Hereafter [Worm x Fate/Grand Order]

[James D. Fawkes]

Florent Cruentus [Noble Phantasm]
Blooming Blood-stained Flower

The Noble Phantasm of Lucius Tiberius Caesar. The form of the tainted holy sword that is sibling to Clarent, a symbol of the owner's rule over the people of the European continent. A beautiful, resplendent weapon worthy of awe.

As the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Lucius Tiberius ruled with an iron fist and a strong will, and he dyed the plains of his empire red with the blood of his enemies as he turned his holy sword into a demonic sword. Painted a deep magenta by the violence it has witnessed, this formerly immaculate blade now has a bloodthirsty edge that bleeds with an ominous light whenever its power is invoked.

By channeling his magical energy into the sword, the blade becomes cloaked in blood and filled to the brim with Tiberius' lust for battle. When swung, it unleashes a corrupted holy light that cleaves through the battlefield and obliterates the enemy, an Anti-Army Noble Phantasm that was only outshone by the brilliance of King Arthur's Excalibur.

Incidentally, it is said that this sword carries with it the blessing of Flora, the goddess of flowers. How that might affect the outcome of a battle is something that is fundamentally unexplored in this work.

 

[Dark as Silver]

"I agree," Tiberius said, still grinning a bloodthirsty grin. "A fight between two warriors is sacred! You and I, one on one, that's just the way it should be! But your friend there is also right. If you face me by yourself, you're definitely going to die!"

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Except when one is Julius, then you step in as soon as he's about to spill the beans.

"The colosseum thrives on death. However, only the living may die. The restless dead can only howl and moan."

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I guess next update will be the Halloween update. Bit out of season but I'll take that over waiting for October.

 

[James D. Fawkes]

Florent Sanglant [Noble Phantasm]
Blossoms of the Bloody Flower

The secondary Noble Phantasm of Lucius Tiberius.

Owed to his legend of gathering together every magical beast remaining on the European continent, this Noble Phantasm is a corruption of the blessing of the goddess of flowers that allows him to "spawn" them and form an army of Phantasmal creatures to fight at his beck and call. Although their performance is lesser than it might have been while he was alive and these are not the same individuals he gathered under his banner, they are no less a powerful fighting force simply because they are imitations or lack the mystery and weight of a long, storied history.

In the first place, an army of magical beasts is a terrifying force to behold. The degree to which they are diminished does not change that.

When using this Noble Phantasm, Tiberius will stab his sword into the earth, and blood will flow from the blade into the soil. From this blood, these magical beasts will be born, sprouting from the ground fully formed and mature.

In function, there is a resemblance to one of the Noble Phantasms of Queen Medb of the Ulster Cycle. The difference is the beings spawned thereby, and the relationship between them and their creator.

 

[Windborne]

Decent chapter though I'll admit I was hoping to see Aife bite it, it wasn't very likely given your love of her @James D. Fawkes. That said with her current characterization shes not going to live once Altera shows up. Who by the way is another of those really freaking important characters that needs to appear in this story. Her appearance in the Final Singularity is incredibly important, so I sincerely hope you weren't planning on not including her.

You could but that would require another Servant on her level to appear and there aren't many of those, and none that don't appear in one of the other Singularities for the Canon ones that are available during Part 1 and EoR. You know my opinions on OC Servants.

 

[James D. Fawkes]

Decent chapter though I'll admit I was hoping to see Aife bite it, it wasn't very likely given your love of her @James D. Fawkes. That said with her current characterization shes not going to live once Altera shows up. Who by the way is another of those really freaking important characters that needs to appear in this story. Her appearance in the Final Singularity is incredibly important, so I sincerely hope you weren't planning on not including her.

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"We're on step...Five. You're on step three-hundred-and-ninety-four."

But seriously. That's way down the line. We're not there yet. In fact, getting to Mount Etna is probably around 2/3 of the way through this Singularity. This beast is actually going to be much bigger than Orleans, by quite a bit.

Oh, speaking of. To the whole audience here, what do you think of the pacing for Septem? Too fast still, too slow now?

