Once he saw that his own strike had missed, Jin spared no time in moving to defend himself from the oncoming barrage. That was the flow of battle, and spending too much energy on needless offense would only bring about inevitable defeat.

At the same time, forcing an offense with that sort of speed... Needless to say, the only possible option was to catch her unaware and strike on two fronts.

Using Yukianesa to block and parry the two katanas being swung at him, Jin took a half step back before pointing his weapon at the ground. Before he could strike the earth, though, the sudden onset of a sudden burst of falling snow from the sky caused the Major to change his plans entirely.

With a deep breath, Jin struck his weapon into the snow below, causing a giant dome of ice to instantly form around the pair of combatants (and, by sheer coincidence, the two spectators to their match) before sheathing his blade.

"Hmph. I acknowledge your skill, but it seems like there's no information to be gained from you," he remarked callously, glancing out past the crystal-clear ice towards the townscape. The snow couldn't even be called a flurry at this point—no, it was nothing if not a blizzard, and an incredibly strong one at that.

"...Unnatural. The sky had cleared when the match had begun, and there was no sign of such a storm even potentially arising..." he muttered to himself before turning back towards the white-haired swordswoman.

"I apologize for my initial behavior, given that it appears that you are comparatively innocent in these matters. You may remain here for shelter if you so wish; I, on the other hand, shall go and seek the source of this issue. It can't be far, after all," he said, glancing at the two bystanders without a hint of interest before making a hole in their temporary shelter.

@VitaVitaAR@TheFake@Crusader Lord


As Chris rushed to try and join the fray herself, Hibiki's own punch had simply knocked the not-Tsubasa thing into the next building over. The resulting sound of crashing glass panes and broken electronics caused the young woman to wince, but even so there was still the problem of whatever that was remaining alive. Or, well as 'alive' as that thing could constitute as.

The Gear user's worries were soon given form as the fake Tsubasa slowly stepped out of the hole in the building, now missing a giant chunk of its midsection from the punch. Just as Chris prepared to join Hibiki in striking at their enemy, though, it fell over and began to dissolve.

There was a moment of curiosity from Chris at how the scene played out—doubly so given that the not-Tsubasa had left behind something. With a wary glance, Chris walked over and knelt down to examine... Whatever that was.

Upon closer inspection, the object in front of her was some sort of blue gem, pulsing with a small light. Glancing around for a moment before realizing that there wasn;t anything better to attempt to pick it up with on the streets, the young woman ducked back into the arcade and grabbed some random piece of cloth (apparently a handkerchief with the Lydian logo on it?) and picked up the gem. It didn't seem to be doing anything odd, at the very least...

"Mmm... What was that...?" she asked, walking back over to Hibiki as the whole area seemed to shift and waver around them. Worrying that something else was amiss, Chris grabbed onto Hibiki's arm, only to see that the entire area seemed to pop and revert back to the way it was before combat had begun. No rubble, no debris, no broken glass—even the people and the doll that her companion had tossed to the wayside were back where they were a few moments before the fight began, and their Gears had both been deactivated to boot. The only difference now, of course, was the gem wrapped up in Chris' hand.

Letting go of Hibiki, Chris took a step back and took a deep breath before quietly massaging her forehead.

"What... What the hell just happened?!"

@Raineh Daze

---

"Ah!" Fran 'said' in response to the dark-skinned man's initial question, giving a very visible and clear nodding to indicate that 'yes, she could understand what he was saying'. It was almost a bit exciting for someone to have finally, FINALLY gotten that point so quickly...not that it made it easier for her potentially, but it was a bit of a relief regardless.

Though the latter question was not something she'd have preferred to answer in full honesty. To speak was...unpleasant in this state. That other "her" from another singularity, though, she was of another class. She could speak far better, but by Chaldea she could complain quite often! It was annoying...much like speaking as a Berserker always was such a pain.

"Uh...," Fran then sounded out in response to the second question the man had asked, giving a very vigorous head shake to indicate with that that 'no, she could not speak in this state'. She'd prefer not to, if she could...

Though as the sword duel finally came to its snowy conclusion, Fran looked to the two sword-wielders as the male one seemed to try to assert a sense of control over the situation. She couldn't blame him for perhaps wanting to do such, but at the same time...ah, this weather had truly picked up out of the blue. A true blizzard, and here they four were in this little igloo...with the lighter-toned man thinking the source of all this would be so close?

