FujiwaraPhoenix

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

The somewhat steady pace that the Driver had intended to set was promptly broken with the sudden sprint Hibiki had broken into, and it had by all means caught both Zeke and his Blade off guard. It took a few moments for him to realize how gung-ho she had been despite how sketchy everything felt, but with a cursory glance backwards to check if Magilou was following as well (she was), Zeke immediately bolted after the young girl who had left the three of them in the dust.

"Oi, oi, hold on a sec!" he shouted, having finally managed to catch up with her after a brief sprint and trying to pull on her shoulder in an attempt to slow her down (to little avail). "I get that you really wanting to save that girl, but if you charge in alone, who's to say you won't end up in an equally bad spot? That Magilou girl is tagging along too, by the looks of things, so at the very least try and not leave us without saying a word, would you?"

Of course, by this point, Zeke had essentially been dragged all the way to the point of interest, and the ominous atmosphere that this building, miraculously intact as it was, did nothing to hide the multitude of issues. Something so blatantly ominous was never a good sign, after all.

On the upside, Hibiki had stopped, likely due to the existence of a door in her way. That, at least, was a relief.

"Look, uh... Hibiki, was it? I'm not going to judge, since I know a kid who has the same gung-ho attitude that you do, but we can't exactly help if you go diving off into the middle of nowhere on your own, you know? At the very least, let's all cooperate to help that kid out, yeah?" he said, taking his hand off of Hibiki's shoulder and glancing at the door. "But, man... I'm not sure I like the look of this place already. Given the building Pandoria and I popped out of, if that creepy image up there is any indication, we should probably be ready for a fight the second we pass through."

@Raineh Daze@RolePlayerRoxas

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

The smirk on Zeke's face as Hibiki applauded his and Pandoria's introduction was soon replaced with a distinctly less amused frown as he watched the girl fiddle with the map. The video that played soon after did not serve to lighten his mood either, and before long the Driver had taken a step back to assess the situation. It wasn't like he was able to stand by after seeing something like that, either, but...

"What a weird video. Well, it's not like I'm going to just stand by after seeing a kid crying like that, though; seen more than my fair share of people down on their luck to let that be," he remarked, crossing his arms as he stared at the route that the map was pointing them towards. "I don't know about you two, though, but I think I'm going to go check that place out... Creepy as it was."

As if responding to his voice, the map seemed to pulse for a moment, causing the ground to light up as if guiding the way.

"You know, I'll take this over getting lost any day. C'mon, Pandoria; we've got a job to do."

"Right behind you!" replied the Blade, bowing towards the other two girls before moving to catch up with her Driver.

@Raineh Daze@RolePlayerRoxas

---

---

There was a moment of silence as Nanoha's own scan proceeded, with most of the city being in various states of disrepair or disuse. For the most part, there were no other signs of life in the immediate vicinity, but before anything beyond a few dozen blocks in any direction could register, each of the orbs that had been sent out seemed to seize up and stop, even if only for a moment.

Then, without any warning, a screen seemed to project itself from the young girl's device, and a video began to play in front of those present. This was followed, of course, by a single message, flashing across the screen in distinctly written English.

"In time, you will know the tragic extent of my failings..."

Once the sequence had concluded, the functionality of everything that had been paralyzed until then was returned, with only one notable change: on the map that had been created from the scan, a single point, laden with subtle (yet intense) indications of energy made itself prominently clear. Above it, though, was a small descriptor of the location, vague as it was: "The Hamlet".

@VitaVitaAR@KoL@Rune_Alchemist@Crusader Lord

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

The tension that hung in the air as the Berserker faced the sole exit to the alcove that he had stationed himself in was oppressive to the young man who was, by now, at a complete loss for words. It was not as if he had lost consciousness; no, nothing of the sort. But the fact that he had been lead to believe that he had finally managed to prove all of those naysayers wrong, that he could finally stop be treated as nothing more that a third-rate existence——

It all meant nothing when even a Servant declared him as unfit to be a Master on a fundamental level.

The words of the Saber as she confronted Hijikata fell on deaf ears, as did her reassurance towards the young man behind him. While the latter was still struggling to come to terms with the whole ordeal, the Servant in front of him simply scoffed and readied his katana.

