[IC] Fate/Reborn [First Holy Grail War]

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Ashnard ((Berserker))

Siegfried noticed that the Beast's mood suddenly started to shift it's hunting instincts flared again. However this time... it didn't manifest. It must have still been hold by the Command Spell. However... he could feel it's power surge as if it had tried to do so again but wasn't successful. A discordant chant washed over him presumably Ashnard's telepathy if he was a regular servant. However, must of it was unintelligible white noise and bestial urges. Pictures of slaughter and murder flashed through Siegfried's own mind. Images that quickly passed but lingered long enough to be disturbing. He never clearly saw any of them, but it was certain that blood, flayed meat of corpses and other... distributing images where flashing across his mind. But, what made it worse was The Beast's crystal clear voice in the middle of it chanting one thing over and over again in a manic delight. "Three! Three! Three! Three!!! Three!!! Three!!! THREE!!! THREE!!! THREE!!!" The Beast's chanting got louder, and louder and louder and louder and louder and LOUDER!!! It seemed to sync to Siegfried's heartbeat... a violent tremble of a drumbeat. "Three Three Three, Three! Three! Three! Three!!! Three!!! Three!!! THREE!!! THREE!!! THREE!!!" It was fixated on chanting this, and the thoughts of gore and mess accompanying it made it all the worse. This was all a result of the creature being stuck in spirit form. His dark chant... one of madness, hunger, and ill-intent. It's hatred replaced with primal hunger and... anticipation? Thrill? It was excitement. The creature was happy about this, about the thoughts that filled it's mind and the number it was chanting. It's thoughts so powerful... they threatened to overwhelm Siegfried as well. They pulsed through his mind as if they were his own almost.

[Code: PIRULUK]

Vance and Lily

Lily acknowledged the presence of the orange in the corner of her eye as she continued to work.

"Ah, please wait a moment, I'm nearly done."

With a few more tweaks, she set aside the gauntlet and experimentally moved around the fingers on her modified left arm. Feeling no irregularities, she smiled in satisfaction. Then she raised it horizontally above the ground, whereupon a small compartment in the arm opened up to reveal a shining blue crystal. The crystal glowed for a bit, then started to shine even more brilliantly, generating countless streams of light that formed a rectangular screen over her arm, in midair.

On the screen was displayed a mass of black with a white fleur-de-lis in the centre, accompanied by the text "LilyOS 1.0". Immediately the screen changed to show the webpage of the Google search engine, causing Lily's eyes to sparkle in glee. She quickly tried a few test searches, then dismissed the projected screen and resealed the compartment on her arm, cutting off the blue light.

She turned to Vance, gratefully accepting the orange.

"Ah, yes. I've been working with machines all my life. I started because I didn't really have a choice, but I think I came to enjoy it. There's something amazing about creating a new machine to fulfill some purpose. It makes me feel alive, I suppose."

She took a bite of the orange, savourig the juice that burst out in her mouth.

[Flux]

Sylva and Frog

Sylva had her eyes closed and was humming along with the music playing in the mall as she moved towards the exit. She held on to Frog's arm with one hand, oblivious to all else in her elation. She made it several steps ahead of her Master before being dragged back by the sudden jolt of his collapse. She leaned over him with wide eyes, a hint of worry -or perhaps even fear- present in her eyes.

"M-mister Frog, are you okay?"

She got a muffled response in return.

"All I wanted... *sniffle* ...was for us to be together... The soft cotton... A-and my money... *sob* All gone...all goooone..."

Sylva smiled at her Master's silliness. What did he mean "for us to be together?" She was right here.

"Don't be silly, Master. We're together right now with ALL the soft cotton! You're the best Master I could have, so I'll be the best Servant in return!"

She was completely oblivious to the true meaning of his phrase, but her childlike innocence prevented her from such worries. Before she could say any more, an alarm sounded throughout the mall. She covered her ears and let out a short cry in her confusion as it went off.

"Master, get up! We need to get away from this noise!"

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

Vance and Lily

Vance's jaw dropped as Lily finished her work.

"D-Did you just recreate the internet on your arm... In only a couple minutes?! That's amazing!"

He put a finger to his lips as he sat in thought. If she could do things like that so easily, imagine what innovations she could make in today's age...

"But how does that work? And what was that blue gem?"

He had so many questions bombarding his mind, which was especially unusually for somebody of Vance's disposition. Normally, he'd take a look at things, note that it was "pretty cool" and proceed to forget about it. But this was just so out there that it was impossible to ignore. This Servant the he'd summoned was incredible!

