Fate oath/alternative (Festival of Epics Reboot)

Rider watched with minor disgust at the brutal and sadistic torture his master performed, while he himself is capable of incredible cruelty should the situation demand it; such callous acts were ultimately for a purpose and not for one's own amusement- An idea clearly lost on his master. But it is not a servant's place to question his master's doings after all.

"I shall."

Rider grabbed the man by the head and then broke his neck with a swift jerking motion before consuming his soul. The effects were instantaneous, the burns and lacerations on the servant's leg immediately healed into something moderately less painful and horrible to look at.

"This is sufficient enough for normal movement, but I shall require another sacrifice to be battle-worthy."

edited 2nd Aug '12 3:55:10 AM by Strigon

Mike

Mike scratched his chin. "Hmm....Hey, Superman....You want to get another bastard to eat?"

He kicked the corpse. "Bah, this crap wasn't enough."

He shrugged. "Well, he was crap in life, figures he'd be crap in death~!"

"NYAAHAHAHAHAH!"

Not that Daltar and I have agreed that our character's interactions thus far has happened early that morning rather than at the same time as everyone else. From this post on they should match up with the timeline with everyone else.

Florina Winster - Archwood City

Florina sighed as the pair walked towards the church in silence. Holding the bag in her hands she cast a glance towards Rider. "..." Heaving another sigh she turned on her heal as they continued in silence.

edited 2nd Aug '12 12:53:03 PM by Chariot

Yuuki Sasaki

Yuuki eventually met up with Assassin. "Good to have you back, I felt rather vulnerable without my Servant around" he said. He looked of into the distance before speaking again "the shopping places are that way." He began to walk in that direction. "We need you to blend in as seamlessly as possible Assassin" he said as he looked over his shoulder.

Valeria Morris

When Octavian decided to take her arm she stared at him. "Exactly what are you doing" she asked. She leveled a glare at him. Valeria liked to be in control of the situation and here he was trying to lead her. Valeria let out a sigh and just let him take the lead.

"You're lucky it's not my sword hand or I might have gotten irritated" she grunted with a light blush reaching her face despite her efforts to conceal it.

Augustus

He chuckled. Oh, dear. It seemed like his Master was a bit bashful...

"Well, Madam, it's only fitting for a gentleman to escort you,yes?"

And with that they continued on.

A few minutes later, the church was in sight.

"Hmm, it seems we're not alone. Be on your guard,Madam..."

Jeanne — The Church

"Yes, this Grail War is truly the real thing... though there are some complications, such as multiples of each Servant class being summoned, also the multiple of Masters as well. I'm also of the Ruler class, an extra Servant-type specifically for governing the Grail War. I don't have all of the answers myself, but that's just how it is." Jeanne finished with a sigh. Something was a bit off about these two, she already realized that with Revelation, but jumping on them about it now would only serve to cause trouble. She held her head clear when Michael and Rider were here, she could do the same for these two.

"Now, are there any questions?"

Noah — Clothing Store, Archwood City

"You seem to have a speech for everything, don't you Rider?" Noah, for the first time ever, smiled. However, quickly realizing her changed expression, she went back to the perpetual frown. "Right, right." Noah took Rider's clothes and went up to the register. Noah made sure to skip formalities and just scanned the debit card. She punched in her password, and everything went off without a hitch. Noah returned, holding a bag with Rider's garments.

"Here you are, Rider."

Nero — With Yuna

"You have no need to apologize, Praetor. All is well." the blonde looked up and examined her surroundings. Ivory street, passing citizens and cars. Everything was well. She didn't sense a Serv— wait... She did. She felt the presence of a Servant nearby. Nero stood up, looking left and right to try and discern where. "Praetor, we need to get moving. Take my hand."

Jessica — Abandoned Manor

With her heart strong, the girl continued on her run through the vulgar manor. Flesh and muscle aligned the walls. Mobile corpses crawled along the ground. The setting of a house changed quickly to that of a womb. The smell became even more putride. "G Ghhhhkkk..." her face became red.

A-archer. My body is numb, my vision is blurred. W-what is this Servant? Ah.. my mind is going too., sweat ran down her brow. This was too much, even for her.

FAILURE!, her father's words echoed in the back of her mind.

"G-gotta keep going." Jessica walked forward in a daze with her blade out. Despite her body's failings, she continued to walk forward.

Archer, if this thing gets out and into the city, the death count would b-be... she stuttered even in her own mind. My priorities... as a Master come after this. I'm sorry. she raised the glowing white blade.

In a large room decorated with the blood of others, with flesh and meat, there sat a lonely white haired girl with piercing yellow eyes. A torn dress and a sullen smile. "I told you to leave me alone."

