew, you're too oblivious. In a fight, you have to pay attention, like now."
Snikt snikt.
I generate another shield construct just in time to stop another assault, causing the same result. Following up with a construct replacement left hand.
"One of my problems?-"
As the blades disappear, I drop the shield and grab her throat with my construct hand.
"-gotcha-"
Hmm… I've killed a lot of people since arriving here mostly lesser-known slavers and torturers, but I don't think I've killed a child yet… wait some of those guards looked pretty young.
"-To be fair I've probably got a long laundry list of problems, but for some reason, I still feel ticked off. Not only did you cut off four of my fingers, get caught, but now you're critiquing me? I mean I don't mind a little critique, but I'm less inclined to listen when you're trying stabbing me even less so when I have them beat."
Maybe I should let her kill me? My construct grip loosens slightly as I shake my head, don't think that way. Ring sleeping gas her face please.
"Command confir-"
"Perhaps you sh-"
Snikt snikt.
"-Gah!"
"-med."
I lose the hand construct as two more blades enter my stomach and shoulder, respectively.
"Haah, I knew fighting you would be such a pain, you always find ways to ignore injuries, perhaps you are a masochist?"
Ring heal me please.
"Command confirmed."
I drag myself back upright.
"I'm more concerned that you know what that word means frankly."
She lets out a small giggle.
"I know lots of things. For example, your weapon can be so much more versatile, I've seen you use it like that a little bit. But you still always end up using it as a glorified club."
She returns to the top of the lamppost.
"Hold up! Rewind a second what did you mean by 'ensure that I had minimal fear to work with?"
She points Bakuya's blade at her mouth.
"Who knows anyway I've got what I wanted now anyway, thank you for the meal."
What does she mean by-
Snikt snikt.
"MOTHER FU-"
I cut myself off before finishing as two generic swords impale my feet.
"-nngh."
Ring cut the pain receptors in my feet.
"Command confirmed."
I see the archer fly up- no wait she's jumping, the building as I remove the swords from my feet.
Ring fix my feet, would you?
"Command confirmed."
I crack my toes as feeling returns into my feet, that was… unpleasant. I'm still concerned about what she meant though; I should link up with the others.
…
I consider the stab wounds I just had healed.
…
Slowly.
I shake my head as I begin power walking in their general direction of the other Illya Icon.
I gotta get my head in order, or I'll lose my mind again.
"I'm starting to hate magic."
A loud screech of straining wheels draws my attention back to the real world.
"What the- Jesus Christ!"
An expensive-looking silver car pulls a Frankly impressive handbrake turn and stops in front of me.
Ok so I know intellectually that I'd be ok after being hit by a car, but an object that big moving that fast is still startling.
The vehicle manages to take out a trashcan and almost topple a streetlight, the door is thrown open, and ahead of long white hair emerges.
"Ahh, perhaps I need to work on my driving again…"
Red eyes, white hair so an Einzbern Homunculus.
…
Probably.
...
Is that profiling?
…
Problems for later.
The fact that she's not dressed as a maid… I pat myself down and attempt to regain some semblance of calm, by body pitching into a half bow before my mind catches up to what's happening. It never hurts to be polite.
"Lady Einzbern, I presume."
She smiles, tilting her head to the side.
"My, my aren't you a polite young man, if only your clutter wasn't throwing me off."
I raise one eyebrow as I stare down at her, clutter? Is that an insult? No, I'm not going to take offence to that if I don't know what it means.
"...might I inquire as to why you nearly hit me with a car?"
She places a finger on her lips, a contemplative look on her face.
"Hmm... I didn't think I was that close, ah!-"
She perks up.
"-interrupting a lady isn't very polite., now I wanted to ask you why you're here?"
She pauses, and I nod.
"Yes?"
"and if you could help me find my daughter?"
I strain not to look in the direction the ring told me Illya is. It might make everything easier if I got her involved… or it could open another whole can of worms. No, not planning ahead has fucked me over a lot since coming here… well, in general, it's not a good idea.
I should probably learn something from that.
...
Does that make me irresponsible?
…
I wish I wasn't so tired.
"Alert magical buildup detected."
That can't be good... stalling it is then.
"I'm not sure what you mean, I kind of live here."
