Over Illusion

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Tohsaka Manor, Premises Outskirts

As his fallen opponent's enemy dissipated into motes of light, the Burial Agent simply nodded in reply.

"Well met, then, Sigurd. Thank you for breaking my monotony."

Simply saying this as the Servant faded from this world, the monster of God turned to the Elemental at his side, as if waiting for her to speak.

"The destruction of his spiritual foundation's confirmed." The Elemental, the spirit of the Fourth Holy Scripture, chirped out. As she spoke, she stepped towards her contractor, seeming to be in an excellent mood as she handed the hammer in her hand over. After all, while Radah inhabited the weapon, it was Gavel who was more compatible with wielding it. "You know, if your body wouldn't have purged it out on account of the way it is now, I'd have told you to eat that heart or drink some of his blood or something. Even if it's diluted, some draconic blood never hurts."

At this, Gavel let out a sharp laugh, rolling his eyes. In comparison to the manic, battle-crazed man he had been mere moments earlier, his posture was more akin to what it had been prior to combat by now. "Absolutely not. It doesn't matter how strong it'd make me, I wouldn't let demon blood in my veins." He replied, sounding almost amused by the comment. Radah in reply shot him the trace of a glare, a feigned huff leaving her. "You know I'm half 'demon' too, right?" She chided. Gavel blandly shrugged in response, hefting the Scripture over his shoulder. "You're an exception. Anyway, those guys were trying to redirect me into that house before we started, got any readings?"

"Would've told you even if you didn't ask." Radah replied, rocking back onto her heels as she spoke. "You've got one magus and one of those Servant things in there, from what I can tell. So, if you want to go for another round, we can-"

The Elemental cut herself off, though, as an abrupt flare of magical energy formed within the manor. Her head snapped, around, eyes widening. "What...that's not the Servant, is...is that from the magus? Is that the fucking Clock Tower's Director or something? How is a magus in this age able to..." She muttered out incredulously, Gavel simply looking at her in confusion as she spoke.

"...well, change of plans. They just teleported out of there. They can apparently teleport. We need to find out how they can teleport, so once I'm dematerialized, we're going to try and find that Executor girl. We're supposed to contact her when we've cleaned out the Church anyway, so that'll be pretty easy."

"...we're supposed to contact her? How, exactly?"

"What do you mean? They said during dispatch tha-...they didn't give us any way of communicating with her."

"Nope."

"And we don't know what she looks like."

"Nope."

"And neither of us know the language here."

"Nope."

"..."

"..."

"We're killing Crown when we see him, right?"

"Absolutely."

"Well, on another note, I can recharge one of the charges a bit at the cost of making this materialization a good amount shorter, so you have two and a half of 'em left instead of just two. You want to do that and find a hotel near here?"

"We were just discussing how to deal with this mess, why are you shifting gears that quickly?"

"The time I'm materialized for is ticking down pretty damn fast, and on average I've only been able to get materialized once every couple centuries since I was born. If there's nobody to kill immediately around, we have nothing to do but aimlessly wander, and I'm materialized, then we'd better be doing this."

"Alright, alright. Let's try and find a hotel and...see if we can get a room somehow, I guess. Do you know what hotels look like here?"

"If we can't find one then we'll just go under the bridge, I don't fucking care, start walking."

---

Frederica Edelfelt

The Fancy Shop, Shinto

All things considered, the day had been a touch grating.

She hadn't expected to like the people they were cooperating with. They were Nazis, after all. Or at least one of them was a Nazi and the other was a half-Nazi half-just-weird-guy. Still though, she hadn't expected this level of irritation.

This feeling stemmed from one simple event: when she had been trying to find a stuffed animal to buy earlier in the day, and had been snatched up by her Servant to respond to a distress call, and when they got there, there was nothing to be distressed about.

Her "official role" or some garbage like that was to set up a Bounded Field around a swath of Shinto. Really, she didn't get the point of that, but if she was at least able to divert some time to her interrupted stuffed animal search, it would have to be begrudgingly allowed.

With this mindset, she continued on up until she received a very panicked communication.

"...oh?"

A Burial Agent? Not just a Burial Agent, but their number four, here? Fighting one of their Servants? No, not just one of their Servants, but their offensive juggernaut?

