- Location
- America
We burn our skin off again.
Fate/Spring Tonelico (Fate/Grand Order Redux)
- Thread starter BlackHadou
- Start date
BlackHadou
Bunny-Sensei
- Location
- America
Okay, but if we define 'flesh' as 'non-bone,' losing a large majority of our body would 'just' be a flesh wound. We still need most of it.
[X] Lancer.
Euclaid Galieane
Addicted to Words
- Location
- Inside a Book
[X] Pretender.
- Location
- Plato's Cave
Don't forget helping our good friend and comrade Tam Lin Galahad deflect and explain as well, her dad might be a little concerned about her getting about 5 years more experience when another woman pops out of her.
[x] Pretender.
BlackHadou
Bunny-Sensei
Some rough outlining. None of it is per say final.
True Name: Tonelico
Alias: Aesc the Saviour, Morgan, Avalon le Fae
Height: 170cm
Weight: 56kg
Gender: Female
Hidden Attribute: Earth
Alignment: Neutral Good
Note: The version summoned is different from the one at the last stages of the Lost World. Here the journey has begun again.
As Lancer
Parameters
Strength: B
Constitution: D
Agility: A
Magical Energy: A+
Luck: EX (D)*
Noble Phantasm: EX
*Since she has been granted a chance to experience Spring, she feels like she is the luckiest person alive.
Class Skills
Divine Construct Materialisation: -
Subspecies skill of Item Construction. The ultimate expression of power possessed by those within the sea of life. The Sacred Armament that one might become can be created, though these armaments are at the end of the day mere forgeries. In Tonelico's hands, as many as twelve copies of Rhongomyniad can be forged, though to do so safely requires large amounts of time.
In order to deploy all twelve spontaneously, she would have to pay several organs and all of her limbs to supply the necessary energy. Since Tonelico is a Fairie of Paradise, this skill is bootlegged regardless of class.
That is the privilege of the Nameless King that bears the Sacred Armament.
Magic Resistance: B++
The ability to resist magic. Different from the normal magic resistance of servants, where magic is cancelled, here it is actually the presence of Divine Patterns that allows enemy magic to be overwritten. No matter the level of effect, if Tonelico experiences a spell too many times, the ability to counter it becomes available. Incidentally, due to her intelligence, she often disassembles even the most powerful spells after experiencing them only once or twice.
Its not that she doesn't possess the inherent ability to cancel spells gifted to Knight Class Servants, but that she often deliberately turns that effect off in order to counter the spell directly via magecraft sublimation. When taking magic in this way, it really is more like taking control of the enemy spell and making it ones own.
As Caster
Parameters
Strength: D
Constitution: E
Agility: C
Magical Energy: EX
Luck: EX (B)*
Noble Phantasm: EX
*Since she has been granted a chance to experience Spring, she feels like she is the luckiest person alive.
Class Skills
Divine Construct Materialisation: -
Subspecies skill of Item Construction. The ultimate expression of power possessed by those within the sea of life. The Sacred Armament that one might become can be created, though these armaments are at the end of the day mere forgeries. In Tonelico's hands, as many as twelve copies of Rhongomyniad can be forged, though to do so safely requires large amounts of time.
In order to deploy all twelve spontaneously, she would have to pay several organs and all of her limbs to supply the necessary energy. Since Tonelico is a Fairie of Paradise, this skill is bootlegged regardless of class.
That is the privilege of the Nameless King that bears the Sacred Armament.
Territory Creation: B
The ability to create ones own territory as a magus. At this level, a high grade atelier can be created in moments. Rather then for its suitability in creating magic in and of itself, Tonelico favours an atelier that stores large amounts of excess magical energy for grand arcana. As a result, her ateliers leave a bit to be desired.
"It's fine. We won't be here long anyway."
While her throne is a creation beyond even the vaunted Temple of Time, and deserving of the categorisation of EX, it was also the end result of thousands of years work on the part of Aesc the Saviour and Queen Morgan. As such, she does not display that level of talent in this form.
As Pretender
Parameters
Strength: C
Constitution: C
Agility: C
Magical Energy: A+ (EX)*
Luck: EX
Noble Phantasm: EX
*In practice, she might as well have unlimited magical energy, as she expends nothing to remain manifested in the world of the living. While those with physical bodies still need magical energy to manifest in a singularity, her presence is a matter of course.
Class Skills
Divine Construct Materialisation: -
Subspecies skill of Item Construction. The ultimate expression of power possessed by those within the sea of life. The Sacred Armament that one might become can be created, though these armaments are at the end of the day mere forgeries. In Tonelico's hands, as many as twelve copies of Rhongomyniad can be forged, though to do so safely requires large amounts of time.
In order to deploy all twelve spontaneously, she would have to pay several organs and all of her limbs to supply the necessary energy. Since Tonelico is a Fairie of Paradise, this skill is bootlegged regardless of class.
That is the privilege of the Nameless King that bears the Sacred Armament.
Independent Manifestation: EX
The ability to remain manifest without assistance. The Class Skill of an Evil of Humanity. In Tonelico's case, though, it would be more accurate to describe her as an 'Evil of Fae-kind'. A grudge of spite born from the girl whose earliest memories of love were tainted beyond recognition. Incidentally, the skill borrows anecdotes from her self in the Pan-Human History.
"I offer you not salvation. Only survival. Bow your heads."
In the aftermath of the Londinium coronation, Tonelico learned hatred. She discarded every name she'd ever known and became Morgan for good. That hate is abated now, but the stains remain on her soul.
Incidentally, the effects of this skill diminish as she approaches spring. However, since her abilities rise as her demeanour improves, the demerit is unnoticeable in practical terms.
Personal Skills
Fairy Eyes: A
All classes
The eyes of the fae. A hallmark of Avalon le Fae. The rank is of the highest calibre. Because these eyes are the eyes of the will of the sea of life, it is possible to see through all lies and discern the truth of other people. An absolute vision that qualifies one for the position of Crown Caster.
For Aesc the Saviour, these eyes were more of a curse then anything else. Human thoughts, memories, and even will becomes a tempest that clouds her mind whenever she shuts her eyes. As a result, she prefers to keep her eyes wide open. Using magecraft, the effect can temporarily be sealed, though Aesc only did so to repose.
To Tonelico, though, the little shining light that was the gift of Avalon le Fae is the most important thing in the storm. A blazing ball that she will keep striding towards, watching the blizzard morph into a spring breeze.
At World's End: A
All classes
The pride of the witch. The pride of the saviour. Even at world's end, the body refuses to give out and stubborn pride and ego wins out. Technically, a skill based in the casting of magecraft and sacraments. Tonelico turns the battlefield into a blizzard of curses and rips through the battlefield. Since these spells do not require incantations, they are exceptionally powerful against other mages, turning karma against her enemies.
However, she no longer wishes to make extensive use of this skill. It doesn't discriminate friend and foe, you see. The antithesis of Spring she wishes to reach. Incidentally, as a side effect, even if her skin has been burned away by her Noble Phantasm, she will continue to breathe and fight until the very end. The very end, in her case, is complete dissolution, as the Faerie of Paradise bears to unique burden of surviving even if she is only a drop of blood.
Avalon le Fae: -
Sealed
The power of the Faerie of Paradise made manifest. Outside the dream of Faerie Britain, this skill does nothing and remains sealed until her return. One day, the Faerie of Paradise must return to face the music. How she will face that music is up to her.