"I can't do that, sorry." the Master of Archer said in a voice devoid of emotion. Jessica's conditioned worsened each passing second.

Not enough time... dammit. I could use a Command Seal.. but... her thought stopped there. Jessica fell to a knee, exhausted from the unseen fight with the disease permeating the air.

Eddie

"D-damn it!"

What...what was this? Eddie coughed as he walked through the Eldritch place. He stumbled and fell to his knees.

"Need...to..get..up..."

But his body wouldn't move....

"Lancer....help..."

Arthuria Pendragon

"Understood, Master" said Saber with a small smile, not noticing at all her Master's distress at not being able to talk together as they walked. Saber was trying to change, but she was still that King that could not understand the hearts of those around her.

With that she started walking towards town, trusting that her Master would follow from the safety of the shadows.

Enkidu

As Enkidu ate a piece of seafood with wondrous delicacy, he saw with interest and more than a bit of amusement how his Master ate in the most undignified way possible. Whenever that was her nature or a conscious deliberate choice was too early to tell, but the polite Servant would try to draw attention to it in a subtle manner "You can really tell how much you like this establishment, Master. You're really eating their food with a lot of enthusiasm"

Medusa

Medusa walked in silence by her Master's side, preparing herself for whatever they might find within the Church. Even if she didn't appear so right know, she had been a cursed monster within her own legend. When the Overseer realized that they might not want to cooperate with what her Master desired... worst case scenario they might find outright hostility. Medusa was no Hero... it surprised her to find herself summoned to such a war. She felt like she didn't belong here and thus she felt apprehensive about going to see the one in charge of the rules.

Still, she has only one desire now. She would keep her Master safe, serve them well and make sure their wish could be granted.

Roosevelt made sure to thank the cashier for Noah and took the bag of clothes and followed Noah out. "Now, back to your apartment so that I can change, correct? Is there anywhere that serves as neutral ground we could go to to meet other Masters once we're done there? I believe an alliance would be useful, as would a means to find opponents too. Maybe invite them to your gallery opening. My low parameters allow me to, perhaps, fight in public without arousing too much suspicion from mundanes."

Rider gave off a small sigh as he smiled. It will appear that I will have to, wont I, Master?

"Multiple Servants from the same class, and an extra class called 'Ruler', huh...? Interesting," hummed Rider as he folded his arms at the information. I told you this Overseer was different, Master, and it would seem that I was right.

"My Servant and I do have a couple of questions, so I do hope that is alright. Rider," Perseus smiled as he turned to Jesse, "if you have any questions concerning the war, please feel free to speak up and ask them. Now for my questions, Miss Ruler, where exactly is the Holy Grail located, and will it be given to any Master who wins this war?"

Jesse

Oh Percy, you flatter me, Jesse remarked dryly.

"And it's true the Grail can grant any wish, correct? And the uhhh... Church is it? The Church won't interfere with me and my Master?" She said with a seductive drawl, clinging to Perseus' arm.

If you really wanna play the "let's embarrass our partner in public" game, Percy, I'm more than happy to go along.

Emilia Archibald

"Yes, the food here is quite good, isn't it?" Emilia remarked. Of course she was completely aware of what her Servant was implying. But she had spent too much time in stuffy galas and private dinners trying to eat with sophistication to care what she looked like eating off the clock.

She ripped into a crab leg, chewing with impunity. "You should try the lobster, Enkidu, they've really outdone themselves today."

Scáthach & Archer

Lancer quickly dashed to her Master's side, grabbing him by his arm. "Alright, up ya go," she said, exuding a quick grunt as she lifted Eddie onto her back. Making sure she had him held in place, Scáthach dashed onwards through the rotting mansion.

"Eurgh. What did they do to this place, smear it in pig guts, marinate and let sit in the sun for four days?" she remarked.

Eventually they caught up to Archer, who'd made good time getting to his ailing Master's side. "Come on, Master. We've got to get out of here," he said, lifting her to her feet. "You too! If either of them stay here any longer, they'll die! If you want him to live, get him out of here!"

Scáthach looked at Eddie, who was barely clinging to consciousness. She sighed. "Yeah, he's tapped out. Honestly, all the talk about kicking ass and now you need me just to stand." Without waiting for his permission, she began to retreat, leaving Archer with Jessica.

"Alright, now to find a good way out..." Archer wasn't as fast as Lancer, so he'd need to find a quick escape route to get his Master out of here.

edited 4th Aug '12 7:58:34 PM by KSPAM

"Due to the situation we are in, any sacrifice will do for now."

