Shielder's attempt to petrify Ortenrosse with Rank A+ Kibisis... has no effect.
Shielder's attempt at reading his body with Martial Arts A... has no effect.
Shielder's attempt to witness Ortenrosse's future actions and counter with Instinct A... has no effect.
Very interesting.
So what about his B rank strength?
Instinct isn't working, which is going to throw Shielder off, so naturally Ortenrosse's push is going to land, should it go off.
But you know, he's struggling against it with B rank strength. And even before that, his blow against Trhvmn's wings is carried out with that same strength. His weapon skills might not be fully functional, but even if he can't use his perfect form, he's still going to swing his scythe at the beast in front of him.
If that fails, it's all good and well, but Shielder does not mind hacking his opponent in a brutal manner. Don't assume stopping his trump cards will stop him.
Shielder quickly folds the head of the Gorgon back into its sack.
To an outsider, Shielder's response could be mistaken for despair at the strength of his opponent. That is not what is reflected on his face. He frowns in thought.
"Wrong. That's wrong."
Shielder never took it for certain that the head of the Gorgon would be able to defeat an Elder Apostle. It is something he overcame when he was a terrified boy, who had no advantage over the warriors and monsters gathered around this town, save an unfair amount of gifts from the gods and instructions from the Goddess of Wisdom. He expects to meet many who will not die to it's gaze.
But to ignore it as if it is not there is something else entirely. Is the King of the Dead Apostles just too strong? No...
Shielder does not have anything that can be described as pride in his abilities. He will almost never boast his might or assume he will be victorious. But deep down, he doesn't think that he is weak. He's not going to accept that he can't do anything to the White Wing Lord. Not yet.
This intelligence along with the knowledge of Dead Apostle Ancestors he already has from their files (Ortenrosse's primary trait is excellent base vampire abilities, no-selling Kibisis does not fall in line with this. If he had healed from it in some fashion it would) and multiple direct encounters with (based on which, while he may not be able to defeat them altogether, his Noble Phantasms generally work against Elder Apostles), should be enough that he can reach the conclusion that Kibisis probably did not fail due to Ortenrosse simply being too strong, but due to some underlying condition he does not know about.
With that in mind, he's going to put away Kibisis and Ciel's rail pistol and draw his scythe and shield once more. He's then going, grab one of Ortenrosse's wings with his shield hand (the shield is held to his forearm by a strap), and with his other hand swing his scythe at the base of the wing. While slashing he's also going to fly backwards creating a drag on Ortenrosse.
Shielder is not expecting any of this to work. If it does then that's excellent, but more importantly he's observing the minutia of Ortenrosse's response. Though Shielder suspects something's amiss he doesn't have enough information to determine exactly what or figure out a counter. He's trying to gather data about how Ortenrosse responds to different kinds of attacks.
As for why he's going for the wing, the feathers are how Ortenrosse is currently attacking civilians so it would be good if he can disrupt that. Plus, they are his symbol.
Shielder isn't activating Aegis right away. Ortenrosse is currently paying so little attention to him that he may not bother with a counterattack, no need to waste mana if there's going to be no reprisal. However he's watching the future extremely closely, not just for if Ortenrosse directly attacks but to see if there is a difference in the outcome of grabbing and slashing him shielded or unshielded.
To the incoming puppets, he is going to shout a message:
These are not ideal conditions for facing an Elder Apostle, let alone one given special ranking even among those who have lived for thousands of years. But Shielder never liked waiting for ideal conditions to begin with. He has avoided such enemies earlier out of instruction and caution. But 200,000 lives are under his protection. There is no longer any room for caution. And without offensive support on ready, there is no room to play defensively as he has in the past. The barrier will last a mere fraction of a second, but he is going to use that buffer.
In his hand is a silver sack. It holds something vaguely circular. Shielder grabs it not by the slack, but right in the middle of the mass of material inside, digging his fingers into it. From there, it unfurls.
