Fate/Endeavour

[Elyn]

Nanae was surprised at the firm grasp; he had a strength she lacked, and somewhat admired. When their hands parted, she tilted her head and put her hand on her chin. "I never really thought of it as a reward." She puts her head down in thought. She wasn't sure of what to think of it as. However, it was the one thing that could grant her desire, which she doubted was as heavily weighted next to the other master's wishes. She looked back up at him.

"Ah, right, tactics? Well, if I do have your legend right," Nanae scuttled towards the summoning circle, pondering for a few seconds, "Then one priority should be using your agility to find a advantageous point to attack. I assume you have a good ranking agility, right." She moved to the dusty window. Nanae had clothing set out for Archer in this building she was staying in, so that he could seem as normal as possible to the public eye, but she highly doubted it would fit. It was a shame, for the day was extremely cloudy and downcast, thus making it perfect to move. But if she had to take an extra day to search for clothing, then it was what she'd have to do.

"I recommend using the forest lands surrounding battlegrounds as a base." A surprised sound escaped her lips. "That's right, the Einzberns! I might be able to settle something with them. Our families have a bit of a good history together-" She paused. What if she had to face one of the homunculi in this upcoming battle? Would she face one similar to that 'person'? These were questions she didn't quite know, and bothered her quite a bit. It showed visually that Nanae was worried. She took a deep breath, and looked to Archer.
She gulped, trying to clear her dry throat. "I apologize, Archer, you must have ideas. Here I am, rambling on and on."

Edited January 27, 2015 by Deadmeat Elyn

[AnonymousSpeed]

"Hm? Well, what do you think of it then? Perhaps prize is a better way to put it, yes?" Archer remarked rather cheerfully, keeping his hand out despite the shake ending. "Yes, tactics, I'd say they're quite important." The man turned to keep his gaze on his master, though stood in place, merely watching her think for the moment. "Hm, well, I may not be a squirrel, but I would say I'm rather quick on my feet. I would say I'd not have a legend in the first place, had I not been," he chuckled, approaching his master and looked over her, out the window. "Forest, hm?" Archer began pondering himself, but upon hearing the woman's exclamation he cut it quite short, glancing down at her and listening to her unfinished statement. "Einzberns," he began, taking a step back and looking to the sky. Some people looked down to ponder, but he preferred to look up if the sun wasn't out. "I see, family friends..." he mumbled, eventually stopping his backwards motion.

"Ah, ramble as you will. I have a few ideas of my own, true," Archer held out a hand as he spoke and dipped his head down. "But I have more experience planning for more than one man. Please, finish what you were saying, and I'll give you my thoughts on the situation." Despite that last request, Archer had already begun to think of a plan. He was agile, true, but most importantly, he was an archer, one wielding a Crossbow. Such a weapon was stronger than a normal bow, but took more time to load, so to best use it, being less easily spotted was best. A forest would have been fine for such a purpose, as it offered plenty of cover, but the problem then became telling when someone walked in.

[Nanami Touko]

His daughter? I know little of him, let alone his daughter... "Sure. Let's talk in person. I never did like long conversations over these phones." He hung up at that, and stood, fixing his clothes out, as he had been lounging for a moment. He set his weapons up and proceeded to stand in the main foyer of the church, awaiting the visitors. From the sounds of things on the phone, it didn't seem like they'd be much longer.

[Phoenix]

Well, as long as she was willing to give Firmia a little time ... ... the girl nodded and quickly typed up one last message before holding the phone out for Basilia. "One hour at the most ..." She wasn't going to keep the woman waiting longer than that without trying to take a rain check. Without waiting for a reply, Firmia took off back the way she came, trying to get to her room so she could come up with a plan. She had to dodge one of the house servants on the way, but he didn't seem to mind.

Firmia slid the door to her room shut and let out a breath she'd been holding. "Think," she hissed, "when have you gone outside for anything other than family stuff?" ... she couldn't come up with anything right away, unfortunately. She was perfectly content with no social life or outdoor activities, but this was one of those times where she wished there was something she could say she had to do that wouldn't arouse suspicion.

There was one thing that came to mind, but it was still a gamble. Her cousins lived in Fuyuki and one of them was a magus like her. Well ... not exactly like her .... Firmia took out her phone again and typed up a new message. She sent it to her other cousin since the former seemed to be one of those magi that just didn't appreciate the benefits of owning a phone of any kind. She'd worded her message carefully because she needed to show a convincing reply to Roza before she could leave. She'd still have to go to the Kurosawa's later, but that was a minor detail, she decided, and less risky than trying to fake a message. Tech savvy or not, Roza could still tell the difference between the terms 'to' and 'from'.