I never said that I was aiming to embarrass you, Master, I just thought the class of Rider suited you the best, replied Perseus as he upheld his smile.

Also, if a deranged enemy decides to attack us, even here at the Church, I'll have some problems fighting them off with you clinging onto my arm. So... would you mind letting go of me? said the Servant as he placed his hand on his clinging Master's shoulder.

Lancer, Redrock Town

Lancer nodded in return

"Yes, we are going near that area anyway, so we might as well bring the Overseers wrath on those loose cannons.... Anyways, we should move."

He turned around and began to make his way to the church through the back-alleys of Redrock Town.

Joseph Vlkov,Archwood Pier

Oh...Oh right! Joseph wanted to smack his head. He totally forgot about Riders ability to drive any vehicle. Well, that made the things far simpler. He was no expert in mind magecraft, so his memory alternation spells were only short-term and fairly minor in effect so the sailors would soon began to see the inconsistencies in their memories, making them finicky and suspicious. Relying on them to steer the boat like he intended to would be a quite hassle, so this was quite positive development.

He entered the "Waverider" and turned to the collected sailors. With two waves of the hand he applied another memory manipulation spells, used to obfuscate the appearance of himself and Rider and confound and shroud what actually happened to them. If asked, they will be sure that they became victim of some kind of hoax. After he covered all traces of their presence, Joseph nodded to Rider.

"Okay. We can go."

Berserker, Near the Mc Donalds

Suddenly… Something happened to Berserker. A strange wave of energy, originating in his wound in the gut rippled through his body, and his presence and power as Servant seemed to increase by orders of magnitude. He Was fairly weak before, even with Mad Enchantment active, but now his abilities rose, until they become equal to Sabers in every category. Slowly, his scars began to glow and pulse with faint, scarlet light.

Ignoring the flaming sword sticking in his belly, his right hand dropped the Gladius and instead gripped Saber by the throat and effortlessly raised her in the air. He probably could try to end the battle right now, by attempting to break her neck pr throttling her, but that would be an easy. And that was not his way. Instead, he stopped gripping her sword and, with a grunt of effort, threw her through whole street, letting the blade slip away from his insides, as its wearer flew away, leaving an enormous, smoking wound behind.

Picking up his sword from the ground, he threw his arms to the sides and roared:

"A strong rival calls for strong battle! So come, Swordsman of Darkness and fight in your earnest. Lets cut and be cut until only one remains!"

Enkidu

"Oh I shall" says Enkidu with enthusiasm as he pulls one of the lobsters over to his plate. The he grabbed a knife and after a couple seconds of concentration he delivers one clean hit to the cooked crustacean... which makes it neatly split in half, revealing it's succulent meat to the androgynous boy.

"Hmm... indeed, it is delicious, Master. I'm glad you brought me here"

Eddie

Damn. He was pathetic. Can't even help a girl.

He was sitting outside the damn place, still trying to catch his breath. He coughed.

"Goddamnit, Lancer. I didn't say we could retreat!"

Augustus

He let go of his Master's hand and placed himself in front of her protectively.

"Be on your guard, Madam. I sense another Servant.."

edited 5th Aug '12 8:05:44 PM by DeathChariot

The Black Knight

The spot where the knight had impacted was nothing but a smoldering crater, such was the force of the giant's violence. It was so destructive it was an absurdity in and of itself. But an even greater absurdity was about to show itself.

"So... is that it?" The black knight rose slowly from the wreckage, shrugging off the debris. She was completely fine. "Alright then." Snapping her injured arm back into its proper place, Saber took up her sword again. "Now let me show you what real power means. Merodach!"

All of a sudden, the sword began to roar, as if it itself was a beast of rage, a malignant monstrosity composited of all the fury and the sin of the fallen. In truth, the reality wasn't far off. Something was collecting within the sword, a mass of seething, furious prana which gathered itself inside Merodach. Raising the sword high over her head, Saber uttered these words:

"Die knowing your place."

The sword came down, the image of guillotine flashing before the eyes of everyone present, before everything was consumed by fire.

Genghis Khan

Khan nodded, and the boat sped towards the island.

Jesse

Fiiiiiine, Jesse said begrudgingly, letting go of his arm but keeping up the smiles for appearance's sake.

'Scáthach

"So what you're saying is you wanted to die? You know Master, I'm beginning to reevaluate whether partnering with you was a good idea," Scáthach replied dryly. "If you wanna win this so badly Eddie, fight the battles you can win."

edited 6th Aug '12 1:01:21 AM by KSPAM

Eddie

"...Point taken. I'm just pissed I wasn't able to help her. Not to mention looking like an absolute wuss."

He sighed.