Saviour's Charisma: B
Lancer Only
The charisma possessed by Aesc the Saviour. A method of boosting morale and leading others, based in the feeling of "leave it to me. I'll see us through". Later in life, this skill would be corrupted, but for now, it remains in its original, pure form. Given the bitter feelings of Aesc towards her Pan-Human History self, it is unlikely this skill would transform again.
Dreams of Spring: B
Caster Only
A form of clairvoyance possessed by Caster Tonelico. Sleep is infected by that human thing called dreams. Dreams are insight into the lives of others. As a result, thoughts, feelings, even the future can become known to Tonelico in her dreams. As a side effect, she cannot be effected by charm effects.
The dream of Spring. So long as she remains where those she loves are, Tonelico displays impossible to lower morale.
Deathbound Witch: B
Pretender Only
Skill of Morgan le Fae. Normally, such a skill could not be possessed by Tonelico. Possession of the magecraft of witches, hexes, curses and other mysticism that typically would rot soul and karma. However, the Faerie of Paradise is absolved of such sins, and such does not decay.
Since they rot the soul, the inflict terrible pain and death on the target. Possession of this skills donates one as a potential 'Calamity of the Mors', except Tonelico is the Faerie of Paradise. The source of the power is actually Britain itself.
In the Pan-Human History, Morgan le Fae inherited Britain itself. This dark power is a manifestation of that trait. In certain circumstances, the cursed Noble Phantasm, Rhongomyniad Morgan, can be used.
"… You seriously named it after Morgan? Really? That's kind of tactless."
Yet the energy of Britain is fundamentally malicious to human life, and bears many similarities to grail mud.
Tonelico's Noble Phantasms do not change based on Class.
Noble Phantasms
Rhongomyniad
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Calamity
Range: 0-100000
Targets: 1-12
Spirit Vein Closing Armament.
Immature Sacred Armament. In the original prime timeline, the sacred armament was Excalibur. In the history that can be discerned at present, the sacred armament is named Rhongomyniad. A divine spear that bears the desires of human-kind to survive and live. Their wishes coalesce along the blade of the spear and becomes a radiant edge that pierces possibility and the impossible to grant salvation.
"Forgive us of our sins."
The phrase is a misnomer. Rhongomyniad requires no forgiveness of sin to deploy. Rather, the sin being forgiven is the misfortune of needing saving. The words are a legacy mantra of something that long ago became unnecessary.
Incidentally, the White Titan was felled with six such spears. It seems that Tonelico is a true genius, deploying as many as twelve at once. However, once fired, the spear is expended.
There exists somewhere a 'true' Rhongomyniad, which is not expended when used. However, as the Faerie of Paradise from a Lost World, Tonelico is not allowed to see it. After all, allowing such a thing into her vision would confirm Tonelico as the future Rhongomyniad.
Such would defeat the purpose of seeking Spring. So says Avalon le Fae.
Around Ronmiant
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Squad
Range: 0-10
Targets: 13 people
The Star of Desire that Embraces You.
The Bones of Salvation you Pilgrimage For.
The true name depends on the mental state. As Lancer and Caster, it remains the Star of Desire. As Pretender, it becomes the Bones of Salvation. Regardless, they are fundamentally the same Noble Phantasm. The gnarled wooden staff that Tonelico favours is actually severed from the Spear of Selection, and retains a piece of its power. Since the Spear is yet to be corrupted, it retains its original salvation powers.
A tolling of the bells within the mental world of Tonelico. When invoked, the world is overwritten with the state of her mental world. Since Tonelico generally has a stormy inner world, the real world is overwritten with a blizzard that draws out enemy magical energy like heat and delivers it to Tonelico.
For allies, it is a gentle breeze.
For enemies, it is the biting winter's breath.
Technically, she could also use it to protect others, but doing so would force Tonelico to take the damage herself. Since her allies within the area of effect count as 'Tonelico', it is trivial to reinforce their abilities.
However, maintaining the effect is devastating on her allies constitution, and the range is limited. In addition, certain Noble Phantasms that cast light immediately pierce the effect.
???
This Noble Phantasm is not yet available.
Alias: Aesc the Saviour, Morgan, Avalon le Fae
Height: 170cm
Weight: 56kg
Gender: Female
Hidden Attribute: Earth
Alignment: Neutral Good
Note: The version summoned is different from the one at the last stages of the Lost World. Here the journey has begun again.
As Lancer
Parameters
Strength: B
Constitution: D
Agility: A
Magical Energy: A+
Luck: EX (D)*
Noble Phantasm: EX
*Since she has been granted a chance to experience Spring, she feels like she is the luckiest person alive.
Class Skills
Divine Construct Materialisation: -
Subspecies skill of Item Construction. The ultimate expression of power possessed by those within the sea of life. The Sacred Armament that one might become can be created, though these armaments are at the end of the day mere forgeries. In Tonelico's hands, as many as twelve copies of Rhongomyniad can be forged, though to do so safely requires large amounts of time.
In order to deploy all twelve spontaneously, she would have to pay several organs and all of her limbs to supply the necessary energy. Since Tonelico is a Fairie of Paradise, this skill is bootlegged regardless of class.
That is the privilege of the Nameless King that bears the Sacred Armament.
Magic Resistance: B++
The ability to resist magic. Different from the normal magic resistance of servants, where magic is cancelled, here it is actually the presence of Divine Patterns that allows enemy magic to be overwritten. No matter the level of effect, if Tonelico experiences a spell too many times, the ability to counter it becomes available. Incidentally, due to her intelligence, she often disassembles even the most powerful spells after experiencing them only once or twice.
Its not that she doesn't possess the inherent ability to cancel spells gifted to Knight Class Servants, but that she often deliberately turns that effect off in order to counter the spell directly via magecraft sublimation. When taking magic in this way, it really is more like taking control of the enemy spell and making it ones own.
As Caster
Parameters
Strength: D
Constitution: E
Agility: C
Magical Energy: EX
Luck: EX (B)*
Noble Phantasm: EX
*Since she has been granted a chance to experience Spring, she feels like she is the luckiest person alive.
Class Skills
Divine Construct Materialisation: -
Subspecies skill of Item Construction. The ultimate expression of power possessed by those within the sea of life. The Sacred Armament that one might become can be created, though these armaments are at the end of the day mere forgeries. In Tonelico's hands, as many as twelve copies of Rhongomyniad can be forged, though to do so safely requires large amounts of time.
In order to deploy all twelve spontaneously, she would have to pay several organs and all of her limbs to supply the necessary energy. Since Tonelico is a Fairie of Paradise, this skill is bootlegged regardless of class.
That is the privilege of the Nameless King that bears the Sacred Armament.
Territory Creation: B
The ability to create ones own territory as a magus. At this level, a high grade atelier can be created in moments. Rather then for its suitability in creating magic in and of itself, Tonelico favours an atelier that stores large amounts of excess magical energy for grand arcana. As a result, her ateliers leave a bit to be desired.
"It's fine. We won't be here long anyway."
While her throne is a creation beyond even the vaunted Temple of Time, and deserving of the categorisation of EX, it was also the end result of thousands of years work on the part of Aesc the Saviour and Queen Morgan. As such, she does not display that level of talent in this form.
