Fate/Off the Rails (and onto hiatus again)

[Look to the Left]

[X] Huh, funny. Just met a servant to claims to be a Saber.
-[X] Which if I had to guess means there is another set of servants running around, so someone is either exploiting the mother of all loopholes or something has gone horribly wrong with the grail itself.
--[X] So to answer your question Shirou, as bad as Zeus and Hera's love life.

I started to giggle to myself. "Huh? Did I say something weird?"

I waved him off. "Nah, nah. It's just that I had met a servant, Hakuno's I think, who claims to be a Saber." His face took on a more grim tone. "As to the situation of it all, which if I had to guess means there is another set of servants running around, so someone is either exploiting the mother of all loopholes or something has gone horribly wrong with the grail itself. So to answer your question Shirou, as bad as Zeus and Hera's love life."

"Is it the one where the guy gives birth to a kid through his skull and has sex with like any hot women within general vicinity except his wife?"

"Yup, that's the one."

"It's that bad huh?"

"I'll be honest with you, if this was a NORMAL Holy Grail War, there will still be property damage, a handful of dead bodies caused by the crossfire and maybe a lot of bad blood if anyone survives. This one here? I'm not quite if I'll live to see the sun dawn tomorrow."

A solemn expression formed itself over Shirou's face. "Do you think we'll be able to stop whatever's happening? Before any of this gets out of hand?"

I looked at him as I considered my words with care. The sound of Rin still kicking the tree being a distant echo in my mind. "Shirou... There is no guarantee that all your hardwork will be paid off. The world does not repay kindness with kindness and malice with malice, it just does not care. Life does not care, what's the point? Bad things happen to good people for no reason, good things happen to bad people for no reason; it just is. What I'm saying is, there's no way to know if we can avoid anything that will cause damage to this city. No... wait... I'm just complicating it... What am saying is..."

"She doesn't know." Right beside Shirou, the Lancer in black appeared out of thin air. "She doesn't know, and neither does all of us." She had not changed her posture and her face was covered so I had no clue as to what she was thinking, even her voice is calmed leveled. Shirou on the other hand was like a book, if the book was written with plain simple words in bolded caps. He looked down at the ground, downcasted.

"So what you're saying is that we can't save anyone?" Lancer stood still but this time I can feel a bit of hurt from her.

"No no Shirou, it's not that we can't save anyone. It's just that... We can't be sure if we can stop all the damage."

He turned to Lancer with a resolute expression. "But if we let even a little of it happen, there's someone who's still to get hurt, someone who's still going to lose something, someone could die."

"Shirou, we can't save everyone. It's the simple truth."

"Still..." He looked at his good hand as it tightly balled into a fist. "That won't stop me from saving people form this war."

"Even the opposition?" He looked shocked at Lancer, his eyes wide. "There are Masters and Servants in this war who're cruel for the sake of cruelty. There are Masters and Servants in this war who seek the grail for noble causes. There are Masters and Servants in this war who simply want their dreams to come true. Tell me, if we are to stop whatever chaos that comes as a direct result of this war, what will you do? Will you kill them? Talk them down? Compromise? It's not that easy Shirou, it never is. In this war, there is only one certainty, that it is inevitable that blood will be spilled. One way or another, there will be bloodshed."

"But..." He's shaking now, his face contorted with frustration. "This is all wrong. There has to be another way... A way where no one has to die." For the first time in the conversation, Lancer looked away from him. Seems like it's just as hard on her as it is on Shirou. I think it's a good time to step in...

[X] "Come on guys, let figure this stuff later after we get to stop Rin from kicking the poor tree and calm down enough to make a gameplan at Luvia's place."

[X] "Sorry Shirou but it's the cold hard truth. It's good that your so nice but... sometimes our choices aren't so open."

[X] "At least you're honest about your willingness to save everyone. Not many can claim that, even actual heroes. Maybe we can't save everyone, but we can at least try and do as much as we can. No promises on me spilling blood though."

[X] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

OOC: I should really get a beta reader. Any of you guys interested?

[X] "Come on guys, let figure this stuff later after we get to stop Rin from kicking the poor tree and calm down enough to make a gameplan at Luvia's place." I said to everyone. "It's first thing in the morning and already things are getting complicated."

"I agree. Shirou, we'll have this talk later. Assassin, is it okay if you go and inform uh... Luvia was it? Shirou spoke of her but I don't know much about her, partly why I'm asking you this. Is it fine if you alert her about about our coming?"

"Sure, I have the best chance of getting to her."

Lancer nodded in response. "For now I shall be under taking the complicated task of... actually Shirou I would very much like your help in this." The young amateur magus sighed to himself as he followed the Lancer in black towards the raging storm that surrounded the tree. Being a hero is hard work.

Leaving both of them to the highly delicate task of managing Rin's anger issues. I enter back into my presence concealment before floating over to the hidden Edelfelt Mansion. It was mostly a quiet trip though I was able to check the state of the Matou home. It was hidden by an illusion based barrier but I could see it, one big hole right in the front entrance and another one through the ceiling. I could spy on them but I don't have that luxury right now. Besides after that fight with Saber (Einzbern Saber I guess) they'll most likely be on high alert.

After some time I found the Edefelt Mansion and floated down to the front door. Materializing once more I knocked on the door and waited for a bit. I was greeted with the door suddenly slamming open and the barrel of a musket pointed right down on my cute little forehead. "Hah! Seems like you have found us but tremble for it's... wait... that presence... is that you Assassin? Why do you look so short and pale all of a sudden and what's with the hood?"

I gave her a sly smile. "Oh nothing, just setting up a joke."

She gave me an odd look but shrugged it off. "Sure... I guess... But I we're on edge right now and Luvia's dealing with a relative of hers... Ha, 400 hundred years and politics hasn't changed one bit."

"Oh dear. From what I can gather, the practitioners of this age are still as full of themselves as they've always been."

"She'll manage. Take it from me, I had to deal with dissenters and the Elders of the Oda clan back in my reign." She puffed out her chest, an aura of pride and ego emanating from her.

"I'll take your word then. If Luvia's busy, then'll talk to the house servants."

"What for?"

"My master and her newfound companion are making their way here for a meeting of their own."

"A war meeting then huh? Sounds good, come in the mansion. I'll call down a servant."

After entering and closing the door behind me, Archer cleared her throat and called out. "Servant! Come forth so we may"

A bespectacled old man with graying old hair in a butler uniform came over with an annoyed expression. "I have a name you know, it's Auguste. Now what have you come and called me down for?"

"This servant and her master are coming over for a meeting. Set up the living room with tea, a map, and snacks if we're feeling famished."

"I shall do so, not because I abide by you but because of my duty as a butler."

Archer leaned over to me. "He's loyal servant that one. Probably willing to die for her if she commands it but he has no respect for me. Come on, we'll exchange some information at the livng room."

We both sat across from each other on expensive looking couches. She reveals that there are some back at Europe who feel that they would make a better contender for the holy grail then her. She disagrees. Basic politics. I talked to her about what had happened at the Church. "There's more to this plot then we thought. Extra servants being summoned for some odd reason... Tell me Assassin, as one who claims to be able to be summoned in the Caster class, tell me. How would the out of control leylines relate to all of this?"

I thought to myself a bit, I may not exactly as much of a magical genius as I should be but I do know a bit about how this all works. "Maybe there's an excess of prana of some sort."

"Excess?"

"You see, as far as I can tell. We servants aren't exactly being fueled by our masters. The prana they feed us are more or less anchors that keep us in this world. It's the Grail, the source of our being that's really taking the bulk of it by sustaining our existence."

"Can you, if you may, elaborate how all this relates to excess?"

"Well..." I thought some more to myself. "So how about this, what the grail does is that it pulls inferior, simplified copies of people from the Throne of Heroes. It can't exactly pull a hero outright in its full glory so the servant class, specialized containers, are used instead. The thing is that even inferior copies take lots of prana to sustain so thus seven are, as far as I know, about as much as the grail can handle."

"Wait, go back a bit. What's this about being an inferior copy?"

"Nah, later."

"But-"

"Anyways, continuing on. The fact that there are more than seven servants being summoned means that the grail is getting a lot of prana from somewhere and is able to sustain more servants. That or..."

"Or?"

"Well, there's always the chance that the grail always had that much prana and the guys who decided to make this ritual simply just capped it off at 7." I gave a shrug. "That's about as far as I know."

"So you don't exactly know?"

"Just some theories that I forwarded."

"Then what? We don't know?"

"Well unless we can go and open up the grail ourselves then we'll never know."

"Nothing huh? Oh hey the Tohsaka girl is here."

"I have a name you know." It seems she had gotten way into her kicking as she was being carried by Lancer. Her leg being held carefully. "That butler at the door was far more nicer then you. He and Shirou went off to grab a first aid."

"Seriously, that butler has something against me... What's with your leg?"

She looked away blushing as Lancer laid her across a couch. "I just... needed to lay off some steam."

"Oh? That's all huh? Take my advice and go torture someone, that'll help cool your head off."

"Hey what kind of... oh right Japan's most infamous military tactician. Sometimes that just... why can't you be like the gruff scary man that historians kept saying you were. I just can't take you seriously like... Oh I'm just getting worked up all over again."

"Hey it's not my fault that the scribes were so lowly and cowardly that they slander me like this."

"I'm back with the first aid madam. Please hold still while I apply a special ointment for accidents such as these. The mistress had trouble like this when she was more younger and naive though they do crop up every once in a while. Mind holding her leg Mister?"

"Shirou, just call me Shirou."

"Very well. Please hold her leg Mister Shirou." Simply giving a small sigh, he used his good hand to hold Rin's leg still. "Lancer was it? Hold her down tightly, you too young man."

"Wait, why're you telling them to hold me tightly?"

"Oh nothing miss." Wearing a pair of leather gloves with gems encrusted into them. He spread a bit of green goop on one of his palm. After taking off off both her shoe and her very long stocking he started smearing it across her legs. "It's just going to burn a lot."

"Burn a lot? Wait, wait, wait that's- HOT! HOT! HOT!"

"Don't worry miss it'll only last for 5 seconds. After that you'll feel it start to cool down and whoa!" Shriou lost his grip as Rin reflexively threw her leg upwards. "In hindsight, it may have been a mistake to ask a man still healing from his wounds to hold someone down with his only good arm."

