Fate/Stay Night RP

[Squigsquasher]

Hidetora strolled down the pitch-black road, with only a small lamp to light the way. The streets were completely shrouded in darkness, and although the crescent moon shone brightly in the sky, resembling a twisted, luminous grin, it cast no light upon the wire-tangled streets and alleyways below.

Alongside him, Berzerker followed. Her body hung limply a few feet off the ground, like a grotesque marionette, supported by the gangly limbs extending from her back. Her joints creaked and clicked as she scuttled after her master, bony hands and rusted metal blades scurrying over the tarmac.

"Where are we going?" asked the girl, in a voice that was sweet and naive yet old as the grave and bitter.

"Somewhere safe" replied Hidetora, brusquely "We need to find somewhere to stay put"

In truth, he was heading to an old abandoned car park. His divining had shown it to be the most tactically sound place available, defensible, and on a magical locus point. The somewhat labyrinthine nature of the structure made it a good place to hide in, and it was near enough to civilization that supplies would be easy to come by, and the other Maguses should be nearby.

Eventually they arrived at the decrepit building. In truth, Hidetora hated abandoned buildings. They unnerved him greatly, and he found something incredibly sad and distressing about seeing a once-proud and useful structure condemned to rot and decay.

"It's OK, there is nothing to fear" came Berzerker's voice, her tones gentle, but sounding drowned and wet, as if her throat and lungs were clogged with swamp water "We are the only beings present in the building, although there is a great deal of magic in the area"

The boy gulped, and slowly walked in.

"...O-of course..." he stuttered, slowly overcoming his insecurity "There's nothing to worry about..."

As they walked around the car park, Hidetora placed various items. He painted eye-shaped charms upon various walls with a mixture of holy oil and goat bile. With the seeing stone he had brought with him, he should be able to monitor the complex this way. At doorways and dead ends he placed an assortment of curses and magical traps, contained in a variety of objects, ranging from keys to coins to feathers to jewellery to bones, each with a debilitating curse upon it.

Finally, once they reached the main office, where he planned to settle down, Hidetora lit and placed a Hand of Glory in a small alcove. Any unwanted visitors who came across this hideous relic would find themselves paralyzed, assuming all went to plan.

Hidetora set up a miniature stove, set down his equipment and rolled out a pair of sleeping bags, one for him, and one for Berzerker. Just before getting into the bag, he took a bottle of ash and sprinkled it in a protective circle around the little camp.

At last, he crawled into his sleeping bag and prepared to rest.

"It's OK, Berzerker, you can rest too if you want" he said to his necrotic servant.

Berzerker smiled. "Thank you, master" she said, sweetly.

She slithered into the sleeping bag, folding her limbs up behind her. If it weren't for her various deformities and general deathly manner, she would have looked quite adorable.

Suddenly she sat bolt upright.

"Is something the matter?" asked Hidetora.

"...I don't know..." mumbled Berzerker "But I thought I sensed something..."

"What?"

She grimaced. "A servant..."

[BPES]

The night was still and the light of the moon barely grazed the artificially illuminated streets below. Sabre looked out of the window of the room he and his master had occupied to enact their scheme with caution and some apprehension.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked his master as she sat making the last few preparations for their plans.

"We've got everything se t up now Sabre, it would be pointless to waste it all now." Makoto responded as she continued her work. Sabre nodded and returned to looking out the window.

"We're not too far off?" He inquired as he tried to locate the building where the trap would be sprung.

"It's fine Sabre, You were with me all day, you've seen me make the preparations." Makoto said as she finished her task and turned to Sabre with a frown. "Or is it, that you still doubt my abilities?"

"No, that's not it. I just want to be sure that everything is as it should be." Sabre explained. He didn't doubt his master's skills in the slightest; in fact he was most impressed by her talent. He did have his doubts however, that arose from a much simpler and more fundamental thing.

Experience.

Whilst certainly exceptional for a magus her age, his master was a member of the prestigious Einzbern family, and Sabre had been given the opportunity with his early summoning to witness the life of the Einzbern first hand. It was quiet and lonely, pristine and suffocatingly orderly. Sabre could see they were a powerful Magus family, and he could see how seriously they took their art, but he also witnessed how reclusive they were. His Master had been born and raised by these people, and until recently had no life beyond those foreign castle walls.