"Surrender? So long as I live, the Shinsengumi will never surrender!" he declared. Despite the amount of blood dripping from his injuries, the Berserker seemed thoroughly unfazed as he rushed forward, katana drawn in an attempt to cut down the one in front of him.

Despite knowing full well, of course, that it was nothing more than a futile last attempt at survival on his own terms.

@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Given everything that had just transpired, the Alter Ego found it somewhat irritating that this was what BB had sent them out to handle. Meltryllis herself had no clue what the point of these things were in the first place, nor did she have any particular desire to remain as BB's errand girl...

But given the circumstances, that particular problem couldn't exactly be helped. Not like it was any easier with the half-conscious Master that she had at her side, though; ideally, this situation could have waited a day so that she could have an obedient helper and not a half-conscious human to escort around, but this was also a situation that she had brought on herself. All things considered, she couldn't exactly complain without being hypocritical, and that was more than unbecoming of someone of her stature.

So, as the only thing left to do was report back, Meltryllis quietly walked behind Nanako as they made their way back to the apartment, making sure to poke the girl with her heel every time she seemed to be on the cusp of falling over onto her face. If anything, the pain would keep her conscious until they reached a bed for her to sleep on instead.

The Arena

Chiron let a sigh slip past his lips as he heard Mordred's rebuttal, though that was as short-lived as his leeway before one of the arrows that he had fired made their swift return. Though he was barely able to react in time, the Archer still found himself grazed by his own arrow, and a gash made itself prominently visible on his right arm despite his own attempts to avoid the attack outright.

"My, my, you really do live up to your name. Maybe I should ask Achilles to train with you one of these days; he's gotten far too lax without his usual practice," he remarked, dusting himself off as he watched the mana flare up around his opponent. By now, the centaur was far too used to seeing Sabers who fired beams, and so he promptly prepared himself for the usual countermeasures...

Only to find himself caught off guard by Mordred's alternative avenue of attack. Despite the situation he found himself in, though, Chiron could not help but smile.

"Well done!" the teacher responded, deliberately kicking the ground and forcing himself to fall as he attempted to deflect the attack with his left arm. His right, of course, had discarded the bow and was now aiming to strike Mordred's chin as she passed by overhead.

@KoL

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

With all the names of locations that they didn't recognize being tossed around, Zeke and Pandoria simply glanced at each other and back at the other two girls, with the former simply crossing his arms and nodding his head as if any of what had just been said made any sense. It wasn't as if he had heard of 'Japan' either, though, but given that in all the years of traveling through Alrest none of these names had come up, there was only one somewhat logical conclusion that he could draw.

"Hmph. Quite frankly, I've never heard of any of those places existing," Zeke said, a somewhat thoughtful gaze on his face as he stared at Magilous. "That being said, it's not like I've ever heard of a 'Japan', either, though. You think it'd be too far-fetched to assume some weird 'parallel universe' thing is at work?"

Even if the Architect was dead, the thing that he said he had experimented on wasn't necessarily gone, and given all of the problems that thing had caused, it wasn't too farfetched to think it was the cause of this problem. It could just as easily have been the fault of something else entirely, but that wasn't exactly something he wanted to worry about.

"In any case, since you've had the pleasure of introducing yourself, I guess it's my turn, right? I am the mighty Zeke! Von! Genbu! Bringer of Chaos! One of the greatest Drivers in Alrest! And this..." he declared, emphasizing each word as he spoke before leading into a flourish towards the glasses-wearing girl at his side, "Is my Blade, Pandoria!"

The was a brief pause as the two posed, but after a few seconds Zeke simply relaxed and smirked.

"But if neither of you know what Alrest is like I'm guessing, then I can't exactly sound that cool, huh? Dang. Pandoria, you think I should maybe come up with a new introduction? Can't exactly show off like this if they don't understand how big a deal I am..."

"You know, you can probably work that out over lunch or something. Knowing you, you'll have something by this weekend."

"Harsh, but I getcha," he responded, glancing back at the group before something odd caught his eye. Despite the rest of the city being completely barren, there did seem to be a few things left standing; in their general vicinity, no more than a few feet away, though, there did seem to be a stand of some sort that had survived the test of time. No, more than that, it seemed to be actively changing, which immediately drew the man with the eyepatch over to check it out.

For what it was worth, the apparent map did seem to have a top-down view of the city in its destroyed state, odd as it was, but also small images of each of their faces huddled around near an arrow pointing at their location. Despite not having worked with anything more than analog materials outside of the World Tree, the diagram made a surprising amount of sense to him.