"...hm, pity. There's a good chance we're about to lose poor Rider." She remarked aloud to her partner, briefly examining a stuffed cat and bear side by side for direct comparison, before settling on the cat. Heading to the register and leaving the store with her new purchase in hand, she shook her head with a slight sigh. "I wonder if this is related to taking over the Church? Nah, no way that's enough reason to send a Burier. Maybe there's a strong vampire nearby and he's just passing through? That'd make sense." She spoke aloud as she walked the streets, stretching a bit as she did.

'Well, Saber, looks like we'll have to take this a bit more seriously. The other two don't properly understand how this works, even if they claim to live in this world. We're in a foreign land against four other magi and Servants, little information on the Masters, no information on the Servants, and we might be about to lose our strongest attacker. I'll just have to show these country bumpkins what the power of an Edelfelt means.'

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Tiger Dojo Episode One's been added to the OOC OP. Excuse the dryness, bit of a rush job since I either had to do it now or basically hold off for a week.

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Servant Rider - Sigurd has been killed.

The Tiger Dojo will be up this weekend.

Due to the nature of this death and the GM's feelings about the events leading up to it, there will be minor occurrences in the future that slightly benefit the German faction. This is not intended to equalize the field, but rather to soften the blow due to my personal reservations about how this all occurred. This should not be taken as a show of favoritism or something that will be done via metagaming, OOC action, and the like. I'm informing everyone about this so they don't think it's unintentional.

Gavel Keyword, 02 - The Fourth Holy Scripture: Radah, has been updated with information on its Guardian Spirit.

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Tohsaka Manor, Premises Outskirts

@Breo

...This is a digression, but unlike his peers in the Burial Agency, Anthony Giacosa merely possesses two things that make him worthy of that status: his body's power, and his Holy Scripture. If not for either of these, he would be no better than an average Executor, albeit a frighteningly experienced one.

This is to say that if there was anything Anthony Giacosa was secure in, it was the power of Radah. That partner of his had seen him through a thousand battles, had made him into the monster of God that he was today. The other Burial Agents, the Eighth Sacrament, his own body, all of those could fail him and indeed had in the past, but Radah never once had.

If he was without it, this battle would surely have been different, but before everything else, he trusted Radah. If his own trained instincts told him he needed to do something and Radah urged him otherwise, he would follow Radah. As for the issue of how a weapon could urge a man to act...

'Confirmed the hit! He had some sort of magical energy armor, probably based off the concept of dragon scales, so we didn't do damage. Effect still hit, though, the flow of magical energy around him's plummeted, but his spiritual foundation's still stable, so he might have another trick or two left. He said he had a mount, and I don't want to imagine what the proper use of that sword is. Don't give him a chance to get his wits about him, take him down now!'

'Got it. If you see fluctuations of magical energy start to form around him...I'm not risking anything against someone with a sword that can hurt you who hasn't used a single trump card. I don't care if we only have three charges left, you have permission to ignite.'

His body had failed him in the past, but Radah never had. Even when it failed its previous user against that great glass moon, it didn't fail Anthony Giacosa. Were he alone, he would need a moment. Recover from the blow, assess the situation, decide what to do. However, here and now, he needed none of those things. Still dazed as he was from the blow to his head, the contract to his partner who laid at Sigurd's feet served as a line that he didn't need a clear head to follow.

In the same moment that Emmerich began to invoke his Command Seal, Gavel's body jettisoned forth. It would merely take Emmerich one second to give the command, but one second was quite a long time when Servants were concerned.

Seeing this, Sigurd in the same moment reached for his mount.

'Flow of magical energy's changing! It's not from the sword, so it's either some hidden card of his or his mount. Igniting, I'm going to back you up!'

And seeing this, Gavel's partner in the same moment chose to act.

In other words, it could be said that four things happened at once.

Gavel charged forwards at his enemy, the directions of his partner overcoming that split-second daze.

Sigurd called on Grani to bring his mount into the world.

Emmerich began to invoke his Command Seal.

Something within the handle of Radah flared to life.

-And then, three of those things completed.

Gavel arrived in front of the weakened Sigurd, hand moving to take his heart.

Grani manifested at Sigurd's side, kicking out to move him from Gavel's range.

Something appeared amidst those gathered three, the Fourth Holy Scripture held in its hand.

