Boyzilla: yes, her cute-power is a Noble Phantasm Ex-Rank ! No-one is safe... Just look at the difference in Gilgamesh's behavior between Fate/Extra CCC and Fate/Stay Night! Even the Hero King is not immune!
Ultima-Owner: That's the power difference between the Fog and Velber! While this fleet of extraterrestrial ships effortlessly dominates the humanity of the twenty-first century, for the Umbral Star, they are just as insignificant one as the other.
Akasha Bloodriver: Yes, and I think, you will love her new ally !
Author note: First of all, I apologize for not writing for the last two weeks, but a lot has happened on my end. Most are of no interest to you. As for Fan-Fiction, I started a new text (Fate/ Dragoncrown) a crossover between Fate/Stay Night (first route) and the video game series The Elder Scroll. I invite you to discover it. Look in my profile to find a link to Fate/Dragoncrown.
The twelfth episode (already) of Chimeric Lunar Sea of Steel is before you. It will be less serious than the previous ones with the appearance of a character who could be the twin sister of Taiga "don't call me Tiger" Fujimura... if she were a warship.
Alchemy
To see so many warships, docked in the southern ports of England, it would have been necessary to return to the time of the preparation of Overlord, the landing operation in Normandy. Several of the Fog's fleets had come together to transform the British Isles into an unspeakable bastion. As in the previous century, they served as a backward base for an operation aimed at liberating Europe... conquered in a few days by the legions of the Umbral Star.
Nevertheless, even if a part of the American fleet of the Fog; of the English fleet; the totality of the French fleet; German, as well as some survivors of the Italian fleet were gathered there, no one had any illusions about the possibilities of victory.
The ships of the Regina Marina corrupted by Velber had become invincible. The few skirmishes that had taken place over the past few days had terrified all observers. Whatever weapons were used, the Black Ships of the Umbral fleet were not damaged. On the contrary, the responses of the modified vessels had revealed that their firepower had increased by at least 30%.
- We're all gonna die!
The strangled call came out of the mouth of Kyohei Kashihara, weapons officer of I-401. With his hands tense on the armrest, he swallowed as he watched the sea leapt towards the shuttle, which was carrying out its reintegration into the atmosphere.
It is true that for a sailor, the vision was more than impressive.
In spacesuit and strapped in the neighboring chair So Oribe lifted a finger towards the sky:
- There is no danger. The shuttle was modified by the Fog and we have an antigravity system that protects us from the effects of acceleration. As for our trajectory, it allows us to avoid passing within range of the Black Fleet of Velber.
Kneeling in the pilot's seat, Iona the Mental Model of I-401 was controlling the shuttle without touching the instrument panel as A.I. she was controlling it remotely by the sheer force of her thought. The co-pilot's seat was occupied by a second Mental Model, Hyuga formed flaship of the fog sunk by I-401 and the actual port operator of the main base of the Blue Steel Fleet. The two girls had reflexes of the order of the millisecond and no human could hope to compete with their intelligences... especially that of Hyuga, always experimenting with new hybrids of human/Fog technology. She turned to Gunzo Chihaya:
- Landing in top... three minutes.
- Good.
The young Japanese man hardly showed his emotions. Behind the windowpane of his spacesuit, he seemed to be of marble. Yet he was mentally preparing for a painful encounter... his father whom he believed to have died led the Fog fleet in Europe. Had he betrayed humanity? Yet who else than his father could have sent the I-401 to him? And in this case, what game did he play? Even if Velber's arrival changed everything, making the confrontation between the Fog and humanity obsolete, these questions tortured him.
Three aircraft carriers, including MN Béarn and HMS Illustrious, had been dispatched to the area to retrieve the shuttle. But it was the HMS Ark Royal closest to the landing site. Caught in the gravity beams emitted by the carrier, the shuttle was lifted out of the water and laid on deck. The three fleets grouped around their flagship turned around, heading for the port of Liverpool. The latter was at the centre of an industrial activity which the city had not experienced since the beginning of its decline in 1970.
When I am told "Liverpool", the first thing I think of is the Beatles. The famous band is from the city. Others talk about soccer. But this is all anecdotal. The port of Liverpool is the first of the British Isles, 40% of England's foreign trade passes through its docks and this since the nineteenth century.
During the Second World War, it was from underground premises located under the city that were led the fleets fighting against the Nazi U-boats that were trying to stifle the British Empire. Very logically, she had just regained her position as the nerve center of defense against the new enemy of the world, Velber. This is where we tried to find a solution to the invulnerability of the Black Fleet. A teenage girl had to play a key role.
Archer turned to Hakuno:
- Are you ready?
The girl nodded with a determined air and held out her right arm, palm forward, supporting him with her other arm.
- Go ahead, go ahead!