As Pretender
Parameters
Strength: C
Constitution: C
Agility: C
Magical Energy: A+ (EX)*
Luck: EX
Noble Phantasm: EX
*In practice, she might as well have unlimited magical energy, as she expends nothing to remain manifested in the world of the living. While those with physical bodies still need magical energy to manifest in a singularity, her presence is a matter of course.
Class Skills
Divine Construct Materialisation: -
Subspecies skill of Item Construction. The ultimate expression of power possessed by those within the sea of life. The Sacred Armament that one might become can be created, though these armaments are at the end of the day mere forgeries. In Tonelico's hands, as many as twelve copies of Rhongomyniad can be forged, though to do so safely requires large amounts of time.
In order to deploy all twelve spontaneously, she would have to pay several organs and all of her limbs to supply the necessary energy. Since Tonelico is a Fairie of Paradise, this skill is bootlegged regardless of class.
That is the privilege of the Nameless King that bears the Sacred Armament.
Independent Manifestation: EX
The ability to remain manifest without assistance. The Class Skill of an Evil of Humanity. In Tonelico's case, though, it would be more accurate to describe her as an 'Evil of Fae-kind'. A grudge of spite born from the girl whose earliest memories of love were tainted beyond recognition. Incidentally, the skill borrows anecdotes from her self in the Pan-Human History.
"I offer you not salvation. Only survival. Bow your heads."
In the aftermath of the Londinium coronation, Tonelico learned hatred. She discarded every name she'd ever known and became Morgan for good. That hate is abated now, but the stains remain on her soul.
Incidentally, the effects of this skill diminish as she approaches spring. However, since her abilities rise as her demeanour improves, the demerit is unnoticeable in practical terms.
Personal Skills
Fairy Eyes: A
All classes
The eyes of the fae. A hallmark of Avalon le Fae. The rank is of the highest calibre. Because these eyes are the eyes of the will of the sea of life, it is possible to see through all lies and discern the truth of other people. An absolute vision that qualifies one for the position of Crown Caster.
For Aesc the Saviour, these eyes were more of a curse then anything else. Human thoughts, memories, and even will becomes a tempest that clouds her mind whenever she shuts her eyes. As a result, she prefers to keep her eyes wide open. Using magecraft, the effect can temporarily be sealed, though Aesc only did so to repose.
To Tonelico, though, the little shining light that was the gift of Avalon le Fae is the most important thing in the storm. A blazing ball that she will keep striding towards, watching the blizzard morph into a spring breeze.
At World's End: A
All classes
The pride of the witch. The pride of the saviour. Even at world's end, the body refuses to give out and stubborn pride and ego wins out. Technically, a skill based in the casting of magecraft and sacraments. Tonelico turns the battlefield into a blizzard of curses and rips through the battlefield. Since these spells do not require incantations, they are exceptionally powerful against other mages, turning karma against her enemies.
However, she no longer wishes to make extensive use of this skill. It doesn't discriminate friend and foe, you see. The antithesis of Spring she wishes to reach. Incidentally, as a side effect, even if her skin has been burned away by her Noble Phantasm, she will continue to breathe and fight until the very end. The very end, in her case, is complete dissolution, as the Faerie of Paradise bears to unique burden of surviving even if she is only a drop of blood.
Avalon le Fae: -
Sealed
The power of the Faerie of Paradise made manifest. Outside the dream of Faerie Britain, this skill does nothing and remains sealed until her return. One day, the Faerie of Paradise must return to face the music. How she will face that music is up to her.
Saviour's Charisma: B
Lancer Only
The charisma possessed by Aesc the Saviour. A method of boosting morale and leading others, based in the feeling of "leave it to me. I'll see us through". Later in life, this skill would be corrupted, but for now, it remains in its original, pure form. Given the bitter feelings of Aesc towards her Pan-Human History self, it is unlikely this skill would transform again.
Dreams of Spring: B
Caster Only
A form of clairvoyance possessed by Caster Tonelico. Sleep is infected by that human thing called dreams. Dreams are insight into the lives of others. As a result, thoughts, feelings, even the future can become known to Tonelico in her dreams. As a side effect, she cannot be effected by charm effects.
The dream of Spring. So long as she remains where those she loves are, Tonelico displays impossible to lower morale.
Deathbound Witch: B
Pretender Only
Skill of Morgan le Fae. Normally, such a skill could not be possessed by Tonelico. Possession of the magecraft of witches, hexes, curses and other mysticism that typically would rot soul and karma. However, the Faerie of Paradise is absolved of such sins, and such does not decay.
Since they rot the soul, the inflict terrible pain and death on the target. Possession of this skills donates one as a potential 'Calamity of the Mors', except Tonelico is the Faerie of Paradise. The source of the power is actually Britain itself.
In the Pan-Human History, Morgan le Fae inherited Britain itself. This dark power is a manifestation of that trait. In certain circumstances, the cursed Noble Phantasm, Rhongomyniad Morgan, can be used.
"… You seriously named it after Morgan? Really? That's kind of tactless."
Yet the energy of Britain is fundamentally malicious to human life, and bears many similarities to grail mud.
Tonelico's Noble Phantasms do not change based on Class.
Noble Phantasms
Rhongomyniad
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Calamity
Range: 0-100000
Targets: 1-12
Spirit Vein Closing Armament.
Immature Sacred Armament. In the original prime timeline, the sacred armament was Excalibur. In the history that can be discerned at present, the sacred armament is named Rhongomyniad. A divine spear that bears the desires of human-kind to survive and live. Their wishes coalesce along the blade of the spear and becomes a radiant edge that pierces possibility and the impossible to grant salvation.
"Forgive us of our sins."
The phrase is a misnomer. Rhongomyniad requires no forgiveness of sin to deploy. Rather, the sin being forgiven is the misfortune of needing saving. The words are a legacy mantra of something that long ago became unnecessary.
Incidentally, the White Titan was felled with six such spears. It seems that Tonelico is a true genius, deploying as many as twelve at once. However, once fired, the spear is expended.
There exists somewhere a 'true' Rhongomyniad, which is not expended when used. However, as the Faerie of Paradise from a Lost World, Tonelico is not allowed to see it. After all, allowing such a thing into her vision would confirm Tonelico as the future Rhongomyniad.
Such would defeat the purpose of seeking Spring. So says Avalon le Fae.
Around Ronmiant
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Squad
Range: 0-10
Targets: 13 people
The Star of Desire that Embraces You.
The Bones of Salvation you Pilgrimage For.
The true name depends on the mental state. As Lancer and Caster, it remains the Star of Desire. As Pretender, it becomes the Bones of Salvation. Regardless, they are fundamentally the same Noble Phantasm. The gnarled wooden staff that Tonelico favours is actually severed from the Spear of Selection, and retains a piece of its power. Since the Spear is yet to be corrupted, it retains its original salvation powers.
A tolling of the bells within the mental world of Tonelico. When invoked, the world is overwritten with the state of her mental world. Since Tonelico generally has a stormy inner world, the real world is overwritten with a blizzard that draws out enemy magical energy like heat and delivers it to Tonelico.
For allies, it is a gentle breeze.
For enemies, it is the biting winter's breath.
Technically, she could also use it to protect others, but doing so would force Tonelico to take the damage herself. Since her allies within the area of effect count as 'Tonelico', it is trivial to reinforce their abilities.