[Code: PIRULUK]

Vance and Lily

"No, no, this is nothing..."

Is what Lily said, but she was evidently elated at receiving her Master's praise. A red tint coloured her cheeks, and she scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"As for how..."

Lily immediately stopped being embarrassed and started to veritably sparkle as she began to explain.

"I used a special crystal known as Tuning Crystal to recieve and interpret the radio waves already in the air that are used for Internet access. Then, using my nervous system as a circuitboard, I redirected the received information to a partitioned bit of my brain for suconscious processing and interpretation. Again using my nervous system, I redirected the now-processed information to another special jewel known as a Projection Crystal, which has the magical properties of displaying a projected image of whatever the holder is thinking, but I modified the input to only contain the processed data, so it just displays the webpage. Audio is output through a seperate Projection Crystal, so I can actually listen to audio without having to display the screen. I would have included a CD drive as well, but I figured it would be a redundant addition."

Lily took a deep breath, calming down after her excited explanation.

"Well then, with this, it should be much easier to find information on other Servants."

She flashed her Master a brilliant smile.

[Shamitako]

(OOC: I'll get Onyx a bit later, need to catch up on what's up at the mall first)

Natalie

"As important as the library is, it would be more prudent to scout the area out." Natalie replied, "We may encounter one of our foes, which would give us a good starting point for our research.Although it would be best if we could find a fight to watch rather than participate in."

Natalie didn't like this part of a war, the waiting. As important as knowledge was, waiting around for your enemies to come to you left you open. While she was sure she could take almost any Berserker or Rider easily, if an Assassin or Caster were to ambush her before she was prepared she would be in trouble. Although she considered herself to be a very powerful servant, she had the issue of needing both knowledge and the first strike to guarantee a win.

Onyx

Onyx heard Archer's telepathic message.

"I hear you, Archer." She responded, "Not the clearest though, I'll get something more reliable before our next fight."

She quickly made her way to the mall where the enemy mage was hiding. She still had no plans for clear- The mall's alarm went off.

"They're clearing the building for us, it seems they want a fight." She told Archer.

Onyx made her way into the rapidly emptying building against the flow of emptying patrons. So long as she stayed in an open area Archer would still be able to cover her, but if she got too many walls between her and her servant she would have to use a command seal to bring Archer inside. For now she would stay in the lobby area and hope her enemy would come to her. She could still sense them, but that wasn't all.

"Archer, I sense two more mages nearby." She said, "I'm going to continue for now, but as much as I hate to admit it, we may need to back off."

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Vixen ((Archer))

"It's probably best. However, we don't know which presence is tipping them off. It's certainly not mine. So, tripping the alarm is probably an attempt to clear the building and escape at the same time in the confusion. After all, it's easiest to clear out when one is surrounded by civilians. It's hard to exactly pin the sense of mana to a direct source with 100% accuracy. So the more panicking people around, the easier it would be to hide in them." Vixen mused to herself. It was possible they were looking for a fight, but if the other masters were able to be sensed by the Kid, clearly they also knew there was at least 2 others in the vicinity if not 3 in the Kid herself. If they were looking for a fight that would be suicide against 3 servants of unidentified classes. The chances of the heavy hitters being there went up and up , and in this environment Assassin would probably be just as powerful as the others despite the vessel's lower parameters. After all, the sprawl of a mall even without people in it had many corners and paths for flanking and ambushing opponents. Caster would easily be the weakest here unless somehow their claimed area was in this spot already. However, due to this being a particular location it probably wasn't the case and Caster would be an easy foe if they appeared. The other classes would be strong here as well with maybe only Rider being impeded at all. However, that was assuming Rider had a huge mount or vehicle. It was impossible to tell not having seen RIder what it would be so assuming that wasn't worth while. This meant that anyone bar Caster could easily be a threat. Therefore, Vixen wasn't really all that happy with these odds but pulling out now would lose vital info. She only hoped that Beast didn't show up. That creature wouldn't be easy to take on in a confined space. And considering it was probably Berserker, she doubted her Master's chances if that thing showed up. She doubted her own ability to take it on in a fight head on. She'd have to significantly weaken it beforehand before even dreaming of taking it on in melee.

Vixen huffed, it was clear on the telepathic link, though it sounded like it wasn't intended to go through. "If you see Berserker get the hell out of there. You don't want to fight him in close quarters like this. You'll know it's him. I saw him last night while doing recon. I don't know who he was after but he made quite the rampage through the lower city. He wasn't in the shape of a human, but... a Werewolf. So, if you see anything like that get out immediately. Do you understand?"