In her experiences, though she didn't know the experiences of these others, had led her all over places just to nail down the source of the problems. Usually in the form of a holy Grail master would acquire to fix singularities, but...for all she knew this could apply here as well! So splitting up was perhaps not the best...argh.

Fran gave a small pout of frustration in the direction of Jin, resisting the urge to let out a groan of her discomfort with that man's plan. Depending on what the darker-skinned man and this swordswoman did, though, she...might follow along if they all were going to. Or maybe she would stay here. It was a pain of a situation, and as much as being around so many people wasting electricity here was it couldn't be her only or first concern. Though it was still high on her list!!!

If only it was possible for her to communicate better with these people..

@TheFake@PKMNB0Y@VitaVitaAR

---

---

As this "Chrom" made his move, Robin swiftly rolled to the side the instant she recognized the glowing light and the move he was making. Aether. His own signature skill back home, a powerful blow that could bring mighty enemies down to size without fail in many cases. Though as she came to her feet, she felt something crash hard into her and knock her down once more to the ground. Gungnir almost came out of her hands as she quickly rolled away from this and stood up...only to find a clone of Owain there?

She'd heard about such abilities existing in other worlds, though it really was not the time to ponder on it. She had lost a few moments to this Owain's attempt to assist her, which was a bit frustrating, but she felt he was right about one thing: Helping that other girl. Through some strange powers the smaller girl seemed to have been holding her own against the other opponent, but this fight needed to be finished fast. Before any more innocents on these streets were hurt or lost their lives to...whatever these things were taking on these different forms.

Without uttering a word to this Owain about things, Robin turned to the pale-haired female enemy and quickly cocked up Gungnir in her arm in a throwing stance. It was not a normal usage of this weapon, but she'd thrown larger lances farther than this before!!!



"Gungnir!!!" the female tactician roared out into the air, even as the weapon left her hands towards at the pale-haired woman, with Ignis now coating it in fiery blue flames as it flew straight and true.

This had to work. It had to. She had other weapons to fall back on, but between the added might Gungnir gave her and the potency of Ignis she was not making it easy for the target to avoid. One could call it like a meter falling from the sky, a missile fired from a legendary bow, or among similar things as it streaked with lethal intent towards Robin's prey.

@VitaVitaAR@Rabidporcupine@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

He watched the two combattants with a skeptical eye. The pair didn’t seem to have any interest at all in him or his the girl with him. Whatever he had used didn’t feel like any magic he knew of, and even if the ice was Omtose Phellack, no humans should have access to that. Regardless of the source, the mage was loathe to be close to such unknown magic. Quick Ben started to follow the stranger but stopped at one of the trees in the park to break off a small branch.

He took the stick and muttered under his breath as he stripped it. Imbued with a small bit of Meanas, it left visible trail of shadow that hung in the air like a strangely heavy smoke. He handed it to the girl with a bit of a smile.

“It’s not a permanent solution by any means, but I saw that you could write”



The mercenary had rolled out of the car before the last car had finished settling after the collision.

“Fuck me.”

He drew his pistol and looked around to gauge how things stood. The enemy was wounded and the girl was pushing the offensive. Kincaid moved to give himself more distance, watching the tendrils that the girl seemed to be unleashing. He adjusted his aim slightly and began to fire in a steady but quick cadence, putting some rounds into where the swordswoman was and several others where she might end up if she decided to doge the attack instead of just blocking it.

After recovering from the impact of clashing with the car and being hit by a variety of attacks that it seemed to be unable to understand, the woman began to weave through the array of tentacles aimed at her. Just as she aimed to strike down the girl that she had finally made it in front of, though, one of the bullets fired by the man who was assisting the child managed to land and hit the assailant's shoulder, followed soon after by a glowing spear that pierced through both of her legs and catching her in place.

There was a pause as the woman attempted to recover, but a second strike never came. A tendril found its mark right in the woman's center of mass, lifting it in the air dramatically before the body it was holding up began to crumble.

The false 'Chrom' was faring no better, as though the body itself showed no change in facial expression, its movements began to dull after the tenth clash with the clone in front of him. More and more attacks managed to slip through its defenses, and eventually the wounds began to pile up to the point where it was impossible to ignore any longer. Time and time again it would attempt to use the same move, only to be intercepted or avoided and fail.

In the end, the false Exalt, too, fell to the ground and fade into nothingness.

In the place of both enemies now lay a single gem, one red from the woman and one purple from the shadow of Chrom. No other trace of them remained in the streets, deserted and damaged as they were now.