Well now at least, hmm… now that I think about it I do live here. The low light glints across her eyes as something flickers in the corner of my vision. Is that a bird?
"Hmm… I came home early to check on how my lovely daughter was but found that she seemed upset about something and refused to tell me...-"
She pouts. I feel so unnerved, but this is a perfectly normal thing for her to be concerned about. Why do I feel like I'm disarming a bomb?
"-Then I found that she'd snuck out of the house when I went to check on her.-"
Oh, dear, I think I see where this is going.
"-of course I did what any parent would do and started stalking her.-"
I feel like she didn't need to put it like that.
"-After I tracked her down, I found her on top of a large building with you and your friends."
Oh fuck, that sounds bad.
"Friends is a-"
I'm distracted by something in the corner of my eye. Is that a bird?
"so-"
Something pulls on my leg.
"WAA-"
THUD.
My face impacts the pavement before being hoisted into the air as I'm hung upside down by my leg. Well, I'm definitely difficult now.
"-Did you just hit me with a bird?"
"Ahem, I'll ask you directly-"
What the fuck is this? Her expression never changes.
"-where is my daughter?"
I try to slow my breathing, ok, ok normally I'd be more than happy to help someone in a situation like this. However, for some reason, I'm in a hostile frame of mind right now. Certainly, nothing to do with nearly getting hit by a car, let's try deflection.
"What does th-"
Something flutters around me. Is that a bird?
THWACK.
"OW."
I feel my backbend under the impact of a large object, oww fuck. What happened to my environmental shield?
"Please try and remain on topic, it's past her bedtime."
I don't have to deal with this; I can fly. Ring get me out of here now!
…
Nothing happens, what the fuck is going on? I look at the hand I still have and find my forearm wrapped in a glowing light blue string, the ring is completely obscured as the strings fit around like a gauntlet.
Ah.
"My my, were you thinking of escape?"
Oh no, oh, no-no-no.
"No?-"
Before she can interject, I point in their vague direction, directly at a building.
"-And that way a couple of hundred meters, I think."
I hope. Whatever she has suspended me in the air cuts out, causing me to crash onto the pavement.
"Oomph."
This is ridiculous, I just fought Heracles... and only ended up mostly dead, how can a mere modern magus overwhelm me? I land on the concrete in a heap before getting yanked to my feet by my arm.
"Would you mind showing me the way?"
Yes, actually you are clearly completely insane, very stressed and somehow bypassed the rings defences. I glance down at the bindings of light around my wrists.
I should really stop being surprised by these things.
I let out a sigh and put on my best smile.
"Of course."
So then taking a gamble. Ring are the Illya's, both still in the same location they were before?
"Negative."
I stare at the point where the Ring is showing me their location, now on top of each other.
…
Makes sense Archerllya appears to be bothering normal Illya but are you sure about that?
"Confirmed."
It doesn't look like she has moved… Ring am I insane or is she still on the roof.
"Subject 'Illya' remains in the same building."
Then why did you? I frown and look at the ring. Wait, are you giving me sass?
"Subject sass unknown."
...
Oh well, it's not like it matters. Hold on; Ring is the translation still working?
"Confirmed."
Right, so I've still got something working, that's a plus.
I turn around the last corner and point upwards.
"Up there, I think."
She walks to the front door to do… something to it.
…
I wish I understood magic more.
I follow her into the building as she makes directly for the lift.
"Now, how was it that these worked…"
I raise an eyebrow.
"Would you like a hand?"
She shakes her head.
"No no, I can do it, Kiritsugu showed me how it was done once."
She presses the down button bringing her shoulders back a smile radiating from her face.
I'm actually not sure what pushing the incorrect button on the lift will do.
Ding.
The doors open and we enter.
"Ah, which button goes to the roof?"
Well, the highest floor number is twelve, so that's a good place to start.
Ding.
The doors close then open again, ah so that's what happens.
"Ah, what went wrong?"
I push the button again, and the elevator begins moving.
"Don't worry about it."
"I'll have to ask Kiritsugu to take me to a big city next."
I nod.
"Right."
"Don't think this means you're getting off."
"Hm?"
"You were very naughty and need to be punished."
Wha-? I give her a sidelong glance as I try to appear unflustered.