[Chevaleresse]

Siegfried

The magus was having trouble thinking straight, let alone retaining his composure as he walked against the flow of people pouring outward from the entrance to the mall. "Soon," he said aloud in a vain attempt to pacify the beast. Soon you can hunt, and hunt worthy prey, and soon after we can be rid of one another's presence. He had hoped to wait until the mall was surely, entirely clear before he released the beast, but that might be impossible. Instead, he progressed toward the core of the building and watched the tide of humanity fade to a trickle and finally disappear from the entrance he left behind. "Alright, Ashnard. Find your prey, and end it."

[Arkhi]

Janus

Of course he'd be the one carrying her clothes. It ought not to be a problem, what with a battle to the death potentially about to partake. But he followed instructions, looking for a sheltered location. Clothing stores were too open, food courts too exposed, and a closet much too small. He laid eyes on a small food joint near the corner facing entrance. It's a risky gamble: other masters and servants must know that each other is smart enough not to fight in the open, yet not dumb enough to hide in just any location. By the look of it, the joint looked like it would lead to another part of the mall, so if fight came to flight, they would have an exit: or so he hoped.

"Pizza place, 10 o'clock," he signaled. "Catch up after you've caught a glimpse." Janus was off, checking the layout of the joint to which he ran. Noriko would catch up before he could get a good idea of the place.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Ashnard ((Berserker)):

And with that order the beast reappeared nearly instantly in a billow of black smoke. Two eyes full of hunger and fury surfaced first seeming to glow in the darkness as the rest of the form began to appear. The Beast was already in a sprint as he came forth from the Darkness. He headed towards the first and closest target to him it was of unknown origin the bloodthirst to great to care. However, his target had unwittingly run right towards the beast making his scent even more known then before. It was his mana he was tracking and it's proximity was getting closer than any other target within the mall. He sensed another nearby larger than this one. a Snap judgement in instinct telling the Beast this prey was a Master and that the one following it was most likely it Servant by the similar levels of adrenaline he could smell. If it was a servant chasing him, clearly this master would be in a more heightened sense as they'd already being chased and have seen an enemy. For The Beast... while it's upper facilitates were all but gone mentally it's instincts remained sharp as ever if not even sharper than before. It was the hunt that drove it know and the hunt told it all that information in a single sense. After all, it was necessary on the Hunt to narrow thought patterns to all but instinct as there wasn't time to deliberate and decide, only time to act or the prey would slip away. And thus, There in lied the Beast's only true mental prowess left. Instinct. It's instincts were fast enough that it could make intuitive leaps without thinking and without using the upper limits of it's mind. It didn't have the ability to use that part of the mind, but it also... had no need of it. The Beast, was a true Hunter.

The pounding of paws and the scraping of claws as they pounded on the floor rung out through mall. The huge sounds of a Beast of inhuman size announced it's presence. It confidence in it's strength great and large as it made no attempts to hide itself as it came. The sounds of the chase came from around walls and echo'd the now empty halls. Worse, the Howl of Hunger came. A dark sound filled with nothing but the intention of feasting on flesh. It would've sounded like a wolf... but so much more at the same time. Not only a wolf, but hatred given form. The Emotion rode towards them in spades. It's intent mixed with hunger and anger. A dark storm that filled the air with an intense atmosphere of twisted darkness. The Storm approached and threatened to batter down anything in it's wake it tear it to shreds. Though unknown to it, it's first target, the Master of Lancer. It surged towards the place he had thought to hide. After all, it was tracking his mana it could smell exactly where he was hiding from the Beast wasn't possible it would find it's prey eventually. Stopping to hide was the most fatal mistake one could make.

[Bfroger6]

"Don't be silly, Master. We're together right now with ALL the soft cotton! You're the best Master I could have, so I'll be the best Servant in return!"

Frog raised his head to the sound of his little companion's voice. His eyes were teary and his lips were sealed shut into a sad pout. His face was much like the face of a puppy left outside in the rain. But yes, she seemed to fail to comprehend his muffled sobs, and instead tried cheering him up with a completely unrelated thing, while it wouldn't have cheered him up even if she had understood it and said something different. Frog had a silly habit of pouting at people all the time. He was just about to say something along the lines of '*sniffle sniffle sob*', when the alarm sounded, snapping him immediately from his self pittying state.

The screeching sound was so loud and immediate, and he had no cue to prepare himself for it, that he litterally jumped up from a lying position back onto his feet. Closing his eyes as he tried to muffle the alarm by putting his hands over his ears, much like Sylva, but with more annoyance, he heard the voice of his Servant above the non-stopping noise.

