>>5972351
> “This bombardment is a probing attack to provoke us. Let’s fortify an area for the three of you to wait in, then Avenger and I will go to find out the strength of the enemy forces.” (Fortify the hotel and then leave Caster’s territory and head toward the enemy’s position to scout them out before attacking)

Glad to see you, OP

>>5972362
Thanks, it's nice to be able to pick the story back up and finally exit hiatus-purgatory

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>>5972351
> “Avenger, do what you can to fortify the area for our friends before we move off and return fire.” (Fortify the hotel and then move to somewhere else in Caster’s territory before having Avenger return fire)

Glad to see HGW /qst/ returning, hopefully Catastrophe Superposition comes back too

Rolled 1 (1d2)

In lieu of a tiebreaker, I'll let [FATE] decide

>>5972360
For 1

>>5972486
For 2

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It seems likely to you that the enemy’s put a significant amount of planning into this attack, and it may be for the best to investigate the composition of their forces before counterattacking. To that end, you answer, “This bombardment is a probing attack to provoke us. Let’s fortify an area for the three of you to wait in, then Avenger and I will go to find out the strength of the enemy forces.” (Fortify the hotel and then leave Caster’s territory and head toward the enemy’s position to scout them out before attacking).

“Great, thanks!” Suzaku replies sincerely.

With sporadic, thundering explosions faintly cropping up at various points in your general vicinity, you turn to your Servant and say, “Can you set up some kind of barrier that would protect this building from a stray artillery-shell, rocket, or whatever they’ve been firing at us?”

Hopping into the air and flapping her wings to stay alight, she replies, “Shouldn’t be difficult. Conventional munitions of that level won’t even leave a scratch after I finish weaving this bounded field. Give me half a minute.”

As your Servant starts waving her staff about and conjuring all manner of arcane symbols in the air, Truvietianne holds up a familiar-looking crystal and asks you, “Do you still have this crystal’s counterpart that lets me contact you telepathically? On the off-chance something doesn’t go according to plan.”

Checking your pocket, you pull out two crystals, one matching hers, and answer, “It seems I do, so you can let me know if something happens over here.”

“Why do you have an extra one?” Koko asks, noticing that you’re holding two.

“This other one is paired to someone else, a fellow I met the other night who called himself ‘Abraxas’. Right after I found Suzaku, in fact.” You explain. Now you remember, you’d scheduled to update each other on how you were progressing this evening. “I wonder how he’s doing…”

“The guy who had the flying chariot?” Suzaku remarks, reminiscing, “Sounded like he was killing the zombies for sport, so he was probably an ok guy.”

“This building should be secure now.” Avenger interjects as she gently lands back onto the floor, “Shall we depart, Master?”

“Yes.” You affirm, though Koko catches your sleeve before you turn to go.

“You’ll make sure to come back in one piece?” The diminutive schoolteacher asks.

“That is the plan.” You answer. Hopefully that will mollify her, though you’re not willing to make guarantees as you go onto a battlefield

You and Avenger then leave the hotel and work your way through the streets toward the edge of Caster’s territory. Before you depart it, your Servant holds up her hand and says, “I’ll take a moment to remote-view where I suspect these attacks are coming from, let me take a seat... and keep watch for a moment.”

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“That’s fair.” You agree, and she takes a seat on a bus-stop bench and quietly sits still for some time before rousing again with a bit of a shudder.

“I’ll share a mental-view of what I saw with you. First off, there were two of these machines quite some distance to the north.” She says as she holds out her hand. Placing yours above it, you see a pair of armored vehicles. It takes a few moments for you to put words to them. Tanks? No, not quite. Self-propelled artillery? That sounds closer.

“Alright, what else of note?” You inquire.

“One Servant, a man who appears to wield a firearm, was standing by on a rooftop directly between us and the machines, and I believe another could be somewhere underground.” She continues.

“You aren’t sure about the second one?”

“My guess is it’s an Assassin with subpar Presence Concealment, it stopped me from getting a clear view of where they were but I could tell someone was there.” She clarifies. “In addition, it seems that whoever’s ordering this attack has some familiarity with magecraft, as I found that while I detached my consciousness from my etheric body, they would have been able to detect me if I continued much longer. I’ll lay off the remote-viewing until we exterminate them.”

“Good idea, thank you for your report.” You remark, approving of your Servant’s reconnaissance and caution. The enemy has two self-propelled artillery gradually firing into Caster’s territory, and may have two Servants mobilized to respond if you move out to counterattack. “About how far away do the Servants seem from us? And the self-propelled artillery, as well.” You then ask.

“The Servants are both about five miles north if I had to make an estimate.” She reports, “And the vehicles, about six. I could save us more than a little time by teleporting us toward one of their positions.”

That does sound appealing, though which target to go after first is the question.

> “Put us near the artillery, we’ll reduce them to scrap and see how the enemy responds”
> “Put us near where you saw the Servant on the rooftops, let’s try to eliminate a higher-value target first”
> “Put us near where you detected the probable Assassin, let’s try to eliminate a higher-value target first”
> Write-in

>>5973427
> “Put us near where you detected the probable Assassin, let’s try to eliminate a higher-value target first”

Even if their PC is low rank an Assassin could be an issue.

>>5973427
>“Put us near where you detected the probable Assassin, let’s try to eliminate a higher-value target first”
Good to see you're back.

>>5973427
> “Put us near where you detected the probable Assassin, let’s try to eliminate a higher-value target first”

The somewhat-easily detectable Assassin it is

>>5973699
Thank you, and I'm glad that you're all still around after a 5-ish month hiatus

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“Put us near where you detected the probable Assassin, let’s try to eliminate a higher-value target first.” You order, and your Servant receives the command with an approving nod.

“Gladly, we’ll arrive near their position momentarily.” She replies as she draws a glowing teleportation along the ground at your feet. A few seconds later, you find yourself standing outside a subway station labeled “Jimbocho”, and you vaguely intuit presence of a Servant somewhere inside, though not as clearly as you have in the past. The presence abruptly begins moving away shortly after you arrive.

“It seems we’ve startled whoever it was, if we move quickly we should be able to stop them from escaping.” Avenger remarks as she casts a reinforcement spell on you. Your body immediately feels lighter, more limber, and you can tell that your reaction-time has sped up considerably from where it was before. “I’d say that you could match some Assassin-class Servants in pure physicality as you are now. Though of course you shouldn’t take the entire burden on yourself.”

Unclasping your mace from the bandolier around your shoulder, you take a deep breath and perform a quick swing to gauge your handling of it in light of your enhanced strength and speed. Alright, everything feels good. You feel an unusual tingling feeling in your upper-back all of a sudden, not quite an itching sensation, perhaps something like resonant vibrations? At any rate, you wouldn’t call it uncomfortable, and you have more pressing matters to attend to. “We should go after them together now.”

Having summoned a couple of snarling hounds, your Servant replies, “I’ll send these two in ahead to slow them down as we close in.” As the two beasts sprint into the station with impressive agility, you and your Servant quickly follow.

You can sense the enemy Servant’s attempt to flee through the dimly-lit subway tunnels, but a short while after the hounds pulled ahead of you, the Servant’s retreat stops, presumably to fight off the beasts. Picking up your pace further as Avenger flies at your side, a short distance above the ground, you’re quickly gaining on the enemy.