There was an alert on the screen after a couple of minutes. Firmia opened her cousin's reply and read it in silence. "Are u kidding?! Teach ME magic, not that halfwit! LOL >:3"

"... oookaaay ..." Firmia cooed, a little surprised by the results. That would have to do ....

------------ ------------ ------------

"... huh, he hung up." Stan shrugged again and slipped the phone back into Yulia's purse just as she made the turn she'd missed before. It was a straight shot to the church grounds from there. "Where's the love for technology? Sure the bills are outrageous but that's no problem for well off families and it's nice to have an alternative."

"They don't want to get sucked in," Yulia explained. "I just wanted a way to go behind mother's back in the beginning, but I can't very well use old magic devices to keep in touch with my friends. Firmia needed one, too."

"I was almost in full agreement there, heheh. I personally think she needs to get outside, more. Just park us as close as you can and let's see what kind of trouble Kouichi's landed himself in."

[Elyn]

Nanae's tense muscles relaxed. This man, although a servant and traditionally supposed to serve as her 'protection' in the upcoming events, was surely doing more than serving defense. He was bringing her some reassurance with his "far from stingy" personality. This was a far call from most people she'd met in her 22 years.

"The forest has wolves, so it'd be near barren, although not completely for that reason. Perhaps that would being something we could work with, if the Einzberns aren't competing this year. Alternatively, Fuyuki has rather tall buildings to serve as viewing points." She opened up the door. It occurred to Nanae, that she'd need to replenish herself to maintain Archer's form. In the next room, she had most necessities prepared, albeit unorganized and extremely messy. She closed the door.

"Now, what ideas do you have? I mean, if you're confident in confiding them your master as of now, that is." She glanced at him with a curious yet somewhat bright expression. "When you're finished, I suppose we should make arrangements for transportation method over a meal?"

[AnonymousSpeed]

"Mhm," Archer mumbled, returning his gaze to the ceiling once again and placing a hand to his chin. "Ah, I see no reason not to. We're to act as a team here, I think it best we speak forwardly, don't you agree? Now, what about the wolves themselves? We can hardly have one of us getting eaten, can we?" The man turned his line of sight back to Nanae as he spoke. "That's a possibility. Height is important, it's easier to shoot down than up," he explained. "Of course, we don't want to put ourselves to close to other servants. I'm an archer, not a Saber or Lancer. Distance is important, so we'll need a means to keep them from getting up themselves," Archer continued, raising his hands to the sky in a sort of demonstration. While not changing his demeanor throughout most of the conversation, the man immediately grew from a slight smile to a grin at the mention of food. "Ahah! Yes, quite an agreeable course of action, I'd say! Do tell me what we'll be having!" he boomed, his eyes shut from the width of his expression and his hands triumphantly resting on his hips. "Oh, and of course our means of transport! That will be very important to discuss, don't you agree?"

[eclipse]

Lancer looked up from the book, a frown on her face. "My, they managed to get every single detail about me wrong. I knew the historians in my age were incompetent, but never in my life did I think they'd mangle such basic details. For example, this is where I died," she continued, picking up the book and pointing to one of the pictures. "Yet the account continues to mention me as if I lived." Her eyes narrowed further. "This is some artist's rendition of me, as a woman? I'm almost insulted. But not as offended as this. . .form I must fight in." Pain shot through her side as she reached to loosen her chest plate. Her new body was tight, in ways she wasn't accustomed to. A surprised yelp escaped from her lips as the armor fell to the floor. "How am I supposed to fight like this? I can't swing a lance properly, with these. . .things in the way! I'm a warrior, not some glorified nursemaid!" The poor boy probably hadn't expected his charge to walk out of the circle, give him a short history lesson, and strip off part of her armor, all before establishing more important things like territory and allies. Yet despite being in only half of her armor, with her other half no doubt jiggling through her undershirt, she felt no shame. "I suppose the first order of business is creating some sort of base or other. After that. . .you will tell me how the women in your world handle such abominations," she stated, pointing to her chest.

[Sublimation]

Caster watched in intrigue as Sora performed a ritual to release the prana stored within the Big Bridge and imbue it within the waters. Prana to object storage was an exceptionally rare ability that very magus possessed, and those that did with inherited conversion traits also. It was quite intriguing to witness Sora utilize a conversion factor to accumulate prana within an object such as the rusted metals of a bridge, which would have been a far cry from the pure state of jewels, which were the best conversion factor stores due to their nature from being from the earth and being in a crystalline shape to hold in prana. Whatever lineage Sora hailed from, it was distinguished at the least. During the Age of Gods of Caster's time, there was little need for such rituals as magecraft was realized not through circuits, but through words themselves. In the days when magic enriched the earth, words themselves had power and mystery, capable of realizing incredible effects through their recitation alone. Nowadays such mystery had declined from the world, and chants are now merely used to trance oneself into accessing circuits to forcefully pump inner prana to cast spells. Although Caster herself was not knowledgeable enough to have sufficient mastery of High Speed Divine Words to have it as a personal skill, she was quite familiar with its workings. Seeing modern magi utilize chants to trance themselves into utilizing their own prana was a novel experience for Caster, who was so used to seeing magicians actualize magecraft by simply uttering words. In a certain way, such a spectacle saddened Caster. It heralded the end of awe, the end of mankind looking to the heavens and nature in reverence, knowing full well that a world of mystery lay before them.

