Afraid this will go on until I find a better logo.
Pastebin:http://pastebin.com/57zN49ba
Tl;Dr: You're an Amnesiac transferred to a new school, where an ancient rite of magic and battle is taking place. You participate in the conflict unwillingly, with the strongest Servant at your side. Above all looms the shadow of a student who died mysteriously before your arrival.
===========
That night, your dreams are different. They involve a car crash of some sort, and waking up your legs hurt. You assume you probably slept in a bad position.
It's 7 am and class won't begin before an hour.
You head to the shower, change into the school uniform, and ponder on what to do next.
Your next objective is Emi, the legless girl who wanted you dead since day 1. Talking with Rin, who was formerly Caster's Master, you discovered that the two girls have formed a bond, and that Emi has grown unstoppably determined to achieve the Grail, for reasons you are not aware of.
The mechanics of this odd war seem strange to you, and you probably haven't yet grasped them fully. So far, only your loyal servant, Saber, helped you and gave you meaningful answers. As of now, he's your only ally, not including your new friend Rin and the Masters Lily and Hanako, who seem to at least partially sympathize with you.
This will be your first proper fight: Emi won't go down without a struggle. Who can offer you the most insight ?
>Talk with Rin
>Talk with Saber
>>44058658
>Talk with Saber
We haven't had the chance to get his opinion on what's been happening yet, nor do we know what he intend to do if we somehow end up winning.
And we also ought to figure out what he can and can't do in a fight, so we don't go rushing headfirst into losing battles.
>>44059839Talking with Rin doesn't mean starting a fight, but I will respect your will
"Saber, I need your support with strategic planning. I think it's time to face Emi and her Servant, there's no way to negotiate with them to begin with."
"I don't disagree with this strategy. It's less suicidal than taking on Berserker and Lancer at the same time. However we don't know what aces Emi has up her sleeves. Heh, funny, as she usually wears short-sleeved shirts".
"But this kind of reasoning doesn't bring us any further. If we can't plan on what they have, we must plan on what we do have."
"Correct. As you know, I am endowed with a very high magical resistance. This will come in handy when we fight Emi's Servant and its Noble Phantasms"
"What is a Noble Phantasm, Saber?"
"A noble Phantasm is the embodiment of the legend and of the mystery of every hero. Their fuel is human imagination itself, and every item or every characteristic that belongs to the myth of a given hero can potentially be a Noble Phantasm"
"So what is your Noble Phantasm?"
"First of all, you should remember that an Heroic Spirit can possess more than one Noble Phantasm. I am not sure, however I think my blade's name is Ananke: the unescapable Necessity. I know for sure that my sword can cut through any defense. The rest we'll have to find out. But I am a Saber class Servant: there's little that can take me completely by surprise", he says, raising his thumb.
There's roughly 15 minutes before the beginning of the class. Maybe they can be put to good use.
>Try to spy on Emi
>Go to class
>>44060060
>Go to class
>Talk with Saber a little more while we have time
What does he think of the other Masters and Servants? What's his goal in this war? Is there anything that we should know he won't or can't do?>Google for Ananke
>Google for historical figures famous for possessing swords and warhorns
>>44060060
>>Go to class
>>44060204
>>44060206
"Come on Saber, I will be late to class. What do you think of Caster and the other servants?"
"Caster is dead. What I think about him is irrelevant. Berserker is scaringly strong, but Berserker and Masters don't tend to bond well. That's a weakness we can exploit. Lancer seem to fight with grim determination. That is a man who witnessed a fate worse than death in his life, and I believe he wishes to change that".
"And you, Saber? What do you want to change?Or what do you want from the Grail?"
Silence grows. He's probably thinking and can't come up with an answer.
"I think my main desire is to bring balance and order. Something is tampering with this world, as if maiming the reality of it. I want to find who is doing that and stop him or her. Master, what do you want?"