"What?"
Woman, I am eighteen I feel like you're being unnecessarily demeaning.
"But that will have to wait for later; I'm more worried about my precious Illya right now.-"
Why do I feel like she just said something very concerning?
"-You really don't seem surprised by any of this."
I shrug.
"I'm in the know, so to speak."
She pulls her hands to her face miming shock.
"Eh, are you a stalker?"
What? I feel my face burn up.
"Huh? What? No, of course not! I mean in the know about magic."
What the fuck?
"Hmm, reaally? I was beginning to wonder after seeing you this second time? And now to find you tracking my daughter… are you perhaps a lolicon? fufu."
I blink, trying to calm myself down and let out a sigh. Ah, she's taking the piss out of me isn't she, it's best not to fall for the bait.
Who even talks like that? Hold on.
"What do you mean by 'this second time?'"
I close my eyes to remember, I don't think I've met her here before, but I feel as if I've forgotten something...
"Hmm, I suppose you were distracted at the time, but you've been busy since Libya."
Libya? When was I in? Ah, right, the human trafficker.
"I wasn't aware you were there."
Ding, the doors open, and I ignore what I think is some movement to my left.
"The moonlit world has been in quite a stir since your debut… hmm… although I guess it's been a mess for a little while.-"
It's what?
"What does that mean?"
She walks out of the elevator.
"Eh? Why aren't we on the roof?"
"I'm afraid we'll have to walk up the stairs for the last floor, but what do you mean by a me-"
And… she walks off, I let out a sigh and move to catch up with her—problems for later.
"-If you keep ignoring me, I'm going to leave."
"Of course, I'll deal with you later I'm more worried about my daughter than you.-"
Somehow that makes me feel more dread...
I let out another sigh.
What the hell is she planning? I feel like she's running circles around me!
...
Christ this is what it must be like to talk to me, minus the torture.
...
I consider my exploits overseas for a moment.
...
Most of the time.
Irisviel throws open the door to the roof.
"Illya! Mama has come to pick you up from playing with your friends!"
A quick scan of the roof reveals Miyu apparently unconscious with Illya shaking her. Illya turns to us, eyes wide.
"Eh?! Mama, what are you doing here?"
Illya looks at me while I try to edge my way to the streetside of the roof, then she looks back to her mother.
"I-ll-ya, you can't stay up so late, and doing so in the city with strange men is definitely a no-no."
I feel my face burn up as I pause my escape. Don't take the bait, don't take the bait.
"Hold on; I'm going to have to interject here, you're making this sound like this is my fa- ack?!"
Something flickers as the strings around my hands reappear before tightening and pulling me down.
"Mr Bartholomew are you ok."
...
Was that a bird?
Another blow comes down one me as I hit the ground.
"Language please."
I hate this.
"I wasn't PLANNING on swearing-"
She leans over to my ear.
"I meant please do not interrupt me when I'm disciplining my daughter?"
I let out a heavy sigh.
"Haa-"
I walk over to the side of the building.
"-By all means, continue."
Irisviel claps her hands together and cocks her head.
"Now, I-ll-ya, what do you think you're doing out here so late?"
Illya turns to me with pleading eyes and I shake my head.
"Sorry no, listen to your mother."
Irisviel turns to me.
"Hmm… I thought you wanted to leave?"
I nod.
"Goodbye, and good luck."
And I step off the edge, and enjoy the fall down, ahh I need to relax more… whatever part of my mind that keeps making me feel bad about killing people can't be healthy, I should probably talk to a psychiatrist about it…
"Hahahahaha."
I laugh hysterically into the night. What would I even tell them, I don't think patient confidentiality extends as far as to cover serial vigilante-murder. Wait do human traffickers have bounties on them? They should do.
I let out a sigh, why am I worried about that? It's not like I need the money. I guess it's that part of me that dislikes missing out.
I walk down the street; walking has always been good to provide me time to think, Ring show me which way is my 'home.'
"Command confirmed."
A flash of yellow appears in my view. Hmm, when did I start to think of this as home? I could probably get back to where I came from before arriving but… I don't really feel the need to find a way back; it's not like I was going anywhere. Maybe I wanted to take advantage of this new lease on life? I let out a sigh.
"Haah."