The approach of science inclined man to perceive the world in compartmentalized fashion, with all things being logical and explainable to the lowest of minds. Science was the great equalizer of mankind, the ultimate progression that enriched not just a select few like magecraft did, instead allowing every single man to enrich themselves to further benefit. It was beautiful in that Caster witnessed the significance of mankind's change, and yet the sadness of realizing such progression meant the devaluation of nature as that which heralds the miracle of life moved her. Caster herself was closely tied to the earth itself, and so such an observation was all the more poignant. In a more real viewpoint, Caster noticed that the energy poured into the river was massive, easily enough to sustain a full usage of Caster's only offensive attack if used up all at once. However, Caster designated the energy source as the lifeline for her master who would have to rely on it to ensure his safety among the more experienced magi apparent. And yet, experience did not mean anything to Caster. The reason why Caster was mediocre outside her territory was not due to a lack of raw ability, it was simply that her abilities as of now were completely geared towards a support role. For that support role, Caster was a superb candidate. It was such that Sora's own inexperience would not matter due to a sheer difference in raw power between himself and the other magi unaided by their servants who would be incapable of fighting against a master enriched with boosts from Age of Gods authorities. Of course, Sora, no matter how much he had his abilities artificially inflated, would not stand a single chance against a servant.

Caster smiled at the clear reflection of the stream showing herself and Sora side by side. She bent down and dipped her left index finger into the water ever so slightly, rupturing the still image with the motion. A droplet of water lay suspended on her finger before streaming down to the center of her palm. Of course, Caster was currently in her shifted form but to activate an aspect of her noble phantasm would force her to dispel the disguise for just a moment. The same ethereal green aura shrouded Caster, obscuring her form from sight for a split second before unraveling to show Caster's original form. She held her open palm towards Sora and drew her free right hand above the palm. With her right index finger, Caster dug deeply into the center of her palm to draw a droplet of blood, which swirled in harmony with the droplet of water already present. The droplet of divine blood and earthen water mixed together and began to glow with a brilliant crimson red radiance before the droplet began expanding its form and outlining the shape of a rose. The outline promptly filled in with color and texture, and there upon Caster's palm lay a blood red rose, sparkling like a jewel.

"Consume this master, it shall greatly aid you in defending me against other masters, but do not be reckless and engage servants with its effects. It shall imbue your very blood and essence with divine mystery of a rather low rank, but sufficient enough that you will receive a magic resistance rank of D and Divinity rank of D. Your capacity to hold in prana and process it will also be greatly aided under its effects, allowing you to perform beyond your maximum capacity at all times. With this, all but the most experienced of magus will not be able to affront you. It has no use for me as you can tell, but for you it shall serve as a lifeline."

Now the next course of action would be to traverse down the river flow and to the Southern forest where Caster could set her territory. The flower's effects would last approximately three hours, but Caster could easily replicate more in any case. It was one that was to be crucial for Sora as he could not be able to stand inside Caster's territory without the flower.

[MancerNecro]

Sora watched as Caster prepared the red rose that she was now holding out to him. He deduced that this was Caster's version of the Item Creation class ability that all Casters possessed. He was impressed. Even though he had read about such abilities in books, seeing the creation of an item from simple raw materials such as a drop of the water from the river and with her own blood. Even now, as Caster held the rose out to Sora, he could feel the divine magic and strength inside the flower and even without ingesting the flower, he could feel its effects already starting to work.

That could just be a psychological effect though Sora thought to himself.

Sora took the rose from Caster gently as though it were very fragile and could fall apart at any time. He opened his mouth and placed the rose inside carefully. Sora took a deep breath before he closed his mouth and swallowed the rose.

As soon as the rise was swallowed, Sora felt the rose dissipating into prana. He felt the prana work its way into his own magic circuit and increased his stats just as how Caster had said it would. In particular, Sora felt his maximum prana capacity increasing. That was the most obvious effect now, as Sora suddenly felt as though he were an almost empty container.

With the ingestion of the flower complete, Sora commenced a part of the ritual that he had not intended to perform earlier: A ritual to draw the prana from the river into his own body. His original plan was to store the prana within the flowing waters of the river such that it could be assessed easily at any time. With Caster's help though, he could now directly store the prana within himself which was a safer option. Now, there was less risk of any magi detecting the prana in the river or drawing out the prana before he could use it.

