FATE/PARALLEL COLORS

Chapter 17: Sanity Slippage

Once Connla's confession concluded, Cuchulainn Caster turned off the transmitter that Roman, Da Vinci and the others were listening through. He, Lancer and Prototype left so that Alter could take care of her for the night, and the trio went to Roman's office to discuss Chaldea's next move. A decent crowd of Servants, plus one Master in Waver, were gathered around the table with numerous scribbled notes and diagrams strewn about everywhere. Roman in particular looked like he hadn't slept well, and Waver languidly balanced a pencil between his nose and upper lip.

Caster sat down next to Waver, leaned back in his chair and lit up a cigarette, then uttered the first question on everyone's minds:

"So… what's the plan, people?"

"Hmmm…" Roman sighed in annoyance. "Well, we certainly have a lot to sort through here."

"No kidding. Who would've thought the kid would reveal something so crazy about Aisling?"

Da Vinci maintained her sunny disposition as she said, "All right. Let's go through what we know. We know that Aisling is another Connla, and that she is not the one trying to kill ours. It is actually an Outer God controlling her body, while she is whisked away to an endless dream on some kind of training to become the god's priestess. The Cuchulainn of her world went after her, going full riastrad as a result, but the Outer God cursed him to wander millions of parallel worlds. What can we deduce from all of this?"

"Other than this is ridiculous beyond belief?" Prototype grumbled.

"Yes, other than that."

"Well… I don't really know. I mean, what are we supposed to do when we have absolutely no information on Aisling's whereabouts?"

"At the very least, we don't have to go looking in her original world since she's long since abandoned it," Caster said. "I doubt it'd be worth it to investigate there for clues either. Daoloth's been doing everything he can to cover his tracks."

"Damn it," Waver groaned and grabbed both sides of his head. "No matter what we think of, we keep falling back on square one. If only Cliste was alive, she would've been able to help us."

Suddenly, Sigurd raised his hand and blurted, "I have a question."

Roman faced him and asked, "What is it?"

"If we are to take Connla's tale at face value, then it means Cuchulainn Riastrad is currently hopping between dimensions as a result of Daoloth's curse."

"Yes, we've already established that."

"Then let's turn our thinking a little. Why didn't Daoloth just kill Cuchulainn during that fight?"

Everyone glanced at each other, as if they were sharing the same epiphany. Da Vinci exuberantly smacked her hand on the table and shouted, "There! That's the point I wanted to get at!"

"Oh? What sort of point, madam inventor?" Sigurd wondered.

"Why did Daoloth banish him, thus risking even that astronomically tiny chance that he would be able to find Aisling again? It's simple – Riastrad is too strong for Daoloth to defeat! That means he has to know what Daoloth's weaknesses are! If we want to have any shot at fighting against an Outer God, then we need his cooperation!"

Lancer shot to his feet and screamed, "Are you insane, lady!? Do you have any idea how dangerous the warp spasm really is!? Whenever it happens, you lose the ability to discern friend from foe! It's like the humanoid equivalent of a nuclear bomb!"

"Yeah, but don't forget that we're not dealing with your ordinary berserker rage here. Cu Riastrad consumed a piece of Daoloth, which would've had an effect on his Spirit Origin. At the very least, his mind is clear enough to find a good use for his curse – to help numerous Connlas in other worlds."

"Well yeah, but…"

"I'd even wager that his class isn't as a Berserker anymore, but the same as Aisling and Van Gogh – that weird Foreigner Servant we've never heard of before."

"Oh, now you're just pulling theories out of your ass, woman."

Roman folded his arms and remarked, "Still, Da Vinci's got a point. Cu Riastrad isn't behaving the same way that he would in his usual warp spasm. At minimum, he can discern Connla from everyone else. Since she's his primary motivation, we would need to keep our Connla alive so that if we were to bring him to Chaldea, he wouldn't go berserk on us."

"Y-You're not serious, are you?" Prototype winced. "Are you really going to authorize a search for that crazy bastard?"

"Not right away, of course. But there's no two ways about it – we don't have the technology nor the wisdom to challenge an alien god in direct combat. Only Riastrad knows how to do it, so we need to rely on his knowledge if we want a remote shot at defeating Daoloth and freeing Connla from this nightmare."

"Ugh… I understand where you're coming from… but that's just…"

"Don't panic. We have plenty of time to look for him. The most important thing is for us to figure out where Aisling is first. If we don't have that information, he won't have any incentive to stay in Chaldea."