However, maintaining the effect is devastating on her allies constitution, and the range is limited. In addition, certain Noble Phantasms that cast light immediately pierce the effect.
???
This Noble Phantasm is not yet available.
DrZero7114
Everything shall be blue!
- Location
- Baron of Sealand
[x] Caster
ApocalypticFish
Been reflecting lately.
[X] Pretender.
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
[X] Caster
Haven't finished LB6 yet but should be a fun time!
Haven't finished LB6 yet but should be a fun time!
Sinsystems
Patron Librarian
[X] Pretender
You are ignoring content by this member.
Show ignored content
[X] Caster
As someone who finished LB6, Caster is cute. Also, Gudako gets arts farming early?
As someone who finished LB6, Caster is cute. Also, Gudako gets arts farming early?
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Caster
BlackHadou
Bunny-Sensei
Forgive me my sins.
Poor little Tonelico.
0. London: The Mist City
BlackHadou
Bunny-Sensei
The city around me did not look like a city as I knew it. The cities of the Faeries were ultimately only imitations. They had no real rhyme or reason to their layout. This was different. The street we were in was lined with light poles, lamps struggling to light and stay lit. The buildings were filled with windows and varied in shape and size. I could see a sign for a bakery nearby.
The mist rolled around me. It was thick, polluted with soot and ash and magic. It was not a natural mist, but rather a fog or miasma that claimed the magic of those within. It devoured their souls and left them rotten husks in the moonlight. It was the miasma of a killer.
I could see the shape within, rumbling and roiling, coiling around to strike again. I could see Mash standing over the foreign mage, her shield hefted in both hands. Her left arm was bleeding profusely and her right was slotted through the strap of her shield. No, it was more then that, her arm was broken. The shield held it in place like a splint.
Her script had broken here. Whatever she was facing, it was not quite what she faced before, an inconsistency on inconsistencies that had finally boiled over. My lips formed a thin line. I was unarmed. Technically, that wasn't a problem.
I was never afraid, after all. I had been slashed, beaten, crucified, burned, executed a thousand different ways and subjected to a thousand different cruelties. Indeed, my death in the close, as Morgan le Fae, the Queen of Britain, had been one of the tamer deaths I'd experienced, I must admit. I did not fear death. Death generally was just an inconvenience.
"Mash, stay back."
My voice barked out before I'd really thought about it. The foreign mage's eyebrow furrowed. Her mind raced. I could see it in her eyes. The foreign mage was not incompetent in the slightest. They were always quite smart, from my musings from afar. They would have to be, level headed and in control, for them not to fall to the temptation to just stab some of the faeries they'd met.
I had been tempted to do so, so very many times. Faeries were innocent, and in that innocence, cruel. There was no point assigning good or evil to a faerie. Either they did not understand such concepts in the first place, or like myself and little Artoria, were above such concepts as the Faerie of Paradise.
My eyes narrowed. My fingers flexed. I realised my right hand still only had two fingers, and I winced. I had not been healed by the transition at all. Dear Habetrot had only been able to do so much for me. While my skin wasn't resembling a crispy corpse anymore, that did not change that my extremities had been burned away in my arcana.
This was going to suck.
"Senpai! Form a contract with her!"
I barely caught Mash's words as the shadow in the mist struck. My hand flicked to the side and ash in the air coalesced into a blade. Ashen blade met steel blade, and in the brief moment that the shadow darted past, I discerned their face.
He was a boy. Small, thin, underweight. In his hand was a wicked curved knife that had chips ripped out of it. A makeshift serrated knife. It looked almost to be self-inflicted, rather then through combat. His form was wrapped in bandages and some black cloth. His pants were too baggy, clearly fitted for an older man. He didn't wear a shirt.
His eyes were gold. His hair silver.
I blinked. The image was gone as he faded into the mist.
"You saw me?" His voice was like a whisper on the wind. If I hadn't caught sight of his form, I wouldn't know if he was male or female. "No, no, no. You're a woman! You aren't meant to see me!"
His voice was terrified. Terrified that I had seen him. Terrified that someone could see him.
"What? But-"
"Senpai, please!" Mash's desperate voice behind me drew my senses backwards for just a moment. In that second, I realised my mistake. I lost track of the boy within the fog.
The fog hid his presence. But I could see him before…
Ah, it was getting thicker. As it did so, my ashen blade faded, turning into little pieces of magical energy that faded in the whispers of light that broke the cloudy sky above. My arcana had been drained of its energy and it had tried to sustain itself by burning up the blade.
Curious.
"Keep an eye out. He's in the fog." I declared. How, though, could I defeat an opponent who used the fog to his advantage?
"He?" The foreign mage again. I glanced at her. Her face was setting in stone. The iron will I'd seen just once was burning just beneath her skin. I could appreciate that. Her will was not something that had been forged over time. It had been an innate quality of hers from the start.
No wonder Mash spoke of her in such delighted tones.
"The shadow is a boy. About four foot ten." I answered. "He's left handed. Watch your right side, Mash, he will likely aim for your arm."
"Got it." Mash's face set in stone, she hefted her shield. The transient distant star that we both served danced like fire over its surface.
"Don't deploy it."
"But-"
"The fog eats magic. You'll exhaust yourself." I was made of far sterner stuff then Mash. The knight blinked, just once. Then she nodded, and the deployment of Lord Camelot ceased, magic returning to its owner. I needed her well. There was no guarantee I could harm this boy.
No. I had to harm him, and decisively. Otherwise, one of us was going to die.
I wasn't expecting to be summoned into a battle. I will admit that. But even if it was a battle, I had my pride.
I was missing two toes and three fingers. The cost of forming twelve blades a second time so soon would be significantly more then that. Maybe if I only made one…
One would probably only need another two toes…
I just needed to take aim. How could I trick him into a single location?
"Motion response. East."
The voice was crackled, like I was hearing it through… something. I wasn't entirely sure what, if I was honest. However, my head snapped to the east in time with Mash. I caught sight of him again in the fog. He was dancing around some sort of metal cart for an opening.
He lunged. I took two steps back. Mash took two steps forward. His blade found Mash's shield. A moment later, he was bouncing into the air like a demented jack-rabbit, having kicked of Mash's shield.
"Dammit! Stop looking at me! I'll use it!"
It?
He had something in reserve?
Of course he did. No warrior ever used everything in the opening blow unless they were sure it'd annihilate the enemy. I was no different. I would rather use Rhongomyniad then reveal my blizzard of curses. Rhongomyniad was safer to use.
"I can't see him." The foreign mage muttered. I grimaced.
"Mash?"
"I can't either, Aesc."
She used my name. Mash remembered me. The script was well and truly broken.
Yet at the same time, it would be tragically cruel. I would have to pull her aside later.
"Right. Cover me." There was nothing for it. Either the fog needed to go, or the enemy did. I was already sick of this game of cat and mouse, and that was before he darted from fog again. I barely escaped his blade claiming my neck. This was not worth prolonging.
"Right! Distant star, myriad paths!" It was a mantra, a phrase used to invoke power. Mash was not born with her powers. Sometimes I forgot that. Words and phrases helped her activate them, like a form of hypnosis. It really was akin to magecraft or sacraments in that way.
Her form blurred just a bit. The third swing of the boy's blade found her shield. Mash had flickered in between him and me in an instant.