The coordination between Sigurd and Grani was flawless. As a companion capable of being called to him even as a Servant, Grani's bond with his rider was immeasurable.

...However, Sigurd was not the only one with such a contract.

"Phantasmal Beast?! You goddamn cheat! Anthony, I'll tie it down, go for the kill!"

It was a woman. Horns jutting out from her head, blue eyes glinting, she appeared with the object she was bound to clutched tightly in her hands.

Grani's hooves extended out to knock its rider out of harm's way. Gavel's hand moved to drive Sigurd's heart from his chest. The woman's hammer broke through the air to keep Grani from reaching its target.

The Elemental and the Phantasmal Beast clashed. She does not have the combat prowess of her wielder, she cannot defeat a Phantasmal Beast in a contest of force, but she simply needed to ward off the horse for a split-second.

And, by the time that split-second had ended, the woman and Grani stood at a stalemate, and Sigurd's heart lay clutched in Gavel's hand.

Just as Emmerich finished invoking his Command Seal, he would find those marks upon his hand fade, receding out.

"...you're not allowed to die without telling me your name, you know."

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Gavel Keyword, 02 - The Fourth Holy Scripture: Radah, has been updated.

All I can say is sumanai

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Tohsaka Manor, Premises Outskirts

@Breo

Sigurd's reaction had been commendable, but merely that. In the end, the two combatants were both certainly in the upper echelon among what it meant to be "at the level of a Servant", the power of their bodies could easily be called first rate. In that regard, then, the battle would be determined by their respective skill, by chance, and by their other abilities and equipments.

What had happened here was one such example. For after all, Gavel's strike was one made towards the left from his perspective. Sigurd using Gram as a hold in order to pull himself to the right, leaving the range of Gavel's swing, was a commendable thought. However, it had a core tactical misstep.

While Sigurd was out of Gavel's arms' reach, he was still in the direction of the swing.

Gavel knew little to nothing about the nature of Heroic Spirits or the Holy Grail System. Command Seals, Noble Phantasms, such terminology was meaningless to him. As such, perhaps even he underestimated just how unthinkable his next action was to a Heroic Spirit. When he saw Sigurd begin to vault himself over to avoid the strike, the Rider kicking out as he did so, the Burial Agent did not attempt to shift his movements in an attempt to strike out at Sigurd's legs.

No, in the first place, something like that was likely impossible. While a Servant could do seemingly impossible things, changing the angle of their body after they had launched, for instance, that was only from the perspective of mere men. In a battle between Servants, fought in short distances that these monsters could cross in fractions of fractions of seconds, that sort of change in momentum could simply not occur. Rather, he merely ducked his head in to minimize whatever glancing blow a kick from someone moving in the opposite direction could give, readied himself...

-And released.

The Fourth Holy Scripture left his hands near the end point of its swing. While Sigurd's kick did hit its mark, the fact that he had done so in the beginning was his undoing. The strike met Gavel's head, but given that Sigurd was pulling himself in the opposite direction as the kick, the damage it dealt was a far cry to what it could have been were it an all-out strike. Nonetheless, he landed his blow.

As mentioned, in such short distances as this, in a battle between Servants, the ability to do the impossible is cancelled out. Just as Anthony who had committed himself to a swing could not react in time to entirely avoid Sigurd's blow, even with his slightly superior speed to the Servant, nor could the Servant who had committed himself to his movement cancel it so quickly, let alone dig his blade out of the ground and use it to shift his momentum before the hammer moving faster than sound would travel a mere few inches to hit its mark.

His enemy had at least been slightly damaged, but nonetheless, Radah found its mark, the hammer striking against Sigurd as its user shifted back, admittedly a touch dazed from the blow to his head. Sigurd, by contrast, should have been better for wear coming out of the exchange. While blocking the force of an "A rank" blow with his Prana Defense had been costly, the blow had not caused damage, and what was more, he still had his grip on his weapon, unlike the enemy.

However, what should happen is not always what does happen.

At the moment of contact with Radah, Sigurd felt it. Like an oppressive weight bearing down on him, despite the damage of the hammer being blocked through Sigurd's magical energy, that did nothing for its concept. Just as a Magus Killer's bullet applies its effect whether it strikes one's magecraft or oneself, the effect of Radah found itself exhibited even through that defense. If the shield had been something other than Sigurd's own magical energy then perhaps there would have been a chance, but such conjecture was for naught.

