[IC] Sunshards: Chaos Sequence

[Thanqol]

"The thing is, I know you're playing me?" said Lancer, carving away the swampy vines with the tip of her spear. "But the problem is you're also being completely honest with me. I can't work out the angle."
"Hmm," sighed Caster. He followed behind holding an electric torch, crow-cyborg cleaning its beak on his shoulder.

They were deep underground at this point. The floor was wet and metal broken apart as overgrown roots and lightless vines erupted through the paneling. Nothing should have been able to grow this deep underground, but there it was - as thick and tangled as though a rainforest was straining to burst fully formed out from the earth. Caster smiled as he heard the buzz of a mosquito, and discreetly sprayed himself with a repellent.

"So just to recap," said Lancer, ticking off on her fingers. "The Sunshard is down here, the one the foxes used to summon us all. It's trying to bore a hole into the Vault of Wishes and is absorbing the energy of slain Servants to power it. All of this," she blasted through a thick tree trunk that had erupted through the middle of the corridor, "is bleedover, coming from Archer's death as the Sunshard accumulates the energy it needs. And you think we can jump the line straight to the end, yeah?"
"That is correct," said Caster. "Sunshards are artifacts that attune, and this one is attuned to the Blessing trapped within the Vault. Empowering it with sacrificed Servants will allow it to spread its influence further and further, but that is useless to us until the seed flowers. But now that the Sunshard has awakened, we can use it as a... telephone, to bridge the gap between us and what's inside. And from there, we can draw forth its power."
"And this does not involve murdering, entrapping, cursing, or otherwise damning me to some ironic fate?" said Lancer.
"No," said Caster. "Not that I'm aware of. What's inside is a Blessing. It only wants to help."
"And it won't turn me into a fleshmonster?"
"Only if that's your wish," said Caster.
"And the reason you're not using this for yourself is..."
"Someone needs to cast the spell," said Caster. "I will allow you to access the Blessing. You use the power of it to kill the other Servants. Then I will cut off the Blessing and attempt to fight you myself once we are the only two who remain."
"You keep saying that's your angle," said Lancer. "But I don't buy it. I've got a really good eye for bullshit and deception, and while all of that's true there's something you're not telling me."
Caster sighed, but did not answer.
"Cutting off the Blessing will cause some sort of terrible side effect?"
"No," said Caster.
"You have a special technique for taking me down specifically?"
"No," said Caster. "Any martial Servant would be fine for this. I am indifferent as to who I empower, you are simply convenient."
"You have leverage against my Master and you'll have her turn on me?"
"No," said Caster. "I neither know nor care who your Master is."
"So," said Lancer, biting her knuckle, "all it comes down to is that you think you can win a one vs one fight when you couldn't win a free for all, is that it?"
"Hmm," said Caster. "Yes, that's broadly correct."
"Could you win if I attacked you right now?" said Lancer, putting her spear under his nose.
Caster glanced at her sideways. "That would leave far too much to chance. I'd flee, and try to form another alliance."
"Argh, this is going to bug me all night!" said Lancer, banging her spear against the wall. "I know I'm missing something, I just can't see it."
"Consider," said Caster, stepping into the dark and dripping computational cathedral, "the possibility that I am simply very stupid."
"What's fucked is that you believe that's true too," said Lancer, and then groaned and looked down to where she'd stepped in an over-ripe pumpkin. She hopped into the massive room, illuminated by the dull blue glow emerging from the server pillars, where it could be seen through the enveloping leaves. Every few moments there's a soft, wet impact as an apple falls from the dark vault of the ceiling and splatters upon the ground. In the center of everything, surrounded by a cascading bloom of grapes and olives, is the Sunshard - and beyond it, a massive blue-steel wall, covered in arcane glyphs.
"We are here," said Caster, sitting down next to the Sunshard. There was a little wooden chair, painted green, waiting for him there. "Have you made your decision?"
"Well, as I see it there are only two options," said Lancer. "Either you're smarter than me, or I'm smarter than you. If you're smarter than me I'm doomed either way. If it's the reverse, my only risk is psyching myself out over nothing." She grinned, "And Rome wasn't built by those afraid to cast the dice."
"Very well," said Caster. He reached into the glowing, crystalline surface of the Sunshard and pulled forth an archaic telephone - so old it was a speaking tube attached to a radio microphone. He handed it across to Lancer, who gave it one last glance and picked up the receiver.
Caster closed his eyes and began his spell.

