Fate/Revelation Online
- Thread starter daniel_gudman
- Start date
I don't think it's an excuse? Illya might have lived for several decades, but her body and brain are both locked at a certain age. this has noticeable, concrete effects on her ability to understand and empathize with other people. You could argue that the overall effect is more like an adult with psychological problems, but whatever it gets called, it's a basic part of her characterization.
A really good example of this is the chapter where they take Zolgen. They get the news that Hexi's friends are "dead" and Illya spends an entire passage trying to work out the best way to make him feel better. She takes around threeish paragraphs to work around to "get revenge on his behalf", which is a conclusion that she bases on her own experiences, because she is literally incapable of couching it in other terms.
If you compare her POV segments, Bel's segment, and Diabel's, her POV is a lot more similar to Bel, an actual nine year old, then it is to Diabel, somebody who has lived a similar number of years to her. Even when Diabel is acting all manipulative, he has a fundamental grasp of what other people want and need that she lacks.
A really good example of this is the chapter where they take Zolgen. They get the news that Hexi's friends are "dead" and Illya spends an entire passage trying to work out the best way to make him feel better. She takes around threeish paragraphs to work around to "get revenge on his behalf", which is a conclusion that she bases on her own experiences, because she is literally incapable of couching it in other terms.
If you compare her POV segments, Bel's segment, and Diabel's, her POV is a lot more similar to Bel, an actual nine year old, then it is to Diabel, somebody who has lived a similar number of years to her. Even when Diabel is acting all manipulative, he has a fundamental grasp of what other people want and need that she lacks.
Her body being stunted, that's true, her brain, that's a different matter I'm going to request a WoG on.
And that example does not fly. An entirely sheltered person, who's only interaction with other people would be servants and a rather inhumane grandfather, and only recently her brother, plus the extra twist of being a magus? this person will have trouble empathizing with people as well. The life experience of other people are simply alien to her.
It's no wonder someone raised her entire life to focus on revenge and remove any morals on how to go about it, would default to bloody revenge as a solution, and would have trouble thinking up alternatives.
If you look at, say, Shinji, he too is a selfish brat with little capacity for empathy, in several ways he's not too different from Illya. This is a result of his upbringing.
And that example does not fly. An entirely sheltered person, who's only interaction with other people would be servants and a rather inhumane grandfather, and only recently her brother, plus the extra twist of being a magus? this person will have trouble empathizing with people as well. The life experience of other people are simply alien to her.
It's no wonder someone raised her entire life to focus on revenge and remove any morals on how to go about it, would default to bloody revenge as a solution, and would have trouble thinking up alternatives.
If you look at, say, Shinji, he too is a selfish brat with little capacity for empathy, in several ways he's not too different from Illya. This is a result of his upbringing.
It's not the course of action she picked that I'm talking about, it's how she decided on that course of action. She wanted to lash out, so Hexi will want to lash out, so she will help Hexi lash out. Very simple reasoning, grounded in a surface level idea of what satisfies her with precisely zero regard for the fact that Hexi might want or need something different from her. It's very childish reasoning.
It kind of works out, but it kind of doesn't, and a large part of why it works out comes from the fact that Hexi noticed that she was sincerely trying to comfort him, which is a byplay that she's not even aware of.
...I'm not sure where you're going with Shinji? Like, Shinji basically had his entire identity systematically sabotaged from a very young age. He very much has the thought process and behavior of somebody who had the empathy (and everything else) beaten out of him, while Illya is more like somebody who was already low empathy in the first place.
To put it another way, Shinji with Illya's upbringing would be a brat, but he would be a much healthier brat, who would do a bunch of "pay attention to me" grandstanding. Illya with Shinji's upbringing would be a horrific nightmare of a person who would have given Kotomine a run for his money.
...and now I'm tempted to go write a thing.
It kind of works out, but it kind of doesn't, and a large part of why it works out comes from the fact that Hexi noticed that she was sincerely trying to comfort him, which is a byplay that she's not even aware of.
...I'm not sure where you're going with Shinji? Like, Shinji basically had his entire identity systematically sabotaged from a very young age. He very much has the thought process and behavior of somebody who had the empathy (and everything else) beaten out of him, while Illya is more like somebody who was already low empathy in the first place.
To put it another way, Shinji with Illya's upbringing would be a brat, but he would be a much healthier brat, who would do a bunch of "pay attention to me" grandstanding. Illya with Shinji's upbringing would be a horrific nightmare of a person who would have given Kotomine a run for his money.
...and now I'm tempted to go write a thing.
Err.. regular people do this, like, all the time. It just happens that we are closer mentally to those around us, so our response doesn't tend to be that far off.
Putting yourself in another person's shoes only works if you can understand said position. Her upbringing made sure she has no grounds to do that outside of a very basic level, and that she often misinterprets things.
Once again, upbringing preventing her from seeing things from the eyes of a regular person, not evidence of biology being to blame.
That pretty much sums up Illya's upbringing, you realize? from the moment her mother died to the war, her grandfather made sure to mold her into a weapon to get the grail and get revenge. Little things like empathy get in the way of having her murder Shirou, or disregarding the safety of anyone in the path of getting the glorified sippy cup.
If anything, Shinji got the better deal, if only because he was only a secondary tool, something to mold Sakura into what Zouken wanted, so anything beyond his role in that was unimportant. He was able to go to school, meet and interact others his age, even form something vaguely resembling friendship. Illya was not allowed this.
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I'm pretty sure that for regular people, empathizing with others is an instinctive response, not a conscious mental exercise.
...Did you seriously just say that somebody was lucky to get raised by Zouken?
But in all seriousness, I'm not really sure how much of a hand Illya's grandfather had in her upbringing, but the broad points of her characterization feel organic. She was abandoned to a terrible fate by her father, so she attacks the person her father abandoned her for. She's doomed to die in a very short time frame, so she's selfish and hedonistic. She thinks that gory death is normal because she lived in a place where it was normal.
Shinji's personality feels artificial. Every time he shows up it feels like he's working within a very narrow set of rules with terrible consequences for breaking them. Whenever he says or does anything, it gives me the impression that it's a response that was programmed in to him. Practically every thought pattern he has is a lever that Zouken placed to get better control of him, and it shows.
Crippling lack of self image to make him dependent on Zouken's praise. Superiority complex to keep him isolated from anybody who might help him. His relationship with Sakura is carefully balanced so that she serves as a stick to drive him further into Zouken's grasp, while he does the same thing to her.
...And I just realized we've hit the point where we're talking about "what is empathy" and "is this terrible magus a worse father then that terrible magus, discuss based off of oblique canon references" so I'm going to make this my last post on the subject.
daniel_gudman
KING (in land of blind)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So who and what are the Einzbern, exactly?
They're not a regular clan, a bunch of inter-related families that continuously marry their second and third cousins. They're the half-forgotten, half-abandoned lab specimens of a dead magus.
Originally there was the Third Sorcerer, who died (or, like, left, somehow) without a successor to their magic.
Einzbern-the-person was a magus who was an apprentice to be Third Sorcerer. The "Von Einzbern" homonculi are the homonculi that apprentice created as assistants/specimens/both, who continued to try to recreate the Third even after their creator passed on. They're all abandoned, leftovers.
The whole pack of them seem very -- simple, emotionally? Iri loved Kiritsugu, but it was kind of a childish love that looked up to him, you know? And Acht demonstrated how tough Iri was by throwing her out in the snow and Kerry went and fetched her -- like, Acht was showing off how tough she was, but it was sort of off-base, you know? And on one hand Acht stuck Ilya in a brutal training montage to prep for GW5, but on the other hand, she was also pretty unequivocally in charge of the team, so it appears Acht had like zero plans contingencies in place to control Ilya -- that's not exactly the behavior of somebody worried that the daughter of Kerry is also going to betray him.
In my head the Einzbern Clan are like... the Lost Boys from Peter Pan. Children that can never grow up, pretending to be adults?
Anyway that's the kind of character Ilya has in my head. I dunno about the whole "developmentally disabled" thing -- she's like, a half-homonculus with an artificial soul trait with side effects, I dunno how parrallels to IRL problems is a useful comparison.
But I feel like the problem is maybe more fundamental than a crummy childhood precisely -- more like, all the Eiznberns, everyone in her life, they were also screw-ups with stunted emotions they can't articulate.
And Ilya is double-abandoned; she shares the same trauma of the rest of the Einzbern homunculi, and her father left her behind.
That's the kind of background I'm using for Ilya.
