(A Void Somewhere)
"Hands up, little girl."
The woman Chloe took only the briefest of moments to do so. There were precious few who could intercept a Heroic Spirit traveling from the Throne to Zelretch's pocket space, let alone do so casually. "What can I do for you, Ryougi?"
Clicking her tongue, the kidnapper shook her Kuji Kanesada in its scabbard, using the sound to signal that she hadn't drawn it in the first place. "Something a little interesting is happening, my bright magical girl."
Shrugging, the hero turned to face her. "If you mean all of humanity's history being burned, we're kind of on it already."
"Oh, I know all about that," Shiki replied carelessly. "No, something has drawn out one of my... terminals, you might say? Or anchors."
"I certainly have not been involved with any of them since that time," Chloe replied respectfully.
"She's gotten involved with your Security Organization; interestingly enough despite being incinerated."
"... well the World has been conscripting just about anyone and anything to try and fix the situation," the Archer ventured carefully.
"I wasn't upset about it," Shiki clarified simply. "In fact, I would like it if she had a spot arranged in Chaldea; at least for the present situation."
"Hmm." Chloe didn't know how or even who specifically the other woman was referring to, but after a thought or two pointed out directly, "It's already happened, yes?"
"So it has." From her following silence, this apparently served to mark the end of the dialogue.
As Chloe was about to resume her journey to her scheduled meeting, a thought struck her. "You wouldn't happen to want to go down yourself, would you?"
"That's an unexpected suggestion. I'll think about it later. Off you go then, don't be late for your meeting."
l
(A Dark Forest)
"... it's a good thing Matou didn't come here," Gudao said, reflecting that a tower which gathers grudges might not be the best match for someone like a dark Sakura.
"Well I hope Scathach comes up with something soon, since people who were summoned after them already got their first Ascension done."
"You know," Chloe grumbled, turning around to address her complaint to Nursery Rhyme. "A Servant could throw something like a key all the way across Fuyuki. Just how large is this forest?"
"In normal times it isn't that large, but in this situation, it could be smaller or bigger. Probably smaller though, really." Rhyme was nonplussed, looking around although no one in the party could match Chloe's Mind's Eye.
"I believe we should just keep heading in the direction of the greatest local magical energy concentration," Scathach gestured vaguely in front of them about the same time that Kiyohime abruptly interrupted with, "There's something big coming at us !"
"It's a mob,'' Gudako commented calmly, as a massive ghost emerged from, or rather through the forest in front of them.
"Seems so,'' Scathach agreed, pointing her wand squarely at the new enemy and sending a torrent of sparkling runes that crashed against it releasing small explosions of light. However, despite looking impressive enough, it did not seem capable of breaking up the attacking mass of grudges that had taken form.
*ROAR* *Fwoosh*
As the wraith unleashed a powerful blast poised to wipe away the Chaldeans from its little fief, Kiyohime flung it back with a torrent of flames. The two, meeting, diverted the other to either side, setting the surrounding trees alight; despite being lushly green, they stood no chance against a Berserker's fire and went up like fireworks.
Chloe pulled out a number of different Noble Phantasms from her repertoire, but none of them seemed particularly effective. However, the formation was slowly eating away at the giant ghost's energy reserves.
"Martha, can't you exorcise it or something?'' Gudao asked without a hint of urgency, likely because there did not seem to be any other threats coming to flank them.
"If you could get Kiyohime to stop with the fire, I'll try something. But it needs some setup.''
Gudako simply nodded, expecting that some ritual was involved. "Will a count of ten be enough time?''
"That should be perfect,'' the Saint replied, flexing her gauntleted fingers and running to the rear.
"... and ten. Kiyohime, can you pause for a moment? Scathach switch to defense, I think Martha is about to do som-'' Gudao paused as something massive flew above them. Perhaps it was just the lighting from the fire around making it look more ominous, but still...
"That's her!'' Gudako cheered as a figure jumped off from her flying dragon mount and came hurtling down towards the ghost's head with an arm drawn back as though winding up to deliver a knock-out punch.