[Phoe]

There was something about the energy of this moment, soup bowls all cleaned up and the whole... uh... 'team' gathered around a mostly still intact table, that made Kat feel like everybody ought to be wearing a uniform.

What kind of uniform? No idea! An old fashioned school uniform from one of the animes, something in a deep, darling blue perhaps? A crisp black number with shiny brass buttons, fancy looking medals pinned to the chest, and an awesome looking hat? Some kind of sports jersey with those really neat shin guard dealies and spiky shoes? Maybe just a bunch of leather jackets with a matching team logo on the back? Iono! Sky's the limit I guess? Point is, she just felt like they oughta have 'em.

But, bein' honest I don't know where they'da found that stuff on such short notice to begin with and even if they had it's difficult to imagine too many on the team woulda been all that enthusiastic about the prospect at all. It's sorta like, can you even picture Ivar in a skirt? I mean yes, you can, but it'd be a daring leather number with studs and belts and whatever else like you'd find on a warrior. I'm talkin' pleats here. Like I'm not saying she'd look bad but... you don't think she'd hate it? You don't?! Really?

Huh.

Any-- and the socks, too? All the way up to her knees? And those little shoes, I can't remember what they're called, but you know the ones I'm talking about. You really think the Avenger would be fine with. I! Wow. I mean I guess never judge a book by its cover right? Can't say I'm not surprised but that really says more about me huh?

Well in any, no I mean. Hold up. The little top, too? That demure little button up shirt with the dainty cuffs? You think they could even pattern that to fit on a body like hers? Like I'm not trying to make her feel bad, it's just I mean come on right? You think her legs are long and you're right but that torso is. Mmf. Goshies. I feel like-- no yeah? Yeah no? No yeah yeah no yeah? With the ribbon sailor scarf whatsit on her shoulders and everything?

No, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No. No! I just don't see it. I really, really don't. Look, I-- hey I am not trying to body shame! I'm saying it's a crime to cover her up like that when she could be dazzling the world in a sleek black dress. Something open chested, like, with super high thigh slits, and a ton of gold jewelry draping over everything so she looks like a queen on her way to the Kikil Land Gala. Put her back in that braid? Awoo. But no. No, like, she looks crazy young and everything but I don't see high school being her

Huh? Trousers? No I guess but isn't that ceding the point? What the heck does 'Sabers are meant to be cross-dressing beauties' mean? I really need you to........

***

"The problem," said Ivar, "Is that I cannot account for any of the remaining Servants. It limits the scope of our plans."

Something about her magic seemed reduced. She no longer exuded evil energy or withered the ground just by standing on it, and her voice sounded normal again. A little softer and more airy than when she'd been able to call herself Saber, but still singular and distinctly human. Her wounds were still stitching themselves shut, but they did so with agonizing slowness. Especially compared with the invincible nightmare warrior that had attacked everyone not half a day prior.

A very frazzled looking Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits looked up (and up, and up) at her. Nothing about this strategy meeting had gone at all according to the picture in her head, and she lacked for both tact and guile enough to keep that from showing on her face and in her eyes and across her sad, drooping ears.

"I, I mean. But if we could make even one of them our friends then wouldn't it not matter? We already have Berserker and she's so strong,"

"To what degree are you able to control her in such tight formations?"

"A-and you're really strong too, and you've done all this war stuff like a million times already,"

"I do not know how I appear to you, child. But it is wiser not to count me among your battle assets."

"So if we just, huh??" said Kat, with all the emotional intensity of a girl who could not under any circumstances juggle any more bad news.

"My spirit core is barely holding together. If it comes to a fight I will win it for you but the longer we can disguise our approach the greater our chances will be."

Kat moaned. Cyanis glanced over from over top her sunglasses, but other than pausing from her very important luxury diamond nail filing she just sniffed derisively and ignored what was happening. Diaofei stared at what should have been her own loyal Servant with a look on her face that seemed half about to speak up. But she offered nothing, and turned her head down to her meditations. Her chains rattled where they pulled against Actia's.

It was Angelesia who looked the most worried, in spite of everything she'd been through.