~Several hours prior~

Sabre followed behind his master and her homunculus Arabella as they walked through the area trying to find a suitable location for the plan. As they walked through the streets, Sabre couldn't help but notice the child like wonder that was emanating from his master as she looked around at the large buildings and various wonders around her. He smiled at that and looked around himself taking in the sight.

It barely fazed him even as he tried hard to think about how much work must have been done to create this city. He had a good idea of what it took; the grail had given him enough information on the world around him that it all seemed typical. If anything what awed him more was that this was such an unusual thing for his master.

That didn't mean he didn't enjoy the city though, or any of the modern wonders for that matter. He was extremely pleased to see such a place existing as something of a norm in Japan. And he could get used to the idea of staying in this time period. For that though he'd have to win the war, not that his wish had much to do with living another life.

He noticed that his master had stopped and begun staring at a Tv with the most fascinated expression he'd ever seen on her face. He wondered if it was the odd advert being displayed that held her attention, or the device itself. As a typical rule, the more a Magus delves into magecraft, the more they tend to stay away from technology. It grew less and less concrete with age, but the older, more traditional families kept to this doctrine, and the Einzbern were a prime example of such things.


"This is it, this will be the place." Makoto declared and Sabre stared passively at the warehouse. They had wandered fairly close to the docks, but the residential area was still nearby. This seemed like a reasonable staging ground to draw out anyone hiding in the area, with enough terrain to set up places to watch.

"Well all right, should I scout a vantage point?" Sabre asked and Makoto stared at him questioningly. Sabre blinked and pointed around. "That's why you picked here right?"

"No it isn't, this Warehouse has decent space for a battle, thick enough walls for my style of magecraft and should be gloomy enough to hide my familiars. It's perfect." Makoto stated and Sabre nodded.

"Not much room to escape though is there?" Sabre commented and Makoto shrugged.

"We'll have to prepare thoroughly then. Come on." She stated and walked forward. Sabre frowned and began to follow before another voice spoke.

"Master Sabre, it would do no good to fret over the details of the Mistress' mage craft." Arabella spoke with a polite tone and ended with a slight bow. Sabre blinked and smiled in response.

"Ahh maybe you're right, Will you be ok though? This plan is..." He began.

"Master Sabre's concern is touching, but unnecessary. We will fulfil our roles through this war, whatever they may be. If your concerns persist, then perhaps you should help create contingencies?" She suggested in the same tone. Sabre nodded and followed after Makoto, may as well look to help where he could.

The moment he stepped through the doors an odd feeling fell over his senses and he blinked in surprise. The warehouse had already been covered in a basic bounded field and Makoto was hard at work creating a second within it to use for her plan.

~Present~

"We're ready; please begin declaring your presence. The bounded field here will siphon the aura and send it to Beatrix in the warehouse. And for the fifth time, no they won't be able to track it here, which is why it took so long to set up." Makoto spoke with confidence and Sabre nodded. As long as it concerned magecraft he'd accept her judgement.