In the heat of the moment, the two of you failed to predict your enemy’s counterattack. Their preparations were more thorough than either of you had anticipated. As you run over the rail-tracks in one of the tunnels, you hear a quiet

CLICK

In an instant, the tunnel is filled with a crushing explosive pressure. Under your feet and at both of your sides, the floor and walls are simultaneously blasted apart, sending both of you careening forward as bits of rubble and debris shallowly embed themselves into you. Deafened momentarily from the sudden pressure-waves, you’re quite thankful that Avenger’s spell toughened your body and reduced the damage you took, though even with that you’re not feeling too great at the moment. You’ll want a new set of clothes after this excursion is over too.

“That could’ve... gone better.” You wheeze as you turn onto your back and your sense of hearing comes back, hoping to lighten the mood in spite of your shared slip-up.

“Room for improvement, I suppose.” Avenger replies from a seated position as she brings a potion to her lips with one hand and splashes a second potion onto you with her other hand. As she does, you notice that she took a bit of damage from the explosion herself. Since they seem to have affected her, you surmise that the bombs were probably set up by a Servant or mage. Fortunately, your body is recovering quickly as it responds to your Servant’s treatment. Turning behind, you see that the tunnel behind you has begun to cave in from the damage, and the collapsed section looks like it could spread at any time.

“They held off on using it on my familiars to time it for us.” She then says, “In that case, I’ll just give them more than they can handle.”

But before she can summon reinforcements, the two of you are assaulted by a screeching sound coming from further up the tunnel that quickly consolidates into a mechanically-amplified feminine voice, which shouts: “Good morning, motherfuckers! You took those landmines like a champ, how about some RPGs?!”

Looking toward the source of the sound, through the dim light you can spot three humanoid figures with shoulder-mounted weapons firing them at you.

“Worthless pests!” Avenger hisses as she fires concentrated magical energy as beams of light that envelop the enemies that revealed themselves, but one of the incoming projectiles was not caught up in her attack and is mere moments from impacting the ceiling above you!

You will

> Cover Avenger with your body, and then press forward as soon as you’re able.
> Stand firm, guard yourself as best you can, and prepare to use your enhanced strength and/or your mace to deal with falling debris.
> Grab Avenger’s hand and dive as far forward as you can (pulling her with you) to put as much distance between you and the point of impact as you can.
> Write-in

>>5974212
>Grab Avenger’s hand and dive as far forward as you can (pulling her with you) to put as much distance between you and the point of impact as you can.

>>5974212
> Grab Avenger’s hand and dive as far forward as you can (pulling her with you) to put as much distance between you and the point of impact as you can.

In an instant, you reflexively grab Avenger’s hand and spring forward, diving as far away from the RPG’s point of impact as you can.

“Whoa!” Your Servant exclaims in surprise as you pull her forward with you, a fair bit farther than you’d expected to since her spell amplified your strength past its normal limits. You hear an explosion behind you, and spot more of the tunnel beginning to collapse when you glance back after landing in a prone position, a relatively safe distance from the tunnel-collapse.

You’re now near a bend in the tunnel, and as your regain your bearings you notice with some surprise that if your intuition is correct, the Assassin’s presence has doubled back and it swiftly closing in on your position. So they want to engage after all. If you’re lucky they’ll be overconfident, considering you and your Servant withstood several attacks without taking too much damage overall.

Rising to your feet you notice that one of the grenade’s fragments appears to have left a shallow cut on your calf, but it shouldn’t pose a problem besides slowing you down a little if you were to start running. Readying your mace, you quietly tell your Servant, “When they turn the corner, we’ll let them have it.”

Avenger nods in response and readies her staff, but before the Assassin comes into your view, fist-sized projectiles begin bouncing around the walls one after the other, landing randomly at positions within 10 yards or so of you. More grenades? If this attack follows the pattern that’s already been tried twice, they’ll explode momentarily.

“They’ll explode, knock them away!” You tersely shout to your Servant, trying to convey your suspicion as quickly as possible. She responds by swiftly creating a gust of wind centered on herself that blows the objects either back toward the sender or behind you, depending on where they landed initially. But here again, your enemy’s tactics aren’t quite as you predicted.

Rather than conventional explosions, half of the grenades create a blinding flash of light and ear-piercing noise as they detonate, and the others appeared to begin to release a cloud that obscured visibility, though you couldn’t immediately tell since the first type of grenade flash-blinded you.

“They’re upon us. Get down Master.” Avenger orders you telepathically, cleverly bypassing the issue of your physical sense of hearing being impaired. Taking her at her word, you immediately sprawl onto the ground and begin to feel the heat of magically-conjured flames directed toward the passage that the Assassin was coming from.

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Blinking your eyes, through an obscuring fog you can see a surging wall of flames cover most of the passageway as your vision begins recovering. The Assassin’s presence has closed in, and for an instant you faintly see a large object crudely carved in the likeness of a woman flung through the flames straight into Avenger before being pulled back by a chain fastened around its ‘head’. Your Servant’s spell interrupted, the flames die down a little as she regains her bearings, and you can make out the form of the Assassin as she leaps over the remaining flames.

Seeing this Servant for the first time, you intuitively recognize her as “Aka no Assassin”, and through the fog you can see a woman with pale skin, roughly the same height as Avenger, though the Assassin would be slightly taller if both of them took off their heeled shoes. Rather than armor, the Assassin wears a spiky, wiry mesh over a robe that exposes most of the front of her torso and reveals raunchy, for lack of a better term, undergarments. A mask covers the Assassin’s eyes, in one hand she holds an ornate staff having a head with winglike spikes and in the other she holds the chain that secures the large object.

You spring to your feet and prepare to engage. Aka no Assassin has plenty of agility, but aside from that you could evenly match her physical strength on a good day. And despite taking a bit of damage from the enemy’s earlier attacks, you judge that as long as you can stop her from consistently applying direct pressure to Avenger in close quarters, that should be enough to turn the battle in your favor.

Your approach will be to:

> Move directly toward Aka no Assassin and attack with your mace
> Move between Aka no Assassin and Avenger, mainly trying to block the enemy from advancing into close quarters
> Move to flank Aka no Assassin and attack when she moves against Avenger
> Something different (write-in)

***

By the way, if you were to pick between an interlude that describes
> What Rushorou, Ryuuta, and their Servants have been up to lately
or
> What Sophia, Rusalka, Diomedes et al have been up to lately
Which would you pick?

Forgot to mention, the stats for Aka no Assassin that Anon has been able to detect were added to the pastebin link.

>>5977247
> Move to flank Aka no Assassin and attack when she moves against Avenger
> What Sophia, Rusalka, Diomedes et al have been up to lately

>>5977247
> Move to flank Aka no Assassin and attack when she moves against Avenger
> What Sophia, Rusalka, Diomedes et al have been up to lately

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>>5977598
>>5977936
Alright! Sophia interlude is almost done, but I have to sleep and work tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow evening it'll be ready and I can start the regular update.

