Moonlit Sonata

Beyond the Gate at World's End

Diane Edelweiss

Group 4
Location: Outside Rowen's Compartment || Action: Riddle Me This || Mood: "Heh, You Flipped My Switch..."

Interacting with Rowan @Kore and Wakana @Tenma Tendo

Diane skidded to a halt after coming outside a compartment that voices seemed to be emanating from. No doubt, one of those inside that compartment was the screaming prospective sidekick in peril. There was no need to fear, though, for she was-

And the door was closed.

Why was the door closed?

Why was there someone behind the door putting on an audibly strained voice?

Why was she being asked to answer a riddle?

"A riddle, hm~?"

...The past has been viewed. The history has been retained. The foundation has been forged.

"You underestimate me, not-sidekick. A riddle is what the dragon and the sphinx pose of the man. A riddle is the evaluation of an eyeless god, and yet you, a mere not-sidekick, dare to place yourself upon that pedestal?"

Devise a system. I have to devise a system.

Like an army of insects, again and again.

A system.

In the span of an "instant", something changed. The world in Diane's purview seemed to shudder, space distorting for the briefest moment as something sleeping within it was roused to life.

"...laughable. It's simply laughable. Ah, how does it go? The name is unfamiliar, the feelings are unfamiliar, but the words, the words can still be felt. Like looking through a pane of misted glass, like a song without a melody, like a declaration for the end of an era."

Make the usage from mental circuit possible.

Divide.

Expand.

-And square that expansion.

"Right, that's it. Answer your riddle? Idiocy, utter idiocy. I don't care what sort of not-sidekick you are. Don't get in my way. That goal I'm stepping towards is already in sight, and that's why- I will break through this trifling storm of yours, sneering at it to declare that I've already reached that goal!

"Watch, for this is the first step of ending a voyage!"

Space bent.

Light pierced the dark. A lance stabbed upwards from the Kingdom Below, the light pervaded this space of tranquil knowledge. The darkness was burned away, twisted and perverted by the all-consuming light. A cataclysm that lasted for an instant from the outside and an eternity from the inside.

A being beyond description let out a laugh that sealed the very heavens. Head bending backwards in an angle that was obtuse but behaves as though it was acute, she roared for the end of innocence.

Her hand reached forwards, sundering space and light as it cut towards its goal...!

"...mmf."

-And tugged at the door weakly.

It looked like she couldn't just brute force the locked door open.

Damn these girlish arms.

Fate/Empty Providence

Isn't expecting someone to know that the burst movement speed of a Servant outranks the speed of a Phantasmal beast a bit extreme though? It seems like a minute detail, especially when there's no real way to have known the speed with which NAGATO's attack came out. I'm not trying to be argumentative or anything, it just didn't seem obvious to me that the action taken to avoid the attack wasn't a viable way of dodging it.

@DrowsyPangolin

Hmmmm... after reading both posts again, I do kinda agree it was an obscure fact (granted, I don't know every little fact about Type Moon, so I'm in no position to question its authenticity). It's doubly weird because it is implied that the only way for Rostam to have dodged the attack would've been to jump off his steed, which is something a proud Rider would almost never do.

@Kost Alter

It's not that minute. I won't expect someone to be able to quote the scene from Zero where this is most explicitly addressed by memory, but the first two Riders that we ever saw, one of whom has a Phantasmal Beast and the other having Divine Beasts, both have it on their stat sheets that their mounts don't even come close to breaking the sound barrier. If someone's apping a Phantasmal Beast mount, I'd hope they'd familiarize themselves with what they're capable of, and looking at the sheets of similar Servants is something of a given with regards to that. And if someone has something on their sheet that they aren't fully aware of the capabilities of, I'd hope they ask me in advance of what sort of thing their character is capable of.

There were several ways Rostam could have come out of this alive, a couple of which were addressed in the post (abandoning Rakhsh or simply using the fact that an A rank Noble Phantasm equivalent could be endured if Rakhsh fought against it) and a couple more which will be brought up in All About Grail. In the end, though, the method he selected, in line with the mechanics of the setting, meant that he perished. I agree that as a matter of narrative this death was abrupt and was honestly something I was not expecting to occur, but nonetheless, as the GM I will be carrying out that kind of judgment.

