For Phase One each side will make a total of 1 post, the general topic of this phase is obvious to those present, and each side can react to it. Then it will be opened for voting and if necessary we will move onto the second phase, with the new conditions stipulated in another post.
It should go without saying that referencing abilities you do not have will lead to immediate disqualification, I have full knowledge of all builds present here and vouch that if they reference an ability or skill rank they do not possess that will not be counted.
Compels him not to act in favor of either side. He has spoken his peace to both Saber and Archer. He stands on, his spirit exuding his beliefs even if he says nothing. He will watch for the outcome.
Two young women, neither older than fifteen stand alone in a quiet glade, both observing a deer calmly drinking from a stream. Simple wooden bows are clutched in their hands, each holding only a single arrow.
"What does it entail Lady Artemis? Becoming a huntress."
"Being a huntress means leaving the world of men behind. You will free yourself from those shackles which have held you back and lead a pure life."
"But what of those who cannot free themselves? Who are no longer pure?"
"They cannot become a huntress, they have been too tainted by civilization to truly leave it behind."
"I will not lie my lady, I am not pure. I have been tainted."
"I know."
"Then why, why do you offer this to me?"
"Because you are special. You alone could still leave this world and its wrongs despite having been tainted by it."
"Forgive me, Lady Artemis, but if you will protect those girls who are pure, and Lady Hera protects those women who are wed. Who protects the girls like me? Like Mus, or Ailouros? Those who are Kore but can never become Gune?"
The young girl smiles at her perplexed companion.
"They have no protector, they cannot join the Hunt. They cannot be wed. They are undefended, and as a result, downtrodden."
"Lady Artemis, I cannot accept your offer. I will not join the Amnisiades. It is as you have said, those who are tainted cannot leave civilization behind."
"Then what will you do?"
"I will show those like me that there is a place for them in this world, and if one does not exist then I will fight until I have made it. If they are unable to become Gune, then I will create something better for them to be."
"The road you have chosen will not be easy, but I admire your ambition Hipp."
"Do you think me unable Lady Artemis?"
The girl draws back her bow as the goddess watches on, the smile never fading from her face.
"No, I wish only for you to show me your resolve. Blaze your own trail and create something all Kore can be proud of."
The girl silently looses her arrow, it flies straight towards the unsuspecting deer, a beautifully pure shot. As it flies, the rain begins to pound down, millennia later, the same perfectly pure shot, following the same trajectory, is now aimed directly for Saber's heart.
There are no pulled punches here. This is expressly a kill shot, empowered by her perfect Marksmanship EX. A piercing black arrow, favored by the god of war, empowered by the madness of death, tears forwards. It does not matter what you attempt in response, this is the compromise that has been offered, and the Queen of the Amazons has accepted.
There are no words as Shielder moves forward. He does not call in shock, ask for reprieve, or warn Saber. The cause and effect of actions up till this point has led to then. He moves calmly and directly, until he is close enough to Saber. His beautiful shield appears on his hand once more. This time, he does not avert his eyes. He holds the straps firmly in one hand, bringing them almost together in a fist, which he holds all the way out, right arm stretched forward.
Slash until your blade is rust,
Strike until your bones are dust,
I’ll hold long as I must,
Aegis
A field envelops himself and Saber. Saber is on the very edge, himself in the center. He does not place Saber's life before his own, that much is clear. But he does extend his aura outward, pulsing through the earth.
It is true that one shooting with the highest rank of Marksmanship can always reach their target. This is not a fact even Shielder, with the highest rank of defense, can dispute. However...can it be accomplished in a single shot? Even Marksmen at the pinnacle of modern humanity, who can reach through intangible bodies with projectiles, require multiple shots to do it.
Archer may be able to pierce through the Aegis in this manner...but likewise, it will require multiple shots. The defense of Goddess of Wisdom may not surpass the blessings of the Goddess of the Hunt, but the reverse is also true. And in this case, stopping one arrow is all he needs.
The arrow stopped, Shielder looks Archer dead in the eye.
"I feel the weight behind that shot. I know your resolve. You haven't betrayed anything, I just made myself an obstacle. Something that's not worth pushing over. You should be able to accept that."
"You've followed your creed. Now, please...can you follow your gratitude?"
His eyes turn more pleading.
"I don't like him. But he's part of our force. Mine and yours. My master's and your master's. His death is a disappointment to them both."
