"What the fu-…"
Caster must have been busy last night. Really buys… I know I used the exact same entrance as all the other times, but this looked entirely different from before! Instead of a linear corridor to the workshop, right off the staircase the labyrinth split off into no less than five fucking directions! The torches were gone too, and I assumed it was purely because they no longer seemed to be needed; the walls of the labyrinth themselves now aglow with pulsing bluish light.
"…Just like electricity running through circuitry…" I murmured to myself, eyes wide in amazement, as I traced my hand over the pulsing lights running along the nearest wall.
…It really was like a digitized version of the labyrinth…
This was great news and all; whatever had happened, it appeared that Caster had got the idea up and running in a functional capacity. But it did leave me with a slight problem: I was now utterly lost down here.
"Don't suppose he'd come to me, or have left a map, or…" I continued to glance down each of the corridors helplessly, before I started to feel a dull… tug… at the back of my head.
It was weird to describe; as if there was a rope attached back there, and someone, or something, was giving it a slight pull. Except it was all in my head. But also felt physical… Yeah, real weird… but…
"Is that… meant to be my guide?"
Well, when I turned to face the direction, I felt the pulling sensation being angled towards, it was just back up the staircase I'd come from. Huh, odd…
"…Or maybe…"
Daedalus' workshop
Like magic, which I suppose it actually was, the pulling sensation re-oriented itself off to my left. Now that felt straight up uncomfortable; that pulling sensation changing the direction it was coming from in my mind. However, it was now lining up with the fourth of the five corridors, with my back to the entrance staircase.
"…Well, why not give it a try" I laughed to myself slightly as I took off down the corridor the pull was seemingly coming from now. "If I'm going to die, dying down in the labyrinth of the one and only Daedalus is probably one of the coolest ways I could go out!"
Fortunately for me, I didn't end up dying in my staggering around the place. In fact, I would say that my assumption on the pulling sensation was spot on. As I wandered down the corridors that seemed to just never end, the pulling sensation would constantly re-orient itself, pointing me in a new direction at various frequency. There were even points I had to climb up and down stairs.
Didn't even bother pulling out my phone or camera from the second backpack I was now forced to lug around thanks to Archer. Recording this stuff? Checking how long I'd spent wandering the halls? I didn't care. Not right now. Right now… I was in heaven…
Beautiful… So, so beautiful…
Eventually, my wanderings did bring me to the familiar doors of Caster's workshop. No traps set off, no terrible maiming or death… I suppose I'll continue to use that tug, or pulling, feeling in my head as my new guide. Unless Caster is around; he'd probably still know best, as who knows if that feeling is giving me the most optimal route, or just any safe route to my desired destination? Also, does it only work if I want to go to a specified point, like an entrance or the workshop, or can it lead me to any point in the labyrinth?
"Hey-o" I shouted as I strolled into the workshop, pushing the thoughts in my head aside for the moment. "You in here, Caster?"
"Are you going to ask that stupid question every time you come by" Caster turned from his work at the forge and glared at me.
The smirk on his face belied is true sentiment though. Or, well, he was actually probably annoyed by my question and my shouting, but he was too proud of himself to care enough to let it get him down.
"Considering the upgrades you made to this place, how am I to know if you're around or not? Which, on that note, damn… you work fast! …And look a lot better than you did the past couple of days."
"…I'm going to choose to ignore that last comment… And of course I work fast! For one, I needed to, else a second command seal would have been a requirement. But regardless of that unfortunate fact, you do realize who you're speaking to, yes? I'm the greatest mind to ever live, boy! The architect unrivaled throughout the ages, by even the gods themselves! Of course I can build my labyrinth with ease! …So long as I have the magical energy to do so, which, thanks to my work, I now do!"
"How many leylines do you even have powering this thing?"
"Three at the moment. Tonight, I will get the other unguarded two connected to the system. I must say, while I'm no expert on magic, I'm surprised by the sheer amount of mana running through the leylines in this city. If I had to guess, no mage has relied on them for casting spells in decades, if not a couple centuries. This Holy Grail War may very well be the first time the leylines have had to restore the local ambient mana in the area in a long, long time."
"…And, um… I take it that's a good thing…?"
"It is indeed, child" Caster flashed a wicked grin before turning back to his work. "For me, it's a very good thing indeed."
"So, what's next in the plan?"
"For you, just don't die. Granted, given your tendencies, even that may be a bit much of me to expect, but so long as you manage to live, and provide a command spell on command, you're doing your job well enough for me to win this thing. As for myself… Nothing changes. Keep on working, keep on building… Eventually, the last of the servants and masters will have to come to me to try and win this thing. So long as the labyrinth stands though, I don't have anything to worry about."