 

[guisniperman]

Well, good thing the Only thing affected are Noble Phantasm and that Constantine's only only value is as a Strategic Unit in a nest of snake. Because that means he(or she) will be easy to Assassinate.

 

[Windborne]

Oh, speaking of. To the whole audience here, what do you think of the pacing for Septem? Too fast still, too slow now?

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True, particularly about the steps, but I figured this is another one of those stumbling blocks you could use reminding about. I was quite serious about Aife losing against Altera though, Altera is one of the scariest Servants in the Nasuverse even if she can't take on her Sefar form normally. She's probably one of the few characters that isn't a Beast able to go toe to toe against Gilgamesh while he's using Ea. Ironically Mash and Artoria are the other two, but that's because of Lord Camelot and Avalon rather than offensive capabilities.

The pacing is much, much better. You're including travel, not all of it but more than you did in Orleans which was practically none. Maybe a bit more would be good, though doing so via interludes of others in the party like one of the Twins, Mash, Emiya, Arash, or Aife would be good. You definitely want to do one for Aife at some point to really flesh out her character. One from the Chaldea side, I suggest Bradamante, wouldn't be amiss either.

 

[James D. Fawkes]

The pacing is much, much better. You're including travel, not all of it but more than you did in Orleans which was practically none. Maybe a bit more would be good, though doing so via interludes of others in the party like one of the Twins, Mash, Emiya or Arash, or Aife would be good. You definitely want to do one for Aife at some point to really flesh out her character. One from the Chaldea side, I suggest Bradamante, wouldn't be amiss either.

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I'm glad, because I was a bit stunned to realize that we've already been in Septem for almost twenty chapters (including the future ones I've already written) and we're not even two-thirds of the way through.

As far as more interludes go... Yeah, I've been considering it, but I'm trying to keep them relatively spaced out, so that we don't just squish them all in one after the other. I'm not sure Chaldean interludes would work so well right now, but that's mostly because it's been less than a day for Chaldea. That time differential is killer, man.

 

[Windborne]

As far as more interludes go... Yeah, I've been considering it, but I'm trying to keep them relatively spaced out, so that we don't just squish them all in one after the other. I'm not sure Chaldean interludes would work so well right now, but that's mostly because it's been less than a day for Chaldea. That time differential is killer, man.

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Well I'm glad you're accepting that this Fic is going to be a monster in terms of length now. You were kind of deluding yourself in thinking this Fic would be the length of Essence, Hereafter was always going to be incredibly long. I can see it reaching 2 possibly 3 Million words if you do it right just to cover up to the Final Singularity, especially if you do so to give enough character development to the entire cast. But don't worry about length, just keep chipping away at it like you've been doing and you'll be fine.

As for Interludes, well you might want to consider doing them a bit more often if only to flesh out other characters or help the cast with character development (including Taylor). You still haven't really touched on your goal of Taylor learning to "Fight to Live" instead of "Living to Fight", and you'll want to chip away at that character growth slowly over an incredibly long period to make that character arc have meaning. Doing so via other characters' points of view occasionally would be prudent, so interludes via others will be worthwhile. And that's not even touching on the Twins, Mash, or Olga-Marie's character development. They need some too.

And yes it's true the time differential with Chaldea is difficult, but you could use it to cover a Flashback like that time where Taylor and Sumanai stayed around the city Bradamante was protecting (Thiers?) while the Twins, Mash and Arash were away. Or Da Vinci creating Taylor's prosthetic arm. There is a time differential for sure, but if the chapter is taking place mainly in someone's head, at the speed of thought it's workable. Just a few suggestions.

 

[Silvan Stormrage]

One question is why does Constantine have the Pax Romana as his NP, wouldn't that be something for Agustus Ceaser? Was he even an emperor during the Pax Romana?

 

[James D. Fawkes]

One question is why does Constantine have the Pax Romana as his NP, wouldn't that be something for Agustus Ceaser? Was he even an emperor during the Pax Romana?

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He was not. The NP is somewhat erroneously named, but he was responsible for one of Rome's most stable and peaceful eras, to my understanding. It probably wouldn't be wrong to say that his rule was the empire at its one of its highest points.

