Fumble Order Redux 2

I across from Olga at a cafe table, my fingers drumming against the table as I quietly tried to keep from retching.

Assassin was encroaching on our location.

A killer who took up the title of Old Man of the Mountain, and devised a killing technique to prove themselves worthy of succeeding the order of the Hashashin.

The taste of bile lingered at the back of my throat as I tried present a calm facade, even with Mash, Jalis, and Scheherazade hovering near me protectively.

I couldn't do anything about the situation.

I was just a normal person who had somehow fallen into Chaldea's operational floor just after Lev's bombs had gone off. I was lucky enough that Ritsuka had chosen to save me from being crushed under rubble at the cost of her own health.

My thumb pulled over my index finger, pulling hard and causing the knuckle to crack. Even as it traveled down the line of my digits, I couldn't quell the sickness in my stomach.

"Cut that out, it won't help."

My gaze snapped up to Olga, the Director of Chaldea sitting across from me with her arms crossed and her eyes cracked open. I took a deep breath before retorting, "Not like anything else I do will help either."

"Complaining certainly won't help," She shot back, an eyebrow quirked as she leaned back in her seat. She wasn't wrong, but at the same time…

I bit back a curse as I replied, "Sure, you're right, but what am I good for? I'm just a battery for Mash and Scheherazade and a target for Assassin."

"At least you can summon a Servant, whereas I'm just stuck throwing Gandr curses at the small fry that attack us," The director huffed, waving a hand through the air as if that was some small contribution. She took out more of the dead with those than I did with the crowbar I'd picked up.

Slamming my balled fist down on the table, I snarled, "Still more than I did! Still more than I can do! I'm just- Just another person! An average person! That redhead would have been a better choice than me!"

"Well you're here, not her! Besides, you probably have about the same chances of succeeding as she did…" Even as she huffed the last part, I'd surged to my feet.

I was about to shout at her when a soft voice interrupted, "Master, please, this is nary the time nor the place for such a discussion."

My gaze swerved to Scheherazade, the Caster standing deferentially behind me, her eyes averted. I stayed standing, tempted to just walk away from this situation but folded back into my seat. I scrubbed a hand through my hair, but my agitation was forced aside by Olga.

"How did you know the identities of the Servants?"

The director was staring at me, ruby eyes boring holes in my forehead, her grimace a sign of her own annoyance. Her arms were crossed and she was leaning against the back of her chair as she regarded me like something offensive.

She was certainly justified in asking, but actually answering her question…

I had no way of knowing if Goetia was listening in, and spilling the beans could be disastrous if he was. Then again, I couldn't just leave her in the dark, especially considering the situation at hand…

A heavy sigh escaped me as I measured my words, after a moment of thought, I answered her, "This singularity is a warped mirror of the the fifth Fuyuki Grail War. While most of the Servants are the same, there are some discrepancies as well as some of them being different classes."

Clearly unamused, her eyes narrowed as she retorted, "There was only one-"

"Only one Grail War in this world," I agreed, hoping that she'd caught my emphasis without me needing to explain further. Her eyes widened, but she held back from asking anything aloud despite her returned grimace.

Rather than press on the matter, Olga inquired, "Then, tell me about this Assassin."

"The Assassin summoned in that war, the true one, was one of the Hassan-i-Sabbah. In this case, it's the Hassan of the Cursed Arm," I explained, drifting back into my memories of the Servant in question. I saw Olga's eyebrow quirk upward when I mentioned Cursed Arm being the true Assassin, but as I she didn't comment, I continued. "He has two main threats, his use of throwing dirks and his Noble Phantasm."

Bringing my hand up to rub at my chest above my heart, I grit my teeth.

"He wields the Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat. With it, he creates a clump of ether that mirrors the target's heart, such that when he crushes the fake, it destroys the real one. The upside is that he needs to touch the target's chest in order to inflict it upon them."

Mash shifted her position to stand between our table and what she seemed to think was the closest point for Cursed Arm to attack us from. Not paying attention to the Shielder, Olga nodded, her Director persona taking over as asked, "And those are the only ways he can threaten us?"

"Directly at least, otherwise, the danger comes from his nature as an Assassin as that is what allows him to approach without our noticing," Answering her, I cast my gaze about, trying to find the Assassin. I did technically have another angle of trying to stall him, but it wasn't likely to stop him if he had been Blackened.

Would he care for Rushd while Blackened?

I leaned forward and sighed into my hands, what a nightmare I had been dragged into. Olga cleared her throat, and continued, "What about the others then? Archer, Saber, and Berserker?"

"Berserker's the worst match up for us at any point while we're here in the Singularity, given that he's the Mad Son of Zeus. If he has his Godhand still, then we have absolutely no chance with our current forces. I dunno about you, but Herakles isn't on my list of people to fuck with today," I grumbled as I fought back a shudder, the mere idea of fighting Herakles was enough to give me conniptions.