"Your spirit core?" she asked, "Are you trying to say you're dying?"

"I am already dead."

"Lancer already explained that part to me, I meant --"

"Consider me as a weapon. A bow, specifically. I may be used to fire three arrows at the most. After that I will shatter, and not even my hatred or my promises will keep me on this earth for very long."

"Then we just need to contact Lancer! If we have her do your fighting for you, we'll manage. Plus tactics are her specialty! She'll know exactly what we need to do, even better than you!"

She grinned for long enough to realize that sounded like an insult, and then became very interested in her arm. Ivar glared at her.

"Lancer's agenda is the Sunshard, and her loyalty is to Rome. She will not join us, and I would not trust her if she did."

"B-but if I just explain it's being used to do something evil she'll listen to me, won't she? I'm her M-m, I mean! She's my Servant!"

"Girls?" squeaked Kat.

"You are also loyal to Rome."

"Wh-what does that?" Angelesia looked horrified, "But we have an alliance!"

"Girls??" Kat worried at her tails.

"You are also loyal to Rome. I do not trust you either."

"Girls!" screamed Kat, stomping her foot on the floor.

All heads turned to look at her. She quivered, but cleared her throat heroically.

"Lets, uh, focus on the important stuff ok? We're together for right now and that's what matters. Miss Saber you say you can't fight more than three times, right? But actually I don't think we should fight at all anymore if we can help it. I've just, uh, been thinkin' about it and... it's you Servants that are s'posed to power the ritual, right? So if any more of you die..."

She looked all around the table for someone who could back her up. Instinctively her eyes fell on Actia, who had the most tails of anybody here and also understood what she was trying to do better than Kat had ever managed, for all the effort she'd bent toward the topic. The four-tail merely leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

But her lips turned up in a queer little smile.

"Oh whatever let's just steal it," said Cyanis, "If we heist the heist back, that's like a triple heist or something. And it'll be easy since we don't even need to take it from Qiu this time."

"I have tolerated quite a lot so far," said Diaofei despite having done nothing of the sort, "But I will not sit and watch a pack of foxes seize a sunshard! As if you could be trusted with such a thing! This entire miserable ritual is proof enough of that!"

"Fluffy earist." sneered Cyanis.

"I... beg your pardon?"

"I dunno Cy, I think giving it back to Princess Qiu is our only hope."

"WHAT?!"

"Look! We are in so much trouble already! Even if the world doesn't blow up, and it's gonna, nobody's getting any more tails out of this. Actia tricked us. All we can do is put everything back the way we found it and say we're really, reaaaaally sorry and then maybe we get to live the rest of our lives somewhere not named Cutie Fox Island."

"You traitor! You coward! I can't believe you! After everything I've done for you!!"

"I am not fooled for a moment by either of you. There is not a fox alive who understands emotions. This is a ploy to enter the good graces of myself and the innocent, and it has failed. How convenient to offer promises and play up the nobility of your 'sacrifice' when none of us even know where the sunshard is located."

Actia stirred. Even this slight motion drew a pained wince out of her, though when it passed she was the picture of placid calmness that should have put Diaofei to shame just as much as it managed to frustrate Avenger.

"I am surprised at you, Diaofei. You are every bit as cruel as you have accused me of being. Did our time together mean nothing to you?"

The monk was silent. Bound as she was there was no physical remonstrance available to her, and any lecture she might have been on the verge of offering was cut off by Actia's apparently having fallen back asleep. It pulled her short, and with nothing else left to her she was forced to think.

Several minutes later, her eyes opened wide.

"No. She can't have meant..."

***

Right so without at LEAST a big strong pair of boots you agree we're not halfway to showing off how hot she is! Gosh! I don't understand why this was so hard. Now where was... oh. Oh no. You can't mean I missed it? I did? Oh shoot, I did!

Ah darn it all come on I was looking forward to this! What am I supposed to narrate now? It's my turn, darn it!! Come on just give me a better chance, I won't mess around next time! Please?

[Thanqol]

Every phone at the table rings simultaneously.

Opalis looks at the tablet that she wears integrated with her golden bracelet. Cyanis lazily fishes out her hot pink sticker-plastered phone from her bosom. Aeglesia reaches into her pocket and pulls out a bright red phone marked with thunderbolts and SPQR. Diaofei fumbles out an archaic wooden flip phone, engraved with warding glyphs. Actia pulls out a gun.

