As the storm approached, an unlikely figure took the helm--the smaller of the two Saber Servants and the one that had absolutely no idea how to appropriately control a ship. The pirate captain would find attempts to dissuade her from this about as much use as talking to a wall as she took position beside him, a determined expression on her face and drawing a deep breath.

"Men, a storm approaches and yet it must be a blessing in disguise! Umu, divine blood flows in my veins and it can only be so! This storm is clearly a blessing of Neptune in disguise, sent to bring us swiftly to our destination! And so! We shall not falter or slow down! We shall go faster into this, and use it to our advantage! We shall ride the storm!"

Now was probably a good time for anyone sane to realise that the ship was now rather directly under the control of someone who should very much not have been in charge of a ship--as realised by the blank-faced alchemist, who, sturdy ship or not, was disappearing below decks.

"I will do whatever I must to protect you, Bethany," Saber replied with another small smile as she guided her Master below deck to take a rest. While she had commanded a vessel previously, unless her assistance was required she would do her best to fulfill her Master's wishes. Of course, that didn't mean that it was the only thing she could do. If she felt her Master would be better protected by her taking a different action, she would immediately do so. A knight's duty meant to conduct oneself honorably and to do what was necessary to protect others.

It was for this reason that, once she heard the commotion from above, Arturia concluded she needed to go above deck immediately. Carefully tucking her Master in, hoping she would sleep heavily enough to rest through the storm, the blonde knight immediately took off up the stairs and onto the deck. What she saw was... strange. The seas were relatively calm, but ahead, beneath an ominous, swirling mass of black clouds, was a patch of rough and dangerous-looking, churning waves. Stranger still, it seemed as if the storm was progressing towards them. As if it was moving on its own towards the nearest sign of terrestrial life.

Saber narrowed her eyes.

"This storm doesn't seem natural," she said, taking a step forward as she did, once again calling her blade to her hands as she did. Nero had taken control of the boat and wanted to go directly into the storm for a speed boost. After a few moments of silence, the short girl sighed to herself. She'd briefly considered attempting to stop the other Saber-class Servant, but having seen how the Roman Emperor behaved prior it seemed like an unlikely prospect. At least if she wanted to stop Nero before they entered the storm.

Saber advanced towards the deck.

"If your hands are not needed on deck, take cover!" she declared, glancing back over her shoulder as she did. "I am going to see what is causing this unnatural storm."

With that, the girl sprang over the side of the ship. Her armored boots immediately struck the water, which seemed to calm slightly beneath her feet as she straightened.

Water was no obstacle to the King of Knights, for the blessing of the Lady of the Lake protected her.

Sword at her side, Saber broke into a sprint. The moment she reached the storm she could feel the powerful winds against her face, the rain crashing down. And yet even as she ran directly up the surface of a wave and jump off, landing several meters onward, she did not stop. She did not waver. The best way to protect others was to destroy what was threatening them, the source of the strange storm.

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Rin

"Can you even do that with Item creation?" Atalanta asked Medea once the Caster mentioned the modifications she made on the ship. She knew that the Witch was crafty but this was taking it too far. However, Atalanta didn't have much time to spare on such thoughts. The serpent giving chase to them was more important for the time being.

Atlanta steadied herself against the ship's railing with an otherworldly expertise. The rocking of waves was never a problem to Atalanta who was used to bounding Arcadia's stones. She drew her bow to the maximum before turning to Nobunaga. "Let's end this," she said to the other Archer.

"Very well. A shame that there shall not be sashimi today... though it might also taste like unagi..." Muttering to herself and simply shrugging her currently bony shoulders at the dirty look Medea was giving her, Nobu summoned two more matchlocks into her hand before holding them forward in an absurd manner known as the 'dual wield' that looked neither practical or all that feasible unless one had the absurd parameters of a Servant. "Focusing all my power into a single concentrated blow so... ORYAH!" Fire crackling and funneling themselves into her weapon, the thing then jolted before two particularly strong beams of Tenka Fubu empowered shots smashed out, looking like something out of a magical girl anime or perhaps G*ndam as it shot towards the thing currently in midair.

Keisuke watched in silence as the two Archers fired their weapons at the sea serpent, hitting it dead-center in the middle of its skull before almost causing it to crash into the ship. The now-deceased body of the beast floated in the water, the blood now streaming from the gaping hole in its skull into the ocean below. With that settled, Medea let out a sigh and motioned for Keisuke to take his hands off the wheel before pointing her staff at the corpse of the serpent. She was no adept at necromancy and had no desire to start experimenting, of course, but it would be dangerous to leave something in the water to attract more enemies to them.

