imperial_stage | The holy Grail war, final chapter: The end of all things

The holy Grail war, final chapter: The end of all things

Who: The remaining combatants in the Holy Grail war, various and sundry others sucked into the vortex of war and blood
When: Friday Evening
Where: The Desert of Yaburah
What: The final battles of the war play out, lives are lost, and... a victory of sorts is won
Warnings: Bill posted a log. You know there will be blood, overblown speeches, and in general it will be rated M for manly.

Night falls over Yaburah, the city's lights barely visible in the distance. The wind is hot, and carries the grit of sand within it, though nothing moves. Even the animals that might frequent the desert at night have scattered, for they can feel the storm that comes. Blood will be spilled here, and the fate of many servants, men, women, perhaps the destiny of the leaders of some of the Kingdoms of Dagaria will play out here. Hatred, vengeance, rage, and despair will all come to fruition. But perhaps love and innocence will win out, for they have motivated the alliance of the Servants. A young girl is the key, and it is a battle for her that will be fought, before the curtain falls on this last act of the Holy Grail war

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A small camp, surrounded by forces.

The last time Lina had been in one of these, it was Lancer. Fortunately, her opponent this time did not seem to be so... Tricky.

So, if he'd likely be more straightforward - so would she.

"Here's the deal," she declared to those around her. "You get to see my Noble Phantasm as soon as I see the bandit king. An opening salvo to wreck any forces he brought and soften him up a little for the lot of you. All going well, we'll be short a competitor in the Grail War in minutes."

"Do it. But... be aware he's virtually immune to flame. That is his forte, after all."

Garviel is sharpening many, many blades, and even putting an edge on a fighting-spear, as they talk.

"Good thing what I can bring isn't just fire, then. That said... Keep well clear. It has quite the explosive range."

Which indeed was true. Entirely.

In hindsight, this warning would probably prove insufficient. But for now, Caster still wanted to conceal her nature.

"I'm not concerned."

Garviel is pretty confident.

"... Just don't say I didn't warn you if you wake up in the southern oceans off Hirawyr."

Not that the Dragon Slave had ever knocked someone - let alone a knight as heavy as Cerberus - that far. But it wouldn't surprise Caster if it could...

Lancer more or less stumbles into the camp.

"Yo. There you people are. Took me a while even with speed runes. So, what is with all thus sudden movement? And it's not even remotely related to the Rift unless you count that weird lady. Who was she anyway?"

He has a lots of questions. And he has a feeling that he's not gonna get all of the answers that he wants.

"I guess we can save the answers for later. Anyway, Cerberus, if you need a hand, seeing how you must be exhausted from all this Roman politics shit, I can lend you some assisstance."

From the direction of L'Renouille into the center of Yaburah, a shining light sweeps through the sands. The winds nor the heat slow it down. It has a mission that it intends to carry out in this night. The source of the light is a golden, giant wolf and sitting on it, holding it by the hair is the Mad Prince, Luca Blight. The legitimate prince of the Nameless States has been beheaded. Just the same, the regent of the Nameless States will suffer the same fate. In this one night, an entire kingdom will fall. The rest will follow.

Thomas was mostly sleep, but the light had disturbed the guards who then woke the Regent up to alert him. Sleepily, he threw on a robe, and searched for a spyglass to try to find the source of the strange light as fear gnawed at the pit of his stomach. This... isn't good, this isn't good at all. Guards were set out, all on high alert.

And then, there came a sound. A sound that had, some centuries ago, inspired untold fear and terror.

"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..."

Entire armies, even nations, had fallen before what those words portented - a spell now echoing in the direction of the light.

"Buried in the stream of time..."

Caster knew this wouldn't necessarily do a lot of damage... But even against A-rank magic resistance, it would do something.

"In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness..."

After all, a C-rank Noble Phantasm was as an A-Rank normal technique.

"Let the fools who stand before me be felled, by the power that you and I possess!"

And then, Lina Inverse was in sight - above Thomas' camp, dark energies around her....

"I AM LINA INVERSE, THE BANDIT KILLER. NOW, TASTE YOUR DOOM! DRAGON, SLAVE!"

Then, the entire burst left her hands, a beam of force launching directly at Rider... Then exploding, a wave of energy several hundred feet across.

