FATE/LÚNASA FÓMHAR

"August Harvest"

Chapter 10: Class Change

Back inside the cabin, Mini-Cu woke up and realized he was lying on his side on the floor, with the cooling blanket haphazardly draped over him. He shoved it aside before causing the doll to glow red, and Cuchulainn Alter re-emerged in proper Servant form. After stretching for a moment, he glanced down at the chair which Connla had been resting in previously. Since he had been fast asleep for most of the day, he failed to hear her wake up and depart earlier that evening.

"Wonder where she took off to," he mumbled to himself and investigated the technologically advanced cottage. He looked in every room carefully, but couldn't find her anywhere. He grew increasingly concerned as he heard the fierce pitter-patter of rain slamming against the metallic walls outside. He actually didn't spot any of the other Servants either, so he had no idea where everyone was.

Soon though, Cuchulainn heard the door whir open followed by multiple pairs of harried footsteps barging into the front room. Then he heard Cuchulainn Prototype bark aloud, "Whew, that was some freak storm!"

"I'll go get some towels so we can dry off," Boudica offered as she set a large basket of wild berries on the table and headed for the washroom.

Emiya ran his fingers through his damp hair and grumbled, "Damn it. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have asked Da Vinci to make us some kind of weather forecasting device."

"It's still very strange though," Jing Ke pondered, having sobered up since the afternoon's events. "I have seen plenty of storms, whether it was alive or as a Servant, and never have I seen clouds roll in so quickly."

Nightingale nodded. "Agreed. No matter which way you look at it, this is truly unnatural weather even for this area."

Kintoki didn't seem terribly bothered as he exclaimed, "Phew! Kinda sucks to be stuck like this, but hey, at least we'll get to watch a mighty fine show of booming thunder and searing white-hot lightning! Storm watching should always be part of any good summer memory!"

"You might be amused by such a dangerous event, but I cannot say the same for our royal patrons."

At the rear of the group, Mata Hari and Nitocris were already drying off Gilgamesh and Ozymandias respectively, and both kings looked incredibly grumpy. Neither of them wanted to share in Kintoki's exuberance after being so rudely drenched by terrible amounts of rain. The others were afraid that if they said even the most innocent thing to them, they would wind up being victim to either Gate of Babylon or Ramesseum Tentyris in a heartbeat. Thus, everyone other than Mata Hari and Nitocris maintained their distance and opted to wait until the kings' collective moods improved before attempting to speak with them.

Cuchulainn Alter stared at everyone for a bit, then asked, "Where the hell were all of you gone?"

"Just went out to scavenge for food," Emiya told him. "Proto, Kintoki and I took care of the hunting, Nightingale and Jing Ke portioned the meat, while Boudica and Mata Hari picked a bunch of fruit. The three royals just stood around and did nothing, but that's to be expected."

"Never thought I'd find a different use for my knife than killing," Jing Ke grinned as she set the meat inside the large walk-in fridge. "Perhaps I should pursue a career in butchery?"

"That'd be a good idea. With your skills, you'd make for an excellent addition to the galley."

"Like I give a shit about any of that," Alter muttered, then asked everyone, "Have any of you seen Connla around?"

Proto raised an eyebrow. "She's not with you? Nightingale said you were looking after her."

"I guess she ran off somewhere while I was taking my nap."

"Good grief, man, how much sleep do you need anyway? Don't tell me you slept through those massive tsunamis that crashed nearby."

"So what if I did? That still doesn't answer my question."

"Tch. Lazy bastard. Well I can tell you that she didn't come with any of us."

Boudica returned with some towels, and she happened to overhear the conversation. Her expression became one of concern as she wondered, "Connla's not here either?"

"'Either'? What do you mean?" Kintoki asked.

"I don't see Nursery or Jack anywhere at all. If they knew this storm was coming, they would have rushed back here immediately."

"Last I checked, they were still playing at the beach. Maybe Connla went to see them while we were out?"

"Hey, are you kidding me!?" Nightingale barked, appearing increasingly incredulous over what she was hearing. "Where on earth could the children have run off to during such a vicious storm!? I refuse to stand here and flap my jaw when I could be out searching for them!"