Twin Demon Eyes Release
Open, Kibisis
Shielder's eyes see only the silver of the sack, but the opponent in front of him sees something which cannot be described.
It should go without saying, once their life has been plundered, the victims are turned to stone.
Shielder is not releasing this noble phantasm with anything less than intent to seal or kill Ortenrosse completely. But he’s not complacent enough to assume it will end the fight, particularly given Ortenrosse's probable knowledge of Shielder’s true name and possible wariness of this noble phantasm. So unless Ortenrosse is immediately and completely petrified on the outset, in his other hand, Shielder is going to fire the gun Ciel gave him. He’s only going to fire once, measuring its effects. For he does not know if repeated shots would be of any value against the King of the Dead Apostles.
There's no problem with a barrier, is there? I can't say one big enough for a city will be unnoticeable, but I think we're long past concealing.
No, do what you can. There is no point in concealment unless you possess significantly wide range illusion magecraft.
He claps like some have seen before, but this time with open palms, bringing his hands together in prayer.
Please, goddess…
His spirit form fluctuates, spiritrons dancing off him. A protection on this scale is not something easy for his saint graph. But still, it is done.
A circle of blue light appears around Luton. The light then spreads upwards. And inwards. Until the entire city is contained within a dome of light. It vanishes from mortal sight, but lingers in the air.
He unclasps his hands, with a face of blank determination.
“This won’t stop them for long. Not the ones that matter. We need to be ready for when it breaks.”
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.
Visions flash before Shielder's eyes. Arrows that cannot necessarily punch straight through his defense, but that he cannot ignore either...
This feels familiar. It's not one of the gods I know, but...
Shielder reverses course and heads for Ciel, covering her in his defense. He's quite good at recognizing the threat of projectiles mid-flight and adjusting his actions accordingly. As for Archer's ability to pierce his defense, I'm sure she could, but with just a single arrow, not repeated shots? Regardless, Shielder has A-rank endurance and will block with his body with needed. Superficial wounds aren't really a problem so this is ultimately immaterial.
He isn't going to continue going forward after this. He knows Riesbyfe summoned an Archer-class servant, he can figure out what's going on. There's a disagreement between masters, but there's a limit to how far he'll go against allies.
"Stop, master. Two servants is too much. We'll wear ourselves out too much to be worth it."
"We don't need to hurt him Ciel, let's just move through."
Shielder does not want a fight, at all. However there are some disagreements about how to handle the current situation. In any case, Shielder's objective is just to get through the entrance without anyone getting hurt.
He's going to release Aegis, and move toward the entrance. Ordinarily he would hang back while Ciel attacks and wait to use Aegis as a reactive measure. He isn't going to do that here because he hopes Ciel will recognize he's just trying to push through the entrance without hurting Lancer. If Lancer attacked while they were inside, it would rather defeat his whole reason for holding them off so he will probably not do that. Shielder is taking getting inside the door as his victory condition.
Shielder's indicated to Rider that he should stay back, and Rider is too wounded to contribute inside the entrance and Lancer has no reason to hurt him, so Shielder's just going to leave Rider behind.
Shielder isn't going to carry Ciel as that would make this more awkward, but as long as she's keeps within 5 meters he can shield her. Two people will have an easier time breaking through a goalie than one, if his vision dictates it would be rather easy to block a strike while Ciel slips inside.
Shielder isn't entirely expecting Ciel to go along with his non-harmful approach, but we'll get there when we get there.
In my most recent blog post I placed the primary content in posts made on the blog thread to make editing easier. But the images aren't loading, only the first two images of each post load. You can see the images by clicking them or opening them in a different tab, but not on the post itself which is my intention. This has been the case for everyone I've checked with so it isn't network specific.
Is there a way to fix this so all the images can be seen? Would I need to place all the images in the OP (as I have done in previous blogs)?
EDIT: Moving it all to the OP does seem to have worked.
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