"Master, get up! We need to get away from this noise!"

"R-right! Grab my hand." He said as he somehow managed to grab ahold of all the bags with his right hand, taking Sylva with his other. And running over to the entrance along with the crowd. "Geez!" He let out a ticked off cry. "What's even happening?" Through the crowd, he somehow managed to get Sylva and himself outside of the mall, when it suddenly dawned on him. The sudden realization that there were indeed other Servants and Masters in there, or at least Sylva said so, and he was kind of more than ready to trust the words of his super duper magical creation, so maybe one of them triggered the alarm! What if these games, this tournament... Yeah, it was a magic thing, and normal humans don't know about it, so it would make sense to wanna clear an area for a clash of... tic-tac-toe? What was it that they were competing at, anyways? He didn't wanna trust that it was a fight, nah, but even if it came to that, he considered himself awesome enough to take on any obstacle, and even Sylva wasn't weak, despite her child-like appearance. Her magic was almost as good as his, ha!

And so he turned to Sylva, huffing from the short spurt he had to endure to push his way out. Regardless of that, his eyes glimmered with the shine of the stars, lie a kid ready to get a kewl new spiffy toy to play with, as he looked at her. "Y-you think it was the other Masters?"

[Shamitako]

Onyx

"Hmm, good point." Onyx agreed, "I doubt we'd have much success preventing their escape in a mess like this. But the mall is practically empty and I still sense the first presence inside."

She surveyed the area, making one hundred percent certain there were no civilians around. One she was sure, she knelt down and chanted a short spell. The spell would mask her presence, preventing her from being smelled, sensed, or heard. Of course she could still be seen, but she was confident in her ability to avoid visual detection until she wanted to reveal herself. She would still have to be wary though, an Assassin class servant would likely still be able to detect her. She was about to continue on when Archer's last comment came through.

"Wait, a werewolf?" She said, her eyes growing wide, "P-please tell my you're j-joking."

Of all things summoned, one of them would be a dog. Just her luck, just her damned luck. At least it seemed Archer didn't want to fight it either.

[Chevaleresse]

Lancer

Noriko was about to revert to spirit form and join her Master when she sensed a presence suddenly and obviously making itself known, heading directly toward Janus. Wasting no time, she blasted through the air, her rapid transformation completing itself as she flew. "Get down!" she nearly screamed at the magus, knowing that the only servant that would make an approach like that would be Berserker - and what a Berserker it was. Her aerial vantage point gave her a clear view of the oncoming threat - a wolf, but some sort of twisted mockery of the noble beast, this one with a cruelty and malice that one would never find in nature. I never would have thought I would be facing more magical beasts here. Blasted things won't even leave me alone in the afterlife. As she reached the apogee of her flight, her spears coalesced about her, and with a swing of her arm, she grabbed one of them and launched it on an unnatural wind at dizzying speed toward Berserker.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Ashnard ((Berserker)):

The Spear landed directly into the Beast's solider as it had not seen the attack. However, it didn't slow it's movements it barely even noticed it. The haze was more powerful, the hunger. However, what Berserker did notice was the presence of the Servant. He knew it was somewhere above him at this point and that's when he noticed the spear in his shoulder. Rather than stop moving he barreled into a a doorway to try and break the polearm stuck in his shoulder. It came loose, The Beast assuming it had broken in the process. Either way it was dislodged from where it had hit. Blood trickled down his solider as he removed it matting his hair, however, not for long. The wound knit itself together rapidly. The Beast continuing on it's trajectory. It's target was in sight at least sensory range to where he knew exactly where it was and he headed right for it. Something above him couldn't stop his charge, at least within the mind of the Beast. So he ignored the other Servant and kept on his war path directly towards her master.

Vixen ((Archer)):

"Does it sound like I'm joking? I thought I was rather straight-forward in my explanation. I don't know how that would sound like a joke. It's not like that sort of Beast is uncommon... well maybe it is in this time I don't know. It's presence doesn't phase me." after all, she had fought monsters all her life, this was nothing new to her. It was her job hunting this and worse. However, If this thing was summoned into a Grail War it had to be more than met the eye. "Either way it's power is highly unknown and as it's not a human figure it might be harder to discern it's true nature Therefore I'd rather we not engage now. It's most definitely a Berserker the way it's been acting. It's highly reckless and it will not stop to let you rest. If it sees you it will chase you down. So, withdrawing might be the best option."