The materials of the serpent, however, might prove to be useful. So, without a moment's delay, Medea caused the body to rise into the air before systematically dismantling it. No part that hadn't already been lost to the waves was separated, each being placed onto a different location of the ship so as to balance it. Most of the stuff seemed to barely fit on board, which left Keisuke wondering what sort of power Medea had control of during her life. Was this just a result of being a Servant fed mana from the land she was born in?

"Since you felled the beast, I'll only take a few of these teeth to replenish my own supply. You three are free to decide what you want to do with the rest; if you give me most of the fins and a few bones, though, I may be able to repurpose them to make our journey faster," the Caster said, motioning to a pile of thin, semi-translucent fins lying off near the back of the ship. "It may take a while, though, so you three will have to handle any threats on your own if you do decide to do so."

Without waiting for his Servants to give their own input, Keisuke immediately nodded yes and motioned for the Caster to go ahead. With a bow in return, Medea took a few of the materials and retreated below deck, at which point Keisuke stood back at the ship's helm and took the wheel again to turn it back to its prior direction.

"Hm... Well, Medea stuffed the blood in those weird pots over there, the bones are all piled up near the masts, the meat's at the back, scales near the sides... You know, if I was a normal magus, I'd probably be salivating at the chance to use these materials," the Enforcer remarked, pulling out the phone from his pocket with one hand on the wheel and dialing for Meran.

"Progress report. We've just taken out a sea serpent and have just... Dismembered the corpse to improve our vessel. Don't ask how or why this happened. How are things on your end? Do you want me to save anything in particular for later usage?" he asked, the phone now propped up against his shoulder and towards his ear again.

The Servants were free to repurpose whatever they wanted to from what was left, of course; they could probably make use of it all better than he could.

---

Ozymandias sighed as he turned away from the storm, ready to start on his own preparations, before noticing Nero's speech as she took control of the wheel. The diminutive blonde Servant had the bright idea of charging further into the storm, at which point the Rider's eye twitched. After all, he was a Rider, and thus would have been the more logical decision to captain the ship. Given the pirates' reaction, of course, this was more akin to a hostile takeover by a single person more than anything else.

"You act as if leaving the sails open in a storm will do anything except destroy the-" he began to say before noticing that the other Saber had decided that charging into the storm ready to fight was a smarter idea. At this absurdity, Ozymandias stopped for a moment, closing his eyes and massaging his forehead. After a few moments, the sound of some chuckling could be heard under his breath until it blew up into full-on laughter.

"Hahahaha! Very well! If this is the path that we have chosen, then I shall allow it! Go forth, without fear or hesitation! We shall pierce through this storm with all of our strength!"

At this, the pirate captain could only sigh as the old man calmly walked down to the lower deck. With the ship and storm now finally meeting, the feeling of whipping winds and sharp rain combined with the turbulence of the water only emboldened the Rider.

"Whatever it is that awaits us, we shall not back down!"

The appearance of various giant whirlpools within the storm, however, shook the confidence of the pirates just a smidge. The charisma of the two at the helm of the ship could only do so much, after all.

As Arturia ran forth through the storm, she too would encounter quite a few whirlpools around her. If she was careful, of course, the slight glimpses of something far larger lurking beneath the surface would pass by her line of sight. It was only a shadow deep beneath the sea, and it only barely appeared beneath the dark, lightless waters, but otherwise, no trace of its existence was to be had.

@KoL@VitaVitaAR@Grey Star@Raineh Daze@Rin

"Most impressive..." the smaller of the two blondes said, watching her doppelganger leap off the ship... and not drown as most people would when attempting to swim whilst wearing notable amounts of heavy armour and particularly oversized gloves. Instead she ran off into the storm to... fight it? Could she do that? It was a powerful holy sword, for certain, but probably not powerful enough to change the weather...

Regardless, Nero had to keep up flagging spirits on the ship--and launched into a sea shanty. For once, her singing (to other people) could be described as passable, because all that really mattered was keeping in time. Now, her choice of song might have left something to be desired; a plain day's sailing was the very opposite of what this entailed. Particularly with the blonde's guidance steadily tipping them straight for one of the whirlpool's fringes--seeing its currents, and the winds, pointing them in the right direction. If anything in the water was out to get them aside from the sudden storm, it had to be the best evasive manoeuvre, to boot!

---

There were limits to optimism, which were quite evident with the creaking of timbers and the unsteady motions of the ship around her showing that the Saber had indeed guided them full-sail into the maelstrom. She was confident that the Servants would manage to avert complete disaster... well, for them, if not for the crew. But that promised days adrift on timbers... and no answer to the question of what this out of place boat was. Still, maybe she could answer that by more thorough structural analysis whilst hoping to not be sunk...