@Crusader Lord@TheFake@VitaVitaAR@Rabidporcupine

Slowly, Youmu lowered her blades. It was clear her opponent had been particularly skilled... but also that he was not a serious enemy. It had been more akin to a sparring match, or perhaps one of the danmaku duels of her homeland, as opposed to anything else. Given this was hardly something she was unused to, she wasn't totally taken off-guard when the battle simply stopped. On top of that... it appeared as if something far more concerning was occurring.

The snowfall had only intensified since her arrival, thickening to the point that it could only be referred to as a blizzard. Such a sudden snowstorm blowing in out of no-where certainly couldn't be natural, given there hadn't been a cloud in the sky previously. While the small half-phantom wished to uncover just what had happened to her... well, perhaps locating the source of this strange, sudden blizzard would be her first step on that bath.

"No. I wish to discover the source of this weather as well," she insisted, now realizing how chilly it was for someone dressed as she was, before sheathing both of her swords. It would be awkward to let that show, though!

@PKMNB0Y@TheFake@Crusader Lord

---

She'd hit!

The woman was lifted into the air, the glowing tendril spearing right through the center of her body! But... there was no blood, or anything. Abby didn't like seeing blood, but there was usually some of it... that, the way holes had been blown through the woman's body, and the way it was now seeming to come apart, crumbling away, made Abby come to what seemed like the only obvious solution.

"... They weren't people," she said, frowning, slowly approaching the red gem on the ground. The lights that had spawned the tendrils faded away as she did... what was that? It had just fallen out of the woman's body when she eroded away... "... I don't think they were even alive... it's kind of scary..."

Regardless of how scary it was, the little girl still knelt down and picked up the gem...

She thought she heard as strange popping sound...

And then there were no injured people. No damaged streets. No nothing. Everything was back to normal, exactly as it appeared when she had first arrived.

"Ah...? What...?"

@Rabidporcupine@PKMNB0Y@TheFake@Crusader Lord

---

This strange man in odd garb...she liked this man, as a person...more or less for giving her this magically-altered stick with which she could VIABLY COMMUNICATE with others. The Berserker accepted the stick with a sincerely happy yet gentle smile in return, internally giddy about not being forced to talk now. At least for now. Truly she had no idea what the future on this strange Earth...or Singularity or whatever it was...would hold, but not being the only one that had appeared here was a small comfort at the very least. Albeit all of the electricity waste, and the crowds of people that had been around, those were not her favorite things by a long shot. Not that she hadn't become accustomed to Chaldea's chaotically inhabited environment to a rather good extent though.

Without hesitation, Fran quickly began to write out a message in the air. Nothing too long at first, she supposed, but a proper thanks at the very least would do:

'Thank you for this, as speaking....well, it hurts quite a bit for me.

But while i agree with the other two wanting to find out how we all arrived here, and why this blizzard arose, i want to stick with you for the time being.

You seem to have a good head on your shoulders. And...also didn't start swinging swords as soon as you met another person.'

She would keep following this darker-skinned man, and apparently this little group of theirs that was wanting to go about looking for the source of these issues for the moment being. Mainly the blizzard right now, though such weather was...well, she was used to it. In life and far better as a servant for that matter.

Though she seemed to have rather good penmanship, flowing and even a bit stylish. Or perhaps this was something she had learned at Chaldea from watching others?

@TheFake@PKMNB0Y@VitaVitaAR

---

---

The tactician blinked in surprise as the world seemed to shift, not only their opponents defeated but the world seemingly reverted to a pre-battle state after. Yet only the enemies remained...dead? Even Gungnir was back on her back once more, like nothing had happened. It was...and interesting turn of events, but not one she was feeling bad about. Innocent lives not lost was a plus in her book, especially after all she had seen and done in her life so far.

Calmly, Robin walked back over to the little girl, taking a knee and giving a soft smile.

"Well, i think you are right about them not being alive. It feels like familiar situation to me...but i can't recall from where. Regardless, i think we weren't able to introduce ourselves properly yet.

My name is Robin."

The tactician spoke in a gentle and motherly-like voice, trying to pick up in a sense where she and this little girl had left off before the battle. Besides, Owain would perhaps make his way over to them regardless...based on what she knew of the eccentric son of Lissa at any rate. More importantly, she wanted to help this little girl if she still could, though much like a certain manakete this girl seemed to be more than meets the eye.