She attempted to run back outside, but Jing Ke wrapped her arms beneath Nightingale's armpits and shouted, "Are you insane!? If you go back out there now, the wind is going to blow you away!"

"I don't care! I'm going find them come hell or high water!"

"Gh! S-Stop it already-!" the assassin grunted, unable to restrain the nurse much longer. Suddenly, Nightingale exhaled a loud sigh and slumped to the ground, clearly unconscious for some reason.

"Oh, do pardon me," Mata Hari apologized in her cheerful tone as she gracefully stood on one foot. "I figured I should do something to stop her, so I sort of smashed my heel into her gut. Hopefully that was enough to calm her down."

Gilgamesh chuckled. "I will admit, watching the woman flounder about hopelessly in such torrential weather would have made for quite the spectacle, but even I know how pointless her struggling would have been. As I do not care for my subjects to waste their energy on fruitless endeavors, your concussive convincing has proven to be most satisfactory, Courtesan of Espionage."

"I am obliged to agree with both the lady spy's initiative and the would-be assassin's assertion about this storm being unnatural," Ozymandias said. "Did you feel it as well, Golden King? The turbulent sensation of excess mana swirling around us like a typhoon?"

"I was wondering when you would bring that point up, Sun King. I was beginning to fear that your senses had grown dull in this ludicrously bland modern era."

"Ha ha ha! Never! My perception of the world around me shall never falter!"

Alter interrupted them by snapping, "Glad to see you two are on the same page. Now mind filling in the rest of the class as to what the hell is going on here?"

"Hmph! It's rather simple, actually," the pharaoh replied, his broad smile refusing to settle despite the gloomy situation they were in. "Due to our higher Divinity, the Golden King and I can detect when there are unnatural patterns in the flow of mana, which can then potentially cause weather disturbances like this one. What we have been thrust into is a genuine anomaly. In other words, there is an external factor causing the mana lingering throughout all of Okeanos to spiral out of control."

Emiya narrowed his eyes and asked, "Could it be a residual effect of the Third Singularity? Or is this a new incident that needs to be resolved?"

"I cannot ascertain the answer at this time, but I assure you that we are experiencing a most bizarre event that world history will never come to record."

"So this is all one big unknown…"

"Never mind that!" Proto shouted angrily and thrust his arm out. "The kids! What about the kids!? They're still out there, you know!"

Boudica added, "That's right! If we don't do something, they could be-!"

"Silence!" Nitocris commanded. "I will not tolerate any interruption to Lord Ozymandias' judgment!"

The pharaoh then remarked, "Calm yourself, Nitocris. Regardless of my stature, I can appreciate their sentiments for the younger Servants. However, I demand that none of you venture outside at this time. Not even I can guarantee if this storm will intensify in viciousness, nor how long it will last. My intuition dictates that if any of us were foolish enough to expose ourselves to the elements while fully understanding the dangers, I am certain it would lead to unnecessary casualties."

"Man, who died and made you god?" Kintoki grumbled.

"I already am a god in human form. Inquiring such things is the summit of-"

"I don't care what anyone says! I'm going out there and looking for them!"

"Aw man, not you too," Jing Ke groaned and smacked her forehead.

"Oh my," Mata Hari crooned, and her smile had a hint of impishness to it as she blocked the blonde Berserker's path to the entrance. "Then would you like your solar plexus to experience the full brunt of my strongest kick as well, Mr. Golden Hero?"

He grunted in dismay. Mata Hari continued, "There's no need to be hasty. Yes, I'm worried for the children as well, but we need to be reasonable. We only made it back here because the storm had not gotten so severe yet. Even while standing here, the winds have become so violent that they could scoop up an 18-wheel truck no problem. We're just lucky Da Vinci made this cabin to be sturdy enough to survive even record-breaking tornadoes. Those are the only reasons we're all still alive."

"Well yeah, but those three…"

"I trust them. If anything, I think they're hiding in some other safe place and waiting things out. They're not stupid enough to run around aimlessly during a storm like this."

Gilgamesh grinned. "Looks like the spy's intuition has struck a nerve, golden mongrel. I, for one, will not expose myself to certain death like that when there are other methods for getting in contact with them."

