Girouette
Lizard knight Overlord
Nice name.
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Girouette
Lizard knight Overlord
Crying
An innate response to bad situations, it is instinctual to cry in the face of terrifying prospects, and for a certain young man, it was more instinct than any human emotion, and that was why he was currently bawling his eyes out on the floor of a locked room, a rather small and empty room in a rather small, and empty house in the upper district of Miyama.
Why was he crying? Well, if you knew his circumstances you would truly understand, he had been locked in his room for the last few hours. Now, don't think he had been locked in by some malignant captor...No, he had locked himself in, in order to hide from something he was supposed to be controlling.
Yes, this boy, known as Shoun, (or affectionately simply Sho by those close, which weren't many, and they didn't normally call him that due to his crippling fear of people forgetting his actual name) was currently crying on the floor of a locked room, hiding from his servant, who would most likely scare a normal person, even the most stalwart of Magus would be perturbed, it was very likely the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen...And that wasn't the worst of it.
This terrifying presence, of which was the servant Assassin, his servant in the grail war...Something he shouldn't be afraid of, but he was, and the pressing inevitability of having to communicate with it eventually...Was more terrifying than the thing itself.
This was unfortunate for many reasons, the first being he was rather incapacitated, and couldn't communicate with his servant, therefor preventing him from doing anything in the war, but the more immediate misfortune was the fact he had left his blanket out in the main room, and therefor couldn't calm himself down, and thus was generating...Quite a bit of mana, which was being diapered into the world around him doing who knows what, this was...Not good, to say.
An innate response to bad situations, it is instinctual to cry in the face of terrifying prospects, and for a certain young man, it was more instinct than any human emotion, and that was why he was currently bawling his eyes out on the floor of a locked room, a rather small and empty room in a rather small, and empty house in the upper district of Miyama.
Why was he crying? Well, if you knew his circumstances you would truly understand, he had been locked in his room for the last few hours. Now, don't think he had been locked in by some malignant captor...No, he had locked himself in, in order to hide from something he was supposed to be controlling.
Yes, this boy, known as Shoun, (or affectionately simply Sho by those close, which weren't many, and they didn't normally call him that due to his crippling fear of people forgetting his actual name) was currently crying on the floor of a locked room, hiding from his servant, who would most likely scare a normal person, even the most stalwart of Magus would be perturbed, it was very likely the most terrifying thing he'd ever seen...And that wasn't the worst of it.
This terrifying presence, of which was the servant Assassin, his servant in the grail war...Something he shouldn't be afraid of, but he was, and the pressing inevitability of having to communicate with it eventually...Was more terrifying than the thing itself.
This was unfortunate for many reasons, the first being he was rather incapacitated, and couldn't communicate with his servant, therefor preventing him from doing anything in the war, but the more immediate misfortune was the fact he had left his blanket out in the main room, and therefor couldn't calm himself down, and thus was generating...Quite a bit of mana, which was being diapered into the world around him doing who knows what, this was...Not good, to say.
Proxy
Duplicate
The interior of the house that Assassin had been summoned into was completely devoid of light. As soon as he was summoned to participate in this fanciful ritual called the grail war, the lights in the house had flickered uncontrollably before simply turning off. Darkness heralded his presence, as if acting as courtiers to call out the presence of fear incarnate. The first form that Assassin took, his original form when "he" could still have been called a human, was that of a decrepit and elderly man swathed in an air of grave terror. It was likely that the next form that he took, that of a massive three hundred centimeter humanoid monstrosity composed of the skins of faces still screaming, sent the being known to Assassin as his "master" scrambling into cover.
Assassin was fear incarnate, the origin of what can be called demons. He represented all the terrors of humanity and bore them under a title that had crystallized over the ages as the "Bogeyman". In every culture sphere, the Bogeyman exists, hiding in its most sordid crevices. Since time immemorial, many beings had assumed the title of "Bogeyman", but all of it warped and sourced back to the being that had been called into this petty ritual. The grail war. Assassin understood that its purpose was to seek out and destroy the other servants. Ordinarily, the idea of being held to a being as a "servant" would have been impossible an ordeal to upkeep for Assassin, but the prospect of a wish dimmed this. A wish that would surprise many, and one of scale grand that would rewrite most of history itself. One that the grail could not manifest, but one that Assassin still strove for. The measure of value this wish held was his master's lifeline, the support that kept Assassin from lashing out and ending his master's frail life.