The director's eyes narrowed, and she inquired, "What's the Godhand then? Some sort of Noble Phantasm?"

"Mhm, based off his Twelve Labors. Basically, he has twelve lives that we would need to burn through and can't be killed by anything except an attack of A rank or higher. On top of that, after being killed by such an attack, he gains a resistance to it." My explanation probably wasn't the best, but at least I wasn't word salading all over the place like I thought I would.

At my side, Scheherazade shuddered, whether it was from the idea of us trying to fight Herk, I wasn't sure. Still, she kept quiet, even as she continued to listen in.

Rather than continue on with Berserker, I switched tacks. "Archer's a problem due to the fact that he's got a nigh limitless stock of Noble Phantasms that he can break and launch at us. No real weaknesses or anything like that, our best bet would be to find a way to sneak around him and take him out… except for the fact that he set up shop on top of Mount Enzo."

"Which means that while you and I could climb up the sides to assault him, the Servants wouldn't be able to follow us," She murmured as she fell into her own considerations on how to deal with Emiya. I didn't quite know whether or not Olga would be able to travel up the side of the mountain given her current state, but my thoughts were cut off by her. "Then, what about Saber? Seeing as she's the lynchpin of this mess as well as the one who defeated all the others, I assume that there's something special about her?"

Before I could answer, Caster interrupted, "Master mentioned something about a tyrant version of King Arthur earlier, I assume that's the Saber in question?"

"Yeah, that'd be the one. I don't know if she was summoned naturally in her Altered state, or if she was somehow forced into it upon claiming the Grail. However, what we can know for sure is that she's completely unrestrained in every manner, being perfectly willing to thrash us with the full extent of her power," I almost laughed as I went over Saber Alter's specs in my mind. The prospect was just so grim, who would call being forced to fight King Arthur going ham with only a shitty Master, a ghost, two proper Servants, and one Demiservant who can't use her Noble Phantasm the least bit fair?

Leaning back in my seat in an attempt to try and calm down, I murmured, "Honestly, our best bet would be to try and force Berserker and Saber into conflict, but with Berserker stuck in a rampage without a tempering element like Illya…sviel…"

My eyes turned to the Director, her silky white hair and her pale complexion, she eyed me curiously in return, somewhat apprehensive. I got ready to ask her a question but stopped short, it wasn't exactly the most… sane of requests.

I'll be the first to admit, it was a frankly crazy idea, an undertaking of utter madness.

On the other hand, it would help take care of Berserker while distracting Saber…

"Well, if we could force Berserker and Saber to fight one another, then we could have the former delay the other while we prepare to deal with Saber," I remarked, trying to act casual before springing the plan on her.

Across from me, Olga sighed harshly, "What are you thinking?"

"Well… We'd need Cas-er, Cu here to clarify if I'm correct, but given that Berserker's patrolling the forest territory owned by the Einzberns and my own knowledge of this War, we can labour under the assumption that Berserker's master was Illyasviel von Einzbern. His behaviour is… aberrant for an unshackled Berserker, and given my own knowledge of the two, well, Berserker is very fond of his lost Master." Olga nodded along with my explanation, clearly understanding the underlying meaning behind the words. Both Scheherazade and Mash were intrigued by groundwork I was laying down, at least it seemed that way from the way that they were paying more attention to the conversation. "Thus, if were to have at least a close approximation of his Master, we could probably lure him toward Saber's location."

"Well, it seems we've something akin to a plan, but how are we going to create something that will fool Berserker? It's inadvisable for any of us to try and get close enough to him to try and capture him in an illusion, nor do we have a master of disguise," The Director replied, citing points that I was all too willing to concede.

"Well, we have Scheherazade here, and she can summon the magic carpet from the tale of Aladdin, which would solve our speed and transportation problem. As for fooling Berserker…" I trailed off, having to steel myself as I prepared to drop the key part of the plan to her.

"…Well, it's a good thing we're in a mall, because we have to get you some purple winter clothes."

Olga froze, her eyes shooting wide as she processed my reply, then she ever so slowly put her head in her hands. After a moment, she groaned, "This is a terrible idea."

"I know, but it's all we really have."

My less than supportive answer caused the Director to groan again, but she did pull her face out of her hands, her face set in resignation. She declared emotionlessly, "If this plan doesn't work, I'm docking your pay."

"Director, I literally dropped into the operations room from Canada, you currently aren't paying me anything," I pointed out quietly, flinching somewhat under her dead stare.

She sniffed, "Then your pay will start at the lowest Chaldea has, and it'll start docked as well."

Left unsaid was the fact that if the plan failed, we would both likely be dead.

{~}{~}

Touring the third boutique in the mall that we'd come to, I held the coat that was the right size and make to fit with the image of Illya, studying it idly when a thought occurred to me. We had no real idea as to how the Servants here were Blackened, beyond that Saber Alter had been the cause. The thought niggled in the back of my mind as Olga studied a number of bucket shaped caps, all of them in shades of purple.