Instead, a call came through as the white-haired magus sat down, leaning against the fortunate berth Bethany was in, from the other Master--a progress report and an offer of materials.

"On our end, we have set out to aid Medusa's sisters, receiving a too-new ship to do so and crewing it with pirates. Unfortunately, Nero seems to have chosen to sail us through a storm instead of wait it out," she said, voice far more even than her desire to be very much anywhere else merited, "But if you could save me a sample of all the materials, it would be appreciated. In particular, I think that the spinal column and brain matter of a phantasmal beast may be of use in electronics systems."

Harvesting the peripheral nervous system was probably beyond them with normal tools.

Nobunaga claimed her spoil of war as was her right and she took hole of several pounds of freshly slaughtered sea serpent flesh. Huddled up over the center of the deck and lighting a flame from her gun over the freshly sliced and almost paper thin sashimi cuts to parbroil the surface via one of those new Japanese fusion cuisines she found over the internet, the Japanese warlord and currently a skeleton then took out from her coat (to other people it would look like a void in the rib cage) a bottle of soy sauce to drip onto the piece of meat she was holding with a pair of chopsticks before nomming the morsel. "Seven out of ten." The awkward sight of the hunched over skeleton stated as it continued its repast, abusing Servant parameters to uniformly cut evenly like the precision machines she so adored.

While entering the storm seemed to prove to the King of Knights that it wasn't a natural creation, at the same time she did not see an obvious source of them. At least, not at first. Saber first scanned the horizon, but so nothing among the crashing waves and spitting foam. But when her eyes drifted lower... she caught sight of it. A brief glimpse in the dark water, something enormous... something massive was swimming beneath her. She could hazard a guess that it was no whale, at least no mundane one. The massive creature beneath her was very likely the source of the storm itself However, it was difficult for her to reach it... and she had never quite learned out to swim.

The rain beating down on the blonde-haired knight, she took a deep breath and tipped her invisible blade downwards. She could not reach it directly with Excalibur's edge... but the golden glow swiftly erupted from her weapon, a rush of air bursting off of it to reveal a brief glimpse of the sword in full. Arturia let out a shout as she thrust the blade's tip into the water, and with a blast of wind audible even over the crashing waves and thunder. A beam of light erupted from Excalibur's tip, piercing the water and tearing downwards, straight for the beast under the waves!

@Raineh Daze@PKMNB0Y@Rin

---

"I'll abstain from it," Atalanta replied to Keisuke when he asked whether or not she wanted to claim anything of the sea serpent as spoils. "Their bones make excellent bows and their fins are sharper than any mortal-made blade. However, my Goddess' bow is all that I need."

"They are reasonably tasty, but I don't think that I can be as... bold as she," the leonine archer glanced at how Nobunaga eagerly consumed the serpent's nigh-raw flesh before adding, "if you wish, we could borrow some fire from Medea and properly cook it before eating. I don't think that you'll ever have the chance of feasting on a Phantasmal Beast from the Age of the Gods ever again. Unless the Wi—I mean, Medea can spare some of her potion ingredients, all that we will have to spice it is sea salt."

While she waited for a reply from Keisuke, Atalanta began to sift through the sea serpent's meat, looking for the best cuts to roast over an open fire.

"Medusa's sisters, you say...? Well, that's a bit of an unorthodox request. Honestly, I can't say I'd envy your position right now. Let's hope we won't have to come clean up a shipwreck and retrieve you in a few hours with the rest of the group," Keisuke quipped, turning his katana back into a ring and slipping in on as he spoke. "In any case, I'll be sure to keep the spine and brain intact if I can. Can't guarantee freshness, though, unless Medea decides to do us a favor and make a bed of ice to keep it on for a while. Best of luck to you; I'm sure you'll need it."

With that parting remark, Keisuke ended the call and slipped the device back into his pocket as he watched Nobunaga decide to actually go through with her earlier plans of making sashimi out of the sea serpent. He was tempted to point out how most people wouldn't even consider eating something like that off of a whim, but decided against saying that once Atalanta suggested that they try some of the sea serpent meat themselves—cooked, of course. He couldn't fault her; it was better that than accidentally catching some random, rare disease from consuming the meat raw. Servants didn't have to worry about that, all things considered. At the same time, though, he was not a Servant and did not have that excuse.

It seemed that annoying Medea was going to have to be necessary, one way or another.

"I don't deny that it's probably a once-in-a-lifetime chance, but I, personally, don't think it's safe for a human to just consume something like this on a whim. Since I was curious about what Medea was making down there anyhow, I may as well ask for some way to handle all our problems in one go: keeping the meat fresh, preserving the other materials, and maybe getting something just in case that meat has some fatally poisonous material inside," he said to Atalanta, raising his hand as if to motion to wait for a moment before he walked down below deck.