So much for that, what am I gonna do with my life now? I've never really accomplished much before arriving here, sure I've gotten a few awards had my parents say they're proud but never really felt proud of myself…
Hell, what've I accomplished here? Saved a couple of people killed a couple of no-name human traffickers and criminals? No, anything I could do on a wider scale might get the universe deleted.
…
Unless I made that no longer a concern? Maybe with some kind of reality anchor to get the world bound into existence? It'd need to be a big anchor, what would it even be bound to? I'll see if Medea would be interested in that later if she's not… I'm sure I could bribe or threaten someone into helping me.
There's a plan, from that I could try improving things here and there and not be as worried about accidentally causing the deletion of the entire world.
I'll see if I can find any members of the 'Moonlit world' who'd also think that's a good idea… Ring put that on my to-do list after 'find Sakura a therapist' and 'make friends'
"Command confirmed."
Right now that the thinking is sorted, I should arrive home. Ring FTL jump please and fix my hand, please.
"Commands confirmed."
My vision blurs as I blink tiredly and feel my fingers extend.
Ugh, tonight hasn't been fun.
I crack the knuckles of my newly regenerated hand as I approach my front door—a slight pressure on the side of my head and… pop.
I wince as I open the door, ah so I guess she set up a bounded field or something.
…
What are the chances she didn-
Clink.
A dull grey stone blade smacks me in the neck as I stare into the gaping skeletal maw, ah the skeletal warrior things… When did she build those?
"-Ow.-"
I generate a construct Rhodesian ridgeback that proceeds to pull out its spine causing whatever magics hold it together to break down.
"-Medea, would you kindly turn this 'security system' off?-"
Clunk.
"-Ow.-"
I turn around to see another one pulling it's 'sword' back after having struck me in the back of the head.
"-Any time you please.-"
I catch the warriors wrist and try to twist its arm.
Pop.
It claws at my face with its other arm.
"-Doggo kill.-"
The ridgeback tears its skull… face-thing-of-gnashing-teeth off, letting the rest of it fall apart as the light comes on upstairs.
"-Good doggo. Are you ignoring me?-"
I hear a loud sigh from above me as she floats down into view staff and robes lowering.
"-Good morning, sorry for waking you up."
She holds the bridge of her nose.
"What happened to your arm?"
Ah well, I imagine that's what she would notice first.
"Ah, well there's a good reason for that."
She glares at me, sending a shiver down my spine… I mean, I hope she won't be that mad about it...
"There had better be; I did that as a favour."
"I fought and killed Heracles a few times."
She regards me levelly before frowning.
"Ah… how did you survive that?"
I blink. Uhh by running away? By being hard to kill?
"By being difficult to kill."
She shakes her head.
"No, I met Herakles while I was alive. He should've been able to kill you effortlessly."
Ouch, thanks for the vote of confidence…
"Well, he's been turned into a card now."
A concerning smile spreads across her face.
"Did you not attempt to 'save' him? I thought that was your intention?"
I lift the hand with the ring on it and point at it.
"I might have mentioned a few times that this thing is related to fear?"
She nods.
"Yes?"
"Well my plan was to use it to poke at your, as in all of the 'heroic spirits' insecurities until they broke themselves out, do you know what I saw when I looked at what Heracles was afraid of?"
She shakes her head as she allows me inside; I use the ring to take my shoes off.
"No, I can't imagine what he would be afraid of."
I nod.
"Exactly I saw nothing, nothing to work with. Not that he had much of a mind left to work with anyway."
I shrug eh what can ya do one out of… was it five… could be worse. I let out a sigh.
"A shame with a pocket Hercules I'm fairly certain I could strong-arm just about anyone. But that's assuming I could get him to listen to me instead of just murdering everything around him."
That comment earns me a sidelong look and a nod as I walk into the kitchen, now food… I don't really want to break out the good steak or lamb for a quick meal; maybe I could make up some stir fry with the chicken breast? No, that'd need rice, and I don't have any prepared. Ah I know I take a frozen mince pie out of the freezer.
"Is that why you do things? on a whim, you risk your life several times to save people so that we can be useful tools for you?"
I nod, taking the mince pie out of the packet.
"Basically yeah, either that or pity."