"I haven't thought of that a lot myself, you know? But I would like my memories back, if there is any way to recover them. If not, I wil be content to keep my promise and never forget the only person who visited me in the Hospital."
The class is still mostly empty when you arrive. The Student council isn't there, nor is Hanako. Maybe they deemed it too dangerous. Saber is standing in a corner, with his camouflage active. Class is boring and you repeatedly attempt to peek through the windows to catch a glimpse of Emi and her Servant, but to no avail.
The running track must be much further away than you imagined, and even asking Saber to go on patrol on his own is out of question, as you can't communicate with him in the middle of class.
As soon as the bell for lunch rings, you start to make your way out.
Not too far away from the door stands Hanako, still trying to be as discreet as possible.
"H-hello, John, w-would you want to d-drink some tea with me and L-Lily?"
You were hoping to acquire more information about Emi, but you can't scratch the feeling that you should show some gratefulness to the girls who saved you without asking anything in return.
>>44060485
>Agree to having tea
if that was supposed to be a prompt.
>>44060485
"Sure."
>>44060531
>>44060559Sorry, was meant to be a prompt
"Sure, let's go"
You follow her to the usual room, and as soon as you enter, you can smell the enticing scent of hot tea. Or perhaps that's a hint of perfume you're catching?
Either way, you gladly sit down after greeting Lily.
"I would like to thank you once more for yesterday. You saved me from dire straits"
Lily laughs with her distinctive aristocratic laughter, as to minimize what she and her friend did for you.
"John, don't underestimate the importance for all the players in the game to keep some balance, when possible. We are flattered that you think so highly of us, but we would be lying if we didn't say that this greatly benefited us too".
You nod, then you take a sip from the tea cup in front of you.
"Are you fond of chess, John?"
"To be fair, I have no clue how to play"
Lily laughs again, without contempt in her voice. "A word of caution, then. Chess is a game of patience and strategy. Strong pieces and weak pieces exist, and even the strongest piece can be taken out by a surprise move."
Hanako pulls a chessboard, and picks a horse-shaped piece in her hand, then she passes it to Lily.
"A knight is easily underestimated, but its odd moves can take anyone by surprise."
The bell sounds again, signaling the end of lunch.
There is time to ask one more thing.
>"how do I defeat Emi?"
>"Would you reconsider an alliance?"
>>44061151
>>"how do I defeat Emi?"
>>44061309
"How do I defeat Emi?"
Lily answers you with an inquisitive tone.
"Is that a formal request for help, John?"
"No, no, I know I have to face her alone. It's just that you all seem to know more about this than I do. I have no desire to fight her, but she's gonna pursue me to the bottom of Hell if I don't stop her. There must be something you can tell me that can give me an edge."
Lily stops and thinks for a moment. Then she replies "A Servant-Master duo is as strong as the connection between them. If the bond is weak it can be easily cut. If they've not been 100% honest with each other, you have a trump card to play. However, it could also be that they bounded strongly enough to overcome pretty much any challenge". She takes a sip from her cup of tea once more.
"This is all the insight I can provide. Maybe you should ask more about her to someone who knows her better. She's rather popular in this school after all. Or you could try to spy on her, though I am afraid that it would be much harder, albeit more rewarding. Maybe the question you should ask yourself right now is: are you willing to take on extra risks? Do you feel lucky?"
>"Not today"
>"it's worth a shot"
>>44061695
>>"Not today"
>>44061695
>"it's worth a shot"
>>44061793
This will be head and this >>44061825 will be tails, gonna toss a coin to determine the result unless another post occurs
>>44061695
>Do YOU feel lucky, punk?
No but really.
>"it's worth a shot"
>>44061930Tie broken, the coin thought much the same
"It's probably worth a shot"
Lily nods gently. "They say that luck favors the bold, and you surely do not lack bravery".
You thank the girls for the tea taken together, get out of the room and head for the running track.