"Really? How?" Boudica asked him.

"Before we departed, I commissioned Da Vinci to have the runt carry a small transceiver with her at all times. Due to her extraordinarily poor Luck stats, she has a bad habit of getting herself into some terribly unfortunate situations, and since the runt is my personal retainer, such consistent ill fortune would prove most inconvenient for me. Alas, it would appear my judgment for my servant's safety was once again impeccable. Honestly, the runt must have some common bond with the likes of Odysseus or Karna, constantly being shoved beneath the overbearing heel of fate."

Alter muttered, "You're saying you have a way of contacting Connla? Why couldn't you just get to the point already?"

"All of my words carry immeasurable weight, mad mongrel. You would be wise to listen to me instead of blotting out what you think is unimportant."

"If you like yapping so much, then tell me this – why haven't you tried contacting her yet?"

Gilgamesh glared at Alter for a moment. Then he folded his arms and retorted, "You think I haven't made any attempts?"

"Wha-?"

"Even as we speak, I am sending a signal to the runt, waiting most impatiently for her to respond. The fact that she has not answered means one of two things; she either lost her transmitter, or she simply cannot reply for whatever reason."

"Cannot reply…" Alter breathed in shock. He didn't want to imagine what that could possibly mean.

"Unlike you, who sleeps on his duty of guarding his child, I possess the foresight necessary to counter the runt's misfortunes."

"…"

"If you understand this, then I suggest you spare me your enmity and leave me to continue my efforts at contacting her in peace," Gilgamesh crudely told him off and stepped into the room he chose to rest in for the night. Alter could only stand there and lower his head in shame, knowing fully well that the king was correct in his bold assertion.

Connla had completely blacked out right after the tsunami hit her, Nursery and Jack. The next thing she knew, she was lying on her side in a field of grass. The distinct scent of apples and cinnamon stirred her senses awake, and she gradually opened her eyes.

"Geal!" she heard her own voice cry out in surprise.

"Eh?" Connla looked up and found Cliste, her mysterious otherworldly counterpart, kneeling over her.

"Thank goodness you're up. I was fearing that I had rescued you too late."

"What's going on?" the Chaldean Connla wondered and looked around, realizing she was back in Cliste's Reality Marble inside the Kaleidoscope. "Why am I here?"

"You don't remember? You and your friends were washed away by a huge tidal wave."

"Oh yeah… I can't recall much, other than seeing that huge wall of water."

"I sensed that something was happening with you and decided to 'tune in' to your subconscious mind to see what was going on," Cliste explained, then shook her head. "All I could tell was that all three of you were deep underwater, completely at the mercy of the currents. But then, something weird happened to you."

"Something weird?"

"Yeah. I can't really tell you what though. I just saw this brilliant flash of light overcome you, and then I was immediately ejected from your mind."

"A light, huh?" Connla murmured in contemplation.

"Do you know anything, Geal?" Cliste asked worriedly.

"No idea. Maybe Jack or Nursery would know more. But then, what am I doing here? Why did you say you 'rescued' me if you were suddenly forced out of my mind?"

"Well, I wasn't sure what was happening with your body, but I knew right away that such a traumatic event would cause your cranial Runes to trigger another Imbas Forosnai dream. As you were falling towards another world, I reached out and caught you, then brought you here and waited for you to regain consciousness."

Connla widened her eyes in surprise. "Really? Why would you go through so much trouble for me?"

The girl in the hooded poncho pouted and retorted, "Isn't it obvious? This is no time to be lying around and dreaming. Something major is happening to you, and you need to resolve it right away."

The Lancer shakily stood up and stared at the section of the sky where her world was located. She exhaled a sigh, then murmured, "Something major, hm? I suppose my bad luck has come back to haunt me once more."

"Enough of that. If you have the energy to mope, then you should instead go back and check things out."

"Yes, you're right. I feel bad for having to leave you so suddenly, but it looks like the situation is dire on my end."

"Don't worry about it. I'll maintain my connection with you and watch what's happening too. It'll be like I'm right there with you," Cliste smiled and nodded. Her jovial attitude quickly turned to confusion as she added, "By the way, I'm not sure if this will mean anything when you wake up, but I sensed something strange happen to your Spirit Origin."