I wince. Ah, that's insensitive isn't it, she's not gonna get mad about that is she? She raises her forearm to her head, shaking it.
"I can't tell if that is incredibly foolish or brave."
I suppress a sigh of relief, looks like she didn't that's good, I don't really have many friends here. Hmm… was I holding my breath?
"Oh that's easy, foolish, or more reckless I'm not brave at all."
She blinks as I feel some beads of sweat on my forehead, and I start the oven and place the frozen pie on top.
"Hmm… I'd have expected you to start bragging about your accomplishments as evidence of your bravery."
Ring, Raise the temperature inside the oven to… I check the box 180 degrees.
"Command confirmed."
Excellent.
"Going on a power trip, assuming no one is strong enough to stop me and actually being brave are two very different things. Plus fighting is always a little fun, either way, I'm glad I saved you at least..."
I'm not sure where I'm going with that… I shake my head to clear my mind... Right open the oven, set the dial to a hundred and eighty for 15 minutes, insert the pie.
"Are you planning on eating the entire pie?"
…
Does she want some?
"Yes, I was."
…
"Didn't that box say it serves four?"
"Do you want some?"
She continues to stare at me as I try to shrink out of her sight...
"please stop judging me."
…
So then subject chan-
"I require your assistance with something."
Oh? That's unexpected; she has helped me out a lot.
"What with?"
She's a competent magic user, what could she possibly need my help with?
"I was performing an experiment, and things went awry, and I believe you would be useful in bringing it back under control."
I frown. An experiment?!
"You haven't been doing anything that will kill us all have you?"
She narrows her eyes at me.
"I am not so careless as to do something like that, no I created a diorama."
A what? Why do I feel like there is an unspoken 'like you' in that sentence? I raise my hand slightly.
"What's a diorama?"
Her eyes narrow further.
"Perhaps it would be easier if I showed you."
I follow her to her room, hmm… I don't think I've actually been in there since I fixed it.
"Soo… what's the nature of the problem?"
I hope this won't take too long; I don't want the pie getting cold.
"In terms, you would understand, I was running what you would call a simulation and lost control of it."
Wait, I assume it's a magic simulation or something how would she lose control of it? I highly doubt that it's a computer simulation, I shrug.
"Right that happens sometimes, why not end it?"
She gives me a sidelong look like I'm a moron.
"That was the first thing I tried, they resisted."
Eh who resisted? She opens the door revealing a room filled with models causing my eyes to go wide. I haven't seen this many models since my father left. I walk towards the left wall covered with ships bottles and several small globes depicting cities, a smile growing across my face. A quick glance across the room shows me the far wall has a desk with several in-progress pieces and a... Saber... model… where did she even get that? The right wall has background pieces, paints and a concerning number of scenes depicting a blond man being tortured… are they moving? Probably best not to ask about that. The centre of the room has a large scene of a ship rolling across the waves.
"Models?! You didn't tell me you collected models. Whenever I ask what you were doing, you'd talk about magic or deflect. Oh, I haven't seen this many models for years! Can I take a closer look at them?"
I feel like a kid in a candy store, oh, where to start, where to start! I look at the first ship on the display cabinet on the left wall, if I had to guess it looks like a galley, maybe an Egyptian one I'd guess given the stylized eye on it? It looks a little tall though… wait this is the same ship that was in the centre isn't it?
"Wait, so you use collect model but don-"
She lets out a sigh.
"-Nevermind I'll show them all to you later, first I request your involvement with this."
She draws my attention to the model in the middle of the room. Hmm? There seem to be little model people scurrying around the boat? She moves her hands around it… zooming… out?
"This is a Diorama I made of Greece, complete with scale models of the entire population."
...
So that's what a Diorama is, I assume it's ancient Greece given the ship...
…
"Why?"
That seems like… a lot of work.
"I wanted to run an experiment to see if I could have resisted Aphrodite, however…"
Ah, definitely ancient Greece then… buut... that seems like an unhealthy hangup.
"Are you alright?"
I can't imagine that is a healthy way to deal with this.
"What?"
I fidget for a moment, ahh how to put this...
"Ah, I can't imagine that this is an easy way to deal with a personal hang-up if you need someone to talk too I literally live in the same house."
There's a silence for a moment as she regards me levelly.