"A fancy map, eh? Wonder what that's all about..." he said, poking at the thing before turning back towards the others present. "Anyone know how to work this thing?"

@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

It took a few moments after the other woman had casually ignored their existence before Zeke and Pandoria paused their conversation, turning to look at her for a few moments before the former scrambled to walk in her way again. This time, of course, he was giving the woman and her companion his full attention, with his right hand raised as if to ask them to stop without saying it outright.

"Oi, oi, hold on, you're just going to walk by like that? Look, I get that I'm probably not in a spot to talk, but I was thinking you'd at least... I don't know, call us out on that whole routine? Easier way to break the ice than what I'm doing now, at least..." he began to say, glancing at the weird thing in a top hat with the woman before sighing. "So? Now that I'm in this position, I might as well be the first to ask; you find your way here by accident, too?"

Before he could get a response, though, the sound of some other girl—definitely younger—calling to them caused Zeke to turn his head towards the source. Though she had a far more "normal" outfit than either of them did, well... She didn't seem hostile, either.

"Sorry, missy, but I'm as clueless as you are," he shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. "I had expected a few monsters by now, but a desolate cityscape like this isn't exactly much better, y'know?"

@RolePlayerRoxas@Raineh Daze

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

@Raineh Daze: Accepted. One more onto the pile.

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

Despite the state of the city being essentially no more than ruins, Zeke and Pandoria found themselves walking with an ever-wary gaze, almost as if expecting some massively oversized enemy to fly out of nowhere and pound their faces into the dirt. It wasn't the first time that sort of thing had happened, after all, and if there was anything that could have done this to the city, it would be something like that.

Or, well, a few millennia of abandonment, but there was always the possibility that both could have been responsible.

After rounding a few blocks, though, Zeke let out a sigh and crossed his arms, glancing at the buildings that hadn't been reduced to rubble. A few of them had signs that looked similar to the one that he had seen exiting the building, of course, but beyond that... Well, there were a few that, while clearly long since abandoned, were indicators of more normal things; storefronts, inns, and even living quarters. It didn't look like these had been destroyed, per se; no, the idea that the place had been left to rot was now far more reasonable.

"You know, if there's one good thing I can say about this place, it's that it's not all that dusty. I'd hate to be coughing and hacking trying to look through this old place," he said, leaning against the wall of a nearby building. "It is pretty barren, though; you'd think that there might be some more remnants of the Architect's civilization if this was just another part of Morytha, right?"

"Last time you said something like that, we had monsters swarming us for the next half an hour. Don't jinx us like that, please," responded Pandoria, to which Zeke could only respond with a smile as he pushed himself off the wall.

"Yeah, well, it's not like running isn't an option, right?" he asked back, a cheeky smile on his face as he turned to begin walking again. The immediate sight of some brighter colors caused him to pause for a moment, though, and after glancing between that and Pandoria a few times, the Driver simply shrugged and began to walk closer.

Once he got close enough to ascertain that the source of color was not, in fact, some sort of psychedelic mirage created by the world and instead what appeared to be some sort of female figure, Zeke took a few steps closer, taking quiet note of how odd the outfit was the closer he got.

"Hey, Pandy... You think that's another Blade over there?" he asked, glancing over the outlandish outfit that was present thus. "Like... Big, fancy hat, weird outfit with a skirt made out of books... Like, do you see any normal people wearing that sort of stuff?"

"You're one to talk. But if you want my honest opinion? Look at that thing with her! That'd totally be the Blade, right? It's not a Nopon, but what else can you think of that'd be smaller than that?"

"Well, yeah, now that you mention it..."

It was fairly obvious by now that the two had dipped into their own pseudo-comedy routine, having decided that debating with each other over the identity of whoever the woman and her little friend were was more worthwhile than walking closer and actually asking the person in question.

@RolePlayerRoxas

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

@Crusader Lord: Good to go.

The Nameless City — Invite Only!

Zeke von Genbu

Ever since the defeat of Malos atop the World Tree and the disappearance of the Cloud Sea, life had gotten far more hectic than Zeke had anticipated. While Rex had achieved his dream of reaching Elysium (in a way), the combined responsibility of being the head of the Garfont Mercenaries and acting as the Driver of the Aegis meant that he was busy running around trying to help the various heads of state settle... Well, everything that had happened since then. Given that Morag went back to her brother's side and that Nia was now acting as a permanent bodyguard alongside him, it was only logical that Zeke himself would go back home to Tantal...