They're not a regular clan, a bunch of inter-related families that continuously marry their second and third cousins. They're the half-forgotten, half-abandoned lab specimens of a dead magus.
Originally there was the Third Sorcerer, who died (or, like, left, somehow) without a successor to their magic.
Einzbern-the-person was a magus who was an apprentice to be Third Sorcerer. The "Von Einzbern" homonculi are the homonculi that apprentice created as assistants/specimens/both, who continued to try to recreate the Third even after their creator passed on. They're all abandoned, leftovers.
The whole pack of them seem very -- simple, emotionally? Iri loved Kiritsugu, but it was kind of a childish love that looked up to him, you know? And Acht demonstrated how tough Iri was by throwing her out in the snow and Kerry went and fetched her -- like, Acht was showing off how tough she was, but it was sort of off-base, you know? And on one hand Acht stuck Ilya in a brutal training montage to prep for GW5, but on the other hand, she was also pretty unequivocally in charge of the team, so it appears Acht had like zero plans contingencies in place to control Ilya -- that's not exactly the behavior of somebody worried that the daughter of Kerry is also going to betray him.
In my head the Einzbern Clan are like... the Lost Boys from Peter Pan. Children that can never grow up, pretending to be adults?
Anyway that's the kind of character Ilya has in my head. I dunno about the whole "developmentally disabled" thing -- she's like, a half-homonculus with an artificial soul trait with side effects, I dunno how parrallels to IRL problems is a useful comparison.
But I feel like the problem is maybe more fundamental than a crummy childhood precisely -- more like, all the Eiznberns, everyone in her life, they were also screw-ups with stunted emotions they can't articulate.
And Ilya is double-abandoned; she shares the same trauma of the rest of the Einzbern homunculi, and her father left her behind.
That's the kind of background I'm using for Ilya.
Please remember Shrirou and Rin survived multiple murder attempts with very little ill will. She is blunt with Shirou and Rin in her daily life and they don't mind much. She has very literally said much worse things to Shirou (than she did to Bel) who she cares about and he doesn't care. Admittedly that is not the best person to model social interaction from, but it is her baseline. By this point the BSM has gotten used to her complete lack of tact and/or respect for social expectations. The funniest thing about that passage was that even Silica didn't seem to think much about Bel even possibly getting offended. The BSM and Iliya's disciples are full of people with very bad social skills.
I really want to see how Asuna will turn out; post-game that is. If she doesn't go completely around the bend I can see her ending up a bit like Sir Integra from Hellsing.
I really want to see how Asuna will turn out; post-game that is. If she doesn't go completely around the bend I can see her ending up a bit like Sir Integra from Hellsing.
- Location
- Elsewhere
In that regard, especially in a humanist setting like the Nasuverse, Ilya being a half-homunculus is something going for her. She's more complete - more human, literally and metaphorically - than a full homunculus would be.
- Location
- America
I thought that acht was the einzbern house, that's why his name is humanoid terminal acht. So it's not that the clan is childish, but it's kinda like they're robots,yeah you could say they're just imitating human behavior but to them it makes no diference. Another random fact is that they're hasn't been a human einzbern for a long while. They're also insulted that justeaze was capable of partial third magic.
Prince Charon
Just zis guy, you know?
OK, now you've got me imagining her unleashing Illya and/or Shirou on some vampires (Illya has the personality closest to Alucard, but they don't really match, while Shirou has the height - of course, we don't yet know what Illya's new body will look like, or if that experiment will even work).
NewAgeOfPower
Engineering Pornagrapher Extraordinaire
- Location
- An Certain Hive of Scum & Villainy, known as NYC
@daniel_gudman Would Illya have been such a dick if Berserker didn't take her favored name?
- Location
- Somewhere North of the South Pole
I think she wasn't trying to be a dick, but when she saw that "Berserker" was a literal child, she was kind of looking for an excuse to dismiss him, subconsciously.
16.3 Black Cats
daniel_gudman
KING (in land of blind)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
16.3 Black Cats
The [Black Cats]. That was the name of the guild that Keita was in, with his friends from Outside.
"Three Birds!" Sasamaru shouted, thrusting forward with his spear. It howled, flaring up with the combined effects of wind, fire, and ether mixing together as they were emitted by his spear.
Well, that was what everyone called them, but technically, the full name entered into the system was [The Moonlit Black Cats].
Sasamaru's thrust pierced the mob in front of him, a ghostly corpse that hung in the air, mortal wounds still visible in his transparent form. The thrust ripped into him, scattering the ghost like fog being blown into sunlight.
Keita was pretty sure this was the first time they had actually been out running a quest in the moonlight, though.
Even as the light died down from Sasamaru's burst, Tetsuo stepped forward, shield raised defensively in front of him as he swung his strange mace-sword, striking the mob he was engaging. Rather than his weapon passing through and damaging with the elements, instead it was more like his solid blow could naturally touch ghosts, solidly smashing into his own ghost-soldier's skull.
Although the majority of Players lived in Elvengrad on the Seventh Floor, the Floor itself wasn't actually that populated. Never mind the Front Liners, even the Mid Liners tended to adventure on higher level Floors, while meanwhile, most Rear Liners were underleveled for it. Additionally, since the mobs were mostly an Orcish Horde theme, they didn't drop any mats that were interesting to the Familiar-crafters, and there weren't any resource nodes worth much, either.
The commander of the ghosts wailed, throwing his head back and screaming like a banshee. Actually, it was probably literally a banshee's scream in terms of effect, but it sounded strangely muted and far away, like he was screaming on the other side of a thick wall, rather than across open space.
As a result, even though they weren't that far from Elvengrad, there weren't any other Players around the whole area, except for them. What that meant practically was, the atmosphere of the quest was actually kind of creepy, even though they were not only overleveled for this Quest, but also over-buffed and extremely over-geared.
Likewise, Keita could feel the wail on a spiritual level, but instead of feeling like it was on the other side of a wall, instead it sounded like someone had rapped on his head while he was wearing a baseball helmet.
Over-buffed... that was probably the effect that made him feel like he was wearing a baseball helmet, that spiritual attacks were on the other side of a wall. Painted on his face (Kirito had glossed over what the paint was made out of and Keita hadn't asked) was the number [1292].
Adding up the values of the letters in [Keita] according to Numerology, [Keita] was 19, and [The Moonlit Black Cats] was 68. Multiply them together, and that was 1292.
Sasamaru had 1428 painted on his face; [Sasamaru] was 21, and 21 times 68 was 1428. Likewise, since [Tetsuo] also happened to be 19, the number on his forehead also happened to be 1292, just like Keita.
"Get him!" Keita said, even though it was strictly unnecessary. His Rumblecloset surged forward, doors swinging wide with a strange creaking sound, ether threads shooting out to entangle the ghost-commander and drag it in. A half-dozen swords lined the inside of the closet, like an iron maiden.
Inside the guild, only Sacchi had managed to [Inherit] the spell from Kirito. Called [Key of the Guild], it was something their Front Liner patron had developed; based on principles of Cryptography, by multiplying their individual numerological values with the value they shared as a [Guild], they could spiritually protect themselves by preventing access to people that didn't comprehend the meaning of the number displayed on their foreheads. Against unthinking AI mobs, that wasn't much of a weakness at all.
The ghost commander struggled, resisting getting dragged in with all it's power. But a strange blur approached from behind, and Ducker snapped into view as his Invisibility spell abruptly failed from the ghost disturbing the mana in it's close vicinity.
The ghost commander turned, struggling against the threads to raise its weapon, but Ducker smiled impishly, launching a jumpkick before it could respond, knocking it off-balance.
It was all the opening Keita's Rumblecloset needed, and the off-balance ghost was abruptly dragged the rest of the way inside, the doors snapping shut around it.
It howled again, this time in pain instead of as an attack, but that cut off abruptly as it's HP went to zero and it died, the [Congratulations] text popping up.
"Does anyone need a top-up?" Sacchi asked.
Keita glanced around, shaking his head slightly when she met his gaze. Sasamaru and Tetsuo both also shook their head.
"I could do with some, actually." Ducker said. "That [Invisibility] is a total gas-guzzler."
"Alright." Sacchi said, smiling gently, before she closed her eyes, focusing. "[Extension Cord]." Invoking the name of her spell, ether converged into a string, too thick to be called a thread, and drifted out, darting back and forth like a living thing, before it abruptly struck the rest of the way towards Ducker, like lightning.