"I don't believe you're in a position to be worrying about other people."
I shrug, eh anything to keep me busy really, as tired as I am I really don't want to go to sleep again.
"Of course I'm concerned, you don't think I dragged you outside because I didn't enjoy your company do you?"
"Hmm… I thought it was because you felt indebted to me?"
Ow, I thought we were closer friends than that.
"If that was the case I'd just call it rent, much easier to deal with, do you not enjoy hanging out?"
That earns me another sidelong glance.
"Haa either way before I get your help with this I'm going to need to rebound your arm."
Eh, ah fuck, this is gonna hurt.
"I assume that has something to do with the diorama?"
"Quite I created it by layering bounded fields over it day after day until it created something akin to a reality marble and if you crudely break the spell, it might set them free."
Eh?
"You mean they can escape?!"
She pauses her preparations for a moment as she considers her answer.
"Yes, I granted them some level of sentience in order to ensure complete accuracy."
Oh well, that should make this fun. I hold up my arm and grit my teeth; alright, let's get this over with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And with that, we are back from the dead call it a late Christmas miracle.
I told you I'd update this before the end of the year. So a lot happened there, and hopefully, it wasn't too confusing or too badly written to read.
I've got some vague vision of the path directly in front of me now so that should be fun, but my god online law and science uni was hell.
I'm not really good with subtlety or any kind of emotional writing, and I now think that if I leave my half started fic's my google drive, I'll never start them so... I'm thinking before the New Years I probably start uploading what I have already done to force me to write more. To incentivise me further, I'll even post a couple of the working titles of the ones that are the most ready to be uploaded. Fate: Altered/Twilight, Fate: Chaotic/Order and Ciaphas Cain: Saber of the Imperium.
P.S: Help me fate has taken over my life, not all of the works in my drive folder are fate related I swear.
But yeah I'm officially ending the hiatus, it probably won't me my previous thousand words a week thing, but hopefully, I'll write something.
Jaune Pendragon
King Of Servants
- Location
- Avalon
It's aliiiive!
On that note.... SI really needs a break....
On that note.... SI really needs a break....
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Probably... Too bad he's deliberately distracting himself with busywork to avoid the nightmares!
Respite Part: 2
- Location
- Somewhere North of south
Respite part: 2
I stand at the edge of the road gazing out over the ocean, carefully flexing my left hand to make sure it's still there before resting it on the top part of a sea wall.
"Y'know you really outdid yourself here, it's beautiful."
I really mean it too, I'm not usually one for the beach, hell I've hated it since I was a kid but wow. The glistening waves here are just breathtaking. I know we came here for a reason, but both of us decided to just… take in the view for a moment.
"Humpf of course it is, I spent days working on the spells."
I turn back to Medea taking in the sights of the city behind her. The beige walls shining, shining I've never seen stone brick shine. A bustling street filled with merchants and residents trading gems, meats, herbs, flowers and every other thing I can imagine an ancient city could have; and even a few I wouldn't.
"I almost feel as if it would be an act of vandalism to take it apart."
She walks past me to gaze out onto the sea herself.
"I wanted to take care when creating this place; it reminds me of what I once had."
Is she deliberately trying to avoid me? I turn back around to her.
"Are you going to be alright?"
She stares off into the sea leading on the wall. I find myself shuffling on the spot.
"Do you ever want to go back to being who you were when you were young?
I scoff.
"You might have been a princess dreaming of the world outside, but I was just a nobody that no one remembered. I hated who I was and hated the world; I'd rather forget it to be honest."
I let out a sigh. I imagine it's a rather large point of difference between us.
"I suppose it would be too much to ask to go back?"
I shake my head, who hasn't wanted to do that, go back and try again. But it's probably best to nip that thought in the bud.
"As pretty as it is I'm sure you know better than I do that it is just a beautiful lie."
She turns back to face me.
"I don't think you should be judging people over lies."
She… might have a point about that.
"I-I think you're probably right, but would you want to spend the rest of eternity in here?"
I'm pretty sure she isn't considering it, right? There's got to be some reason why that wouldn't work.
"How peculiar, I wonder what you were more concerned by."
What?
"What do you mean?"