His eyes turn more sad.
"I don't have pride, I don't follow a creed, I don't swear oaths. I'm just grateful."
Energy seeps through his being, as if it he had been holding it back before. Divine radiance fills the air with something light and hopeful.
"Because none of that matters. None of our wishes, rules, hopes, dreams. None of it matters if we can't leave the throne locked away in the heavens and take a step in the world again. Our masters gave us the greatest gift we could ask for, before they could even look us in the eye."
A handful of tears form in Shielder's eyes, and he uses his free hand to wipe them off.
The arrow came fast, and Saber could only think. "Shit, I might not make it in time."
Saber promptly activates IP EX and specifically activates Battle Continuation.
As Shielder's Aegis, protected them both, and Saber heard the words of his ally, he couldn't help but think back on his time with his brothers and the many times they bailed him out of trouble. "Ugh... this leaves a nasty taste in my mouth."
Saber flashes back to a time when he was emperor.
"My father put you up to this?! Stop being weak and stand up for yourself! You do not need to serve me!"
{REDACTED} was lashing out at his father and at a servant that kept following him and trying to meet his every need. The servant was someone who was down on their luck and was forced to work under his family for generations. {Redacted} was the only one in the family to not implement servants or aides, outside of The Crow later down the line, when he offered to continue helping the emperor even after ascending the throne. {REDACTED} felt like the emperor should govern alone, and that the need for commoners to serve emperors like slaves was unnecessary. In his eyes it represented weakness, and on some level he wanted people to be free from any form of conflict, only allowing the strong and relevant to deal with affairs. So when he saw someone in a situation, physical or mental, that they can solve by "stepping up" as he would say now, he couldn't ignore it, and always tried to call it out. However, not necessarily in a tactful way, which led to him starting a lot of fights. His brothers were keenly aware of his lack of tact, and although his empathy and sympathy was at an all time low, it wasn't non-existent. He truly did care for people and wanted to foster the strength of the people.
"You always were too intense when it came to confrontations like this, brother, you need to tone down the sass and regal attitude and talk to your subjects, not just 'protect' them. Work on your empathy my dear brother. Not everyone sees a situation the same way as you do, and not everyone sees life as a constant challenge. People respect you just as much as they fear you, and more importantly, just as much as they would want to see your head on a platter. Watch your back, know who your allies are. The world ends at your borders, you got to expand it a little and properly talk to people" Saber has a hard time keeping up the facade when its someone who can either see through his bullshit, or someone like the servant Shielder, who appeals to ones emotions in a way where he can't ignore them. Saber when he came outside, wasn't exactly ready for battle, him coming outside of the territory was already part of the plan, he was going to go for a walk to get his mind off of things. The last thing he expected was to be teleported right in front of the Archers. Perseus bailed him out, and begged Archer of the Red to spare his life. It left a nasty taste in his mouth and he had no choice but to be grateful and acknowledge that he was looking out for him when he technically didn't earn it.
"Perseus was it? I owe you one."
His tone was relaxed and calm, nowhere near as fierce and aggravating as it usually is. As Saber says this, he takes his blade along with its sheathe and throws it on the ground while walking forward, stifling any signs of him wanting to fight.
(I'm not just going to copy-paste from people's posts, the only important new part here is how the arrow interacts with the shield)
The black arrow tears through the rain towards Saber as Shielder calmly stands behind him, the fearsome visage of the Gorgon held aloft in front of him and Saber.
There is no sound as it connects with the Shield, quivering midair as if it had struck some invisible target. The progress slows, but the arrow is not stopped. It crawls forwards on its mission, regardless of the obstacle, until it can no longer do so. Finally losing all momentum it falls to the ground at Saber's feet, the notched arrowhead still pointed directly towards his heart.
The words that we use to converse with our fellow man can often be riddled with double meanings & subtext depending on an innumerable amount of variables. They can be strong forms of connections, conveying the feelings that would go unnoticed & creating inseparable bonds. And yet, they can also be weapons that can be formed into any shape to fit the individual, striking where it hurts the most in order to achieve the results required.
It was a fact that Foreigner had to remind himself of when viewing conflicts, both in the many travels of his living time, as well as the sight of two Servants incidentally striking nerves.