Behold, water that lies sleeping within this metal construct...

Your master has returned...

Awaken and nourish me now...

Return to whence you came...

With the incantation complete, Sora opened his magic circuit, allowing the prana from the river to connect to it. He felt the feeling of fullness and completeness as the prana overrode his magic circuit and added itself to the store that Sora currently had in his body. Sora felt awed now by how much prana he had managed to store within the bridge in just the past five years. However, Sora could feel that even with this prana source, both Caster and himself could not act recklessly. Through the connection that he now had with Caster, he could feel that his stash of prana was probably only enough for one use of Caster's powerful skill. They had to act with caution and preserve Sora's prana as much as possible.

Sora made a mental note to ask Caster if she could create an item that would increase Sora's prana regeneration rate so that he could generate and supply enough prana to allow Caster to use her skills in succession. Sora wanted to be ready for anything thatI hold possibly happen in the War.

"Go into spirit form and follow me in the water." Sora instructed as he readied himself for his journey.

Sora climbed over the railing of the bridge and jumped off after making sure that nobody was looking. Sora met the water surface without so much as a ripple forming. In fact, to anyone who was observing the situation right now, it would seem as though Sora and the water had now merged into one. Sora sunk deep into the water and took in a deep breath. He used his magic to ensure that no water entered his nose and mouth. In fact, he was drawing out and breathing the dissolved air particles in the water.

Sora landed gently on the river bed below him and manipulated the river's flow. He created a small sphere of water around himself and made the sphere travel upstream, heading southwards towards the his destination: the forest along the river to the south.

Edited January 27, 2015 by MancerNecro

[Ether]

Basilia smirked, as Firmia flashed one last message and shot off down the hall... she never had mentioned a meeting place, but Basilia supposed if the girl ended up leaving, she could track her down soon enough, and thus exited the Alkaev household, taking a seat on a park bench not too far away from the house, deciding to take in the night air for the time being. A pity, it seemed that this part of town was lacking for people wandering the streets at night... Basilia could have used a light snack while waiting, but going all the way over to the commercial district would be a bit of a chore, and she might miss Firmia, were she to leave. Letting out a sigh, she simply opted to wait.

[Elyn]

Nanae nodded. "I'm not the best-" She paused, and a slight fluster came across her. She said silently,recalling a few disasters. The last time she tried to cook, it turned to a scorched mess. She tried to cut that thought short. "I decided it was better to buy something from the nearby market. Please wait here for a moment." She beckoned him to wait with a motion of her hand. After a quick rush to the room, she scuffled through a portable fridge, eventually she found what she needed. Nanae came back into the room, and placed it on the table, it was a wrapped up pie with the familiar fragrance of apple. Also wrapped together with the tin platter, was a metal knife, two forks and two plastic plates. Nanae took a seat. She wasn't sure how hungry she was, but she was sure her servant would need to retain prana. "It should taste fine slightly cold, but I'm afraid this was all I have at the moment. But, uh... well, enjoy?" She spoke with uncertainty. They had pies back in his day, for sure. But she wondered if they had apple pies, or if most baked fruit dishes were limited to the wealthy. The woman hadn't retained much from history classes, but she would probably be learning more from this man than those high school courses from what felt like eons ago. Nanae looked up at Archer to see his response.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Deadmeat Elyn

[Phoenix]

"What is this?" Roza asked, giving her daughter a disinterested look. She wore a pale blue kimono and despite her heritage, she looked perfectly natural in it. "A message from the Kurosawas?" When Firmia nodded and held the phone closer for her, Roza leaned ever so slightly toward it and read the awkward reply. Her features hardened as she forced herself to endure the ridiculous format of the message in order to comprehend it.

Firmia had to wait almost ten seconds, which made it that much harder to keep her nervousness from showing. If her mother suspected anything, she would cast a spell on Firmia forcing her to tell Roza everything. After that she would most likely erase her memories of Basilia entirely. The note she'd kept in her pocket regarding the details of the meeting would be discovered as well, so it really was all or nothing at this point ...

"Do you pity your cousins?" Roza asked, her tone soft and curious.

Firmia straightened up slightly. "Pity?" She wasn't quite sure, herself. Her reasons for contacting them had nothing to do with her own personal interest, of which there was almost none. Should she pity them, the two boys who had almost nothing going for them anymore? One was a magus in training, whom had inherited the new Kurosawa family crest, forged just one generation prior to replace the ones the Alkaevs had all but stolen. The other wasn't being trained at all and would most likely grow up to lead a normal life. Firmia had been far more fortunate; Roza trained her as a magus despite being born eight years after her older sister, Yulia, and the benefits were undeniable. Had any of the Alkaevs become a master in the Holy Grail War, the combined efforts of all four magi in the household would have been a mighty boon during the fighting, one that might have even carried them to victory ... and now her mother had other plans.