How had all of this happened?

Even if Goetia introduced an extra Grail to this setting, it wouldn't automatically cause all this chaos. We knew what the gun was, and who pulled the trigger, we just didn't know what the trigger was.

"Blackmore, why are you frowning like that? If you've remembered something about Berserker that would render this plan moot…" The Director's inquiry cut through my thoughts, bringing me back to the issue at hand.

I shook my head, and replied, "No, nothing like that. I was just thinking about the source of the Blackening, and how it doesn't make sense while we're missing one key piece of information." With a dramatic flourish, I raised a finger to illustrate my point and feed my inner drama queen.

"What caused Saber to become her Altered version?"

Olga blinked at me, her confusion evident, but it was Mash who spoke, asking, "Does that really matter, Master?"

"Well, look at it like this, Mash: if, in a book, the protagonist and some key figure talked about something that was necessary to solve the conflict, but never showed the acquisition or development of this something, but still pulled it out in the final battle, then the story falls apart." Basic narrative framing helped me get things down, hopefully it'll help here. The confusion lightened, though it was still present, so I continued, "Now, in our situation, the issue is that without knowing just what caused Artoria to be Altered in the first place, we've no way to deal with it should it become an issue."

As realization dawned on the Demi-Servant's face, the Director inquired, "Given your apparent familiarity with this War, I assume you've a theory?"

"Two that hold water, one that's a hard maybe, and then a few percolating that are probably just rubbish," Though I said that, there's the chance that Goetia simply forced Artoria into an Altered state through Lev, something that Olga would definitely not be inclined to hear.

"And?"

At the Director's inquiry, I laid out the basics, "Well, in the case of this Grail War, it's the fifth Fuyuki Grail War, with the three main families competing being the Matous -formerly the Makiris-, the Tohsakas, and the Einzberns. The real crux behind my idea comes from a certain turning point in the third instance of this variety of war, where the Einzberns summoned an Extra class Servant."

"We're to assume that Extra Servants are rare, Master?" Scheherazade questioned quietly, her low tones ringing lowly in my ears.

"That is… well, somewhat. The actual issue is the Servant they summoned, a nameless Heroic Spirit in the Avenger class, whose sole claim to fame was having the blame for all the evils of the world forced upon him," A frown settled on my features as I explained the circumstances behind the first Avenger and the other likely cause of the Blackening. "However, he was utterly weak, a Servant who was crushed almost instantaneously and his essence emptied into the Greater Grail.

"That's the real issue though, his grudge against humanity and the world, against everything, was so great and terrible that when he joined with the Greater Grail, he corrupted it. No longer was the Greater Grail a pure wish granting device, but a Monkey's Paw incubating All the Evils of the World." With a flourish, I swept an arm out and smiled cynically, unable to keep the the disgusted tone from my voice as I declared, "Come now, and make a wish, let Angra Mainyu grant it! You want to be the most beautiful person in the world? Let's maim everyone!"

I took a moment to study the others, see just how they were taking the revelation of the Fuyuki Grail's circumstances, and wasn't disappointed. Olga looked to be trying to keep the relief from her own expression, but it was obvious that she was glad that the Grail her father had won hadn't been compromised. Mash was pensive, seemingly trying to put together just how everything got to this point. Jalis was silent and studying the surroundings, seemingly not listening at all.

And Scheherazade was contemplative, her gaze far away, presumably considering her own desire to be free of the Throne of Heroes, and being summoned to fight to the death.

"The thing is, the Greater Grail can't really do more than manifest without someone making a wish upon it, though that manifestation is just as bad." Continuing on with the absolutely lovely tale of the Fuyuki Grail, I stepped down the aisle and idly checked out the clothes there. Pulling at the sleeve of a plum shirt that looked to be the right cut and shade, I declared, "It unleashes a mud, laden with curses and hate, enough that it can twist the Saint Graph of Heroic Spirits that come into contact with it if they aren't able to resist its twisted power."

With a step to the end of the aisle, I knocked lightly on a bland cap that didn't match what we were looking for at all. Poking at another, I felt my face twist as I murmured, "In a variation of this Grail War, the curses managed to capture and consume a number of the Servants, with there being similarities here in the form of Saber Alter. The issue is that we've seen no evidence of the trigger in that War."

"So, the issue is that we've no way of knowing if the Singularity could relapse or reform after we take care of it without taking care of this trigger of yours," Olga surmised as she browsed the racks for anything that fit the description I'd given of Illya's outfit.

It was honestly more likely that Lev had simply interfered on his own and Altered Saber, but without him coming forward to reveal that fact, my word would be discarded in his favour. I went to answer when my words caught in my throat.

I was going to die.

The air in my throat crackled into a croak, my eyes widened painfully as I tried to move.

From the corner of my eye, the corrupted Cursed Arm Hassan manifested physically, a dirk stabbing through the air at my neck.