You can feel Saber's presence by your side, despite his camouflage. Is this what Lily meant when she talked about a "bond"? Is this the same power that allows you to use his magic resistance to see through illusions?
You reach the running track before finding the time to answer these questions. The place seems quiet, no one is around. You and Saber hide behind the hedge located not too far away from the track. The place is deserted, but you can sense that there's something that does not meet the eye.
Almost reading in your thoughts, Saber projects his magic resistance to reveal Emi and her Servant, both on the track, both running at full speed.
Emi is exactly like you remember her: wearing shorts and a t-shirt, her strawberry blonde hair done in ponytails, she runs with a determined grin on her face. Her Servant is completely foreigner to you.
He somewhat resembles Lancer in his hoplite outfit, but he looks..."lighter". He's running much faster than Emi, and looks like he could run even faster.
The run ends some minutes later, and it looks like they're congratulating each other for the good performance.
"What you see", says Saber, "is a Reality Marble. It is keeping outside those who shouldn't know about this war. It is the designated fighting area for this conflict."
Busy as you are hear what Saber has to say, you don't notice Emi walking towards you. She's maybe twenty steps away from you, and running is clearly not an option.
Hiding or standing up and fight, you have to pick, and you have to pick quickly.
>>44062126
Stand
>>44062126
Stand up
>>44062126
Stand up and
>>44062372
>>44062305
>>44062196
Stand up and
SHOUT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjCBV6o_DSEZA WARUDO
>>44062126
fight
>>44062196
>>44062305
>>44062372
You stand up from your hiding place and so does Saber, Ananke materializing in his hands.
"Well, well, newbie. You came here to your own death. How convenient."
"Harming Masters directly is against the rules"
Emi's laugh is evil and devoid of any form of human compassion.
"And who set the rules? Shizune? The same girl who destroyed your attempts for a truce yesterday? I didn't think you were such a fervent admirer of her methods."
"Don't shit with me, Emi. Two wrongs don't make a right. I am here to throw you out of this war, but not to harm you"
Emi grins with malignity. "How naive of you. Rider, attack!"
With superhuman speed and reflexes, Rider grasps his lance and throws it at Saber.
Saber reacts as quickly as he can, shattering the lance with his sword seconds before it hits him in the face.
"Not bad, Saber", says Rider. "You must have been a prodigious swordsman in your time and age". Another Lance materializes by his side, and as he grips that one too, he launches himself against Saber, assaulting him at full speed.
Emi looks at the fight from a distance, visibly pleased with her Servant's powers.
"Tell me newbie, what is it that you want? The bond between you and your Servant is strong, I can see that. So you must share a common goal of sort, just like me and my Servant. What does your heart covet? Tell me, and I might just spare your life".
Her tone of voice, her choice of words, her determination: these things alone make you shiver. It is hard to think of her as the happy and joyous girl Rin described. And yet you have to give her an answer.
>"None of your business"
>"I want my life back. I want my memory back"
>>44062574
>"I want my life back. I want my memory back"
>>44062574
>>"None of your business"
>>44062650
>>44062785
p-pls
>>44062867
Sorry bro.
>>44062867
TODAY THE GODS WILL DECIDE YOUR FATE!
>>44062574
>I want my life back. I want my memory back
>>44063065
>>44062650
yay
"I want my life back. I want my memory back".
"And why would you want them? There's nothing meaningful for you in your past. All you have in your life is your future. The next lap. The next step. What was I expecting? Of course someone as pathetic as you are would care about something so trivial."
The fight on the other side of the running track seems to be in favor of Rider. He hits quickly, and defends even faster, so that Saber can hardly attempt to attack or defend.
"The fight is over, newbie. Serious mistake to come here today", says Emi as she dons a necklace. She holds the charm in her hand, a glowing purple stone. "A present from Rin. I am sure you will appreciate."