"Jacob's Limbs Technique: (Iron Fist Holy Judgement) !'' Like a meteor reaching from the heavens to strike the misbegotten evils of the earth, a Saint's Holy Knuckles slammed into the head of Chaldea's enemy, and despite the almost humorous size disparity, this blow caused it to bend its head under the momentum of her attack.
"I... see ! Shiki suddenly exclaimed to everyone's confusion as Martha practically bounced off the stunned ghost, landing in front of it and trying a legsweep - which did nothing as it was simply floating.
The Assassin ran up with her knife looking a match for the Ruler's fists, and started stabbing at the ghost like a madwoman. All the while, it was shrieking and twisting while trying to pull away from the sudden assault.
"Hold it still !'' Shiki exclaimed in frustration.
"Chloe, Rhyme, there's a number of zombies coming in from behind, can you handle them so Kiyohime doesn't end up completely surrounding us in fire?'' Gudao asked asked as Martha raised a clenched fist to the sky. As though in response, a bolt of silver lightning, no it was her staff, came diving down apparently from the moon and its end pierced into the ground as the ghost hurriedly tried to put some space between it and the Ruler.
Rather than a ritual of the Church for binding undead, though, Martha ran up and, kicking off the ground, hopped up on the staff like a stepping stone and flung herself right at the ghost ! It tried to dodge, but the Saint caught its shoulder with one hand and, swinging around behind it, smoothly as though planned all along, caught it in a (Holy Headlock).
And with that, Martha wrestled the ghost down to the leaf-covered forest floor. "Hurry up !''
Shiki was indeed doing so, but the ghost rapidly tried rolling over; though this did not dislodge Martha it meant the Assassin half of the tag team could not close in. Alright, she thought to herself, trying to steady her stance while switching from a stabbing to a throwing grip on her knife. I just need to not miss.
Although no one had the right angle to see it, her eyes glowed a fatal blue as Shiki concentrated, took aim and threw her knife at the enemy's point of Death. A single knife flew through the air, striking ghostly flesh. But it missed the target.
Without missing a beat, the Assassin pulled out another knife, identical to the first one, from wherever and threw that one too. A third soon followed and, just as her fourth was about to take flight, she felt the ghost's spiritual presence start to dissipate. Guess third time is the charm.
"Huh, guess that spooked the rest of them,'' Gudako noted after calm settled on what was left of the still-burning forest clearing. "Scathach, any leads on that key?''
"I think that's it,'' Chloe pointed to a very particular dog-shaped Phantasmal which was approaching the Chaldea group with a key in its mouth.
"That's unexpected,'' Scathach blinked in surprise as Fou delivered the key to her. "So, this is it?''
Nursery Rhyme simply nodded.
"How did Fou get in here?'' Gudao pointed out, "It wasn't when Blackbeard and Elizabeth went back, since no one came here from Chaldea.''
"He must have hopped in with someone and just been roaming about since we started?'' Gudako shrugged.
As the six Servants, 2 Masters and one Fou returned to the base, they met another unexpected figure sitting near the Magecraft formation that connected back to Chaldea. No one recognized the magical girl except for one ex-companion.
"Miyu? Did you get pulled in here too?'' Chloe quickly ran up to her as Gudako noted the Ruby-reminiscent wand.
"Why did you leave us?'' the other girl simply mumbled in a confused manner. "When you were gone, it all...''
"What? Hwaa-''
At this point Rhyme abruptly surprised everyone else by rushing up and hurriedly elbowing Chloe to the side, sending the smaller Servant to the ground with an angry squawk.
"Shiki, help,'' Nursery Rhyme called out calmly while her hands closed in on Jack the Ripper's hand while the other's knife was trapped in the Caster's guts.
From the ground, Chloe took out a shortsword and threw it, but Jack leaned to one side, using Rhyme's back as a shield while the motion twisted her knife in the wound. Without faltering, Rhyme simply continued putting all her strength into keeping Jack trapped as Shiki stepped up and tried to stab Jack - but to no avail.
"Just take off the arm,'' Rhyme suggested.
Realizing the sense in this, Shiki quickly switched focus, immediately identifying a suitable line just above Jack's wrist. One quick cut later and a now-freed Jack leapt back less one hand and one knife from her Maria set.