BANG BANG BANG

The foxgirl blasts away at the dragon before anyone can react. The warding glyphs on Diaofei's phone glow red and a second later it bursts into flame. Cyanis and Aeglesia scream as a mesh of mechanical tentacles burst out of the glowing screen of her phone and start trying to drag them into the screens. The mouths of the phones are stretching wider, elastically, large enough to take a person through whole.

Berserker reflexively moves to intervene; she barely gets a wall up in time as a spear explodes out of the morass. It shatters the wall, and the impact slams Berserker across the room. Lancer.

Katherine's extremely cool moon wolf phone will be no exception to this attack. If she answers immediately she'll be seized as quickly as the other two masters; if she doesn't she has until the phone rings out before the tendrils start to force their way through.

[Phoe]

As a rule, Kat was never quick about answering her phone. Don't get the wrong idea! It doesn't have anything to do with danger sense, or some kinda wisdom thing, or a mistrust of phones or anything like that. She loves her phone! The super cool wolf moon part's a little, uh, let's just say... she loves who that represents? That feels safe. Point is, if you'd taken her to the phone... store? And let her trade for one all by herself she'd have picked something a little bit more glittery and soft, like the sweet little kitten bapping at a crescent moon charm that dangles from the top of it when she pulls it out of her bag. But this is hers and she's proud of it and she would never ever ever do a bad girl thing like not answer the phone when it rings.

But she always, always let's it ring. Meaning she lets it play. When Kat got this phone she spent hours 'n hours n' hours picking out the perfect little jingle so she'd always know when it was her phone that was making noises and didn't get excited over nothing. Which worked a treat, except she picked such a good one that she listens to pretty much the whole thing out of habit and only ever picks up at the literal last second. Which is important to remember when you're callin' her 'cause it's easy to give up too early if you think she's just busy and don't wanna go to voice mail, but no, she's just jammin'.

Today? That saved her life. Because while Cyanis and Angelesia were busy screaming at the phone-monsters trying to eat them, Katherine Isabella Fluffybiscuits was bopping her head up and down and listening to her favorite tune. And that gave her a crucial bit of time to hear screaming and look up to see what the heck was happening. Which meant that when she started screaming too, it wasn't because tentacles were trying to drag her into the phone-o-verse or whatever it is that technomancy calls it. I should ask Xiu.

Still, getting an extra thirty seconds of freedom wasn't the same thing as coming up with a genius plan to save anybody, or even herself, even if speedrunning taught her that amount of time was basically an eternity. It turns out that in situations you haven't practiced, it really super duper isn't. She looked around in a panic, trying to find an out. Who could she count on? Berserker was frothing mad but was so busy defending herself she couldn't even get a proper wall started, let alone a fortress that could protect anyone extra. Cy was clinging to the table so tight her nails were dragging grooves across its surface, and the most you could say about Angelesia in comparison was that her nails weren't long enough to do the same.

Normally she'd look to Actia as the oldest fox, but someone had slipped her an extra dose of crazy powder in her coffee this morning or something, because goodness goshies what was she thinking?! If that was a genius plan to save everyone, Katherine didn't understand it well enough to trust in it. Diaofei was a monk, which put Kat on edge to begin with, but even if desperate times called for desperate situations this particular monk was frozen in shock and also chained to a crazy-powedered foxgirl. That's no good!

Wait. Oh no. Oh nyo. She was still holding her phone. Clutching it tight, even! Was it going to do the scary thing to her too? It rang when everyone else's did so you'd have to figure but sure Hyra of all people would be cool enough to find the only not cursed phone in the world? If it was for a birthday present? Right??? But her tails were bushing, and they didn't do that if she felt safe.

No girl, you've gotta throw it! Even if it's the most precious thing you own, it's gonna eat you! Why hasn't it done it yet? Oh, oh, oh goshies, what was she supposed to-- nyeh!!!

It left her hand at the very last second of her ring. She threw it as hard as she could, but too little too late. Black as night and neon green, the phone spiraled in the air before sprouting tendrils of its own that managed to lasso her delicate and desperately scrambling wrist. Not enough to hold her tight, but its pull was stronger than she was. All she had was her legs. She used them.