She lunges at you with full speed, and she barely misses you. Not far away from where she is, she punches you in the arm as strongly as possibly can. You hear a disgusting noise: broken bones and veins, and the pain makes you faint for a second.
When you reopen your eyes, Rider is laying on the ground, cast several meters away from Saber.
Saber is standing tall with his hands joint in prayer, and you can barely hear him chant
"The stream flows, and the birds sing
The wind blows, and the rain pours
The clouds fleet, as the sun once more shines
And this wicked heart beats, one last time."
Around you, the word goes dim. All is blackness, except for you, Saber, Rider and Emi. A golden string materializes connecting Emi to Rider, then another connecting you to Saber. Several other follow suit, but they only seem to be connecting Rider and Emi.
The Reality Marble has changed: it's not longer the designed fighting area, it is apparently something that Saber was able to project, akin to a Reality Marble of his own. You touch the golden string, and you can hear Saber's voice saying in your head "Can you stand up and help me?" and "Stay where you are, and be safe" at the same time.
You eventually decide to
>Help Saber
>Stay safe.
>>44063274
>>Help Saber
It's just a broken arm, we have another arm.
>>44063274
>Help Saber
>>44063274
>help saber
>>44063330
>>44063358
>>44063448
You use the other arm as a lever as you get up. Trying to gaze on your left arm reveals it is now a pulp of blood and bones. It's not even broken, it's entirely destroyed. The thought is gut-wrenching, but you go on because you fight to survive.
You can hear Saber talking with you through the golden string.
"This is the physical manifestation of our bond. All the other strings are a manifestation of a person's thoughts, memories or desires. Now we fight on equal footing."
As soon as Rider attempts to to attack,a string connecting his head to Saber's chest forms.
Saber just cuts it away and causes Rider's attack to miss the mark.
You walk slowly towards Emi,who is tangled in thousand of wires. She can't move her legs and her prosthetics, and she's barely crawling.
"I warn you,Saber. You can try to cut all the strings you want, but you can never severe our bond. Me and Emi live for the same purpose! For the ideal that is running, for the belief that is going forward, at all costs."
Saber tilts his head sidewise. He grasps a chord emanating from Rider's heart and pulls it closer. "I know who you are. You're Pheidippides, the Messenger of Marathon. Your death was foolish, there was no need to kill yourself on that run"
"Spoken like a true underachiever!", screams Rider with rage, as he lunges forward. Yet again, another string cut and another attack misses its mark.
"John, try to to reach for one of Emi's blue strings",you hear him saying inside your head.
"But stay clear of his darkest memory".
As soon as he finishes saying that, he swings his sword at full force against the golden bond
"ANANKE!". The string bends downward, but does not break. It decreases in size considerably however: it was the thickest one visible, now reduced to the size of a nylon chord.
"Your Master lied to you, Pheidippides. That which I destroyed was the coat of lies under which she hid her true colors. Now you can see how little you matter to her"
(1/2)
>>44063665
(2/2)
"Don't listen to him, Rider! He's trying to take us apart!"
Emi is still lying on the ground, barely able to make sense out of the tangles mess that is her mind.
Rider takes a deep breath, and says "I don't think it's just his sword, Master. Have you been hiding something from me?"
He removes his helmet, making himself more vulnerable, but Saber doesn't seem to jump at the opportunity. His hair is reddish and curly, his eyes are brown and penetrating. All in all he looks fairly handsome.
"Master, tell me the truth. Or it will be too late, and your dreams will be gone".
A look of pure fear appears on Emi's face. A blue, pulsating and rather large cable becomes more visible as you get closer to her and her reticence becomes apparent.
"Just pull it", you hear Saber say.
You are about to do that, but then you notice an even bigger, blue-and-black burning string around her neck and around her legs. You assume that one is even more powerful if pulled, and it might end the battle in the blink of an eye. However Saber's warnings echo in your heads
>Pull the burning black one
>Pull the blue one
>>44063787
>>Pull the blue one
>>44063787
>Pull the blue one
Trust Saber, we can understand why later.