Weakness. An overbearing weakness weighed down upon Sigurd from the moment that hammer of the Lord struck him. He was still a being of a Servant's level, there was at least that solace, but that impossible weighed seemed to push down on him from all sides, bringing down his capabilities immensely. His strength, his speed, the very amount of magical energy he could store, all of these plummeted down into the bare minimum of what a Servant could possess.

Was this the nature of Radah? No, something like that was hardly surprising; the mystery and power of Gram was well above that of Sigurd's own Saint Graph, so a result like that after seeing what had happened to his weapon was only natural, but still...

"Feel that, Rider? That's the gap between you and God."

His opponent stood opposite him, some distance now between the two, his hammer clattering onto the ground and his head reeling slightly from the previous impact, but even then, he could hardly be called the loser of this exchange.

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Tohsaka Manor, Premises Outskirts

@Breo @Angry Hungarian

That crushing blade broke apart the air as it came down on its target.

There was no applause.

After all, in this world, there is an ironclad rule: a human cannot fight a Servant. Against these heroes of ages past, enshrined and made gods by the will of mankind, against godslayers and children of gods, against those who killed demons and those who became demons, all that man can do is roll over and die.

A human who dares to challenge a Servant will die. They will be utterly destroyed. They will be returned unto the dust from whence they came.

Yes, indeed, a human cannot defeat a Servant.

-But, isn't that horribly backwards?

A Servant is something made by human imagination. Human stories, human feats, human legends, human consciousness. Why, then, is it that these humans who created Servants are unable to challenge their own creations?

The answer is obvious: while mankind is collectively almighty, individually they are weak. An individual human cannot hope to match something bolstered by mankind's collective.

A hero is someone who can save those fated to die. A hero is something that transcends those meager individual humans who dare to stand against a Servant. A hero is something that has surpassed those human limits that shackle us, and the age of heroes has come to an end.

...ridiculous.

The end of that age is meaningless. The names we assign them are meaningless. Heroes shaped their legends with human will. Just because the era is different, just because you can no longer be "the one and only", that isn't a reason to give up and die.

Because if this damned hero from a forgotten time managed to break through their limits, there is no reason you can't---!

"May the Lord guide my hand as I strike down heresy."

With speed that easily entered the realm of a Servant, Anthony Giacosa, the #4 of the Burial Agency, burst forwards. The strongest demonic sword slicing towards him, he felt a manic grin split his face as his hands tightened around the handle of his partner, swinging forwards to meet Sigurd's blow.

Space bent. It was a cataclysm that lasted an eternity from the inside and an instant from the outside.

Coming up to meet the blow of a Servant was the blow of a human. And yet, the madman who dared to strike back against a Servant showed no fear. Sword met hammer. That strike of Sigurd's, which had entered the A rank, was enough to fell an average Servant should it strike head-on. Against it, a human should have no hope.

And yet, the human was not knocked back even slightly against the strike. It was a display that defied logic. Yes, because both Sigurd and that human can tell, not only had the blow of a Servant been reacted to in time, but the strength of this human was not one whit inferior to Sigurd's own.

...that was only a prelude, though, for what happened next.

Gram screamed.

Like the wails of the damned, a harsh keening noise flowed out from the sword, a pained cry as that pinnacle among blades met the Fourth Holy Scripture. Mere contact with that hammer was like a poison to the demonic blade, that clash of forces having embedded the concept of Radah into Gram's steel.

And whatever that was, Gram did not take it well.

Sigurd would surely be able to feel it. The demonic taint that empowered Gram was restrained, shackled by something that stemmed from the hammer gripped in his enemy's hands. If one were to try and codify what had happened, it could be said that whatever aspect of Radah had attacked Gram's grudges, and brought it down to the same level as that derivative of itself, Balmung. This weakening seemed temporary; as his own Noble Phantasm, Sigurd could tell that much, but another clash with that hammer would likely yield the same result, if not worse.

One had to wonder, if that hammer had managed to bring the strongest demonic sword low, if the effect would be permanent were it against something with lesser mystery.

Sigurd, however, would not be granted the reprieve to think of such matters, for regardless of his shock, Gavel was every bit as surprised as well.