That's why Pax Romana would actually be something of a shared NP. The versions possessed by the likes of Augustus would be different in some of the details, focusing on more specific parts more strongly, but Constantine's version is very much focused on "unity" throughout his territory, so it's focused on discouraging conflict and strife and promoting working together rather than, say, suppressing rebellion or establishing a defined territory.

 

[Atlasofremembran]

"We're on step...Five. You're on step three-hundred-and-ninety-four."

But seriously. That's way down the line. We're not there yet. In fact, getting to Mount Etna is probably around 2/3 of the way through this Singularity. This beast is actually going to be much bigger than Orleans, by quite a bit.

Oh, speaking of. To the whole audience here, what do you think of the pacing for Septem? Too fast still, too slow now?

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I don't know, I still feel like it's way too fucking slow. Like, OG Septem was fun because it was a great romp where the Gudas are brought along by Nero's boundless charisma and enthusiasm, helping her through her grand quest of reuniting the Roman Empire.

Hereafter Septem is a slog of characters that haven't really touched on the main theme of the Singularity (what Rome and its Legacy are and represent) that spends half its chapters being in a moody admiration of other characters and the landscape.

I'm not saying it's bad, just that it doesn't feel like a Grand Order singularity. It's way too glum, and it's not just because of Taylor's perspective, the characters don't bounce off each other, they all feel muted and tired.

 

[Moliblazer]

The name…vaguely rang a bell. Most of the Arthurian lessons I'd gotten as part of my training to be a Master of Chaldea had tended to focus specifically on the Knights of the Round Table and the events in Britain itself. At some point, near the end of his reign and shortly before Mordred's rebellion, King Arthur and his most loyal knights had gone to the continent and fought the Roman Empire — or what was left of it — and eventually had to return home mostly empty-handed.

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As the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Lucius Tiberius ruled with an iron fist and a strong will, and he dyed the plains of his empire red with the blood of his enemies as he turned his holy sword into a demonic sword. Painted a deep magenta by the violence it has witnessed, this formerly immaculate blade now has a bloodthirsty edge that bleeds with an ominous light whenever its power is invoked.

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So, I guess you're solving the time-travel conundrum with Lucius Tiberius' timeline by positing that he was Emperor after what historians consider the fall of Rome (maybe even being an emperor in exile) and that he tried to invade Britain to restablish his empire's power?

I guess that works -- maybe his life was so seeped in Mystery (being involved with Camelot and all) that all concrete evidence of his reign didn't survive for mainstream historians to find.

 

[Stahor]

I had to close my eyes against the intensity of it, and even still, the bright light seared itself onto the backs of my eyelids like a branding iron.

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It's like 4th time now. Taylor should be able to notice a pattern by now. Is she ever going to get some sunglasses?

 

[CCMax]

Then the trick would be to get him out his territory

Well maybe Aife can open a portal towards the Land of Shadows to visit her sister

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I really hope that this was just a smart ass comment, and not an actual helpful suggestion. Cause, if it was supposed to be helpful, then you apparently don't understand the situation. Sure, Team Chaldea can leave the territory of the United Empire and be no longer affected by Pax Romana but that also means they are no longer going after the grail. The grail that is pretty much in the capital/center of the United Empire territory.

Your suggestion is basically, lets give up and not fight this fight anymore. A useless suggestion. They have to travel the United Empire and be affected by Pax Romana. They have no choice. Because they don't suddenly have the ability to teleport enemy servants and masters and the holy grail from where it is inside enemy territory to where Team Chaldea is located.

 

[ic3shard13]

I really hope that this was just a smart ass comment, and not an actual helpful suggestion. Cause, if it was supposed to be helpful, then you apparently don't understand the situation. Sure, Team Chaldea can leave the territory of the United Empire and be no longer affected by Pax Romana but that also means they are no longer going after the grail. The grail that is pretty much in the capital/center of the United Empire territory.

Your suggestion is basically, lets give up and not fight this fight anymore. A useless suggestion. They have to travel the United Empire and be affected by Pax Romana. They have no choice. Because they don't suddenly have the ability to teleport enemy servants and masters and the holy grail from where it is inside enemy territory to where Team Chaldea is located.