"HOT! HOT Hot... Oh... that's better..." She laid her leg down as the goop started turning a shade of blue. "What is this cream anyway? It felt like I dipped my leg into a volcano."

"That's a bit of a secret." He said with a small smile. "Now then, let me wrap this bandage around it and... you should be good now. Give it about three hours and it should be all well. You can move it but please make sure not to flow any prana through that leg of yours in that duration. Now then, is there anything you'll be wanting?"

"Tea if you have any."

"Alright then. I go prepare some. Oh, I do believe the mistress should be coming in about 10 minutes. I know my mistress well and there's only so much you can spend bickering with your family members before you quit." He left us to our devices after that.

"So Rin, since you're here now. Feeling like sharing what happened at the Church?"

"I'll do it when Edelfelt gets down. Besides I need some time to sort things in my mind before I can say my piece." She looked off somewhere as she tapped on her chin. "Maybe I should get a butler of my own after all of this... though I don't have enough money for that..."

Maybe I should do some thinking of my own. When Luvia gets down I should try direct the discussion to...

[] The possibility of checking the Grail

[] The dangers of extra servants

[] Talk about our growing alliance

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

[X] The possibility of checking the Grail
-[X] "So I think we can all agree that when a magical artifact of great power starts doing things it isn't supposed to be doing, it might be a good idea to check why it's doing so before it gets any worse."
-[X] "Rin your family helped set it up, you wouldn't happen to have some blueprints laying around that we can have a look at?"

It didn't take long before Luvia came back into the room. She was dressed in her expensive blue dress but judging by her grumpy expression, strands of hair poking out of her elaborately styled hair. "The nerve of her. Claiming my exhausted state is a sign of weakness. Doesn't she know that everyone gets tired? Besides Archer is such a glutton, burning through so much of my prana just to let her fight."

"Please mistress," said the maid following close behind her. "You are very much worked up and we have guests here. Please conduct yourself in a better manner, even if those twins were being rude."

"Thank you for the advice dear. It's nice to know that I have such wonderful servants."

"I live to serve."

"Now then. I believe you wanted to talk to me, that and I see that the young man from last night is a master now? Why this war keeps surprising me at every turn."

"Uh... Hi miss Luvia. Sorry to barge in here but we could really use your help. Oh I almost forgot, this is Lancer." The girl in black simply gave a small bow.

"Well, even your servant is well behaved. Though I will say I can't seem to figure out which mythology she's from, Ireland? Germany? I simply can't put my fingers on it."

"Even I don't know." Shirou added to the conversation.

"Yes I do understand that... wait. Even you don't know?"

"My master is greatly inexperience. For the best chance of his survival I choose not to tell him my true name in case of hypnosis or mind reading. I hope you understand."

"My it's the exact opposite of my problem. Archer can't help but tell everybody her name. Isn't that right?" She gave a deep glare to the archer mentioned. She merely shrugged.

"I can't help being the most recognizable servant in this war. It's simply part of my nature as the Demon King."

"Yes, you been telling me that for about... Margaret dear how many times has she told me that explanation?"

"About 83 times, give or take."

"Give or take? I thought you had perfect memory?"

"I'm sorry but that one time one of your cousins had um... a little temper tantrum and I was force to deal with him."

"Oh that manchild? Please don't speak of him, I had enough family matters for one day." She said before sitting on the couch opposite to Rin.

"Does that mean our second meeting is starting now?"

"Yes, it has. Besides anything to take my mind off of family matters. Anyways, first things first what has happened to your leg?"

"Oh that? Your butler helped fixed it up but if you were asking how it got hurt well... I may have kicked a tree a few too many times while I reinforced my leg..." She looked away blushing.

"Oh? What made you so mad as to assault a poor defenseless tree?"

"Oh nothing, just this entire war's basically gone down the drain."

"The drain? Do tell."

"I went to see the Oversseer. There were two other masters there, one's from Atlas and the other's a first generation magus as far as I can tell."

"Atlas? Oh dear this situation is getting more complex by the minute. Also what's this about a first generation magus?"

"She's a lot like Shirou's situation. A person, who's born with mutations allowing them the use of magic circuits. I don't know much about her capabilities but she's near death. New strain of tuberculosis, the only thing keeping her alive is a mystic code of sorts. It's suppressing and slowing down her illness and keeping it from spreading but... to be honest I'm not sure how much she has left to live."

"Hmm, quite the sob story isn't it? But that doesn't really relate to anything."

"No, but she does have a Saber."

"Yes that is... wait. Scroll back a moment, what was that?"

"While we were getting here. I talked to Shirou and Lancer for a bit, seems like Assassin met one when she offered to cure the girl."

"Oh? Are you sure it wasn't a fake?"

"Lancer said that Assassin also thought of that as well. It's more accurate to say that she 'claims' to be a Saber."

"Hmmm... Anything else?"

"Well, real or not Kirei at least confirmed the summoning of extra servants."

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Extra servants? This war simply refuses to be simple does it?"

Rin gave a sigh. "I wish it was simpler too."

"So I think we can all agree that when a magical artifact of great power starts doing things it isn't supposed to be doing, it might be a good idea to check why it's doing so before it gets any worse." I interjected. "Rin your family helped set it up, you wouldn't happen to have some blueprints laying around that we can have a look at?"

"Normal I would refuse to share Tohsaka secrets... I don't think I can afford to be so secretive do I?"

"If the grail and the leyline distortion are related, I think your family problems won't stop there."

"I guess I can share the designs and notes of the grail with you. Though..."

"Hey Rin, what's wrong?" Shirou asked.

"Oh it's just that... I feel like if the grail's malfunctioning... well maybe do you think we'll have to decommission it?"

"I don't see why not? It has been nothing but a failure of a ritual, four attempts and yet no winner. Makes you think huh?" Shirou was looking downwards now. My best guess was that he's thinking about something but I wasn't sure of what. "Are you perhaps feeling like all your family's work was for naught perhaps?"
I think we should scrap it. It's what caused the fire all those years after all...
"..." Things got pretty silent after that. We just sat there, thinking of all sorts of things. Lancer was gazing out a window, same for Archer, perhaps they were looking out for any danger? Shirou was sitting beside Rin, his gaze never leaving the floor. Rin was moving her bandaged, checking how well her leg was, I think she preparing to go over to her mansion to grab all the notes about the grail. Luvia was simply drinking her tea as her maid was fixing her hair, brushing out everything that was sticking out.

It was later the butler came back but this time he was carrying a platter of biscuits and a pot of tea with a few cups already filled. "It seems that everyone here is all strung up. I wish I could suggest that we all go out for a nice break but this war offers no time for self indulgence does it?"

"Nonsense Auguste, your tea is always enough for me loosen my nerves." She said, taking a fresh cup and started sipping from it.

"You give me too much praise."

"Oh so humble. Margaret, how's my hair?"

"Just started braiding it mistress."

"Oh good. Now then, are you going now to grab your family's research notes Miss Tohsaka?"

"Yeah, I'll be back in a few. Hey Shirou mind if I barrow your Lancer for a bit?"

"Oh, but Tohsaka don't you have Assassin?"

"Well..." She glanced in my general direction. "She isn't exactly what you call a combat based Servant."

I waved it off. "I'm fine with it. Besides you're right, Assassins like me suck as bodyguards when compared to the other servant classes. Really the actual question is if Lancer's okay with it."

"I'm fine with it. As long as Shirou stays here, it's hard to guard two people."

"Well..." Shirou looked at his broken arm. You could really tell he's frustrated with himself. "I think that's okay. Just watch yourselves."

"Come on Emiya, it's only for a short trip to my house which really isn't that far off. Sometimes I think you worry too much." She left along with Lancer. While they're getting the stuff we need, maybe I should do something while we wait...

[] Chat with Luvia
-[] About what?

[] Chat with Shirou
-[] About what?

[] Chat with Archer
-[] About what?

[] Chat with the Servants
-[] About what?

[] TIME TO SCIENCE MAGIC! IN PRIVATE! IF LUVIA HAS A SPARE ROOM!
-[] Mess around with potions
-[] Prepare some Rin Natsui Kinoko disguises
-[] Read up on some spells.
-[] Write in

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

OC: Man I need to update the servant and master matrixes later.

[X] Read your spellbook
-[X] See if you can't find anything that could help in this situation, like something to keep you and at least Archer and Lancer from disappearing if the Grail was turned off.
-[X] Also if you find a spell Rin could cast and would like make a copy of it for her, as a way of cheering her up.

I decided to read behind one of the couches. Opening up the tome, I started reading up ways for us servants to survive after the end of the war. I spent some hours looking across page after page but as far as I can tell, unless we got a nice stable leyline I do think any of the masters on their own can sustain us without the grail to provide the crutch. At one point while I was reading Rin came back and the two heirs of their respective families got into an animated conversation with Shirou and the servants (both magical and non-magical) chiming in their thoughts.

I thought of seeing if any of these spells can be used by Rin but as I expected, magecraft from the age of gods and modern magecraft are two different things entirely. Though to be honest most of my own spells were designed with Divine Words in thought so in the end only those who know Divine Words can use them. Even worse, I'm actually using this as an opportunity to study my own magic because even I don't have a firm grasp yet on my own spells. Damn this shit's hard, I'd have an easier time getting Sisyphus to stop pushing that damn boulder then figure out the complicated nature of my own magecraft... Wait why do I feel like someone's poking my head?

Looking up I saw Rin peeking from the edge of the couch. "Hey, Assassin. What are you doing there? We're having an important meeting and we could use your know how, or least as much as you know in that state of yours."

"Coming! Coming!" Floating up and closing my tome, I dropped down to the front of the couch and saw a large manuscript of a complicated ritual written long ago with a diagram in the middle. "Strange, seems like parts of it are missing."

"More like blotted out." Luvia interjected. "There are parts of the text that look as if someone went and covered them up with ink on purpose and judging by the looks it seems like it had been like for several decades."

"Also if I may add. It seems to me that this butler can't help but notice that edge has a slight rip though it has been slightly smoothed over by the flow of time."

Rin simply sat there. Staring at the manuscript in deep thought. "Hey Rin, what are your thoughts on this?"

"I'm frankly not quite sure. I've looked this manuscript over hundreds upon thousands of times while I was growing up but I always felt like something was missing here."

"You're the heir of the family that created this ritual and you're saying that you don't know? My, the holes are starting to show." She gave a small snicker.