Archer speaks to a Mental Model on the deck of a Tyne-class destroyer refueller, immobilized off Liverpool. The young girl spread around her multiple energy rings, located in the centre of a dazzling beam of light. The supply ship opened up like a Japanese fold. Leaving the shape of a ship, he transformed into an open structure formed by multiple rings. On the docks, blocks of nanomaterials began to sway gradually from the solid state to that of a dust veil, converging in long ribbons towards the refueller transformed into... ship matrix.
As Mark Twain so eloquently put it, advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic and the Fog proved it brilliantly. Between the arches of the factory ship, the currents of nanoparticles passing through the air assembled to form the ethereal silhouette of a warship. Despite the feat of force carried out under the eyes of Hakuno Kishinami, this type of battle cruiser of the Fog remained totally powerless against the ships modified by Velber. At least let things go their normal way.
Hakuno camped firmly on her legs and closed her eyes. The Regalia sparkled on her finger as her mind navigated through the gigantic register of heavily compressed programs that formed the ring. Sweat appeared on her forehead as she concentrated.
Between the arches of the factory ship, the nanoparticles began to radiate and the silhouette of the cruiser being materialized fluctuated... accumulating energy provided by the Moon Cell. Suddenly, the powerful warship emerged from the silver dust mist, gaining in density.
In a matter of seconds, she completed the formation... of a gigantic cruiser full of artillery, anti-aircraft and machine guns, dominated by a command tower with antennae and observation binoculars.
A battleship of the Ise class... the Hyuga.
Drained of his energy, Hakuno fell to his knees, gasping loudly.
- Extraordinary!
Looking up, Hakuno turned to discover... a giant egg! It levitated a few centimeters from the ground, a huge metal egg with three liquid crystal screens arranged in a triangle! The two on the top showed... eyes and the one on the bottom a... smiling mouth... all drawn with big pixels!
- Oh... but you're so cute! What's your name? Asked the egg.
With round eyes, the Inheritor of the Moon looked at the... thing in front of her. Even after everything she'd seen during the Grail War, she was discovering things that would leave her utterly speechless.
- ... Hakuno Kishinami...
- It was you who defeated a Fog fleet with only one submarine?!
- ... Ye...ssss ?
The egg opened, revealing that it was a kind of (very) strange means of individual displacement. The upholstered interior had a chair and a control panel. He came out... finally; rather he leaped out a young woman dressed in a turtleneck sweater under a researcher's white blouse and a miniskirt. Her face had something cat-like and she had a monocle in her right eye. Throwing herself at Hakuno, the unknown woman held her against her with an uncommon force.
- A beautiful and relentless war goddess, quite my kind. Soooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuute!
Her "show of affection" did not please everyone. Kanshou and Bakuya landed on either side of her neck. While Archer's absolutely icy voice dropped the temperature a few degrees across the harbor:
- Let go of my Master!
While Jane Doe was squinting on both Chinese swords, a pretty little girl with silver hair approached. She was in shorts and on her t-shirt you could see a logo representing a bird in a circle surrounded by "Blue Steel" letters.
- Excuse me, sir!
Taking the egg-girl by the collar, she pulled her violently back and then raised her arm shouting:
- Manual restart!
The little girl took a monumental blow on the top of the skull of the girl-egg who rolled on the floor holding her head with two hands:
- Ow... it hurts! It hurts!
Then the silver-haired girl turned to Hakuno and Archer, quite amazed:
- I'm Iona, Mental Model of the I-401, the one on the ground is Hyuga. Thank you for rebuilding her ship. Behind me are the other members of the Blue Steel force, including its leader, Gunzo Chihaya.
The Japanese she had just pointed out, a handsome young man dressed in an elegant business suit. He took two steps forward and reached out to Hakuno. The latter rose to tighten his:
- Nice to meet you, Kishinami-san. Can I ask what you did at the Battleship Hyuga?
- I turned her into a Mystical Code.
- Excuse-me?
- Say... some sort of magic object.
The members of the Blue Steel Fleet were gathered in a suite of armchairs and a sofa that surrounded a small table that hosted several cups of tea filled by Archer. There were the two Mentals Models Hyuga and Iona; Gunzo Chihaya, their chief; So Oribe first mate of the I-401; Kyohei Kashihara weapon officer; Iori Watanuki, engineer; Shizuka Hazumi, sonar operator of the submersible.
They formed a circle arch turned towards Hakuno Kishinami. Oribe - a man always wearing a plastic helmet with an autonomous air supply- turned to the Victor of the Grail War:
- First of all, I don't believe in magic!
Uncomfortable, Hakuno bit her lips without knowing what to say, but Archer did it instead:
- We are talking about Magecraft, not magic.
Resting his cup after taking a sip of it, Hazumi - a thin little Japanese girl wearing big glasses- spoke:
- What is the difference?
- There are only five forms of real magic. Each is like a miracle, like traveling between worlds, going back in time. Their practitioners are called Magicians. They are very rare and are practically half-gods. Magecraft is just another way of doing things. You can look at it as a science that hasn't been equated.
So Oribe shook his head:
- Another form of science?