The small amount of purple smoke floating about at his feet was a bit disconcerting, but Keisuke was used to seeing things that were more volatile in his line of work. Without letting it faze him, Keisuke continued on to find the source of the smoke: a room that Medea had, it seemed, completely dedicated into changing into a miniature workshop. It made sense now why she had wanted to get back here so desperately, but that wasn't an issue at the moment. Medea herself was poring over the bones and the fins, and as far as Keisuke could tell by the hazily-lit room, Medea was in the middle of creating...

"A propeller?" he asked out loud, at which point Medea stopped working and slowly turned towards him.

"Yes, a propeller. I was surprised at how much apparently superfluous information was inserted into my head when I was summoned, but it seems to be somewhat useful. That only adds to my own variety of questions, but in any case... Did you need something?" she asked, placing the mechanism off to the side for a moment to address him.

"Yes. I'm sorry to be a bother, but could I ask for some method to keep the organic stuff cold so it doesn't rot on the seas? Also, Atalanta seems to want to want to cook some of the meat for us; do you have any idea as to if that creature is poisonous to eat or not? Well, that and if we could borrow some seasonings, but I doubt that you have any on board..."

"Hm... The first comment is a valid concern, and I will address that once this propeller is complete. As for cooking the serpent... That's certainly something that Archer might suggest. To allay your fears, I can calmly say that the meat is not poisonous to consume. I should note, though, that there may be some residual mana within, though that would only really be dangerous if you were to consume its offals. Seasonings... Remember, this used to be someone else's vessel. I only modified the rooms closer to the exit; there may be something of note further in the back," she responded, nodding in turn.

"You're being awfully polite to me. I thought that cooperation would only mean that you would work with us, but you've already done such a great deal. Is there any particular reason as to why?"

"Do you really think I can afford to be brusque in my current situation? Frankly, you're far more polite than a fair deal of people I've had the pleasure of dealing with in the past, and you control two Servants for whatever reason, one of whom is an Archer who I know just as well as she knows me; not only that, but you three are volunteering to help me of your own volition more than anything else. I would prefer we remain on cordial terms, at least until the current situation is resolved," she responded, motioning for Keisuke to leave her be. "In any case, I should finish restructuring these objects. Luckily, this seems to be far simpler than I expected; I should be done in roughly two hours and will supply you with an answer to that cooling problem soon after."

"Huh. Not just polite, but honest, to boot. Or, well, I assume. Not like I'm in a position to complain, though. Thanks; I'll leave you to your work, then," Keisuke said, bowing in a mixture of gratitude and respect before leaving the room. Following the Caster's directions, Keisuke made his way further into the ship and, after peering into a few rooms and looking around in curiosity, eventually did find a few odd spices in what seemed to be a storage of some sort. That would warrant a bit more exploration (and maybe disposal) in the future, but for the moment the Enforcer simply took what he had and left the lower deck.

Making his way over to Atalanta, Keisuke laid out what he had in hand and nodded.

"She said it should be safe, we'll get some cooling for this once she's done, and we'll likely be seeing some more anachronisms attached to this ship. I wonder how much those modifications will alter the speed of this boat..." he said, trailing off as he looked at the other items on the ship. The blood in particular reminded him of the ritual to summon Servants...

All things considered, it might actually be a possibility to pull more from the Throne to help. There was the load on his own body to worry about, but the memory of Zelretch vaguely mentioning something about manipulating leylines on his first day or two there was still fresh in his mind. Maybe something had been done to him in regards to how much mana could be supplied to the Servants without... Well, killing him. He would have to ask about that later. For now, he wouldn't question it. Two hours in the middle of an ocean laden with mana from the Age of Gods... If there was a time to try something stupid, it was now. Probably.

But first, food. The curiosity at eating such a thing piqued his interest, even if he wasn't particularly inclined to eating fancy food in the first place. It was like... Eating fugu for the first time.
That was certainly an experience.

---

The bold smile that Ozymandias held faltered for a moment as he watched Nero steer the ship towards the edge of a whirlpool, his eyes widening as he moved behind Nero to grab the wheel for a brief moment and shift it ever so slightly off to the side. The ship lurched off to the side, throwing a few unlucky pirates off as it swung around the whirlpool and launched itself further into the storm. The pharaoh stepped back and let out a sigh of relief, silently wishing those unfortunate souls luck in the afterlife as he looked at the sea again.

"You were almost perfect with that angle. Impressive, considering that you are a Saber and not a Rider like I am," he remarked, turning towards the ships crew and sticking out his staff. "Stand firm! If any of you slacken, your lives are more at risk than ours. The light of Ra will shine upon us once more soon enough!"

