With the departure of Ted and Ratface, Carly-Beth rounded about to face her Servant, shrugging slightly in response. "Sure, that first bit sounds good to me. I'm no naval strategist, so I'll leave the bulk of the planning there to you, since I'd only get in the way. The only thing is that I don't wanna start a full blockade; this is a city that just had a national disaster hit it, it's not worth causing a full blockade, let's just focus on the magic stuff. I'll have Shaytanea work as our scout to check out any incoming ships and make sure we're not going to get caught off-guard by something they've got. I can't imagine anything coming in here is going to have the firepower to take Shaytanea down after the tests I've run on her, so that's prob'ly the best way to go."
At the second proposal Strategist made, though, the homunculus let out a brief hum, face contorting in thought for a good few seconds.
"Well, honestly, it might be better to keep ourselves lean. More alliances means more obligations and more concerns. Besides, we're definitely existences that're 'detrimental to the city', yeah? We've got a chokehold on everything coming into the city by sea, and our new ally can do the same on land. If we reach out to them, not only do we reveal our existence, which I'd rather stay secret until we're ready to bombard some enemies, we play our hand and might not even get much in synergies out of it."
"'Sides, a bigger alliance means we're more safe against a stronger enemy, sure, but there's only one winner in the end. Just complicates matters, if you ask me. The way I see it, we're better off staying out of sight and out of mind until we're ready to crush most of the opposition in one fell swoop."
"But, well, I'm not the one who's named 'Strategist' here, so I could be off on some points, but yeah that's my two cents. What'dya think?"
A low laugh left the Bartender as Gin finally returned to the land of the living. He and Archer had been trying to help the young man during last night's teaching session, but sadly it didn't seem to have yielded much in the way of results. No matter, though; Chiron was nothing if not patient.
...although, if he'd just felt what he thought he felt a few minutes earlier, it seemed like someone had managed to do what was ordinarily impossible and actually stoke Chiron's temper. Poor bastard, hopefully Chiron would let them off easy. Besides, from the sound of it, he was dealing with someone else now.
"Of course, Gin." The Divine Spirit replied, setting the requested drink down on the bar mere moments later, before letting out another laugh at that next question. "Oh, Chiron's just...catching up with someone from his past. I'd recommend you don't walk outside just yet, but..." A coy grin flashed across his face. "If you feel like you need an ego boost, take a peek outside in about thirty seconds. You should get quite the show."
The following question, though, caused a slight glint to enter Dionysus's eyes as he leaned over the bar a bit.
"Hm. Well, I really shouldn't be giving you much of an answer. Trust me, I would be happy to usually, but Chiron's planning on training you, which makes this an entirely different matter. My advice is shaped by my experiences, so it'll necessarily pull you down a certain path. That's why he's been asking you to shore up your fundamentals from the other Master, so that you have a foundation that is entirely built off of 'what's optimal for you' when the training happens."
After speaking, he paused for a moment in consideration, before resuming.
"That said, I can probably give you a couple of tips, so...hm, well, you see, affecting fate directly at a high level, to the point where anything really happens is essentially impossible for a modern magus. However, you yourself have some of the highest resistance to fate I've ever seen in a mortal. So, how about you use that as a leverage point?"
"Well, I won't go much further on that, since explaining that much more would be colored by my experience, but maybe mull on that. Also consider the application of your magecraft to spirits; I'm no expert in Japanese esoterica, but it seems to me that Hojutsu is at its best when dealing with spirits, whether that means banishing them from a place or something else. Ultimately, what you do with that is dependent on you."
"Understood, I will communicate that back to him. He is, of course, rather excited for the opportunity this presents. Truth be told, I am the same way. It is an odd feeling, but I do not dislike it."
It nodded in reply, seeming pleased, if unsurprised, by Benita's response. That last remark it had made, though, caught even it by surprise. It seemed that it was changing as well, perhaps the result of obtaining 'that'. Hopefully this would be a continuing process.
Of course, as the next topic was broached, something occurred to shatter the conversation for the time being. Divine readvent. Noble Phantasm true name release. It had of course felt the event taking place at the site of where the Tohsaka Manor had once stood, but if that was a spark, then this was a bonfire. Given the distance from where that attack was released and the flat expanse of the former Foreigner's District, it was unlikely that anyone in the Holy Grail War who was not living under a rock would not notice that lightning.
And, it went without saying what witnessing that lightning meant.
The information its master gave to it divulged that what was being released was classified as an 'elimination class Noble Phantasm', followed by some muttering of 'wow, seriously, that guy becomes a Heroic Spirit?' and 'damn, I've gotta beat him to the punch then'.
Its master was truly a curious sort, but it didn't mind that. There was a sort of 'loyalty' there for the human who had created and raised it, to say nothing of the anticipation it felt for this construction site.
However, something else was passed along their shared line, which caused it to pause in confusion for a moment, seeking out aid from Benita seconds later.
"...my master has a remark that I profess I do not fully understand. Evidently there is a snack food currently being popularized that is known as 'popcorn'. He has stated a desire to be in possession of some at the current time."
Oh?
Now that was interesting.
...no, not interesting. After all, on first glance, Archer could surmise why he'd received that sort of response. It was a simple reason, after all, nothing worth examining.
What was the word he was looking for, then?
Ah, that's right.
Entertaining.
There was no doubt that, if their strength as Servants were compared, Archer would lose out to the being before him ten times out of ten. If they were to fight, then one would imagine Archer's odds of survival to be rather poor. Achilles himself could surely tell this; the Servant he stood opposite had a 'radiance' that could only be called lacking, especially when compared to that hero that Achilles had the chance to spar with earlier in the war.
And yet, the rotund man stood before the great hero, a cocky grin splitting his face.
"What'll I do ta stop you, and who I am, yeah? Heh, Ach, you're still green. Those questions've got the same answa'. Rules numbah three through five: analyze, plan, execute. You're skippin' three, so you're cockin' up four an' five."
As he spoke, the nonplussed Servant materialized an opened bottle of wine in his right hand, raising it to his lips and proceeding to down its contents in a single go, despite that given the neck of the bottle, that should have been impossible.
Yes, there was no doubt that the space of Troy was somewhere inexorably bound to Achilles as a Heroic Spirit. Achilles fought in Troy. Achilles raged in Troy. Achilles killed in Troy. Achilles died in Troy. This was the heart of his legend.
...however, that didn't mean there were ways of crushing that piddling rage.
"Well, if ya wanna try an' break down these walls, then be my guest. Give it a shot, try an' kill the kid. The river here's too far away ta' kick the shit outta ya, even. Problem there is, ya gotta step inta my cave to get ta the gates."
The now-empty wine bottle was tossed forwards at the Servant. The strength behind it was nothing significant, even for a normal human. It was nothing more than a friendly toss, inviting the other Servant to catch it. Even if nothing was done, it would clink against that divine armor without even the barest trace of possibility for harming Achilles.
...nonetheless, it could be said that the throwing of that bottle was the 'strongest attack' that had been released in the Holy Grail War thus far, exceeding that cursed blaze, exceeding the lightning that split the sky, exceeding all else, and the moment Achilles laid eyes upon it, his fate was sealed.
-Because, that wine bottle was a weapon which surpassed such concepts.
-Because, that wine bottle was a weapon that could bring the greatest of heroes low.
-Because, that wine bottle was something Achilles had seen before.
"Go on, get in the cave, Ach. Just like old times."
