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[I'll try to give Blahster's point of view now. Also, I'm happy to see she's become the Red faction's exposition queen.]
Rider attacked us, as expected running won't be easy. Saber's just barely keeping up, but Archer's only even been able to aim a single strike, meanwhile all I could do was set up a bounded field to hide us, charge my NP and wait for an opening. But I was rushed, a single big move and we'll be revealed. Rider looks at me cautiously, of course he'd notice, what was I expecting?
"You are all truly worthy of being called true heroes. So let me ask you this Archer, Caster and Saber would you be interested in calling this battle a draw?"
A draw? He's clearly at an advantage here… no, maybe not. He's faster and a more skilled fighter than expected, I thought it was just the effect of Saver's parting gift, but maybe he's also using one or more costly personal skills and noble phantasms. Saver must not have strongly boosted his mana or mana recovery!
But Avenger's getting closer… he stopped running, and Saber's preparing to attack. I hold Saber back,but there's nothing I can do about Avenger.
"WAIT! WAIT!! WAIT!!! DON'T IGNORE ME!!! YOU FLASHY LOOKING GUY!!" As expected, he wants to fight Rider. Saver must really be gone if he changed from terror to excitement so quickly.
Rider isn't happy, a few words are exchanged and it seems we're back to fighting.
"Almighty Gods, witness my work! With my Infinite Splendour, the Sun shall..." And then he's teleported away wait a minute! Isn't that way too convenient? He gives us a bit of info on his identity and then gets teleported away? But this is good the bounded field I set up was far too rushed, it had begun falling apart when he started gathering the magic for his Noble Phantasm. The threats gone, but as I begin to filter through my memories of the conversation to fully identify Rider, Avenger snaps me back to reality.
"My first time, ladies and gentlements! Muhahahaha! To think Ruler himself would do something like that! Amazing show! I'm so turning on right now! Guhahaha!"
He must have seen Ruler. I try not think about what the rest of what he said means. It's not hard, since this is a topic that interests me even more than Rider's identity.
But at first, I'm dumbfounded. Did Ruler save us? I've understood from the moment Saver died, he was the only one who could. But why? He had known we couldn't win, his meaning was clear as day when he cancelled Saber's strengthening. Yet he still sent us in, to face an enemy we couldn't approach, couldn't harm, and certainly couldn't fight. Their battle even ended before we had a chance to act. Then why? Why would he save us? Wasn't he another executioner? I come to my answer. But Saber's panicked, she's confused, she's angry, it's understandable. She must think Ruler died, she doesn't know how big of a gap there was. Since she's in such a fragile state, I'll be considerate, I'll hold back the laughter!
He screwed up! Ruler's way too funny! He had never meant to send us to our deaths, he was just so scared of Saver's threat to the war, Saver's threat to the grail, and Saver's threat to him, that he panicked!
It's understandable, Saver was in the perfect position to threaten him. Hell, maybe he was even planning to, he was clearly ignoring the sanctity of the war. But in the end he was even more careless than Ruler, If he had kept quiet, we'd probably be dead… maybe Ruler would have followed. I guess I won't know unless I meet him in person. I steel my resolve, I'll definitely find Ruler to see what he's like.
Sorry Saber, I'm gonna have to keep quiet about this for a little, but you're strong. I'm sure you'll be alright. I tune back into the end of the conversation, to hear Avenger's exclamation.
"Today was fun! I'll come to your place later!"
It seems I may wind up with more allies, it's probably good for the fight with Rider, but I still have to worry to myself, third place might become even harder.
I'm still in a good mood as we leave, Archer just seems relieved, the dude probably thought we were gonna die. But Saber, Saber's a mess she splits off from the group,
"You guys head back first, there's… something I need to do." Her voice trails off towards the end, then she quickly turns away, and hijacks a motorcycle. Sorry I think as I monitor her through my ring. Rider's recovering his mana, and Avenger's a good enough person, only one we don't know about is Lancer or Berserker, whichever of the two is still alive. But threats aren't what I'm watching for, she reacted even the first time I mentioned Ruler, he hadn't taken any major actions then, so she probably met him before. Now that she's confused, she'll go to where she met him in the past.
As I'm thinking this, I let Archer drive. Of course it's an electric car, when he realized they call it a Tesla, he gave us no other option. The guy's really proud ain't he. On the way back, I start filtering through my memories of the battle and conversation. I play it back in slow motion a few times to make sure. A few things start sticking out.