I could see a vein popping out from Rin's head. "Anyways. Worrying about the missing information is useless at the moment. All we have is this manuscript and a few books and notes that my family has written about the war over the years. It's all we have and we'll just have to work with it."

"If we must." Luvia looked over to my direction. "Assassin, while you were reading your tome and all, we had discuss about going to into the caves at the base of Mount Enzou. It sits right on top of a leyline so investigating the cave is a priority. However it seems like there are barriers inside to keep people from interfering with it. Miss Tohsaka, you wouldn't happen to have the keys to the door would you?"

"It's my family's magic. I should be able to disable them. I should let Kirei know too, he is the overseer after all."

I scanned my eyes across the pages. Taking up as much as I could possibly pick up. "Hmmm... I'll be honest with you two, with a manuscript like this I have a better, firmer idea of the Holy Grail but ultimately I think a hands on approach would be a good idea. We'll never know if anything is wrong if we don't get our hands dirty."

"So it seems like a trip to the cave... Teh no Sakazuki if I read it right... is in order."

"Seems like it. I'll go over to my mansion to pick up some equipment. You should go pack up some things for the trip. I think your butler knows the area more right?"

"I have made some grocery trips though I did get confused a few times, other then that I'm fairly familiar with the land."

"That's good. Is it fine if your group will meet us by the abandoned gas station on the road to Ryuudou Temple."

"We'll meet you there. You are the second owner of this land so it's only natural that you know this place more. We'll follow your lead for now."

"That's good then. Shirou, come with me over at my place I need your servant to carry some stuff for me."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "I'm strong on my own Tohsaka, I can carry some stuff on my own."

She pointed at his broken arm. "Not in that state you aren't. I could use some healing gems when we get at my place but it'll still take a while to heal up on its own, my gems will merely accelerate the healing."

The young man simply sighed but complied with Rin's opinion. Lancer walked up to me as she squats next to me and whispered. "It's so nice of him to try to be helpful. Must be frustrating to not be able to help people."

"You can say that again. Though we better go help Rin out before we do anymore chatting." Lancer nodded with me as w headed towards Rin's mansion. Lancer was coming out of the basement with bags full of whatever Rin owned. Shirou self volunteered to keep watch, looking out the window to see if anyone weird comes by. I was with Rin in the attic, grabbing some notes and gems. Rin gave me specific instructions not to go near the box in the corner. Not sure why, though the air that was emanating around it scared the tartarus out of me.

While levitated some stuff that we needed for the trip Rin started to chat with me. "So Assassin, what were you looking for in that tome of yours?"

I gave a small pause before I spoke again. "Well, you were looking all stressed and all so I tried to look for a spell you could possibly use to cheer you upp but as far as I can tell, my magic might not be compatible with yours."

She started at me for a while. Then she gave a sigh and a tired smile as she patted me on the head. "For a supposedly evil witch of Greek mythology, you're a kind person aren't you?"

"I'll be honest with you, what vague memories I have are enough for me to say that I'm a victim of circumstance."

"Heh, isn't everyone?"

"I guess you could say that," I gave a blush.

"Hmmm... I was being a bit stressed out was I? It would be nice to just cool off. Though that idea of yours does sound nice."

"Well the problem really is that the spells were made to work with my divine words. Not to be mean or anything but you humans pretty much lost the ability to speak anything resembling divine words."

"Hey it's not my fault that our modern magecraft isn't as fancy as whatever you guys did back in the day."

"Hey, it's only the means of accessing that's really the problem. If you could speak divine words then you could go belt out any spells of mine that are compatible with you. At least, that's my theory. I'm still figuring out the kink of my own spells."

"Well if you could do that then I'd be leaps above other maguses."

"Well... maybe we could if we..."

Note: Assassin won't do any of these option immediately. Only after the visit to the caves will she do them.

[] Use a bit of divine blood (Genetic modification ho!)

[] Make clever use of mystic codes. (Item Creation ho!)

[] Heavily modify some spells that best suit you. (Magecraft ho!)

[] ...Nah, probably more work than it's worth (Pass these options)

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

OOC: Damn this thing seems long to me. Hope you guys enjoyed it.

[X] Use a bit of divine blood (Genetic modification ho!)

"If you want, we could always use a bit of my divine blood. Sure I'm no Heracles but I'm as much of a demigod as any other Greek hero."

She looked at me with a serious expression. "Are you offering that you modify my body? Because that isn't a simple thing to do."

"Oh," I started rubbing my head. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend you like that."

She gave a sigh. "It's not that it's just... Well you see, the Mage Association has a certain problem. I think you're well aware enough to know that magecraft has been slipping from the world over the past several years. So what they do is that they put Sealing Designations on maguses who show show... well certain traits that can't be replicated in anyway. So they detain any persons who fits into those conditions and hold them for future investigations."

"Basically lab rats."

"Exactly. If anyone finds out that I somehow obtained Divine Blood, they'll drop everything just to obtain even an arm of me. It's something that I just can't take lightly. Even if I spend a great part of my life hiding that fact... Well there's a reason why so many maguses are so secretive of their work."

"That bad huh?"

"Very. Anything from the Age of Gods that's both still intact and usable is widely coveted. Divine blood? That's just as bad as having a Reality Marble and besides, what are you going to do to me anyways?"

"Well..." I started rubbing the back of my head. "You see, I was thinking of adding something to you. A kind of connection of sorts. You're a modern human so the old languages from the Age of Gods are fundamentally incomparable with you, but if you have a connection of sorts to the Age of Gods then you can utilize the mystery of that era."

"Hmmm... It's not exactly a horrible idea in the sense of making me stronger but... Sorry Assassin but we don't have the time for it right now. We need to get to the caves to check out the barrier. We'll continue this talk later but I doubt we'll go through with it."

"Okay..."

She gave a sigh. "Hey, at least your trying to be helpful. Now lets carry these stuff and get over to that cave, we got a lot of work to do."

Collecting all that we needed from the attic. We walked downstairs to see that Lancer was carefully packing some odd looking equipment into a duffle bag. "Ah, got everything you need? If so then you wouldn't mind if you help me pack these things up."

"I was going to anyways, those are my property after all. Also you're holding that upside down." Lancer looked at the object in her hands, some sort of tripod with a gem in the middle made of bronze and etched with symbols. "The rods are supposed to point up, that and they fold inwards, here let me show you." Lancer nodded as Rin came over to help her out.

Looking over to the windows I saw Shirou looking out. "Hey, Shirou. Saw anyone recently?"

"Nah, just some mailmen and cars passing by. Although..." He took on a serious expression. "That lady over at that bench over is talking with one of Luvia's maids and she not alone. She not alone too, there an older man with her."

I gave a look of surprise. "A women and a guy? What does she look like?"

"I think she's a foreigner. All dressed up in a suit and carrying around a canister on her back. The guy's in some sort of Hawaiian shirt."

For some reason my mind conjures up some vague images of a sharp object stabbing into my heart but I waved it off as I called Rin over. "Hey Rin, you know that person?"

She nodded no. "I never saw her before, but what I'm really worrying is why she's talking with Luvia's maid. I don't like this."

"I dunno..." Shirou said. "It seems like they arguing actually."

"But about what? Assassin, think you can get close?"

"I'll try to." Carefully dropping all the items that I've been levitating with me I entered into my presence concealment. From a distance short enough that I could eavesdrop on them but far enough that I won't be sensed. I opened up a channel to my master so that she may listen in as well.

"...I see... So they're going to send them in? Is the problem that bad?"

"Very much so. They're already overrun another nearby city so unfortunately we'll have to report that a fire broke out and consumed half the city." The young women looked Irish, with purple short hair that had hints of red and two odd looking earrings, she had a professional air around her.

The maid shook her head. "A fire? My that's a crude explanation now isn't it?"

"Hey, if it keeps the mortals out. That Berserker of their is a monster. Nothing seems to work."

The man in the Hawaiian shirt spoke up. "If I had my spear then we've been up and over with the problem." He seemed very frustrated. Guess Lancer took his place. "Still though, to be fighting someone like him. It's a dream come true, too bad we had to pull out." He looked over to the girl next to him who I suspect is his master. He was much taller than the women beside him. He was currently smoking, with a carefree sort of air around him. He looked Irish as well and had blue hair and earrings that matched the women's pairs.

"I'm sorry about that Caster, but we had to keep our team alive to report back to the Clock Tower."

He looked at her for a bit before giving a laugh. "Ah, sorry if I look angry at you. You got a duty to preform and I respect that. It's just annoying that I can't go all out quite yet."

"Don't worry Caster, you'll get you time in the spotlight."

"Haha, that's the spirit! Can't wait to meet that Berserker again, I'll have a spell ready just for that fight."

"Ahem. If I may have your attention again. I'll have to inform my mistress about these developments. Please come later if they start coming for Fuyuki."

"We're working on it." The women who I'm guessing is named Bazett said. "It's weird though, we were on their tracks for a while but to disappear like that..."

"That master is one slippery bastard. He must be good if he evaded your guys for so long." He started walking off. "Now where's a good place to find some beer..."

"Hey! Caster wait up!" She ran after him, shouting all the way.

"Oh dear, this will give a few gray hairs to mistress." She shook her head as she headed back to her respective mansion.

I called out to Rin through our connection. "Hey Rin, what did you think that was all about?"

"I think she has more cards hidden then we thought. That Rani girl did talk about a Berserker running but as for now we won't press her about it. It's seems like its mostly keeping track on other parties. I won't lie when I say that I'm very frustrated by the lack of information at the moment."

"Don't worry, we'll figure out what's happening. Let's just grab our stuff first and get to that cave."

Man I had really lost track of time. The sun was setting at the time, a giant ball of gas casting a dying red light on the land before being replaced by a dark sky. When I had just came back to the mansion, Shirou was on his cellphone. I didn't need to be near to hear the sounds of some sort of starving tiger. "Hey Rin, what's going on with him?"

"It seems he's under the fury of the Tiger." Rin said as she shook her head. "I'll take care of this." Walk over to Shirou, she held out a hand, motive clear. Reluctantly he gave her the phone. Clearing her throat, she started with a cheery but professional voice. "Hello Miss Fujimura. Sorry if you were angry but... Huh?" Cupping her hand over the phone she whispers to Shirou. "Why the hell is she slurring her words?"

"I think she's using our hidden Sake collection. I think it's for celebrations or something but Taiga sometimes goes there when she's REALLY stressed at work."