Pic related is what Sophia generally looks like, and her current choices of clothing she hasn't actually had a chance to wear the swimsuit yet, and somewhat sacrifices /fa/shion by opting for the trench-coat for maximum coverage as her 200 IQ countermeasure against sunlight.

>>5978145
Wow Anon, this is how you raise your spawn? Jk, yass bitch slay

Elsewhere in the city, slightly before current events

“Is this enough?” Sophia asked the wooden statue, though no reply from the inanimate likeness of the goddess was forthcoming or expected. Diomedes and Athena had given her leave to meditate in the core of their base, a “sanctum” dedicated to the statue, and in that sanctum Sophia had spent more hours than she’d bothered to count absorbing magical energy of the highest purity, which the statue continuously emanated, into her body.

After reminiscing on her attempts to fight against Servants the night before, the albino vampire had decided that even after inheriting the blade of Harpe from Perseus, she was still too weak. She and Diomedes had been assigned to intercept any reinforcements while Rusalka, Adelheid, that Mathers guy who brought his huge Berserker, and Rusalka’s wights all attacked a Saber-class Servant and his Master. Sophia didn’t know the finer details of how that fight went other than the two Berserkers were eventually able to kill the Saber, at the cost of being significantly worse for wear and Rusalka’s wights being annihilated when they served as meat-shields to soak up the Saber’s strongest attacks, per counsel offered by Athena before the battle.

While all that went down, Diomedes and Sophia had intercepted a group of having another Saber, this one in a professional suit and wielding a pair of katana, a Caster who was more of a musician than a magician, a policewoman whose uniform Sophia eventually recognized to be from a city in Nevada, a scar-faced man who carried an electric guitar, a somehow-functional amplifier strapped on his back, and loudly proclaimed himself to be a “ROCKSTAR” while shredding some impressive riffs with the Caster, and a young blonde woman who carried a violin around and played it in sync with the music of the others.

When Sophia attacked the Saber, his unpredictable swordplay left her unable to injure him and forced her to rely on her innate rapid-regeneration to stay in the fight; when she tried her luck against the Caster, he and the ROCKSTAR were able to frustrate her attacks by a combination of a musical spell that scrambled her concentration and sense of balance, and retaliatory shockwaves that the ROCKSTAR was mysteriously able to create when he played his guitar. Over the course of their encounter, Diomedes dealt serious damage to both of those Servants even when he stayed in his chariot on account of a wound to his foot, but the arrival of another Servant, a tall, helmeted woman wielding a bow from horseback that Sophia could tell had some kind of history with the Achaean hero, kept him rather occupied.

She had a much easier time keeping up with the Saber and Caster after Diomedes nearly crushed them with his chariot, but it didn’t sit right with her that the tide turned because a stronger ally did the heavy-lifting. She wanted to strike down Servants by her own power, and yet her most potent weapon, the blade of Harpe that she could summon as a claw in her hand, is not truly of her own power. And before she could definitively settle things, Diomedes was called back by Rusalka, and Sophia unhappily decided to join him in retreat rather than face down such a large number of opponents entirely alone.

Back to the present, the vampire focused some of the vast energies that she’d slowly absorbed from the statue of the goddess into her hand, whispering, “Come to me, Harpe.”

The blade of Harpe manifested in one of her claws, but this time she tried to visualize the entire weapon that she remembered Perseus wielded, focus as much of magical energy into her hand as possible, and manifest it more completely. Gripping the sides of the blade, the vampire gritted her teeth in discomfort as she pulled on it, but as she pulled her magical energy began congealing into the haft of the scythe-spear that Perseus wielded. Inch by painstaking inch, she channeled divine power into bringing the immortal-slaying scythe into its completed form. At last, the end of the spear is extracted from her hand like a particularly deep-rooted tooth, prompting the vampire to exhale a sign of relief.

“Is this what they call a Noble Phantasm?” Sophia asked herself as she examined the manifested weapon. However, her concentration lapsed from her surprise at the new development, and the weapon began to fizzle into raw magical energy and disperse into the air. She cursed, “Damn it. But there’s some progress...”

“Hello? Sophia-san?” A girl’s voice gently calls into the chamber.

“You can call me Sophia, Miko; and you can come in if you’d like.” The vampire replied politely, suppressing her irritation at failing to maintain her manifestation of Harpe.

Stepping under the entrance of the sanctum, Miko responded, “I was just wondering if something happened to you, you’ve been in there all morning and afternoon.”

Hearing faint, sporadic explosions in the distance after she began to pay more attention to her surroundings, Sophia replied, “It seems I lost track of time, hopefully no harm done. How are you, by the way? I imagine things are more comfortable for you now that the wights aren’t around anymore.”

Smiling a bit mischievously, Miko answered, “You didn’t hear it from me, but someone might have wanted to thank that Saber for killing all of them off last night.”

“I see.” Sophia replied, glad to see that the girl’s situation was improving, if only marginally. That reminded her, she’d want to ditch Rusalka before too long and try to find out what happened to Kiara, considering Sun Wukong’s warning about the other girl. Though there was something else she might be able to do here. “Say Miko, could you watch as I try to do something and tell me what you see?”

“Uh, sure I guess. Go ahead.” The girl agreed, not having anything better to do at the moment.

Sophia tries to manifest Harpe again. To her relief, focusing on reconstituting the weapon that had dissolved about a minute prior actually worked, saving her the trouble of wrenching it out of her hand piece by piece again. The girl’s eyes widen as magical energy appearing as shimmering points of light slowly coalesces from around the albino vampire and creates the form of the hooked spear that Perseus once held. “Did you notice anything in particular?” Sophia asks, “I’m trying to figure out how this works if I can.”

Squinting her eyes and studying the weapon for a few moments, Miko eventually asks in reply, “Are you able to make it disappear too? I thought I saw something even before you made it appear.”

“Yeah, keeping it here takes a bit of concentration actually.” The vampire replies as she lets the weapon fizzle away again.

Looking carefully, the girl pieced together, “There’s a faint... shadow? In the same shape as that weapon, it’s kind of hovering by your hand. Maybe that’s what you’re recreating when you pump magical energy into it or whatever you do? That’s also not the only shadowy thing you have, I can faintly see something on your back too.”

“…” Initially at a loss for words, Sophia then simply says, “in that case…” before focusing as much magical energy into her back as she can.

After seeing what the vampire eventually manifested, the girl begins to say, “That looks like…”

“Something unexpected.” Sophia interrupts and lets the construct fizzle away again, “I’m going to leave for a bit, I know someone who would want to know about this.”

“Will Rusalka let you?” Miko asks.

“Good question.” A familiar man’s voice from outside the sanctum answers, startling both Miko and Sophia.

“Diomedes.” The vampire says, immediately on high-alert, unsure of how much he’d overheard, “Are you going to try to stop me?”

“Fortunately for you, I haven’t been given an order to do so.” The Achaean hero answered as he entered the sanctum, “Though if you’re gone for too long, my Master may send someone after you since she still hasn’t figured out what kind of Mystic Eyes you’ll manifest, and you’ve become a point of interest to her.”

“Lucky me.” Sophia grumbles as she walks up to him to leave before adding derisively, “Would you be her errand-boy next time around?”