"Yeah, that's going to be the hard part," Da Vinci admitted as she sat down with an annoyed huff. "How are we going to figure out where she's hiding herself?"

"Couldn't we use SHEBA for a search?" Sigurd asked.

"No can do. It's busy looking for the Seventh Singularity. There's no way we can allocate any resources for anything else."

"That's unfortunate. Furthermore, should the Singularity be discovered, we'd have to put this issue on hold to go resolve it."

Caster blew a ring of cigarette smoke out of his mouth, then muttered, "Unless some kind of unexpected trump card pops up, we're going to be stuck at this impasse forever."

Roman despondently shook his head and admitted, "We just don't have enough information. Until we find some way to pinpoint Aisling's location, we cannot make any further progress. For now, our main goal should be watching over our Connla so she doesn't get killed. She's going to be our lynchpin for getting Cu Riastrad to help us out, after all."

"Agreed," Sigurd said. "We should not waste our energy bashing our heads against the wall in futility. We should remain patient in our pursuit of the truth, and vigilant in our protection of the young Lancer. Considering that we have gained so much knowledge already, I am certain that more information will present itself in the near future."

"Does that mean she shouldn't go on Rayshifts for now?" Waver asked.

"I think it would be wiser to just have her focus on gathering materials in the simulator. If we sent her on a Rayshift, Daoloth might wind up messing with it again, and that's the last thing we need right now," Da Vinci said.

"Okay. Ritsuka and Mash can handle the Rayshift missions. I'll take care of resource gathering and management. I'll make Connla one of my front-line Servants for that job."

"You can count me in, lad," Cuchulainn Lancer said. "If another mishap like with Lucius happens, I want to be there to stop her right away."

"Got it."

"Thanks, Waver," Da Vinci smiled. "Despite everything that's going on, she's always afraid of not using her time productively. This should keep her mind at ease for now."

"Hey, it's no problem. She's the first Servant of Chaldea I made a direct contract with, so I'm obligated to act as her Master. She's certainly a lot calmer than Alexander is – that guy's overexcitement is too much for me to handle sometimes. He keeps reminding me of my first Servant too…"

"Ah ha ha, I bet he does! Imagine if we were able to summon Iskandar here as well!"

"Then I would officially have an ulcer."

Roman clapped his hands once and said, "All right, people, let's proceed as usual then. We'll carry out our duties as members of Chaldea, but we'll also keep our eyes open for any new information relevant to our search for Aisling. Unless anyone has anything further to say, I declare this meeting adjourned."

Two days later, Connla woke up from another long nap. While she continued resting after her intense operation, she wrote her reports on what she witnessed in her latest dreams about her alternate fictional self in Arkham, as well as her Moon Cell counterpart. So much had happened lately that she barely had time to write them until now. It took a lot of work to remember everything that occurred in each dream, so she was always exhausted after spending just a few hours. She had asked the other Chaldean staff and Servants not to interrupt her so she could concentrate in peace, and she finally finished her work before turning in for some sleep.

However, Connla felt strangely uncomfortable upon awakening. She didn't have any visions or dreams, but something seemed a bit 'off' about this particular nap. It was short, yet she had fully passed out and woke up as if getting up from a full night's sleep. That familiar sinking feeling kept gnawing away in her chest. Unlike many times before, she couldn't explain it this time. Why would she be so upset when she had little reason to? The alien fragment had been extracted, she fully confessed about Aisling, and she had submitted her reports to Da Vinci. Was she forgetting something? She certainly hoped not. She was having enough of a headache trying to keep everything straight.

Unable to shake this uneasy feeling away, Connla got out of bed and headed for her bedroom door. However, an unexpected guest waited for her in the hallway. The black-coated man with stringy white hair leaned his back against the wall and fixed his amber eyes upon the young Lancer.

"Oh…" she murmured. "You're, um… Mr. Dantes, right?"

He grumbled, "Indeed."

"Do you have any business with me? I was just about to go get some coffee at the cafeteria."

"That sounds nice. I will accompany you."

"Really?"

"There's something I need to discuss with you. I think you might find it enlightening in regards to your current situation."