[Rosesong]

Running a towel over her damp blonde hair, Illiana just barely heard Natalie's decision to scout the area. Quickly, she pulled a loose ponytail before pulling a light blue long sleeve sweater over her head and emerging from the bathroom. "Alright," the water mage agreed easily. "I'll let you lead the way. Also," she added as she locked the door behind them and ran around the building yet again, turning off the water spigots, "what should we be looking for that can help?" Her voice slowly grew quieter as she moved farther away from her servant.

Jogging back, the blonde girl nodded to Natalie, slightly huffing from the running she had done. "We'll need to be back by sunset; the water barrier will need to be reset at that point."

[Flux]

Sylva and Frog

"Y-you think it was the other Masters?"

Sylva nodded.

"It's possible. I can sense the present of another Servant now..." She closed her eyes as she spread out her mind over the area, trying to get a feel of what they might be dealing with. A shudder wracked her body. Her eyes opened quickly and her face was in a grimace. "It's scary... and strong. I can feel an overwhelming lust for blood from it, even now. It doesn't seem to be headed this way though."

They had likely gone out a different exit from where the Servant had entered. Which meant that they were not its target, though who could say how long that would last.

"What should we do, Mister Frog?"

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

Vance and Lily

"Well then, with this, it should be much easier to find information on other Servants."

Vance gave a crisp nod, returning Lily's smile with a sideways grin of his own.

"It seems we'll have our own advantages in this war. The more we know, the more adequately prepared we'll be..." Vance visibly frowned. Preparation wasn't really his thing... He tended to deal with things as they came up, but when the stakes were this high, he supposed they'd have no choice.

"But we'll have no idea where to start until we get an idea of who the other Masters and Servants are... which means we'll have to do some field work first. How about hitting up that museum to start?"

[Code: PIRULUK]

Vance and Lily

Lily's eyes sparkled intensely at the mention of the museum. Just thinking about all the possible pieces of technology in that place... "Excited" would be a poor representation of how she currently felt.

"Oh, yes, most certainly! I do hope there are some interesting weapons preserved there."

Lily put a finger to her lips as she began talking to herself.

"Maybe there'll even be a tank! Do you think I could get permission to take them apart? Or maybe we should go at night, so I can disassemble and put the exhibits back together without them knowing..."

She glanced at her Master.

"What do you think, Master?"

Debronee and Yukine

Yukine nodded, impressed. Latin was certainly a language she had no idea how to read; it had been a good call to let Debronee do his searching independently. She caught certain points from Debronee's explanation, but what confused her most was the tidbit that Ashnard employed Rune Magic. That was... odd. She didn't see the beast stop to inscribe runes at any point, nor did she see any runes on his body... And those were the limitations that made Rune Magic a rather unreliable and under-utilised form of thaumaturgy. Granted, it could be an advanced form of Rune Magic lost in time, which skipped the inscription process...

Most of the information pertained to his joint capabilities with this other entity known as "The Hatter", but it was enough to give them a rough idea of the quality of opponent they faced. Based off this information, it was likely their opponent did not have access to higher mental capabilities, and instead was primarily driven by instinct. Naturally, this did not in any way make him less fearsome an enemy, but it did make him slightly more predictable. As long as they avoided anything that would trip the thing's hunting senses, they should be able to avoid engaging it again.

As for the cage, though... they would have to figure out a countermeasure.

"Yes, that was very helpful indeed. It's a shame there wasn't any information on his weaknesses, but... I suppose you can't have everything in life."

Yukine turned back to the PC and was about to shut it down, when a thought occurred to her. She opened up a paste-sharing site and uploaded an anonymous entry stating: "The Berserker of the Seigishi Grail War is none other than Ashnard, the Werewolf. Beware his cage of lightning." With this, any Master who thought to look up information as she did would be able to see this. Whether they would trust the information was another matter, but Yukine was desperate to secure any advantage over that monster, no matter how small.

Yukine looked to her Servant.

"For now, we should continue to lay low for a few days. If we can stay hidden, we might get lucky enough for the other Servants to kill Ashnard for us."

She smiled and took Debronee's hand.

"It's been all about me since we met. Anything you want to do? Seems a shame to be reborn into this world without trying out all of civilisation's newest offerings."

[Noir]

Yukine and Debronee

Debronee watched as Yukine fiddled her fingers on the complex plane of buttons on the keyboard and uploaded the entry. Presumably, such means allowed her to transfer information in the blink of an eye, as Debronee's curiosity continued to nibble at him as he absorbed such convenience. The world he was now in was such a strange, convenient place, and Debronee knew that he didn't have the time on his hands to learn it all.

