[IC] Fate Arcana/Academy

[idkman]

Juan and Robert grouped up with everyone else.

Juan spoke first, "I shouldn't have done anything but blind 'em... I don't know where they went, they just vanished or something. Yo, Saber, see anything?"

The abnormally tall man spoke up immediately, "No, master. But, there may be some clues around us. Be alert."

Juan knelt down and touched the floor, spreading his prana into it and using his family's magecraft to feel out anything that should not be.

"Aye! Over there!" Juan pointed toward the exit, and Saber raised his sword again, releasing a focused beam of illumination. It was subtle, but the naked eye could perceive a faint glittering from the door way. "Frost! They went that way!"

Robert was next, "I guess that mean we give chase, then? Let's go! Berserker!"

Berserker appeared out of nowhere atop a horse, grabbing Robert and planting him firmly on the horse's rear. "TALLY-HO!"

---

Damien saw the frost creeping toward them, and felt Caster's mini-labyrinth disappear a ways back.

"Not good, man."

[Ichypa]

Unfortunately for the champions of Hel and Isis, Assassin had been on higher ground when the walls went up. If he was within the maze, then it was not trapped within the walls. Victoria sniffed at Claudia. "The Gentleman healed Assassin and gave me this bitching axe. YOU, on the other hand, are still boring until proven fun. No way am I lending you one of my toys. Besides, I do in fact, have a better idea." At Victoria's mental command, Assassin spoke. "Go." he said, and his copies streamed forward, leaping and running across the walls, invisible. More split off from the main Assassin, who remained stationary. They searched from a top the walls for their quarry, and once they'd found it, word quickly spread amongst them. Once the Assassin's had gathered, a few leapt down into the Labyrinth itself, while the rest began tossing anti-personnel grenades down upon the gathered Master's and Servants.

[Serperion]

Nicola's berserker raised his head and made a slight growling sound. "They are here!" Nicola shouted. "We need to go deeper!" she exclaimed as Berserker finally decided to create roofs for the labyrinth to try and protect the rest of it. Berserker stamped his feet and 9 ghostly figures appeared. Nicola turned to them, "Humble Athenians, lend us your strength." And they dissipated, akin to presence concealment, and went to scout the area. "Berserker would be running low on mana, if they keep breaking down his walls." Nicola said. "Miles here, can make mighty similar walls Nikki, maybe he can help. What do you say Miles?" William asked as she was starting to smith a new sword out of the ores at his feet, while Famine still held Gram.

[idkman]

"Berserker would be running low on mana, if they keep breaking down his walls." Nicola said. "Miles here, can make mighty similar walls Nikki, maybe he can help. What do you say Miles?" William asked as she was starting to smith a new sword out of the ores at his feet, while Famine still held Gram.

Serperion

"I'd say I guess I don't have much choice, but I'm trying to save the last resort until necessary." Damien looked over to Caster, and Caster nodded back. "I can still use it, Damien, but I won't be much good afterwards." "We won't need an afterwards." "Then I will start preparing, this may take some time." "Noted, Juan, you and Saber watch defend Caster while he gets it ready." "Si, senor Damien."

[Serperion]