@VitaVitaAR@Rabidporcupine@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

"Eh? It fixed?" Hibiki asked, looking at where there had definitely been a smashed-in storefront before. If there was something that she wasn't going to complain about, then it was the landscape just fixing itself when the fighting was done. Only once had she seen something like that happen, and that had been because it was a process undoing the deconstructing of the world... not that it had done much about the people.

At least it meant that her completely unexplainable mini-Miku hadn't been damaged, and the schoolgirl was quick to pick it back up.

“I usually have friends to swing the swords for me, but even they would not fight a stranger they had just met.”

That was true, though Kallam would have no compunctions about sticking a knife in a stranger's back being the assassin that he was. He and Ben had worked well together from the very start. It would be nice to find someone to do the neccessary dirty work so that the mage could focus on more cerebral pursuits.

He looked at the girl thoughtfully. On first glance she didn't seem to be a fight, but he knew well that looms were very often deceiving. Sometimes intentionally so. Ben suppressed a shudder at the thought of the Bridgeburners’s last recruit.

“I intend to follow and see where his path takes us. At there very least we could make the weather milder.”

@Crusader Lord@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y



He dropped the empty magazine from the pistol and calmly reloaded with a spare from behind his back. Kincaid picked up the empty after a cautious look around and then holstered both it and the sidearm.

Then this gas went from strange to worse. Worse in that all of the destruction caused in the fight disappeared after the girl picked up the crystal left over from whatever had been killing people.

Worse again was that it wasn't going to be so easy to slip away. As if he had ever expected to be able to. A gun toting westerner would certainly stand out and people would doubtlessly remember him.

With nothing better to do than wait to get arrested when the police showed up, kincaid strolled over to the strange girl.

“I'm hoping you have a better idea of what's going on than I do.”

@VitaVitaAR@PKMNB0Y

"...Hm. So be it," Jin stated, turning back to the girl for a moment before introducing himself. "Jin Kisaragi. Major. I'll be making use of your abilities for the near future, so I'll be in your care."

The girl's decision to join him on his hunt was a tad expected, but Jin felt no reason to push for her to stay. To refuse help at a time like this was foolish, though the Major himself had to question if her clothing was appropriate for trying to explore an unknown town in the middle of a blizzard.

Not that he would fare much better, of course.

With that in mind, the Major took a step out of the dome of ice he had created and was promptly assaulted by a barrage of snow. With a frown, he pressed ahead, shielding his face with his arm as he moved out into the city. What had gathered at his feet was enough to make progress slower than he would have liked, though, but there was at least one destination in mind.

Before the duel earlier had begun, there had been one feature of the area that stood out to him: the large tower that stood well above the nearby buildings. If there was anything to check out, it would be that.

The few minutes that Jin estimated the walk to take were hampered by the snow that was rapidly piling up in front on him, and by the time he had finally made it to his destination it looked as if there was a good two inches of snow that he had just forded through. The tower itself seemed to have a lobby of sorts—a reception hall, if anything. The lack of staff at hand, though, meant that something was distinctly amiss.

"Stay on guard."

It wasn't necessary to say any more than that at this point.

@VitaVitaAR


After her momentary outburst and a few odd glances her way, Chris took a deep breath to calm herself before walking back over to Hibiki. At the very least, whatever odd plushie she had managed to procure was still intact, which meant that despite everything that had just happened (people and all), they were back to right before that fake Tsubasa had arrived. The gem was still in her hand, wrapped in the cloth, though, which meant that everything that had just occurred probably wasn't some odd fever dream.

"Yeah, it seems like everything fixed itself," she said, walking back over to Hibiki before taking another glance at the gem in her hand. It still seemed to be pulsing with an odd light, but it didn't seem as if anyone else was noticing. With a curious look on her face, Chris started moving the jewel around, watching as it seemed to light up as it moved one way and dim as it went the other.

"Hey, Hibiki, do you think we should follow this? That weird jewel is acting like one of those trackers, and I'm not sure what it'll guide us to, but..."

It was better than blindly wandering around and watching her friend burn all of her money on UFO Catchers, at least.

@Raineh Daze

Abigail paused for a moment. The lady who had been trying to speak to her before the fight was talking to her again. She was being nice... and oddly enough, after fighting, the little blonde girl somehow felt a bit more confident. Maybe this was some sort of special singularity? But if that was the case, where was her Master? And how had they been brought here when they'd been going out, without reyshifting? It didn't make much sense, but that had to be the case, didn't it? It certainly didn't seem to be a Lostbelt. So it had to be a singularity. That was the only answer she could think of.