Yukine's hand caressed against his. "It's been all about me for the last couple days. Anything you want to do? Seems a same to be reborn into this world without trying out all of civilisation's newest offerings."

Yes, indeed so, he thought. But we have more important things to do. The words sat on the tip of his tongue urging to be divulged, but looking at Yukine's warmly serene face, smiling at him, concealed them. He didn't know why, admittedly, and as much as he appreciated the suggestion, he kept silent as he dwelt upon his thoughts again. Why did he freeze at that one moment of warmth? He was a merely a pawn in a game of chess; feelings were but things people like him, carrying the role of a Servant, needed to relinquish, and he wasn't entitled to make choices for himself. He scolded himself for even allowing the thought of the luxury cross his mind, knowing that he would only adapt as he protected and served Yukine until the war was over, and would act only as she commanded, and for her interest alone.

He turned to the clock that stood on the far end of the wall, realizing that they had been in the library for a full hour, and the afternoon was ticking closer. The day still had much to offer, but time was a stringent master.

"Think not of such things, Master," He began, awakening from his daze of thoughts, knowing he had been silent longer than he needed to. He brushed aside the warm feeling entering him unexpectedly as Yukine's fingers intertwined with his, that seemed to be somewhat distracting, like a stubborn fly hovering above him, unwilling to stay away. He made sure that no one was there to listen, "I exist merely to serve you. As of now, I think it would be best if we looked for a place we could stay, temporarily, at the very least. I'm sure it's both not strategic and comfortable to stay in the outdoors without proper refuge? I'm unsure if our current funds may supply it, but plundering during the night may solve such an issue. This would be our top priority for now. Perhaps you can lead the way in searching for a residence that suits your predilection?"

Edited November 1, 2015 by YagamiNoir4896

[Arkhi]

Janus

Noriko didn't need to tell him twice. That wolf-warped beast was headed straight for him- and far too fast. He'd ditch the fight, but running away just then would do nothing for him. He bided his time until...

Janus propelled himself up and over the beast with a blast of wind. It would be just enough that he could make a beeline for a fire exit. He was meant to wait this out, not outlive fights. All this for a set of clothing- which he still tasked himself with carrying. Noriko would need to clear an escape for them both. Until an opening would present itself, Janus would play tag with the beast. He made for the staircase, knowing flat ground is advantageous for the creature. Janus propelled himself up flights, working up the levels of the mall.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Ashnard ((Berserker)):

It was safe for one to assume that the Beast would need flat ground for it's speed however, it was quite the fallacy. Unbeknowst to Janus, the Beast was quite the acrobat having specifically trained in urban environments and in particular... maintaining motion in the air and over ledges, stairs and other rising terrain. After all, in life the Beast had to hunt in cities all the time and more specifically during battles it had to eliminate soldiers and mages in the streets. It could tear them to shreds in the blink of an eye and usually before they even realized he was there. At least once the real battle started. There was a lot more downtime then the hunt. But he had learned with great care how to perform these techniques due to how much he enjoyed the hunt. The Beast was on a whole other level of awareness over his body able to make small adjustments where necessary to get the most out of his speed and momentum. When the prey had leaped over his head it was at a height that he couldn't lock the cage around him. Luckily for his prey... he avoided that grisly fate. Though just barely. Half his body was in range however, the cage couldn't be summoned inside of a living object. However the Beast kept running forward and surged right into a wall, however it didn't clumsily bash into it, it made this choice on purpose to maintain it's great speed. It kicked off the wall transferring it's motion into the air. With this new found speed in the air it leapt towards the wall and then kicked of this wall. He kept doing this to climb the stairs in such a way that didn't degrade his momentum to much. It was definitely slower than if he'd just ran in a straight line, but it wasn't as slow as the stairs would be. He didn't lag far behind the prey. It was very clear that without assistance from his servant outrunning this Beast was impossible. It was much too fast for him or any human, it had such an ungodly amount of speed that he'd never could hope to match, no matter the terrain.

The Beast was almost ready to strike it's last leap before it was upon the Prey. Once it reached it would put up the cage which... there was no chance of outside interference at that point. It reaching it's prey, certainly would spell doom for the Servant. However, it didn't really have that thought on it's mind. It only wanted to kill. Going after the Master wasn't really a strategic choice. It was that The Beast was already hunting him and didn't feel enough danger from the Servant to ever bother dealing with it. If that underestimation would help to spell it's doom... one didn't know at this point.