"You needn't worry after them," Roza said, shaking her head gently, "Their fate has already been decided. Focus on yourself."

"I am," Firmia exclaimed, entirely on reflex. She reached to cover her mouth, feeling a sinking feeling in her stomach as she did. That was probably it ... an emotional outburst like that? Out of nowhere? Roza had to suspect something now. At the very least she was squinting at her, now. "I uh ... I'm doing this for me, not them," Firmia tried to recover somewhat. She could still spin this.

Roza closed her eyes and smiled. "If you intend to use them to further your own studies, then by all means. You will check in with me every hour on the hour until you return or have decided to stay with the Kurosawas for the rest of the evening. Is that understood? There is a clock on that device, so I will not accept excuses."

Firmia just nodded, relieved, somewhat terrified, and more than a little surprised. Were they a normal family, Roza would have sent one of the house servants with her as an escort, however, Firmia was more than capable of protecting herself from ordinary riffraff, at least until the Holy Grail War began in earnest. After that, she had no intention of allowing her daughter to leave the protection of the Alkaev residence. Firmia respectfully bowed her head, saying, "Thank you, mother."

"We'll see how thankful you really are in time," Roza cryptically replied, narrowing her gaze.

------------ ------------ ------------

When Firmia left the safety of the Alkaev household's bounded fields, she felt practically naked. The range of her spells were pathetic out here as always, and she could only draw on her own power, now. She at least had her oversized black coat on, not a trump card, but a good amplifier. Other than that, she only had her personal ID, phone, library card, and a credit card for any emergency purchases. She looked around, wondering if Basilia was still in the area. This might still be for nothing but ... I have to try. The things they were talking about in there ...

------------ ------------ ------------

Yulia parked the car and sighed in relief as the engine went silent. "You're really not enjoying this, are you?" Stan smiled weakly at her.

"Between you trying to recapture the your glory days as an executor and scaring the crap out of all of us, and me having to learn to drive again, I'm surprised the stress hasn't killed me, yet. We should go inside."

"Yeah ..." Stan got out of the car a few seconds behind Yulia and walked around to the trunk. His daughter opened it for him remotely and he pulled out a hefty case with steel tipped corners.

"Are you seriously bringing guns into the church?!" Yulia exclaimed.

She had a point ... that did sound kind of inconsiderate, if not outright reckless, now that he thought about it. "I was hoping to see what he thought of my handiwork, but point taken." Stan set the case back down and closed the trunk. "Let's go."

Like always, no matter how gently one tried to open the door into the chapel, it always gave them away immediately. "Kouichi?"

[AnonymousSpeed]

"...uhuh..." Archer mumbled, for the first time feeling legitimate anxiousness about being Nanae's servant. It was minor, not a particularly big point, and would probably matter very little in the long run. But Archer, despite not having lived a particularly comfortable life style, had an oddly high value of good food. "Ah, yes, a moment, of course," he said with a respectful nod, letting out a very deep sigh once she'd left. But again, he couldn't dismiss her so quickly. Her cooking might have been perfectly edible, and she simply felt it wasn't the best because it wasn't high-end, or she was under valuing it. At the very least, he hoped these guesses were correct.

The man took a moment to observe the pie, cautiously taking a seat. It was not the pie which was strange to him. Pies had certainly been around in his time, and while he hadn't had many he had had them. It was the fact that the pie was pre-prepared and, apparently, cold. In his day, a pie was baked and always eaten fresh, usually while it was still at least warm. The thought of cold pie didn't disgust him, but...it was more odd to him than it probably should have been. "I see, well, alright, I'll take your word for it," he began, sending a smiling glance towards his benefactor as he unwrapped the various items. He couldn't truly complain, it was something to eat, and the scent indicated it was made with apples. Though not his favorite fruit, it was a fruit, and he had just as soft a spot for fruits as any other good meal. So, it was without evident concern he began to prepare himself a plate. Though he never used plates to often, he'd been given some knowledge of dinning customs this day and age, so it was without needless complication he fixed himself a plate and began eating. "Hm..." he mumbled as he chewed. It was decent. Not fresh, not warm, and lacking in aromatics, but sweet and edible at the very least. It certainly held together better than any pie he'd ever had. "It's a fine pastry," he said after a silent moment. "Anyway, you wished to discuss transportation, yes?" he inquired, helping himself to another fork-full.