@Moonlit Sonata Also, in regards to the whole "Once 7 Servants have fallen the War will end" thing that Ruler mentioned a while back, so far the body count is:

Lancer Nimrod (killed by NAGATO)
Berserker Muramasa (killed by Dulle Griet)
Rider Rostam (killed by NAGATO)
Assassin Cao Cao (will be killed soon???)
Rider Hugues (was killed off-screen or something???)

So, does that mean we're already more than halfway there, or do only Servants killed by official Grail War participants (aka not NAGATO) count towards the 7 total?

@Kost Alter

Who knows? The Grail will certainly activate when seven Servants enter it, and any and all Servants are viable to that end.

If those Servants listed are in the Grail, though, is something I can't speak to.

Fate/Empty Providence

@Moonlit Sonata Aaaand does this mean that Lorelei can summon another servant as well? If so, i have an idea (@Kost Alter) of who to summon among the last two remaining servants. Ya know, unless said servant want to choose a different possible master. XD

@Holy Grail

Yes. However, obviously doing so currently is impossible for multiple reasons.

Fate/Empty Providence

So, what are my options from here? I'm confused by this rather abrupt demise. I get that this is supposed to be high stakes, but it's a little pointless to kill off my character on his very first actual combat action isn't it?

@Beloss

After a cooldown period based off of in-RP time passed, you can app a new Servant if you're so inclined.

If a character is in a situation where the natural result is the character dying, then the character will die. I'll only fudge things if I think it patently mean, for instance killing someone in their first post after being summoned. In this case though, there wasn't any fudging; there were ways for Rostam to survive the attack, but they were not taken, so Rostam's death resulted.

This sort of standard will be applied across the board, as well as to NPCs. For instance, if there was a "final boss" who had yet to reach their final form, and a player killed them on day one whether intentionally or not, then I wouldn't fudge things so that they somehow survived for no other reason than because I OOC want them to. Similarly, while I do want the players to win, if they were to wipe against the current boss for instance, I won't fudge things so that they somehow survive, even though them wiping means the roleplay ends and most of the work I put into the setting goes unused.

Fate/Empty Providence

Rider-Class Servant Rostam has died.

The corresponding episode of All About Grail should be up tonight, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Fate/Empty Providence

Demon Castle NAGATO

...futile.

In his haste to trust his steed, Rostam had made a fundamental misstep. This was born from nothing other than the speed of a Phantasmal Beast.

Rostam's steed was fast, that much was obvious. Compared to a mundane horse, there could be no comparison, and in fact in a sustained race against a Servant, it would come out on top against all but a handful of heroes. However, in terms of the burst speed that it could reach, the first Pegasus could merely scrape into the realm of half the speed of sound, and the Divine Beasts who pulled a certain king's chariot were below even that.

In comparison, while a Servant could not maintain such speeds in as reliable a fashion, in terms of "burst" movement speed, one would be hard pressed to find a Servant who could not casually shatter the sound barrier. This was the nature of the difference in speed between a Phantasmal Beast and a Servant; while the former had greater strength and greater sustainability, the latter's burst speed was supreme. And in this case, to avoid that Kaleidoscopic light, what was needed was burst speed.

In other words, had Rostam moved on his own rather than trusting in the speed of his mount, then perhaps he could have slipped away, but...

The light streamed forwards, engulfing the horse who was unable to leap out of its purvey in time, and engulfing the Servant who rode atop it. At this point, there were many additional considerations. Were Rakhsh a steed that granted its owner additional defense like the bridle of a Gorgon, were Rostam's armor something that covered all his body in the same way as a nearby Saber, were his steed to have let loose with the Prana Burst inherent to all Phantasmal Beasts in an attempt to push back against the light, then perhaps it could have been survived. Alas, none of these were to be.

You will slay demons.

You will slay your child.

You will be slain by deceit.

The light tore through Rostam and his steed, and when it cleared, neither was present any longer. Even Battle Continuation could not save a Servant from their body being destroyed.

Having taken the first tribute of the battle, NAGATO looked to the gathered Servants with a somber expression, that multicolored light beginning to condense once again. However...