To begin with though, Assassin would have to actually PARTICIPATE in this war with his master, who was so cowed with terror that he was stowed away in a locked room. The first day of the war had already passed, and the longer his master stayed cooped up, the more risk he sank himself into. Rationality spoke its helpful advice, and Assassin morphed his body into a more unassuming form. His monstrous figure began to warp and contort, as if space itself was bending around it. In the next instant, Assassin became a mass of ghostly green fog. An incarnation of the many forms of the "Bogeyman". In addition, he deactivated his personal skill that induced fear. Assassin seeped into the room his master was in and pervaded throughout it, making its presence known. With an ethereal voice laced with harsh undertone and cold softness that would send shivers down many spines, Assassin spoke to his master:
"... Master. A full day in this mad ritual has come to pass, and you have not moved an inch from your spot. I do not disparage you, nor will I harshly impinge values attributed to a coward towards you. However, rationality is as cold as the fear that represents my being, and it speaks to me that it would be prudent for me to utterly incapacitate you while keeping you alive as a puppet for me to act. I suggest that you mobilize in a manner befitting of the title of "master" before this unfortunate series of events come to pass."
Nara
The tall, boding magus dressed in ceremonial black attire inhaled from the cigarette nestled comfortably between his closed lips. He leaned on a lone telephone pole on a deserted sidewalk by the Big Bridge, watching the sun slowly set. The amber waves of the drooping sun illuminated the still waters of the Fuyuki river with a beautiful luminescence, and a gentle breeze fluttered about, caressing Nara's face. It was time. Time to go hunting to weed out the filth in this war.
Nara spat out his cigarette and crushed under his polished boot, grinding it into a mush of ash, filling and paper. He exhaled a sinister puff of smoke that dissipated in the gentle breeze. As a tenth generation head, Nara had no reason to participate in such a lowly and unknown ritual as the holy grail war. He fully understood that it would not be capable of granting most wishes in exact detail, but nevertheless it mattered none. His wish was simple, but yet one that none could achieve. He was fully confident that he was the best magus in this war, and that nothing would be able to match up to him for competition. In addition, he had a superb servant easily capable of destroying four or five servants by himself.
The smallest of smiles flashed on Nara's pale face, his dead and dull eyes reciting a small glare of life before fading. A lone bat flapped its way to Nara's shoulder before disintegrating into wreathes of darkness.
"Incompetent master number one spotted in a house in Miyama I see, releasing a deluge of mana consistently. By the nature of this discharge, it is apparent that no ritual is being conducted. Easy. Too easy."
Nara jumped into the air and snapped his fingers. He landed on the suddenly materialized right arm of his Berserker class servant, a massive hulking mass of destructive muscle radiating an air if mad violence. Standing tall, Nara mentally ordered his servant to begin mobilizing.
"Arreste" A single count spell that would anchor Nara to the giant of a servant he was perched upon as he moved at blinding speeds, leaping from rooftop to rooftop.
____________________________________________
Kiara
Kiara left the school after it ended in the early morning and began to take buses to her home which was located at the outer edges of Miyama. It would be her last day at school until the holy grail war ended, and she had notified her friends and teachers that she would be out of town for a family trip. The use of her family as an excuse slighted Kiara and arose from her feelings of regret now dulled by time yet still as irritating as any old wound. When Kiara entered her small but well furnished house, she immediately began to speak to Rider with their mental link.
"The first day of the war has passed and not a single move has been made oddly. The only familiars I'm capable of making are basic ones, and even then the range I can operate with them is pitiful, but I still caught onto a suspicious guy entering a house that's been empty for some time. I tracked the house down yesterday and scanned it, and it seems like the guy's been casting some sort of ritual or doing some heavy mystic code crafting or something, since he's leaking mana. If it doesn't bother you, I'm going to be investigating today."