It shined, pulsing as Sacchi fed her prana down it from her Circuits to Ducker. The glow was actually less bright than usual; Sacchi said that it was an unexpected side-effect of the Encryption Defense. Since [Key of the Guild] expressly recognized them as guildmates, it actually reduced the innate magic resistance of spells they cast on each other. Since the shining glow was prana being dissipated as resistance, the lower resistance meant less glow.
"Good job everyone." Keita praised. "We're really making good time."
"Yeah!" Ducker cheered.
It had been the same session where Kirito had taught them [Key of the Guild], or rather, when he had finished developing it, using them as test subjects. Keita hadn't asked why Kirito hadn't developed it on himself. Since Kirito didn't like talking about his relationship with the [BSM], Keita figured that Kirito had just wanted to avoid an awkward situation.
Kirito had offered to teach them the spell as a reward for their cooperation, and although it was shameless, Keita had accepted the offer. Like always Keita offered additional payment to be fair, and like always Kirito declined with a random excuse; this time had been that his real reward was a Social Link Up with the NPC Magecraft Instructor that Kirito had for Numerology. Privately Keita wondered if that was a lie, since even the Argo's Guide didn't list any Numerology Instructors, and Kirito was just making it up. But since it wasn't like Keita could actually afford to pay a fair price for the spells Kirito taught them, Keita felt like he couldn't challenge those excuses anyway.
Still, the only one that had successfully managed to learn it that session was Sacchi. Well, privately Keita felt that was fine; Sacchi contributed the least during combat, but this added another way she could uniquely support the party. In a way, her ability to buff their defenses, top up their Circuits, and maintain their Mule Familiars meant she contributed a lot to the guild as an excellent supporting caster. It headed off a lot of friction in the guild.
"I think we're getting closer." Sacchi quietly volunteered.
"Yes." Tetsuo agreed, nodding as a smile slowly spread across her face.
Because she was becoming more useful, Sacchi didn't hesitate as much to speak up when they were planning what to do. And because she was so useful, the rest of the guild were happy to go along with her suggestions. Like that, Keita was relieved that the worst stress-seam in his guild didn't actually crack open into a problem.
Her suggestion had been to do something for Kirito as a surprise.
Since Kirito had also been complaining in that same session about the unfinished [Haunted Castle Quest] that the BSM Guild Headquarters had (apparently [The White Witch] had aborted it with mind-control somehow), they had stumbled on an idea: follow the ghost-quest to the End, so they could tell Kirito about it. Then he could run it himself, or just be satisfied from hearing the end of the story.
As a result, the [Moonlit Black Cats] were out chasing ghosts in the moonlight.
So far, as near as they could figure, the story went something like this:
The great [Orc King Gorm] had rampaged across the field, conquering castles and towns one after another, enslaving the populace and killing the nobles. He had been halfway across the Floor when great heroes rose up and defeated him, in the name of justice.
Well, leaving aside that the Front Liners hadn't even known that was going on when they cleared the boss, it was true that what quests were left on the Seventh Floor mostly amounted to follow-up actions and cleaning up the broken remainder of the Orc Horde, before a new Orc King could arise. (And that was a flag that bothered Keita a little bit.)
In one of those castles that the orcs had conquered, enslaving the populace and killing the nobles, some brave knights had given their lives, so the Knight Commander could escape with the only child of their Duke, a young daughter. While the Duke died bravely leading a last stand, all his knights had been slaughtered to the last by the Horde.
Without even knowing if their princess was still alive to even retake the Ducal throne, their spirits couldn't rest. Broadly speaking, Keita wasn't sure which way the Quest would break for the ending, but since the whole premise was that the castle was available for [The White Witch] to inherit in the first place, Keita was about 90% sure a tragic conclusion to the quest arc awaited them.
That was the Quest Arc they were trying to complete right now.
Having just dispersed the restless spirit of some of those knights, they were following the trail the Knight Commander had taken as he fled the castle during the attack; the uncertainty of the dead knights turning them into restless spirits that followed the same pilgrimage.
Cardinal was pretty obnoxious about chaining quest objectives together, so rather than the end of the trail being something definitive like the bones of the lost princess, they would probably just get a marker that would send them on the next leg.
"Hey." Ducker said, interrupting Keita's internal monologue, coming to a stop, cocking his head to the side. "You guys hear that?" He asked.
Keita frowned. "No." He admitted.
Sasamaru shook his head, making an uncertain expression. "Yeah. It sounds like... really slow flute music? It's far too low-pitched for a flute, though."
"Yeah, exactly!" Ducker said, enthused. "I want to check it out!"
"You think it's the next leg of the quest?" Keita asked. It felt like a complete non-sequitur, so it could just be a random encounter, or maybe even a red herring.
Ducker shrugged. That's right, Keita ruefully thought, even if it was a distraction, as long as it was interesting, Ducker wouldn't care.
"We might as well check it out." Tetsuo said. Keita turned, surprised that he would speak up.
Tetsuo shrugged, a little uncomfortable with the attention.
"I mean," Tetsuo began, "we're high-leveled for the Floor. We've got Front-Liner grade weapons, so our damage output is way above our levels, and we've got a Front-Liner grade defensive spell, so our magic defense is also way above our levels. Even if we stumble across a field event with an event boss, if you think about it, we should still be good for it."
It was true, and it had occurred to Keita. Still, Tetsuo was usually pretty conservative about risk, so seeing him volunteer like this was a surprise.
Tetsuo was quiet, and had seemed content, so Keita hadn't considered if he was dissatisfied like Ducker or Sacchi. Maybe that had been unfair of Keita. He should try to do better in the future.
"Yeah, let's go for it." Sasamaru said, visibly warming to the idea.
Keita nodded turning to Ducker. "Do I even need to ask?" Keita asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ducker just chuckled, lowing his head in a half-nod.
That really left only one vote.
Sacchi frowned, looking thoughtful. "If... I think you're right." She said, after a long pause. She looked up. "Let's do it."
Keita nodded slowly. "Alright, let's go." He turned. "Ducker, lead the way."
Ducker nodded sharply, and then crouched down, pulling up the hood of his cloak as he turned, jogging forward with his body low. His outline blurred, wavering like the shadows of branches swaying in the wind. It wasn't full invisibility, but it was significantly cheaper in upkeep and a great deal more robust. Ducker spent most of his money buying Spellbooks for sneaking magic, so he had a lot of options.
They followed behind him, moving through the moonlit night.
The sudden silence was creepy, just the sound of wind through the branches of the forest they were hiking through, everything cast in black-and-white in the pale moonlight.
He heard it. It was just like the music that Sasamaru and Ducker had been describing.
It sounded far away, but it also sounded like it was on the other side of a thick wall.
Keita stiffened, and dropped down into a crouch as Sasamaru and Ducker moved ahead of him. Quickly, he typed up a PM and sent it to his guild, warning them what he suspected; that the music they were hearing had some kind of mental or spiritual effect, and to keep their Circuits open and active to help fight it off. If it wasn't for experiencing how the [Key of the Guild] interacted with that ghost's attack like a banshee's wail, he wouldn't have known.
He glanced around, and the three guildmembers he could see nodded, letting him know they had gotten his PM. Keita would just have to hope that Ducker saw it and listened. Since actively circulating prana disrupted all spells, it would degrade his camouflage magic.
They hiked through the woods, moving closer to the low, pulsing music. It was also moving, but at a slow walking pace.
They dipped down into a gully, and clambered up the side onto a mild ridge, when Ducker appeared in front of them, for all the world like he had just materialized there.
"Hey." He said. "You really need to check this out." Ducker's voice was urgent.
With a quick check on the rest of the guild, Keita nodded, and they moved more urgently, as fast as they could while still staying at least a little quiet, and reached the crest of the hill.
Keita frowned.
Marching through the woods was a shrouded figure. It was taller than a normal human, and looked like it was completely wrapped in black bandages. It's back was arched, a long tube like a simple recorder raised straight up into the air from where it's mouth maybe was, both arms holding it up. Despite not looking where it was going, it was confidently walking through the woods, without stumbling or tripping. Well, it didn't really look like it was actually putting it's weight on the ground, though.
That was weird enough, but what bothered him more was the children.
Following behind the strange musician were three children, two boys and a girl. They looked like elementary-schoolers.
It would have been bad enough if they were NPCs. But with their mismatched clothes that looked like modern pajamas, they were almost certainly Players.
Were they….
Were Retired children being dragged through the field at night by an event boss? Keita's breath stopped. This wasn't just an event boss. This was big. This was more than a Mid Liner like him could handle.
Keita urgently gestured, gathering his guild into a huddle.