Connla raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"It's hard to say. Of all our other selves I've witnessed, I've never seen this happen before. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say that your Spirit Origin had transformed, or something like that. Maybe the mystery light that surrounded you was responsible. Again, I don't know if that's meaningful or anything, but take a second look at your Spirit Origin when you get back."

"Will do," the Chaldean Servant acknowledged, and then hopped off the edge of the island to fly back to her own unconscious body.

A few minutes later, Connla felt herself return to her world, and she woke up once more. This time, she was laying on her stomach in a patch of wet sand. She heard numerous droplets of water trickle and drip into puddles scattered all around her, apparently falling off of stalactites from high above. A droplet slashed against her cheek, instantly rousing her to sit up and take a look around. Her eyes needed to adjust to the darkness for a bit, but once they did, she saw that she was inside a spacious cavern comprised of glowing rock shining along the walls. The ground was covered in tons of wet sand that was dotted with seashells, starfish and pebbles, along with the aforementioned deep puddles.

"Connla!" she heard Jack's voice nearby, and she glanced over to find both her and Nursery running back to her side. The child Assassin kneeled next to her friend and fervently asked, "Are you okay!? Did you hit your head or anything!? You're not bleeding anywhere!?"

"No, I'm fine," the Lancer replied. "It looks like I was the last one to come to. Do you know where we are?"

"Not a clue! We looked everywhere, but it's all the same! There's nothing but tunnels and sand everywhere!"

"Hmm…"

"Uuuh, I wanna go home," Jack suddenly began to cry. "I want Mommy to hug me and say everything's okay."

Connla put her hand on her shoulder and implored, "Calm down. Panicking is not going to accomplish anything. Our first order of business should be to figure out where we are, and see if we can make contact with anyone."

"Uuuh… But it's so big and dark and scary…"

"Not to worry!" Nursery chirped, apparently unfazed by what was going on around her. She raised her arm and chanted, "Star light, star bright, make the bad night, flee with fright!"

An orb of pure light shone in her hand and illuminated the immediate vicinity, causing the seashells and glowing walls to sparkle. The vivid sight cheered Jack up somewhat as she glanced around in wonder and exclaimed, "Wow! It's so pretty!"

"If we're going to have an adventure, we might as well have fun with it, right?" Nursery smiled.

Connla shrugged. She wanted to dismiss the Caster's cheerful idealism, but she knew she was trying to keep Jack calm. She opted to keep her blunt comments to herself and got up to investigate the area. Before she could take a step though, Jack suddenly exclaimed, "Connla, your swimsuit!"

"Hm? What about it?"

"It's completely different!"

"Eh?" the Lancer blinked and glanced down at herself. Indeed, she was not wearing the black one-piece swimsuit and Hawaiian shirt from before. Now she was garbed in a white one-piece swimsuit with gradient pink lines running down the sides, along with a vibrant pink ribbon and multicolored cloth tied around her waist. Her hair was done up in a bun and hidden beneath a frilly white cover that had an artificial sunflower attached to it. Most shocking of all though…

"Your scars!" Nursery exclaimed in abject surprise. "They're gone!"

It was true. Connla's skin was no longer mired with the numerous old injuries that Aife caused in her lifetime. Her flesh was perfectly clean and pale, almost blending in with the white swimsuit. The girl tensed up with fear and confusion as she uttered, "Wh-What's going on here? Why am I…?"

Jack glanced at Nursery and asked off-handedly, "Could it because her body glowed so bright before?"

"Maybe."

"Wait, what?" Connla yelped. "What did you say happened to my body?"

Nursery faced her and explained, "I think you passed out when the tsunami hit us, but Jack and I must have stayed awake. We tried to get you and swim out of there, but we couldn't do anything against such powerful currents. Then, all of a sudden, your entire form started to shine like a radiant sun. Somehow, you were strong enough to swim through the water like a fish, and you caught us before we were all sucked deeper underwater."

"It was like we were flushed down a toilet!" Jack added. "Even so, you created an air bubble that allowed us to breathe. The next thing we knew, we were here."