-This time, it surrounded both hands.

Fate/Empty Providence

o no

The trump card of the enemy has been revealed.

Keyword 04 - Jewel Sword Zelretch unlocked.

The enemy is without question a monster.

You all are using heroes, though, so slaying this should only be a matter of course.

Fate/Empty Providence

Demon Castle NAGATO

"...strong."

Murmuring these words, the resigned grin on the golem's face sharpened as he faced a horseman's charge. He paid little mind to the other Servants or the newly-risen fortress, even if two of his Partitions were monitoring them. If the Masters protected themselves, that was all the better. He didn't want to kill those who still had lives.

...not strong enough, though. But that's good. One of the stronger ones falling first makes this all easier. If I wasted the reveal on killing a weaker one, it would be trickier.

Bright, bright, terrifyingly bright. As Rostam charged forwards, that tremendous multicolored light flared around NAGATO's right hand. The sheer presence of magical energy was absurd to the point of practically casting pressure.

But...where was this coming from? Not even the mana it had consumed upon arriving would be enough to match up. No, even if it had, didn't it need that energy to function? How could it continue moving if it was willing to move the entirety of that "fuel" to its hand?

■■■■■ ■■■■■ System primed. Calculations complete.

Rostam was aware that what he faced would be a terrible consequence, but he was unaware of the magnitude it bore.

At this point, a question could be asked. In spite of its size, a Demon Castle was nonetheless a combatant "equal to a Servant". In that sense, it could defeat a single Servant, or perhaps two at once, or even more were it to target the Masters and force the Servants on the defensive at a result. But, against a group of this many Servants, a combatant equal to a Servant would lose without question. And yet, NAGATO had shown himself here, with full confidence that he could defeat the gathered spirits.

Was he simply a fool? No, even if he bears the mind of Nagato Tohsaka, something with his calculative ability could not be so shortsighted. Rather, the reason he had come to this gathering with such confidence was simple.

The Servants may have had their trump cards, but he possessed something beyond even those.

And this Servant who had dared to charge at him alone would witness it firsthand.

A radiance lit up the night as though it were day. Upon the golem's hand, a dazzling light collected to wage war upon those who stood against it. Not just Rostam, but every Servant, every Master, every living thing in the area could feel it. Something here was terribly wrong. Something here was an existence that was not meant to be in this world, and it was what lay responsible for that rainbow-colored light. An enemy of the world and an enemy of humanity.

...no. No, that wasn't it at all. Why would Nagato Tohsaka, a third-rate magus, ever be used for the core of a golem at the grade of a Demon Castle? It could not be for a mere rainbow.

That was the fatal misunderstanding born of this light. Not a rainbow.

-A Kaleidoscope.

Jewel Sword System, fire.

Where had that magical energy come from? Why had the Demon Castle stopped its absorption of mana long before it reached its capacity? Why did it not fear the strike of Rostam or the charge of the beast he rode on?

The answer to all of these was the same.

Multidimensional Refraction Phenomenon. Operation of Parallel Worlds. Kaleidoscope.

The Second of the last remaining True Magics in this world. To its Magician was granted movement between worlds, access to their resources. To the sword of its Magician was granted a supply of magical energy as limitless as the number of worlds.

And one of those very swords had just launched its counterattack.

The light, that terrifying, kaleidoscopic light, ran forwards as Rostam attempted to pass by and strike at its wielder. A cone of light which released power on par with an A rank Noble Phantasm streamed out, moving to engulf Rostam and his steed before their charge met anything short of air. In a single burst of magical energy, a prime hero would be eradicated from this world.

In direct combat, NAGATO could likely outmatch Rostam, but against the team of Rostam and his steed, he would likely be defeated. However, that sort of theoretical loss would never come to pass, for just as Rostam possessed his steed, NAGATO possessed his sword.

This was the trump card of Demon Castle NAGATO. This was what made him worthy to challenge all the Servants of this war.

Fate/Empty Providence

Next GM post will be made tomorrow, in the interest of letting everyone have a chance to reply.

Fate/Empty Providence

All I'm gonna say is Jacob's Limbs ain't nothing to fuck with.