"We need to tell Diabel." Keita led with his conclusion.
"Yeah." Tetsuo said, looking as troubled as Keita felt.
Ducker grunted in disagreement. "Not that!" He said. "We need to do something!"
Sasamaru sucked his air in through his teeth. "Should we tail them? So we can lead the Front Liners right too them?"
"That might be too late!" Ducker argued. "Didn't the Pied Pier drown the kids in a river? We can't let something like that happen!"
Keita grimaced. "Yeah." He agreed, heavily. "But... what if we attack, and those kids get caught in the middle? They could...." He didn't finish.
"They could die." Sacchi whispered, finishing the thought for him. "They could die, and that would be our fault."
Ducker groaned, kneeling down and grabbing his head. "So we split in two; half the party nabs the kids and drags them off, and the other half engages the mob."
"Split the party?" Tetsuo asked, dryly.
"I don't know." Ducker said. "But we can't just, we can't do nothing! Would Kirito stand by? Would he just let it happen while he sent for help?" Ducker leaned forward. "Listen. Kirito teaches us any Front-Liner class spell we can learn from him. And he hooked us up with Ranger-tier gear. Custom Ranger-tier, just for us!"
Ducker bit his lip, making a complex expression. "We have so many advantages. Kirito's done so much for us! Can you really look him in the eye if we don't use those advantages now? If we don't live up to Kirito now, then what the hell are we even doing with ourselves every day?"
Keita hadn't known. That Ducker felt like that. Keita felt like he had been underestimating his friend all this time, and only now saw the true depth of the person in front of him.
There was a long silence. No. None of them spoke, but that damned music was still playing so slow and so low behind them.
Tetsuo sighed, a long exhale. "When you put it like that...."
"You're right." Sacchi said, with a watery smile. "We absolutely can't let them die."
Sasamaru grinned, shaking his head. "So how are we going to handle this?"
Keita pursed his lips, mind racing as the guild, his guild, his friends, looked to him. "Let me think." He said, lowering his head, thoughts racing as he considered, eyes darting around.
"Alright." He said, looking up. "Here's what we'll do. Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Sacchi. Each of you, run down and grab one kid, and then run back here. If that mob doesn't follow you, great, then we'll make a break for town with the kids. If it does follow you, then you can draw it in for Ducker and I to ambush it with Countdown, okay?"
Keita looked for any objections, but they all smiled, nodding.
Keita grunted, and glanced down. "Tetsuo. Get the boy in front. Sasamaru, the girl in the middle, and Sacchi, you get the boy in the rear, okay?"
Keita glanced around, and pointed at the base of the slope they were standing on, and pointed. "There. See that forked tree and the big rock? Run between them. I'm not thrilled about having you run uphill, but it lets Ducker and I attack from higher ground."
"Any questions?" He asked, looking at his friends.
"Let's do it!" Ducker said, speaking for them.
"Right." Tetsuo nodded.
"Then let's not waste any more time." Keita said.
They all nodded.
"Then Ducker and I will get ready. You three, get ready to go on my mark."
After making sure they agreed, Keita sighed, breathing out and closing his eyes as he focused his mind, pressing his hands together.
He had eighteen swords, and Ducker had the nineteenth. They were all a little different, but they were each stamped with a number. Well, since Ducker's [Number] was eight though, he had the [Number Eight] in the series rather than the first or the last.
And Keita had the other eighteen swords.
Six were in his strongest Furniture, [Rumblecloset]. It did high DOT and bound the enemy, although there were problems if the mob was too big. Since Rumblecloset was his favorite, he always had it with him. For the remainder, he tended to build and rebuild his furniture into whatever was most appropriate for what they were doing.
Right now, the rest of his Furniture was deployed as a set; a kitchen table with four high-backed, armless wooden chairs. A dining room set, basically. The table had four swords, and each of the four chairs had two swords.
So... he arranged them, ordering them forward, putting them in different positions.
He moved quickly, aware that the longer he took, the farther his friends would have to run.
"Okay." He said. "Go."
Sasamaru, Tetsuo, and Sacchi each ran, sprinting forward.
Sasamaru pulled ahead while Tetsuo and Sacchi stayed together and Keita grimaced and wished he had remembered to tell them to keep pace with each other.
Still, Sasamaru almost tackled the girl, not even breaking stride as he body-checked her, flipping her up on his shoulder and peeling around to run back towards the appointed goal posts.
As expected Sacchi had the hardest time, having to stop and lift the dumb-founded boy onto her shoulders in a fireman's carry, while Tetsuo picked the second boy's legs, grabbing and pinning the kid against his chest by the thighs, using his shield like a backstop.
The music abruptly stopped, the strange bandage-wrapped mob no longer walking or playing.
Tetsuo and Sacchi ran, and Sasamaru took a quick glance behind him.
Keita's breath hitched as Sacchi stumbled.
The mob twisted without moving it's feet, and played a single note.
It was sharper. Angry. Like knives trying to drive into his mind.
But fortunately, he was still wearing his baseball helmet, so the knives just skittered and slid against the sides without getting inside his mind.
The mob turned, and started walking forward, slow but implacable, like a car that was slowly accelerating behind them. Like a car trying to run them down.
But as the mob drove forward along the road that they had set for it, it naturally went right through the traps that Keita had set for it.
Two chairs pounced, leaping out from the bushes. Their legs were loaded like springs, as they struck at the mob like snakes. From each chair, two swords whipped forward from the back, swinging out to slash at the mob as they attacked.
"Nineteen and Eighteen!" Keita shouted out loud, as the first one struck. The second followed a moment later, and he shouted again. "Seventeen, Sixteen!"
The mob turned when he yelled. It didn't lower it's arms to protect it's body as the chairs slashed at it's torso. The sword-blades passed between the bandages harmlessly, but enhanced with Ether they still struck the Astral Body, so the mob flinched each time it took damage.
But it walked forward, implacable, as it followed the guildmates carrying the kids.
And then the table came out. It was the kind of circular table you'd see in a kitchen, a round table of pale wood, with four legs. The way it moved was by rolling along the ground on the edge of the table proper, the feet of the table legs kicking off the ground each time.
And then as it closed, it swerved, sword-blades flicking out of each of the four legs as it came to a finish.
"Fifteen-fourteen-thirteen-twelve!" Keita called out, as the blades cut at the mob like a circular saw. The table circled around, slashing at the mob with each pass.
The mob deigned to react, releasing the flute from its mouth. The music stopped, and the silence was abrupt and somehow loud.
And in the negative space where the noise had ended, there was a sharp crack as the mob struck his table with its flute, using it as a light club.
The table was smashed, split in half from that simple blow, the two halves of the wheel spinning off in different directions and crashing into the brush.
If that kind of blow connected with their bodies…
Keita swallowed, but urged his last two chairs to attack.
"Eleven and ten!" He shouted, as the third chair burst from the trees around it, attacking the mob from the front.
Since it still had it
s flute equipped for melee, it counter-attacked, batting the chair aside and breaking it into scraps all in one blow. Still, the chair's attacks had connected, so Keita couldn't complain.
The fourth and last chair lunged from behind, stabbing both swords straight through the mob like snake-fangs.
"Nine! Eight!" Keita shouted, announcing what happened.
Instead of striking behind itself, though, the Mob raised its flute back to its mouth, and blew a note that was discordant, but somehow also clearly in a minor key.
Keita grimaced, eyes crossing in pain, as he felt the music attacking the connection he had with his furniture. Was it using the connection as a vein to pump poison into him, or was it plucking it like a guitar string to send harmful vibrations into his mind? Keita wasn't sure. Either way, the connection with the furniture broke even as he received damage, rendering it just an inert chair.
But he wasn't in the yellow yet. He could keep going. His trump card, his strongest servitor.
The Rumblecloset barged through the woods, bursting from among the trees, throwing open the doors on its front, exposing the preternatural darkness within.
Jagged and unnaturally-moving black threads burst forth, like tentacles, like the lines of fisherman cast into the sea. The hooks made contact on the body of the mob, the tentacles grasped, and they tried once again to drag the mob into that dark cavity, where it would be ground up and digested by the Rumblecloset.
But the mob was heavier than the closet, so rather than being pulled inside, the closet dragged itself over. Well, that was fine in its own way.
The Rumblecloset flew through the air, dragged by its strings towards the stumbling mob, where the closet attached to the side of the enemy like a barnacle.
The doors attempted to slam shut, battering against the sides of the mob like the shell of a clam.