"Get back here with Miyu's face !'' Chloe exclaimed, changing from getting to her feet to simply teleporting over towards Jack and throwing swords. One of them, with the accuracy born of an Archer, struck Jack's leg but as Rhyme was about to warn Chloe against the threat still posed by the one-handed escapee, Jack's Miyu form simply melted away into a fog that dispersed in the breeze.
With a sour expression, Rhyme threw Jack's hand to the ground, extracted the knife from her torso, and held it out for Shiki to destroy; one quick poke with the latter's weapon later, broken shards joined their owner's hand on the ground, slowly dissipating as their spiritual structure broke apart.
"Scathach?'' Gudako didn't have to say anything further as the Chaldean Caster began attending to Nursery Rhyme without any delay.
"Wait. How did she know?'' Chloe asked Rhyme in a daze.
"Know what?''
"About Miyu.''
"Who knows, maybe it was from you,'' Rhyme shrugged, apparently more upset at the large rip in her dress than her rune-Healed internal trauma. "Maybe a grudge followed you in?''
"No she wouldn't... she was my friend... but she said, but she said,'' Chloe mumbled to herself in confusion. "You must be lying.''
"Shut up with that,'' Gudao snapped reflexively, hoping that Kiyohime was not close enough to hear that. Which, given the Berserker had Servant-level hearing was never going to happen.
"Huh? No, she wasn't lying,'' Kiyohime replied simply.
"But she said that-''
"Um, you might not know this, but Jack constantly says stuff like that. Look, she clearly didn't recognize you, she was just saying whatever until getting close enough to you know, shank you,'' Rhyme explained patiently.
"But how did she know what happened when I have no idea myself?!'' Chloe insisted.
"Jack doesn't know anything, she-or-he is always talking about being abandoned or the like. Trust me, I've heard a lot of it come out with no context at all. Whatever you think it meant is literally only in your own perception.''
"Who even is Jack the Ripper?'' Gudako asked, shaking her head for some reason. "Ah damnit, I can't even remember what just happened. Really, that (Information Erasure) is pretty powerful stuff.''
"It's very hard to say. As your Caster seems to know by that book she's writing in, the way to overcome this is use some sort of external record after the fact; that Skill is some sort of passive anti-memory (in many ways) that has to do with things interacting with her.'' As if for her own demonstration, Rhyme took out what looked like a book of, appropriately enough, nursery rhymes, and opened it to a seemingly random page. "But that doesn't mean you'll get a clear answer, especially if there isn't one.''
"Ah,'' Gudao recalled after thinking though Rhyme's riddle-like explanation. "Jack the Ripper isn't well-defined in terms of record, even on the Throne, said our Ruler. Um, not Martha here, I was referring to Sasaku, you remember her.''
"I do. An interesting one.''
"I'm afraid she has a very negative impression of you now,'' Gudako frowned. "Not entirely un-understandable.''
"I'm afraid she would,'' Rhyme said dryly, flipping through her book, though if it was with purpose or not was completely opaque.
"Don't suppose you have a reasonable explanation?'' Gudao offered doubtfully.
"Would you even listen to it?''
"Sure, just remember that Kiyohime goes ballistic if people lie where she can hear it,'' Martha reminded her.
"Do we really need to do this now?'' Shiki asked the Masters.
"I'm also studying this key Fou found for us,'' Scathach said without looking up from the key item in question. "Wouldn't want it so be some sort of booby trap by the perpetrator, after all.''
"Good point; hadn't thought of that,'' Shiki admitted.
"So basically that's about my best guess,'' Rhyme concluded her self-identified speculative analysis. "As to if it's actually possible to separate out the different components of `the Ripper' legend, who knows. At least I'd say it's more possible in the current situation than with the full Common Sense of Man at work''.
"Is that the basis of your plan to `kill' those daggers-Noble Phantasm?'' Shiki asked.
"Temporary at best,'' Rhyme corrected her. "As is, any newly summoned Jack will have the full set; while we'll only confirm that next time,I highly doubt it's even possible to fix in place a version of them without some sort of weapon. But I've reached the point where it's pretty certain observation and subtlety can't solve this puzzle.''