William looked over to Damien, "Dare I ask what this last resort is, I was just asking to see if you could buff Nikkis walls, but by all means do something." "What should we do?" Vincent asked he focused on trying to extend his magecraft to his companions and negate assassins explosions, or at least make it so noone got burned, he was still on edge from War and his threats, but he was not about to let it get him down, he had to fight, fighting calmed the mind." ---- Claudia looked at Victoria through narrowed eyes. "Berserker, lets fly!" She said to her servant, and the two of them started to float upwards trying to find a way into the Labyrinth from above as Assassin had done. She could feel the age of the walls that Nicola and Berserker had put up, but the mystery and pain of myriad souls permeated the labyrinth, she was unable to draw out any useful memories that could help them, but she could sense the souls were still trapped within the walls, maybe she could use that too her advantage she was not sure but one thing she was sure of was, Death comes for everyone. She turned down to Death beneath her, standing alone her Servant yet to be seen, wrapped in an armour of living Lightning. Claudia nodded to Berserker and he raised her up also. "Death, Famine go with Berserker, help Conquest and War and stop them." Claudia spoke to the final Horseman. Death looked back at Claudia although her eyes were hidden under her visor, there was no doubt she was staring into Claudia, it was a powerful gaze, that Claudia could feel it in her soul, it was as if Deaths contempt for her was carving away at her very existence. Claudia, had to catch her breath, and Death laughed, before breaking free from Berserkers gravity loop and flying towards the labyrinth entrance on a stream of clouds. She opened her hands and a wave of lightning branched outwards hitting parts of the Labyrinth, she was challenging its thousand plus years old mystery with her willpower and own agency. The walls faltered, and with a blast of water and explosion of fire that crushed and incinerated the walls, Conquest and War walked free. Death looked towards her three companions and they looked uptowards her, even War seemed submissive, Conquest in awe and Famine proud. "I have only the slightest idea what is going on, but I'm not sure I like it. But if these kids really are parallels of us, it would be insulting to go easy on them. Ignore the masters, those girls have no idea how to conquer, how to fight, how to devour and most of all how to kill both the body and the soul and wipe from existence." Conquest looked up to Death, and his ice armour melted away completely. He bowed and saluted. "Woe to the defeated." He said. Deaths armour started to slowly fade away, her form starting to materialise more focused. Until standing above them on a platform of cloud, stood undoubtedly The Head Archmage, Alysis Woe. "And Woe to the living." As she said that a wave of ion charged pulses rained down, and the Labyrinth began to falter, as Deaths prana began to decay the mystery as it tried to restore itself.

[Ichypa]

Death smiled as the labyrinth tried to resist her power. The power of Death, born from the Skull of Entropy was mighty indeed, but it was pitiful compared to the true power at her command. Existence, and Oblivion. Her two origins, one her own, wrought from her defiance of the world that would deny her the right to be, the other from the girl her spirit inhabited. At first glance, they would seem to contradict each other, such polar opposites that one owuld think they would annihilate the other, like matter and anti-matter. But that was not the case. At its core, her original Existence origin reinforced, defined, and empowered, guarding that which it infused against forces that would deny, negate, or destroy it. Combined with Oblivion, it gave her magic the ability to enforce one of the greatest universal laws: the inevitablity of death, the coming of the end to all things. There are exactly three certainties in life: Death, Taxes, and Alysis Woe. And Death had spent time as a member of the IRS as a cover identity once while in the States. Death's magic bored through the labyrinth, and strode inside, her companions at her back. Her Existence called out to a like Existence, and followed the call to her prey. _______________ The Assassins maintained their barrage, while Victoria giddily followed Death, the original Assassin and two of his copies followed invisibly. The Gentleman was some boring shit, but this bitch? Now she was interesting! _______________ Alysis felt pull, no , more of a resonance, growing steadily stronger. She'd first felt it the moment she'd laid eyes on Death. With the revelation of War and Vincent...she had her suspicions, but didn't really know how to feel about them if they were true. On one hand, when she got older she was, admittedly probably, going to be a total badass. On the other hand, a far more powerful version of her was coming to kill them, and Alysis doubted that she would have changed enough to leave off her rings when it came time to smack a bitch. "Guys." she spoke up. "I think we're about to have company, and I doubt they're coming for tea." "Lovely." Jacob sighed, shaking his head. "I should have followed Allen's example and just stayed home." Berserker patted his head.

[Serperion]

The heroes congregating together the Horsemen entered the laybrinth, there was still twists and turns that separated them, but they would navigate through them or have Death obliterate them. "They seem to have Arma as well as taking my Gram, so that other Nikki has two Arma." William said woefully looking to his sister. "Well we have to fight, we know our weakness as well as they do, we need to take advantage of that fact, maybe split and face off each individually." Vincent said with an odd determination. "Even still we are outgunned, their magecraft is on a whole another level, we are gonna need to survive for now before returning to actually trying to beat these guys, maybe it's time to sacrifice a command seal for assistance from one of the Arcana Imperator. Like I always say, Tia has some of the most twisted magecraft next to Rhea, which leads into my next point, Rhea." William said looking to Damien, "We need their help."