Keita licked his lips, and continued to the Countdown of the Spell. "Seven! Sixfivefourthree! Two!" He shouted, guessing at the numbers as the Rumblecloset bared the swords inside itself, stabbing the enemy with the fangs of digestion that were hidden away inside it's stomach.
The mob screeched, sounding like it was in genuine pain for the first time, even as the HP bar above its head finally slid down into the Yellow Zone. No, it wasn't just a little bit in the yellow, it was actually closer to red than green, as the swords inside the closet continued to saw away.
And then that same note as before, like it was plucking the string, like it was poisoning his vein, and Keita groaned, collapsing to the ground as the connection with his Rumblecloset was severed, frayed, eaten, destroyed; it fell harmless and inert to the ground.
But Keita forced himself to his feet. "The last count." He announced. It wasn't part of the spell, but he could feel the mob's attention on him. He was tanking it, drawing all its attention, so it wouldn't see what was coming next.
"One." Ducker's voice came from over and behind the mob. He abruptly came into view above it. Tracing back the arc of his movement, he had climbed a tree and jumped out, arcing over and down onto the top of the mob, his [Invisibility] failing as he got closer.
And he swung out, the [Series Eight] cane-sword in his hand flashing like an arc of moonlight as he came down on the head of the mob.
[Countdown]. A ritual just for Ducker and Keita, bestowed on them by their Front Liner patron. A spell of Numerology, that built weight blow after blow as Keita's Furniture connected attacks, until Ducker delivered the finisher. It was the same logic as a fighting game, chaining attacks together until a finishing move. Keita piled up blow after blow with his Furniture, his Familiars. Their fangs, their swords, all came from the same Set, as they gnashed against the target like teeth set in the same jawbone.
And after being ground down by Keita's fangs, it was Ducker who possessed the final incisor. The last, final fang, which pierced through the enemy's defenses to deliver damage without regard to its protection. No, it wasn't that the defenses were pierced through, it was that Keita's familiars had peeled them back, like they had ground away the armor and exposed the flesh beneath, and all Ducker had to do was slide his fang through soft skin into the beating heart of the enemy.
That was the concept that underpinned their Countdown. Keita ritualistically prepared the ground, set the stage, so Ducker could step forward and deliver a guaranteed critical strike that stepped past all defenses.
Like a descending moon, that was how inevitable the pale light shining out from Ducker's freshly-drawn sword was.
And that cane-sword, didn't just part the ribbons as it slid along them. It sliced them. The thick black ribbons of the mob were split, frayed on the edges, bursting apart as they were sliced by Ducker's sword, even as the Astral Body was also carved in half by the descending blow.
Ducker pulled his sword lose, rolling as he hit the ground, pulling his shining sword free and sliding it smoothly back into the sheathe, hiding it as he rolled back, away from the mob.
It had only a fraction of health left.
It blew a great note. The last call, the final burst, more terrible than any noise yet. Even if he was wearing a baseball helmet, Keita couldn't deny the sheer loudness of the howling note the mob produced.
He fell. They all fell, they stumbled.
Ducker didn't fade away, his invisibility faltering before it even properly started, and he rolled on the ground, struggling to push himself away from the mob.
The monster's note ended, and it pulled the flute from it's mouth, raising it high over Ducker like a club.
Keita grit his teeth, struggling to force himself to move. If he could just tackle the mob, and throw it's blow off course!
"NO!" Sacchi screamed. It was like the death-wail of a banshee.
And an arc of ether throbbed out, an intense white blaze, the crescent shape of a sword swing.
The [Linker Beam] connected with the side of the mob, blowing it off course, shaving away another fraction of it's HP. It didn't have much left.
"Don't kill him!" Sacchi shouted, her voice desperate and raw. And another [Linker Beam] connected with the side of the mob, knocking it fully off balance.
The mob tumbled, landing clumsily on it's side.
And then it burst apart, flying away into pixels as it dissolved. Because it had run out of HP from Sacchi's attack.
They'd done it.
The [Black Cats] had won.
"Yeah!" Ducker shouted, raising his hand in victory.
Tetsuo was shouting. Sasamaru was shouting. Keita swept his eyes over them. Over the kids, that were blinking, looking so confused as whatever effect they were under ended. At Sacchi, blinking with a cute confused expression, amazed that her desperation had succeed.
They'd done it.
The [Black Cats] had saved those kids.
End
I I I
1) How can I put it? The Black Cats won, but it wasn't like they accomplished anything themselves, they were just proxies? That kind of subtext, let me know if it worked.
2) If you're wondering about how exactly it ended up with three kids getting out here… well, I'm planning to have Diabel recap in the next section, so I'm answering it there, not here. Let's see if that works.
3) I'm going out of town for the next two weeks on vacation starting tomorrow afternoon, so my ability to respond will be pretty limited. I wanted to get this out before that, so I might check threads, but not respond until I'm back, FYI.
EDIT:
4) Description of the [Countdown] Ritual was expanded.
The [Black Cats]. That was the name of the guild that Keita was in, with his friends from Outside.
"Three Birds!" Sasamaru shouted, thrusting forward with his spear. It howled, flaring up with the combined effects of wind, fire, and ether mixing together as they were emitted by his spear.
Well, that was what everyone called them, but technically, the full name entered into the system was [The Moonlit Black Cats].
Sasamaru's thrust pierced the mob in front of him, a ghostly corpse that hung in the air, mortal wounds still visible in his transparent form. The thrust ripped into him, scattering the ghost like fog being blown into sunlight.
Keita was pretty sure this was the first time they had actually been out running a quest in the moonlight, though.
Even as the light died down from Sasamaru's burst, Tetsuo stepped forward, shield raised defensively in front of him as he swung his strange mace-sword, striking the mob he was engaging. Rather than his weapon passing through and damaging with the elements, instead it was more like his solid blow could naturally touch ghosts, solidly smashing into his own ghost-soldier's skull.
Although the majority of Players lived in Elvengrad on the Seventh Floor, the Floor itself wasn't actually that populated. Never mind the Front Liners, even the Mid Liners tended to adventure on higher level Floors, while meanwhile, most Rear Liners were underleveled for it. Additionally, since the mobs were mostly an Orcish Horde theme, they didn't drop any mats that were interesting to the Familiar-crafters, and there weren't any resource nodes worth much, either.
The commander of the ghosts wailed, throwing his head back and screaming like a banshee. Actually, it was probably literally a banshee's scream in terms of effect, but it sounded strangely muted and far away, like he was screaming on the other side of a thick wall, rather than across open space.
As a result, even though they weren't that far from Elvengrad, there weren't any other Players around the whole area, except for them. What that meant practically was, the atmosphere of the quest was actually kind of creepy, even though they were not only overleveled for this Quest, but also over-buffed and extremely over-geared.
Likewise, Keita could feel the wail on a spiritual level, but instead of feeling like it was on the other side of a wall, instead it sounded like someone had rapped on his head while he was wearing a baseball helmet.
Over-buffed... that was probably the effect that made him feel like he was wearing a baseball helmet, that spiritual attacks were on the other side of a wall. Painted on his face (Kirito had glossed over what the paint was made out of and Keita hadn't asked) was the number [1292].
Adding up the values of the letters in [Keita] according to Numerology, [Keita] was 19, and [The Moonlit Black Cats] was 68. Multiply them together, and that was 1292.
Sasamaru had 1428 painted on his face; [Sasamaru] was 21, and 21 times 68 was 1428. Likewise, since [Tetsuo] also happened to be 19, the number on his forehead also happened to be 1292, just like Keita.
"Get him!" Keita said, even though it was strictly unnecessary. His Rumblecloset surged forward, doors swinging wide with a strange creaking sound, ether threads shooting out to entangle the ghost-commander and drag it in. A half-dozen swords lined the inside of the closet, like an iron maiden.
Inside the guild, only Sacchi had managed to [Inherit] the spell from Kirito. Called [Key of the Guild], it was something their Front Liner patron had developed; based on principles of Cryptography, by multiplying their individual numerological values with the value they shared as a [Guild], they could spiritually protect themselves by preventing access to people that didn't comprehend the meaning of the number displayed on their foreheads. Against unthinking AI mobs, that wasn't much of a weakness at all.
The ghost commander struggled, resisting getting dragged in with all it's power. But a strange blur approached from behind, and Ducker snapped into view as his Invisibility spell abruptly failed from the ghost disturbing the mana in it's close vicinity.
The ghost commander turned, struggling against the threads to raise its weapon, but Ducker smiled impishly, launching a jumpkick before it could respond, knocking it off-balance.