"What's she like when she's under the influnce?"

His eyes dark back and forth saying. "Scary."

She gave a frustrated huff as she started talking with Taiga again. "Sorry about that, some of my papers piles collapsed and we had to pick them all back up... Oh yes... Uh huh... I see... So you want him back because you're all hungry?... Yes life is quite unfair sometimes... Paper work is always a nuisance... Oh no I'm not avoiding the question, just simply commentating... I know you're hungry but I do believe that it would be best to... Oh, Miss Matou is not at home? Perhaps she's helping her brother with the extra homework that the school issued... Eh? Not quite that?... Worried about her for some reason? Don't be, it must simply be complications caused by the gas explosion at school... Yes I think it would be best to contact your relatives... Oh, that's why you called? Because you want your little brother back?" Cupping the phone once more she gave a sly smile to Shirou who gave a little blush. Giggling a bit she went back to chatting with Taiga.

"Oh don't you worry about your little brother, he's a grown man and he can take care of himself... Oh you're not worried about that? You just don't want to be lonely?..." I could almost feel the laughter being restrained within her. "Anyways, I don't think you know what you're doing... Of course you don, why else would be be walking around the house drunk and on the phone with one of your students... Yes, you should call your dad and tell him you're currently drunk. I think it'll really be a good time to pass out. Good night, Miss Fujimura, sleep tight." She threw the phone back to Shirou who caught it single handed. "Well, time to head to the cave. Makes sure you don't break any of my property, they'll cost you an arm!" She walked off in a more cheery mood, acting as if the conversation never happened.

"Hmm... It seems like she's a very dangerous girl don't you think master?" Lancer said as she seemingly appeared next to Shirou.

"Yeah.. She's a dangerous girl indeed..."

The moment night fell was when we all went out. Nothing happened on the way to the abandoned gas station. Almost everyone had gone inside and with the exception of a drunk hobo, no one saw us. After an hour or so we had arrived at a the abandoned gas station that Rin told us about. The entire place was a dump, the gas pumps were long rusted and seemed to have some parts taken at one point. The building was empty and filled with random trash, some empty beer bottles and what appears to be the remnants of a broken syringe. It was another thirty minutes when Luvia and her servants arrived, in a Humvee. "Miss Edelfelt, why in the world do you have that giant monstrosity?"

The back window was rolled down as Luvia poked her head out. "Oh? This thing? It's my maid's personal car. I don't have a single clue as to what it is but my isn't it a robust little thing."

The front window rolled down as the maid, now dressed in a more practical set of a bulletproof vest over a black jacket and what appear to be night vision googles strapped to her head, too poked out her head. "This, Miss Tohsaka, is a re-purposed military Humvee with its outer body being replaced with an equally as armored but less conspicuous civilian looking body complete with a nice ocean blue paint job and packing a hidden M2 heavy machine gun. Ma'am."

Rin only stared at her before she sighed. "I'll just take your word for it. How much room is inside?"

"Oh, forgive me for forgetting that. This car has four seats, two are available as Auguste is currently at the mansion guarding it. Mister... Emiya was it?"

"Uh... you mean me?"

"Yes you, I'd like you to sit by mistress."

"Oh? Why does he get to sit next to her?" I could feel the air around her turn cold. She had that simple smile on her. I floated a meters away from her.

"Please forgive me ma'am but uh..."

"Please deary let me explain." Luvia cleared her throat. "While we my be in a alliance I currently still can't stand being near you as your backwater smell causes me no end of discomfort so the farther the better. That young man there is far more easier to deal with, he seems so nice and gentle that he'd probably make a better wife than a husband."

"Huh, well I still can't stand you either so I'll sit next to your maid... Oh, by the way. Got room in there for our stuff?"

"Plenty in the back."

"Good." After some difficulties getting the duffel bags in the trunk (much rearrangements required) both the masters got in the car while me and Lancer entered spirit mode. The maid made a U-turn and got off the road into the forest towards where the cave should be. The ride was bumpy but it wasn't unpleasant to the stomach as neither Rin nor Shirou puked. During the entire trip, Luvia was oddly amiable towards Shirou, conversing with him the whole way.

"So Mister Emiya. You're an amateur magus?"

"Yeah... Dad never told me much about other maguses or even organizations. Just that I should stay away from them.|

"Hmmm... Sounds like he doesn't seem fond of his fellow maguses. Tell me, what is your family's crest then?"

"Crest? Sorry but I don't know what a crest is, in fact my dad only gave me the bare basics."

"The basics? Tell me more about this father of yours."

"Well, he didn't look too keen on me learning magic, I had to bug him about it until he relented."

"Sounds like he's disillusioned with magecraft." Rin chimed in.

"Unfortunately some families give up on the art of magecraft. They feel as if the modern world as already won and everything we do is worthless. We like to call them quitters."

Shirou looked at Luvia was a deep glare. "Are you insulting my dad?"

For once she looked ashamed. "Oh, sorry if I had insulted your father by accident. It's just that to us maguses, the pursuit of magecraft is our entire reason for living. Of course not everyone is made out for that life." She shrugged. "But still, to not pass on his crest is a tragedy. To pass off your magic crest to your blood relatives is a tradition amongst all magi."

"Blood relatives? Oh, I'm not actually his biological son, I'm adopted."

"Oh... Is that so and you still have magic circuits? You must be a first generation then. Rare but not exciting."

"Rare huh... By the way, why are you so..."

"Charming?"

"I was gonna say why're so antagonistic to Tohsaka."

"Oh, that? Simply bad blood caused by the 3rd Holy Grail War."

"Bad blood?"

She gave a sigh. "If you must know, our family entered that war to take the grail for ourselves. Only to have not only parts of our Magic Crest Stolen but our family dignity ruined and the lost of a valuable member of our family all because of this dumb little ritual some upstarts made in this little backwater country."

"Maybe you guys aren't that good?" Rin responded.

"Ain't that good ha?" The air inside the car had gotten colder. "Well, obviously that entire thing was set up meaning that your family had cheated us all."

"Cheated eh? Well I refuse to take such insults, especially from a little pampered princess like you."

"Pampered you say? Maybe so but that's because I've earned that. I have all the money while you on the other hand are a poor hobo who could barely hold any of her lands."

"Hobo? I'm pretty sure you're using that definition wrong. Guess you're dumber then I thought."

"Dumb? Says the idiot sitting in front of me. Fools like you should know their place."

"How about you go and-"

"We are now at our destination, it would be a good time to unload all our things and make way to the cave entrance." The maid said nonchalantly as the Humvee came to a stop.

"Great! I'll grab the duffel bags! Mind helping me out Tohsaka?" Shirou said, desperation clear in his voice.

The two heirs stayed silent until Rin finally spoke up. "Sure Emiya... I'll be right there..."

"Yes... Go and help your friend..."

When everyone but the maid left the Humvee, she gave a sigh of relief and whispered to herself. "Crisis defused. Note to self, find ways to prevent the two from killing each other."

At the place we had arrived to, we were at the base of the mountain at the cave entrance. At the moment however it had a few barriers. The first was to dissuade normal people from coming near the cave at all. The rest all had, if my memory of that manuscript was correct, horrible and creative ways to deter people from going into the cave at all. All this just to make sure no one would mess with the grail, or better termed as the Greater Grail. "Man this looks like a deadly set up." I remarked.

"You can say that again. This is going to be an all nighter." Rin responded.

"Good thing we packed some tents then. Better go help Shirou set up my tent, I need to make sure my makeshift workshop is up and running." There was a bit of sitting up. Me and Rin had our own separate tents as well as Shirou. Luvia had something more akin to a potable hotel room that had its own air conditioning, food service, mattress, etc. It was this big blue block of some strange metallic looking fabric and had a wooden door to boot. "My, sleeping in that little tent there Mister Emiya? Why don't you come and sleep at my tent?"

"Oh, sorry but we can't." Shirou said simply.

"Oh? Is there a problem?"

"Well... I'm a guy and you're a girl and so we can't exactly sleep together..."

She stared at him for a bit, before she bursts out laughing. "OHOHOHOHO! Such a gentlemen! I guess it is only proper. I should've brought a second tent just for you!"

"Eh... Don't worry about that. I got my own tent."

"Is it me or does that women over there trying to seduce my master?" Lancer whispered into my ear as she suddenly appeared next to me.

"Possibly." I gave a shrug.

"That harpy, I'll have to keep on eye on her."

"Hey you're not the only one. My master over there looks like she'll burst a blood vessel, guess she really doesn't like Luvia."

"Do not worry," the maid in combat gear said as she too suddenly appeared next to me. "I'll try to make sure my mistress doesn't do anything too extravagant."

"Seriously, how does everyone keep sneaking up on me? I'm supposed to be the Assassin of this war, not you guys."

"By all honesty. You kinda suck at your role of being an assassin Assassin." Archer said as she appeared right behind me. "My master is being passive aggressive in her approach. If this keeps up she'll have him right around her fingers. A crafty one she is."

"Well, two can play at that game. Shirou! I need your help cooking dinner!" Lancer called out as she ran over to the two.

"Ah, young love." Archer said to herself as she walked over to the group, presumably just to get a kick out of whatever happens.

"Damn Shirou, you got two girls vying for your and you didn't even try. Do you emit some sort of special pheromone or something?" I gave a shrug as I headed back towards my tent. "Now... what to do... what to do..."

[] TIME FOR SOME SCIENCE MAGIC!
-[] Read up on some potions
-[] Work on that divine blood idea, hey maybe she'll change her mind
-[] See if you can help out at the barrier with Rin

[] Help Lancer and Shirou cook

[] Help Archer and Margaret patrol the area

[] Talk to Luvia as she sorts through her gems
-[] About what?

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

[X] TIME FOR SOME SCIENCE MAGIC!
-[X] See if you can help out at the barrier with Rin

Coming out of my tent, I floated over to Rin as she placed an odd looking wooden box with a blue gem in the middle suspended by extremely thin metal bars. "Hello Rin, what are you up to?"

"I'm just checking what kind of quality we're dealing with. Anything like the grail reqiures a barrier that'll keep anyone out. Even for me, the first barrier is making me extremely uneasy. It's bearable though, but I'd like to remove it first."

"One of them summons demons right?"

"False demons, they won't take over your body but they're just as deadly." She placed a piece of paper above the gem. It floated, suspended in the air. She then took out a bottle filled with some sort of ink with something sparkling in it. "Ink infused with grounded gems." She simply stated. Opening the bottle, the ink flowed from its container and formed into a ball about the paper. Little droplets broke free from the ball and started form an image on the paper.