"... My name is Abigail," the small girl introduced herself, finally, "Abigail Williams. But... um... there's something else going on here..."

She looked around, to confirm what she saw. Not even those who had been attacked were injured, they were back on their feet, leaving the area or talking amongst one another as if nothing had happened. This left only one answer in Abigail's mind. There was only one thing that could have happened.

When the man who had helped fight the strange shadow woman asked, Abigail felt as confident as she ever could in her answer.

"I think time was reversed," she responded, "But... not for us! For everyone else... and for this place too! Um.. er... I know about these things, so..."

She trailed off. Was it a good idea to tell these people more? They had powers, but she wasn't sure if they were Servants. The man certainly didn't seem to be.

@PKMNB0Y@TheFake

@VitaVitaAR@TheFake@Crusader Lord@PKMNB0Y



Owain looked on as his uncle dissolved before him, a conflicted feeling in his chest. On the one hand, it had been a truly brilliant fight, with only the quick thinking he'd inherited from his father to thank for his victory. On the other hand... Well, you know, Uncle... In the end though, the realization that all the people Chrom had killed were somehow fine tipped the scales to relief.

Still, he tilted his head in a quick prayer to Naga, before bending down to grab the crystal resting on the ground before him. Before he did so however, he realized that this was potentially a very stupid idea, and instead took a small satchel he kept under his cloak and wrapped the crystal in that instead. Once he was sure it wouldn't accidentally fall off his belt and cause some other form of horrible chaos, he made his way towards Robin and the others. As he walked, he maintained a cool pose with a hand over his face, because Naga it just looked too damn cool not to!

"Friends, I have completed my mournful task." He said, and while his tone was still quite dramatic, it was distinctly not an excited half-scream, a clear indication that the re-killing of his uncle had had a significant impact on him. "Fa-...I mean, Robin. When his form dissolved, I located a dark crystal beneath the ashes. As of yet, I'm afraid I do not recognize it, but I wonder if perhaps you may have seen something similar in your own grand adventures?"

He held the satchel out to her, before looking down to the girl who had introduced herself, and a new wide, is still somewhat subdued grin grew on his face.

"Ah, greetings Miss Abigail, I am Owain Dark! Legendary dark swordsman of Ylisse, as well as the grandmaster of Nohr!" He nodded in respect to the young... maybe just young-looking girl? He didn't want to say for sure, because Nyx was living proof that sometimes youthful appearances could be deceiving... Still, what he did know was that she was skilled in the ways of magic, and that it was worth listening to what she had to say.

"That does make sense..." He said when she mentioned the possibility of time travel. "I myself have traveled through time on multiple occasions, and while I can't say it was very similar to the past few times, it seems like the most likely option simply based on the outcome..."

And then he remembered something that the man he'd met at the shrine had said, and wondered if it might provide any hints as to just what was going on.

"Oh and before I forget, would anyone here happen to know what the word 'cosplay' means? Because I for one have never heard it before, despite my extensive and colourful vocabulary!"

With the fight concluded, Youmu began to realize just how cold it was here. It had been quite warm in the Netherworld, and while her body temperature was lower then a pure human's due to her half-phantom nature that didn't mean that she was invulnerable to the cold. Especially given her training had involved repeatedly dumping water on herself and trying to cut the droplets. She wasn't in her driest state, to put it simply, so that amplified the cold. But... Yuyuko-sama was counting on her to quickly find a path home! So Youmu couldn't be defeated by something like being cold... even if the chill immediately got to her arms and legs.

The weather had taken a considerable turn for the worst, for that matter. It really was a blizzard, not simply a snowstorm like it had been before. Was the celestial somehow involved? This manipulation of weather... Could it have been that yuki-onna? Either seem possible, given the strangeness of this event.

More concerning, however, was the lack of any people. There should have been someone around here. Even if Youmu wasn't familiar with the location, this looked like it should have been some kind of reception hall. But there was no staff at all, even indoors.

"... There's no people..." she commented, looking around warily with one hand on Roukanken's hilt. She couldn't help but be concerned about what could have happened to them.

Responding to this concern, her phantom half suddenly returned to her side. Given it was part of her, no words were necessary: It immediately set off deeper into the building to check for any signs of people ahead.

@PKMNB0Y

Kincaid nodded to Abigail. He was very used to people not telling the whole story. He was fine with not knowing everything as long as he got paid. Unfortunately it looked like for the foreseeable future no paycheck would be forthcoming. That almost displeased him more than not knowing how he had ended up in Japan.