[Shamitako]

(OOC: Hope you don't mind if I manipulate the terrain slightly, I'm fairly certain none of this breaks either of your posts. This is actually how one of the malls here is set up, with an open spiral staircase and open balconies in the center of each floor until you reach a certain height above the lobby)

Onyx

"No, you didn't sound like you were joking." Onyx said dejectedly.

And that's when she heard it, a loud clamor resounded from across the mall. Racing up an open staircase was man, but he wasn't the source of the noise. The noise came from the rampaging beast following behind him. Onyx froze in fear, it wasn't just a dog, it was a massive freaking monster dog. Archer's words had done nothing to describe the sheer horror of the beast. And yet, somehow the fact that it was a monster helped calm Onyx's nerves. If she thought about it as a monster rather than a canine, she was able to calm her nerves. She took several deep breaths and then swung into action. She sprinted full speed towards the staircase, she wasn't sure if she could make it in time, the staircase eventually reached past the open ceiling of the lobby area and into the upper echelons of the mall, once her quarry passed that point she would be unable to execute her plan. As she ran she pulled a silver barrette out of her pocket and slotted it into her hair on the left. She kept watch above her as she neared the staircase, the man had two more levels to go before he passed out of her reach, she could make that. With one last burst of speed she reached the staircase, but instead of attempting to climb them she jumped onto the railing. She didn't stay there long though, she immediately backflipped off them and began shooting upwards. If she had timed it right, the man would be on the outer edge of the spiral staircase right about now. She twisted herself around and right as she passed him reached out her arms and grabbed him under the armpits, dragging him out into the open air.

Onyx's shoes collided sharply with the ceiling, but she managed to avoid falling off from the impact. Without hesitation she began running--well, as close to running as she could get holding a man in front of her while upside down--away from the staircase. Although upside-down, Onyx moved extremely naturally for being on the ceiling, even her hair was unaffected by the reverse in gravity thanks to the enchanted hairclip. Although having a man's face ram into her chest with every stride made her look a lot more awkward than usual.

"As much as I'd like to just kill you right now, I think it would be better if we worked together to take out Berserker." She said, quickly adding, "Then I'll kill you."

She wished she could find a better way to carry the other master, looking around his torso to see where she was going felt extremely uncomfortable.

[Chevaleresse]

Lancer

Noriko made a quick decision to let the previously fired spear dissipate at the cost of some mana. Now wasn't the time to be concerned with efficiency; the beast was still nearly within arm's reach of Janus. She fired herself diagonally on a blast of wind to get another solid angle on the wolfman, a shimmer of blue trailing behind her and materializing into the missing spear. Seeing another mage snatch her Master out of the way startled her to say the least, but not enough to throw off her aim; she placed her hands together in front of herself, her weapons aligning in loose formation in front of them, tips pointed in line with the beast's path. A concussive blast echoed through the mall as she released her power, a gale carrying all four of the spears with deadly force toward her foe. The recoil threw her backward, sending her flipping towards one of the walls. She landed on it feet-first, then shot herself forward once more, cratering the surface behind her with the sheer force of her motion.

[Raindrop Valkyrie]

Ashnard ((Berserker)):

The Beast howled as the prey was whisked away from him. his rapid ascent upwards didn't give him the time to grab a hold of his leg and tear him back down. He seemed to be floating around at the ceiling. So, the Beast flung itself using it's momentum and speed to close to where his prey had stopped. It worked however the Beast Now Lost it's speed as it clung to the ceiling with it's claws. First just it's hands, but then it flipped itself to be able to run on all fours. It's unparalleled awareness of it's body allowed it to run but not fall from the ceiling. In fact... stopping would be dangerous as then it's weight would settle back on it's claws and it would eventually go back to where it had come from, the ground. It's speed was impressive for something that was hanging by a almost literal thread. That thread was the amount of strength it had as it could hold it's weight towards the ceiling with the grip it's claws provided. A feat purely from it's super human strength. It zoned in back on it's prey who had seemed to start moving laterally along the ceiling now.

Vixen ((Archer)):

"Not perceptive to advice I see. This is why I work alone, no unexpected elements." the blue haired Archer mused. However she didn't really have much more time to comment on the act her master had just done, nor had she really saw the full of it with how fast the events progressed. After all, even with eyes as sharp as hers it was hard to keep up with all the action. Her master moved a lot faster than expected. It wasn't until she was at least halfway to the ceiling when she realized she had grabbed another person. It had to be a Master or another Servant unless someone was dumb enough to not evacuate earlier.