"Come heroes you are about to experience what a true warrior is"
"such powerful lightning, it reminds me of lightning from the gods themselves"
"You are all truly worthy of being called true heroes."
"With my Infinite Splendour, the Sun shall..."
And he wielded the new NPs that Saver gave him like they were always his.
And I keep in mind his chariot, that gave him his nickname amongst the rats. [Mr. Flashy McChariot in case you don't remember]
Surprisingly it's not the battle itself, but mainly the talk… this guy sure loves his barking huh.
A cocky bastard with divinity. Someone who sees a "warrior" as superior to a normal "hero". A man who can wield any weapon on the first time using it, and fights from atop a thundering chariot. One who's seemingly faced both heroes and gods in life. And he has a strong connection to the Sun. "It's frickin' Ramesses the Second!" How troublesome.
Upon hearing my outburst, Archer slams the breaks. Whoops, seems I surprised him. We hear the cars behind us honking… it's New York, not like they weren't honking before.
I add on, "And it seems he's the real deal, not some weird mish-mash like so many of us."
After we get moving again, Archer speaks up, "You're probably right, I guess that means…"
He pauses, so I finish the thought, "he was summoning his temple. That would be dangerous, he could shut down your NPs, probably Avenger's as well."
"If that happened without Saber there, we'd probably die. Saber will be essential in beating him." (Archer)
"Yeah, she's our Ace in the hole. Hopefully Assassin didn't figure out her abilities." (Blahster)
"Don't pretend you don't know why I'm saying this." (Archer)
I pause for a moment, whoops, guess he saw through me. It isn't too surprising, Saber probably only missed that moment of weakness because she was in shock herself. I chuckle a little, "She's plenty strong, she can sort things out herself. Trust me, or rather, trust her. I'm sure she'll be ready when the time comes."
After that we're quiet for a while, Archer's the first to speak. "Alright, I'll leave it alone. Earlier I was a bit worried about the silence, I didn't realize you were in thought."
Whoops, was it that long? I'm almost not sure what to say, but I go with "Sorry about that, I get lost in my own mind from time to time. There's no need to worry about it, that's just how I am." After that, the floodgates stay open and we have a pretty normal conversation on our way back. Even so I continue monitoring my mental Manhattan map in the back of my mind. [How's that for some alliteration!]
When we return to the base, Rin jumps on Archer; let's leave them alone. Shirou looks like he's gonna suffer a heart attack the moment he sees Saber jsn't with us, I guess I have to calm him down. How troublesome. After that he tells me to go to the kitchen, where I find my master. Did he take a nap as soon as we left? It's obvious that he's just woken up. And when I see what he's doing, all I can think is, The Hell is wrong with this guy? He's in the process of cooking a few pigeons… looking at the blood in the sink, he probably even killed them himself.
Turning around and seeing my mixed look of confusion and disgust, he immediately exclaims, "I can explain!" Can you really? But before I say anything he continues, "I found a recipe online, but didn't want to go buy chicken, and when I was talking to the birds they, well… y'know how there are some birds that get up super early and start chirping really loud, well a good chunk of the ones in New York are actually yelling at these guys, who always get up even before dawn, saying things like 'go back to sleep, worm-brain!' or 'you dodo, you woke my hatchlings up!'" He pauses and looks at me.
Oh. How illuminating. I stop myself from saying this in as sarcastic a tone as possible. Instead I look at him apathetically and say, "go on."
His eyes light up, does he think I consider that to be a good explanation? And he continues, "so as I was telling the birds about my lack of chicken, one of them suggested I try using pigeon. When I agreed, they tricked these guys into coming along, and now I'm cooking them!"
I decide I don't have the energy to argue with the bird-brain right now, I just turn around and start leaving. I've set my head into overdrive since Saver's ascension. So I figure I can just leave him alone, and cool down by working on item construction. But after thinking a moment, I rip off and take the pigeons' wings. My master looks at me confused, but I just say, "don't mind me, bird-brain," and leave.
I continue monitoring Saber, while working on the flying shoes. She's been at the ESB for a while now, must be where she thinks Ruler will show. I think to myself, thanks Saber, I hope you can forgive me for not explaining things. Around dusk, she leaves. Surprisingly she heads towards Hell's Kitchen.