"It shouldn't take long for them to notice, so now all we have to do is sit and wait." Sabre commented dimming the lights in the room. His master sat down and focused, creating a more direct link with her familiar so that she could view the potential battles as they unfolded.

~~~~~~~~~~

The warehouse was quiet and bathed in darkness with the ever present feeling of magic in the air. Waiting for their opponents, the Einzbern Hounculous stood ready, Arabella standing on a stack of crates in casual attire and Beatrix standing in the centre of the warehouse wearing an armoured dress and carrying a long, magnificent looking Pike. Silence dominated everything as several creatures scurried through the various crates and things littered around the walls of the building.

Soon enough, the doors began to rattle as someone opened it and the two stared impassively before Arabella curtsied demurely.

"Good evening, I represent the Einzbern Family. Please prepare yourself."

[Agentomega]

Lancer's eyebrows furrowed as she turned to Tsubaki for guidance. "What'dya propose we do, partner?"

Tsubaki's face regained her usual composure, though her mind was a frenzy of activity attempting to quell panic and determine the next course of action. She went over the facts:

1. There is an enemy Servant.
   
2. They are freely broadcasting their location.
   

Conclusion: It’s an obvious setup. But what to do about it? She needed more information to answer that question.

Tsubaki turned to Lancer and smirked. “Allow me to present to you a demonstration of my magecraft.”

The silver-haired ojousama then plopped herself down upon a sofa, and immediately passed out.

Lancer blinked and stared at the girl. “Mah Master is weird.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Recommended BGM – Fate/EXTRA LE Soundtrack - maze(sea shallow,-1))

t.fukui@alaya:~ $ ssh t.fukui@akasha
t.fukui@akasha’s password:

Logged in as t.fukui.

t.fukui@akasha:~ $ ARIA

˃ Get current worldline pointer.

˃ Synchronize clock.

˃ Set coordinate system with reference to ENTITY_GAIA.

˃ Select frame at local time range 0:1*PLANCK_SECOND.

˃ Get slice, centroid = 37N 23’ 48.13”, 136E 54’ 10.51”, type = sphere, radius = 500m

˃ Select first object where property = WEAPON, sort distance ascending from centroid.

˃ Query weapon.type
LANCE

˃ RENDER frame to t.fukui@alaya

SPOILER: Show

˃ quit

t.fukui@akasha:~ $ exit

t.fukui@alaya:~ $ exit

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not a minute later, Tsubaki awoke and was startled to find her Servant’s face mere centimeters in front of her own, brilliant ruby eyes staring back at her.

“Yer nap do ya any good?”

Tsubaki scrambled to her feet, heat building in her cheeks. “I was not napping,” she exclaimed forcefully, “I was accessing the local Akashic Record structure for information. I suspect trickery.”

“Why’sat, pard?”

Tsubaki projected the image from her search, and zoomed in to the center of the sphere. Before the pair stood the manifestation of two women, one in casual clothing, the other heavily armored and wielding a pike. Both had silver hair, pale skin, and blood red eyes.

“Even ignoring the weapon that one is carrying, it is highly unlikely that both Master and Servant have the traits of an Einzbern homunculus unless they are both homunculi. It is the more likely explanation, at any rate,” stated Tsubaki.

“Y’think they’re pertendin’ ta be me, eh? Think we should ruffle their feathers, or leave ‘em alone if it’s a trap?”

Tsubaki pondered this. A nagging curiosity overtook her. “Lancer, what does your weapon look like?”

Lancer held out her arm, and caught the polearm that appeared there. Tsubaki looked it over and grinned.

“That could work.”

“Whatcha talkin’ ‘bout pard?”

“We’re going to send a message. Here’s what we’ll do.”

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tsubaki stood outside the warehouse. She could feel waves of heat radiating off the building. She was aware that this was her perception of the bounded fields that surrounded the place.

Partner, her Servant communicated, aincha worried about that field?

No, replied Tsubaki, I believe it is what anchors the presence of a Servant here. Besides, Einzberns toy with their prey before eliminating it. I do not worry about setting foot in this place. Just don’t push too hard – a cornered Einzbern is said to be terrifying indeed.

Tsubaki slowly pushed the door open with a creak, and her eyes lit upon the “Master” and “Servant”. The “Master” gave a polite curtsy, and said “Good evening, I represent the Einzbern Family. Please prepare yourself.”

Tsubaki lowered her hood. “Ara, it seems the Einzbern are already causing trouble in the Fukui domain. Such a blatant call to battle, I shall have to put this fight down before it grows too large. Come, Saber.”

Beside Tsubaki, “Saber” manifested herself. Tsubaki glanced over at her Servant, taking in the other woman’s features. Once again, beneath her jade green robes she wore a set of scaled armor. She stretched out her muscular arm and grasped her blade as it de-astralized. This was quite the feat as the polearm was massive, towering over the 6’3” “Saber”. Her jet black hair was cropped in a boyish cut that didn’t even reach her shoulders. Her eyes glittered like rubies, and appeared quite exotic against her tan skin.

Tsubaki looked back at the Einzbern pair just in time to catch their eyes flick toward each other before they settled again upon the Fukui Master.

“Will you withdraw from here?”

“It is my duty to fight, so I must respectfully decline your request,” replied the Einzbern.

“Ah, that’s too bad. I should hate to have to kill a polite Einzbern,” quipped the Fukui. “Saber, you may begin when ready.”

(Recommended BGM – Fate/Stay Night OST - Clashing Souls)