Unmoved by her thinly-veiled insult, Diomedes answered, “I follow Rusalka’s orders so long as our contract remains intact. If something were to happen to that contract, I’d be flexible in considering my options going forward.”

Reading a bit of subtext into his words, Sophia curtly replied, “Noted” before rushing past him, out of Rusalka’s base, and into the nearest subway station.

“Now then. Where can find you?” She asked herself, before deciding to head toward the sound of battle to her north-east.

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In the heat of the moment, you opt to try to position yourself so that you can swiftly retaliate if the Assassin lunges toward your Servant, who is again conjuring flames and spewing them toward the enemy.

Taking advantage of the obscured visibility caused by the smoke-grenades that went off moments earlier, you can vaguely make out the Assassin putting her agility to use, darting between the walls of the tunnel faster than Avenger can redirect her flames, and it’s not long before you lost track of your opponent’s rapidly-changing position. You tighten your grip on your mace in irritation as your attempt to outmaneuver a faster opponent fell short of its intended goal.

“Master. I’ll need to go all-out.” You hear Aka no Assassin speak for the first time, and sense a rise in her magical energy just before a thin red mist bursts out of the fog. Your senses are dulled for a moment when the mist drizzles onto your skin, revealing a new Skill of your opponent, who takes advantage of the momentary opening to dart past you, your mace-strike only denting some of the barbed wiring overlaying her robe as you swing at her.

“Begone, hussy.” Avenger deadpans as she fires several piercingly-bright beams of light at charging the Assassin.

Aka no Assassin clicks her tongue in frustration as she swerves back into the fog in the direction of the section that had caved in behind you to dodge your Servant’s attacks, and you hurry back as you chase after her.

“Would have preferred a younger mark, but your blood will suffice.” You hear the Assassin taunt from within the fog, her voice shifting to a more formal tenor, “Everything is an illusion, maidens shall enter here.”

Sensing the Assassin’s magical energy surge again, Avenger swiftly summons a powerful gust of wind centered on herself to clear away the fog and, by extension, your enemy’s concealment. Next conjuring a conflagration large enough to fill the entirety of the tunnel that your enemy had maneuvered into, you hear Aka no Assassin shriek in pain before screaming the words “PHANTOM MAIDEN!”

The object in the shape of a woman, revealed to be Aka no Assassin’s Noble Phantasm “Phantom Maiden”, suddenly emerged from the flames, opening a pair of doors in its front to reveal that it was hollow, and filled with sharp iron spikes. And its spiked maw clearly aimed to envelop your Servant in a lethal embrace.

Instantly changing course, you use every ounce of strength you can muster to rush toward your Servant, swinging your mace down with both hands onto the Phantom Maiden, knocking it off its intended flight-path. Avenger was spared the gruesome death of being turned into a pin-cushion, but the Phantom Maiden still caught one of her feet in its shutting doors as she tried to fly back.

Getting pulled by her ensnared foot into the receding flames by the Phantom Maiden, your Servant’s eyes widened in shock as clawed fingers emerged from the flames and embedded themselves in the center of her throat. As the flames die down further, you can easily see that the formerly comely and smooth-skinned Assassin is now covered in unsightly and blackened burns.

“Not so easy to cast spells with a hole in your windpipe, is it?” Aka no Assassin spat as she retracted the clawed fingers of her left hand from Avenger’s throat before digging into Avenger’s flesh just above her collarbones, making her wordlessly gag in pain, “I’ll relish repaying the pain you gave me tenfold.”

“You won’t.” You firmly interject. Your sudden assault catches your enemy off-guard, as she hadn’t paid you much heed this entire time. Trying to dive away from your mace-strike, she releases your Servant. Managing to avoid having her skull crushed, her barbed-weave overcoat and robe are cloven through like a hot knife through butter by your counterattack, nearly severing her left arm as you land a crushing downward strike on her shoulder.

“You swine! I’ll decorate the walls of this godforsaken pit with your entrails!” Aka no Assassin yells as she staggers backward, clutching at her mangled arm.

“Worse than you have tried.” You respond as you ready yourself to press the attack, knowing with full confidence that this Assassin’s power paled in comparison to the likes of Sun Wukong and Diomedes, even more so after all the damage Avenger dealt to her. Glancing down to your Servant, who’d fallen to her knees after her assailant released her, you see her clutching at her punctured throat. Anger begins to burn hotter in your chest, and that peculiar sensation in your back flares up again.

“Such arrogance. I have half a mind to bring you back alive just to reduce you to a quivering husk.” The enemy Servant spitefully remarked as she straightened her posture.

Before you can charge forward, a small blade pierces your back as a familiar-sounding feminine voice remarks, “I couldn’t agree mo-!”

Without a word, you glanced behind when you felt the blade and threw your left elbow back into the face of your assailant as hard as you could. You didn’t see much before you caved in the person’s face and knocked them back to the tunnel’s wall, knife still in hand.

Aka no Assassin tries to use the opening her ally made to attack, but you react in time to sidestep and bat away the Phantom Maiden with your mace after she flung it at you. You lock eyes with your enemy in a glare that causes her to recoil and step back as she dematerializes the Phantom Maiden and braces her staff in both hands.

Your body feels a bit heavier as Avenger’s fortification spell wears off due to her incapacitation, but you activate your own version of the spell to compensate, as well as your ability to visualize magical energy to get a view of the enemy’s points of strength and weakness. Predictably, the head and heart have the highest magical energy concentrations, but you can see a few smaller pressure-points scattered over the Assassin’s body as well. In addition, it seems that she’s using the magical energy to slowly heal herself, so you must act.

You will:
> Quickly and decisively strike the enemy down
> Taunt the Assassin, try to make her lose control and make a mistake that you can exploit
> Telepathically ask your Servant of her status and try to formulate a plan
> Something different (write-in)

>>5980274
>Telepathically ask your Servant of her status and try to formulate a plan

>>5980274
> Telepathically ask your Servant of her status and try to formulate a plan
I wanna make a taunt but I have zero idea of what would work. Any guess on who is this, anons?

>>5981791
>I wanna make a taunt but I have zero idea of what would work.
You wouldn't have needed to give a write-in, I already had something in mind.
Though if you did write a taunt in I could have done something with it.

>>5981840
I know, I just wanna flex my diss skills

Rather than rushing straight in against the enemy, you decide to telepathically check on your Servant, “Avenger, what’s your status? They’ve paused their attack for now.”

“I’m preparing a potion… to heal the wound in my throat.… Stall or hold them back as long as you can... I'll tell you when I'm ready.” She responds, though the pauses and inflections of the voice that she projects into your mind clearly evidence immense pain.

Seeing that Aka no Assassin hasn’t made a move since you knocked back her last attack, you respond, “I’ll stand by unless the Assassin makes a move, and try to stall them until you’re ready.”

“Understood… thank you, Master. Don’t strike before you need to... you were stabbed a minute ago.” She responds tenderly. Thinking on it for a moment, she does have a point; you’d initially planned on trying to deal Aka no Assassin a devastating amount of damage before she could recover or counterattack, but perhaps rushing in could have led you to overextending from underestimating the severity of your wound.

If only you knew some kind of healing magic yourself, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem. Perhaps focusing your fortification spell on the stab-wound could lead the punctured blood-vessels to seal up and stop the bleeding? You’re not sure, but you decide to give it a try as long as the fight’s intermission continues.