She tilted her head in bewilderment, but said nothing and allowed him to follow her. They got some coffee and biscuits, then situated themselves in a quiet corner of the large dining quarters. Since it was the middle of the night, only a few Servants were around having late-night snacks, so the usual hustle and bustle of numerous people eating at once was mercifully absent.

As Connla sipped her beverage, Edmond remarked, "So you take it black as well?"

"Yes. I cannot understand people who add things like milk and sweeteners to theirs. It just seems to ruin the flavor for me."

"You have good taste."

"Pardon me if I'm being a little blunt, but I don't get the impression that you wanted to talk with me about coffee at this time of the night."

"Heh heh… Straight to the point, huh? Well, I can't complain about someone who wants to use their time wisely. Certainly makes my life simpler dispensing with the pointless idle chatter."

"So what did you want to discuss with me about? Something about my 'current situation'?"

Edmond's slightly mirthful mood immediately changed to a serious tone as he said, "Let me get straight to the point. Although you're free of the Outer God's fragment, and thus its direct control over your mind, that doesn't necessarily mean you have fully escaped from its influence."

Connla raised an eyebrow. "From its influence?"

"The fact is that the Outer God planted that thing inside you at the moment of your original death. That means it is as much of an ingrained part of your Spirit Origin as me having yellow eyes. It cannot be rid of so easily. Of course, the severity of its corrosion is dependent on many factors such as your Servant Class, your mental resistance levels, and your mindset at any given time. I'm sure many of your counterparts won't experience anything in regards to the Outer God, but in your case, I would say that there has been a distinct effect on your Spirit Origin."

She grew nervous as she asked, "Does that mean Daoloth is still affecting me somehow?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. Has the quality of your sleep improved since the fragment was removed?"

"Well… it's hard to say…"

"Let me be more specific then. Do you wake up experiencing an inexplicable depression?"

She paused, then sighed and replied, "Yeah. Even just now, I get that pit-in-my-stomach feeling when I wake up. It goes away shortly after, but I constantly feel like I'm being watched by someone."

"Hmph. This is worse than I thought…" Edmond grumbled.

"Why? Do you know what's going on?"

"I'm not sure if I can define it very clearly since I am not of this so-called Foreigner class myself. However, I can sense small ripples in the atmosphere throughout all of Chaldea. I have investigated the entirety of the facility surreptitiously, and I have confidence that these distortions are not related to the Incineration of Humanity. They seemed to increase in intensity ever since the fragment was removed from you."

Connla tensed up and yelped, "Could the fragment be doing something to Chaldea? Like a direct attack from Daoloth for removing it from me? If that's the case, Ms. Da Vinci and the other researchers could be in danger!"

"Calm yourself," Edmond stopped her. "I have already confided with Da Vinci about this matter, and she insisted that the object is safely confined inside one of Chaldea's Holy Grails. Any distortions that thing may be causing have been limited to the space inside the Grail."

"Oh… That's a relief. But then, how are these distortions getting into Chaldea if the fragment is safely isolated from the outside world?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said? You are the source."

She became deathly silent. Terror seized her as a myriad of thoughts rushed through her mind. She couldn't put this frightening feeling into words though, so she quietly nibbled on a biscuit and stared at the table with a glazed look in her eyes. Edmond realized that his words stung her much harder than he anticipated, so he rested his hand on her shoulder and said, "Do not misunderstand me. I have no intention of scaring you. I simply wanted you to not have any delusions that you have escaped from the Outer God's control, and that you are aware of what is happening when you wake up."

"…"

"Rest assured, I will do everything I can to ensure the alien does not have its way with you any longer. I will talk with your superiors regarding this matter, and see if we can find a cure for these lingering distortions twisting your Spirit Origin. Make no mistake though – you are sick. You must slow down and allow us to figure out what is wrong."

"… Mm."

"For now, I have asked a certain Servant to stay with you as much as possible. Honestly, though… I am baffled at how long she is taking to meet up with us here."

Connla wasn't sure what Edmond meant. Before she could ask him anything, a familiar brown-haired Servant carrying a large sunflower around approached their table and chuckled, "Eh he he… I'm here, just as you asked."

"Ms. Van Gogh?" the Lancer asked. "What's going on here?"

"I requested that she watch over you while I continue my investigation," Edmond explained. "Of everyone in Chaldea, only the two of us can sense this invisible fatigue plaguing you. I'm not exactly suitable to being a chaperone, so I wanted the Foreigner to look after you in my absence. If anything were to go awry, she will send me a signal."