"Trying to get some idea on the inner workings of the barrier?"

"Some idea... I'll be honest with you. This barrier is old, roughly 200 years old. For a barrier to last that long you need to give it a large source to draw from and an intricately crafted ritual to create it. Tell me Assassin, do you feel the barriers at this very moment?"

"Hmmm... I'm pretty sure that my own natural mystery is counteracting this one but I do get your point. I'm having a hard time sensing these bounded fields."

"A mark of a well crafted barrier, made even harder by the fact that it has a constant stream of mana. Noramlly you can temporarily disrupt an advance bounded field by cutting off its mana source for a while but this thing? I'm pretty sure its power source is the grail itself. Not quite sure how we'll cut off that."

"It is quite an conundrum isn't it?" Luvia said as she came by. "I think we'll have to use some prana disruption gems for this."

"Forget it, this requires something bigger."

"Oh, and what do you suppose to try then Miss Tohsaka?"

"We could try to overwhelm the mystery of these barriers with something greater."

"Well, other then our servants we don't have anything that can overpower the mystery of these barriers. Even if use the servants, exactly how will we do it."

"Well, maybe we don't have to..." Their voices fade into the background as I tried to take a look at the barriers for myself. The strange box had finished giving its report but I didn't need it. I had to take a look into my book so that I could better sense the barrier. Man these things are complicated, I would like to say how they work but since my knowledge in limited and incomplete I cannot give any solid pieces of observations for this.

I could hear Rin and Luvia getting into a more heated conversation but I ignored that too. I was wondering the best way to remove them when I realized that I had certain anti magic dagger. After face palming myself, I carefully took out Rule Breaker and made sure no one was looking. Sensing for where to stab, I found the closest thing thing to stab, which was the prana flowing from the bounded field via the ground. I stabbed that.

In a very anticlimactic sense. The bounded field simply faded from the world quietly. With no one the wiser. I took a few steps into the cave. No false demons were summoned, no organs were ignited, the cave wasn't falling on the top of my head, nothing. With a wide grin, I hid away Rule Breaker and called out to Rin and Luvia just as the Finnish girl was about to German suplex my master. "Hey guys! Stop acting like kids and help me out here! We got a grail to examine!" They both looked at me dumbly, their minds not registering what I had done until a full five seconds had passed.

Rin then broke out of Luvia's grip and walked over to me. "What, how, when, why." She said, in that order, and very fast if I say so myself.

Floating over so I could get close to her head, I whispered in her ears. "I used my Noble Phantasm to dispel the bounded fields. You can thank me later."

"Oh yeah... I kinda forgot that you qualify for Caster." She looks disappointed in herself before walked over to the duffle bags. "Come on Assassin, lets see if we can check out that Greater Grail..."

The cave was eerie, not in unspeakable cthulhu horror sense but more that the place feels like it has a mind of its own. At the moment there were four of us; me, Rin, Luvia and Archer. Luvia threw up some gems along with a short incantation that made the gems float around her and glow brightly, some sort of lantern gems I suspect. The caves felt damp and cold, there was a chill that made our masters shiver. Stalagmites and stalactites litter the hollow cavern.

Deeper and deeper into the caves I could something odd. Like large amounts of mana was being concentrated into a single point. "I think we're getting close."

Rin nodded her head. "I think so too.. Geez what's this sensation? It's making me feel odd..."

"I concur. Whatever this Holy Grail is like, it certainly doesn't feel holy to me."

"Something foul is ahead... I like it." A grin formed itself on Archer's face.

Rolling my eyes, we continued onwards into the caves until we came across... something...

We all came to a large cavern... no... not cavern... more like a large endless space. A black field of obsidian that stretched on and on. I couldn't see the roof, just an endless expense of darkness, it might as well be a sky all on its own. Then, there was the thing in the middle. I'm not sure what to think of it. All I can say is that it's something that looks as if it came from the depths of Tartarus.

It was this black and red tower that pulsated with pure evil. At the moment it felt as it was dormant... No, not quite that. It felt more like it's waiting, waiting for something to fill it. There was something flowing from it, I don't know what it is and frankly I'm too scared to. The more I look at it, the more my head hurts. I want to go away.
There's a demon in the grail, and it's waiting to be born.
I tried to cover my ears. To stop the sounds of some strange beating. Something like a heartbeat, but it held no flesh. It's merely a construct of prana and curses given form, and it's waiting.
Get it off of me! Get if off of me!
"Assassin? Assassin! Snap out of it!" I didn't realize that I was writhing on the ground, both hands cupping my ears until she started shaking me. "Assassin, you okay?"

"Me, uh... I'm fine." I pulled on my hood a little farther. "I don't like it here, this is too horrible for me."

"You know what, I take what I said back. This place is a little too grotesques for my tastes." Archer said.

"Is... Is that supposed to be the Greater Grail?" Luvia spared a glance at Rin.

"Hey, don't look at me this is the first time I ever saw it." Rin responded.

"Well if you don't know anything then..." She took a long look at the tower. "Just what the in the world is going on?"

"Hmmm... Say, what's that at the base?" Archer said.

"The base? Please clarify a bit more Archer."

"There's something there... a hole of sorts?" Archer looked very much confused. "I'm not quite sure what it is... Seems like it's moving or something."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." The Edelfelt heir said as she marched on ahead.

"Hey. Hey! What are you doing?!" I called out to here. "You have stay away from that thing! It's covered in curses!"

Luvia stopped in her tracks and turned to me. "I'm well aware that the malevolent aura around it is outright toxic to anyone who touches it. That still won't stop me from getting into the bottom of this." She turned towards the dark tower again and marched forward again.

Rin got up and followed after Luvia. "Hey wait up!"

"Hey Rin come... Back... Dang it she's out of ear shot..."

"Well, a servant's work is never done." Archer went and picked me up, sling me over her back. "Tell me Assassin, what was that back there? Are you really sensittve to magic or something?"

"I don't know, it's just that... That 'thing' is making my head hurt. Like I should know what it is, but... Ah..."

"I don't know what the unstable leylines did to you and your summoning but just keep it together okay? We can't have liabilities."

"Thanks, I guess."

"You're welcomed." With me on her back we followed the masters over to the tower.

The closer we got, the more we felt unease. The tower, grail, whatever it was, it simply radiated bad feelings, I know sounds weird but stick with me. When I mean bad feelings, I mean those emotions, those... Well... Well, things like rage, sorrow, envy, etc. It's perhaps more accurate to say that it wasn't radiating these 'bad' feelings' and more it was made of them. It was an unpleasant experience to say the least.

When we got there, Rin and Luvia where already at the edge. An edge of a swirling vortex that surrounded the tower. It was this deep dark blue and in contrast to the tower it was this swirl of power and mana. I had idea whatsoever as to what the Tartarus it was. "What is this? I've never seen anything like it."

"Whatever it is, it's somehow connected to this... Tower and perhaps to the unstable leylines around the world." Luvia remarked. Rin opened up her duffel bag and got out a gem. "Oh? A tracking gem? So you want to know far the rabbit hole then?"

"I'm pretty sure the rabbit hole will only get weirder from here on out." Chanting a small incantation, she threw the gem into the swirling vortex. 1 minute had passed, 2 minutes had past, 5, 7, 10. She shook her head. "I lost track."

"Was the gem so overwhelmed by prana that it broke apart?" Luvia offered.

"I don't know. I think that maybe it got cut off somehow but... Just what is this?"

Hmmm... What should I do?

[] Suggest we get out, we don't have much equipment and things to study this thing since we only brought one duffel bag.

[] Try to use whatever arcane knowledge you have to figure out at least what the vortex does

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

[X] Try to use whatever arcane knowledge you have to figure out at least what the vortex does

I tapped on Archer's shoulder for a bit. "Huh? Need something?"

"Set me down, I need to examine this... Vortex thingy..."

"Fine, but I'll pick you back up if you're feeling like collapsing again." Taking me off her back, she set me right at the edge.

"Assassin? What are you doing?"

"I'm getting to the bottom of this Rin."

It's a weird sensation to say the least. It almost feels like I'm at the edge of the world. They say that if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you, but all I'm seeing is a really big vortex, that's disappointing. Looking into it more, I could tell that something about it seems to be true. I no that makes no sense but stick with me.

There are, in essence, two kinds of magic. Magecraft and True Magic. Magecraft, if I'm to be honest, is basically false magic. It's sorcery that can't make miracles, it can only produce things that make sense in the laws set forth by Gaia. True Magic on the otherhand is similar with one key diffrence, it's magic that can make miracles, it's magic that creates the impossible. This vortex? It's something impossible.

I levitated a few things from Rin's bag, an old rolled up balled of strings made of spider silk and a small dagger. Making a cut across one of my palms, I let the blood soak the silk completely. Stopping the wound from bleeding further with a simple adress of my will, I grabbed the end point of the string and wrapped it around my hands before throwing the ball into the vortex. "Exerevnó."

Rin stared at me as I started my magical vortex fishing. "Assassin, just how is this supposed to accomplish anything?"

"I want to something similar to what you did earlier. This time though, with something that won't get lost." The string started glowing as it travelled farther into the vortex. "Archer, if I start to get pulled in and I can't pull it out, shoot the string for me okay?"

"Shoot the string? I'm more worried if anything comes out of this vortex."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. I think. Rin, hold me." She picked me up, holding me below my arms.

"You know you're actually quite heavy."

"Kids in general are heavy Rin. Suck it up."

"That reminds me," Luvia interjected. "I think I've asked this already, though I have no recollection of it, why are you in the shape of a child?"

"Oh nothing, just a simple prank of sorts." I offered, trying to avoid the subject.

"Of sorts?" She looked at me with an inquisitive glare.

"You'll see later." I pulled my hood down.

"I think that explains the hood. Don't want us to see the face yet huh?" Archer added. "Still though, the voice does sound familiar."

"Well, just be patient and... Wait I think I got something." I started to tug on the string, using my levitation in conjunction to help pull out whatever I just grabbed. "I think I'm getting something, it's... It's..." A blade tangled in my blood soaked string. Not just any blade, it was a black blade made of extremely fine craftsmenship. A short curved blade that had a red hexagon pattern etched onto its being.
Kanshou
Rin stared at it in confusion. "Eh? A sword? How in the world did it-" She gasped as another blade shot out of the vortex and like a magnet clasped itself into the other blade. As if it were its direct opposite, the sword had a white blade devoid of any complex pattern.
Bakuya
Archer looked at the twin blades and back towards the vortex. "Just what is in there anyway?"