“Aahh? AAAHHHH?!?!” You hear horrified wails suddenly. Shifting your stance to keep Aka no Assassin in your view, you also can see the person who stabbed you: with a slender build, wearing white clothes, having dark hair, and holding a small mirror, you hear your assailant’s voice fluctuating between the feminine pitch that you’re somewhat familiar with and a deeper, more androgynous tenor, “My face! My beautiful face! How dare you!?”

This could buy some time for your Servant to prepare her healing potion, so you decide to say, “I’ve been meaning to ask, who are you anyway? I think you’re the one who was controlling that corpse earlier today. Are you this Assassin’s Master?”

“Come back to me, come back to meeeeeeee…” The person whimpered to no one in particular in the same fluctuating pitch while staring into the mirror, ignoring your questions.

“That one, my Master?” Aka no Assassin scoffed at you, “Hardly. I’m the one holding the leash. Sometimes literally, to play along with their proclivities.”

Catching something amiss in the Assassin’s wording, you ask, “They? Why did you use a plural pronoun when you’re only referring to one person?”

“Oh, that?” The Assassin replies, “I’ll let them collect themselves since they quite enjoy telling everyone about it.”

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You’re starting to suspect that the enemy’s sudden shift to compliant conversationalism means that they think buying time plays to their advantage more than it does yours. Hmm, could it? They both seem to be healing their wounds, and additional reinforcements arriving isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, but the same goes for you the instant Avenger heals the wound in her throat.

“Ahh, I couldn’t ask for a better domme than you, Mistress C!” The dark-haired person that took your elbow to the face gratefully gushed in the feminine voice as ‘they’ clapped the folding mirror shut, stowed it in ‘their’ pocket, and faced you with a mostly-healed visage, “Listen well, you: despite your best efforts to maim me, the Lord Emperor’s gift of turning me into a fifth-rank vampire has made my beauty eternal! Not only that, but with my gift I can rightfully transcend the bounds of gender and be my true self!”

“…” For a moment, you’re at a loss for words. Does this have something to do with how ‘their’ voice would shift pitches when ‘they’ were agitated? ‘Their’ face appears to mainly sport feminine features now that you can take a longer look at it in the dimly-lit tunnel, but you can’t shake the feeling of something being ‘off’ about this whole matter, prompting you to eventually ask, “What does that even mean?”

Lying in ‘their’ side in a pose that reminded you of Hecate’s when she was lounging in bed in front of you, the fifth-rank vampire held the knife that was used to stab you in front of ‘their’ mouth as ‘they’ replied, “Would you like to find out? I could be a woman OR a man for you.” Licking the blade of the knife, ‘their’ expression suddenly shifts into hysterical excitement as ‘they’ rapidly add, “No seriously please find out. I don’t know what you’re made of but your blood’s freakin’ delicious so I’m betting the rest of you is too. Don’t worry I’ll only take little nibbles I promise I’m not dumb enough to kill the golden goose.”

“Delta. Have you forgotten our orders?” Aka no Assassin asked her subordinate with a cold glare, giving away ‘their’ name at the same time. Or at least a designation of sorts, you’re not sure.

Ignoring the formalities, Delta replied, “I’m sure the Lord Emperor would be fine with it if we just confirmed the Servant was dead and brought the Master back.” Directing ‘their’ next comment to you, Delta continues, “We can make it a good deal for you too! Endless leisure-time after retiring from the war, free reign to enjoy the palace’s amenities, we could even ‘get to know each other better’ in the baths as long as we want!”

“I’m ready to conclude this farcical discussion when you are Master.” Avenger tells you telepathically.

Good to know. You’ll:

> Attack the enemy now
> Play along a little longer and try to get more information out of them
> Something different (Write-in)

>>5984616
> Attack the enemy now
KILL

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>>5984616
That person...
Unbelievable still a creep in this world.

>>5984654
Sounds like it's go-time

I'll try to get the update out in the next day or two

The mace-wielding man eyes Delta with weary disgust before answering, “An interesting offer, that I have to decline.”

At the same time, the winged Avenger-class Servant splashed the contents of a potion-vial onto the wound in her throat. The fifth-rank vampire was irked that the Avenger was able to conjure it unnoticed. Unslinging an M4 carbine from ‘their’ shoulder, Delta prepared to fire the 40mm grenade that was tuned up by the eccentric Kuro no Caster to damage Servants from the under-barrel attachment, grumbling, “Well, screw you.”

Before Delta was able to take aim, however, three vicious lions materialized around the Avenger and albino man, who swung his mace to again try to deflect the Phantom Maiden that Aka no Assassin manifested and flung at his Servant. The force of the impact knocked him back, but two of the lions rushed forward to keep the Assassin busy while the third lunged at Delta.

“Aaah!” The dark-haired vampire yelped, choking from firing the grenade at a target at point-blank range and instead just holding the trigger down. ‘They’ hit the beast with a few bullets before it bore down on the vampire, knocking the rifle away with a swipe of its claw and pinning its enemy to the ground with its weight and maintaining its advantage with instinctual ferocity, raking flesh with its claws and puncturing bone with its fangs.

“wHaT tHe HeLl Is ThIs?!?!” Delta fumed as ‘they’ tried ineffectually to retaliate against the summoned creature by extending ‘their’ claws and stabbing at the beast’s torso, “HoW aM i LoSiNg To A fReAkInG aNiMaL!”

Meanwhile, Aka no Assassin had to contend with the coordinated assault of two lion-familiars, the mace-wielding Master, and sporadic offensive spells from the Avenger, though the latter’s firing rate was noticeably lower now as she still clutched at her throat in pain. Reactivating her “Bath of Fresh Blood” Skill to dull the precision her opponents’ attacks and darting between the walls of the tunnel, the magical energy she’d received from her Master allowed her to recover enough to stay a hair’s breadth ahead of her enemy’s assault, but all present knew the Assassin couldn’t keep a defensive fight like that up for long.

The limits of ‘their’ regeneration being pushed by the mauling lion and witnessing the Assassin being pushed to her own limit by her opponents, Delta began to think “Are we going to lose? After going to all the trouble of luring them underground, into close-quarters, setting up traps that they sprung, are these guys just going to power through anyway?! What am I doing? It won’t end like this!”

After about a minute of focusing on evasion with the occasional ineffective attempt at counterattack, Aka no Assassin’s defense was stifled when the albino Master crushed through her wire-mesh and one of her femurs with his mace. A retaliatory swing of her staff fended him and a charging lion back, splashing a little of the lion’s blood onto her skin, but her posture remained hobbled from one of her legs being broken.

Her Phantom Maiden materializing and her magical energy surging again, Aka no Assassin hissed in fierce desperation, “I’ll bathe in your blood! Phantom Maiden!”

“Pah, we’ve already seen that.” the Avenger-class Servant scoffed, though when the Phantom Maiden sank into the ground both the Avenger and her Master paused in shock at the unexpected difference in the Noble Phantasm’s method of attack.