Connla glanced at Van Gogh, who was swaying back and forth on her feet like a rocking chair while flashing a bizarre smile. The Lancer sighed and murmured, "I hope this isn't any trouble for you. I really wish I could handle this myself, but…"

"No, no, no, don't worry about it!" the Foreigner blurted. "I love being helpful! I can finally be useful! It's the least I can do to repay you for finding me out there in that snowy wasteland, so far away that not even the sun would be able to shine on me! Eh he he! I want to chat with you! I want to paint with you! I want to have lots of fun with you!"

"Oh, um… P-Please settle down. If you get too excited, I might get anxious…"

"Ah! I-I'm sorry," Van Gogh immediately ceased her outbursts and quietly mumbled under her breath. "Don't mind me. I'll do my best not to scare you."

Edmond watched their exchange with a bemused grin, then said, "There you have it. You two should head back now. Van Gogh, do whatever it takes to keep Connla calm. After all, we've already deduced that the less anxious she is, the weaker the distortions are."

"Eh he he he… An Avenger, casting a concerned gaze upon a completely unrelated Servant… It's almost… fedorable. Ah hah hah hah! A Gogh joke!"

"Just get going already!" Edmond roared in frustration.

Van Gogh grabbed Connla's wrist and made her run alongside her, giggling uncontrollably all the way out of the cafeteria. Once they were out of earshot, the artist cackled, "Did you see it!? Did you see the look on his face!? It was as delightful as that vixen Leucothoe being put to death by her father!"

"Um…" Connla murmured hesitantly. "This might just be me, but I don't think you should pick on him so much. I get the distinct impression that he doesn't have a great sense of humor."

"Maybe, maybe not. But thanks to that, I'm in a good mood. I want to paint something so I can remember that twisted expression of his… Oh, I know! How about we do some painting together!?"

"I don't know. I've never been good at anything creative. The only things I've ever drawn are mathematical diagrams, and I need rulers and stencils to help me with that."

"Ohh, how dull. Why does a girl your age have to be so boring? Unless… Oh, I know! How about you make a diagram, and I make it all pretty with my paint!? I bet the inventor she-man would be chuffed to bits if we made it a present for her!"

"You mean Ms. Da Vinci? Why would you want to do that?"

"Why else!? She's an artist who lived almost 400 years before me! Even in my time, she was super-famous! And I get to walk around in the same building as her!? She even asked me if she could take a peek at my Spirit Origin! Aaah, how salacious! No, no, no, I should apologize for not kissing the ground she walks on! Eh he he he! That's why… That's why I should make it up to her somehow! If I don't, I think I'll go crazy!"

Connla raised her hands defensively and implored, "All right, all right, I'll help you with this project! So you just want me to sketch a diagram that you can use as the base for the painting?"

"That's right."

"What should I sketch then?"

"Well… hm… I think it should be something spectacular… Something that'll make even the Uomo Universale's eyes twinkle… It should be an awesome invention, or even a fantastic illusion…"

Connla tilted her head in contemplation. Then she murmured, "A fantastic illusion… That kind of reminds me of what Daoloth looked like when I saw him before my death…"

"The Outer God?" Van Gogh asked in a bitter tone. "I drew him already. See for yourself."

She showed her the rushed drawing she presented to the others of Daoloth, and Connla gazed at it intently. After a moment, she frowned and said, "Hmmm… I don't think he looked like this."

"No? That's how I saw him when I met Aisling."

"He looked a lot different to me. He was more of a mess of shapes, rather than a bunch of illusions crunched together. I also can't forget that sensation of warm blood running through him, even though his body was made entirely of cold steel. Maybe his form constantly changes… Or perhaps every individual person perceives him differently."

"Then do you want to make a diagram of what you saw, and I paint that?"

"That might be hard to do. He was absolutely huge. If I was allowed to sketch his entire body, the canvas would have to be as large as Chaldea's entire facility."

Van Gogh's eyes widened with shock, and she giggled while shaking uncontrollably, "Eh he he he he he… That's huge. Maybe just a small chunk will do."

"You're right," Connla nodded. "I think I remember some distinct parts. I'm going to need a bunch of tools like rulers, stencils and various sized compasses though. Let's ask Ms. Da Vinci for some."

"Geh!? D-D-D-Da Vinci!? Y-You mean like, right now!?"