Luvia shook her head. "I'm not quite sure if we really want to know."

I set my findings to the ground, taking care to unravel the string from the twin blades. I held them in my hands, I'm no expert on swords but even with my Item Creation I don't think I can match the quality of these blades. Once more it seems like they're attracted to each other, who ever made these must be a master of sorts. "Hey Rin, what're your thoughts?"

She took a good look at them. "I think they're maybe Chinese made? I don't know but it certainly has a Ying Yang motif."

"Well, I guess we can call these the first results of our investigation." I placed them inside the duffel bag before walking over to the edge again. "Now then, lets see what else we can get."

This one took a slightly more longer time. About 10 minutes or so. This time I fished out a hand knife or more specifically a switch blade. On its hilt was the word 'Seven Nights' written in kanji. I stuff that in the duffel bag.

The next thing I fished out was a card of sorts. On it was a picture of a beast/man hybrid of sorts with a cleaver. I pocketed that.

The next item was confusing. "Assassin, why is there a torn piece of paper taped to the string?"

"How should I know? We're doing magical fishing in a lake of swirling prana. Why are you even questioning this?"

"I may be a magus but even I would like some sembalance of sense every now and then." She groaned out.

"Hmmm? It's seems that there's something written." Luvia pointed out.

Bringing the note closer to my face, the others started to huddle behind me. It reads the following...

"Natsui, if you want to enter this rabbit hole.
You'll need a means of safe travel.
-Future Natsui

P.S. You'll need to cast off that
container for the trials ahead."

"Huh? Just who is this Natsui? Do any of you know a person named Natsui?" Luvia asked.

"I do..." Rin said with a pale face. "Assassin, isn't that your cover name?"

"Yes, it is but... Future Natsui? That's intruding into the realms of Second Magic... And why Natsui?"

"You think it's because you don't want to use your true name?"

"I guess but... Just what's even happening?"

"I do believe that we might be getting into something that's may be..." Luvia trailed off.

"Maybe what?" I asked.

"It seems prepousterous but..."

"What if we're dealing with more then one Grail." I finished for her. We all stood there in silence, trying to process what we're even suggesting.

"So... Can anyone explain to me what's going on?" Archer said, looking at the four of us with confusion.

[] Well I guess it is a good time to get back to camp...

[] See if you can get a least one more thing before leaving.

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

[X] Well I guess it is a good time to get back to camp...

"Well, this is enough weirdness for me." I said, climbing up to Archer's back. "Lets get back to camp."

"Agreed. This is enough hellscape for this Demon King."

We all left the dark tower behind. The chill never left our spines, I could've sworn the tower was watching us, making note of us. We picked up our pace until we could see it anymore, but the chill was still there.

After a while we came back to our camp. Lancer and Shirou had just finished cooking and Lancer switched places with the maid on guard duty. Judging by the smell, it seemed like the maid was now munching on some freshly cooked ramen. The setup was simple, Shirou's makeshift kitchen was a pot of delicious ramen cooked over a bonfire with fold up chairs and a single fallen log big enough for three people to sit on it surrounding the bonfire in a circle.

Noticing our approach, Shirou waved his good hand, beckoning us to come over. "It seems like you're all back..." His smile died when he saw how distressed we all were. "Uh... Did something bad happen over there?"

Rin shook her head. "We'd prefer to just... Process some things..." She sat at one of the fold up chairs.

"If you need me, I'll be contacting a certain Wizard Marshall in my privite area." Luvia said to us as she retreated into the confines of her tent.
Some birds flew off into the distance
Feeling a lot better, I floated off Archer's back and towards the duffel bag that Rin dropped at her side. I started pulling out the things we had found. A pair of blades, a card and a switch knife. I kept the note in my pocket, I'll look into it later. Archer had left to join the patrol.

Picking up one blade, the one whose steel shines like the moon itself. The black one started to move towards the one in my hands "I never heard or seen these blades before, though they do somehow feel familiar." I did a bit of structural analysis on the blades. "Weird, these things are almost like Noble Phantasms."

"Noble Phantasms?" Rin said as she looked over me from her chair. "Are you telling me that we found a pair of Noble Phantasms?"

"It would seem so. Lovingly crafted too." I swing the white blade a bit before the weight of it made me fall over.

"Careful Assassin, that body is quite light you know." She gave a giggle.

"I was just checking." I said as I got up. I placed the blade back with its twin. I picked up the card and started examining it.

"Okay so what's with this one... What the?" No, no. That's impossible. There's no way someone could just distill a portion of a Heroic Spirit and place it all inside a card, right?

"Assassin? What's wrong." Rin asked me.
Dark figures gather at the edge
"Oh nothing. Just eh..." I held the card up to her. "Rin, can you check the essence held in this card?"

"Essence?" She took the card from my hand and did her own structural analysis. She eyes blew open as she stared at the card in her hands. "Just what is this? Some kind of mystic code?"

"Whatever it is, I think we should look into it first before using it... That is if we CAN use it."

"That's sounds about right." She kept giving it a curious stare before putting it in her pocket. "For safe keeping."

Finally I picked up the knife... It was disappointingly normal. "Nothing? Really?" I checked it from every angle, pour little bits of prana to see if it does something, analyzed it to death with Structural Analysis. Nothing. "Well that's a bummer." I threw it back into the duffel.

"Assassin, can I ask you something." Shirou asked after he doused the fire. "What're those blades in on the ground?"

"Oh? The twin blades? Results of our expidition. We'll explain later. Wanna see?" I took the white blade and gave it to Shirou.

He stared at it for a while. Looking at it from many different angles with a look of wonder in his eyes. "These thing are beautiful." He gave it a few short test swings in the air. "Though they feel kinda strange." He handed me back the white blade, I placed it back with its twin.
The patrol group seems to be on edge about something
"Strange? What's strange."

He scratched the back of his head. "Well... It's hard to explain but... Well I feel like they have no purpose."

"No purpose?" I tilted my head at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well... I feel like they aren't made for anything. They just are you see. They're blades full of nothing... That didn't make much sense huh?"

Rin looked at him oddly. "Are you sure a broken arm was the only thing that you broke?"

"Hey, just because I said some weird things doesn't mean I have brain damage or anything."

"I concur." The maid said as she finished her ramen. "Many speak of weird and odd things but it does not mean you can crudely label them as brained damaged individuals- "

"Thank you miss-"

"-when calling them weirdos is a more appropriate term." Having said her piece. She got up, gave a small bow, grabbed a rifle of sorts from below her chair and walked off to join the patrol.

"Did she just call me a weirdo?"

"She sure did." Rin confirmed. "Oh, almost forgot. I should really heal that arm of yours." She got out a few gems. "Don't worry it won't hurt. It'll be just like a warm sensation..."

While she's doing that, I have plenty of free time for myself. What should I do?

[] Time to magic some stuff up!
-[] Figure out what the heck are those twin blades
-[] Look over that switch blade again
-[] Study magic
-[] Item Creation
-[] What?
-[] Write in

[] Chat with someone
-[] The three girls patrolling
-[] Luvia
-[] Yourself (internal monolouge)

[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

[X] Chat with someone
-[X] The three girls patrolling

I thoguht it was a good time to join up with the girls on guard patrol. I floated over to them, finding them huddled around the maid's Humvee. The top part had opened up to show a mounted gun with the maid at the helm. Lancer was the farthest from the group looking around the trees while Archer was closer to the maid, sitting the hood of the Humvee. "Are you sure you saw something Lancer?" The maid called out.

"I'm sure I saw something out there." Lancer responded as she checked behind the trees.

"I knew I should've stayed behind to set up fortifications and traps." Archer said out loud. "My danger signals are screaming at me right now. Assassin! Great timing! We could use your help."

Tilting my head, I floated over to Archer. "I was intending to have some little chit chat but I believe that's out of the question. Is something up?"

"No time to explain, I need you to scan the area now!"

Sensing the urgency in her voice, I spoke a small incantation. "Ψάξιμο!" I sent out a small wave of prana across the forest, from there I could see the huge amount of... things... that had surrounded us. Crap.

"Well isn't this great." I said to myself.

"Assassin. What's the situation?"

"No time!" I said out loud. I could feel the prana inside me gather as I spoke another incantation. "Αποκαλύπτω!" I sent another wave, this time revealing the army of dead hiding behind the trees.

"Dead apostles! No, just their thralls." The maid said as she cocked her gun and opened fire on the dead. They took that as their cue to start their attack, shuffling forth in a full on assault en masse. I couldn't tell how many there were but they might've counted in the few thousand.

"Hah! Running towards their death huh? Mindless beast such as you are nothing but canon fodder!" She took our her muskets and started opening fire as well. Her bullets sliced through them like a hand through a fog but there were always more to take last one's place. "So, quantity over quality? That's a dead simple strategy."

In response to the sound of gun fire, Luvia stormed out of her tent only see to the walking dead coming onto our camp. "Hmph, looks like an Edelfelt's work is never done." Taking out some gems, she threw them towards a group that was charging straight at her. "Räjähtää," the gems blew up in a cone of power, obliterating the Dead from her sight.

"I better get over to my Master, hope she and Shirou are okay." I floated at top speed back to the campfire. A few dead tried to get in my path but I stopped them in their tracks with a simple spell that shut down all function in her legs, thank you reading.

I found the two back to back. Shirou held the white blade in his good hand while his other hand was sort of hanging at his side, barely holding the black blade in its grip, seems like Rin healed his arm up but not enough for him to properly use it yet. Rin was firing off her Gandr shots at any dead that came near them. "Tohsaka, what's wrong with these people? Why are they attacking?"

"They're dead Emiya. They're just mindless husks controlled by a Dead Apostle."

"Dead Apostle?"

"A vampire basically." She explained right after she kicked one of the dead away with a reinforced leg.

"Vampires?! You mean they're real?" He tried to swipe away one of the dead. The blade sliced cleanly through him. Shirou fought back against his stomach and won but he still didn't look good.

"I'll explain later!" She threw some gems into the air at a group that was charge at the both of them. "Platzen!" The gems blew up in an explosion of energy, blowing them into pieces. "Assassin! What's going on?"