[Ether]

Surprisingly expediently, Firmia appeared outside of the Alkaev house, wearing a strangely large black coat. Either the girl had an odd sense of fashion, Roza was surprisingly overcaring when it came to temperature, or it was some sort of mystic code. Basilia couldn't help but lean towards the latter, but a little fun could never hurt. Silently stepping out at Firmia's side, the woman gave a wide grin.

"Pretty warm for such a bulky coat, hmm?"

[Sublimation]

Caster laughed teasingly as she listened to Sora's command.

"Getting forceful now are we?" she said in good nature before assuming spiritual form. Her body faded away from physical view, dissipating in a scintillating shower of teal green sparkles. The true form of servants was spiritual, a body composed of the ethereal and tethered to the physical world by the master servant connection. Other masters would not be able to perceive Caster in this state, but fellow spiritual beings such as other servants would have no issue discerning Caster. The main benefit of the spiritual form was that it cut away the constant prana required by the master to sustain the physical form that would allow the servant to interact with the physical word. In exchange, the spiritual form was able to move about much like a ghost, shifting through surfaces and floating about with unhindered mobility. Caster watched in intrigue as Sora immersed himself in water and sped rapidly down the water, enhanced by the effects of her Noble Phantasm. He possessed an elemental affinity towards water it seemed, which fit his image quite aptly.

Caster followed suit, soaring just above the water in invisible form and following her master to the forest's beginning. After around only forty minutes of time, Sora and Caster found themselves staring at the edge of the river walled in by towering and verdant trees and vegetation. It was a beautiful spectacle to watch the Fuyuki forests radiated by the mellow hues of the afternoon sun, a wholly natural sight that stirred Caster's heart with love and admiration. Caster then quickly materialized on the riverbank edge and addressed her master.

"It seems as if we have arrived. My territory ritual can be performed in any place in this forest, including right here which would be optimal due to it being near a water source for you. What say you my master? Once I perform this ritual, I will not be able to concentrate fully on any altercations or threats to your life, nor will I be at my full strength. The ritual takes twenty hours master, and after those hours we may rest assured of our safety. Ironic no? It is at the advent of this war that we are at the most risk."

Caster sighed as she warned her master, as the real reason why her territory creation took a ritual surpassing the extent of grand rituals was that the nature around her was not strong and pure enough. A herald of the declining state of mystery in this world, and one that impeded Caster now as she was reliant on nature quite heavily. Nevertheless, her territory creation subverted this by superimposing the familiar and divine natural scenery she had known in her life. It was not quite so much a reality marble or superimposition as it was a conversion of the existing to a better new. Nevertheless it warped the fundamental laws of Gaia to accomplish such a task, and due to this fact alone her territory creation was ranked at EX as an anti world phantasm, which was a huge overstatement. Although some would think that an EX rank denoted sheer power or strength, it merely denotes that which alters the fundamental laws of existence or transcends them. If one's alteration achieved nothing, then such an alteration would still be of the EX rank. True power had nothing to do with the ranking of EX in the end.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Sublimation

[MancerNecro]

"This would be a great place." Sora responded, acknowledging and approving of Caster's idea to set up her territory over this part of the forest.

Sora watched as Caster laid herself down on the ground and started to concentrate on the creation of her territory. Sora could feel his magic circuits activating as Caster poured out her prana and existence over the surrounding forest. Sora watched with interest as the surrounding environment started to become warped and twisted. At times, Sora could see images of what he presumed was Caster's territorial forest in place of the forest that they were currently in. Sora could feel an increase in the gravity of the area, feeling the territory's divine presence washing over him.

This is such a strong technique... Sora thought to himself.

Deciding not to waste any more time, Sora concentrated on the river and a snake like tendril of water extended from the river. The tendril met the ground at Sora's feet and spread through the soil around them. At Sora's command, a dome of water, about 10 meters in diameter started forming around them. The dome grew thicker and thicker, spreading inwards until only a 2 metres diameter dome of air was left around Sora and Caster.

Sora then drew on even more water from the river and tightly packed the water molecules within the water dome that he had created. When the water dome was completely saturated with water, Sora froze the the middle layer of water, creating a 1 meter thick ice dome right in the middle of the water dome he had previously formed. The two layers of saturated water would provide some cushioning against any attacks and lessen the impact of any spells against the ice wall. This provided a really strong defense that could be maintained with very little prana.

Sora sat down on the ground and concentrated on maintaining the shape of the protective dome.

"I'll help to protect us until your territory creation is formed, while we are at the most vulnerable." Sora informed Caster.

[Phoenix]

"I don't like to leave the house without it," Firmia explained, and that was before even looking at Basilia. Once she did, however, she tried to catch the woman up on the situation, as well as get to her own reasons for arranging all of this. "I need to go to the Kurosawa house. It's a few blocks from here. That was my excuse to get out of the house. What I wanted to talk to you about was that conversation you had with my mother earlier ..." The implications of that discussion were utterly terrifying at first, but Firmia had since shaken that off and focused on the opportunity it presented her.