Mash was handy to have around. Her talents as a protector, as the 'Knight of Sheffield' as she put it, were top notch. I could appreciate such talent.
"Linking Divine Patterns. Tolling the Bones of the World. The time of Pilgrimage has come." My patterns all ignited. It would cost three toes. The pain was already blinding. I could feel hot tears in my eyes as I expended my own physical body for the spell.
"Huh!? No, lady! No trump cards!"
My breath stopped. My heart skipped a beat. Trump cards? What-
"MARIA THE RIPPER! "
Blood went everywhere. I'd been disembowelled. The boy's knife was still inside me. I could see his face clearly, eyes gleaming in the light.
"AESC!"
My left hand seized his face. His breath hitched.
Stupid boy.
I am the Faerie of Paradise.
I do not have the privilege of dying. Besides, having my guts on the outside was such a mundane way to die.
"Even if the Star remains Distant, continue your march to that sacred place. Forgive me my sins and let me walk to paradise!Rhongomyniad !"
The cost was my arm, not my toes. My left arm unravelled as the spear exploded in his face. The boy's body burned away in golden magical energy as he desperately expended his strength to keep from unravelling. The divine spear I'd conjured flung into the distance, crashing through several building before it finally shattered on brick and mortar. The fog spun around its path, before finally its resting place became obscured.
My breath was heavy. I stumbled backwards. I would have fallen, if not for Mash's arms wrapping around me.
"I don't believe it. Ritsuka, was that Rhongomyniad?"
"It was, Doctor." The foreign mage… her name was Ritsuka? She was certain. They had obviously seen that before. "Can you identify the Servant's class? My vision isn't getting anything."
"She isn't a proper servant. It would maybe be better to call her a still living hero."
"Like Drake?"
"Exactly. I don't understand. Mash, how did you-"
"Can we not while Aesc is literally spilling her guts on the ground?" Mash sounded frustrated. I just groaned. Its not like my guts had left my belly yet. "Aesc, can you-"
"I'm fine Mash. Just… give me a moment." Mending flesh wasn't hard.
"But your arm-"
"Trivial. I just need time." My breath was coming in small pants. Mash hadn't seen me be wounded or executed before. She didn't realise that this really wasn't that big a bother. It might only take a day to fix, now that I was in a place with proper magical energy and not within the Spiritual Tomb of Albion, a place were reality simply went to lunch. The fog, though, that was annoying.
The fog-
Oh.
"Aesc?" Mash must have noticed my change of demeanour. I just groaned.
"He isn't dead."
"Didn't you hit him with-"
"I know." I just grit my teeth as Mash rested me against one of those metal carts. "He must have more then one body or something. What was that?"
"A servant. I think it's safe to assume he was an Assassin." My eyes went to Ritsuka again. She wasn't the tallest. Maybe a finger length shorter then me, and I was not exactly tall. Her chest was raising and falling in large, rapid motions. A sure tale sign of stress and panic.
Of course she was panicked. That must have been part of what broke Mash's script. I lifted my right hand and stroked Mash's cheek with my index finger. One of only two fingers I actually possessed.
Using Rhongomyniad had stung.
Stung was drastically understating it.
"Who are you?"
I could see him now. A sort of blue image of a man. Given everything was coloured blue, I couldn't be sure if his hair was some flavour of blonde or pink. His face was sharp, though, and the lines on his forehead showed one who'd aged somewhat prematurely.
"I am Ae-" I cut myself off. No. I wasn't anymore. I wasn't in the Britain of Faeries. I was free of that obligation. "I am Tonelico." I corrected myself. "Summoned by my Tam Lin to your assistance."
I left that I had very ulterior motives out.
"Tam Lin?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow for a moment. Her mind worked like lightning. I could see the gears churning. "That blessing that activated when Mash used Lord Camelot the first time?"
Huh? Wait, she'd worked that out already?
"One and the same." Mash confirmed. Ritsuka nodded. She didn't look too happy about it.
"Right. The one that keeps getting in the way." Her voice was dark. "We wont suddenly forget this discussion too, will we?"
I blinked. So the issue of the arcana I'd used had already presented itself? Mash was so much stronger then I had thought. So much stronger then me, if I was being honest. I would not have had the heart to do it.
"We shouldn't, should we? I mean, a summoning is too big a thing to just sweep away. Its not like its information."
"I'm not sure-"
"It won't." My voice cut between Ritsuka and her 'Doctor'. "Mash cannot tell you anything that would result in her existence being compromised. I am the one who weaved that spell."
"Existence? Then our hypothesis of time travel was correct?" The Doctor's voice cut in. I just nodded.
"Of a sort. Think of it more like the dinner plate being flipped over. The reverse side cannot do anything that would change the front of the plate." That safeguard was more for Mash's benefit then mine, I will admit. I was not a valid target for removal. The planet would begrudgingly accept my existence now, as someone who may be somewhen and nowhere at once.
Mash had no such safeguard. If she did something that compromised her place in the Britain of Faeries, she would immediately be removed.
"Then you are… a friend?"
"…" I wasn't sure whether to lie or not. After all, Ritsuka and I had bee enemies the last time we'd met. Ritsuka's eyes glimmered, and I think she worked that out immediately. My faerie eyes cut to the very core of her truth, perhaps the first time I'd willingly done so in decades, and within, I found a single word.
Understanding.
No wonderhe had been able to command dozens of heroic shadows against the gods of Olympus and Woodwose and Barghest. It was his very nature that had allowed him to do so.
"Say after me." Ritsuka's voice was almost gentle, as she offered me her hand. "I, eighth sword garbed in three words declare. I shall be the sword and the shield of man. I shall keep balance."
My lips curled just a little in response. She could make magic on the fly. A talent, but tempered by the fact she was hopelessly incompetent as a magus. HerMagic Circuit was pitifully small. Her red hair was loosely tied in a ponytail, but it had been severed. As if…
Wasn't that cruel?
"I, the eighth sword garbed in three words declare. I shall be the sword and shielf of man. I shall keep balance. Forgive me my sins." It was a pact of sorts. I was the Faerie of Paradise, though. I wasn't subject to orders and pacts like that. I could ignore them. Yet the link formed and burned almost immediately, and I felt the rush of energy. With it, I understood why Mash seemed to have so much to burn.
Where did Ritsuka get so much energy from?
From the place outside time observing her. Of course, the Doctor must have been observing her existence. So long as he observed her in good health, she would rapidly return to such in short order. Using large amounts of magical energy in short bursts was not an issue because the depleted energy would always correct into a healthy reserve, since that was what those outside observed for her. It was a cunning system that could only be used with Rayshifting.
I did not give the foreigners called Chaldea nearly enough credit. I might be a brilliance that eclipsed any one of them individually, but together…
"We can see the contract. Designation is indeed living hero. Class Pretender. Ritsuka, are you seeing this True Name?"
"I… am." I blinked.
"What?"
"Doctor, what are you seeing?" Mash sounded almost terrified. "Wait, how do I know its you!? I should have asked before! I'm so stupid I-"
"It's okay, Mash." I cut her off. "I am the faerie that will forge the final weapon. The cursed little faerie of paradise. The saviour that is hated and burned you with the curses of Cerunnos. So speaks Rhongomyniad." Mash's face fell. She blinked. I could see a tear.
"It is you."