As that was occurring on the ship, the waters below where Artoria had thrust her blade immediately surged multiple times over, causing giant waves that would cause even the most seasoned sailor to balk to form. The momentary glimpse of the laser piercing some sort of beast's flesh would be fairly clear, and the thrashing under it all caused the storm to whip around even more. Whatever the creature was, it attempted to dive deeper into the sea in attempt to dodge being hit by the same attack twice. There was a stream of blood now forming from where the weapon had met its mark, but the dark waters melded with the blood to make that in and of itself a hard sight to distinguish—above the water, at least. At the very least, it seemed to be heading for deeper waters and away from Artoria; unluckily enough, that 'away' also happened to be towards the ship carrying the other Servants and crew.

@KoL@VitaVitaAR@Rin@Raineh Daze@Grey Star

---

"You could just preserve it with salt and spices. We seem to have enough of both," Atalanta replied to the comment about cooling the remainders of the serpent. "That said, Medea can be very convenient when she's like that. Maybe not as dependable as Heracles, but close to it. In fact, you would be surprised with her cooking skills," she added in a nostalgia-heavy voice; the Aegean breeze and rocking waves bringing her mind back to the times of the Argo Expedition.

"Let's get this done before the night falls. That's not the same as the Calydonian Boar but it still is good meat," Atalanta said as she began to prepare their food, before taking a moment to go under the deck, only to return with a pitcher full of wine and bread that she smelled as soon as they stepped on the ship. "With this, we can have a proper meal fit for a hero of the Age of the Gods."

Her attack had hit its mark! The enormous creature beneath the water had been struck, the beam piercing through its flesh. Unfortunately, Saber had been unable to strike it in a vital area, and it surged beneath the waters deeper... by this point, the only way that the blonde knight could trace it was the trail of crimson it was leaving behind it. And it seemed that it was heading directly for the ship. Quite simply, this wasn't an acceptable outcome, and inwardly the girl cursed the fact that she hadn't foreseen this outcome. Placing the others in immediate danger... immediately, she broke into a sprint, back the way she came. She had to do her best to outpace the beast under the waves, leaping off the crest of one particularly large arc of water before driving onward, ducking low to make herself more aerodynamic against the winds.

She'd reach the boat first...!

And indeed, the shape of the ship became visible through the pouring rain and crashing waves. Taking a deep breath, Arturia opened her mouth, and...

"There is a creature beneath the water, approaching the boat!" cried Saber.

@Rin@PKMNB0Y@Raineh Daze

The sound of Nero's wounded pride, it seemed, was something between a growl and a squeak as her course was corrected--entirely unnecessarily, she felt; there was no need to take the conservative line that the Rider was pushing for. The ship would be able to take the stresses, she was certain of it! There was only a small chance of being sucked into the icy depths and if they could stay afloat for a few seconds, the other Saber could come along for everyone to pile on top of.

Though maybe that would be a bit hard to manage. Fortunately, the Legatus had come running back, so if they did fall in, nobody would stay in the water for long.

Of course, with her arrival came warnings of a beast beneath them, in the water where their lack of arrows, harpoons, magical spells, or nautical beasts of their own would leave them completely unequipped to fight it off and avoid getting devoured. "I would have preferred to save this sight for something more impressive, but circumstances have forced my hand."

The passing breeze carried with it a scent of rose petals for only a second--and then the world was shifted. Gone was the sea, the ship that they had sailed upon. Only the Servants stood upon the stage in the immense theatre as petals fluttered in the air. Out in the seats sat the baffled pirates, the old man, and even their Master and the magus. Opposite them was what could only be described as a whale... thing.

A bit too large to effectively take out with but a sword, all things considered, at least with the style that such august surroundings demanded.

"Umu! Praefectus, Legatus, now that you have been brought to my stage, show me what you can do!"

"Well, honestly, I'm more curious about what science might be able to fiddle with. Despite technically being a magus, I wasn't dragged into this mess for a good decade of my life. Most modern principles stuck around in my head even after some formal training, and I'm honestly curious about how this thing's body works. Human innovation is often inspired by nature, after all," he said, nodding his head at Atalanta's comment on Medea's usefulness before pausing a moment.

"Actually... Can you explain your relationship with Medea in a bit more detail to me while I set up something I have in mind? I have an... Admittedly stupid idea, but with this blood here, I might as well try it out. I'll get right to helping you out with preparations after I'm done."

Without giving a chance for the Archer to respond, Keisuke calmly walked over to the jars of sea serpent blood and, taking a nearby ladle, scooped some out before glancing around. Enough space was left on the ship's deck him him to set this up, and if the abundance of mana in the air was any indication, this was a good a time as any to bolster their forces.