"Of course. Didn't you say you were itching to do some painting? Then let's stop idling here and get to work."

"Ah ha ha… I can't do it! I can't be so casual around her! I-I-I think I might bite my arm off if I do!"

The Lancer scratched her head and thought to herself, Oh boy. This is going to take a while, isn't it?

An hour later, Connla met up with Van Gogh in her atelier, with a bag of various drawing tools she borrowed from Da Vinci. Van Gogh didn't have the courage to meet the inventor in person, so Connla had to go by herself and explain everything. Da Vinci sounded excited by the idea behind their painting, so she gave them her seal of approval to go ahead with the project. Once they were ready, Connla began drawing various random shapes and connecting them together with rods, cones and jigsaw puzzle pieces. It was though she was depicting a nonsensical maze, and even Van Gogh had trouble keeping up with what belonged in the foreground versus the background.

About two hours into the project, Connla was now standing on a stepladder placing the last touches to her sketch, while Van Gogh meticulously painted over the earlier diagrams with some colored ink. As the Lancer erased a mistake she made, her mind wandered off. In fact, she was becoming more distant and quiet the longer she kept drawing. She thought she would have trouble remembering what Daoloth looked like to her, but the memory was as clear as glass, as if she had been transported back to those terrifying moments of her original death. She knew everything was okay, and that she was safe here in Chaldea. Yet, she couldn't shake away that sinking feeling no matter how much she convinced herself.

Then, something seemed to call out to her…

"… mu… st… can you… me…"

Connla dropped the pencil and compass she was using and stared deep into the canvas. Her sight was so close to the thick linen cloth that she could practically count the number of seams in her vision. The lines and crisscross patterns shifted about as an optical illusion, momentarily given life as they danced to and fro before her eyes. Or maybe she was peering into an alternate dimension full of nothing but earthworms writhing about in a latticework pattern.

"Connla?"

Van Gogh's shaky voice snapped her back to reality, and she glanced over at the concerned artist. They stared at each other for a disturbingly long moment. Eventually, the artist asked, "Are you okay?"

"I… um… I don't know…"

"The distortions were there just a moment ago."

"…"

"Did you see something scary?"

"I'm not sure…" Connla moaned, then explained what she experienced just now, before shuddering, "Ah… I must be going crazy. I'm losing touch with reality, aren't I? I don't want that to happen… I don't know what to do…"

"Don't worry," Van Gogh assured in an unexpectedly warm tone. "I won't let that happen. Me, your big scary daddy, Master, the other Servants, the other nice people… None of us will let you go insane. Besides, I'm all the crazy that Chaldea needs, right!? Eh he he he! A Gogh joke!"

"Um…"

"Not funny, huh? Okay then. You've done your part with the painting, so I'll finish the rest later. But you have to deliver it to Da Vinci, remember? I think I might cut my ear off and throw it at a prostitute's feet if I had to do it myself!"

"Yes, I know. But honestly, you should learn to get along with the other Servants. It wouldn't do you any good if you get nervous around every single famous Servant, especially when it comes to engaging in battle."

"Ah ha ha… I guess you're right… I mean, you're famous in your own right, aren't you?"

Connla frowned. "I don't think so. I'm just a side character in my father's overall legend. The events surrounding my death must've been so shocking and tragic that it was just barely enough for humanity to remember me over the centuries. If I had to wager, you're the more famous one between us two… I mean, the Vincent Van Gogh half of you, anyway. I don't know much about Greek mythology, so I can't say if your Clytie half would be just as notorious."

"Ah… A no-good lowlife like me, famous? I can't accept that. I'm a freak of nature that ruined others' lives and brought about my own self-destruction. You don't need to butter me up like that. Still, I guess you have a point about being a forgettable side character in someone else's legend. That's probably why I don't feel quite as nervous around you. So if… if you could introduce me… to the more famous Servants… I think that would be helpful…"

"Of course I can. I don't know everyone though, and some Servants prefer to keep to themselves unless an emergency happens. Most of the super-famous Servants can either be found in the royal lounge, the library, the simulator, or the baths, so those are probably not good places to start for you. Maybe the recreation room would be the best way to go. Some of them like to pull all-nighters around the television playing their weird 'vi-jeo games' or whatever they're called. I'm not into those kinds of things, so I don't know much about them. I'm more proficient with games that are similar to fidchell."

"Fidchell?"