What?! Her location isn't too shocking, it's more the fact that her status has become -preparing for combat-. Who could- No, don't panic, she's unstable right now, the ring monitors her mana's flow, something small could have agitated her into a state similar to preparing for combat, I only need to act if it changes to -in combat- or -injured-. I focus and watch closely, it seems Archer's noticed, he seems agitated. Shirou panicked and left the room with the tense atmosphere, he'll probably be back when he remembers the rings. Rin is observing, a bit confused. The bird brain's singing a song about cooking pigeons.
After a few minutes, I sigh, relieved. Her status has returned to -normal-. Seems like it was nothing. I explain to the confused Archer and Rin, as Shirou comes rushing into the room to see if Saber's okay. After a bit we're still discussing, and I realize Saber's in the building. I exclaim "Quick! Act like we weren't talking about Saber."
As the door opens, Archer blurts out "Oh yes, it truly shocking when Saver vanished."
I reply, "yeah, he and Avenger just disappeared, and suddenly we learn he's dead."
She didn't notice. I guess she's still thinking. It may just be my imagination, but at least she seems a bit calmer. It looks like Saber was about to speak, but suddenly I sensed a magic item appear behind Saber. I barely have time to see what looks like a doll through observation wards, before it's replaced with a different magical doll of a man. What was that? Saber looks around, did she sense it too? She turns around and picks the doll up. I hear a sound, but I can't tell what it is, then she runs to the window, throws it, and yells
"HOW DARE YOU MAKING A GIRL WORRY ABOUT YOU LIKE THAT!"
I think to myself, Like you're one to talk! [cause Blahster's a girl now.] I look at her confused, Archer's the same. But Saber's beaming, was that a message from Ruler?
"Just some little talk with gods, don't worry." I guess it was from Ruler I'm relieved, I smirk towards Archer as if to say, see, told you so. And Saber continues, "Anyway, Saver is dead. I knew it with my CTTR. We shouldn't talk about him anymore. Let's discuss about Rider."
I wipe the smirk off my face, guess it's time for a major tone shift. My face turn serious, as I say, "About that," and explain what we figured out about Ramesses.
[This took forever to write! DX]
[Also, Monarch, I think the joke is that Avenger thinks Ruler's a ******]
Rider attacked us, as expected running won't be easy. Saber's just barely keeping up, but Archer's only even been able to aim a single strike, meanwhile all I could do was set up a bounded field to hide us, charge my NP and wait for an opening. But I was rushed, a single big move and we'll be revealed. Rider looks at me cautiously, of course he'd notice, what was I expecting?
"You are all truly worthy of being called true heroes. So let me ask you this Archer, Caster and Saber would you be interested in calling this battle a draw?"
A draw? He's clearly at an advantage here… no, maybe not. He's faster and a more skilled fighter than expected, I thought it was just the effect of Saver's parting gift, but maybe he's also using one or more costly personal skills and noble phantasms. Saver must not have strongly boosted his mana or mana recovery!
But Avenger's getting closer… he stopped running, and Saber's preparing to attack. I hold Saber back,but there's nothing I can do about Avenger.
"WAIT! WAIT!! WAIT!!! DON'T IGNORE ME!!! YOU FLASHY LOOKING GUY!!" As expected, he wants to fight Rider. Saver must really be gone if he changed from terror to excitement so quickly.
Rider isn't happy, a few words are exchanged and it seems we're back to fighting.
"Almighty Gods, witness my work! With my Infinite Splendour, the Sun shall..." And then he's teleported away wait a minute! Isn't that way too convenient? He gives us a bit of info on his identity and then gets teleported away? But this is good the bounded field I set up was far too rushed, it had begun falling apart when he started gathering the magic for his Noble Phantasm. The threats gone, but as I begin to filter through my memories of the conversation to fully identify Rider, Avenger snaps me back to reality.
"My first time, ladies and gentlements! Muhahahaha! To think Ruler himself would do something like that! Amazing show! I'm so turning on right now! Guhahaha!"
He must have seen Ruler. I try not think about what the rest of what he said means. It's not hard, since this is a topic that interests me even more than Rider's identity.