Quietly walking around and pouring the blood in the shape of the all-too-familiar summoning circle, Keisuke pondered for a moment if summoning a Servant on board a ship while Medea was working on her project was the smartest of ideas. All things considered, it probably would be fine as long as it didn't result in either some sort of giant or a Berseker that would shred through his mana reserves like it was paper.

Too bad he was lacking any sort of catalyst at the moment. All he could do was hope for the best.

With that in mind, he began the summoning incantation, staring intently as the circle began to glow under him. If Medea wasn't happy about it, well...
He'd know soon enough.

---

The Rider chuckled to himself as he noticed Nero's reaction, however subtle it was, before turning his attention towards the Saber that was running towards them at full speed. Her campaign to fight the storm, at least, wasn't fruitless... On the other hand, chasing whatever the source of this raging storm was towards the vessel was also not something he would have preferred.

On second thought, that blue Saber wasn't bringing it here as much as it had come of its own volition. That brought up a variety of problems on its own, the least of which being that the apparent source of all their troubles was now right under them. Joy.

"Do we have any way of—" Ozymandias began to ask before the landscape in front of them was transformed in front of his very eyes. The colosseum that wrapped around them took him marginally by surprise, considering he had his own Reality Marble to use, but disregarding that issue for the moment, the pharaoh was pleased to see that the enemy had been dragged into Nero's territory upon its activation. With the humans spectating on the sidelines, Ozymandias smirked at Nero's call to arms.

"Hm... This shall do. Nothing as great as my own Noble Phantasm, but I shall accept this as a suitable location for a battle!" he declared, spinning his staff around before pointing it at the whale-like creature. In an instant, a multitude of laser beams seemed to shine from the sky above the stadium and rain down onto the beast, causing it to flail about. It was all for naught, of course; with no water for it to travel in, the beast was stuck and essentially had its death already determined by the gods.

Or, rather, it might, had the storm that it had been casting from within the ocean suddenly materializing abovehead. The spontaneous torrent of water was marginally annoying, but the creature seemed to be directing streams of water at them as a form of attack as it attempted to flood the colosseum in order to be able to move again.

"Hm... Tenacious, aren't you?" Ozymandias asked, not expecting any sort of answer as he continued to rain lasers upon the enemy.

@Raineh Daze@Rin@VitaVitaAR@KoL@Grey Star@RolePlayerRoxas

Continuing her meal in grouchy silence, it didn't take long for the currently a burning skeleton to get bored and thus turn her skull towards the summoning circle being erected in full view of her. It only took a single split second of thinking before the girl smirked and then padded towards the thing to see how she was summoned... and when she was close enough, actually squatted down near it while chomping on her sashimi dowsed in soy sauce so that it could actually drip on the circle. "So... I wonder who's going to come out."

To be honest, this wasn't anything Saber could have expected. A resplendent golden theater, the Aestus Domus Aurea that the notoriously vain Nero constructed in life was mainifested as-

"A reality marble?" she asked. She had seen one previously, the King of Conquerers' internal world supported by his army. But this was different. Perhaps supported entirely by the vanity of the one who had created it? Regardless of what the circumstances were, there were far more important things to focus on. Arturia quickly swallowed her surprise at the sudden manifestation of a reality marble. She had to be prepared at a moment's notice, even as lasers rained down and pelted the whale-beast, courtesy of Ozymandias. Indeed, the beams hit home, striking the massive beast and forcing it to thrash about in pain and shock.

It seemed as if there was nothing such a creature could do, stranded in the middle of dry land. At least until it suddenly manifested the storm directly above their heads. Immediately a torrent of rain poured down upon Nero's theater, and streams of water arced through the air, seeming to lash towards anyone else in the arena. This couldn't be allowed!

Crouching low as another arc of water tore towards her, Arturia sprang into the air, her dress trailing behind her. Her armored boots hit water and she sprinted across the arc before leaping again, landing on another arc of water and sprinting up running along the stream of liquid. Her goal was to close in on the whale creature, drive her blade through its flesh, and fire a blast of prana directly into its body. It was too large for simple cuts to quickly make a difference, but an attack striking directly inside of its body...!

The blonde girl-knight had swiftly made her way into the air and above the creature, using the very streams of water the beast had been attacking with in order to get herself into position. Light traveled up Excalibur's blade as it came into view, Invisible Air releasing with a rush of wind as she hurtled downwards towards the monstrous whale-creature...!

@Raineh Daze@Rin@PKMNB0Y

Amidst the glow of the summoning circle, a distinctly-humanoid form could be seen emerging from the floor. Rising steadily, the features could not be immediately discerned, simply a silhouette that indicated either an unusual hairstyle, or very unusual ears, as well as exceptionally-poofy sleeves. Strangely enough, a thick mass was situated behind the figure, like some sort of tail. The figure stood gracefully, once its' feet were above solid ground, the clothing swishing wildly with the seemingly-sourceless wind, kicked up by the magical energy.