Kiara had implied that Rider had an option in forcing her to stay at home, but her words were merely formalities. She intended to leave and investigate regardless. She had a habit of being rather inconsiderate, but most of the time her thick skin emanated from a sense of duty or urgency. She considered changing out of Fuyuki highschool's uniform before leaving, but a gut feeling told her to move as fast as she could. With a controlled haste, Kiara grabbed her precious mystic code gloves and donned them before slipping out of her house and mobilizing towards the house. As she walked, she spoke to Rider once more,
"Say Rider, what will we do if we have to engage with a melee servant such as Saber? I feel that something's going to be coming up soon near the location we're headed to, so its best to have our plans jotted down yes?"
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Girouette
Lizard knight Overlord
"How...How did you g..."
He didn't even need to finish, it was a stupid question, his servant was assassin, and from what he could tell a rather high ranking one.
Shoun supposed that he should be grateful that assassin had let him have such a long amount of time without intruding, and if he was thinking rationally and not taken over by fear, he would have felt bad for wasting such a large amount of time cowering from his own servant.
Unfortunately, he wasn't, and although he knew that his servant had no ill will nor would harm him, even so the only effect of the servants intrusion into the room was him becoming more frightened.
And so he simply plunged his head down, staring at the floor and still crying, it would seem that this Master would need quite a bit of time to get used to his servant, if ever at this point.
"Of course, I can't keep you from investigating, but I will be coming along! Of course, I'll follow you in spirit form, as much as I prefer being allowed physical existence...Well, I'll be able to get us out if anything goes wrong."
Rider would have liked nothing more than to spend the rest of the Grail war holed up in a workshop somewhere, but that was not to be, and he understood that more than he would have liked
Scouting was an important tactic in the Grail War, although it lent itself more to those who had servants like Assassin, or those who could afford to be attacked, like Saber or Lancer, Rider was perhaps the least suited for reconnaissance, his abilities hinged around large, noisy vehicles, that said...Well, they would be protected if someone choose to attack.
"Well...I doubt we'll be attacked head on, it's still early in the day, and if this suspicious character is a Master, he's not much of a threat if he doesn't know how to even conceal his magecraft...We should be fine, barring any unforeseen circumstances, and we can always flee if the need arises."
If there was something the Rider class excelled at, even if normally people didn't use it, would be running away, even the only vehicle he could create, a bulking tank was much better for escaping than simply running.
He didn't even need to finish, it was a stupid question, his servant was assassin, and from what he could tell a rather high ranking one.
Shoun supposed that he should be grateful that assassin had let him have such a long amount of time without intruding, and if he was thinking rationally and not taken over by fear, he would have felt bad for wasting such a large amount of time cowering from his own servant.
Unfortunately, he wasn't, and although he knew that his servant had no ill will nor would harm him, even so the only effect of the servants intrusion into the room was him becoming more frightened.
And so he simply plunged his head down, staring at the floor and still crying, it would seem that this Master would need quite a bit of time to get used to his servant, if ever at this point.
"Of course, I can't keep you from investigating, but I will be coming along! Of course, I'll follow you in spirit form, as much as I prefer being allowed physical existence...Well, I'll be able to get us out if anything goes wrong."
Rider would have liked nothing more than to spend the rest of the Grail war holed up in a workshop somewhere, but that was not to be, and he understood that more than he would have liked
Scouting was an important tactic in the Grail War, although it lent itself more to those who had servants like Assassin, or those who could afford to be attacked, like Saber or Lancer, Rider was perhaps the least suited for reconnaissance, his abilities hinged around large, noisy vehicles, that said...Well, they would be protected if someone choose to attack.
"Well...I doubt we'll be attacked head on, it's still early in the day, and if this suspicious character is a Master, he's not much of a threat if he doesn't know how to even conceal his magecraft...We should be fine, barring any unforeseen circumstances, and we can always flee if the need arises."
If there was something the Rider class excelled at, even if normally people didn't use it, would be running away, even the only vehicle he could create, a bulking tank was much better for escaping than simply running.