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[Gate of Skye
Rank: A+
NP Type: Anti-Army/Battle Start
Range: 2 - 50
Maximum Target: 200

The Gate Leading to Dún Scáith, Brimming with Death.
The giant gate that leads to the Land of Shadows, a land cut off from the world, is briefly summoned. The shadow castle that sits in the Land of Shadows, typically a land ruled by Scáthach of the Celts rather than Skadi, reveals itself.

Of those in range of the Noble Phantasm's effects, any deemed worthy will be granted divine blessings and great fortune by the shadow castle's presence. Anyone beloved by the castle's queen, even the most feeble, will find themselves empowered to defeat terrible enemies.

This Noble Phantasm may produce a remarkable turnaround if used in a Holy Grail War.]

Dude, no need to be rude. This is an NP that Scáthach(and Skadi, but that's beside the point) has: it applies another territory, and would probably disrupt Pax Romana. Thinking Aife might have something like this, or might reproduce the effect with runes, isn't that much of a stretch.

 

[T. T. Circe]

[Gate of Skye
Rank: A+
NP Type: Anti-Army/Battle Start
Range: 2 - 50
Maximum Target: 200

The Gate Leading to Dún Scáith, Brimming with Death.
The giant gate that leads to the Land of Shadows, a land cut off from the world, is briefly summoned. The shadow castle that sits in the Land of Shadows, typically a land ruled by Scáthach of the Celts rather than Skadi, reveals itself.

Of those in range of the Noble Phantasm's effects, any deemed worthy will be granted divine blessings and great fortune by the shadow castle's presence. Anyone beloved by the castle's queen, even the most feeble, will find themselves empowered to defeat terrible enemies.

This Noble Phantasm may produce a remarkable turnaround if used in a Holy Grail War.]
This and no Noble Phastam is literally absolute
So that they can cheat around it
It fit
Dude, no need to be rude. This is an NP that Scáthach(and Skadi, but that's beside the point) has: it applies another territory, and would probably disrupt Pax Romana. Thinking Aife might have something like this, or might reproduce the effect with runes, isn't that much of a stretch.

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This and that they can work around it fit
And no Noble Phastam is absolute

 

[catDreaming]

Speaking of Noble Phantasms, Julius Caesar's Crocea Mors is actually pretty interesting. While the easy part of it to remember is that it grants him a (theoretically) automatic clean hit on the target, that's not what makes it so potentially dangerous. If the automatic clean hit portion of it actually works, then Julius makes a Luck check opposed by the target of Crocea Mors. If Julius succeeds, he get's another automatic clean hit, and repeats the process. On a failure, well, the Noble Phantasm ends. Backed up the stats he has as a Saber, Crocea Mors lets him actually be a menace on the battlefield against foes who would otherwise seem well above his weight class.

 

[Isiri Pudireach]

This and that they can work around it fit
And no Noble Phastam is absolute

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The real problem is that on uncontested ground (like if they snuck into the capital), then Pax Romana would prevent them from using their NPs:

That is, so long as the battle occurs within the space of Constantine's dominion, it is possible for him to forbid the enemy's use of Noble Phantasms and even degrade the effectiveness of their skills.

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So GoS's status as an NP is hamstringing it here.

 

[Parks_98]

Beyond it, Aífe climbed to her feet, utterly unscathed, and across the clearing from her, Tiberius lay on the ground, broken and defeated. His armor had been ripped and destroyed, his red cloak in tatters, and the ground around him was wet with blood.

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Hmmm well this is certainly educational

"Bitch!" Tiberius snarled as he surged to his feet. He wound back his arm and took aim for her neck with his sword. "Die!"

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Damn that guy is fucking tenacious

He has to have battle continuation

Emiya snorted as he straightened. "I see. So it really was just a matter of pride, wasn't it?"

"I didn't break my oaths to the man who cheated me out of my victory," she told him dangerously, "even though it inevitably cost me my son's life. Do you think I would start now?"

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Man that really is her fatal flaw

Jeez

 

[ic3shard13]

The real problem is that on uncontested ground (like if they snuck into the capital), then Pax Romana would prevent them from using their NPs:

So GoS's status as an NP is hamstringing it here.