But at first, I'm dumbfounded. Did Ruler save us? I've understood from the moment Saver died, he was the only one who could. But why? He had known we couldn't win, his meaning was clear as day when he cancelled Saber's strengthening. Yet he still sent us in, to face an enemy we couldn't approach, couldn't harm, and certainly couldn't fight. Their battle even ended before we had a chance to act. Then why? Why would he save us? Wasn't he another executioner? I come to my answer. But Saber's panicked, she's confused, she's angry, it's understandable. She must think Ruler died, she doesn't know how big of a gap there was. Since she's in such a fragile state, I'll be considerate, I'll hold back the laughter!
He screwed up! Ruler's way too funny! He had never meant to send us to our deaths, he was just so scared of Saver's threat to the war, Saver's threat to the grail, and Saver's threat to him, that he panicked!
It's understandable, Saver was in the perfect position to threaten him. Hell, maybe he was even planning to, he was clearly ignoring the sanctity of the war. But in the end he was even more careless than Ruler, If he had kept quiet, we'd probably be dead… maybe Ruler would have followed. I guess I won't know unless I meet him in person. I steel my resolve, I'll definitely find Ruler to see what he's like.
Sorry Saber, I'm gonna have to keep quiet about this for a little, but you're strong. I'm sure you'll be alright. I tune back into the end of the conversation, to hear Avenger's exclamation.
"Today was fun! I'll come to your place later!"
It seems I may wind up with more allies, it's probably good for the fight with Rider, but I still have to worry to myself, third place might become even harder.
I'm still in a good mood as we leave, Archer just seems relieved, the dude probably thought we were gonna die. But Saber, Saber's a mess she splits off from the group,
"You guys head back first, there's… something I need to do." Her voice trails off towards the end, then she quickly turns away, and hijacks a motorcycle. Sorry I think as I monitor her through my ring. Rider's recovering his mana, and Avenger's a good enough person, only one we don't know about is Lancer or Berserker, whichever of the two is still alive. But threats aren't what I'm watching for, she reacted even the first time I mentioned Ruler, he hadn't taken any major actions then, so she probably met him before. Now that she's confused, she'll go to where she met him in the past.
As I'm thinking this, I let Archer drive. Of course it's an electric car, when he realized they call it a Tesla, he gave us no other option. The guy's really proud ain't he. On the way back, I start filtering through my memories of the battle and conversation. I play it back in slow motion a few times to make sure. A few things start sticking out.
"Come heroes you are about to experience what a true warrior is"
"such powerful lightning, it reminds me of lightning from the gods themselves"
"You are all truly worthy of being called true heroes."
"With my Infinite Splendour, the Sun shall..."
And he wielded the new NPs that Saver gave him like they were always his.
And I keep in mind his chariot, that gave him his nickname amongst the rats. [Mr. Flashy McChariot in case you don't remember]
Surprisingly it's not the battle itself, but mainly the talk… this guy sure loves his barking huh.
A cocky bastard with divinity. Someone who sees a "warrior" as superior to a normal "hero". A man who can wield any weapon on the first time using it, and fights from atop a thundering chariot. One who's seemingly faced both heroes and gods in life. And he has a strong connection to the Sun. "It's frickin' Ramesses the Second!" How troublesome.
Upon hearing my outburst, Archer slams the breaks. Whoops, seems I surprised him. We hear the cars behind us honking… it's New York, not like they weren't honking before.
I add on, "And it seems he's the real deal, not some weird mish-mash like so many of us."
After we get moving again, Archer speaks up, "You're probably right, I guess that means…"
He pauses, so I finish the thought, "he was summoning his temple. That would be dangerous, he could shut down your NPs, probably Avenger's as well."
"If that happened without Saber there, we'd probably die. Saber will be essential in beating him." (Archer)
"Yeah, she's our Ace in the hole. Hopefully Assassin didn't figure out her abilities." (Blahster)
"Don't pretend you don't know why I'm saying this." (Archer)
I pause for a moment, whoops, guess he saw through me. It isn't too surprising, Saber probably only missed that moment of weakness because she was in shock herself. I chuckle a little, "She's plenty strong, she can sort things out herself. Trust me, or rather, trust her. I'm sure she'll be ready when the time comes."
After that we're quiet for a while, Archer's the first to speak. "Alright, I'll leave it alone. Earlier I was a bit worried about the silence, I didn't realize you were in thought."
Whoops, was it that long? I'm almost not sure what to say, but I go with "Sorry about that, I get lost in my own mind from time to time. There's no need to worry about it, that's just how I am." After that, the floodgates stay open and we have a pretty normal conversation on our way back. Even so I continue monitoring my mental Manhattan map in the back of my mind. [How's that for some alliteration!]