It was all the opening Keita's Rumblecloset needed, and the off-balance ghost was abruptly dragged the rest of the way inside, the doors snapping shut around it.
It howled again, this time in pain instead of as an attack, but that cut off abruptly as it's HP went to zero and it died, the [Congratulations] text popping up.
"Does anyone need a top-up?" Sacchi asked.
Keita glanced around, shaking his head slightly when she met his gaze. Sasamaru and Tetsuo both also shook their head.
"I could do with some, actually." Ducker said. "That [Invisibility] is a total gas-guzzler."
"Alright." Sacchi said, smiling gently, before she closed her eyes, focusing. "[Extension Cord]." Invoking the name of her spell, ether converged into a string, too thick to be called a thread, and drifted out, darting back and forth like a living thing, before it abruptly struck the rest of the way towards Ducker, like lightning.
It shined, pulsing as Sacchi fed her prana down it from her Circuits to Ducker. The glow was actually less bright than usual; Sacchi said that it was an unexpected side-effect of the Encryption Defense. Since [Key of the Guild] expressly recognized them as guildmates, it actually reduced the innate magic resistance of spells they cast on each other. Since the shining glow was prana being dissipated as resistance, the lower resistance meant less glow.
"Good job everyone." Keita praised. "We're really making good time."
"Yeah!" Ducker cheered.
It had been the same session where Kirito had taught them [Key of the Guild], or rather, when he had finished developing it, using them as test subjects. Keita hadn't asked why Kirito hadn't developed it on himself. Since Kirito didn't like talking about his relationship with the [BSM], Keita figured that Kirito had just wanted to avoid an awkward situation.
Kirito had offered to teach them the spell as a reward for their cooperation, and although it was shameless, Keita had accepted the offer. Like always Keita offered additional payment to be fair, and like always Kirito declined with a random excuse; this time had been that his real reward was a Social Link Up with the NPC Magecraft Instructor that Kirito had for Numerology. Privately Keita wondered if that was a lie, since even the Argo's Guide didn't list any Numerology Instructors, and Kirito was just making it up. But since it wasn't like Keita could actually afford to pay a fair price for the spells Kirito taught them, Keita felt like he couldn't challenge those excuses anyway.
Still, the only one that had successfully managed to learn it that session was Sacchi. Well, privately Keita felt that was fine; Sacchi contributed the least during combat, but this added another way she could uniquely support the party. In a way, her ability to buff their defenses, top up their Circuits, and maintain their Mule Familiars meant she contributed a lot to the guild as an excellent supporting caster. It headed off a lot of friction in the guild.
"I think we're getting closer." Sacchi quietly volunteered.
"Yes." Tetsuo agreed, nodding as a smile slowly spread across her face.
Because she was becoming more useful, Sacchi didn't hesitate as much to speak up when they were planning what to do. And because she was so useful, the rest of the guild were happy to go along with her suggestions. Like that, Keita was relieved that the worst stress-seam in his guild didn't actually crack open into a problem.
Her suggestion had been to do something for Kirito as a surprise.
Since Kirito had also been complaining in that same session about the unfinished [Haunted Castle Quest] that the BSM Guild Headquarters had (apparently [The White Witch] had aborted it with mind-control somehow), they had stumbled on an idea: follow the ghost-quest to the End, so they could tell Kirito about it. Then he could run it himself, or just be satisfied from hearing the end of the story.
As a result, the [Moonlit Black Cats] were out chasing ghosts in the moonlight.
So far, as near as they could figure, the story went something like this:
The great [Orc King Gorm] had rampaged across the field, conquering castles and towns one after another, enslaving the populace and killing the nobles. He had been halfway across the Floor when great heroes rose up and defeated him, in the name of justice.
Well, leaving aside that the Front Liners hadn't even known that was going on when they cleared the boss, it was true that what quests were left on the Seventh Floor mostly amounted to follow-up actions and cleaning up the broken remainder of the Orc Horde, before a new Orc King could arise. (And that was a flag that bothered Keita a little bit.)
In one of those castles that the orcs had conquered, enslaving the populace and killing the nobles, some brave knights had given their lives, so the Knight Commander could escape with the only child of their Duke, a young daughter. While the Duke died bravely leading a last stand, all his knights had been slaughtered to the last by the Horde.
Without even knowing if their princess was still alive to even retake the Ducal throne, their spirits couldn't rest. Broadly speaking, Keita wasn't sure which way the Quest would break for the ending, but since the whole premise was that the castle was available for [The White Witch] to inherit in the first place, Keita was about 90% sure a tragic conclusion to the quest arc awaited them.
That was the Quest Arc they were trying to complete right now.
Having just dispersed the restless spirit of some of those knights, they were following the trail the Knight Commander had taken as he fled the castle during the attack; the uncertainty of the dead knights turning them into restless spirits that followed the same pilgrimage.
Cardinal was pretty obnoxious about chaining quest objectives together, so rather than the end of the trail being something definitive like the bones of the lost princess, they would probably just get a marker that would send them on the next leg.
"Hey." Ducker said, interrupting Keita's internal monologue, coming to a stop, cocking his head to the side. "You guys hear that?" He asked.
Keita frowned. "No." He admitted.
Sasamaru shook his head, making an uncertain expression. "Yeah. It sounds like... really slow flute music? It's far too low-pitched for a flute, though."
"Yeah, exactly!" Ducker said, enthused. "I want to check it out!"
"You think it's the next leg of the quest?" Keita asked. It felt like a complete non-sequitur, so it could just be a random encounter, or maybe even a red herring.
Ducker shrugged. That's right, Keita ruefully thought, even if it was a distraction, as long as it was interesting, Ducker wouldn't care.
"We might as well check it out." Tetsuo said. Keita turned, surprised that he would speak up.
Tetsuo shrugged, a little uncomfortable with the attention.
"I mean," Tetsuo began, "we're high-leveled for the Floor. We've got Front-Liner grade weapons, so our damage output is way above our levels, and we've got a Front-Liner grade defensive spell, so our magic defense is also way above our levels. Even if we stumble across a field event with an event boss, if you think about it, we should still be good for it."
It was true, and it had occurred to Keita. Still, Tetsuo was usually pretty conservative about risk, so seeing him volunteer like this was a surprise.
Tetsuo was quiet, and had seemed content, so Keita hadn't considered if he was dissatisfied like Ducker or Sacchi. Maybe that had been unfair of Keita. He should try to do better in the future.
"Yeah, let's go for it." Sasamaru said, visibly warming to the idea.
Keita nodded turning to Ducker. "Do I even need to ask?" Keita asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ducker just chuckled, lowing his head in a half-nod.
That really left only one vote.
Sacchi frowned, looking thoughtful. "If... I think you're right." She said, after a long pause. She looked up. "Let's do it."
Keita nodded slowly. "Alright, let's go." He turned. "Ducker, lead the way."
Ducker nodded sharply, and then crouched down, pulling up the hood of his cloak as he turned, jogging forward with his body low. His outline blurred, wavering like the shadows of branches swaying in the wind. It wasn't full invisibility, but it was significantly cheaper in upkeep and a great deal more robust. Ducker spent most of his money buying Spellbooks for sneaking magic, so he had a lot of options.
They followed behind him, moving through the moonlit night.
The sudden silence was creepy, just the sound of wind through the branches of the forest they were hiking through, everything cast in black-and-white in the pale moonlight.
He heard it. It was just like the music that Sasamaru and Ducker had been describing.
It sounded far away, but it also sounded like it was on the other side of a thick wall.
Keita stiffened, and dropped down into a crouch as Sasamaru and Ducker moved ahead of him. Quickly, he typed up a PM and sent it to his guild, warning them what he suspected; that the music they were hearing had some kind of mental or spiritual effect, and to keep their Circuits open and active to help fight it off. If it wasn't for experiencing how the [Key of the Guild] interacted with that ghost's attack like a banshee's wail, he wouldn't have known.
He glanced around, and the three guildmembers he could see nodded, letting him know they had gotten his PM. Keita would just have to hope that Ducker saw it and listened. Since actively circulating prana disrupted all spells, it would degrade his camouflage magic.
They hiked through the woods, moving closer to the low, pulsing music. It was also moving, but at a slow walking pace.
They dipped down into a gully, and clambered up the side onto a mild ridge, when Ducker appeared in front of them, for all the world like he had just materialized there.
"Hey." He said. "You really need to check this out." Ducker's voice was urgent.