"Cool, cool..."
I suppose the emotions in my voice were running a bit out of control, because Caster turned back around to face me.
"…What are you thinking, child" he raised an eyebrow at me.
"Who? Me" I tried to feign ignorance. "Nothing. Nothing at all, Caster."
"You are a terrible liar, child. What is it; spit it out already!"
"…Well… I was… thinking…"
"You thinking never fails to set me on edge… but very well, continue."
"I mean, considering you don't need to build much anymore, maybe for just another day or two, and then you plan on just sitting out till the end of the war and having the rest of our opponents suicide themselves into this giant deathtrap… I was sorta, kinda, hoping… well…"
…Look, it was hard to say what I wanted to say under Caster's death glair. Especially knowing full well that he'd consider it an idiotic request.
"Can-you-use-your-second-Noble-Phantasm-and-build-me-a-stone-statue-army-to-play-around-with" I rapid fired out, averting my gaze.
The silence that followed, outside of the crackling of the flames in the forge, dragged on for a fair while. Eventually, I willed myself to look back up from the ground at Caster. He just… stared back at me. I couldn't tell what he was thinking. …In fact, I don't think he was even thinking. It was like… like what I'd said was so dumb that it turned him braindead momentarily.
You know? …In a way, I suppose that was in of itself impressive!
Then, in a movement so quick I'd have sworn it was a mere trick of the light, Caster had his back turned to me. He was back to working at his forge.
"…Not even worthy of a response" I laughed slightly.
"I've already explained myself on that matter" was all Caster said.
"Come on, Caster! If you really have nothing better to do, then why not? Especially since you said the statues weren't mana intensive."
"Because I have no reason to. Because I don't want to. Because I have no desire to store them down here. Because giving you even one of those statues would be a disaster; one of the greatest mistakes of my life, if not the greatest!"
"But just think of the beauty you'd put out into the world!"
"You and your perverse notions of beauty are not my concern. There is nothing beautiful about them, child. They are weapons, not works of art!"
"Who says weapons can't be beautiful? Also, they can very well be both works of art and deadly weapons of war."
"As I said: perverse notions of beauty! The answer is no, child!"
"Think of the pressure we could exert with a standing army! Surely you can see the strategic benefits!"
"There is no benefit to be gained in wasting my time and having my identity possibly revealed!"
"Your current plan is to sit down here and wait for everyone else to come to you! As if someone who spends more than five minutes down here wouldn't know who you are by then!"
"By then it would be too late for them!"
"Here I thought you actually wanted to win this war!"
"What I'm doing will win this war! What you do, night after night, running around like a rash idiot is what's going to throw all this hard work to Tartarus!"
"I'm sorry, but isn't my plan for… all of this" I performed a sweeping motion with my arms. "Running mana through the labyrinth itself to power it. Isn't that the only reason why you're in such a good shape now? The only reason why I still have a second command spell?"
"Congratulations, child! You come up with one idea to a slightly adequate degree, and all of a sudden you have an ego to rival Zeus, Poseidon or Ares! An idea I still needed to improve upon and modify to even make work!"
"Heh. What's the matter, Caster" I let out a sly smirk. "Jealous that I thought up the idea on how to successfully power your Noble Phantasm before you? Scared I'll surpass your capabilities, like Perdix-"
I should have not brought that up. I should have never mentioned anything to do with Perdix. I came to understand that the moment the dagger sunk into my left shoulder.
"Garghhhhggg" I half choked, half spluttered out some sound too strange for me to even comprehend what it was meant to be.
The force behind the throw caused me to stagger backwards a couple of steps. The pain was intense; my left shoulder felt as though it was on fire. See… I wasn't good with pain. Death was ok to me. I could accept death. I wasn't afraid to die; to see what lay beyond the grave, if anything. My victory condition for life involved dying, after all. But pain? Pain was something I have never been good dealing with.
It's why I always avoided physical conflicts where I could. Why I worked from the shadows, so to speak; it was very hard to land a hit on shadows. My weakness was always physical strength, or the lack there of. So, needless to say, having someone like Caster nail me in the shoulder with a dagger he most likely made himself hurt like a motherfucker!
…Did I mention that, while I am numb to seeing death, blood, gore and the like, thanks to many hours on the dark web, seeing my own blood always made me feel light-headed? So yeah, seeing my blood start to soak into my shirt certainly wasn't making trying to stay upright any easier, let me tell you.
"Have I perhaps touched a nerve there, Caster" I asked through gritted teeth, doing my best to try and block out both the flaring pain and the sight of my own blood from my mind.
I could already feel the tears forming in my eyes. Fuck me, this was probably the most painful thing I've felt in years!