"It's kind of like a variant of chess, although chess didn't exist in the Celtic regions until maybe the 12th century. Apparently my grandfather Lugh invented the game, but I don't really know if that's true or not. Either way, the Irish word ficheall refers to modern chess itself, so there is some correlation."

"Okay… let's give that a try."

Connla led Van Gogh through Chaldea's many corridors, passing by several rooms where they could hear Servants either bustling away with their own activities, or chatting with each other over who knew what. They reached the recreation room, where just as Connla predicted, several Servants were gathered around the television playing some video games. One of those Servants was the Archer-class warrior woman Tomoe Gozen, who had become notorious in the organization for becoming hooked on video games as a way to distract herself. She was competing against Mysterious Heroine X, the strange Assassin-class fighter who had joined Chaldea after the Fomorian Singularity, as well as a pink-haired girl who barely said much except for several quiet grunts whenever something happened on the screen.

"That's odd," Connla whispered so as not to bother them. "I don't see Fran around here often. She's usually with Sir Mordred and Mr. Jekyll."

"Fran?" Van Gogh wondered.

"Frankenstein's Monster, but everyone calls her Fran for short."

"Go-ho ho ho ho… Interesting."

"Well, whatever. Let's go over here so we don't-"

"Ghaaaaaah!" Fran suddenly screamed in frustration when her character blew up on the screen. Her outburst nearly made Connla jump out of her skin at how high-pitched and sudden it was.

"Gotcha!" Tomoe cried out exuberantly. "How about it? Ready to concede defeat?"

"Uh… Uuuuh! Aaaah!" the irritated Berserker howled incoherently.

"There!" Heroine X shouted and shot down Tomoe's character while she was distracted.

"Hey, that's no fair!" the white-haired woman complained.

"All's fair in love, war, and killing Sabers!"

"But I'm an Archer!"

"I get the feeling you would be qualified as a Saber in some other capacity though, so it counts! That goes for Fran too!"

"Oooh!" Fran shuddered lividly. Just then, some electric sparks flickered around her body.

"H-Hey, calm down! That was just a practice run, okay!? No need to be so upset over a game! The point is that we're supposed to have fun!" Tomoe implored.

"Uuuuh!"

X grinned and said, "I think she's trying to say that it's no fun to lose so many times in a row."

"Well, I can see her point…" the Archer moaned, and that was when she spotted the two newcomers silently observing their argument. "Oh, Connla! This is a rare sight! When did you get here?"

"Just now," the Lancer murmured. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Of course not. In fact, you came just at the perfect time! Come here, we need another player to take Fran's place while she cools down."

"B-But I'm not good at-"

"It's okay, I'll show you how to play! This time we're gonna tag-team against X and show her who's boss!" Tomoe declared as she shoved Fran's controller into the bewildered Connla's hands and made her sit on the floor next to her.

"Oh ho! Is that the 'Here Comes a New Challenger' tune I hear? Bring it on! My pride as the Servant Universe's top Saber killer is on the line! Not even my former Saber compatriot will be spared my wrath!" X retorted and started a new game up.

"Um…" Connla mumbled, unsure of what to do. She glanced at Van Gogh, and the artist flashed her a reassuring smile to indicate that everything was fine. The Lancer returned her attention to the monitor and asked, "So how am I supposed to play?"

"This is called a shoot 'em up, or schmup for short," Tomoe explained. "X is controlling an alien mothership, and our job is to shoot her down with our ships while avoiding her shots. I'll show you where the best power-ups are so we have the best chance at winning."

"Uh… okay…"

The game got underway, with X initiating a ferocious barrage of bullets that would make any beginning player quit on the spot. Despite her obvious inexperience with such a loud and flashy game, Connla remained calm and analyzed every aspect of it that she could, even so much as getting used to musical cues and figuring out various rhythms for avoiding the worst of X's shots. Although she and Tomoe lost the first few times, once Connla got the hang of it, X was finding it more and more difficult to defeat her opponents.

While the three were busy, Fran stood off to the side and watched the match with excitement in her eyes. She did notice Van Gogh's presence though, and she pointed at her while uttering, "Uh? Uh, uh, uh?"

"Oh… are you asking who I am?" the artist wondered.

"Uh!"

"Eh he he he… I'm… a patchwork monster…"

"Uuuh…"

"But… you're very similar to me, aren't you? Then I think it's fine. We should be able to… get along…"

"Uh, uh!"