"Goddamnit. You know what? Let's get hammered. I need a freaking drink."

With Nero

Yuna nodded quickly, extending a slim hand to her Servant. The contact sent a small jolt through her arm, and she blushed slightly.

"G-got it. Where do we need to go?"

With Arturia

Felicia didn't say anything—she wasn't quite at the point where she could protest anything to anyone yet—but Saber might have observed a noticeable droop in her posture before she stepped to the side of the street and vanished as Saber started heading to town.

You know where to go, right—

Her communication abruptly cut off as she flickered back into view a meter or so back from Saber.

S-sorry...

Felicia's mood soured further. Apparently they couldn't talk at all, so she remained in a silence as they walked that would have been sulking if anyone could actually see her.

Noah — Archwood City

"Yes, we're returning home." Noah turned toward her own home and walked in stride with her Servant. "The Church, I believe is the neutral ground as it always has been." the young girl stopped when her Servant mentioned the word alliance. Working with other people, exchanging information in order to win? In the end, it'd be broken and she'd be forced to kill that person. "No... I don't think an alliance would suit us, suit me, Rider."

I don't need friends or comrades...

That was Noah's philosophy. She said nothing more as she continued to walk toward the privacy of her own home. She'd be surrounded by her best friends, the four walls that protect her from the world.

Jeanne — The Church

"The Grail will materialize where all the ley lines in Archwood City intersect. That would probably be the Archwood City Themepark." Jeanne placed a hand to her chin as she pondered for a moment. "Or the Abandoned Manor outside of town. Perhaps even Brine Beach. There are a couple locations for the Grail to appear." Jeanne caught wind of that second question. "Yes, that is how it will go."

Rather simple. This meeting was strangly quiet. Nothing interrupting it like an egotistical Master kicking down the door, or innocence getting involved in the war. Maybe today was a good day!

Abandoned Manor

"G-gah..." Jessica couldn't move. Her body refused her. The young magus' muscles locked up. She could hardly move. Her breathing shortened, her fingers twitched. "Arch—er... let me go."

Regardless, her magic circuit fired up. It bound itself to her nerves, her very essence. One finger twitched, then her entire hand gained motion. Jessica's legs followed soon after. The excruciating pain was prominent through out her entire body, but she discarded it. Nothing hurt more than seeing others get hurt.

Even if my body breaks... even if I die, I have to try! I HAVE TO TRY!, she gripped Lightray tightly, holding it close to her chest. The magic circuits in the Mystic Code come to life. "Spiral Out." on her command, the sword expanded outward. The white energy spun into a white tornado decorated with runic symbols.

A barrier of blue engulfed the entirety of her body. Her hair came undone and became on with the shimmering aura that decorated her body. It flew with the wind backward and danced haphazardly through the wind. Blood trickled down her mouth as she pushed her body to its limit. "SPIRAL —"

She pulled the blade back.

"STAND!"

A single instant. Her target was the girl in front of her, the Master of the Black Death.

The child merely laughed. She vanished without a trace. The blast, however, ripped through the wall and beyond. A large, white explosion engulfed the entire section of the mansion, blowing it to smithereens.

The after math, what happend to Jessica's body, was the definition of defeated. A combination of despair and helplessness that would bring even the greatest of heroes to their knees. " No...", a red tear fell to the floor. Jessica, with dull eyes, fell backward, toward Archer.

Nero — With Yuna > To Black Knight and Berserker

Nero grabbed her Master's hand and made haste. She ran as fast as she could while retaining the masquerade of being human. One step, two, three, imminent death in the color of black. She had to do something. She had to.

"MASTER, TAKE COVER!"

Nero's body immediately transformed in a swirl of red. Blossoms danced outward as she drew her sword. There were two Servants nearby. One of whom looked exactly like her. The other Saber raised her sword into the air and said something along thel ines of Die knowing your place.

In an instant, she rushed forward with her curved blade. It ripped forward, forming a perfect arc.

It collided with the Black Knight's Merodach.

"Stop, heathen!"

Two Sabers were face to face.

edited 6th Aug '12 12:07:40 PM by RagnaTheSaviour

"Well, it's not just that." Rider said, "We could also hang by the Church, then follow the most suspicious pairs of people around and challenge them. I did mention potential enemies as well as allies. In any case, we need some way to track down other Masters and Servants. If you don't want to do it in person, maybe you can dispatch some Familiars to scout around once we get home."

Joseph Vlkov, Near the shores of Archwood City

Joseph was sitting comfortably next to the Rider for a several moments, taking a well-earned reprieve from between two stressful situations. However, his mind couldn’t seem to rest, and soon he began speaking to Rider:

"Ok. We know that there is something on the island, but we don’t know what. Because we don’t know anything, I want to proceed as cautiously and risk-free as possible. "

He took a deep breath and laid out his plan to his Servant.