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Uh. Contested territory-> war-> war of succession-> taking the mantle of emperor-> umu

Domus Aureaaa!

 

[Marika Oniki]

Uh. Contested territory-> war-> war of succession-> taking the mantle of emperor-> umu

Domus Aureaaa!

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…Huh. Maybe that's why the story is taking so long to get to meeting Nero. Would certainly make things a bit easier for the Chaldea crew, and keeping a knife dug into the protagonist's hamstring for longer than really needed was certainly the main issue that detracted from my enjoyment of Silver & Steel.

 

[CCMax]

This is an NP that Scáthach(and Skadi, but that's beside the point) has: it applies another territory, and would probably disrupt Pax Romana. Thinking Aife might have something like this, or might reproduce the effect with runes, isn't that much of a stretch.

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First, thanks. I wasn't aware of that NP.

Second, at what point is there any proof that a NP that belongs to another character, that Aife is even capable of doing something like this? As far as I know, there is no proof other than by just guessing. Nothing in story has told us anything that this is even legitimate.

Third, the original comment is about visiting the sister. That means leaving Europe and actually entering into the Land of Shadows, only for the sole purpose of not being affected by Pax Romana. How exactly does that help the Chaldea crew? That is just running away because they can't do anything in the Land of Shadows to actually fight the United Empire.

This is why I gave my opinion about that comment. It was someone trying to give off a smart sounding comment but it ends up not being such a smart comment. Like the meme. And if it was supposed to be like the meme, then they didn't format it well cause apparently nobody caught it.

 

[The-Chained-One]

First, thanks. I wasn't aware of that NP.

Second, at what point is there any proof that a NP that belongs to another character, that Aife is even capable of doing something like this? As far as I know, there is no proof other than by just guessing. Nothing in story has told us anything that this is even legitimate.

Third, the original comment is about visiting the sister. That means leaving Europe and actually entering into the Land of Shadows, only for the sole purpose of not being affected by Pax Romana. How exactly does that help the Chaldea crew? That is just running away because they can't do anything in the Land of Shadows to actually fight the United Empire.

This is why I gave my opinion about that comment. It was someone trying to give off a smart sounding comment but it ends up not being such a smart comment. Like the meme. And if it was supposed to be like the meme, then they didn't format it well cause apparently nobody caught it.

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there's a precedent for heroic spirits to have np's from other heroes, like the gae bolg is aife's technically, but scathach and cu has it, deug ochd odin is also a cu caster np, but rider aife has it as well, the hanging gardens of babylon isn't originally an np for semiramis but she's rumored to have made it so she gets it anyway etc. it's not too out there for aife to be able to use her sisters np. and the main usage it would have is to suck in constantine, to the shadow lands, cause that should kill him, but even if it doesn't, he is no longer in his territory so at worst his np doesn't debuff the chaldea crew anymore. the 'visit her sister' part of the comment was almost certainly just a joke.

 

[James D. Fawkes]

Aife does not have Gate of Skye. It's part of her character's backstory, that she was passed up for the responsibility. If she talked with Cu, he could teach her his trick that mimics it, but good luck getting them to sit down long enough without devolving into a fight.

Ochd Deug Odin is a NP that technically can be used by anyone with the Primordial Runes skill, although Bryn and others whose usage of them is somehow limited or restricted might not be able to use it. Gae Bolg belongs to Aife because the Tain attributes it to her, although Scathach was apparently mass producing it, so she may actually have had one anyway.

…Huh. Maybe that's why the story is taking so long to get to meeting Nero. Would certainly make things a bit easier for the Chaldea crew, and keeping a knife dug into the protagonist's hamstring for longer than really needed was certainly the main issue that detracted from my enjoyment of Silver & Steel.

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Spoiler

No. Nero is not the solution to the problem. Them taking so long to meet is about realism, or versimilitude rather, because the pacing in canon Septem completely ignored how much distance the team had to cover to get anywhere. It had no sense of scale. Pax Romana is instead a problem the team needs to solve that can't be handled with raw force.

How that problem will be handled is something the next few chapters, after the interlude next week, will start discussing.