[idkman]

"Well we have to fight, we know our weakness as well as they do, we need to take advantage of that fact, maybe split and face off each individually." Vincent said with an odd determination.

@Serperion

"Close, Vincent, but not quite. They are you guys, yeah, but there is something else within them. The bodies they were bonded to have their own strengths that may make up for your own weaknesses... This is a battle we may have to forfeit, in order to win the war." Damien led the group through the labyrinth, as if he had walked these very paths before. Every now and then his hand would briefly brush against a familiar crack or off-colored brick. "By the way, Nicola... Interesting servant you have there..."

"Even still we are outgunned, their magecraft is on a whole another level, we are gonna need to survive for now before returning to actually trying to beat these guys, maybe it's time to sacrifice a command seal for assistance from one of the Arcana Imperator. Like I always say, Tia has some of the most twisted magecraft next to Rhea, which leads into my next point, Rhea." William said looking to Damien, "We need their help."

@Serperion

Damien's mood dropping could be felt by the entire group, "Ugh. It pains me to say this, truly, but you may be right. No groveling, though. If we ask and they refuse, let that be the end of it. Caster, go ahead and do your thing... But don't include us, ok?" Wordlessly, Caster obliged. Placing both hands on the ground, the area behind the group began to writhe and... distance itself from the World. Within seconds, the hallway behind them was again normal, returned to it's former non-labyrinthine state. Regardless, the group could feel something else there, like there was another layer of reality filtered over the world. But to the group behind them, it was completely different. They were in the same walls, yes, but could tell that the labryinth was now somewhere else entirely. Brute force would no longer close the distance between them and their prey. The walls now felt older, more powerful, and more mysterious. A sense of hopelessness was buried within the walls, and could be felt reverberating through the hallways and dead-ends. Besides Assassin's grenades, the only sounds that could be heard were... Footsteps. Large, heavy, dragging footsteps from somewhere deep within the walls. Conquest whistled, folding his arms. Outside, Robert whistled, doing the same. Though a dimension apart, they shared the same awe. "Reality Marble, eh?"

[Ichypa]

"Assassin." Death said, without pausing. An old man appeared beside her, matching her pace. "You called me, Master?" "I did. Do you know any stories of mazes such as this?" "Indeed. Even in my day, the tale of Theseus and his adventures within the Labyrinth were legend." "Tell me the story of the Labyrinth." Death requested. Assassin stroked his beard. "Well, it began with Theseus. He wanted to go into the maze, to kill the Minotaur and put an end to Crete's reign of terror over Athens. However, he had no way of finding his way out again. So, he sought out the help of the king's daughter, Ariadne, who gave him a ball of magic string..." As the Servant told his tale, a ball fo twine appeared in Death's hand. Tying the end in a loop around her wrist, she tossed it ahead of the party, were it began to roll away on its own. Death infused Assassin's tale with her magic. A maze like this could have no way out, but between Assassin's story and her own abilities now an exit, an end to the maze, would have to exist. _________ "You know." Jacob said. "I am part of Rhea. I couldprobably pass a message on if we get out of this alive."

[Serperion]

Famine appeared behind Death. "My Caster can get us out of her instantly if you would prefer." She spoke to death, taking off her mask, by making the metal crimp away, revealing her face, or rather the face of Nicola Branson."

----
Vincent turned to Jacob, "I'm a Rhea initiate as well, and they pretty much disowned me, but may be worth a shot."

William whistled, looking through his pocket, bringing out his Arcana Card. "Grimmy meet us as Rhea." He said to the card as he moved towards a door. "Now that that is settled Rhea it is then? I'll have the time to prepare the spell." Using his blood he painted a magic circle over the door, as well as Nordic runes across the diagonal diameter of the circle. He then placed his card over the door handle. "The Stone Gate." He said clearly, his Arcana Alumni card giving him access to the space bending tunnels of the Arcana Academies complex system. Another perk of being an Arcana Alumni, but only to places you had been before.