Proxy
Duplicate
Assassin swirled around the room in his form of ghostly fog, dispassionately observing his master's reactions. His mere presence stifled his master, who huddled into himself, withdrawn by the crushing force of his own weak mind. A pitiful sight that aroused nothing within Assassin. It appeared that his master would not be acting anytime soon, and Assassin knew from his experience as a magus that the energy that his master leaked would attract many into their abode. Assassin did not hesitate in fending off against servants, and against a lone servant inside such a house completely wreathed in darkness, Assassin would be practically unbeatable. Fear thrives on the darkness, which spawns the unknown by which fear is produced. It is no different with Assassin, whose connection with shadows rendered it an oppressive opponent in the embrace of darkness. Yet being a sitting duck against powerful opponents was never a wonderful choice, and therefore Assassin decided to take a more drastic approach.
Assassin would carry out its threat entirely of making its master a living puppet, but it would have to resort to entirely incapacitating Shoun's mind if even these measures were rendered ineffective. The luminescent fog rushed into Shoun's shadow, completely disappearing as if the shadow was some bottomless pit. In the next instant, several tendrils of darkness erupted from Shoun's shadow and latched themselves on the back of his body. Hundreds of these tendrils twirled around his limbs and central muscles, spreading out like a network of webs. Assassin tugged at the strings expertly, forcing Shoun to move in the same way a puppeteer orders a doll to interact with its world. Assassin forced Shoun to stand up and forcefully pushed and pulled his abdominal and chest muscles to stimulate calm breathing.
"I do not wish to perish without having accomplished anything. I suspect that you do not either, or else one such as you would not have deigned to step foot upon this ritual at the risk of death. For my survival and, by extension, yours, I will force you to move. Heed this as a warning my master, for I sense we shall be approached very soon by hostile forces."
Assassin still allowed Shoun free movement, but it would not allow Shoun to sit back down or huddle in fear again. It compelled Shoun to move of his own accord by essentially limiting all other options.
_____________________________________
As Kiara sat comfortably within an almost empty bus, she replied to Rider telepathically.
"Physical existence is something I'm not restricting, but I don't have any clothes for men. Not only would random people see us as quite the strange duo, you would easily be seen as a servant. I can get some clothes when I have the time, but in a serious matter like this war I might not have the time, so sorry about that. Spiritual form also removes most of the cost of me sustaining you, and my mana output isn't too great."
The bus screeched to a halt. The automatic doors opened with a creaky exhale of compressed air. Kiara stepped out calmly, strolling towards the location she had marked down in her mind. The presumably deserted house that was now occupied should only be three blocks from where they were. She took long, measured strides towards the house, paying careful attention to her peripheral vision to observe any irregularities in the case that something trailed her.
"The sun is coming down soon, so we should be prepared. I'm taking a good bit of risk traveling out here so openly, but I think we should be fine. With your abilities, feeling shouldn't be all too difficult thought it would reveal your identity, which will hurt our chances pretty badly. I guess we just play it out smoo-"
Kiara cut herself off as she noticed something fast moving at the edge of her left eye. She quickly turned around, hands raised in a rudimentary guard. The only thing she saw were rows of bushes and trees. Whatever that had moved was something unmistakably blue and flowing, like water. But it was gone in an instant. No familiar would be that fast, and Kiara herself couldn't sense anything.
"Hmm? My mind must be playing tricks on me. Now as I was saying Rider, I think we would be fine playing this out smooth-"
Again. A streak of blue that twinkled between a small gap created between the leaves of a bush. Slightly irked but still cautious, Kiara tiptoed her way to the bush, neck craned to observe any movement. She found nothing within it. Quite odd, but whatever the case it was likely nothing. However, she could not brush off the distinct feeling of being watched. With a slight flush from being agitated by the realization that she must have seemed to be a fool, Kiara continued her thoughts.
"Ahem. Yes. Let's just investigate this house coolly. From what I know, a magus that doesn't conceal his mana discharge is either overconfident or stupid, so let's just hope its the latter option."
__________________________
(I don't know why I did this post, guess I was bored.)
Nara watched the sullen house from the top of an apartment complex through a small crystal ball within his palm. A simple spell to spy on the house, which leaked energy and yet was completely dark within. Sending out a familiar or two would be the safest option here, but Nara had not brought any nor did he consider any competition to be enough to challenge him enough to fight seriously. All he needed was his most trustworthy mystic code which provided the perfect defense, offense, and utility. The product of six generations of research and modification, a grand experiment marveled at in the Association. His servant Berserker stood behind him in spirit form, noticeable by those with clairvoyant capacity but not by any servant without perceptive abilities. Nara would wait until darkness settled to end this pitiful master, and he had not a shade of doubt sa to his success.