The show had now started. And Caster - no, Lina - could finally take her rightful starring role.

Edited 2012-06-10 03:32 (UTC)

"What the-"

Rider only noticed as he felt a surge of magic forming in the air. He looked up only to see the beam of force dropping down at him like a missile. There was little he could do to deflect. As the explosion spread throughout the desert, sand, dust, ashes of whatever poor creature caught in the blast was scattered into the winds. His armor and beast were singed. It hit dead on, but most of the attack was blocked with Rider's natural affinity for fire and defense against magic.

"Ahah... Ahahahahahah!! This is just like before... so I've been caught, then, have I. Until now you pigs have come at me in groups... so your friends must be nearby too!

Well, not again. I won't be done in by the same chickenshit strategy!" yelled the mad king, raising his sword into the air. As he did, his mount, the Golden Wolf, raised his neck towards the moon and howled. From the cloudless skies, thunderstorms rained down across the deserts. It wasn't necessarily aimed for Lina. It was meant to draw out anybody hiding.

Roy was one such person in hiding, but he wasn't about to let himself get flushed out this early in the game. With a simple transmutation, he timed it so that a small patch of plants caught fire just as thunder boomed across the area. He then followed that up with another transmutation.

Not many people knew that the transmutation circle on Roy's gloves actually moved oxygen rather than conjure flame. Roy used this to his advantage to alter the oxygen's bonds. The end result was a cloud of ozone rather than oxygen gas. The odor could be detected for quite a ways. That should throw them off.

Lancer glances at the guy next to him, and then at the light.

"What the fuck is that? Seriously--what the fuck?"

But he's not going to stand still and wait for an answer when everything is going to hell around him. Since not even he can get close enough to do a close-range attack, he opts to create an explosion of flame with his ansuz rune instead.

Archer, for her part, flies through the air to get in close. Everything was ready this time - Rider was caught in the open, everyone was arrayed against him, and Caster...or rather...

She pauses in her flight to toss a salute to Lina Inverse. "I read a fair bit about you, Sorcery Genius," she says, glad her research finally actually told her something. "I'm more impressed with the real thing, though."

That said, she charges off at Rider, coming down at him like a comet and lashing with Laevatein in sword-whip form to keep him on the defensive.

Garviel approaches slowly, behind Archer, a huge cloak covering most of his pearl-white armor. He holds a Javelin in one hand, and a Gladius in the other, his helm's eyeslits glittering read as his steps slowly consume ground between him and Rider. He is as inevitable and as patient as death itself.

"Pigs, all being drawn to the slaughter..."

Rider extends his arm out at the incoming Archer and Berserker. He calls again to his Noble Phantasm, the True Beast Rune, inside him. Now blocking the Servants' paths is yet another Golden Wolf. Besides the one that Rider is using as his mount, there are two now. Opening its mouth, it fires a storm of flames from its breath as it lunges at them, ready to bite rend them through with its jaws.

While the other wolf deals with the Servants, Rider focuses his attention on Caster. His mount charges with blazing speed as the Mad Prince readies his blade.

As Rider made his turn towards her, Caster paused. With his magic resistance - and the power of that rune - nothing less than a Noble Phantasm would be reliable to even scratch him.

The Dragon Slave had obviously not been enough, which left...

"Wind barrier!", Caster shouted, launching into the air quickly - and creating a powerful gust of wind. She wasn't sure if it'd be enough to significantly shift his path - but if he jumped, it'd almost assuredly keep him from getting on-course.

She'd have to hope it created an opening for someone else to use so she could have an opening. She wasn't willing to bet on getting her third - or the prerequisite second - Phantasm out without it.

"HA!"

Archer doesn't slow down in the slightest at the sight of the golden wolf. She simply charges through the flames ahead of Berserker, slashing away with Laevatein (obviously, not bothering to ignite it). She hacks away at the animal's maw as it breathes and snaps, contesting its ferocity with her own.

"Another one?"

Like the rest of the non-Servant beings, Lancer is still occupied with the first golden wolf.

"How many does he have anyway?"

Another burst of fire is created, hoping to draw the creature's attentions toward him. If he could just trap it...

