[h1][center][b][color=0054a6]Reiki Matou[/color][/b][/center][/h1]
[h3][center]Matou Manor Mk. II, Foreigners' Lowlands[/center][/h3]
[hr]

Here, on the edge of the ruins, stood a small house.

It wasn't something that could be easily noticed from the outside, but if one stepped into the bounded field, they would see clearly a small, singly-storey version of the Matou home that was destroyed along with so many others the night before.

With that said, one who stepped into the bounded field would find themselves beset by a torrent of worms and runic defences.

Many bugs had been killed in the destruction of this district, but the still prodigious mass that remained felt somehow lighter, more flexible and manageable. This was probably nothing but an illusion of wishful thinking. There was no real benefit to losing so many familiars.

The Matou heir sat at the kitchen table in the sparsely decorated house, a few suitcases partially unpacked beside her. She dealt with bug after bug, infusing a select few with dangerous spells of binding and absorption that would make them individual points of great threat among the swarms.

Below her feet, in "Worm Pit Mk. II," worms who had found some vermin or corpse to feed on put that matter to good use, breeding additional units.

Her mind could not truly be in multiple places at once, for she lacked that special talent of Atlas alchemists. Nonetheless, her familiar manipulation could be compared to an "absolute real-time-strategy game master" who set up "paths" for her units to follow while she focused on other things.

And focus she did.

[hr]
[h1][center][b][color=598527]Ground Platoons[/color] and [color=9e0b0f]Air Squadrons[/color][/b][/center][/h1]
[h3][center]Fuyuki City[/center][/h3]
[hr]

Their numbers had been greatly reduced. The pit which housed so many reserve units was gone, and so all that was left was the enormous network blanketing the city.

Tremendous losses of both human and worm life.

Men, women, and children struck down by the recent chaos would not have died in vain. They would factor in to the controller's goal, and that goal would in turn be key to the success of humanity. 

The controller was experienced enough not to feel any distaste for such things. Bodies in the streets and in homes were ravenously devoured for the greater good. Normal scavengers, insects and vermin, who had come to feast were consumed as well with no change to the routine.

It was an exceptional amount of flesh, and while recouping the losses of last night was absolutely impossible, this feast would nonetheless produce an exceptional amount of worms.

[hr]
[h1][center][b][color=598527]Ground Platoon Fourteen[/color][/b][/center][/h1]
[h3][center]Outside Construction Project: ‘Tarantasio’, Foreigner’s Lowlands[/center][/h3]
[center][@Phonic][@Paradox Witch][/center]
[hr]

They took on the form of the controller, as was often done in the past. The form with the delicate features of a young lady approached the sizeable project with what would be seen by most as stern confidence. An expression it had required extra focus from the controller to properly form.

Fourteen got as close to the unfinished building as possible, and as soon as one of the workmen came into view, it made to grab his attention. Truthfully, though, it was probably worth nothing but a formality to speak to someone who could be seen. There would likely be some sensor around that would alert Benita, wherever she was, of what Fourteen was saying to the construction worker.

[color=0054a6]"Call Benita. She can come out here, invite me in, or send some messenger, but it's high time we started communicating properly."[/color]

[hr]
[h1][center][b][color=9e0039]Scáthach[/color][/b][/center][/h1]
[h3][center]Einzbern Forest Outskirts, near Foreigners' Lowlands[/center][/h3]
[center][@Undyingregret][@BlueHelix][/center]
[hr]

Her eyes were locked onto her target. The Lancer focused on the Avenger from a distance using Clairvoyance. Her body and the spear sticking into the ground just next to her bore many runic markings, some already activated, shimmering with multicoloured light, and some not.

She relied purely on her Master's surveillance to be sure that this woman had added something to yesterday's blaze that had made it noticeably harder to deal with. hile she wasn't the one who had started the fire, nor the one who had added the curses that set it on the path to Miyama's ruin, she would still be worth a handsome reward from Ruler for her part in the crisis.

She was not a member of the Assassin class, and so she could not truly snuff out the massive waves of energy that marked her as a Servant. Nonetheless, she employed a combination of runes and a miscellaneous stealth skill in an effort to minimize the degree her position between two small hills about 300 meters from her target could be detected.

From a satchel, she produced a handful of smooth stones with different runes carved into them, picked out a single one with her right hand. The physical strengthening runes on her right arm sprang to life with an orange glow as she wound up for a throw and hurled the stone at Avenger with functionally rank [b]A[/b] power and speed.

In the instant it took the rock to travel through the air, the rune inscribed onto it began to glow a brilliant white. As a keen-eyed magus might have recognized, what was about to come forth from the stone was an explosion of extreme force. Scáthach knew enough about her opponent to not bother with a burst of flame, so this rune would release something closer to thunder or a wave of air.

If Reiki's assessment of her foe's parameters was accurate, then a direct hit would surely spell death for Avenger. On top of that, avoiding a direct hit was a mighty task to begin with due to the speed at which the projectile moved and detonated combined with the [b]A[/b] ranked Clairvoyance Lancer way utilizing. The rune was not one that would activate upon impact with something, but rather an attack that would go off at Lancer's own command, the moment it got close enough to its target. No doubt her enemy had some tricks to call on to improve her survival beyond her relatively unimpressive physical abilities, but things got more complex when one considered that her Master also stood in the projected blast radius.

For the opening move of a battle, it was nothing to scoff at.