[X] A horseback warrior anointed by the angels.
The platform then shook with what to me looked like a blinding bolt from the 'sky', only later did I see that a white steed had leapt down from above and landed right on top of Gatekeeper. As Gatekeeper, with what looked like 'invincibility frames' (I think they're called) flashing around them, this snow-white horse trotted up right in front of me, giving me the chance to finally see who their rider was.
She, well so I assumed, carried herself with a tomboyish yet noble, I guess you'd say 'princely', demeanour.
She wore an elegant yet still military outfit coloured in contrasting blues and reds, I'd put it around the 18th or 19th century from what I knew. Her hair was dark and boyishly short, reminding a bit of Overseer Ciel even if the two projected very different auras.
"Oh, quit your gawking," she then sighed at me, before Gatekeeper began readying another attack. "Summoned right into the heat of battle then? Ah, already this Grail War of yours pulls no punches," she smirked and readied a sword and gun in either hand, "Which suits me fine."
"Analysis… complete?" Gatekeeper then said, "Jump attack indicates 'platformer', mount indicates 'Racing', but military equipment indicates 'strategy'." As they were trying to make sense of her, er, 'gaming genre', they were struck and jumped at from behind by another animal, a dog just as snowy-white with some brownish-black splotches. Stealth game then?
"
Bien muchacho!" the rider beamed at her dog, before her attention went back to Gatekeeper. "Hah, even with this Grail updating me, it sounds like you're simply pulling a shibboleth on me," she laughed. Gatekeeper, seemingly fed up, simply put their hands together and shot out what looked like a blue chi fireball, only for the horsewoman and her dog to dodge to either side.
She then opened fire on Gatekeeper's head while her dog bit down at their legs. Gatekeeper responded by stomping the floor, which was enough to send out whole shockwaves across the platform. Both the rider and her dog were swift enough to jump over them, but I… wasn't so lucky. They hit me full force and sent me hurtling back against that door, I could've fallen into the abyss beyond the platform had I been pushed any further.
Fortunately, the horse rider noticed this, and with command to her dog in Spanish, sent him to cover me while she dealt with Gatekeeper. However, she may not have needed to, as what some sort of 'ether bullet' made of compressed numbers, well that's how I'd describe it, then sniped Gatekeeper from the side. Looking where this ether bullet had come from, I could see…
"Sakura!" I called out, seeing her still alive, if right now hanging by one of those stained-glass window frames and scrambling to get back onto the platform. I would've rushed over to help her… but would've put me right in Gatekeeper's line of sight.
Luckily that wouldn't be necessary, as no less than a
third Servant now entered the fray "Taste divine judgment, plebeian!" a girl called out from atop one of the glass arches, having somehow been agile enough to get up there despite Gatekeeper's shockwaves. With a cry, she then threw down an entire ancient shield like a discus right at Gatekeeper, and with them now flashing red, this girl now pirouetted right down onto Gatekeeper with what looked like a mana-fuelled starburst emanating from her kick.
"So, trying to copy my tactics without a horse, are we?" the rider had to comment.
However, as Gatekeeper now slumped to the ground (a triumphant jingle sounding from him somehow,)
this girl, with star-decced long caramel hair and wearing a glittering gold dress, then shot the widest smirk at the rider and said, "More like I actually made your stupid tactic work, thank you~. I got the finishing blow, after all!"
The rider did wince a little at that comeback and said, "Look, what matters isn't who kills the enemy, what matters is that this enemy's killed," before Gatekeeper then, with ironic timing, suddenly vanished. She then rapidly looked around for where they could've gone to, before she just said, "After them! We can't afford the enemy to escape!"
"I don't think we have to," I said, "They were summoned to test how good our Servants are, and whew, looks like the test was passed."
That caused rider to stare at me, before she breathed in then said, "Regardless of their motive, they still attacked all of us. You'd just let someone like that go free?"
"Eh, course I would," the new girl said, "They were just some jobber who couldn't even scratch an empress like me, so who cares?"
"Empress?!" That word for some reason stung the rider.
"Besides, I don't think we could go after them if we wanted to. They were summoned by the Star-Cell directly, so going after them anymore than we need could be against the Grail War's own rules," Sakura said.
"…You do know a War by definition has no rules, don't you?" Protocols, maybe," the rider said, but then started to calm down, "Still, you have something of a point. I can see how chasing after this Gatekeeper could risk wasting records. Alright then, amigas, I believe introductions are in order," her voice then perked up quite a bit, which eased my nerves what with how scary she'd been coming off, "I'm of the Rider class, as you've probably guessed."
"You can call me Saver," said the girl, "That's with a V, not B, so it's totally different. I mean, being summoned in one of these 'standard classes' would be
so boring," she had to shoot a glance at Rider. "Obviously I won't just tell you who I really am, but anyone who's done their history and theology would be a complete doofus not to know who I am."
I didn't want to say this directly to her, but my first thought was
, Er, isn't 'Saver' said to be the messianic class? This… isn't what I think of when I think 'messiah'.
Rider held back less, muttering to me, "
She's practically a walking advertisement for secular government."
"I-I think I do know," Sakura said as she approached her, "You're Augustus of Rome, right? Or maybe Lydia then I guess?"
Saver simply stared at her a while, before she burst out laughing in Sakura's face, "Augustus? You seriously think I'm that stuffy old has-been? Hah, boy did I get you good!"
"Just as well," Rider said, "Had you been correct, camarada, Saver's identity would've been given away immediately. True, planning how to deal with Octavian would… sure be something, alright."
"I-I know that!" Sakura insisted, then said, "Guess I just got excited about summoning my Servant, that's all."
"Huh, 'your' Servant?" Saver said back, "Come on, what makes you think some squeaky little mouse girl like you could possibly summon a divine Empress like me?!"
"Sakura, ah, sorry to rub it in," I said, "but Saver does have a point. Rider and her were summoned pretty close together, so yeah, we can't be sure whose Servants they are."
"No, that's okay Amemiya, I get where you're coming from," Sakura said, "We could find out through using one of our Seals, but yeah, that's kinda extreme this early on."
[ ] "I'm pretty sure I'm with Rider and you're with Saver. That lottery ticket of yours makes me think this Saver more than Rider."
[ ] "Yeah, could be you're with Rider and I'm with Saver. I saw Rider first before Saver, and since you got here first that could mean you summoned her."
[ ] "I… don't think I summoned anyone. I mean, I didn't even use a catalyst."
[ ] Write-in
- [ ] "Perhaps we should just ask Rider and Saver if they were associated with gambling?" (by Liquid Ooze)
- [ ] Sakura insisted that given what her catalyst was, she might as well throw a coin to decide on her Servant. (by Edgedancer)