With a quick check on the rest of the guild, Keita nodded, and they moved more urgently, as fast as they could while still staying at least a little quiet, and reached the crest of the hill.
Keita frowned.
Marching through the woods was a shrouded figure. It was taller than a normal human, and looked like it was completely wrapped in black bandages. It's back was arched, a long tube like a simple recorder raised straight up into the air from where it's mouth maybe was, both arms holding it up. Despite not looking where it was going, it was confidently walking through the woods, without stumbling or tripping. Well, it didn't really look like it was actually putting it's weight on the ground, though.
That was weird enough, but what bothered him more was the children.
Following behind the strange musician were three children, two boys and a girl. They looked like elementary-schoolers.
It would have been bad enough if they were NPCs. But with their mismatched clothes that looked like modern pajamas, they were almost certainly Players.
Were they….
Were Retired children being dragged through the field at night by an event boss? Keita's breath stopped. This wasn't just an event boss. This was big. This was more than a Mid Liner like him could handle.
Keita urgently gestured, gathering his guild into a huddle.
"We need to tell Diabel." Keita led with his conclusion.
"Yeah." Tetsuo said, looking as troubled as Keita felt.
Ducker grunted in disagreement. "Not that!" He said. "We need to do something!"
Sasamaru sucked his air in through his teeth. "Should we tail them? So we can lead the Front Liners right too them?"
"That might be too late!" Ducker argued. "Didn't the Pied Pier drown the kids in a river? We can't let something like that happen!"
Keita grimaced. "Yeah." He agreed, heavily. "But... what if we attack, and those kids get caught in the middle? They could...." He didn't finish.
"They could die." Sacchi whispered, finishing the thought for him. "They could die, and that would be our fault."
Ducker groaned, kneeling down and grabbing his head. "So we split in two; half the party nabs the kids and drags them off, and the other half engages the mob."
"Split the party?" Tetsuo asked, dryly.
"I don't know." Ducker said. "But we can't just, we can't do nothing! Would Kirito stand by? Would he just let it happen while he sent for help?" Ducker leaned forward. "Listen. Kirito teaches us any Front-Liner class spell we can learn from him. And he hooked us up with Ranger-tier gear. Custom Ranger-tier, just for us!"
Ducker bit his lip, making a complex expression. "We have so many advantages. Kirito's done so much for us! Can you really look him in the eye if we don't use those advantages now? If we don't live up to Kirito now, then what the hell are we even doing with ourselves every day?"
Keita hadn't known. That Ducker felt like that. Keita felt like he had been underestimating his friend all this time, and only now saw the true depth of the person in front of him.
There was a long silence. No. None of them spoke, but that damned music was still playing so slow and so low behind them.
Tetsuo sighed, a long exhale. "When you put it like that...."
"You're right." Sacchi said, with a watery smile. "We absolutely can't let them die."
Sasamaru grinned, shaking his head. "So how are we going to handle this?"
Keita pursed his lips, mind racing as the guild, his guild, his friends, looked to him. "Let me think." He said, lowering his head, thoughts racing as he considered, eyes darting around.
"Alright." He said, looking up. "Here's what we'll do. Tetsuo, Sasamaru, Sacchi. Each of you, run down and grab one kid, and then run back here. If that mob doesn't follow you, great, then we'll make a break for town with the kids. If it does follow you, then you can draw it in for Ducker and I to ambush it with Countdown, okay?"
Keita looked for any objections, but they all smiled, nodding.
Keita grunted, and glanced down. "Tetsuo. Get the boy in front. Sasamaru, the girl in the middle, and Sacchi, you get the boy in the rear, okay?"
Keita glanced around, and pointed at the base of the slope they were standing on, and pointed. "There. See that forked tree and the big rock? Run between them. I'm not thrilled about having you run uphill, but it lets Ducker and I attack from higher ground."
"Any questions?" He asked, looking at his friends.
"Let's do it!" Ducker said, speaking for them.
"Right." Tetsuo nodded.
"Then let's not waste any more time." Keita said.
They all nodded.
"Then Ducker and I will get ready. You three, get ready to go on my mark."
After making sure they agreed, Keita sighed, breathing out and closing his eyes as he focused his mind, pressing his hands together.
He had eighteen swords, and Ducker had the nineteenth. They were all a little different, but they were each stamped with a number. Well, since Ducker's [Number] was eight though, he had the [Number Eight] in the series rather than the first or the last.
And Keita had the other eighteen swords.
Six were in his strongest Furniture, [Rumblecloset]. It did high DOT and bound the enemy, although there were problems if the mob was too big. Since Rumblecloset was his favorite, he always had it with him. For the remainder, he tended to build and rebuild his furniture into whatever was most appropriate for what they were doing.
Right now, the rest of his Furniture was deployed as a set; a kitchen table with four high-backed, armless wooden chairs. A dining room set, basically. The table had four swords, and each of the four chairs had two swords.
So... he arranged them, ordering them forward, putting them in different positions.
He moved quickly, aware that the longer he took, the farther his friends would have to run.
"Okay." He said. "Go."
Sasamaru, Tetsuo, and Sacchi each ran, sprinting forward.
Sasamaru pulled ahead while Tetsuo and Sacchi stayed together and Keita grimaced and wished he had remembered to tell them to keep pace with each other.
Still, Sasamaru almost tackled the girl, not even breaking stride as he body-checked her, flipping her up on his shoulder and peeling around to run back towards the appointed goal posts.
As expected Sacchi had the hardest time, having to stop and lift the dumb-founded boy onto her shoulders in a fireman's carry, while Tetsuo picked the second boy's legs, grabbing and pinning the kid against his chest by the thighs, using his shield like a backstop.
The music abruptly stopped, the strange bandage-wrapped mob no longer walking or playing.
Tetsuo and Sacchi ran, and Sasamaru took a quick glance behind him.
Keita's breath hitched as Sacchi stumbled.
The mob twisted without moving it's feet, and played a single note.
It was sharper. Angry. Like knives trying to drive into his mind.
But fortunately, he was still wearing his baseball helmet, so the knives just skittered and slid against the sides without getting inside his mind.
The mob turned, and started walking forward, slow but implacable, like a car that was slowly accelerating behind them. Like a car trying to run them down.
But as the mob drove forward along the road that they had set for it, it naturally went right through the traps that Keita had set for it.
Two chairs pounced, leaping out from the bushes. Their legs were loaded like springs, as they struck at the mob like snakes. From each chair, two swords whipped forward from the back, swinging out to slash at the mob as they attacked.
"Nineteen and Eighteen!" Keita shouted out loud, as the first one struck. The second followed a moment later, and he shouted again. "Seventeen, Sixteen!"
The mob turned when he yelled. It didn't lower it's arms to protect it's body as the chairs slashed at it's torso. The sword-blades passed between the bandages harmlessly, but enhanced with Ether they still struck the Astral Body, so the mob flinched each time it took damage.
But it walked forward, implacable, as it followed the guildmates carrying the kids.
And then the table came out. It was the kind of circular table you'd see in a kitchen, a round table of pale wood, with four legs. The way it moved was by rolling along the ground on the edge of the table proper, the feet of the table legs kicking off the ground each time.
And then as it closed, it swerved, sword-blades flicking out of each of the four legs as it came to a finish.
"Fifteen-fourteen-thirteen-twelve!" Keita called out, as the blades cut at the mob like a circular saw. The table circled around, slashing at the mob with each pass.
The mob deigned to react, releasing the flute from its mouth. The music stopped, and the silence was abrupt and somehow loud.
And in the negative space where the noise had ended, there was a sharp crack as the mob struck his table with its flute, using it as a light club.
The table was smashed, split in half from that simple blow, the two halves of the wheel spinning off in different directions and crashing into the brush.
If that kind of blow connected with their bodies…
Keita swallowed, but urged his last two chairs to attack.
"Eleven and ten!" He shouted, as the third chair burst from the trees around it, attacking the mob from the front.
Since it still had it
s flute equipped for melee, it counter-attacked, batting the chair aside and breaking it into scraps all in one blow. Still, the chair's attacks had connected, so Keita couldn't complain.
The fourth and last chair lunged from behind, stabbing both swords straight through the mob like snake-fangs.
"Nine! Eight!" Keita shouted, announcing what happened.
Instead of striking behind itself, though, the Mob raised its flute back to its mouth, and blew a note that was discordant, but somehow also clearly in a minor key.