That's when she saw the beast from last night fling itself unto the ceiling and start towards them. How earth was that sort of motion possible when upside down? It was running along the ceiling as if it were on the ground. It was catching up quite rapidly quickly closing the gap between her it and Her Master. This is why she had told the Kid to get out of there if that creature was there. It wasn't human and it could do very inhuman things without even thinking. She had seen the way it traveled the night before flinging itself off the sides of buildings to build up speed. But this? This was nearly too much to believe. She didn't even know if she could fire a bullet fast enough. But she had to try. Even if she knew she'd probably survive without a Master... this would be much easier with one. After all, she wasn't going to resort to the other less savoury means of supplying mana. So, it was important to keep her around for now. She slotted a bullet into her Rifle, one imbued with the element of Ice and fired it where the Beast was headed.

It collided into his upper shoulder just as he was hit by something else from behind. He quickly plummeted to the ground with a loud crash.

Ashnard ((Berserker)):

The Beast screamed in frustration. The delicate balance it required shattered within an instant. The Spears collided with it's back while something else hit it from the front. It stared angrily at the Woman flying in the air, believing both attacks to have come from her. It growled a horrible growl. Anger and hatred for the one that had knocked him from his prey. It was his, it was right in his reach. It seemed to double over in it's anger as it's head touched the ground. However, one would soon find out it had only haunches down in an effort to build up the power in it's leg muscles. It sprung straight up into the path of the Servant, the woman as it could now see. Only anger rested in it's horrible Red Eyes.

[Shamitako]

Natalie

"We shouldn't be out too long." Natalie replied, "And there's nothing specific to look for, we just need to familiarize ourselves with the area. However, we do need to make note of places where civilians are unlikely to be, as that means a place we can fight."

She led Illiana south into the suburbs. She wanted to explore them first because they would be a much safer location to retreat to than anywhere in the city. The people out and about were quite friendly, helping solidify this as an ideal escape route. If Natalie and Illiana became familiar faces here, they could move through it relatively unimpeded, while any pursuer would risk having to deal with the residents. It would be good to go and meet the local authorities too, although that could wait until they had explored the city area, knowing the cops would give them yet another advantage if they ever found themselves in need of trouble. Those uninvolved in the war couldn't fend off a servant, but a servant couldn't attack Illiana and Natalie here either, unless they and their master were prepared to kill all the witnesses, but Natalie didn't even want to think about that.

[Bfroger6]

"Lust for blood? Hmmm..." Frog scratched his chin as a cold chill ran down his spine, like the one when he first stepped into the mall. "Are these things so dangerous or something? But you're supposed to be super powerful too. I'm sure we can win whoever out opponents are." On the other hand, whatever was inside was definitely making noise - Frog thought to himself as he looked up at the mall. Was he gonna have to admit that he wasn't up for this right now? After a short while of focused staring and mental cogs turning, he gulped (not visibly), grunted and turned away.

"Let's go back for now. We've done what we were supposed to, and besides..." Unwilling to admit that he was kind of starting to get nervous about this all of a sudden, he continued. "I mean... we gotta get these things (he raised the bags in his hands) back home. We'll get them next time. Sheesh, and then I'll have you explain this whole Holy Grail thing a little better to me, 'kay? Because I'm confused."

And with that, the boy turned his head with a flick of his hair and began walking away from the mall.

[Flux]

Vance and Lily

"Maybe there'll even be a tank! Do you think I could get permission to take them apart? Or maybe we should go at night, so I can disassemble and put the exhibits back together without them knowing... What do you think, Master?"

Vance was silent for a time, his eyebrow raised as he questioned whether she was serious. He let out a sigh before he spoke.

"...You do realize how illegal that would be, right...?"

Honestly, he didn't really care. After all, they were about to go around town killing at least 6 other people. That was plenty illegal in and of itself. He raised his hands in a helpless gesture.

"...But honestly, so is most of the other stuff we're going to do. You might as well make the most of it while you're here. If that's what you want to do, I won't stop you."

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Sylva and Frog

"Let's go back for now. We've done what we were supposed to, and besides... I mean... we gotta get these things back home. We'll get them next time. Sheesh, and then I'll have you explain this whole Holy Grail thing a little better to me, 'kay? Because I'm confused."

Sylva raised her hands triumphantly as she started forward.

"Okie doke, Master! I think I have a better idea of what this war's about now, anyway! I was confused before, but the emotions of all these Servants have made things pretty certain. Which means we'll also need to set up a territory... And try on the shorts!"

She walked forward in glee for another few steps, before stopping abruptly and looking back at her Master, a horrified look on her face.

"I never got to try cake!"