"Keep it down, you two! We're getting to the hardest part!" Tomoe shouted as she concentrated on weaving her character through a dense wave of colorful bullets. Connla did the same for her character. X grinned widely, believing she managed to snipe them down. However, while Tomoe was caught in the onslaught and lost her final life, Connla made it through and shot down a crucial section of X's mothership.

"Impossible! No one's ever gone through the Seven-Layer Rainbow Wave CALADBOLG and not lose at least one life!" the Assassin exclaimed. "And to take down my right laser cannon to boot! If that's how it's going to be, then you won't like me when I take the kiddy gloves off! Get ready, 'cause you're about to witness my nasty side!"

She activated the mothership's most deadliest weapons, reserved only for the truly professional players who sought a real challenge. Reflecting lasers, bouncing bullets, high-speed shots, confusing color changes, and even control reversal were all utilized with complete impunity. Yet for all of her efforts, Connla just sat there in a quiet daze and kept playing, tapping her fingers on the controller with such incredible speed that Tomoe actually started to get worried.

"W-What's going on here?" she blurted. "Are you sure you've never played a video game before?"

"…"

"This isn't just professional level gameplay! I'd wager it's more on the line of a tool-assisted run that cheaters like to use to pretend they're good! If I wasn't watching you play in person, I'd totally call you out for it!"

"…"

"That's not it! Something's wrong!" Van Gogh yelped. Although the others couldn't pick up the spatial distortions rippling through the gaming room, she could immediately tell that Connla was not in her right mind. However, they could see the bizarre colors swimming over her retinas like a soap bubble's nonsensical hues.

"Is something the matter?" Tomoe asked.

"Connla, listen to me! Snap out of it!"

"Uh, uh, uuuuuh!" Fran screeched. Perhaps due to being a Berserker, and thus not having complete control of her mind, she could pick up the invisible waves disturbing the air around them. She writhed around in agony and screamed, "AAAAAGH!"

"Okay, game suspended! If my experience as a denizen of the Servant Universe tells me anything, we've got a bona fide alien invasion on our hands!" X shouted, abandoning her role as the game's mothership so she could force Connla's eyes away from the monitor. "Tomoe, slap some sense back into Fran!"

"Got it!" the Archer replied and used all of her oni-inherited strength to punch the Berserker in the stomach.

"BWUUUGH!?"

"Are you okay? I'm sorry if that hurt too much, but I had to get you back under control!"

"Uh… Haaah… Uh."

"Okay, Fran! Give Connla a good jolt!" X shouted, trying to restrain the out-of-control Lancer as she fought to break free of her grasp.

"UH!" Fran shouted and conjured some lighting on her large war hammer. She fired a thin line of voltage at the incapacitated child, shocking her nervous system so hard that she instantly woke up from her reverie in extreme pain.

"AAAH! Ah… aaaah! It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Connla screamed.

"All right, we got her back!" Tomoe exclaimed. "Are you all right!? Do you need to go to the infirmary!?"

"Ah… ungh… I… I don't know…"

"It's okay. Everything's fine now. Just take some deep breaths and don't move around."

"Lady Tomoe… I… I don't know what's going on. What just happened?"

"I think you were possessed by something."

The Lancer's heart sunk with abject terror. Unconcerned for how badly injured she was, she immediately got on her feet and whimpered, "Oh no…"

"I told you not to move! Look, you're bleeding all over the place!"

"I can't… I can't do this anymore… I can't stay here any longer!" Connla panicked and fled through the door faster than anyone could grab her.

"This is bad! We need to stop her before she bleeds to death!" Tomoe barked and took chase after her, with Heroine X following her. The Assassin also had the forethought to punch the safety glass around a distinct red button that activated an emergency klaxon, putting all of Chaldea on high alert.

Fran and Van Gogh were left behind in the recreation room. The artist shivered and moaned, "This is my fault, isn't it? I shouldn't have gotten her in so much danger. Dantes was trusting me to watch over her, and I screwed up… Ahhh, I'm a failure of a Servant! I should choke on some shrimp and die! Don't bother giving me the Heimlich maneuver either!"

"Uh, uh, uh!" Fran implored while tugging Van Gogh's shirt.

"What's wrong? Are you saying we should follow them?"

"Uh!"

"… You're right. I can beat myself up later. We should make sure everything's okay first."