Keita grimaced, eyes crossing in pain, as he felt the music attacking the connection he had with his furniture. Was it using the connection as a vein to pump poison into him, or was it plucking it like a guitar string to send harmful vibrations into his mind? Keita wasn't sure. Either way, the connection with the furniture broke even as he received damage, rendering it just an inert chair.
But he wasn't in the yellow yet. He could keep going. His trump card, his strongest servitor.
The Rumblecloset barged through the woods, bursting from among the trees, throwing open the doors on its front, exposing the preternatural darkness within.
Jagged and unnaturally-moving black threads burst forth, like tentacles, like the lines of fisherman cast into the sea. The hooks made contact on the body of the mob, the tentacles grasped, and they tried once again to drag the mob into that dark cavity, where it would be ground up and digested by the Rumblecloset.
But the mob was heavier than the closet, so rather than being pulled inside, the closet dragged itself over. Well, that was fine in its own way.
The Rumblecloset flew through the air, dragged by its strings towards the stumbling mob, where the closet attached to the side of the enemy like a barnacle.
The doors attempted to slam shut, battering against the sides of the mob like the shell of a clam.
Keita licked his lips, and continued to the Countdown of the Spell. "Seven! Sixfivefourthree! Two!" He shouted, guessing at the numbers as the Rumblecloset bared the swords inside itself, stabbing the enemy with the fangs of digestion that were hidden away inside it's stomach.
The mob screeched, sounding like it was in genuine pain for the first time, even as the HP bar above its head finally slid down into the Yellow Zone. No, it wasn't just a little bit in the yellow, it was actually closer to red than green, as the swords inside the closet continued to saw away.
And then that same note as before, like it was plucking the string, like it was poisoning his vein, and Keita groaned, collapsing to the ground as the connection with his Rumblecloset was severed, frayed, eaten, destroyed; it fell harmless and inert to the ground.
But Keita forced himself to his feet. "The last count." He announced. It wasn't part of the spell, but he could feel the mob's attention on him. He was tanking it, drawing all its attention, so it wouldn't see what was coming next.
"One." Ducker's voice came from over and behind the mob. He abruptly came into view above it. Tracing back the arc of his movement, he had climbed a tree and jumped out, arcing over and down onto the top of the mob, his [Invisibility] failing as he got closer.
And he swung out, the [Series Eight] cane-sword in his hand flashing like an arc of moonlight as he came down on the head of the mob.
[Countdown]. A ritual just for Ducker and Keita, bestowed on them by their Front Liner patron. A spell of Numerology, that built weight blow after blow as Keita's Furniture connected attacks, until Ducker delivered the finisher. It was the same logic as a fighting game, chaining attacks together until a finishing move. Keita piled up blow after blow with his Furniture, his Familiars. Their fangs, their swords, all came from the same Set, as they gnashed against the target like teeth set in the same jawbone.
And after being ground down by Keita's fangs, it was Ducker who possessed the final incisor. The last, final fang, which pierced through the enemy's defenses to deliver damage without regard to its protection. No, it wasn't that the defenses were pierced through, it was that Keita's familiars had peeled them back, like they had ground away the armor and exposed the flesh beneath, and all Ducker had to do was slide his fang through soft skin into the beating heart of the enemy.
That was the concept that underpinned their Countdown. Keita ritualistically prepared the ground, set the stage, so Ducker could step forward and deliver a guaranteed critical strike that stepped past all defenses.
Like a descending moon, that was how inevitable the pale light shining out from Ducker's freshly-drawn sword was.
And that cane-sword, didn't just part the ribbons as it slid along them. It sliced them. The thick black ribbons of the mob were split, frayed on the edges, bursting apart as they were sliced by Ducker's sword, even as the Astral Body was also carved in half by the descending blow.
Ducker pulled his sword lose, rolling as he hit the ground, pulling his shining sword free and sliding it smoothly back into the sheathe, hiding it as he rolled back, away from the mob.
It had only a fraction of health left.
It blew a great note. The last call, the final burst, more terrible than any noise yet. Even if he was wearing a baseball helmet, Keita couldn't deny the sheer loudness of the howling note the mob produced.
He fell. They all fell, they stumbled.
Ducker didn't fade away, his invisibility faltering before it even properly started, and he rolled on the ground, struggling to push himself away from the mob.
The monster's note ended, and it pulled the flute from it's mouth, raising it high over Ducker like a club.
Keita grit his teeth, struggling to force himself to move. If he could just tackle the mob, and throw it's blow off course!
"NO!" Sacchi screamed. It was like the death-wail of a banshee.
And an arc of ether throbbed out, an intense white blaze, the crescent shape of a sword swing.
The [Linker Beam] connected with the side of the mob, blowing it off course, shaving away another fraction of it's HP. It didn't have much left.
"Don't kill him!" Sacchi shouted, her voice desperate and raw. And another [Linker Beam] connected with the side of the mob, knocking it fully off balance.
The mob tumbled, landing clumsily on it's side.
And then it burst apart, flying away into pixels as it dissolved. Because it had run out of HP from Sacchi's attack.
They'd done it.
The [Black Cats] had won.
"Yeah!" Ducker shouted, raising his hand in victory.
Tetsuo was shouting. Sasamaru was shouting. Keita swept his eyes over them. Over the kids, that were blinking, looking so confused as whatever effect they were under ended. At Sacchi, blinking with a cute confused expression, amazed that her desperation had succeed.
They'd done it.
The [Black Cats] had saved those kids.
End
I I I
1) How can I put it? The Black Cats won, but it wasn't like they accomplished anything themselves, they were just proxies? That kind of subtext, let me know if it worked.
2) If you're wondering about how exactly it ended up with three kids getting out here… well, I'm planning to have Diabel recap in the next section, so I'm answering it there, not here. Let's see if that works.
3) I'm going out of town for the next two weeks on vacation starting tomorrow afternoon, so my ability to respond will be pretty limited. I wanted to get this out before that, so I might check threads, but not respond until I'm back, FYI.
EDIT:
4) Description of the [Countdown] Ritual was expanded.
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I dunno. Even if all you're doing is using "someone else's swords," well, it's not like a certain someone doesn't fake every sword and skill he glimpses and uses them shamelessly against anyone he can 
. They certainly don't get all the credit, but it's still an impressive thing to do. Just not freezing up and properly executing that ritual was well done.
(And heh. Magic RSA, huh? That is a clever one, I like it.)
. They certainly don't get all the credit, but it's still an impressive thing to do. Just not freezing up and properly executing that ritual was well done.(And heh. Magic RSA, huh? That is a clever one, I like it.)
It's a ritual.
Yes, but a ritual to do what? What mystery was being actualized?
- Location
- United States
I like the fight, the way the 19 swords is used feels very ritual like. Against a smart opponent it would be easy to avoid but the very brittleness of it balances the sheer power of the end result.
The mystery of "this attack hits damned hard." It's what Kirito was spelled out as doing with the entire "kill 7 slimes of each color, in order" only applied to a single enemy and released all at once in a single strike.
Stratagemini
Totally a Fire Ferret.
- Location
- Central Park
- Pronouns
- He/Him/They/Them
Very nice! I was halp expecting the kids to be mobs.
NewAgeOfPower
Engineering Pornagrapher Extraordinaire
- Location
- An Certain Hive of Scum & Villainy, known as NYC
In an earlier chapter, Kirito and Shirou explains the Arithmantic Conceptual connection between Keita and Ducker, and so Shirou builds a sword set for Keita and Ducker where Ducker is the Finishing Move and Keita is the setup.
Now, if I weren't so happy FRO updated I'd prolly say something mean about skipping the previous chapters or lack of reading comprehension ; )
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Knight-Radiant
Recovering Rageaholic
As far as I can tell...
Keita's name has a magic number of nineteen and he routinely does a combo that ends with Ducker dealing the final blow as a sneak attack.
So Shirou made 19 'hidden blades' for that same combo that empowers Ducker's 'final blow' with Kirito's brand of numerology magic so long as all the other swords in the set have gotten a hit in first.
-Edit-
Ninja'd
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daniel_gudman
KING (in land of blind)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Shirou and Kirito explicitly designed Keita and Ducker's weapons to do this [Countdown Ritual] in 15.3, so all they're doing here is actualizing that mystery (or implementing that foreshadowing I guess).
that being said
I could definitely linger for a paragraph or two explicitly describing it as devastating, rather than just letting the reader assume so -- I read the quoted comment and was like, "shit, that's right, good point."
that being said
I could definitely linger for a paragraph or two explicitly describing it as devastating, rather than just letting the reader assume so -- I read the quoted comment and was like, "shit, that's right, good point."