"We will both stay in the boat, or as close to it as possible. You will summon as many scouts and possible and perform all the scouting and exploration only with them. If it is merely stronghold of some Servant, we will check its strength and its defenses and then either eliminate him, or retreat to consolidate our power. If it is some phenomena unrelated to Holy Grail War, we should discover as much about it as possible and then withdraw and let Overseer know. Thing that can disturb the War are her problem not ours."

Just to be sure, Joseph repeated the most crucial point once more. Rider getting sidetracked and running around the island would be a disaster, no matter what was actually in there..

"Either way, both of us should stay as close to the boat as possible, in case a hasty retreat will become necessary."

Berserker growled. His rage and killing intent, empowered by his power increase, washed over the whole street, paralyzing many of the onlookers gathered around, or even making the weaker ones faint. But the prime targets for his fury were the two Sabers. Both of them. He raised his growl into an inarticulate roar.

"█████▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▌▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█████▐▐▐▐ !!!!"

The newcomer, red-clad and irritatingly similar to the black swords-woman he was fighting, was a Servant like him and by virtue of that power alone, he was a participant in this bloody dance and thus Berserkers rival. But that was not all: Berserker understood that newcomers interference helped him in his fight, maybe even saved him. But his way was that of taking a hardest path, fighting the most powerful opponents from the most disadvantageous of position. It was to be sliced, cut, ripped apart and killed, and yet impossibly winning by the end. That was his glory as a “Champion of Reversal.” Any help, even the one that saved his life, was not only unwanted - it was a complete anathema to Berserker: a stain on his honor as a gladiator and a living disgrace he had to absolutely eliminate.

He charged forward with incredible speed, his scars glowing slightly, being fed power from the wound in his stomach. In an instant, he intercepted the position of his rivals, and rained a hail of blows onto them with his sword, targeting both enemy Servants.

edited 6th Aug '12 1:53:06 PM by Drakovicz

Rider-The Church

Rider raised his eyebrow at the uncertainty that the Overseer showed. "You're the Overseer for this war, yet you don't know where the Holy Grail will show itself...? Not to sound rude, but it's a tad disappointing... Well, I suppose it doesn't matter for now... Oh," Rider pointed towards the Church doors, "are you planning to repair them? I noticed that there were quite a few marks upon those doors... I guess even vandalism somehow finds its way to the Holy Church..."

"Anyway, I don't suppose you could tell my Servant and I any specific rules that you may have pertaining to this specific Holy Grail War?"

An Average Priced Apartment Somewhere...

"Let's see..." hummed the young black-haired girl as she finished crafting the summoning circle, "yup, it's perfect!"

Flicking her long hair over her shoulders, she moved over towards a nearby table, and removed the relic from its package; a small golden fragment. "It's a good thing that magus had this on him, he saved me the time of finding a relic myself. If the stories are true, then this little shard used to part of a sword which belonged to very powerful swordsman... the King of Knights himself, maybe? I'd be lucky to summon someone of his caliber~"

Humming to herself, the magus moved and placed the golden shard in the middle of summoning circle. Stepping back, she held out her hand and paced her breath. "Now then... let's begin..." she said with her eyes shut. Suddenly, she began chanting.

"Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg..." spoke the girl as her hair started to flow gracefully due to the magic emitting from the crimson circle before her.

"Shut! Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill... Repeat every five times! Simply shatter once filled!" She gritted her teeth as a small burning sensation began to arise from her outstretched hand, but she continued to speak. "I announce... yourself is under me, my fate is in your sword! In accordance with the resort of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer!"

"Here is my oath, I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead! I am the one who lays out all evil of the world of the dead! You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of BALANCE——!"

Shouting the verses aloud, Gale opened her eyes as she completed the summoning for her Servant.

edited 6th Aug '12 4:31:33 PM by Aevum

Florina Winester - Archwood City

"Is something wrong?" Florina asked once she caught Rider's look of concentration. "Is there anything bothering you?" A frown crossed her face as she tried to figure out what was wrong with her Servant. "If there is you should tell me."

Saber

"Don't worry, Master. And I can make out the city from here so at least I can go there without issue... after we get there is where I won't know where to go" Replies Saber, looking straight ahead as she speaks, pretending to be walking by herself.

Medusa

"I understand that you don't desire to know my identity, Master. However, my nature might prove to be problematic in the presence of the Church Overseer" replies Rider.

edited 6th Aug '12 7:02:51 PM by daltar