"...hurt Radah? That damned sword of yours didn't just not break, it hurt Radah?"

It did not take long, though, for that surprise to give way to something else.

"...stop crying, it's fine. I'll shatter that sword of his into pieces as payment, and we'll buff off the scratches with his blood."

And no sooner than had that first clash of weapons completed, the two now in direct range of one another, than did Gavel shift, leveraging the strength behind his first swing to rotate into a second one, one meant to drive its way into the Rider's left side.

Fate/Moribund Swarm

A message from the Holy Church to both factions.

The neutral overseer of the Church has been challenged by the German faction. The neutrality of the Church has been violated by those who pursue power over order.

The Holy Church has received this information from their Executor. The power of a Servant is beyond their expectations. A human cannot match a Servant. However, the Holy Church refuses to take such an affront as their neutrality being challenged in the dead of war. This has been further compounded by existing hostilities between the NSDAP and the Holy Church. The Holy Church has chosen to respond to this transgression.

Indeed, indeed, a human cannot match a Servant. As that is the case, something beyond human has been dispatched.

Or at least, that's what they're saying.

NPC profile added to Characters.

---

As we prepare to enter combat, now is a good time to review part of the nature of combat for this roleplay.

Incantations are based on the time system of steps and bars. A One-Count spell will take one bar to cast, ergo one second. A Single Action will take one step, which can be regarded as "instantaneous", such as snapping one's fingers.

Invocation of a Noble Phantasm's true name and use of a Command Seal are treated as taking one bar to invoke. This means that you should make sure you don't just stand there like an idiot as you do those things, as you open yourself to someone just walking up and stabbing you while you do.

Forms of dialogue that are not invocations, for instance banter, are treated as "free actions" during combat.

Fate/Moribund Swarm

#4

"We have work to do. Wake up, Radah."

Anthony Giacosa, #4 of the Burial Agency, Gavel

Origin: Faith
Elemental Affinity: Faith
Number of Magic Circuits: E
Quality of Magic Circuits: E
Od: E
Keywords: Burial Agency, The Fourth Holy Scripture: Radah
Immutable, ???

Keywords

01 - Burial Agency

The most heretical order of the Holy Church. Not exorcists who cast out devils, but executioners who strike them down, even if if means becoming devils in their own right.

A perfect meritocracy, anybody with the ability to dispose of those things the Church finds inconvenient can become a member – even those who are believers in name only.

…Well, it seems they'll baptize you when you join, and the pay isn't too bad either.

The agency is composed of seven members including the descendant of the founder Narbareck. There is also one reserve member, making for a total of eight. They always work alone, and under no circumstances will they cooperate with the demon hunters of other countries.

As they possess absolute authority, there are times when they will defy even the wishes of the Church itself to stamp out heresy. For instance, even if it's an archbishop, if he has been possessed by a devil they have the power and authority to skewer him on the spot.

For a battle freak like Anthony, this is an excellent thing, given that just about everything capable of giving him a good fight has some amount of heresy, and is therefore fair game whenever he needs to stretch his legs. This arrival at Fuyuki is one such example; rather than being formally dispatched to either aid the overseer or support either side, the dialogue was more akin to "there are ghosts in this city that can put up a fight, so if you want to get some exercise in, we won't stop you from leaving".

Truth be told, in the eyes of the Holy Church, their overseer being challenged is irritating, but not to a ridiculous degree given that it occurred in a far East nation. The fact that the NDSAP, with whom they have had sour relations, was responsible for this was admittedly a compounding factor, but in truth those are mere excuses they are using to save face. If it didn't just so happen that Anthony had been bored without assignments for the past month, the Holy Church may not have even responded to this transgression at all.

Returning to the matter of the agency itself, in worlds where the pulse of humanity is weaker, the agency is the sword wielded against the Dead Apostle Ancestors. It is no exaggeration to say that, for a member of the agency, human limits have been utterly broken through. These are freaks of nature capable of being ranked among the most powerful humans of the modern day. In both skill and parameters, battling a Servant on equal footing is possible, and just as the Servants possess their crystallized legends, these monsters of the Church wield its greatest weapons against all those who dare to shun God.