When we return to the base, Rin jumps on Archer; let's leave them alone. Shirou looks like he's gonna suffer a heart attack the moment he sees Saber jsn't with us, I guess I have to calm him down. How troublesome. After that he tells me to go to the kitchen, where I find my master. Did he take a nap as soon as we left? It's obvious that he's just woken up. And when I see what he's doing, all I can think is, The Hell is wrong with this guy? He's in the process of cooking a few pigeons… looking at the blood in the sink, he probably even killed them himself.
Turning around and seeing my mixed look of confusion and disgust, he immediately exclaims, "I can explain!" Can you really? But before I say anything he continues, "I found a recipe online, but didn't want to go buy chicken, and when I was talking to the birds they, well… y'know how there are some birds that get up super early and start chirping really loud, well a good chunk of the ones in New York are actually yelling at these guys, who always get up even before dawn, saying things like 'go back to sleep, worm-brain!' or 'you dodo, you woke my hatchlings up!'" He pauses and looks at me.
Oh. How illuminating. I stop myself from saying this in as sarcastic a tone as possible. Instead I look at him apathetically and say, "go on."
His eyes light up, does he think I consider that to be a good explanation? And he continues, "so as I was telling the birds about my lack of chicken, one of them suggested I try using pigeon. When I agreed, they tricked these guys into coming along, and now I'm cooking them!"
I decide I don't have the energy to argue with the bird-brain right now, I just turn around and start leaving. I've set my head into overdrive since Saver's ascension. So I figure I can just leave him alone, and cool down by working on item construction. But after thinking a moment, I rip off and take the pigeons' wings. My master looks at me confused, but I just say, "don't mind me, bird-brain," and leave.
I continue monitoring Saber, while working on the flying shoes. She's been at the ESB for a while now, must be where she thinks Ruler will show. I think to myself, thanks Saber, I hope you can forgive me for not explaining things. Around dusk, she leaves. Surprisingly she heads towards Hell's Kitchen.
What?! Her location isn't too shocking, it's more the fact that her status has become -preparing for combat-. Who could- No, don't panic, she's unstable right now, the ring monitors her mana's flow, something small could have agitated her into a state similar to preparing for combat, I only need to act if it changes to -in combat- or -injured-. I focus and watch closely, it seems Archer's noticed, he seems agitated. Shirou panicked and left the room with the tense atmosphere, he'll probably be back when he remembers the rings. Rin is observing, a bit confused. The bird brain's singing a song about cooking pigeons.
After a few minutes, I sigh, relieved. Her status has returned to -normal-. Seems like it was nothing. I explain to the confused Archer and Rin, as Shirou comes rushing into the room to see if Saber's okay. After a bit we're still discussing, and I realize Saber's in the building. I exclaim "Quick! Act like we weren't talking about Saber."
As the door opens, Archer blurts out "Oh yes, it truly shocking when Saver vanished."
I reply, "yeah, he and Avenger just disappeared, and suddenly we learn he's dead."
She didn't notice. I guess she's still thinking. It may just be my imagination, but at least she seems a bit calmer. It looks like Saber was about to speak, but suddenly I sensed a magic item appear behind Saber. I barely have time to see what looks like a doll through observation wards, before it's replaced with a different magical doll of a man. What was that? Saber looks around, did she sense it too? She turns around and picks the doll up. I hear a sound, but I can't tell what it is, then she runs to the window, throws it, and yells
"HOW DARE YOU MAKING A GIRL WORRY ABOUT YOU LIKE THAT!"
I think to myself, Like you're one to talk! [cause Blahster's a girl now.] I look at her confused, Archer's the same. But Saber's beaming, was that a message from Ruler?
"Just some little talk with gods, don't worry." I guess it was from Ruler I'm relieved, I smirk towards Archer as if to say, see, told you so. And Saber continues, "Anyway, Saver is dead. I knew it with my CTTR. We shouldn't talk about him anymore. Let's discuss about Rider."
I wipe the smirk off my face, guess it's time for a major tone shift. My face turn serious, as I say, "About that," and explain what we figured out about Ramesses.
[This took forever to write! DX]
[Also, Monarch, I think the joke is that Avenger thinks Ruler's a ******]