Connla could only stand there and listen to their story in dumbfounded silence. She couldn't remember doing any of that while unconscious. Then she recalled what Connla Cliste warned her earlier, and she barked, "Oh! I need to look at my Spirit Origin!"

"Huh?" Nursery asked and approached her. "Is something wrong with it?"

"I don't know. Let me see…"

Connla closed her eyes and concentrated on analyzing her Saint Graph for a moment. Then she let out an unexpected cry of shock that jolted the other girls' nerves. Jack ran up to her and asked, "What's the matter?"

"This can't be! I'm not a Lancer anymore!"

"Are you serious!?"

"I am! My class has completely changed! W-Why is this happening!?"

Now it was Nursery's turn to calm Connla down as she gripped the frantic girl's shoulders and assured, "Relax and take some deep breaths."

"Okay… Hoo haah… hoo haah…"

She took a few minutes to settle down. During this time, the Caster inspected her friend's Saint Graph. She nodded and told Jack, "It's true. I don't know what's going on, but Connla's not a Lancer."

"Then which class is she?" the Assassin wondered.

"I'm not sure. It's too bright for me to see. I think it's still in the process of changing."

"Then she can't fight for now?"

"I guess not. Until her class is fully established, we're going to have to protect her while we investigate this place."

"Hm!" Jack became increasingly determined, and her earlier anxiety vanished as she declared, "Okay then! No matter what happens, I'll keep Connla safe!"

The former Lancer lowered her head and murmured, "I'm sorry for the trouble. I'm just much too confused to focus on fighting right now."

"Don't worry. You can handle the exploring for us, right?"

"Yes. Thanks to the Nevada and Denmark Singularities, I've got plenty of experience with being thrown into unknown places. Regardless of what has happened to me, the first thing we should do is find out where we are."

Nursery became perplexed as she asked, "How are we going to do that?"

"By either making contact with someone else, or finding some kind of landmark."

"Okay, then! Let's move out!"

With their plan of action decided, the trio headed through the cavern where they believed they came from. Connla could tell which way to go due to the leftover ripples in the sand indicating where the water had pushed it from. About ten minutes later though, the walls, floor and ceiling all narrowed so much that it was impossible for them to advance any further. Connla scoured the area for a bit, then murmured, "That's odd. I'm sure there had to have been a water current come from this way."

"Maybe everything collapsed after we passed through here?" Nursery asked.

"Perhaps so. No choice but to backtrack then."

They returned to their starting point and continued deeper into the unknown caverns. The spacious hollows stretched on for at least two miles with no visible changes in sight. Jack sat down on the sand and whined, "Hey, hey, when are we gonna find a place to rest? Looking at these walls and craggy rocks is getting boring!"

"Come now, we've only been walking for an hour," Connla said. "I'm sure this cavern won't go on forever. We just need to remain vigilant and keep looking."

"But I'm so tired already!"

"Maybe you're just more waterlogged than you realize? Taking a short break might not be a bad idea."

While the two girls were talking, Nursery Rhyme ran over to a particular area of the wall and traced her fingers along the bedrock. She let out an unexpected giggle and exclaimed, "Hey, check this out!"

"What is it?" Jack asked as she and Connla joined her.

Nursery poked the wall, and it made a distinct indentation for a second before returning to normal. "Hee hee, look! It's so soft and squishy!"

"Eh? Let me see," Connla took her place and pressed her whole hand against the same spot. "You're right, it's not hard at all! I thought this was all stone, so I didn't pay much attention to it. We've been walking on thick layers of sand, so our feet haven't made contact with this stuff either."

"Then what do you think it is?"

"I don't know, other than it's not rock."

Right as Connla said this, the slimy substance started to glow a bright blue color in an X formation. The lines were thin at first, but quickly expanded in size. All of them could feel a tremendous amount of energy being emanated from this odd slashes, and the ex-Lancer screamed, "Get down!"

They immediately dove in opposite directions and crashed onto the sand moments before the wall exploded in a flurry of raw azure energy. They coughed, then glanced up to see what had happened. Smoke and sand billowed around them, and there was a human-sized hole carved out of the wall the girls were inspecting. Most surprisingly though, the silhouette of a person could be seen as they sauntered through the mess they made and casually looked around.