The Avenger’s Master responded by:

> Rushing forward to strike down the Assassin
> Disengaging to carefully analyze and react to the Assassin’s attack
> Something different (write-in)

As you can see, I tried experimenting with a different narrator/perspective for this update

>>5989808
> Disengaging to carefully analyze and react to the Assassin’s attack
See the mana in the ground or something?

>>5989808
>Disengaging to carefully analyze and react to the Assassin’s attack

>>5989829
>See the mana in the ground or something?
Good observation
>>5989909

Will get to writing

A Noble Phantasm with its True Name invoked is a serious threat even if the enemy is on their last legs. You halt your advance and decide to direct your effort into discerning the method of your enemy’s attack. But how can you do that? It sank into the ground.

Then it occurs to you: you’d let your Mana-Sight ability lapse in the course of the fight, but you ought to be able to detect the traces of magical energy of the Noble Phantasm after it sank into ground by reactivating Mana-Sight.

As you do so, you find that after the Phantom Maiden sank, its constituent magical energy left a wake that you could follow with your eyes. Turning as you track its path, you can tell that it’s size has somehow expanded and that it’s about to emerge behind Avenger.

Catching her hand, you pull your Servant down the tunnel, gaining a little distance from both Aka no Assassin and her Phantom Maiden, which swiftly rose from the ground with its spiked doors opened wipe to snap up Avenger.

“Uwah!?” She yelps, startled at first by your sudden pull, and then by the fact that you again moved to protect her from the enemy’s Noble Phantasm when she glanced back to see it. However, you’re not out of the woods yet, since now the bulky torture-device is sliding along the ground after you both with its doors opened wide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xez4Gf1r60U

All of a sudden, something resonates in you, a feeling all along your spine. Your grip on your mace tightens as you stop, pushing Avenger past you before you turn around and face the enemy’s Noble Phantasm head on. You’ve had enough of this. Enough retreating, evading, or cowering in the face of the enemy. The Phantom Maiden is a weapon of cruelty, and it’s time you break its attack with a weapon of war!

“Counting on your support!” You order your Servant tersely, as time is short before the Phantom Maiden is upon you, and she immediately reestablishes her Fortification spell onto you without any bluster or fanfare.

With your Mana Sight you generally understand the mechanism of the enemy’s Noble Phantasm: a cavity inside the roughly woman-shaped iron body is filled with spikes, and two doors in the front are opened so the device can lunge forward to snap up a target and turn it into a pin-cushion. Trying to bat the doors aside to deflect it may simply let whichever door you didn’t hit slide around and stab into you. However, you spot a vulnerability in its structure: the ‘head’.

Taking a firm stance, you step forward into your swing and bring your mace in a downward strike to crash against the Phantom Maiden’s ‘head’. Meeting its momentum with a forward pressure of your own, it’s simply a clash of power against power.

Well, not entirely. Your strike blunts the Phantom Maiden’s momentum, but it begins surging forward again. No matter, you’ll simply hammer it back every time it tries to advance. Its doors snap open and shut trying to ensnare you, but your reach is long enough to stay out of its maw as you repeatedly bash the enemy’s Noble Phantasm with your mace. With each clash, you understand the Phantom Maiden’s true nature a little better. You’d already deduced that it was a weapon of cruelty, and you further come to realize that it’s designed specifically to be used against women. As a man, you’re suited for fighting against it on a conceptual level.

Even so, Aka no Assassin isn’t making it easy for you as your arms grow weary from the stalemate. But the Phantom Maiden suddenly dematerializes, and through the dim light you can see the vampire called ‘Delta’ running away through the tunnel as one of the lions that Avenger summoned begins attacking the other two, and the Assassin herself reverts to spirit-form in an attempt to flee. You’re able to make out a shifting shape of her with your Mana Sight though.

“Did that vampire somehow make one of my familiars defect? The insolence.” Avenger says in a venomous tone in her analysis, before blasting the traitor-familiar with a beam of raw magical energy, killing it immediately. The other two lions are panting or licking their wounds, and your enemy continues to flee down the tunnel.

“The Assassin shifted into spirit-form, would we be able to damage her if we pursue?” You ask your Servant, unsure of how you’d continue fighting an immaterial enemy that’s trying to escape from you.

“Entering spirit-form generally makes attacking a Servant trickier than usual, but I know of ways to do it.” She answers. Looking at her two remaining lions, she asks you, “Would you like me to heal them and prepare a countermeasure against them turning traitor? It had something to do with the vampire injecting its blood into them, so I could cast a spell that makes their veins eject foreign substances like vampire-blood. Alternatively we could save time and pursue immediately.”

You’ll go with:
> Heal the lions and prepare them to continue fighting as needed
> Time is short, you’ll pursue right away
> She can dismiss the lions, but you’d like her to cast such a spell onto you so that in the off-chance you get bitten it won’t be too much of a problem
> Something else (write-in)

Took a while to update, hoping IRL obligations ease up for me

>>5995285
> She can dismiss the lions, but you’d like her to cast such a spell onto you so that in the off-chance you get bitten it won’t be too much of a problem

>>5995285
>She can dismiss the lions, but you’d like her to cast such a spell onto you so that in the off-chance you get bitten it won’t be too much of a problem

“You can dismiss the lions, but before we pursue I’d like you to cast a spell like that on me, so in the off-chance I get bitten it won’t be a problem.” You request, deciding to balance saving time with protection. With a nod, Avenger hands you a potion-vial that you drink; you don’t feel any effects immediately. She then draws a magic circle on the ground that begins conjuring a thick mist before sending it down the tunnels after your fleeing enemy with a gust of wind.

As the mist continues to flow from the circle, your Servant remarks, “Just a little more to saturate the space… aaaaaaaaand there.”

A visible electrical current suddenly jolts out through the mist, illuminating the tunnel briefly before passing up the path you saw the vampire run.

“Ready to finish this?” You ask, assuming that lightning was her method of attacking Aka no Assassin even after she reverted into spirit-form.

“I’d say so.” She answers, before adding with a faint blush, “Also, I, must commend you for holding your ground against that Servant’s Noble Phantasm. It... may have ended badly for me if you hadn’t stepped up.”

“We’re partners, so it’s to be expected.” You answer simply as you begin to follow after the enemy. The stab-wound in your back and the various other hits you took while fighting Aka no Assassin still ache, but they all seem to have closed up after you drank the potion.

Jogging at your side, Avenger retorts, “You CAN give yourself a little credit when it’s warranted, Master. I doubt there are many who can say they fought back a Servant’s trump card.”

“True; I guess I’m a little better than we thought I was when we met.” You reply jokingly, recalling Avenger’s initially hostile and condescending temperament that’s gradually mellowed out as you’ve fought together the past few days. “Let’s talk more about it after we’re done here.”

“I’d like that.” She responds with a smile, “We’ll catch up with them in a moment.”

As you continue around a curve in the tunnel, you can spot Delta supporting Aka no Assassin on ‘their’ shoulder and carrying her through a door in the tunnel-wall that resembles the one that led to the maintenance room where you first encountered the woman who became the vampire you know as Sophia. Spotting your pursuit, Delta blanches, lets Aka no Assassin fall through the door, and draws a pistol while staying mostly-concealed behind the corner in the tunnel-wall leading to the maintenance room. Aiming the pistol at you, ‘they’ bark, “Stay back or you’ll regret it!”