As the light faded, the details of the Servant came into view. The obviously-female figure was revealed to be a beautiful, young woman with flowing, pink hair tied with a large blue ribbon... which rested behind the orange fox ears atop her head. With a swish of her bright, bushy tail, the human-shaped fox offered her brightest smile, spread her arms wide and declared;

"The loyal Caster has answered my Master's call! Congrats, for you have obtained a vulpine wife of the highest quality!"

She declared jubilantly, eyes trained on her Master. With a black dress of... interesting decal, the fox-eared Caster took one step forward, and continued, "Let's get the formalities over with~ You are indeed my Master... right?"
She turned her head from side to side, finally taking stock of her surroundings. It was... a tad unexpected, to say the least. She figured only her Master would be here, but instead there's... other Servants?!

With a small frown, she studied them both suspiciously. What appeared to be a large skeleton, giving off the unmistakable aura of a Servant regardless, and...a female Servant with animal ears somewhat similar to her own. The Caster known as Tamamo-no-Mae narrowed her eyes as she faced Keisuke once more.

"...Master, I hope this is not a sign of your infidelity. I will have to strongly object to such a thing," she stated dangerously. It was unclear if she felt jilted, or was more concerned for the Master/Servant relationship of the others, but it was evidently more important to her than anything else, including the dead sea-beast on deck.

---

"My relationship with her?" Atalanta mused to herself just as Keisuke asked her about the past. "I guess that you could that we were good allies in the past. Being the only women in that man's ship made it easier for the two of us. That said, the Medea from back then was… different -how I'd say?- purer," the leonine Archer added as the Aegean breeze rushed past her thanks to the speed their ship was traveling.

"…" Atalanta's brow creased into a frown when she noticed that Keisuke didn't particularly pay attention to her reply. Instead, he took the serpent's blood, using it for another summoning ritual. The leonine Archer was as intrigued by it as her Eastern class peer. She watched with interest, wondering what kind of Servant Keisuke could even want to call upon at a time like this. It became quite evident as soon as the vulpine form of the self-declared Caster emerged from the summoning circle.

"So, that's the kind of Servant that you prefer to summon, Keisuke? I think that a Saber or Lancer would serve us better in this situation but, I can see why you are interested in… those types," Atalanta commented after staring Tamamo from head to toe before addressing the Caster. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Caster. I'm Archer, Atalanta, and this ill-mannered one is Nobunaga, also an Archer. We are both Servants working with Keisuke in an important mission. If possible, let us cooperate in this task," she said before extending her hand to the other Servant to shake in what the summoning-imparted knowledge informed her to be the most unanimously accepted form of greeting in the 'modern' world.

Had Ozymandias had the good sense to not insult Nero from within her own Reality Marble, he might have found his lasers to be having substantially more effect on the beast. Instead, having chosen to try and upstage the theatre's owner, it was striking back at him... insuring that the Emperor would be able to shine to her fullest ability. By the same token, the theatre was reshaping, altering to deny the beast the advantage it so craved. Specifically, sluices opened in the walls of the theatre, draining it faster than it could possibly be filled--though to where the water flowed was a question best not thought about too hard.

"You truly believe that you can outshine the Flower of Olympia in her own theatre? You are a bold one to make such a claim, but here, in this theatre of gold and the sea breeze on the air... none can shine more brightly than I!" Nero claimed, stepping forwards and firmly angling her sword. It seemed unlikely that the small girl would be able to outdo the other Saber in swordplay even in the best case scenario, but here it was even easier for her to operate as style demanded, not practicality.

A line of flames ran up the embryonic flame, and Nero moved--not really a traceable slash; one second the near side of the beast, and the next standing beyond it, sword in hand. It spun, once, flaming sword clicking against the ground with nary a trace of having actually done anything.

Then, in her wake, a line of exploding flame.

Keisuke's body immediately tensed up as he saw Nobunaga hunched over the circle, the soy sauce from her meal dripping onto the summoning circle. If there was anything that could have possibly interfered with the ritual bar actually destroying the circle, this was it. With a few beads of sweat forming on his brow, Keisuke steeled himself for the possible backlash of the summon failing.

What he didn't expect, though, was that it would succeed, and even less so that it would bring a Caster forth. The name 'Tamamo-no-Mae' coupled with the outfit that the Servant was wearing didn't quite match up in his head, but what caught Keisuke's attention was his Servants' remarks.