For those who are familiar with the story of "Tsukihime", you are no doubt aware of one of the heroines, Ciel. In the world of Tsukihime, she is a true monster in abilities. Possessing magical ability on par with the great Michael Roa Valdamjong, possessing one of the most powerful forms of immortality in this setting, and armed with one of the Church's strongest Scripture-class weapons, she is...

...barely capable of scraping into the position of the "Burial Agency's Weakest".

It's no wonder, then, that there are whispers within the Church that the agency itself is a heresy.

02 - The Fourth Holy Scripture: Radah

The conceptual weapon that Anthony is authorized to carry. An executioner's hammer created by the Church a millennium and a half ago in order to renounce the heretical doctrine of pride.

It was created by processing the body of a [REDACTED] and a human's spirit, and borrowing the concept of subjugation towards god. The result was an obscene hammer with a weight that dwarfs even the remodeling of the Seventh Holy Scripture that occurred in another world's future.

It operates off of the concept of "the gap between oneself and God". That which it is struck with is not merely impacted by the physical weight of the hammer, but by the conceptual gap between the enemy and God. In other words, a principle similar to giant-killing, but with the premise inverted.

This results in the forced embedding of one's faith into the target. The effect should not be called a curse, but rather a conceptual effect that imposes its principle upon the enemy. In the first place, it would be impossible for it to be a curse as it is wrought from God's grace. It is not something fueled by grudges, but by prayer. For those of the Church, it is better to call it a "miracle".

In the instance where the blow meets its mark, the target is weighed down by the difference between them and God. In other words, one's status will fall based on that gap. For instance, if we were to say that the status of God is a "100" and the status of the target is a "70", then the status of the target will fall to "40". This is a conceptual degradation that is perhaps best compared to the inverse of Reinforcement magecraft; a warrior struck will find their strength leave them, a magus will lose their aptitude, a knife its sharpness, a maid her cuteness. In the case where the target is infinitely far from God, this embedding of faith would be enough to rob them of their "everything". It can be considered the ultimate weapon to bring the devils of the world low. Obviously, this is not limited to ensouled beings.

...regrettably, though, if a demon beyond comprehension was to emerge in this world, this hammer would be nothing more than trash.

Its weakness can be said to be that [REDACTED].

The hammer has also retained part of the nature of its material. This is to say that the hammer itself is a [REDACTED]

If one were to attribute it with a trump card, this would stem from its Guardian Spirit, a spiritual entity born of the combination of human and [REDACTED], which has entered the realm of an Elemental due to its age. Gavel affectionately considers this spirit as his partner, and it would not be an exaggeration to call it his closest companion.

...of course, Gavel lacks the magical aptitude to materialize this spirit. In the first place, the level of magical energy needed to do such is the sort of thing he doesn’t even step into the threshold of having. Not merely Gavel, but no master of Radah has had this ability. Foreseeing this, the handle of the hammer was designed with ten “charges” of prana, similar in concept to the jewels of Conversion magi, though naturally different in execution as it is used through the conduit of the Scripture. Use of one such charge is enough for the Elemental to materialize herself for approximately [REDACTED].

To the current day, eight of the charges have been used, and two remain.

Skills

01 - Immutable

Originally, Anthony was merely a Knight-Captain of the Church. However, he was stationed on an assignment with several at the same level, as well as the former #4 of the Burial Agency. On this assignment, the execution force of the Church met with a lady of eternity, a monster beyond monsters lurking in the modern day.

Something can only be called a fight if both sides stand to obtain victory. Even if a human were to become a monster that could challenge a Servant from training of the body and honing of skill, they are still nothing in the face of that monster. As such, what occurred could not be called a battle, as any sort of fighting would be more like an extermination rather than anything resembling something fair.

But, while the Burial Agent leagues above Anthony fell in the opening act, a simultaneous lucky move by Anthony managed to to actually place a thin scratch on the face of that lady of eternity. A witch of whimsy did not see such a thing as a disgrace, but rather something akin to a dog being cute by fighting against its owner. As such, she rewarded his effort with allowing his life, and left him as the only survivor of the engagement. In all likelihood, she does not even remember this encounter.

While the Church attempted to understand what had happened and find a replacement for the Burial Agency, Anthony was given the Fourth Holy Scripture for his use in the interim, it being seen as a temporary gift that he had earned until a replacement Burial Agent was found.

Against expectations, though [REDACTED].