“Your death is near you, wretch.” Avenger deadpans as she conjures half a dozen magic circles at her side, ready to fire off magical attacks, “If you fall on your face and plead forgiveness, we’ll think about sparing you.”

“Eep!” Delta squeaks, dropping the pistol and falling behind the corner of the corridor to the maintenance room.

“I suppose I wouldn’t call it ‘defiant’ to the last.” Your Servant yawns as she slowly advances, “Time to end this.”

You’re hoping things are about to wrap up as you begin following her, but you decide to focus your Mana Sight again to check if there’s anything out of place. The mist the Avenger conjured earlier predictably registers in your mind as being tinged with a spell, and there are a few residual traces of Aka no Assassin’s Magical Energy leading into the maintenance room. Is there anything else? You doubt the vampire would have had time to set up a spell if ‘they’ even knew any magecraft to begin with, but there could be something. That’s when you see them, several tiny concentrated points of Magical Energy lining the walls of the tunnel not far from the maintenance room’s door. Wait a second….

Wrapping Avenger in your arm, you blurt out in shock, “Get down!” as you fall on her. An instant later you’re ready to kick yourself for accidentally alerting your enemy that you spotted their contrivance, as the points of Magical Energy pulse before exploding, briefly deafening you from a shockwave and sending a cloud of shrapnel flying through the air at a speed beyond what your eyes can follow. What’s more, the tunnel begins caving in here as well.

As the dust settles, you hear a high-pitched sneering voice say, “Thanks for not sending any meat-shields ahead of you!” The dark-haired vampire reveals a grenade from ‘their’ clothes and hurls it past you, continuing, “Did you think we only mined one spot?!”

Your Servant creates a gale-force wind to knock the grenade further away from you before it explodes. Glancing at Avenger and your own body briefly, you can see that both of you have been cut in a few places by the fragmentation, though at least in your case it isn’t devastating for now. Spotting the enemy reach into ‘their’ clothes again, you grab a piece of rubble in desperation and throw it at the vampire’s head. Cleanly colliding with ‘their’ forehead, ‘they’ stagger backward before Avenger fires a concentrated beam of Magical Energy through the center of ‘their’ chest.

Coughing blood all over ‘their’ white clothes, Delta mouths some manner of spiteful remark or curse before slumping face-first onto the ground and lying there motionless. Looking into the maintenance-room, you can see that Aka no Assassin still hasn’t recovered enough to stand, though she shows a glare of hatred as your eyes meet hers. Standing up yourself isn’t easy, as you need to support yourself with your mace before you can get up. Your Servant manages to get herself up by flapping her wings with a surprising rapidity, though she supports herself on her staff once she’s on her feet.

With a grimace, she swiftly conjures magic circles to begin resuming attack, telling you, “Another Servant is approaching swiftly, and something else not too far behind. I’m wiping this one out now.”

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You nod in assent and stand clear, but some falling rubble obscures her firing-line, making her hesitate momentarily. You then hear footsteps along the tunnel, and a man about your height with a drawn sword is sprinting toward you with an empty hand outstretched. The first peculiarity you notice is that while he’s moving at clearly superhuman speed, he’s not registering in your mind as a Servant. The next is that a collection of Magical Energy is concentrating in his hand.

Expecting an attack of some sort, you raise your mace into a guard, and the man responds by unleashing the Magical Energy in a highly-pressurized jet of what you believe is water, or at least a fluid with generally similar properties, as a warning shot past Avenger’s face. She turns her magic circles toward him in response.

“Well. Things have certainly gotten out of hand here.” The newcomer commented jovially, before turning to his side and saying, “Come on out Archer, no need to be shy.”

“You sure you’ve had your fill of grandstanding, Messerschmidt? I can wait.” A Servant coolly replies as he materializes, a tall man with the kind of stubbly facial hair that would be expected a week or two after his last shave, wearing a poncho and a revolver pistol at his hip and holding a lit cigar in his hand. The intuition of the Master-Servant contract informs you that he’s designated ‘Archer of Black’.

“I suppose that’s up to those two.” The man called ‘Messerschmidt’ responds with a flourish of his hand toward you, “What do you say, care to take a breather as we exchange pleasantries, or would you like to skip to the part where we kill each other? Perhaps we could take a walk to an area where we corporeal beings are less likely to be buried in rubble?”

You’re not sure if he’s trying to buy time for some kind of stratagem or if he’s simply indulging a personal quirk. You observe that Archer of Black is standing at a range that would be most suitable for firing a pistol, and the blade of Messerschmidt’s sword is infused with Ether that you suspect is similar to the “True Ether”. They’re both fresh to the battle, and while you aren’t running low on Magical Energy you can’t say that you’re in top shape either. Leaving the area would jeopardize your chance to finish off Aka no Assassin though, which you’d really like to do, but trying that with Archer of Black right in front you seems to be a risky tactic. You also get the impression that something else is coming up behind them, but it isn’t the feeling you get when you detect a Servant.

You’ll

> Tell him that you’ll skip to the part where you kill each other
> Play along with his request and move off, catching your breath would be a welcome respite and he’ll probably give away some information about who he is and his motivations
> Agree to talk, but don’t budge from where you’re standing; you don’t want to let Aka no Assassin out of your sight and can wait for an opportunity to strike later
> Ask him to give you a minute to think about it, them telepathically form a plan with Avenger to surprise-attack the newcomers
> Something different (write-in)

>>6001856
>> Agree to talk, but don’t budge from where you’re standing; you don’t want to let Aka no Assassin out of your sight and can wait for an opportunity to strike later
Come on Sophie, do your thing. Shouldn't she be called Jen in Anon's mind?

>>6001862
Truvietianne told you about Jen going by Sophia when you recovered her after defeating Sun Wukong.
But keep me on my continuity toes :) !

>>6001856
>Agree to talk, but don’t budge from where you’re standing; you don’t want to let Aka no Assassin out of your sight and can wait for an opportunity to strike later

“I suppose I’ll thank you for your consideration and take a break.” You answer him, lowering your mace so that its haft rests on your knee, “But I’ve had to run around a fair bit today, so I’ll stay here for now.”

“Are you sure? You’re liable to have debris rain down on you if you stick around.” Messerschmidt replies in a tone hinting at a veiled threat as he too lowers his black-bladed sword to a more relaxed position.

Batting away a falling rock and brushing some dust off your shoulder with your free hand, you answer, “A little rain never killed anyone, it’ll be fine.”

Amused at your response, he chuckles, “Suit yourself then. Anyhow, I imagine you’re curious about what led us to this fateful meeting.”

“I’d say there are a few layers to a question like that.” You reply, “The most relevant link in the chain of causality is probably when a certain artillery bombardment began poking at an area about five miles south of here.”

“You lot didn’t make yourselves an easy mark, so I had to put my thinking-cap on to come up with a way to force you onto the field.” Messerschmidt explains in a calm, almost friendly tone, “But without further ado, allow me to introduce myself: Eugene Messerschmidt, Field Marshal of the newly-formed Dead Apostle Army.”