"It's not something you should worry about, at least this wasn't a total loss. I might try something like this again sometime. But for now, we'll have to wait, come there should be someplace we can stay before they arrive."
Eh? What, who?
"Before who arrives?"
Medea gives me a disappointed look.
"The Naive girl that still believes her husband loves her, what do you think was the cause of my issues here?"
Ah, probably should've put that together by now. We make our way into the bustle of the market approaching what appears to be the largest building in the city which is on raised ground.
"So where are we heading to?"
A few… I guess I'd call them guards? See us and begin to flee towards the large building at speed. Probably something to do with the yellow glow.
"The acropolis."
I blink.
"The what?"
Medea lets out a sigh and points at the building on the hill in front of us.
"That building, it's a citadel that contains temples and represents the primary military force in the city."
I nod along, right ok that tells me exactly nothing.
"For?"
The guards have created a small shield wall in front of us, blocking our path to the Acropolis. She regards me with a sidelong look.
"How much do you know about my story?"
I shake my head as the crowd around us begins dispersing.
"A vague notion of events that happened, I know that Aphrodite kinda mind controlled you into falling in love with someone who left you at effectively the first opportunity even after you ah… yeah."
Probably a bit of a sore point to mention that.
"Halt! Who are you!"
Ah, wonderful someone picking a fight, much less awkward.
"Haah, in short taking the city should annoy a certain worthless swordsman into investigating and attempting to retake it."
I nod and step forward grinning maniacally holding my arms wide.
"Right, that's all I need to know. I'd have thought you'd be more polite to strange people turning up in your city."
I'm not even sure I'm in a good mood; it's just… if I keep smiling, I'll trick myself into being alright again.
"Uh, By order of King Jason, all suspicious foreigners are to be apprehended for interrogation."
Hmm… I raise an eyebrow and turn to Medea, who scowls, raises a hand and engulfs the guards in flames. I consciously look away, ignoring the screams and smell.
That's actually kinda scary...
"Soo… 'King Jason' is who we're here to bother then?"
She holds her forehead shaking her head.
"That naive child worked out a way to make him king; I'll never know why."
Well, that's not true, I'm sure she knows perfectly well why she'd do it. Either way I think this proves that out planning the gods is rather difficult.
"Honestly, it seems quite impressive to me."
She turns her scowl on me.
"Quite foolish."
The crowd around us starts to panic and disperse.
"Wrecking this city will draw them here?"
I hear a bell go off to my left and turn to see a guard readying to throw a spear in his other hand.
"In spite of his cowardice, leaving a city under his control to be destroyed isn't in his nature."
I nod.
"Right then."
So wrecking a city, this should be... cathartic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before New Years.
Before New Years.
Before New Years.
So yeah... that didn't happen, sorry I wasn't keeping track of time, crashed my car, had to go to the doctor, started playing video games again... all that fun stuff. Didn't really have much time to sit down and write. Worse when I went through to do final editing on those other stories I talked about I ending up... adding... a bit more to it and changing stuff around... so yeah but it's up now, or the first one is at least: Fate: Chaotic/Orders
Another stupid Grand order SI set with a me from the 22nd of August 2020, (waa that's been sitting in my drive for a while) I've updated it with what I know now having finished LB3, but am using me with limited meta knowledge from what I knew at that point. Should be more fun that way.
I stand at the edge of the road gazing out over the ocean, carefully flexing my left hand to make sure it's still there before resting it on the top part of a sea wall.
"Y'know you really outdid yourself here, it's beautiful."
I really mean it too, I'm not usually one for the beach, hell I've hated it since I was a kid but wow. The glistening waves here are just breathtaking. I know we came here for a reason, but both of us decided to just… take in the view for a moment.
"Humpf of course it is, I spent days working on the spells."
I turn back to Medea taking in the sights of the city behind her. The beige walls shining, shining I've never seen stone brick shine. A bustling street filled with merchants and residents trading gems, meats, herbs, flowers and every other thing I can imagine an ancient city could have; and even a few I wouldn't.
"I almost feel as if it would be an act of vandalism to take it apart."
She walks past me to gaze out onto the sea herself.
"I wanted to take care when creating this place; it reminds me of what I once had."
Is she deliberately trying to avoid me? I turn back around to her.
"Are you going to be alright?"