Garviel continues his slow advance through the flames, moving to box Rider in, his own gladius hurtling through the orange flames, looking almost bronze, spiking towards the incoming Golden Wolf in an eviscerating gut-thrust. His silence is that of contempt, glaring at the things that Rider uses as his weapon with a hatred that makes Lina's recently used spell look tame by comparison. Absolute loathing.

A small figure stood behind the fire, hiding a glow. She pointed her staff up and recited an incantation, sending small balls of pink light from all directions. He needed to be dealt with soon.

As the dust of the battle settled, a power lingered in the air, a sort of far off hum that made one's hair stand on end. Rider's spirit had all but disappeared, going the same way that Lancer had before; drawn to some strange source. It seemed closer, however, much closer.

The air shimmered, and all at once a form appeared, small and unassuming. Laying on the ground for a moment, she finally woke up, sitting up quickly and looking around. She looked exhausted, like this had been the first bit of sleep she had had in so many days, and while there were no visible marks on her, one could tell by how she quickly shrunk back that some other kind of lasting damage had been done.

"W-where am I? What is this?" Her voice shook.

"Hayate!"

Injuries and feeling of exhaustion aside, Archer immediately sheathes her sword and rushes forward toward where her Master was lying so vulnerably. The action is almost automatic; a very basic part of the Servant's mind is telling her that something very, very bad is about to happen, and she needs to get to her Master before it does.

Roy had had his right arm outstretched when he saw the form appear. However, when he saw that it was just a girl, he found himself lowering it. Of course, then said girl turned out to be a Master...

"Okay. Would someone mind explaining what is going on here? Because this feels all wrong."

Presto! In a shimmer of magic and a puff of dust from beneath it, there's a skinny little fox standing just off to the side of Hayate, looking pleased as punch and shockingly confident for someone who just lost his servant.

At this point, he may as well just go all in. The Grail is lost to him, from the perspective of winning the Grail War, but power and knowledge are not yet out of reach. "My, my, my. What a powerful bunch we have here, to defeat Rider twice." He raises a magic barrier with a wave of his hands, hoping to stall any approach - particularly by that Archer.

She looked around, worry covering her face. She managed to look past every one of the masters and servants on the battlefield, her face unchanged. It would seem that she could not see them.

When the weasel of a mage appeared, however, Hayate noticed, trying her best to move away, fear taking place of uncertainty on her face. "W... what do you mean? Rider has..?"

Garviel just walks slowly towards Yuna, his now-blackened armor looking pitted and cracked in places. He holds a Gladius in his hand, and there is a definite sense of menace to him. He is still unable to speak though, lost in a towering rage.

Seeing Rider's Master still up and smirking like that has Signum mad enough to trade classes with Garviel for the moment - although she can still speak, at least.

"You! Surrender now, and get away from her!" Archer shouts, charging and hacking away at the magical barrier with enough force to take down a castle wall.

Lancer was confused at first, but after getting a good look at it, he could see that this was obviously someone taking a little girl hostage.

A row of runes is carved onto his spear. It ensures that when thrown, it will detonate with deadly force. Not nearly as strong as his sealed Gae Bolg, but strong enough, he thinks, to blow a way a regular barrier.

Woo! Good thing he prepared a few barriers well in advance. Enough to refresh one as the first is broken, looking calm and unperturbed for the moment, as he leans down to his young captive. "Just like so many others are, just like so many others will be."

He shakes his head. The resistance being put forth by the attacking servants hidden from sight, all Hayate would be able to see for the moment is broken bodies in the distance. "Getting involved in this Grail War... look at everyone who's been hurt, now, because of you and that book."

Edited 2012-06-09 03:27 (UTC)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SudOmGZIdWw

Song for when a certain someone busts out their Noble Phantasm.

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The holy Grail war, final chapter: The end of all things

PLanning phase. Post in here for the initial planning discussion.

Re: PLanning phase. Post in here for the initial planning discussion.

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Re: PLanning phase. Post in here for the initial planning discussion.

The Battle against Luca

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Hnn... So would this be our order?

More or less.

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Intermission, the aftermath of the Luca fight

So late to this party, sorry guys

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Battle 2: Reinforce/Avenger/Grail battle

The end of the war, good for tying up plot threads

OOC communication here

Fight music tags here.

Re: Fight music tags here.