It was that concept, that idea that these Heroic Spirits, himself included, were still just as fragile & imperfect as we were all those days ago, that gave Foreigner pause. A pause that let him close his eyes, even if only for a moment, and think:
These are those who define human history.
When Foreigner reopens his eyes, he finds himself in a desolate, frozen over wasteland of stone & snow. It was a place that would be deemed inhospitable for any reasonable soul, yet for him, there was one being whom he knew this is what they called home.
𝕎𝔼 ℍ𝕆ℙ𝔼 𝕐𝕆𝕌 ℍ𝔸𝕍𝔼ℕ’𝕋 𝔽𝕆ℝ𝔾𝕆𝕋𝕋𝔼ℕ 𝕐𝕆𝕌ℝ ℝ𝕆𝕃𝔼, ℍ𝕌𝕄𝔸ℕ.
Its voice was one of madness, yet it was a sound all too familiar to Foreigner. Perhaps he was called here by the Elder Gods, or maybe his mind ended up drifting back to where it all began amidst his internal discussion. Yet, no matter the reasoning, the result was that, mentally, Foreigner found himself back in the icy plain to which his class's origins were born from.
“Never for a second, Elder One.”
He remarks, yet is not given any visual indication that his words reached such a being.
The God roars, its tone rip with pity. Seeing eyes was no shock to Foreigner; nor was it even that it had indeed been paying strong attention towards his journey. Rather, what was surprising was that the beast had opinions about humanity at all beyond being mere food, as if this wasn't a predetermined inevitable not worth of discussion. Was it mere jest, akin to how we view pets doing “silly” things as dumb & immature? Or was there something more to it than that….
“I suppose it is only inevitable when men & women of differing ages are brought together from different times & lands."
“Indeed, it would be foolish to imply that we don’t fight amongst ourselves for what appear to be irrelevant issues. As a king who led in the times of war, I know that better than anyone.”
Foreigner had no reason to deny the Elder God’s words as they take view of the events transpiring. His travels have let him meet many men. Kind & strong, weak & bitter, yet the one constant is conflict. It's how we've been since the beginning, and it'll be what we are at the end.
As it says this, the malformed pandemonium of sounds that it calls a voice booms across the land, the growing volume of snow transforming into an arctic blizzard that erases any semblance of view from Foreigner’s eyes, the only shape remaining behind the grotesque shadow of the Elder God.
And yet, a smile emerges from Foreigner’s face, as if he predicted every word the Elder God would say.
“Because that is what makes us who we are.”
As he says this, a sudden clank can be heard from outside Foreigner’s mind. The sound of Archer’s arrow, halted dead in its tracks by the Shielder between the two.
That heartfelt tear, not born of malice, lies or any ill intent, is all that Foreigner needed to make his point apparent, as his view returns to the world of dreams, full of vigor & almost sibling-esque pride.
"We humans aren't some binary machine with perfect categories. There are those who trample, and yet there will always those on the other side who deny those damages; whom seek not death & stagnation, but connections. And just as there are those who would trample upon those weaker, there will always be those who lend a hand, lick their wounds & tell wondrous stories of adventure & mystery to each other."
"That is the difference between you & we, [REDACTED]. You may be a being of destruction, but we are also destruction, yet we are simultaneously life. A collective that, when merged together, create a paradoxical existence that is nonetheless beautiful in it's imperfections. That is what we Heroic Spirits are. The flaws, mistakes successes & gifts that we humans provide to the world in equal form, born to protect the flawed artistry of it all. Some may be representative of the positive, others of the negative, yet we are all equally important in defining who we are."
The beast does not respond for what feels like a millennium, with the only sounds being the gushing winds and pulsating figure, before giving a simple, almost rudimentary question.
𝔸ℕ𝔻 𝕎ℍ𝔸𝕋 𝔻𝕆𝔼𝕊 𝕋ℍ𝔸𝕋 𝕄𝔸𝕂𝔼 𝕐𝕆𝕌, 𝔸ℝℝ𝕆𝔾𝔸ℕ𝕋 𝕂𝕀ℕ𝔾?
The question gives Foreigner a sense of pause, before giving a soft smiling, and walking off, back to the cave where they were before this spat.
"Keep watching. You'll find out in due time."
With that, Foreigner walks away from the Beast, his shadow becoming not but a memory beneath the snow, and wakes back up in reality with a smile.
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