"Get. This. Through. Your. Head. Child" Caster hissed with each step he took towards me, eyes full with what could only be called rage. "No one, past, present or future, will ever surpass me! There is nothing for me to be jealous of! You would do well to remember your place! And never, ever, mention his. Name. Again…"
Caster let that last word linger as he grabbed hold of the dagger hilt and pulled. Another bizarre sound escaped me as the blade left my shoulder, causing more blood to pour out from the wound.
"Pathetic; nothing more than a flesh wound" Caster muttered as he walked back over to the forge, tossing the bloody dagger into the fires.
"Well, sorry for not being used to getting stabbed" I retorted, sitting down against the far wall and pressing the bottom of my shirt to the wound.
"You'll live" I could practically feel Caster rolling his eyes. "Best get used to that feeling, child. Knowing your tendencies for stupidity, I'm sure this won't be your last taste of a blade."
"…Take it your answer is still a firm no then" I eventually commented, slight smirk returning to my face.
"Shut up or get out, child" Caster growled from the forge, the glint of another dagger catching my eye. "The next one goes through your skull."
For once in my life, I followed my better senses and did what I was told. I shut up.
A/N
Y'know, there's really only so long acting like you're THE shit and playing up the theatrics works, and it sure as hell don't work on Caster xD
Anyways, no questions from what I've seen, so on to 'interesting fact' number 3:
As most of you are probably aware, within the rules of the FATE IP, the parameters of servants are adjusted based on where they are fighting. Typically, this is referred to as something along the lines as their 'fame bonus'. In effect, this either powers up or weakens a servant based on how well known they are within the land they currently find themselves summoned in. So, for example, despite his power and the absolute monster he'd have been had the Fifth Grail War been fought in Ireland, Cu, being of little fame in Japan, was far weaker than, say, Heracles or Artoria, despite none of them originating from Japan. Had it been in Ireland, Cu would have put up a far better fight. That said, Heracles is so famous that he's a monster basically anywhere he's fighting, and if it were to be in Greece... Well, immediately RIP anything that isn't Enkidu, Gilgamesh, or a fucking Grand Servant, basically xD
The point I want to get at though is, while this fact is typically well known, the 'fame' bonus doesn't just base itself in which country they're fighting in. For servants with... let's call it 'unique' terrain... well, they can have their 'fame bonus' tied to that, rather than a country. This is the case for Semiraimis and her Noble Phantasm of The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
In Apocrypha, one would think the only one getting the full 'fame bonus' would be Vlad, considering they're all fighting within Romania, Vlad's homeland. However, so long as Semiraimis is within the boundary, or inside, of The Hanging Gardens, she's also getting her full 'fame bonus', as she's most famous for being the queen who built the gardens (which actually isn't true at all, but that's irrelevant to both FATE rules and systems, as well as actual history xD). In fact, even if Semiraimis was fighting in Assyria, her homeland, if she wasn't in The Hanging Gardens, she actually still WOULDN'T have her full 'fame bonus'. To get the full bonus, she needs her Noble Phantasm up and running.
…Keep in mind that this fame bonus is supposed to be a BIG DEAL in FATE. Like, this 'fame bonus' alone is basically what enabled Vlad to go toe to toe against Karna, yes KARNA of all people, early on in the anime (haven't read the books, plz don't kill me xD).
And yet, despite having her full 'fame bonus', Semiraimis then proceeds to, essentially, get one shot by fucking MORDRED of all people...
…Like, I'm sorry, but... WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?! THEY'RE IN ROMANIA, NOT BRITIAN! SEMIRAIMIS HAS HER FULL FAME BONUS! HOW THE FUCK DOES THAT MAKE EVEN THE SLIGHTEST BIT OF SENSE?! JUST HOW STUPIDLY FUCKING POWERFUL DID THEY MAKE MORDRED?!
And look, I get it. Mordred dies right after, and Semiraimis does technically live. So, 'technically' speaking, she 'won' that fight. But as much as I dislike Mordred in FATE, even I gotta call bullshit on anyone trying to give Semiraimis the win in that fight. I don't care that Semiraimis also acted stupid and dropped (stopped, cancelled, you get the idea) her poison shit that would have effectively guaranteed her the win, or that Mordred's master injected her with some of his shit, or that a command spell was used. A fucking 'ONE SHOT KILL' of Semiraimis within The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, by MORDRED, while NOT IN BRITIAN, is fucking BULLSHIT!
…This isn't even like the Origins system either. I actually LIKE this system! I think it's one of FATE's better systems/rules, and I think it makes perfect sense in universe. But I SWEAR, just like every other system, they just blatantly ignore it whenever it fucking suits them, and it drives me up the fucking wall!