"Course it is, my little Galahad. All you had to do was call. I came running." Well, not quite. Waiting for the call had felt like torture. In many ways, it probably was classed as such. "Doctor… alas, I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name."
"It's Romani. Romani Archaman."
"Romani." It was a nice name. I recognised it. Mash had mentioned him once or twice as her father. "What is my name from your perspective."
"… Morgan. Morgan le Fae."
…
I was afraid of that. I wanted to howl at the unfairness of it all. Instead I just closed my eyes, my lips setting into a thin, sardonic line, and I let out the air in my lungs.
"Makes sense. Gut's curse follows me even now."
"Gut's? You mean, Beryl Gut?"
"Oh. He was one of yours." I opened one eye. "Truly an unpleasant man. Why do you keep him around?"
"He's been mortally wounded. But nevermind that, how do you-"
"There would be little point going into detail. Just know he summoned Morgan le Fae at some point, and I am paying for it. Any more would jeopardise little Mash's existence." After all, if they knew, Beryl may not summon Morgan. May not…
Ugh. Fantasies made my head hurt. Especially when they interacted with Singularities. Singularities were just periods of disrupted no time. While they existed, the world could not progress, like a question that needed an answer.
Fantasies that had become their own no time, however.
Ugh.
I wasn't even sure what came first. Beryl summoning Morgan or Morgan failing to convince me to abandon my role as Aesc.
How many loops of that Lost World had happened to create enough inconsistencies for me to break the script? I know I'd summarised it quite easily for Mash at once point, but…
Well, it had been the simple version.
"Another thing we'll forget?"
"I don't know. My spell prioritises Mash's continued existence and excises anything that threatens it. My words do not bear exception to that rule. After all, what is her true name?"
"Uh…" Ritsuka blinked. Just once. Her lips twisted into a frown. "Wait, you told us a moment ago!"
"Yes. I did. But you don't remember." Just because the script broke didn't mean the world wouldn't try to get back roughly on track. "Singularities technically have foregone conclusions, especially for me."
"Then you come from the time beyond the end of the world?"
The Doctor was very smart. I liked him.
"I do. Rejoice. Your victory is possible." I closed my eyes again. Oh everything stung. "At least… it should happen. If it doesn't, well, you get to take me with you."
And the entire world, I think. If I died here, I'm not sure what would happen within the fantasy I'd left. Would it pop entirely?
I…
Actually, I'm not sure I care. There was no point worrying about it. I hate humans. I hate fae. I can save neither of them. That was what I repeated to myself.
Yes. That was the truth.
"Still, you called yourself Tonelico." Ritsuka noted. "Is that…"
"My name." I confirmed. My birth name, specifically. "I would rather Aesc."
After all, I chose Aesc for myself. Unlike-
"Doctor, overwrite the designation." I opened my eyes again. No wonder Mash liked Ritsuka so much. Ritsuka was kind, even when the reality of the world worked against me. I was a Pretender. In this history, I did not exist. Thus, everything about Tonelico had become merely something about Morgan instead.
I hated it.
Yet-
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. We're even for Fuyuki." Ritsuka answered. I raised an eyebrow as she leaned down. "Doctor, can I get another two Command Spells loaded? I'm going to burn some."
"Roger. Keep in mind we only have seven."
"It's fine."
"Fuyuki?" My question just got small smiles from Mash and Ritsuka.
"A story for another time, Aesc." Mash finally answered. "Let's just say you gave King Arthur a fright when you overrode Lord Chaldeas." She pumped her arm with a grin. "Super Kyrielight did well that day."
I understood. I smiled too. The blessing of the Tam Lin I'd given her had long since faded. The spell did, after all, require me to be around to continue granting it. When she arrived back, though, it must have been on full force.
"By the way, adjust your Rayshift temperature down two degrees. Its slowing your realisation time enough that the world has a chance to cull you before you arrive." I noted. Ritsuka's hands, which had been glowing with excess power, stopped. I felt magical energy fill my core, my very being. I immediately did the sane thing and started setting it to putting my ruined corpse back together.
"How did you-"
"… You worked that out just by looking at senpai?" Mash's mouth fell open. I grinned.
I've still got it.
Ritsuka possesses three command spells. Overall Chaldea has five remaining.
Section 1 is…
[ ] Knight of Londinium (Saber: Mordred, Assassin: ????)
[ ] One Book, One Pen (Caster: ????, Caster: Nursery Rhyme, ????: ????)
[ ] The City of Steam (Caster: ????, Assassin: ????)
The mist rolled around me. It was thick, polluted with soot and ash and magic. It was not a natural mist, but rather a fog or miasma that claimed the magic of those within. It devoured their souls and left them rotten husks in the moonlight. It was the miasma of a killer.
I could see the shape within, rumbling and roiling, coiling around to strike again. I could see Mash standing over the foreign mage, her shield hefted in both hands. Her left arm was bleeding profusely and her right was slotted through the strap of her shield. No, it was more then that, her arm was broken. The shield held it in place like a splint.
Her script had broken here. Whatever she was facing, it was not quite what she faced before, an inconsistency on inconsistencies that had finally boiled over. My lips formed a thin line. I was unarmed. Technically, that wasn't a problem.
I was never afraid, after all. I had been slashed, beaten, crucified, burned, executed a thousand different ways and subjected to a thousand different cruelties. Indeed, my death in the close, as Morgan le Fae, the Queen of Britain, had been one of the tamer deaths I'd experienced, I must admit. I did not fear death. Death generally was just an inconvenience.
"Mash, stay back."
My voice barked out before I'd really thought about it. The foreign mage's eyebrow furrowed. Her mind raced. I could see it in her eyes. The foreign mage was not incompetent in the slightest. They were always quite smart, from my musings from afar. They would have to be, level headed and in control, for them not to fall to the temptation to just stab some of the faeries they'd met.
I had been tempted to do so, so very many times. Faeries were innocent, and in that innocence, cruel. There was no point assigning good or evil to a faerie. Either they did not understand such concepts in the first place, or like myself and little Artoria, were above such concepts as the Faerie of Paradise.
My eyes narrowed. My fingers flexed. I realised my right hand still only had two fingers, and I winced. I had not been healed by the transition at all. Dear Habetrot had only been able to do so much for me. While my skin wasn't resembling a crispy corpse anymore, that did not change that my extremities had been burned away in my arcana.
This was going to suck.
"Senpai! Form a contract with her!"
I barely caught Mash's words as the shadow in the mist struck. My hand flicked to the side and ash in the air coalesced into a blade. Ashen blade met steel blade, and in the brief moment that the shadow darted past, I discerned their face.
He was a boy. Small, thin, underweight. In his hand was a wicked curved knife that had chips ripped out of it. A makeshift serrated knife. It looked almost to be self-inflicted, rather then through combat. His form was wrapped in bandages and some black cloth. His pants were too baggy, clearly fitted for an older man. He didn't wear a shirt.
His eyes were gold. His hair silver.
I blinked. The image was gone as he faded into the mist.
"You saw me?" His voice was like a whisper on the wind. If I hadn't caught sight of his form, I wouldn't know if he was male or female. "No, no, no. You're a woman! You aren't meant to see me!"
His voice was terrified. Terrified that I had seen him. Terrified that someone could see him.
"What? But-"
"Senpai, please!" Mash's desperate voice behind me drew my senses backwards for just a moment. In that second, I realised my mistake. I lost track of the boy within the fog.