The door opened, and instead of hard rocky earth, and trees of the Wood Gate, this opened onto a colonnade of pillars that led onto a larger building, like a cathedral almost.

"Ok, everybody in!" William said running through the door.

They were about to jump into the yard, while the guard dogs may be on duty.

[Ichypa]

Excellent. I probably should have asked you first; I apologize. Do it." Death said.

_______

"Eh, you're not really missing out on anything. The Four Glorious Douchebags rule this house with a fist of iron incompetence, in my opinion, though I guess someone has to disagree." Jacob said. He sent a quick message to Allen, asking the other AMster to meet up with them.

[Serperion]

Famine nodded, "Caster." She spoke, a gentleman in a suit with neatly parted dark hair appeared. "Get us out of here." She told her servant.

"Where to my master?" Caster asked.
"Take us to the Wood Quad." Famine declared. As she made her choice, Caster opened his hands and the world flickered briefly and all of the Tia army was now in the surprisingly fixed Tia Quad.

---------
"Hmm what is this I wonder?" A voice said from the end of the colonnade standing in front of the large building.
"Looks like this ragtag bag of fools are in trouble Ella." Said another figure from the other end of the colonnade.
"And they come to Rhea, how wonderful." Ella responded.

"Look we are not in the mood for your bullshit, Tia and the Gentleman have set plans in motion that will not end well for anyone." William shouted at Ella.

Gabby vanished in a flicker and appeared next to Ella, "So what exactly has that scarecrow done and how bad is it that you have to come to us?" Ella asked, as Ruber appeared behind her.

[Ichypa]

"Remember how we kick your asses?" Alysis said, gesturing to herself, Vincent, Robert, and Nichola. "The Gentleman apparently created super-powerful future versions of us, each with their own Servants."
"That's a pretty apt description of the current 'fucked' levels we're at, bosses." Jacob confirmed.

[Serperion]

This made the twins silent for a moment.
"What? He can't make future versions of you, unless he had some super strong Time Magecraft, which frankly he wouldn't have. The fact that they have servant's also violates that, as only first years can actually fight in this war offensively." Ella responded.
"But that does beg the question, does that mean there are first years pretending to be future versions of these guys?" Gabby asked his sister.
Ella turned to him and looked him in the eyes. "Pretending wouldn't cut it, nor have a purpose this has to be some sort of sympathetic magic that make the forms important."
"Like a gemini bond perhaps? Or a master-servant contract?" He asked her.
"Exactly, and a master servant contract doesn't require a mirrored form. It has to be some bastardisation of a Gemini Bond. That's why that Tia bitch offered to help Venetus, to steal it." Ella looked at Alysis.

"You, do you have an origin? Do you even know what an Origin is?" Ella continued looking at Alysis.

[Ichypa]

This made the twins silent for a moment.
"What? He can't make future versions of you, unless he had some super strong Time Magecraft, which frankly he wouldn't have. The fact that they have servant's also violates that, as only first years can actually fight in this war offensively." Ella responded.
"But that does beg the question, does that mean there are first years pretending to be future versions of these guys?" Gabby asked his sister.
Ella turned to him and looked him in the eyes. "Pretending wouldn't cut it, nor have a purpose this has to be some sort of sympathetic magic that make the forms important."
"Like a gemini bond perhaps? Or a master-servant contract?" He asked her.
"Exactly, and a master servant contract doesn't require a mirrored form. It has to be some bastardisation of a Gemini Bond. That's why that Tia bitch offered to help Venetus, to steal it." Ella looked at Alysis.

"You, do you have an origin? Do you even know what an Origin is?" Ella continued looking at Alysis.

@Serperion

"I go to this school." Alysis deadpanned. "You don't exactly get in by being ignorant. And yes, I have one."