Or so one might think. While he had considered heading home to help his father out after leaving the World Tree, the crown prince was promptly told to 'keep up the good work in building international relationships' or something of that nature, and that his father would handle all of the issues at home. It was for that reason that he and Pandoria were currently resting at an inn in Alba Cavanich.

"Mmm... All right, Pandy, I think that's enough of that for now," Zeke said, double checking their bags and making sure that they were all as they had been the night before. "Today's an off day, right? No jobs called in by Rex or Morag?"

"No, my Prince; I mean, it's seven in the morning, so if anything was happening, I'm pretty sure that they'd send someone," replied his Blade, a smile on her face as she got off the bed opposite his. "Do you want to get some breakfast, then?"

"Well, we got Turters his meal for the morning, so I don't see why not," he replied, rolling his shoulders as he opened the door to leave their room.

Needless to say, the ruins of a city were not the first thing that he expected to see. With a bit of a pause, Zeke blinked a few times before closing the door and sitting back down on the bed.

"Pandy?"

"Yes, my Prince?"

"Did you see that just now?"

"See what?"

With a confused look on his face, Zeke watched as Pandoria handed Turters off to him before walking over and opening the door in his stead, revealing nothing more than the hallway to the inn that he had expected to see.

"Wait, no, what? Hold on, Pandy, give me a second," he said, ushering his Blade back inside and closing the door before opening it back up. This time, the ruins were fully visible to both of those present in the room. What followed, of course, was the comical sight of both Zeke and Pandoria taking turns opening the door before the pair finally decided to sit back down inside the room.

"This is... I'm not sure what to call it, actually," Zeke said, scratching his head as he stared out at the ruins past the doorway. "You think the Architect is pulling a fast one on us? Because that place looks, well... Like it's seen better days."

"I don't think that's the case here, my Prince... But I can already tell where you're going with this. At this rate, you're going to—"

"Explore it? Well, obviously; everyone else is a bit busy with their own problems, and we're really just volunteers right now, so I don't think they'll mind if we go missing for a little while. In any case, let's go and get some breakfast before we start!"

---

One brief meal and shopping run later, and both Zeke and Pandoria were back in their room. With their stomachs full and gear prepared, Zeke turned to Pandoria and nodded before closing and opening the door. The ruined cityscape that replaced the hallway of the inn was a bit familiar to the pair by this point, and without an ounce of hesitation, the two stepped forward past the doorway.

"Ah... Hm. You know, it's actually a lot cleaner than the Land of Morytha... Or that place up on the World Tree, once you get a bit closer," Zeke quipped, walking around the immediate vicinity before turning around to look back at where they had entered from. Rather than see a doorway standing in the middle of a an empty plot of land, though, it seemed that the door was attached to a building that was still standing. Despite all of the derelict structures sitting around, it seemed that the one they had come from—as far as they could tell—the ruin that they had apparently exited from was still mostly intact. The only odd thing here, other than that, was the large sign advertising Alrest on the outside of the building. Though somewhat worn by time, it seemed to have escaped the worst of things.

Not that it made any more sense, of course.

"Huh. Well, that's... Odd. And somewhat disconcerting. At least it'll be easy finding our way back later; c'mon, Pandy, let's go see what else this place has to offer," he said, shrugging his shoulders before walking off to explore more of the ruined cityscape.

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR@KoL@RolePlayerRoxas

Fate/Eternum

Jason Liu

With both of the Sabers now occupied, Hijikata wasted no time in creating as much distance as possible between them and himself, with Jason still fully in tow. The effects of his Noble Phantasm still lingered about, and despite the various wounds he had sustained up until this point and the all-too-distinct trail of blood that he was leaving behind, the Berserker was still able to maintain his pace from before combat had begun. Jason himself, however, had found himself simply frozen in shock from trying to process the whole situation. There wasn't a way to bring up anything that had happened in the last few minutes, especially given that he had tried (and failed) to use two Command Seals, to no avail.

