[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/A9Vw6CK.png[/img][/center]

The Emperor watched from afar, atop the trees, able to make out the small human, the black void, and the general circumstances.

A Servant was swallowed by darkness. He knew of war well enough. It brought out the best of men, the worst of men, the progress and despair of men. Yet, that Master was not a soldier. A cresting wave of horror radiated from the black abyss.

He accepted the reality of war, and that combatants would die in it. It was harsh truth, but bitter medicine did a body good. It was not perfect or ideal, but it was what happened. 

And in this war, two Command Spells had just been used. Having received the full energy of one himself, it was easy enough to recognize the eruption of miraculous prana, twofold, even if the audible command hadn't been given.

That was when his Master's voice unexpectedly entered his head. Telepathy? As a familiar, he should be able to do that, as Stirner had demonstrated during their brief window of establishing what each other could do. But this Master had not been capable of it before...had the opening of her magic circuits permitted her to connect in some way? The Emperor was uncertain as to how, but welcomed the surprise. 

[color=0072bc]Promise me something, Norton. I gave you a second chance, so-[/color]
[color=tomato]Of course, lass.[/color]
[color=0072bc]Stop calling me that! ...And that isn't what I'm asking![/color]
[color=tomato]Master, I don't think I can do anything here right now.[/color]
[color=0072bc]Me too. I wanted to save my sister, entering this war. I'm not cut out to be a magus or a Master though, and that sucks. I can't change that.[/color]

Incorporeal yet fully able of sensing his surroundings, Norton felt his eyes sting, as if on an over-dry day. Was it from watching the fate of Nakae and Muramasa? From seeing a maniacal Berserker tear open a gate to...there? Demonic weaponry rained from it, a knife shot from behind the human...it was not a battle in war that families would sing of, it was a one-sided massacre. Cold, pitiless, and pointless.

[color=0072bc]You won't need to save me too anymore. Just your other Master, and my sister. She's been bitten by a Dead Apostle. You're an Emperor, right?[/color]
[color=tomato]Of course I am. Emperor, Saint, I'm plenty.[/color] Just not a hero, he thought to himself.
[color=0072bc]I heard that, don't think like that when we- Promise me you'll save her then![/color]
[color=tomato]How?[/color]
[color=0072bc]With the Grail, dumbass![/color] Airi's irritation rumbled through the link, but also the way it was rooted in her sense of helplessness. And they both agreed, unspoken, that neither of them wanted to be powerless.

But that was an incredible thing to ask, all the same. Norton understood what she meant. He'd answered the summons for the prospect of the wish, after all. To give up...no, he realized, they could be reconciled. He would simply wish in such a way that would satisfy them both. A leader had to be inspirational, and an Emperor had to be magnificent.

[color=tomato]I promise. The Emperor of the United States shall do so![/color]
[color=0072bc]Good. I've gotten this far in life before this war, and I don't need magi gunning for me while I'm crippled by you. So I'll just do it this way...[/color]

[hr]

[color=0072bc]"By my remaining Command Spells...these seals, even my wish...I give them all to my Servant!"[/color]

Airi chose to give up her Command Spells, leaving other participants in the Grail War with no reason to bother her, or so she thought. This would eliminate the burden on herself while Norton still "had a Master", and that'd be the best condition for them both. 

The marks faded from her hand. The aching burden faded from her body. The sensation that her bones had become cold jelly, her muscles limp weights, they were finally leaving. Each breath drew in precious vitality for her, as her condition began to improve. 

She'd used the 2nd Command Spell partially to make that possible. A Servant needed to be able to receive and (usually) understand the contents of a Command Spell. Her command and its phrasing was already in mind, and her intention was resolved, thus the link had been opened. It had to use some of the energy of the Command Spell, but only an extremely trivial amount. Command Spells could enact Spatial Transportation, something near the domain of True Magic. To do something even the most laughably poor magus could have done in her position had only required the tiniest of droplets, compared to the torrent a Command Spell was capable of. 

It wasn't something she'd understood the process of, but it had worked. And it wasn't something she'd be able to do again. 

[hr]

Though Norton remained in spiritual form, he felt them. He knew them, he had them and accepted them, as they anchored him. 

...Anchored? No, solidified? The best word failed him, but he felt his connection to Airi remained. He could treat the Command Spells as a slow-burning Prana supply, but even then he'd need to remain loathsomely frugal.

A phantasm couldn't tie a phantasm to the present. 

The World wasn't so easily calmed, of course. Even if a Servant had dozens of Command Spells like Ruler, they would have no chance of lingering without support, much less taking action. The World would crush him as unnatural the same as any other distortion, as any other Servant.

However, Norton attempted to partially stave off the World's desire to scrub him out of it.

[center][color=tomato]I belong in the present.[/color][/center] 

Imperial Decree, a D-rank skill of his, was consciously enacted. It would not strengthen him. It would not empower him. In fact, the skill was wholly unable to endow the benefits of meeting any criteria imposed on him besides merely doing. He'd become an Emperor merely by affirming that he was, and that was one of the two central concepts of his legend as a Heroic Spirit. Even in the present, he had admirers for it. 

Still, he was skeptical he could satisfy The World simply by trying to tell it that he was just fine and normal in the modern day, but it was worth a shot. Maybe he could at least reduce the cost of manifesting? He'd need to conserve every possible unit of prana he could.

Berserker missed Stirner a lot by now. Having a competent magus as his Master had meant not having ANY of these problems in the first place! At least he had Airi, but she couldn't truly handle the need of a Berserker-class Servant, hence this set-up. Gahhh! How was he supposed to do anything in this Grail War!?

The other Master that was going to be left alive, in theory, by the Einzberserker was not exactly looking in the best condition. To be summoned into this Grail War and then denied the possibility of doing anything in it was too cruel.