>>44063787
> pull the blue
man i wanted so bad to know what is the terrible memory, but our saber is such a cool guy
>>44063849
>>44063863
You pull the blue string, and you can feel Saber's happiness spread through to you. The golden rope connection you two glows intensely, as the bond between Master and Servant is reinforced.
As Saber foresaw, the fear-shock invading Emi stops her from telling Rider whatever could save their bond right now, and another cleave of Ananke breaks the bond for good.
"RIDER! NOOO!" Emi cries in impotent rage, tears flowing from her big green eyes.
Rider is starting to fade, a golden mist shrouding him progressively.
"Hey Master, don't worry. There's always a lesson to be learned. There's always the next lap, remember? Sometimes you should trust people. If you keep them at arm's length, you will never truly know them. It's a damn shame, no?" he smiles, in peace with himself and with the world. "It was a fun ride, Emi. Never give up on your potentiality. You're going places" he smiles and gives Emi a final thumb up before disappearing.
Saber's reality marble dissolves, and you're once again on the running track. Emi is bent on the floor crying. Saber walks towards you and projects the bond in a visible form, around his arm and what remains of your destroyed one.
"Lay down master, and close your eyes. This could hurt." You do as he commands, and you feel a burning pain through your arm and through your body.
When you reopen your eyes, your mauled arm is gone, replaced by Saber's.
The armors around it wheezes softly, before coiling around itself and disappearing.
"Saber... you gave me your arm... How are you going to fight now?"
"Do not worry Master, one arm is more than enough to wield Ananke. Remember that you can project the armor covering your arm anytime you want. Don't get caught off guard twice!" His tone is in between the joke of a friend and the reprimand of a parent.
You get up again, and put your new arm on his shoulder. "Thanks,friend".
You look down,to see Emi still in a mess of rage and desperation.
>Offer to help her up
>Walk away.
>>44064180
>Offer to help her up
Be the bigger manbe the big guy for her
>>44064180
> walk away
>>44064180
>>Offer to help her up
>>44064180
Oh wait does she still have that necklace thing?
In which case punch her and grab it like we're the ghettoest.
>>44064222
>>44064305
You move forward to try and help her up again.
"Hey there, Emi, are you alright? Come, let's go see the nurse".
Her head rises up, looking straight at you with the expression of anger and determination you've come to associate to her.
Before you can say anything else, she lunges at you, her hands still glowing with the magic power of Caster's crafted charm. You're few steps ahead of her, a punch in your chest will destroy your heart. You hear a slight hiss through the air as an arrow misses you by few millimeters, breaks Emi's necklace and saves your life at the very last moment.
Emi's punch in the stomach still hurt, but at least it doesn't kill you.
Recognizing her magic powers are gone, Emi takes a few steps back with her face twisted in an expression of rage and disbelief together, before running away as far as she can.
Saber slouches backward, tilting his head in the direction the arrow came from, screaming at the top of his lungs "NICE SHOT, ARCHER!".
You and saber return to your room, and as you lie on the bed thinking of the intense day, you hear a buzz coming from your school bag.
Digging through it, you find your phone. "Unknown number" is calling you.
You pick up, and a familiar voice greets you.
"John, is that you?"
=======
thanks everyone for attending, large turnout today! Fun fact of today: in the original plot, Kenji summoned an irregular Eighth servant of his own.
>>44064434
I have a thing for the irregular summonings, it's always fun when things get a little twist
See ya!
>>44064532
I felt it eventually made the story more cumbersome. After all Saber is already an irregular summon.
>>44064434
Good thread again op, see you next time!
>>44064587
>>44064664
>Mfw you will never learn about Emi's dark black and blue cablejust kidding, come here tomorrow and you'll know
>>44064711
Same time?
>>44064756
Pretty much yes, that will be 6 pm GMT+1, but take your time, I will stick around.