- Do you want proof?
Archer stood up and took an unused cup from the desert. He threw it violently against a wall where it broke into three pieces. Gathering them together, he placed them on the table:
- To repair this cup it would be enough to use glue... or Magecraft.
Archer concentrated and laid hands on the debris. Luminous circuits appeared along his arms then... the broken cup dissipated before reforming, intact. He stooped in a free chair, legs crossed and the past behind the backrest:
- This may sound impressive, but it does not exceed human capacity.
Hyuga had not left Archer with her eyes, impressed. The Mental Model had far superior means of seeing to humans and its artificial senses covered virtually the entire range of existing detectors.
- You have bonded the material at the molecular level. However, I don't know what technology you used; I only sensed an increase in heat along the veins of your arms and a luminous phenomenon.
- These are my Magic Circuits, they transform the Od, the latent magic energy or if you prefer the living energy; in Prana, the magic energy usable.
- Magic Circuits?
- Let's say an artificial nervous system needed to practice Magecraft.
Others wanted to ask questions, but Gunzo raised his hand to impose silence:
- This is not the most important thing. Let's stick to the definition of Archer-san, Magecraft is another technology not equated. But that doesn't explain why the Fog ships captured by Velber became invulnerable.
Archer had one of his sarcastic smiles that made those who saw him boil with rage:
- Try to break the cup I fixed.
Challenged, Kyohei Kashihara rose and struck the cup with her bare hands... before jumping away, shaking a swollen hand, a big tear in the corner of his eye:
- Ouch!
As Iori rushed to examine her friend, Iona stepped forward. The Mental Model of the I-401 analyzed the object and held out her hand. A translucent light sheet, a hexagonal panel of a Klein shield, appeared in front of the cup and struck it. The object ripped off from the table and sank into the wall... intact.
As everyone turned to Archer, he showed his empty hands in a gesture of innocence... false and annoying, before winking at Iona.
The Mental Model leaned her head aside. In her unemotional way, she seemed completely disconcerted:
- Cup analysis: porcelain object. Attack energy: 600,000 joules, equivalent to a mass of 1,000 kg launched at 135 km/h. Error...
She turned to Gunzo:
- This is... illogical!
The Blue Steel Force Chief had risen to examine the cup embedded in the wall and shook his head:
- Archer-san, what did you do to that cup?
- This is called "Reinforcement". It is a technique of Magecraft that strengthens some useful property, here hardness, without modifying the others. This is a temporary change. The Prana I infused in the cup will dissipate in a few hours and it will become regular again.
Gunzo nodded his head in a slow and serious movement. He had not lost sight of his original question and turned to Hakuno, who remained silent:
- And you did the same thing with the Hyuga? You strengthened her, Kishinami-san.
The latter shook her head, while glaring at Archer's help:
- No, I made it a Mystical Code.
The Servant sighed with feigned resignation, but in fact quite amused by the inability of his Master to communicate. The sovereign of the Moon Cell was actually a shy teenager with a big problem talking to others. Archer still remembered how Matou Shinji took advantage of this...
- As my Master told you earlier, she turned the Hyuga into... let's say a magic object. Unlike the cup, she has its own source of Prana. Her weapons doing magic damage are now able to touch creatures like heroic Servants: Altera, Iskandar and his army... and the Regina Marina ships modified by Velber.
So Oribe nodded:
- So this is Magecraft?!
- In fact, no... I am a Magus and I practice Magecraft, my Master is a Wizard, she practices Spiritual Hacking. A magic existing only in the virtual universe of computer networks and using spells called "Code Cast".
The members of Blue Steel looked at each other, completely lost, except for Hyuga:
- Okay, so Hakuno Kishinami is casting spells in the virtual universe... except that the changes in my naval corps are real.
Archer and Hakuno exchanged a look, the teenager in brown school uniform pressed the hand what carries the Regalia on her chest:
- I give orders to the Moon Cell, but this computer controls reality.
- So your virtual Cast Codes affect the physical world... because the Moon Cell can change the rules of the universe for your benefit.
Hakuno nodded his head.
- And Velber has the same powers?
- I... I think so.
- So Velber wants to take you because you can counter it?
The teenager responded with a new positive nod. Her shoulders collapsed as she looked at the floor:
- I'm sorry. I... didn't know anything about Velber until I came to this world. I didn't know I was going to attract it.
Hyuga pounded her eyelashes and opened them, her eyes turned into big pink hearts. Rose in gale force she pressed Hakuno in a bear hug without realizing that the girl was desperately struggling to free herself:
- The Blue Steel force exists to protect the innocent (especially when they are as pretty as you).
Archer tackled a hand on his face, the classic facepalm: "But how does my Master to attract the passionate love of all the lunatics of the cosmos"? It seemed to him to hear a shout of protest pushed in chorus by a Roman tyrant dressed in red and a fox woman in mini-kimono... they had to feel targeted unless they were jealous of Hyuga?