A humanoid figure around seven feet tall stood beside Nara. It had no facial expressions or bodily imperfections, a human body in a blank sheet state. The color of its form was a dull grey, and the way it held its ground made it seem to be a statue. At the center of its chest, a faint glow of red pulsates. Seven generations of golemancy had created the ultimate monster easily capable of dispatching the strongest of mages, and Nara smiled as he felt the curls of heated smoke emanating from the golem heat his back.
Girouette
Lizard knight Overlord
"I do not mind being stuck in this spiritual form, it is as you said more efficient than having me walk around with you all the time, but I would like it if we ever have a second of down time to be allowed access to a workshop"
Rider understood the fact that they wouldn't have much time for relaxation, but it would be quite amiss of him, the great inventor, to not wish to take advantage of his manifestation into the physical world once more, and it was not simply his own selfish want to be able to observe the modern day world, but it would also benefit them greatly if he was permitted to create a few reconnaissance machines, and if he had done so previously they wouldn't even be doing what they currently were.
Noticing his Masters sudden stop in sentence, his senses suddenly perked up as well...Although he couldn't sense any nearby danger, and it was true that his perception ability was rather low, he would know if something was about to go wrong, and so he simply ignored his Masters pause and investigation.
"I don't know if us escaping in my...Tank, as you call it these days, would directly cause my identity to be revealed, and I will need to use it if we get into conflict...Personally though, I do hope we end up having a bit of excitement, it wouldn't be very enjoyable to fight in this war if the first Magus we kill is incompetent."
"W...What are you..."
The body of the cowering boy began to stand, and his tears ceased to flow down his cheeks, why? He did not know, his body simply began to move on its own, and as far as he could tell his servant must have gotten fed up with his cowardice and taken matters into its own...Shadow.
He was now standing upright, and his breathing had returned to normal, as much as his brain was feeling fear, his body seemed at ease.
"I - I understand! I don't want to die either! I won't be scared! Just please don't hurt me!"
The boy was able to let out a flurry of words, seemingly what his mind was thinking, and with his body able to act properly now, he could seemingly express it.
As his body began to calm down, he could feel his magic circuits starting to wind down. Tt was perhaps true that this was the most calm he had ever been, despite his mind racing with his fear, his body had calmed.
"I'll move! I'm sorry for being scared of you! Don't hurt me.."
Rider understood the fact that they wouldn't have much time for relaxation, but it would be quite amiss of him, the great inventor, to not wish to take advantage of his manifestation into the physical world once more, and it was not simply his own selfish want to be able to observe the modern day world, but it would also benefit them greatly if he was permitted to create a few reconnaissance machines, and if he had done so previously they wouldn't even be doing what they currently were.
Noticing his Masters sudden stop in sentence, his senses suddenly perked up as well...Although he couldn't sense any nearby danger, and it was true that his perception ability was rather low, he would know if something was about to go wrong, and so he simply ignored his Masters pause and investigation.
"I don't know if us escaping in my...Tank, as you call it these days, would directly cause my identity to be revealed, and I will need to use it if we get into conflict...Personally though, I do hope we end up having a bit of excitement, it wouldn't be very enjoyable to fight in this war if the first Magus we kill is incompetent."
"W...What are you..."
The body of the cowering boy began to stand, and his tears ceased to flow down his cheeks, why? He did not know, his body simply began to move on its own, and as far as he could tell his servant must have gotten fed up with his cowardice and taken matters into its own...Shadow.
He was now standing upright, and his breathing had returned to normal, as much as his brain was feeling fear, his body seemed at ease.
"I - I understand! I don't want to die either! I won't be scared! Just please don't hurt me!"
The boy was able to let out a flurry of words, seemingly what his mind was thinking, and with his body able to act properly now, he could seemingly express it.
As his body began to calm down, he could feel his magic circuits starting to wind down. Tt was perhaps true that this was the most calm he had ever been, despite his mind racing with his fear, his body had calmed.
"I'll move! I'm sorry for being scared of you! Don't hurt me.."