He sighed. “I’m Kincaid, mercenary. I don’t know a whole lot about this time thing but I’ve also no idea how I ended up in Japan.”

He refrained from giving his first name, being much more comfortable with his surname.

@Rabidporcupine@PKMNB0Y@Crusader Lord@VitaVitaAR

The brunette responded with interest at Chris's remark, looking at the crystal in her hand... then seizing her arm and waving it around a bit more to confirm what the half-Japanese girl had already identified: that it was some sort of tracking device. Unfortunately for Chris, this then prompted Hibiki to use her free arm to take the arm holding the crystal and run off with a "Let's go there, then!"

Unfortunate, because out of the two of them, only one was a martial artist and semi-training fanatic. And it wasn't the one whose ability to fight consisted of producing more firepower than a normal artillery battalion at will.

The run through the streets of Tokyo was more like tugging the other girl along by the end, culminating in standing across a quartet of people standing awkwardly in the street--three of them blonde and one with white hair. But unlike her and Chris (well, arguably with Chris) they didn't seem to fit in so much.

And that's when the crystal started to respond more strongly, leaving the other girl's hand...

"Oi, hey wait a minu—!"

Once Hibiki had taken her arm, the unfortunate young woman already had a feeling about what was to come. She had seen her friend act like this many times in the past, and much to her chagrin, each of them ended up...

"Aaah, fine!" Chris declared in half-defeat, resigning herself to being dragged along like a ragdoll in Hibiki's search for whatever it was that the crystal was pointing them towards. It was better than waiting around for something to happen to them, at least. It took a few blocks of weaving through the crowds of people (who, as it seemed, were still half-ogling their outfits) before the pair came across... Whoever those people were.

Unlike the two high school girls, the ragtag group in front of them looked far from simple cosplayers. Putting aside the fact that they didn't look quite Japanese at all, there was the matter of one of them with a distinctly sharpened spear and another with what was obviously a sword. Be in ornamental or not...

"Erm... Are you... Cosplaying tourists, by any chance? You know that there's a law preventing people from walking around with weapons in public, right?" she asked as the crystal in Hibiki's hand suddenly began to shake and float into the air. The two other jewels present in their immediate vicinity, conveniently located within the hands of the others in front of them. That, of course, made it abundantly clear to Chris that the ones present here were also likely on the receiving end of whatever off phenomenon had struck earlier.

After the three jewels rose into the air and circled their heads a few times, they immediately crashed into one another in the circle they had formed. There was a brief pause and a slight wince from Chris as they collided, but where she expected to see dust there was instead a translucent white orb in its place. It seemed to float there in the middle of their two groups, but oddly enough nobody else on the streets seemed to be looking at it.

Or them anymore, for that matter.

"Er... Are we going to run into another issue?" Chris asked, eyeing the orb warily as she freed herself from Hibiki's ironclad grip. "I don't see any more weird shadow people or things blowing up..."

@Rabidporcupine@VitaVitaAR@TheFake@Raineh Daze

---

'I concur. Though if things continue like this, I am unsure if the human populace here will be able to withstand it as well. With that in mind, clearing this blizzard would be helpful.

Though if push comes to shove, I'd prefer to travel with a more level-head seeming individual like you, rather than the other two should we all part ways.' Fran wrote out in the air with her stick for Ben to read, before giving a nod and beginning to jog after the two sword wielders with Bridal Chest clutched close to her chest.

However, their end destination didn't seem to be much better than their initial location in the snow dome. Thick driving snow, a total absence of people, and now in the lobby of this big tower's reception area there were no people either. Usually, this spoke of a monster attack in Fran's experience. Or the presence of an enemy servant who had performed some kind of large-scale magecraft after obtaining a Holy Grail. Regardless of the possibilities otherwise, it wasn't a good sign to her on an instinctual level either.

Bridal Chest held in a battling position now, Fran made her way first...over to a computer on the reception desk, unplugging it promptly. But more than that, she moved over towards a nearby door, maybe a place where employees could be? She was curious...but one could never know what lied behind a closed door. And if the enemy was potentially waiting...well, it was not like she was...human or anything. Just a monster, and so...ah, she had better get on with it.

With a casual ease, Fran swung Bridal Chest, smashing the door like it was a toothpick whilst preparing herself for potential battle.

It was time to see what maybe lied beyond, perhaps? If anything was around here at all perhaps.