The young man was soon thrown out of that state—quite literally, in fact—once Hijikata had arrived at a dead end. The area, formed by a variety of buildings meeting in such a way to create a small hole-in-the-wall style area surrounded on all sides, went unused even as a back entrance by the looks of things; that, of course, made it a good enough location to mount a last stand.

With an involuntary cry of pain from tumbling across the ground for the second time today, Jason slowly pushed himself into a seated position and stared at Hijikata, who was simply staring back at him. At this point, the young man had reached his wit's end; it didn't seem reasonable to be wrapped up in this incident, and even less so to be dragged and thrown around like a ragdoll for the better half of the day. As far as he knew, Servants weren't like that; no, even those that were as unreasonable as this had a reason for this. The Berserker in front of him seemed to have enough control over himself to avoid such insanity for the most part, so why...?

"You're still trying to figure it out? I figured you a fool, but to take this long and still not come to the correct conclusion... Honestly, I don't know why I decided to drag you along."

The Berserker's comment caused Jason to pause, and he simply blinked in silence as the Berserker's strength finally began to give way.

"Kid, you're not cut out for this city if you can't figure something this simple out. Let me spell it out for you, then, since it's only going to take a minute for them to catch up: you were never in control to begin with."

"...Huh?"

"Yeah, you heard me. You should've realized it when you tried to Command Seal earlier; why the hell do you think I didn't give a damn? Go on, try me. Tell me to kill myself; those Seals have about as much power over me as a gust of wind."

The blatant declaration from Hijikata caused Jason to pause, and the suggestion of Command Seal-induced suicide only caused him to freeze up instead. When he thought about how the events thus far had transpired, it made sense—that didn't mean that he want to accept it, though. Despite everything, he was a Master now, so——

"...Fine. By my Command Seal, I order you: Berserker, kill yourself."

Almost as if trying to defy fate to some degree, Jason watched as the last Seal on his hand disappeared...

And Hijikata, still bleeding out in front of him, stood completely unfazed by the command.

"See? Now, just sit there and wait, you dumb kid who couldn't even tell he wasn't a Master—no, couldn't even tell he was just a puppet dancing to someone else's tune; your dream was no more than that, and you'll never be able to do anything as things are now. But at the very least, you'll see how the Shinsengumi fights when cornered," he said, turning to face the sole entryway to the area, his katana fully drawn as he waited for the enemy to arrive.

@VitaVitaAR

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

The brief moment of sadistic joy in Meltryllis' eyes after dragging her opponent out of the shadows was almost immediately proceeded by a long—and rather lengthy—sigh of disappointment. There was no look of fear or despair—or anything, really—on the Archer's face, given that he had none in the first place. There was the standard flailing about in some desperate attempt to get out of her grasp, yes, but the enthusiasm that she had held seconds prior was all but gone by now.

"Oh. A doppelganger of that green Archer BB likes to keep around. How boring," the Alter Ego sighed, her shoulders sagging as she dug her feet deeper into the Archer's torso and neck. "You're no fun. Fine, let's end this farce. You've ruined my mood; I hope you're happy."

The body beneath her legs quickly seized up as it was injected with copious amounts of venom, and it took only a second more for the entire figure to begin to dissolve into nothingness. Once the shadow Archer was no more, Meltryllis took a deep breath, as if to re-orient herself mentally, before walking back towards her Master.

"We're done here. Let's go back; you're far too much of a liability as you are now."

At the Arena

From such a close distance, taking the headbutt from Mordred was all but guaranteed, and Chiron knew as well as anyone else watching that such a blow couldn't be mitigated. Of course, without anything to guard his head from the metal of the helmet, the Archer couldn't help but grit his teeth and wince as he took the blow. The thin stream of blood trickling down from his forehead didn't seem to faze him as much as the concussive force of the blow, but jarred as he was, Chiron still managed to send Mordred into the air.

Without missing a beat, the Archer quickly drew his bow and fired off a volley of arrows at Mordred in an attempt to make the most of the momentary disorientation created by launching her away.

"If you wish to pit your own strength against other heroes of equal stature here, then it would be in your best interests to learn how to deal with opponents whose skill far outstrips your strength. Not that I have any room to talk; I am a mere teacher, after all," he said, strafing around the arena as he continued to fire off shot after shot. "This is not to say that a wild style like yours is by any means unviable, though; there are more than a few Servants who fight similarly to you who have had ample success in this arena, after all."

@KoL