He is a weapon of the Lord. Unfaltering, unending. He is, without question, the most suitable wielder of Radah to emerge in 1,500 years.

02 - ???

Information unavailable.

Setting

01 - Holy Church

The hidden side of the prominent religion whose name means "universal".

Those who teach the word of God do not acknowledge things which run counter to their doctrine. Though the public face of the Church simply treats these heresies as if they do not exist at all, there are zealots within the organization who felt they should be dealt with more proactively. This is the nature of the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament. The Church skirts around the rules of God by having their eighth sacrament which does not exist under Him, and it is this sacrament that is permitted to acknowledge the existence of heresy, and plan for its extermination.

This enormous division that specializes in the hunting of heresy is known as the Holy Church. They lead the devil exterminators called Executors, and exist for just two reasons: to completely expunge all heresy, and to properly manage those mysteries that are beyond human control.

Naturally, they are on bad terms with the Mage's Association, which seeks to conceal magecraft, and the two have crossed swords time and time again. At present the two have reached a tenuous agreement, and overt hostilities have, at least for now, come to an end. However, their real enemies are the monsters known as "bloodsuckers". For the sake of combatting this greater threat, they have even been known to cooperate with the Association on occasion.

The preeminently skilled warriors, the Executors. The Knights stationed at each individual church. And, the monsters of the Burial Agency, which headquarters does their best to keep hidden. With these forces at their disposal, the Holy Church is the largest organization in the Moonlit World, and the greatest enemy of those who can no longer be called human.

02 - He Who ???

Information unavailable.

Fate/Moribund Swarm

Anthony Giacosa(?)

Tohsaka Manor, Premises Outskirts

@Breo @Angry Hungarian

The mysterious uncle standing before the Master and Servant didn't seem to even hear the latter's words, the grin carved into his face stretching out with each passing second. "Oh, this is perfect. Haven't even been here for an hour, and I don't just find a German, but I find a part-demon too? You must be one of those Servants, right? Perfect, perfect. I'm not even upset Crown lied to me about the language thing, this is just too good."

The mania in his eyes would be one not unknown to Sigurd nor his Master. A lust for battle, that singleminded desire to wage an individual war. Whatever this was had been hiding beneath the surface, but something about Sigurd's nature had dredged it forwards.

"Let's see, you're definitely no full demon, but you've got the reek of one. You don't seem like a natural half-breed like what those oni did to survive, either. Did you contract with one, acquire its blood or its factor? The flow seems...mm, not one of those curses, not oni, not rakshasa, not- oh, wait. Right, it's been over a decade since I fought something with that kind of factor, but I remember now. Dragon, right?"

His presence was nearly palpable by this point, a sort of radiance emanating from him in a sense beyond sight as he made that absurd declaration. Just as a Servant had that "shine" of heroism bathing their form, this man, this "Anthony Giacosa" gave off the same light. There can be no mistake, that man's body was mere flesh and blood, was merely the body of a human. It is unthinkable that there could be a human who could equal a Servant as a "hero", but then, how-

"Prior engagement? No, no, afraid you'll have to cancel. I've gotten to drink plenty, but I'm not turning down the chance for a fight. You're not leaving right when I've got a golden opportunity standing in front of me for the first time in a damn month." He remarked, his tone going icy for a moment as he ignored the offered bottle, shrugging exasperatedly and letting out a mock sigh. "Well, you'll run off if I take any longer, and it won't be satisfying for either me or Radah if we kill you from behind, so let me introduce myself more properly. I'm just a simple old man here to get some exercise, after being stuck in the office for a month in boredom."

The map of Fuyuki was stuffed into a pocket, no doubt crumpling up in the process. A sharp laugh left the man, eyeing Sigurd like a predator standing before his prey.

"...Anthony Giacosa. Codename: Gavel."

The instrument case gripped in his right hand began to distort, its form writhing as if it were clay being shaped by invisible hands, until its form had changed from a benign oversized instrument case to an equally oversized hammer. A weapon that belonged in the realm of fantasy appeared, the man gripping it in his hands as a thrum ran through it. However, that was not what was most terrifying.

That status was reserved for the emanations of prana that the item began to give off, a power on par with a Servant's Noble Phantasm.

"But your contractor there would probably know me better as the #4 of the Burial Agency."