---

@TheFake@PKMNB0Y@VitaVitaAR

---

---

Time reversed, eh? Robin mulled over the idea briefly as she considered the possibilities of this being tied to the Outrealms or such things. She also knew Owain and Severa, even Inigo had been pulled into another world entirely, where...well, herself and others were just legends. That much her time with a strange summoner had taught her as she conversed with others from seemingly endless parallel worlds. She more or less felt it was more similar to that occurrence than perhaps the Outrealms, then, but for such a variety of people from greatly different places...at least it seemed such to her as even the man that had been in the metallic chariot also approached them....then this was perhaps an incredibly unique situation altogether.

It was only speculation at best, however, but evidence seemed to point to another thing. Those gems, time reversing, the fake Chrom...and maybe fake other person for all she knew...something, some being, someone was behind the scenes somewhere in this world. That much she could postulate after just the Grima incident altogether. Grima had pulled strings, made puppets, et cetera.

This would take time and effort...and frankly, cooperation unless these people wanted to rampage on their own paths. Maybe. Albeit, she felt a tug to keep this little girl safe. Sure, she'd proven she could fight, but....it just felt right to stick with her for now regardless.

"Perhaps we have all been pulled into an alternate world. It's happened to me before, but...never to this extreme. And considering what we just fought, someone could be pulling the strings behind the curtain....

But that is enough theories for the moment, perhaps."

She was about to suggest they find a place to dwell in, a base of operations if anyone had viable money for this place. Or if they could perhaps barter? She didn't know for sure. She was not a boss, merely a tactician trying to grasp the situation at hand. Yet before she could really get to this, the gems, a glowing white orb, two more girls, all of this seemed to occur in quick succession to her. Though there was one sentiment she could readily agree with at this time. Especially after looking about them for people's reactions...if any.

"I suppose we all are in the same boat, then, and this orb is more than a little strange after what has happened.

Though at this venture, i assume 'cosplay' means to dress like another individual. If...the context is relevant here.

But if no one else notices this orb...hmm, there must be a reason."

Robin supposed they could try a myriad of things, but usually an item showing magic like this only for them...usually was a good thing. Like the Fire Emblem reacting to Naga when Chrom unlocked its full power. Albeit, the same could be said for when it was used to revive Grima, a memory that made her almost shudder from recalling it.

Taking a chance, Robin stepped out to touch the glowing white orb. It wasn't dark like the beings, nor as dark as those shining gems. Further, there was only one way to perhaps entirely confirm if this was a good sign or not.

@VitaVitaAR@Rabidporcupine@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

Ben followed along at a discrete distance, not being inclined to introduce himself to the pair that had been fighting so recently. With the deepening snow he tapped Serc, calling up a wind that brushed the snow from their path.

“We should work quickly to resolve things.”

He stopped in the lobby, watching Fran curiously. The mage channeled a half dozen other warrens, looking around warilly. He sighed as the girl smashed down the door and frowned at her. He backed up out through the front door, looking upwards to the top of the tower. There was some sort of upper level up there. He ducked back for a second.

“The other two are already inside. Let’s start at the top.”

He held out his hand in invitation.

@Crusader Lord@PKMNB0Y@VitaVitaAR

Abigail hesitated for a few moments. That one guy... Mister Dark. He was really loud and it was a bit overwhelming, but he didn't seem like a bad person. No-one here seemed to be a bad person... Abby had met a lot of people who seemed like they could be scary, but they weren't! Mister Geronimo was just one of them, but there were a lot of fellow Servants summoned by her Master who seemed like they could be scary but they really weren't, too! Well, there was one that was still pretty scary, at least. Even if Mister Gilles was kind to her, something about him always made her worried.

But the point was that everyone who showed up already seemed nice... and if everyone had these abilities... How would her Master have handled it? She would have tried to explain things to them, right? To make sure they could solve the singularity quickly. Or, at least she'd help Miss Da Vinci explain things. Or Miss Mash.

They deserved to know, didn't they?

Before Abby could open her mouth, however, suddenly the gem was sucked out of her hand as two older girls showed up! Each of the gems abruptly met in the air... but rather then shattering, the suddenly seemed to merge? They turned into some kind of glowing orb in the air, it was like they had all fused into something more powerful... Or at least more whatever it was the gems were supposed to be doing.

Those other two girls had to be part of it, too.

She took a deep breath.

"Um... everyone, I think I know what's going on," she began, waving one of her oversized sleeves in the air, "My Master isn't here, but, er, I'll try and explain as much as I can, okay?"