"Well I'm already impressed that you can stay within arms reach and avoid getting stabbed,'' Scathach said. "Unless maybe you know something specific we don't.''
"Jack has a hangup on `mothers'; yes, it's a bit odd since if you look it up the primary conceptual tag is simply Female but anyways; they may still be incredibly lethal, but if you don't get hit, it doesn't matter that much,'' she explained casually.
"But you did get hit,'' Gudao pointed out.
"Can't you tell off my True Name? This body isn't what you'd call my true form. As a result, Jack might have been able to harm it, but it is not me, so the process is more like repairing a broken item rather than healing a Servant's Spiritual Core.''
"Since you brought it up, are you based on a person, or like literally nursery rhymes?'' Gudako's curiosity on the topic couldn't wait any longer.
"Do you have any anyone analogous... let me recall: you had a Saber in London, yes? Not that there are no Sasaki Kojirou's who lived, but not where you come from, and hence you summoned a fictional character with the Grail providing the needed person-part from a swordsman it had handy.''
"So you're a now-nameless girl who made a good fit with the admittedly abstract classification of nursery rhymes?'' Chloe asked doubtfully. Not because she thought it was a lie in the strict sense, but rather just nonsensical even if the World apparently thought otherwise.
"My growth was a bit more natural, over many cycles of Holy Grail Wars with the same Master. Multiple branches, you understand.''
Chloe nodded. "So you managed to retain your memories of all of those Wars? That's a pretty rough experience...''
"Well I haven't had it as bad your namesake's nameless husband, though I do know none of my Mooncell Masters survived their Wars. Like I said, I grew but I don't have the memories that caused me to develop in that way. It was one of my last Masters, actually, that realized how to break the cycle.''
"This should be good...'' Martha said in a somewhat bored tone.
"Long story short, she said that I wasn't 'playable' in the Mooncell. Although I now know that some versions of her are in charge of the Mooncell, none of the ones who contracted with me did. But as it stands, some of the successful ones eventually figured out how to get me summoned elsewhere. Not here specifically, but Grail Wars outside of the moon.''
"Mhm.'' Gudako was mentally taking notes of this for later analysis by those like da Vinci and Anaz who might be more familiar with the whole Servant generation process. "So if I'm speculating right, Jack is in a similar position?''
"Unfortunately, Jack doesn't have the benefit of a stable contract like a Master can provide. Or the sort of record-keeping Skill to retain the information afterwards. As far as I can see it, the only long-term solutions are the very unappealing Mooncell, or indeed: Chaldea. Otherwise, in any single manifestation whatever I can do is simply lost when that particular summoning ends.''
"Hold up a moment,'' Chloe suddenly realized something critical. "Right now, do you look like that Mooncell Master you mentioned last?''
"Er, yes.''
"You recognize her?'' Gudako asked immediately.
"I should have - I killed a Master like that back in your parents' War. Was a bit busy bleeding out at the time though, don't remember the details. Didn't the nameless version of Emiya basically say something like that? Well if it was like that, I'm glad she didn't hold a grudge over it.''
"Assuming an Archer like yourself wouldn't mistake a face, that's more evidence for her being rather special, probably thanks to linking with the Mooncell Grail, or something similar.''
l
Notes:
The event Chloe was referring to was during the final battle of Another Aria (Chap 68: Unwelcome Guests). She spotted Hakonon from some ways away and killed her with an exploding Caladbolg. In GA (Chap 27: Demon's Invitation) is where you'll find Nameless mention Hakunon getting blown up in the AA battle. Even if they can now put a face to the person involved, they never met or properly interacted with her/him, only the likes of their Servants (Robin Hood, Nameless, Elizabeth).
FYI, in FGO, as an early-implementation Servant, Nursery Rhyme is `Female' and `Humanoid' in her first ascension (the book form) but as the trait `Child Servant' was added much later (it isn't in NA yet, so many years after her initial playable appearance) it is applied more selectively; her book form is not a Child Servant, only her forms that look like a child.