[Sublimation]

Caster had immediately begun to initiate the ritual for her territory when Sora acquiesced. First she knelt down on the soft and verdant grass of the forest floor. The flow of life within nature began to circulate within her. She closed her eyes in concentration, her body becoming incredibly still. It was as if she was rooted the ground. Root shaped silhouettes of bright energy began splintering out from where Caster knelt, growing and growing outwards rapidly. Every tree the roots touched began to immediately form an aura of calming light green, entering the web of life that centered on Caster. Caster herself began to feel the very lay of life itself within the area of nature. Everything inherent to the natural environment from the tallest of trees to the most minute of grass blades began to enter Caster's mind in distinct clarity. She began to analyze and process the nature and fundamental structure of the forest itself. Waves of powerful energy began swirling out from where Caster sat, indicating the immense scale of the territory creation.

Once Caster's "roots" touched and inducted a living aspect of nature into her own web, Caster would be able to manipulate the Id, the term for the prana present within the earth itself, and thus warp and manipulate the forest. However, no single person no matter how spectacular would be able to terraform an entire forest through sheer creation of a territory alone. To subvert this, Caster did not create. Rather, she merely converted. By accessing the fundamental composition of the nature around her, Caster could attune every single small aspect of life back into her and change its affinity to a divine composition by drawing from her very life force. The shape of her territory would be provided by Caster's inner world, which reflected the landscape she was to project. No other Caster could likely perform this, as Caster herself was only able to perform such a miracle by essentially becoming a part of Gaia itself. In essence, Caster became what is known as a "World Terminal", a being capable of manifesting miracles with thought alone by being inherently connected with Gaia. However Caster herself was limited only to altering the composition of the area around her, so she could not utilize her temporary status as a world terminal to replicate divine mysteries of anything unrelated to nature itself. Yet the nature of Caster's territory creation was an absurdity in of itself, only possible due to Caster's deep connection with the Earth.

The "roots" of radiant energy began sprawling out, covering more and more area to signify the extent to which Caster's territory was completed. After twenty hours, Caster would reach the pinnacle of her territory range, but even before then she would be able to cut her creation short and erect a territory with the area she had covered at that moment. Nevertheless, a minimum of ten hours was required for any sort of reasonable stronghold. Until then, Sora would have to hold off in defending Caster.

The immediate area around Caster began to distort and warp ever so slightly. The grass became more lush and greener than ever before, emitting a quaint but light glow of energy. Even the water and moisture in the vicinity was modified, turning into dew drops of crystal sparkling with a splendor that no human alive would have witnessed. Everything became restored to its "origin" state, the moment when nature itself was aligned with the divine. When the territory creation expanded just outside the extent of Sora's protective bubble of water, Caster began to will the growth of her Noble Phantasms. Divine flowers representing the authority of the gods themselves, normally enigmas so rare as to be prized as great treasures but now rendered into mere mundane flowers in terms of rarity as they naturally grew on the pure nature around Caster. The same divine roses that Sora had ingested before began sprouting up from the ground in small quantities. Flowers that possessed more power inherently still had to process more energy to grow, and the divine roses that Sora had produced were in the higher ranges of energy consumption. As of now there were but two roses, and one odd, snow white and sparkling tuberose flower.

Caster was completely focused, rooted to the earth as an intrinsic extension of it. Her entire attention was granted to processing the wealth of natural knowledge streaming into her mind. Sora would have to fend for both Caster and himself as of now, but surely the flowers of divine blessing would aid him greatly to the point where no master would be able to challenge him alone.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Sublimation

[Nanami Touko]

"...ou seriously bringing guns into the chu...!?"

Kouichi smirked, almost nervously, as he heard who was presumably Yuuta's daughter exclaiming outside. It was rather amusing, as he thought about it. He wasn't about to be attacked, his gut was telling him that much, so perhaps Yuuta had wanted to compare weapons. He would've more than happily accepted such a time waster. It would've been almost calming. Alas, from the sounds of it, he'd simply be talking. The large doors creaked as they always did, and who he presumed to be Yuuta came inside, daughter in tow. Kouichi began a slow stroll towards them. "Yes. I take it you're Yuuta, then. It's a pleasure to be reacquainted." He finished his stroll, held a smile, and extended a hand to shake, folding the other arm behind his back.

[Ether]

"So you were listening in, hmm? Well, I'm not surprised... go ahead then, ask away." Basilia replied with a smirk. If she didn't leave without it, then it was undoubtedly a mystic code of some description.