The fog hid his presence. But I could see him before…
Ah, it was getting thicker. As it did so, my ashen blade faded, turning into little pieces of magical energy that faded in the whispers of light that broke the cloudy sky above. My arcana had been drained of its energy and it had tried to sustain itself by burning up the blade.
Curious.
"Keep an eye out. He's in the fog." I declared. How, though, could I defeat an opponent who used the fog to his advantage?
"He?" The foreign mage again. I glanced at her. Her face was setting in stone. The iron will I'd seen just once was burning just beneath her skin. I could appreciate that. Her will was not something that had been forged over time. It had been an innate quality of hers from the start.
No wonder Mash spoke of her in such delighted tones.
"The shadow is a boy. About four foot ten." I answered. "He's left handed. Watch your right side, Mash, he will likely aim for your arm."
"Got it." Mash's face set in stone, she hefted her shield. The transient distant star that we both served danced like fire over its surface.
"Don't deploy it."
"But-"
"The fog eats magic. You'll exhaust yourself." I was made of far sterner stuff then Mash. The knight blinked, just once. Then she nodded, and the deployment of Lord Camelot ceased, magic returning to its owner. I needed her well. There was no guarantee I could harm this boy.
No. I had to harm him, and decisively. Otherwise, one of us was going to die.
I wasn't expecting to be summoned into a battle. I will admit that. But even if it was a battle, I had my pride.
I was missing two toes and three fingers. The cost of forming twelve blades a second time so soon would be significantly more then that. Maybe if I only made one…
One would probably only need another two toes…
I just needed to take aim. How could I trick him into a single location?
"Motion response. East."
The voice was crackled, like I was hearing it through… something. I wasn't entirely sure what, if I was honest. However, my head snapped to the east in time with Mash. I caught sight of him again in the fog. He was dancing around some sort of metal cart for an opening.
He lunged. I took two steps back. Mash took two steps forward. His blade found Mash's shield. A moment later, he was bouncing into the air like a demented jack-rabbit, having kicked of Mash's shield.
"Dammit! Stop looking at me! I'll use it!"
It?
He had something in reserve?
Of course he did. No warrior ever used everything in the opening blow unless they were sure it'd annihilate the enemy. I was no different. I would rather use Rhongomyniad then reveal my blizzard of curses. Rhongomyniad was safer to use.
"I can't see him." The foreign mage muttered. I grimaced.
"Mash?"
"I can't either, Aesc."
She used my name. Mash remembered me. The script was well and truly broken.
Yet at the same time, it would be tragically cruel. I would have to pull her aside later.
"Right. Cover me." There was nothing for it. Either the fog needed to go, or the enemy did. I was already sick of this game of cat and mouse, and that was before he darted from fog again. I barely escaped his blade claiming my neck. This was not worth prolonging.
"Right! Distant star, myriad paths!" It was a mantra, a phrase used to invoke power. Mash was not born with her powers. Sometimes I forgot that. Words and phrases helped her activate them, like a form of hypnosis. It really was akin to magecraft or sacraments in that way.
Her form blurred just a bit. The third swing of the boy's blade found her shield. Mash had flickered in between him and me in an instant.
Mash was handy to have around. Her talents as a protector, as the 'Knight of Sheffield' as she put it, were top notch. I could appreciate such talent.
"Linking Divine Patterns. Tolling the Bones of the World. The time of Pilgrimage has come." My patterns all ignited. It would cost three toes. The pain was already blinding. I could feel hot tears in my eyes as I expended my own physical body for the spell.
"Huh!? No, lady! No trump cards!"
My breath stopped. My heart skipped a beat. Trump cards? What-
"
Blood went everywhere. I'd been disembowelled. The boy's knife was still inside me. I could see his face clearly, eyes gleaming in the light.
"AESC!"
My left hand seized his face. His breath hitched.
Stupid boy.
I am the Faerie of Paradise.
I do not have the privilege of dying. Besides, having my guts on the outside was such a mundane way to die.
"Even if the Star remains Distant, continue your march to that sacred place. Forgive me my sins and let me walk to paradise!
The cost was my arm, not my toes. My left arm unravelled as the spear exploded in his face. The boy's body burned away in golden magical energy as he desperately expended his strength to keep from unravelling. The divine spear I'd conjured flung into the distance, crashing through several building before it finally shattered on brick and mortar. The fog spun around its path, before finally its resting place became obscured.
My breath was heavy. I stumbled backwards. I would have fallen, if not for Mash's arms wrapping around me.
"I don't believe it. Ritsuka, was that Rhongomyniad?"
"It was, Doctor." The foreign mage… her name was Ritsuka? She was certain. They had obviously seen that before. "Can you identify the Servant's class? My vision isn't getting anything."
"She isn't a proper servant. It would maybe be better to call her a still living hero."
"Like Drake?"
"Exactly. I don't understand. Mash, how did you-"
"Can we not while Aesc is literally spilling her guts on the ground?" Mash sounded frustrated. I just groaned. Its not like my guts had left my belly yet. "Aesc, can you-"
"I'm fine Mash. Just… give me a moment." Mending flesh wasn't hard.
"But your arm-"
"Trivial. I just need time." My breath was coming in small pants. Mash hadn't seen me be wounded or executed before. She didn't realise that this really wasn't that big a bother. It might only take a day to fix, now that I was in a place with proper magical energy and not within the Spiritual Tomb of Albion, a place were reality simply went to lunch. The fog, though, that was annoying.
The fog-
Oh.
"Aesc?" Mash must have noticed my change of demeanour. I just groaned.
"He isn't dead."
"Didn't you hit him with-"
"I know." I just grit my teeth as Mash rested me against one of those metal carts. "He must have more then one body or something. What was that?"
"A servant. I think it's safe to assume he was an Assassin." My eyes went to Ritsuka again. She wasn't the tallest. Maybe a finger length shorter then me, and I was not exactly tall. Her chest was raising and falling in large, rapid motions. A sure tale sign of stress and panic.
Of course she was panicked. That must have been part of what broke Mash's script. I lifted my right hand and stroked Mash's cheek with my index finger. One of only two fingers I actually possessed.
Using Rhongomyniad had stung.
Stung was drastically understating it.
"Who are you?"
I could see him now. A sort of blue image of a man. Given everything was coloured blue, I couldn't be sure if his hair was some flavour of blonde or pink. His face was sharp, though, and the lines on his forehead showed one who'd aged somewhat prematurely.
"I am Ae-" I cut myself off. No. I wasn't anymore. I wasn't in the Britain of Faeries. I was free of that obligation. "I am Tonelico." I corrected myself. "Summoned by my Tam Lin to your assistance."
I left that I had very ulterior motives out.
"Tam Lin?" Ritsuka raised an eyebrow for a moment. Her mind worked like lightning. I could see the gears churning. "That blessing that activated when Mash used Lord Camelot the first time?"
Huh? Wait, she'd worked that out already?
"One and the same." Mash confirmed. Ritsuka nodded. She didn't look too happy about it.
"Right. The one that keeps getting in the way." Her voice was dark. "We wont suddenly forget this discussion too, will we?"
I blinked. So the issue of the arcana I'd used had already presented itself? Mash was so much stronger then I had thought. So much stronger then me, if I was being honest. I would not have had the heart to do it.