"I don't know Rin, but I think they were gathering around our camp for this moment."

"Then how did they hide themselves for so long?" She scaned across the woods, looking at all the dead at have been appearing. "I don't recognize any of them form our city, were they spawned from another city?"

"I don't know, but we'll have to keep them off the human members of our team, you're the ones who're most valuable right now." I said as I gather energy within myself as runes appeared around me. "I hope this works. Βροχή του φωτός!" Purple light shot out form the runes as they obliterated about four dozen of the dead as well as a good several trees. An explosion rocked across the forest, by all bets it was going to attract some people.
In a castle deep in the forest. The little fairy woke and she was smiling.
"But man, doesn't feel like it's too easy. I mean, we got three servants here as well a two expert maguses and a damn warmaid." I said as I looked around. "Actually where's Lancer?"
In a hotel. A girl near her end and a doll sensed a battle from afar.
My answer came in the form of a sudden spike of prana that I felt out of the corner of my eyes as Lancer flew across my vision. She skidded across the ground tumbling but she managed to get on her feet. I looked at the one who threw her so far away... Well crap. "Rin, I think we just found Berserker."
In a bar. The man gave a smile as he looked at his friend who gave a nod.
He was a hulking man. Standing at 195 cm tall, his skin tanned, dark long hair and a rugged beard. His body was well toned and his muscles bulged in ways even I didn't know as possible. He only wore a simple loincloth and nothing else. His eyes are bloodshot, the sclera an eerie black. "Man, kinda looks simple doesn't he?" I remarked.
Elsewhere. A killer heard of a battle by her servant. She was bored so this would be fun for her.

Spoiler: Berserker Matrix - Rank: E

Primary Class: Berserker
True Name: ???
Master: ???
Gender: Male
Alignment: Chaotic Mad
Armament: ???

Parameters:
Strength: A++
Endurance: B
Agility: A++
Prana: C
Luck: D

Class Skills:
Mad Enhancement: B
Ranks up all perameters but takes away most of the user's reasoning and sanity.

Personal Skills:
?:?

?:?

?:?

Noble Phantasms:
???
???
Rank: ???
Type: ???
Description: ???

The failure woke up. Ready to prove himself.
"Simplicity is a strength all to its own child." An echoing voice called out. The dead stopped their attack, the battlefield was all silent but the tension was still there.
The king watched the battle. He was disappointed.
"Where are you? Show yourself!" Rin called out.
The knight nodded to her lord as they rushed into the forest
"Oh no, sorry about that miss but that would greatly inconvenience me. It would be better if you don't see me at all." The voice sounded both male and female, child to adult to elderly, all in unison the voices sounded more like a group than a single person.

"Man you really got your base covered huh?" Rin responded. "Pretty simple strategy, using the smaller but more numerous dead to distract us while your Berserker picks us all off."

"Well, I did say that simplicity was a strength all to it own." I could almost feel him(her?) shrug their shoulders. "But in any case. I want to apologize for your grisly demise but something tells me that none of you approve of my... methods."

"Methods?! Your killed these people!" Shirou bursted out. "Why did you do this to all these people! They're all innocent!"

"Nothing but necessary sacrifices for my cause." The union of voices said.

"Cause?! What would make you kill so many for this!"

"It is for personal reasons. I'll give that much." The voices said simply. "I sorry if you're very distressed. I'll cure your neurosis by means of a hopefully quick death. Berserker, my dead, you may start your assault anew."

Power swirled around the hulking man as he roared out loud. "______" I'm not sure how I could describe the roar. It was less a roar and more something so beastial and mindless that no animal currently alive can hope to match it, that and it popped my eardrums.

Faster then he had any right to, he jumped towards Lancer at sonic speed. Lancer could barely dodge him as he punched where she once stood. The ground before him obliterating into a dust filled crater. "What a monsterous servant." Rin commented. "Where's Archer when you need her?"

"Very busy!" Archer shouted as she fought back to back with Luvia.

"Damn it. This guy must've studied us well. We can't activate her Demon King skill without making Edelfelt useless." She looked towards Lancer who was still trying her best to dodge Berserker's punches.

She weaved around the blows, punches so wide that you could see them miles away, if they weren't on anyone but Berserker. Even his widest punches had come upon her with the speed of jet planes. The only reason she was still alive at was her status as a servant and her classification as the Lancer of this war but even that was only buying her time if she doesn't do anything else but dodging.

"Lancer!" Shirou tried running over to her but Rin grabbed him by the waist to stop him.

"You idiot! What the hell are you doing?"

Shirou tried his best to claw his way out of Rin's grip. "Lancer's in danger! She'll die if I don't do anything!"

"You'll die too you moron!"

It was all so confusing. The dead seem to come from everywhere. Sounds of roaring, tree beings splintered to peices, the ground shaking, gunshots and spells being casted, smells of flesh and the shouts of people long dead. I was stand floating there, wondering what in the world was going on. "Assassin! Snap out of it and help me out here." She now holding Shirou in a grapple, holding both good and bad arm behind him.

"Oh, crap what was I doing!" Shaking my head I floated over to Shirou. "Time out kid. Υπνος."

With some struggling, he slowly fell into a slumber. "Thanks." She picked him up, carryring him over her shoulder.

"You gonna be fine?"

"I'll be when I get to that maid's oversized car of her's. She seems to be holding them well enough despite having no magic circuits of her own. A former enforcer perhaps?" She shook her head. "Assassin, I need you to help out Lancer against Berseker."

I gave a nod. Getting her answer, she made a sprint for the Humvee. The sounds of the machine gun roaring was still nice and clear. "Okay, time to support Lancer."

I floated above the fight between the two servants. Lancer was stil trying to dodge Berserker's punches and she doesn't look good right now. Her armor was now forming cracks simply from the sheer force in the winds caused by Berserker's punches. She her body language is telling me she's nearing her prana reserves fast. Running with only half-

No, not half. She's running on half a quarter of gas. She's been in danger of running out the entire time. "Lancer... You're not going to... Huh?" There I saw it, if only for a millisecond. In her hand she had tried to summon something. A small flash of darkness in her hand that appeared for a brief moment until it was interrupted by the lightning fast punches of Berserker. Is she trying to get her spear out but can't because she keeps getting interrupted? I know what to do.

[] Shoot down Rains of Light down on Berserker to distract him
[] Trying to bind his legs to slow him down
[] Create illusionary clones of Lancer to confuse him
[] Write in

 

[Look to the Left]

OOC: If anyone can read Greek. I'm so sorry if it makes you cringe but in my defense I used google translate.

[X] Create illusionary clones of Lancer to confuse him

I gathered prana around me as I prepared another spell. A heavy duty job needs a heavy duty spell. This one's gonna take a longer chant, about a full second. Lancer and Berserker are moving at speeds that rival jet planes. One full second is like a week long vacation to them. In a single millisecond several dozen trees have already been uprooted from the ground, in a single millisecond about 26 tons of dirt, grass and whatever organic material laid in the ground have been displaced with craters appearing in their place, in a second millisecond, a vacuum had been made by the mighty wild fists of the Berserker enough to snap a tree in half all on its own.

Even so... "Ω, μεγάλη προστάτης Κίρκη..." Lancer survived this long against Berserker. "...Σας καλώ..." She'll definitely survive another full second! "Ξεπλύνετε τα μάτια αυτού του παραβάτη!"

Lancer made a mistake. She took a back step not knowing she would find herself backed up against a tree. If she was any stronger she could've just brute force her way through the tree but she never was a servant made for strength. She was a fast servant, as she is right now she could probably run from Rin's place to a store on the edge of Shinto and back again in under 10 minutes. At this very moment it would take her a second to be surprised and another second to move away from the tree and get back to dodging. That two seconds of delay were what allowed Berserker to punch her top half off her waist along with the tree that she backed into. She fell to the ground unceremoniously, her corpse fading into purple particles.

The mad warrior having done his job turned his eyes towards the Humvee surrounded by the Dead. Gunshots and explosion flashed into the night as the stench of dead bodies started to reach even Berserker. Before he could begin his charge he saw something in the corner of his eyes. Despite his mind having been reaped of its functions, the instincts remained intact. He felt something was wrong. The madman spun around, trying to catch whatever had been in the corner of his eyes. The sight was almost comical, it was like a mutt trying to find its favorite chew toy after its owner had thrown it out a helicopter and into the Amazon forest. If an actual dog owner did that then they're an ass.

There he saw it. In the distance was the black Lancer. She looked as if she hadn't fought at all. Her pleated skirt still pristine and her long purple hair with red streaks lacking any dirt or dust as it swayed in the wind. Even her breastplate and gauntlets seemed like they've just been polished a while ago by an enthusiastic squire. With another roar he charged full force at her. In the dark of the night- no, even in daylight anyone would've simply mistook the brown blur as a trick of the mind if the loud, beast like roaring didn't somehow alert them.

Lancer simply stood there as the madman punched through her breastplate as if the metal didn't matered at all. His arm stuck out of her back, her beating heart in his hand. He crushed it, just like that. Lancer fell limply to the ground. Something was wrong.

Turning around he saw another Lancer, this one partially hidden behind a tree. Another Lancer appeared, this one peeking from out from the hollow shell of a fallen log, even the normally mindless Berserker raised an eyebrow at the sight. Another Lancer was sitting on a branch high on a tree, swinging her legs like she was a playful child. Another Lancer appeared, and another, and an another, another, another, another.

They were everywhere. Berserker didn't thought much of this, he didn't wonder why there were so many Lancers, he just did his usual thing. With a roar he charged at the closest Lancer to him. With a wide swing he decapitated the Lancer before him, with crude transition he moves on to another Lancer, gutting out her intestines. He leaped from the ground, grabbing one of that Lancers that were in the trees and smashing her into the ground as he fell. The Lancer army took that as their cue, leaping into action as they all tried to run away from him.

This was a war, a one madman war against the army of seemingly infinite Lancers. Anyone could tell it was a fool's endeavor, but fools and madman are similar people are they not? If had popcorn I'd be chowing down on them as I watched this from behind a boundary field. Too bad I didn't have any popcorn. I did however have a bounded field as well as a battered but still intact Lancer, the REAL one at that. "You feeling okay there Lancer?"