@Rabidporcupine@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Crusader Lord@TheFake

With a slight nod, Jin continued to take a few steps forward, only to notice that the two people who had been witness to their earlier match had decided to follow along. While that in and of itself was no issue (he was used to being followed by this point), the fact that the first instinct of the girl was to unplug a computer at the apparent reception desk and smash a door open.

"Are you an idiot?!" he asked, glaring daggers at the girl before noticing that the other person who had accompanied her over was (quite conveniently) offering to take her away.

"You. Make sure this one doesn't go alerting whatever party was responsible for this mess," he said, turning back around to glance at the computer that had been turned off. The system didn't seem to be connected to the security cameras that he had seen on the way in (and scattered around the area), but it didn't hurt to attempt to restart it and see if there wasn't any information still on the device.

With a quick gesture, the swordsman plugged the computer back in before glancing inside the room. It seemed to be nothing more than an empty break room, with the only noticeable oddity being a pool of water lying in front of the TV. There was a water cooler in a room and a few overturned plastic cups, so it was logical to assume that whatever had taken over the rest of the tower had managed to reach in here, too.

With the scene in mind, Jin walked back over to the swordswoman, who had apparently sent something out to scout the area.

"Have you found anything?" he asked, glancing over at the computer every so often to see if it had finished rebooting yet. Computers weren't something he was particular familiar with—that was more Sector Seven's area of expertise—but the marginal knowledge that he had would probably be enough to possibly figure something out.


Chris watched in silence as the woman from the other group walked up to the orb and attempted to touch it, only for the object in question to give off a bright flash of light and—apparently—project a 3D replica of the city onto the ground. What stood out among that, though, were a bunch of odd markers. Red, blue, and green lights seemed to be scattered around multiple sections of the city, with varying degrees of brightness. What they meant, of course, Chris couldn't quite tell, but it didn't seem as if the orb would tell them anything about it.

The young woman's attention was immediately dragged away from the hologram on the floor, though, then the little girl in the other group chimed in. In particular, the word "Master" caused Chris to involuntarily tense up and bite her lip.

To say that the idea of a little girl calling someone "Master" was uncomfortable would be an understatement.

"Oi, 'Master'?! Hold on a second, that—" she began to shout, almost out of reflex, before forcing herself to take a deep breath and calm down. Just the mention of that alone was enough to invoke memories of being with Fine—memories she would rather keep buried, if possible. While she had gotten over what had happened back when dealing with her former foster mother by now, the thought of another young girl being in a similar situation...

It just felt wrong to let that be.

With that in mind, Chris quietly sidestepped the orb and everything it was showing to the group before kneeling down in front of the blonde girl. It took a moment for the young woman to figure out how to discuss the issue. While logically it might have been better to bring the girl off to the side and speak with her privately, it wasn't as if she was in a perfect state of mind to make such a decision.

"Um... Your 'Master' isn't here, you said?" she asked, her eyes showing a notable amount of concern as she spoke. "What happened to your parents? Don't you have any guardians? Is there... A reason for you to say 'Master'? You're not being forced to do anything you don't want to, are you...?"

It was a bit blunt, granted, but even so... To her, it was definitely better than nothing.

@Rabidporcupine@VitaVitaAR@TheFake@Raineh Daze@Crusader Lord

Abigail paused for a moment, her train of thought brought to a screeching halt. One of the older girls who had just shown up, the one with the silvery hair that... reminded her of...

The little blonde girl didn't say anything. But... she had to try and let everyone know what was going on! So she couldn't let herself be sad, or anything like that. That wasn't... well... it...

"My Master? Ah, er..." Abigail shifted awkwardly. With that intense look on the other girl's face, it had suddenly become a bit more difficult to articulate herself. But she had to try and explain to her. She could tell the white-haired girl thought that something was wrong, that her Master was bad. But that wasn't the case at all!

"My Master isn't anyone bad," Abigail continued, after a few moments of uncertain fidgeting. She had managed to brighten up, however, on thinking of how kind her Master was. That would make it a lot easier to talk about! "Um... I'm a Servant, and she summoned me. She was taking me out on vacation, but something happened and I ended up here! My... my family..."

Abigail trailed off. It wasn't exactly a nice thing to think about, even if it was evident just by her existence here. But she had to try and explain.

"Isn't around anymore... but... but the important thing is that we're all here! I think this is a Singularity! ... Or something like it..."

She trailed off. How was she going to explain all of this? The nature of a Singularity. She'd never had to do it before.

@Rabidporcupine@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Crusader Lord@TheFake