This is the kind of moment they made security blankets for. She wished she was curled up safe in hers at home, with the fireplace crackling and a tea kettle boiling over for her to whine at until Yue turned it into hot delicious leaf juice with even more delicious leaf-juice cookies to go with it. Not for the last time! But Katherine was a brave girl, whatever her trembling knees would want you to believe: when she runs, it's forward, not away. It puts a bit of slack in the restraints this curse's tryin' to put on her. It expected her to run. It expects everyone to run, y'know?

See, people never tell you this, but when it comes to a duel it's really little things that make up the difference between victory and defeat. You'd like to imagine that having big fancy finishers or secret swords or whatever'd be really super duper mega important, and I ain't sayin' it's not or anything but none of that makes a lick of difference next to just having enough courage in your heart to believe in what it is you're doing.

Does that make sense? It means that, Katherine could've run screaming like everyone else or froze up and nobody'd blame her. She could have screamed for help and decided before she tried anything that she needed saving, and understandable as that mighta been it'd'a been the end. Maybe for everybody. There's no time but what you buy in a fight, is the thing. But her special song's a thing for magical girls and heroes, and how could she stand to look at herself in the mirror if she didn't try to live up to that? Her, tryin' to save the world and everything. So when she leaps into the air and sends a kick at her still transforming phone, her form's lousy as anything and it doesn't matter at all. It's the one thing she coulda done that the other side wasn't expecting either. It buys her time, time that was already bought and paid for by someone else who'd been expecting to use it for themselves.

She doesn't even get to say the line about asking someone to take care of the landing. Before she can fall or gracelessly tumble face first into a wall, or just plain get eaten anyway because let's face it determination or no this little sweetie weighs about the same as a loaf of bread, something catches her. Something that could not have crossed the distance with all this interference, if she'd gone the other way. A brilliant, shining laser sword slices through the tentacles grabbing at her before it cracks her beautiful Cyber Wolf Moon phone in half.

"Our plan managed to fall apart before we finished making it," muttered Ivar, "I am impressed."

[Thanqol]

From the severed tentacles, vines begin to creep. They burst upwards rapidly, wooden tendrils replacing metal ones, and immediately they begin to blossom. The flowers merged together in a storm of vibrant pollen and, pink and white, Lancer stepped down. A long green dress drew behind her sparkling with a million stars, a wreath flowering crowned her head, and long flowing white sleeves perfectly captured the bloody red stains that spoke of blood sacrificed in the name of Rome. "Mine was a seed that never had the chance to blossom," she said, trailing a long spear behind her. "Mine was a reign could have healed the world."

She raised her spear to the roof; with a terrible detonation it blew away the stone that Berserker had made, and with a twist the entire castle she had erected began to peel apart and blow away on the sand.

"You knew Julia the Apostate. Julia the failure," said Lancer. "Who I would have been if I failed at my ambition. The Empress who presided over the final break between East and West, the Empress who failed to burn out the Church and was damned by them, the Empress who in a stroke of tragic luck was struck through by a spear," her fingers curled around her nightmarish weapon, "before her reign could truly begin."

"But the Gods have answered my prayer," she said, "even before I triumph in this contest of ours. My victory is inevitable and so travels back in time to ensure it will occur. As I shall rewrite history, so history shall empower me. There will be no Dark Age; only an early Enlightenment. There will be no fall of Rome; instead it shall continue uninterrupted and glorious all the way into the heavens. There shall be no," she sneers at Berserker, who - shockingly - flinches, "feudal warlords and their ugly little castles squatting in the ruins of my Empire. Northern raiders will be met by the fury of the Legions and driven back to their rocks," in this moment she turns her gaze on Ivar and -

drifting alone on an iceberg, cut off from human history. julia's ascent means the destruction of your legend, your history, your destiny, everything you fought and died for. she can feel the cold mechanical gaze of the moon pressing down on her, the cutting scissors of the norns as they sever her from the tapestry of fate

Berserker was right to flinch.

"You face Julia the Philosopher," said Lancer. "And I am here to condemn your entire timeline. Your lives will become as meager and pathetic as mine once was, and you will drift away like sand through an hourglass."