"Yeah, I'm fine... Just let me take a quick breather okay?" She was worse for wear. Her armor was almost falling apart, her pale skin covered in scratches and bruises with a large gash over her left arm. The mask had a small crack, allowing me to see the glowing purple eye underneath. "Oh... I like you Shirou but it would be so nice if your magic circuits were opened..."

"So that's why you looked like someone who's running on empty." I commented, the sounds of Berserker rampaging were the least of my concerns.

"Yeah... Could've ask you or your master if either of you could open them for me but... Well..." She looked away.

"Eh, it's fine not to trust us." I waved off. "I mean, I am the Witch of Betrayal after all."

Turning her head back to me she asked. "Are you going to betray your master then?"

"No."

She tilted her head. Looking at me for a bit, the one eye that I could see looked more curious than suspicious. "I'll take your word for it... Better yet... Why don't you show me a bit of trust?" She gave a sinister giggle. Something in my spine chilled to -40 Celsius.

"And that is?" I tried to keep my cool.

She gave another giggle. "Well..." She grabbed me by the shoulders before she lifted me up to her face. "I could use a bit of blood..." She lifted up her mask just a little bit, only showing her lush pale lips. They would be attractive if I didn't see the fangs that protruded from her mouth.

"Oh... That thing... Heheh... Well... Shirou would be a better source of blood based prana revitalization, right?" She stared at me. I could feel her gazing into my soul. "Fine, fine... Just... Well just drink it from my arm, not my neck okay and well... Be gentle." This was going to suck wasn't it?

Giving a small nod, she slowly placed me back down on the ground. Gently holding my left arm, she pulled by my sleeve, revealing my bare skin to her. She stared at it for a while, poking the large blue basilic vein with her index finger. She looks almost... Nervous...

"Not to be accusing or anything but... Is this your first time?" I asked.

She gave a nod as she brought her mouth to my arm. I felt her fangs pierce my veins as she started as she started to suck out my blood. I'll be honest, it was very, very unpleasant. About as pleasant as having two needles the size of pencils stabbed in your arms before sucking out the blood the same way you slurp up soup from a plate. Way worse than getting a venipuncture.

After sucking in 2 pints of blood from my arm. She lifted her head away from me and and started to breath in as if she had held her breath underwater. She wiped away the blood from her mouth before she slid her mask down. "Thank you for youe... Uh..." She looked away, her muffled voice had an embarrassed tone that could be heard through her mask. "Thank you for you prana rich blood. Even though you're Assassin, it's more as if you're a Caster posing as an Assassin."

"Well... I can't exactly argue with that." I answered. Before my eyes I could see her body and armor restore themselves to their pristine selves. "Feeling better?"

"Yes, in fact your blood's so rich with prana that I think some of my ranks went up. I think I can give that Berserker a good fight for about a good hour or two..."

Spoiler: Lancer Matrix - Rank up!

Primary Class: Lancer
True Name: ???
Master: Shirou Emiya
Gender: Female
Alignment: ???
Armament: ???

Parameters:
Strength: C - B
Endurance: C - B
Agility: B - A
Prana: B++
Luck: E

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: C
Cancels spells with with a chant that consist of 2 chants or less. Cannot defend from High Thaumaturgy or Great Rituals.

Personal Skills:
Fear Inducement: A
A skill that can be toggled on and off. Induces the feeling of dread and mortality to all living beings within a range of a 15 meter radius. Against heroic spirits, this skill encourages them to falter more often and make more mistakes in the midst of battle. Can be negated by Magic Resistance B or skills that negate mental interference that are at sufficient rank. Perhaps a skill made to emphasize the importance of fear in Lancer's legend?

Blood Sucking: B
A skill that allows one to replenish their health and magical reserves by sucking blood as well as denoting one whose legend hold connection to vampire lore. It is possible to kill someone through this method but she is unable to make thralls through this method. Depending on how rich the blood is in prana it can even allow Lancer to raise some of her parameters.

?:?

?:?

Noble Phantasms:
???
???
Rank: ???
Type: ???
Description: ???

"But you didn't say win, did you?"

She looked away. "I can hold him, off. Maybe deal a few mortal wounds but..." She looked away. "I'm... Uh... How should I say this..."

"Is it something bad?" I asked her.

"Well... You see... I'm not all that good with a spear..."

"What," I stared at her. "What do you mean you're not good with a spear? Aren't you a Lancer?"

"I am but... Well... This is my Noble Phantasm." She held out her hand, a small little ball of darkness appeared there, a sinister purple border to separate it from the night. Then it started to fizzle a bit, becoming thiner and longer until it resembled something that could only be described as a long spear of shadows and power. My eyes widen, this wasn't a spear, whatever's in her hand is a spell.

"You're a magus?!" I looked at her with wide eyes.

"Well... Not exactly...." With a snap of her fingers, her 'spear' started to bend it itself, forming a nice round curve being forming a thin line of shadow connecting the two ends. "If you're a Caster posing as a Assassin, then I'm an Archer posing as a Lancer."

"..." I stared at her for a seemingly infinite amount of time, ignoring the sounds of Berserker mindlessly punching around the illusions while his master was asking why he's mindlessly destroying things. "So what you're saying is that I'm not the only one who's summoned in a less then optimal class?"

"Well, Caster is the worst class for me because I barely know much of magecraft to be competent at it. Lancer is a close second though I fair better in it by miles." She looked at her shadow bow, deep in thought. "I'm bad at fighting close quarters so I'm still having a hard time believing that I'm still alive from Berserker's charge." She looked at the Berserker, still mindlessly doing what he always does.

"So... We're two long range fighters trying to take down a monstrous close range fighter... Huh, funny. Seems like almost our entire group is made of long range fighters. Except maybe Shirou he looks more like a sword guy."

"It is funny isn't it." She gave a small giggle.

"By the way, how good is your magecraft?"

"Like I said, poor. I had a lot of potential but I gotten a poor education, meaning that my growth as a magus is stunted."

"Yet you have that spear." I pointed out.

"Oh this? This one is something I have due to special circumstances." She explained.

Spoiler: Lancer Matrix - Rank up!

Primary Class: Lancer
True Name: ???
Master: Shirou Emiya
Gender: Female
Alignment: ???
Armament: ???

Parameters:
Strength: C - B
Endurance: C - B
Agility: B - A
Prana: B++
Luck: E

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: C
Cancels spells with with a chant that consist of 2 chants or less. Cannot defend from High Thaumaturgy or Great Rituals.

Personal Skills:
Fear Inducement: A
A skill that can be toggled on and off. Induces the feeling of dread and mortality to all living beings within a range of a 15 meter radius. Against heroic spirits, this skill encourages them to falter more often and make more mistakes in the midst of battle. Can be negated by Magic Resistance B or skills that negate mental interference that are at sufficient rank. Perhaps a skill made to emphasize the importance of fear in Lancer's legend?

Blood Sucking: B
A skill that allows one to replenish their health and magical reserves by sucking blood as well as denoting one whose legend hold connection to vampire lore. It is possible to kill someone through this method but she is unable to make thralls through this method. Depending on how rich the blood is in prana it can even allow Lancer to raise some of her parameters.

Magecraft: D---
In terms of magical potential she would've become a powerful magus. However she holds a low rank due to her poor education and being held in a class made for physical combat rather than magecraft. Not that she could much in the Caster class.

?:?

Noble Phantasms:
???
???
Rank: ???
Type: ???
Description: A magical construct that can switch between a spear and a bow. In her current form the 'spear' mode of this spell is more empowered than the 'bow' mode. Due to its nature it takes a while to deploy. There seems to be more to this weapon, perhaps only after seeing it in action will it reveal more of its secrets.

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Rank: ???
Type: ???
Description: ???

"Huh... Never heard of a spear made of magic in any legend that can switch to a bow and back." I remarked.

"It's better if you don't." She simply said. "I think the time for talking is over now. You recovered from having your blood sucked out?"

I moved my left arm around. "Better."

"Good, because I think your illusions are starting to waver."

"Oh Hades don't tell me." Turning my head, I could see that my spell was started to lose form as a few clones disappeared from sight. Thankfully Berseker didnt notice as he continued to smash apart the place. "Damn it all to Tartarus. Looks like we'll have to get back into the fray again."

"Wait." Lancer held up a hand to me. "Can you feel it? There are other servants coming."

"Yeah, I can feel them but they're pretty far off." I cursed under my breath. "This is getting more complicated by the minute."

"Or maybe this is the break we needed all along." Lancer beamed at me. "Listen, on our own we could win. Could being the key word, but if we have one of those other servants to help us out, knowingly or unknowingly, we can put the odds further in our favor." Before she could say anything, I felt my spell fall apart as all the illusions dissipated into purple particles. "No! Not now!"

The Berserker only took a few looks around before resuming its charge at the Humvee. "Dammit! Assassin, go and get help! I'll hold him off!"

Before I could say anything, she planted her feet deep into the ground. Going into a crouch, she leaped into the air, about 120 meters by my best guess. While mid air she began to pull back her bow, a dark spectral arrow made of raging shadow manifested and already nocked on the bow string. Before she even began falling, she let go of the string as the shadow arrow roared to life. Berserker heard the sound of the shadow arrow before he quickly turned around mid charge as he punched away the arrow. A large explosion echo across the forest as the madman tumbled across the ground at mach speed, trampling a few dozen dead into pancakes before missing the Humvee by about 30 meters and crashing into the mountain. If he was any closer then the sheer force caused by the vacuum could've been enough to tip the fortified car over.

The group around the Humvee was shouting about something but I could hear what they exactly said. Too far away and all.

Before she even touched the ground, she let out a few more volleys at the spot where Beserker had crashed into. He was assaulted by a plethora of purple explosion. "Tch. This is proving more bothersome then I thought." The echoing voice called out. "Berserker! Stop fooling around and destroy them already!"

Berserker had barely got out of the crater when Lancer landed back on the ground and switched her shadow construct to spear mode. With a battle shout she charged full speed at the madman, creating a shock wave as she crashed spear first into his chest.

"Come on Assassin you can do this." I said to myself as I cast another spell. "Αφήστε τα μάτια μου, περιορισμένα όπως είναι, να κοιτάξουν τον κόσμο γύρω μου." I felt my sense expand as I sensed all the servants closest to us. Only three of them I could reasonably get to fast. "Which one? Which one?"

[] As much as I hate it, our little Einzbern rival will have to do

[] Huh, maybe another Caster would be handy...

[] I think Rider would be great help... We do know a bit about each over even with my degraded memory...