"Hmmm. This looks interesting," a woman's voice declared calmly. Once the dust settled, the girls saw that she was a blue-eyed, blonde-haired young lady wearing a black baseball cap that allowed both her ponytail to stick out the back, as well as a large cowlick to poke through the cap's frontside. She wore a blue muffler around her neck, a navy blue jacket, black shorts, and black lace-up boots, so she definitely was an adventurer of some sort. She wielded a long sword that shimmered a radiant azure hue, and it almost looked futuristic in nature.

"Whoa!" Jack cried out and pointed at the stranger. "Someone's coming out!"

The woman gasped when she saw the girls, then said, "At last, I have made contact! Pardon my bluntness, but do you kids know where I might find an exit?"

"Exit?"

"Hey, slow down a little!" Nursery barked. "What are you talking about!? And who are you anyway!? You nearly carved us into shreds!"

"I don't understand what you mean," the woman said. "I never intended to harm anyone with that strike. If you girls were on the opposite side of the wall when I attacked, then that's not my fault, is it?"

"Even so-!"

"Calm down, Nursery," Connla implored, then got up and asked, "Who might you be anyway, miss?"

The lady narrowed her eyes and glared intently at her for a second. Then she replied, "I go by the code name Heroine X, although many know me as Saberkiller. You can just call me X though. Anyway, I am a Servant who exists to fervently cull the ever-increasing population of Sabers that have polluted the Throne of Heroes' roster."

"Oh, so you're an Assassin?"

"No, I am a Saber among all Sabers!"

"But your Saint Graph-"

"I am a Saber! End of discussion!"

"Um… Okay," Connla murmured and thought, She must be in self-denial or something.

"Pardon me for interrupting your line of inquiry," X said, then spun her energy sword about before pointing it at the child Servant, "but it seems today's investigation has turned up a most fascinating lead."

"Really?"

"Although I have reluctantly relegated my hunt for Sabers as a secondary objective, I now can finally scratch that itch that I have been repressing for so long. My sword thirsts for the blood of a Saber, and it can finally be sated!"

"Eh?" the girl tilted her head curiously. "So, what does that have to do with me? I'm a Lancer."

"No, you are most definitely a Saber! Those daggers by your sides are proof of that!"

"What?" Connla didn't know what the bizarre Assassin was talking about until she glanced down at her waist. She failed to notice before, but attached to the vibrant ribbon belt were a pair of scabbards that sheathed twin thrusting daggers known as dirks. She wielded them in a reverse grip in both hands and stared at them in surprise. She had never seen these things before, yet they felt strangely natural in her grasp. She uttered, "So I changed to a Saber-class Servant?"

"What are you talking about? Haven't you always been one?" X demanded.

"I already told you! I'm supposed to be a Lancer!"

"Huh. How strange. So what's your True Name?"

"Erm… Well, that is… I'm sorry, but I can't tell you."

"Stubborn, aren't you? A Saber who will not divulge their name is the type of Saber I detest the most! If you really are supposed to be a hero, then tell me at once, or there will be consequences!"

"Wait, there's an explanation for-!"

"No excuses!"

"Ah!?" Connla squealed as X rushed in to strike her down. Her sword was immediately stopped when Jack leapt in and parried her attack.

"What do you think you're doing, you crazy bitch!?" the child Assassin angrily raged. "No matter who you are, you're not going to hurt my friend like that!"

The two Servants immediately got into a fierce dervish as their blades swung and thrust about. Nursery got in front of Connla and exclaimed, "Get back! You might know what your class is now, but you're still super weakened from the transformation! Jack and I will take care of this!"

"Y-Yeah…" the confused Saber whimpered and made some distance. She looked back and discovered that the area was already covered in thick mist that Jack created. This was a Bounded Field that mimicked the infamous smog of London in the 19th and 20th centuries, allowing her to fight in the cover of darkness that she was known for. Combined with her Presence Concealment and the fact that X was a female, Jack believed that she possessed an overwhelming advantage and could murder yet another woman as she did so in life.