"We shouldn't, should we? I mean, a summoning is too big a thing to just sweep away. Its not like its information."
"I'm not sure-"
"It won't." My voice cut between Ritsuka and her 'Doctor'. "Mash cannot tell you anything that would result in her existence being compromised. I am the one who weaved that spell."
"Existence? Then our hypothesis of time travel was correct?" The Doctor's voice cut in. I just nodded.
"Of a sort. Think of it more like the dinner plate being flipped over. The reverse side cannot do anything that would change the front of the plate." That safeguard was more for Mash's benefit then mine, I will admit. I was not a valid target for removal. The planet would begrudgingly accept my existence now, as someone who may be somewhen and nowhere at once.
Mash had no such safeguard. If she did something that compromised her place in the Britain of Faeries, she would immediately be removed.
"Then you are… a friend?"
"…" I wasn't sure whether to lie or not. After all, Ritsuka and I had bee enemies the last time we'd met. Ritsuka's eyes glimmered, and I think she worked that out immediately. My faerie eyes cut to the very core of her truth, perhaps the first time I'd willingly done so in decades, and within, I found a single word.
Understanding.
No wonder
"Say after me." Ritsuka's voice was almost gentle, as she offered me her hand. "I, eighth sword garbed in three words declare. I shall be the sword and the shield of man. I shall keep balance."
My lips curled just a little in response. She could make magic on the fly. A talent, but tempered by the fact she was hopelessly incompetent as a magus. Her
Wasn't that cruel?
"I, the eighth sword garbed in three words declare. I shall be the sword and shielf of man. I shall keep balance. Forgive me my sins." It was a pact of sorts. I was the Faerie of Paradise, though. I wasn't subject to orders and pacts like that. I could ignore them. Yet the link formed and burned almost immediately, and I felt the rush of energy. With it, I understood why Mash seemed to have so much to burn.
Where did Ritsuka get so much energy from?
From the place outside time observing her. Of course, the Doctor must have been observing her existence. So long as he observed her in good health, she would rapidly return to such in short order. Using large amounts of magical energy in short bursts was not an issue because the depleted energy would always correct into a healthy reserve, since that was what those outside observed for her. It was a cunning system that could only be used with Rayshifting.
I did not give the foreigners called Chaldea nearly enough credit. I might be a brilliance that eclipsed any one of them individually, but together…
"We can see the contract. Designation is indeed living hero. Class Pretender. Ritsuka, are you seeing this True Name?"
"I… am." I blinked.
"What?"
"Doctor, what are you seeing?" Mash sounded almost terrified. "Wait, how do I know its you!? I should have asked before! I'm so stupid I-"
"It's okay, Mash." I cut her off. "I am the faerie that will forge the final weapon. The cursed little faerie of paradise. The saviour that is hated and burned you with the curses of Cerunnos. So speaks Rhongomyniad." Mash's face fell. She blinked. I could see a tear.
"It is you."
"Course it is, my little Galahad. All you had to do was call. I came running." Well, not quite. Waiting for the call had felt like torture. In many ways, it probably was classed as such. "Doctor… alas, I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name."
"It's Romani. Romani Archaman."
"Romani." It was a nice name. I recognised it. Mash had mentioned him once or twice as her father. "What is my name from your perspective."
"… Morgan. Morgan le Fae."
…
I was afraid of that. I wanted to howl at the unfairness of it all. Instead I just closed my eyes, my lips setting into a thin, sardonic line, and I let out the air in my lungs.
"Makes sense. Gut's curse follows me even now."
"Gut's? You mean, Beryl Gut?"
"Oh. He was one of yours." I opened one eye. "Truly an unpleasant man. Why do you keep him around?"
"He's been mortally wounded. But nevermind that, how do you-"
"There would be little point going into detail. Just know he summoned Morgan le Fae at some point, and I am paying for it. Any more would jeopardise little Mash's existence." After all, if they knew, Beryl may not summon Morgan. May not…
Ugh. Fantasies made my head hurt. Especially when they interacted with Singularities. Singularities were just periods of disrupted no time. While they existed, the world could not progress, like a question that needed an answer.
Fantasies that had become their own no time, however.
Ugh.
I wasn't even sure what came first. Beryl summoning Morgan or Morgan failing to convince me to abandon my role as Aesc.
How many loops of that Lost World had happened to create enough inconsistencies for me to break the script? I know I'd summarised it quite easily for Mash at once point, but…
Well, it had been the simple version.
"Another thing we'll forget?"
"I don't know. My spell prioritises Mash's continued existence and excises anything that threatens it. My words do not bear exception to that rule. After all, what is her true name?"
"Uh…" Ritsuka blinked. Just once. Her lips twisted into a frown. "Wait, you told us a moment ago!"
"Yes. I did. But you don't remember." Just because the script broke didn't mean the world wouldn't try to get back roughly on track. "Singularities technically have foregone conclusions, especially for me."
"Then you come from the time beyond the end of the world?"
The Doctor was very smart. I liked him.
"I do. Rejoice. Your victory is possible." I closed my eyes again. Oh everything stung. "At least… it should happen. If it doesn't, well, you get to take me with you."
And the entire world, I think. If I died here, I'm not sure what would happen within the fantasy I'd left. Would it pop entirely?
I…
Actually, I'm not sure I care. There was no point worrying about it. I hate humans. I hate fae. I can save neither of them. That was what I repeated to myself.
Yes. That was the truth.
"Still, you called yourself Tonelico." Ritsuka noted. "Is that…"
"My name." I confirmed. My birth name, specifically. "I would rather Aesc."
After all, I chose Aesc for myself. Unlike-
"Doctor, overwrite the designation." I opened my eyes again. No wonder Mash liked Ritsuka so much. Ritsuka was kind, even when the reality of the world worked against me. I was a Pretender. In this history, I did not exist. Thus, everything about Tonelico had become merely something about Morgan instead.
I hated it.
Yet-
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. We're even for Fuyuki." Ritsuka answered. I raised an eyebrow as she leaned down. "Doctor, can I get another two Command Spells loaded? I'm going to burn some."
"Roger. Keep in mind we only have seven."
"It's fine."
"Fuyuki?" My question just got small smiles from Mash and Ritsuka.
"A story for another time, Aesc." Mash finally answered. "Let's just say you gave King Arthur a fright when you overrode Lord Chaldeas." She pumped her arm with a grin. "Super Kyrielight did well that day."
I understood. I smiled too. The blessing of the Tam Lin I'd given her had long since faded. The spell did, after all, require me to be around to continue granting it. When she arrived back, though, it must have been on full force.
"By the way, adjust your Rayshift temperature down two degrees. Its slowing your realisation time enough that the world has a chance to cull you before you arrive." I noted. Ritsuka's hands, which had been glowing with excess power, stopped. I felt magical energy fill my core, my very being. I immediately did the sane thing and started setting it to putting my ruined corpse back together.
"How did you-"
"… You worked that out just by looking at senpai?" Mash's mouth fell open. I grinned.
I've still got it.
<—>
Ritsuka possesses three command spells. Overall Chaldea has five remaining.
Section 1 is…
[ ] Knight of Londinium (Saber: Mordred, Assassin: ????)
[ ] One Book, One Pen (Caster: ????, Caster: Nursery Rhyme, ????: ????)
[ ] The City of Steam (Caster: ????, Assassin: ????)