She stares off into the sea leading on the wall. I find myself shuffling on the spot.
"Do you ever want to go back to being who you were when you were young?
I scoff.
"You might have been a princess dreaming of the world outside, but I was just a nobody that no one remembered. I hated who I was and hated the world; I'd rather forget it to be honest."
I let out a sigh. I imagine it's a rather large point of difference between us.
"I suppose it would be too much to ask to go back?"
I shake my head, who hasn't wanted to do that, go back and try again. But it's probably best to nip that thought in the bud.
"As pretty as it is I'm sure you know better than I do that it is just a beautiful lie."
She turns back to face me.
"I don't think you should be judging people over lies."
She… might have a point about that.
"I-I think you're probably right, but would you want to spend the rest of eternity in here?"
I'm pretty sure she isn't considering it, right? There's got to be some reason why that wouldn't work.
"How peculiar, I wonder what you were more concerned by."
What?
"What do you mean?"
"It's not something you should worry about, at least this wasn't a total loss. I might try something like this again sometime. But for now, we'll have to wait, come there should be someplace we can stay before they arrive."
Eh? What, who?
"Before who arrives?"
Medea gives me a disappointed look.
"The Naive girl that still believes her husband loves her, what do you think was the cause of my issues here?"
Ah, probably should've put that together by now. We make our way into the bustle of the market approaching what appears to be the largest building in the city which is on raised ground.
"So where are we heading to?"
A few… I guess I'd call them guards? See us and begin to flee towards the large building at speed. Probably something to do with the yellow glow.
"The acropolis."
I blink.
"The what?"
Medea lets out a sigh and points at the building on the hill in front of us.
"That building, it's a citadel that contains temples and represents the primary military force in the city."
I nod along, right ok that tells me exactly nothing.
"For?"
The guards have created a small shield wall in front of us, blocking our path to the Acropolis. She regards me with a sidelong look.
"How much do you know about my story?"
I shake my head as the crowd around us begins dispersing.
"A vague notion of events that happened, I know that Aphrodite kinda mind controlled you into falling in love with someone who left you at effectively the first opportunity even after you ah… yeah."
Probably a bit of a sore point to mention that.
"Halt! Who are you!"
Ah, wonderful someone picking a fight, much less awkward.
"Haah, in short taking the city should annoy a certain worthless swordsman into investigating and attempting to retake it."
I nod and step forward grinning maniacally holding my arms wide.
"Right, that's all I need to know. I'd have thought you'd be more polite to strange people turning up in your city."
I'm not even sure I'm in a good mood; it's just… if I keep smiling, I'll trick myself into being alright again.
"Uh, By order of King Jason, all suspicious foreigners are to be apprehended for interrogation."
Hmm… I raise an eyebrow and turn to Medea, who scowls, raises a hand and engulfs the guards in flames. I consciously look away, ignoring the screams and smell.
That's actually kinda scary...
"Soo… 'King Jason' is who we're here to bother then?"
She holds her forehead shaking her head.
"That naive child worked out a way to make him king; I'll never know why."
Well, that's not true, I'm sure she knows perfectly well why she'd do it. Either way I think this proves that out planning the gods is rather difficult.
"Honestly, it seems quite impressive to me."
She turns her scowl on me.
"Quite foolish."
The crowd around us starts to panic and disperse.
"Wrecking this city will draw them here?"
I hear a bell go off to my left and turn to see a guard readying to throw a spear in his other hand.
"In spite of his cowardice, leaving a city under his control to be destroyed isn't in his nature."
I nod.
"Right then."
So wrecking a city, this should be... cathartic.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before New Years.
Before New Years.
Before New Years.
So yeah... that didn't happen, sorry I wasn't keeping track of time, crashed my car, had to go to the doctor, started playing video games again... all that fun stuff. Didn't really have much time to sit down and write. Worse when I went through to do final editing on those other stories I talked about I ending up... adding... a bit more to it and changing stuff around... so yeah but it's up now, or the first one is at least: Fate: Chaotic/Orders
Another stupid Grand order SI set with a me from the 22nd of August 2020, (waa that's been sitting in my drive for a while) I've updated it with what I know now having finished LB3, but am using me with limited meta knowledge from what I knew at that point. Should be more fun that way.