[MancerNecro]

Sora continued with the maintenance of his water protection. He was used to focusing himself and meditating and as such, maintaining this water dome for even hours on end would not pose much of a problem to Sora. Caster's rose had made that task even easier, such that Sora only needed a small amount of concentration to keep the water dome up.

However, as an hour and then another hour passed, Sora felt himself growing heavier and heavier, weaker and weaker. It began to take even more concentration for Sora to maintain his water construct.

It was at that point though that two red roses blossomed on the ground in front of him. The roses were ruby coloured and possessed a unique texture similar to that of the rose that Caster had fed him with earlier. Rather, this rose seemed to have more energy and possessed a greater quality than the one that Caster had provided earlier.

Sora assumed that Caster had meant for him to consume the rose as he recalled Caster mentioning that the earlier rose would only last for approximately three hours.

Sora picked up the rose and ate it, feeling the energy of the rose spreading through his body. This rose would definitely last longer than the previous rose although Sora knew not how long it would last. Sora felt his energy and concentration returning immediately though, once the effects of the rose had spread throughout his body. The maintenance of the dome was now as easy and effortless as before.

Watching Caster's deep concentration and unity with the earth made Sora feel calmer and more peaceful and he doubled his efforts at maintaining the water shell he had created.

[Phoenix]

How to begin, Firmia wondered? "Well ..." she paused as she began walking, expecting Basilia to come along. It was likely they would either come to some sort of agreement by the time they reached the Kurosawa residence, or simply part ways there. Either way, she wanted to put some distance between herself and her mother. "What you two were talking about ... it doesn't seem like it's against the rules ... but I'm sure others wouldn't be happy about it, especially not the church. I wanted to know ... can you actually do what you said? Can you actually just ... take one of them for yourself?"

------------ ------------ ------------

Stan instinctively reached out, but both he and his daughter caught the gesture in time; Stan froze, halfway through the motion of reaching out to shake Kouichi's hand, and Yulia quickly stepped around in front to take his place, grabbing the priest's hand as quickly and smoothly as she could without affecting his balance. "It's so nice to finally meet you," she said, forcing a wide smile and hoping the moment would just pass.

Stan glanced down at his gloved hand. He could just barely see his wrist, overshadowed by the sleeve of his coat. I nearly forgot about that ... He looked up at Yulia trying to cover for him and sighed. "It's fine, Yulia. Kouichi, listen. I got messed up pretty badly after Yulia here was born. I'm so used to hiding this silly prosthetic from other people ... but you're family, so ... you ought to know." With that, Yulia's facade melted away and she relaxed, loosing a heavy sigh herself and stepped out from between Kouichi and her father. Stan reached out to shake the priest's hand once again.

[Ether]

Following along after Firmia, Basilia chuckled a little bit at the question. It was certainly a valid one, she supposed.

"Normally you can't. I had to go through many pains to get what I needed in order to make this possible... not that it won't still be quite difficult to pull off."

[Ace Tactician]

Every thought about bases and barriers was briefly shoved out of Levi's mind as his face tinged red when Lancer pointed out to him her...problem. (Calm down, it's nothing that proper clothing can't fix.) He thought, trying to remain calm by rationalizing that all that was required to solve Lancer's...dilemma was simply the proper modern garment. He mused in his mind that his Mother had the same complaint about her chest since she had fencing as a hobby.

His mind then switched back to the more pressing matter of establishing a base. But first, he took a deep breath to regain his compusure. Though his cheeks were still tinged light pink from the...image he now had burned into his mind. "Clothing choices available for women have changed over the course of time. What might have been an issue in the past can be easily fixed with the proper garment choice, even for women who engage in intense athletic activities." Levi explained, addressing that particular bit first before reshelving the offending book back in its place. "My family's residence is located here in Fuyuki's foreigners housing district. This particular spot was chosen in preparation for this day to act as a base of operations during this war for my family tends to be selected as masters for the grail wars quite frequently." Levi paused a bit for a breath before continuing, "The Shopping District is is located in Mount Miyama which is located up the road from here which will allow supplies to be replenished. If my current residence is too secluded to act as our base, I know of some deserted houses in this district that we can occupy."

[Nanami Touko]

Kouichi cocked an eyebrow. What's up with that? He shook the girl's hand anyway, albeit slowly, but before he could demand an explanation, he received one. "Ah, well, we've all got problems, don't we?" he said, shaking the man's hand in full this time, without any interruptions. The hand was definitely colder than one would expect, but it wasn't exactly a big deal to the priest. "So, what can your daughter do for me?" he asked, jumping straight to the point they'd made over the phone. "I'm supervising the war this year. As much as I regret it, it must be done. So what exactly would she be able to help with?" He may have come across as colder than he wanted to, but it was the most important thing to settle, before any casual talk could happen.