The Einzbern “Master” also nodded to her “Servant” as though to begin the engagement.

Each Servant, false in her own way, immediately sprang forward. The Einzbern thrust her pike at “Saber”, who responded by knocking the strike away with a well-placed one-handed swing. The Einzbern jabbed thrice again in quick succession, so “Saber” took up her blade in both hands and redirected the blows with sweeping motions. Then “Saber” took the offensive.

Using the momentum of her blade, she whipped it around to leave a small gash on the Einzbern’s face. The Einzbern’s visage twitched briefly before thrusting her pike forward and interrupting the continued swing.

“One.”

“Saber” reversed her swing, arcing the blade around her body in an attack that would pierce the Einzbern’s heart. The false Servant parried with the pole of her weapon, knocking the head of “Saber’s” polearm aside. The Einzbern noted that a thin layer of ice was beginning to form on her opponent’s blade.

“Two.”

Tsubaki looked on as both servants began twirling their weapons “Three.” in a seemingly incomprehensible manner. In reality, it was a game of wits. Each revolution of the weapons sought to unbalance the other, “Four.”, to create illusory openings or explore the opponent’s defenses. Each strike “Five.” came from a seemingly impossible direction, and was either blocked or aborted mid-swing. The resounding cracks “Six.” were as loud as gunshots, and just as rapid as though fired from an assault rifle. Were a normal human wielding a lance to encounter either of these entities, assuming they lived long enough to block in the first place, their bones would surely be broken by the force of contact.

“Seven.”

The poles locked together, and “Saber” paused to study the Einzbern. The albino woman had accumulated a few more scrapes since first blood. The layer of ice on “Saber’s” blade was marginally thicker, though not to the point of restricting “Saber’s” style as it had not yet drunk deeply. The two combatants disengaged their weapons before lunging at each other with a flurry of lightning-quick stabs “Eight.” and thunderous racket. The Einzbern “Servant” let out a grunt as a vicious blow glanced off her side.

She leapt back, putting distance between herself and “Saber”. She inhaled.

“Nine.”

And exhaled.

“Saber’s” expression changed from carefully sculpted stoicism to one of alarm as the Einzbern “Servant” rocketed forward with a ridiculous amount of velocity, pike leveled at her neck…

[Lance of LoL]

Blades danced back and forth inside the warehouse as Sinner and her master approached.

"So, how're we going in?" the diminutive servant asked quizzically.

"We'll enter from the back." her master answered stoically.

"Oooh, aren't you a naughty one?" Sinner cooed.

"One more sex joke, and I'm using a Command Seal." he growled. The pair approached the rear of the building, the clashes within rattling the corrugated steel walls. The Master raised a hand and light erupted around him, beams bending around his form before fading away, leaving a gap, a space that shimmered, devoid of the man that had stood there previously. "I'll go in like this, take spirit form and head for the rafters." he ordered, stepping into the bounded field.

A squirrel scurried across a crate top. It's dark eyes taking in its surroundings impartially. It didn't run despite the crashes, instead darting closer to the action. Staring at the clashing servants, it's body suddenly flattened, being smashed across the crate top by an invisible hand. The force removed, a tinkling of broken crystal filled the air as the shattered animal lay motionless.

"Hiding your little automatons in the dark, are we? What an amateur." The Master sneered as he stepped forward. Making his entrance onto the factory floor proper, the servants traded blows dangerously. He assessed them through his shroud of light. Both wielded polearms, but there was something not quite right about the white clad warrior. The sensation of the woman was all wrong. There was no servant here, just a bounded field, and judging by the look of them, they were dealing with an Einzbern ploy. It was hardly surprising, but rather clever. He had to admire that much. Glancing into the rafters above, he saw yet another familiar being crushed under his servant's heel, a broken bird falling onto the floor below. That should be more than enough to gain their attention he though calmly. He turned back to the battle, waiting for the penny to drop.

[MAGI_01]

Nathaniel and Archer climbed to the top of a building adjacent to a warehouse.

“There is already a fight underway.” Archer pointed out.

Nathaniel quickly mulled the situation over in his head. “Well then, we have our opining. We will slip in whilst those two fight, gather information on both of them and slip back out, hopefully without either one noticing us.” He planned.

“And what do we do if they do see us?” Archer inquired.

“We stand our ground and fight. There is no way in hell that I will back down.”

Archer smiled as the two climbed back down the building and snuck their way down to the entrance of the warehouse. Nathaniel pushed open the door as gently as he could, revealing the two servants battling.

“Go into spirit form and find a good vantage point. I’ll take up a position behind those crates over there.”

Archer nodded as he dematerialized. Nathaniel quickly ran in and hid behind a crate. He peaked around one corner to check and make sure that he was not seen before he stealthily made his way around each stack of crates.

“So far so good.” He muttered as he rounded a corner, only to slam into somebody that was standing there. Nathaniel looked at the mysterious person and muttered an expletive. He knew that this would not be good.