"Okay, both of you, hold on. I think we're misunderstanding something here," he said glancing between Atalanta and Tamamo before deciding to address the latter first. "Firstly: Tamamo, I am indeed your Master. As for the situation at hand... I'm not sure where the matter of 'infidelity' factors into this, but it is as Atalanta says; these two are also my Servants, and we are currently travelling towards Crete in order to... Well, I assume it involves the Minotaur, given current trends. There is a decent amount of explanation to be had while the ship travels, but I'll fill you in after our meal."

With that, Keisuke turned to Atalanta with a slight smirk forced out of irritation as he addressed her comment about his 'tastes'.

"Secondly... I will agree that more close combat oriented Servants might help with our group composition, but that sort of thing cannot be handled without a catalyst. But that aside, what do you mean by 'those types'?" he asked rhetorically. He knew just as well as she did what was being referred to, and while he had no particular reason to defer her claims and cause an argument that would damn him one way or another, with things as they were right now, it wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to shoot that down.

"In any case... Medea was different from how she is now? Guess time really does change people, huh?" he asked, stepping back as he looked at what spices and goods that they had brought out on board. The wine and spices gave him a bit of an idea on what to cook, but this would end up some of the most experimental cuisine that he had even prepared. Granted, he wasn't exactly the best person for that job, either, but...

"I'm going to go back down to grab some pans and... Something to set up a cooking fire in. One moment, please," he said, starting to make his way back down below deck before being met with a somewhat-irate Medea looking him straight in the eye.

"You're lucky that I managed to notice what you were doing and stabilized the mana flow in this room, or else we might be missing a large chunk of this ship's hull right about now. Though I'm not sure how your body can maintain three Servants, I will warn you right now that you should think more of the time and place before attempting things like this," she said, glaring at him before slipping back into her workshop. The Enforcer let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head nervously, fairly certain of Medea's displeasure at his actions as he went back to where he obtained the spices from earlier and grabbed a few pans and... A metal box and grate of some sort. While there were still a lot of questions about the ship itself, he couldn't help but be grateful that they had oddities like this lying around. If anything, it made his life easier.

Returning to the ship's deck, Keisuke placed the box down in an empty section of the ship's deck and, tossing a few pieces of wood into it, lit it with a single bolt of electricity from his fingertips. It felt bad using his magic as a glorified lighter, but a situation like this wasn't something he could exactly help doing that in; the serpent meat was on a timer, anyhow. With that in mind, the Enforcer grabbed a piece of meat and, after quickly tossing some salt on and rubbing some spices in, placed it on a pan to start cooking over a fire. The smell of the cooking sea serpent was a bit tantalizing to him, if only because he hadn't eaten anything in the last while.

With that in mind, Keisuke left the pan for a moment to swipe some of Nobunaga's soy sauce before returning to the fire and continue cooking. Seared sea serpent with a red wine and soy sauce... Well, sauce. Weird fusion cuisine, prepared by someone who never really experimented with food in the last decade of his life and only cooked from the same subset of Japanese-based recipes...

Yeah. This couldn't end badly, right?

---

Ozymandias frowned as his lasers seemed to be petering out as they reached the whale-like create, with a very slight inkling that it was the fault of the petite blonde in red (that was confirmed to be the truth not long after). With a slight laugh, the pharaoh spun his staff and began to fire twice as many lasers to make up for the lack of strength of the ones he was using at the moment. He could apologize to his Master for burning her out and recharge what he was using at the moment after the fight was over, but Nero had issued his a challenge he simply could not back down from.

The water that had been flying about fell to the ground as Arturia's blade met its mark, cleanly cleaving into the monster's body and causing it to thrash about wildly—even more than it had been before. The follow-up attack from Nero, too, seemed to cause the thing pain that it looked to not be used to.

With the lasers constantly chipping away at its health and the three Servants proving too difficult to hit head-on, the creature gave off an ear-shattering roar and rose up in the air for a moment dramatically before slamming its body on the ground and causing a miniature earthquake. This, in turn, cause the water around it to spike with the shockwaves as they traveled about. Though the fire seemed to not be extinguished just by that, the water seemed to be sharper now—if that was even possible, of course.

"The head! You two, with weapons that can actually pierce the body—aim for it's head! That or its heart, though I doubt you can reach the latter with as much ease. In any case, I shall keep it's attention!" Ozymandias said, the intent of showing up Nero (however indirectly) still present in his words as he began to focus his barrage at the beast's eyes and underbelly. The monster reacted in turn, staring at him in rage as it slowly slammed up and down to turn its body towards him. A glowing white light was beginning to form within the beast's maw, however, which made Ozymandias quite wary. A giant magical blast was not something he'd like to deal with after the last time.

No, most certainly not.

@VitaVitaAR@KoL@Raineh Daze@RolePlayerRoxas@Rin@Grey Star