“I see. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” You reply in a deadpan tone that contrasts his easygoing demeanor. “Since it seems you’re high up the chain of command, perhaps you could enlighten me on the goal of your organization. I believe I engaged your forces before I even entered the Holy Grail War here.” In a way, this undead army is your ‘oldest enemy’, considering you fought them the first time you met Rushorou and Ryuuta (and that other boy whom you haven’t seen since) though you wouldn’t call it your most formidable foe. Not to mention the circumstances that led to Sophia being… born? Created? You’re not sure of the most suitable terminology.

“You and a healthy majority of the other Masters.” Eugene replies nonchalantly as he brushes back his brown hair with his hand, “But right, our goal. We decided to take advantage of the situation that Triscus Adajio presented to us, once we got the gist of what was going on. Well, actually we started feeding on or converting the humans before that, though Rusalka went off to do her own thing. But Jester and I go back a while, so we arranged a partnership where he was in overall command while I was the army’s hands-on Field Marshal. Quite an enjoyable experience it’s been if I do say.”

“But what was the point of forming your army in the first place before you even knew about the Holy Grail War?” You inquire, “Thirst for blood from being a Dead Apostle?”

“Hmm, I neglected to mention anything about a wish from the Holy Grail didn’t I? Appetite isn’t my main motivation; I suppose I’m taking my time to enjoy the war, it’s not every day you can command an army in unrestricted warfare. Maybe when it’s over I’ll use the Holy Grail’s wish to start another war here. No need to worry about preserving Mystery when no loose ends leave this world. It seems like the Counter Force isn’t as active here either, which could present some interesting possibilities.” The Field Marshal says. He then shifts the topic, “Now I’ve more or less said my piece, but I’m curious what your deal is. I’d guess self-preservation isn’t your top priority, considering you were fighting a Servant directly a couple minutes ago. And what are you anyway?”

“Well, now that you’ve been so open with me I feel a little bad that I can’t properly reciprocate.” You reply, though you’re not as apologetic as your choice of words implies. It doesn’t sit right with you that this Dead Apostle came to the conclusion of repeating a Holy Grail War for the fun of it, capturing countless humans as cannon-fodder for a war with no purpose besides his personal entertainment. While Eugene was talking, you’ve been trying to gauge his preparedness as well as that of Archer of Black. Despite his casual tone and tendency to run his mouth, Messerschmidt never actually dropped his guard, keeping a firm stance as he rested the black blade of his sword on his knee. When you’d glance at Archer of Black, he seemed much more relaxed by comparison, silently leaning against the tunnel’s wall and holding his cigar in one hand, but the look from his piercing eyes led you to believe that between him and Messerschmidt, the Archer would be the one to strike first if you made a sudden move. When you shifted your glance toward the enemies you encountered earlier, you see that Delta hasn’t moved since Avenger perforated ‘their’ chest with one of her spells, and Aka no Assassin still hasn’t gotten up either.

“Do you just have poor manners, or is something actually preventing you from telling me?” Eugene asked with disappointment apparent in his voice.

“You may not believe me, but the truth is my memory doesn’t clearly extend any earlier than when I woke up in the city that we all started in.” You answer, “What my name is and what I am aren’t known even to me, solving those problems is an important goal. It seems I’m somewhat strong, so I’ll use the Holy Grail to figure things out if they don’t clear up before then.”

Interjecting into your conversation, Archer of Black says, “Messerschmidt. Something’s coming up behind us.”

Unfortunately neither of them seemed lose focus from the revelation, with Eugene replying, “Really? I can’t discern the presence of another Servant, though when there are enough of you nearby detecting new arrivals can be tricky.”

“It’s not a Servant.” Archer of Black answers as he straightens up and steps away from the wall, dropping his cigar and stamping it out, “I would have noticed sooner if it were.”

“Then why act like it’s a problem?” Eugene asks, “I doubt whatever it is will present a threat... although I suppose it could be the Master of another Assassin.”

Feeling the approaching presence much more strongly now, you look past the Field Marshal and the Archer to spot a familiar figure with a pistol drawn as she runs around a curve in the tunnel.

“Took me a hot minute to find you, but looks like you’re expecting me, Anon!” Sophia shouts down the tunnel.

“Anon?” Messerschmidt repeats quizzically.

“A placeholder nickname.” You tersely clarify, then address Sophia, “It’s be a while, hasn’t it? Anne told me you go by Sophia now.”

“That’s right! How is Anne, by the way?” Sophia says as she stops a few yards before she reaches Archer of Black, who was standing guard near Messerschmidt.

“Better, though she’s hunkering down with Koko and Suzaku thanks to a sporadic artillery bombardment courtesy of these guys, if I’m not mistaken.” You explain.

“Is he correct?” Sophia asks the Field Marshal coldly and with palpable hostility.

“I must say, you’re quite beautiful when you’re angry Sophia.” Eugene replies, provoking a flash of surprise on woman’s face before she replaces it with a glare. Messerschmidt continues, “And Mr. Anon, as you call him, is more or less correct. I gave the order to flush these two out of the magically-fortified territory where they were holed up. But allow me to introduce myself: Field Marshal of the Dead Apostle Army, Eugene Messerschmidt.”

“Ah, you’re pals with Jester Karture.” Sophia replies with venom in her tone, “And I’d guess the former boss of a certain ghoul called Anton Kagan.”

“You’ve heard of me and Jester? That’s interesting.” Messerschmidt says, though when his face betrays a sudden realization he adds, “And how did you hear the name Anton Kagan?”

“I’m the one who killed his worthless ass!” Sophia answers with rising anger, but suppresses it again when she starts taking off her coat and tells you, “I already meant to show you this Anon, but it looks like I’ll be giving it a test-run at the same time.”

“Why are you disrobing?” Avenger asks her in suspicion.

“Beat me to the draw.” Archer of Black comments wryly.

“I need a little room to let it ou-” Sophia begins to answer as she throws her coat to the side, revealing a blue sundress, but stops herself and sighs, “Forget I said that.”

“If you want to show more skin that’s fine by me.” Eugene says encouragingly.

Ignoring him, Sophia addresses you when she says, “Watch carefully Anon, this may be important to you.”

You decide to reactivate your Mana Sight, and when you look at Sophia you can see that her body is densely infused with True Ether. As she takes a deep breath, a large fraction of the True Ether in her body begins circulate and move toward her upper back. In fact, it’s the same part of her upper back where you’ve felt an odd sensation in yours lately, and the sensation returns in earnest as you watch Sophia now.

You, as well as Avenger, Eugene, and the Archer shield your eyes as you all watch the True Ether begin to physically manifest in a shining white flash. Blinking a few times to clear your vision, you feel as though the ringing vibration of a massive bell is causing your entire body to reverberate as you process what you see.

Out of Sophia’s back are a pair of wings: shining a pure white light, bright enough to clearly illuminate the tunnel, covered in feathers that make the wings reminiscent of those of eagles, and after a few moments of analysis you conclude that the wings are formed of the True Ether. Taking it all in, a single word leaps to the front of your mind and roots itself there. Right now, you’d have to describe Sophia’s appearance as...

Angelic.

[To be continued… in the next thread]

I figured it was past time to start really cracking open the mystery-box of Anon’s identity. It may be a bit before the next thread goes up but I’m looking forward to the coming events.