[Magical Girl Kaleido Ruby!, Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Airspace Above Tropic of Cancer]
"Hm~? Are you trying to say you're scared of the mathematicians~? They won't do anything, they still haven't answered us yet. At least Estray's doing stuff after some coercion, but Atlas is just being Atlas. Oh, yeah, also, Lord El-Melloi II had a message for Alexander the Great, something like 'Hi Rider', I don't really remember the rest."" Rin replied with a shrug, kicking off the ground to float lazily in the air.
"Aw, Saber's depressed about how her country got screwed up? That's kinda illogical though, you know. Their Brittannia's from one of like, infinite different worlds. In fact, the old man says this was caused by something with the equivalent effect to a large-scale Second Magic usage. For all we know, the people from that Britain's world existed in a universe where Saber was never alive~"
"Oh, yeah, Archer, you think you could come back to the Association with me and take care of the cooking? I don't know where Emiya-kun's at right now, he's probably somewhere here but I can't find him, and I really don't have the time to do it myself, and you guys aren't doing anything currently, so....~"
[Office of the Queen, Clock Tower, Mage's Association]
"I want an explanation for this complete lack of discipline!"
Two Wizard Marshals were in a heated discussion within the working space of one of them. Or rather, it was less a "discussion" and more "Lorelei fuming at Zelretch".
The latter of these two gave a nonchalant shrug. "They're good kids, I like them, they're in a tight spot. Figured I might as well send aid in one form or another."
To say the least, Lorelei was unsatisfied.
"Aid?! Without consulting the Director or anyone else, you sent a Lord of the Clock Tower and a unique Mystic Code to speak to the ambassador of a foreign faction! And you sent him in that ridiculous outfit, no less!"
"...yes, I know. I just told you that. Why are you repeating what I said to me?"
[Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, Clock Tower Waiting Room, Clock Tower, Mage's Association]
It was all a matter of speed.
The foremost reason the Caster known as Medea overwhelmed modern magi was simple. A magus's Single Action was a single action, while hers was High Thaumaturgy.
It was all a function of speed. No matter the potential of the magus, if they could not actualize a spell in time they would die.
But this tool, this "Kaleidostick," was capable of giving the user a truly unlimited amount of prana. This was its power. With it, spells on the level of Grand Rituals could be done by a single magus. With it, the capacity of a magus's prana storage could be pushed to the limit and used as a weapon in its own right. A monstrous tool among magi, to be sure.
In other words, this Mystic Code skyrocketed Kayneth's already appreciable magecraft, making him from one of the Association's finest into a monster who exceeded the modern world. The atelier he had created during the Fourth Heaven's Feel was child's play compared to what he could actualize now in the span of an instant. To that end, he and numerous other magi of the Association had begun construction of a veritable fortress on a physical and magical level, layered Boundary Fields specialized with regard to what they knew about their potential opponents, spiritual guards, every preemptive aspect the Association could muster had been employed. The Kabbalah experts had begun golem production, combat and espionage familiars were being readied. Even groups such as the Wandering Tomb's Thule had been coerced into action, and had begun their own modes of preparation. The land of the Association was becoming an utter hellscape at an impossible rate.
However, for Kayneth specifically this power came at a cost. And this cost was...
"Magical Girl Sparkling Mercury makes his dashing debut!"
-That the Kaleidostick turns its user into a magical girl.
Lord of the Clock Tower, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, had become a magical girl of unrivaled power.
Damn that vampire.
"Welcome to the Clock Tower, what can I do ya for?"