What she didn't expect was that X was more than prepared to fight under these oppressive circumstances. Her sword shone bright in the darkness, illuminating at least the ground around her so that Jack would be unable to sneak up on her. Realizing this, Jack leapt back and hurled several black scalpels at her target. X deftly swung her sword about, and it produced a distinct buzzingsound with each swing as she battled the blades aside.

"Too weak! Compared to when I trained on the perpetually dark planet Trifas, this fog is nothing!" X declared and pursued Jack. She easily found the startled child's hiding spot and rushed in to duel her.

"Hey, no fair! I'm supposed to be the sneaky one, not you!" Jack complained as she fought back with her twin swords. "Stop moving around and let me dismember you already!"

"As if! Prepare yourself!"

Faced with no other option, Jack decided to dispel the mist and vaulted backwards. X tried to chase her again, but then she felt a strong breeze overwhelm her. Although Jack would have preferred to kill X herself, she instead used the backup strategy she had planned with Nursery before to stymie the Saber-killer. The breeze emanated from Nursery after she morphed into her book form and flipped open the pages. Colorful illusions of toys, lollipops and shortcakes popped out and assailed X like a torrent. This was her primary offensive Noble Phantasm, an otherwise nameless attack that Ritsuka dubbed Nursery Rhyme.

"Gah!?" X gasped as her back hit against the wall. "A coordinated two-pronged attack! I don't understand why, but I seem to have sustained extra damage! That should only be possible if an Archer gets a critical hit on me!"

"What an idiot you are!" Nursery cried out as she transformed back to her human body. "You're an Assassin, so of course it's going to hurt more if you take a Caster's Noble Phantasm head-on!"

"You're just as silver-tongued as the Venusian Dictator Caesar! I won't fall for your blatant lies so easily though!"

"You're even dumber than Humpty Dumpty, being so fragile yet sitting on the wall anyway!"

Just then, Jack bounced off the nearby wall and fell straight for the stunned X while shouting euphorically, "I've got you now!"

X raised her sword and blocked the incoming diving attack. Jack flailed her blades about in midair before hopping back to gain momentum and charging at her again. During their duel, Connla watched Jack's movements intently, analyzing each of her friend's movements and strikes. She got the feeling that she could do the same thing, but wasn't sure if she should intervene since she wasn't fully prepared for serious combat yet. Her body seemed to react to this as she fidgeted about to keep her nerves under control.

"What unruly children you are! You leave me with no choice!" X shouted as she pushed Jack away before raising her sword up high. They thought she was going to use her own Noble Phantasm, but sparks of electricity shot from the blade instead. The lightning was instantly attracted to the duo, and they screamed in agony as hundreds of volts coursed through their bodies. Connla gasped as she watched X approach the incapacitated girls. Then a second, black-colored sword appeared in her other hand.

"Now, darkness and light intertwine in the guise of a Saber!" X declared as she ran for Jack and Nursery, intent on slicing them into pieces.

"Ah… I can't move…" Jack whimpered.

"Me neither…" Nursery said.

X was now several feet away from them as she shouted, "Cataphract Shift! Know my noble might! EX-!"

"I won't let you!" Connla shrieked, dashing in low toward X while twirling her body so she could swing her daggers in a circular motion. X was not prepared for this assault, and wound up having her shoulder cut through. She dropped the black sword, and it fizzled out of existence. She skidded backwards and clutched her bleeding arm. She knew she could no longer use her Noble Phantasm, and Jack and Nursery had recovered enough to fend themselves should she make another attempt.

"Not bad, Saber!" X exclaimed, then raised her other arm in surrender. "This match is yours! I sincerely apologize for attacking you without any provocation beyond the nature of your Servant Class!"

"Hah… hah… hah…" Connla gasped hard, trying to recover from the adrenaline rush.

Nursery held her upright and chided, "What were you thinking!? That was much too reckless!"

"I'm sorry. But I needed to buy you guys some time while you were stunned."

"She might have given up, but stay behind us just in case."

"Mm."

X murmured to herself as she inspected Connla. After a moment, she said, "How strange. You say you're not a Saber, yet you clearly possess some sort of Divinity that allows you to fight like an expert. And that strange costume… Are you supposed to be some kind of festival dancer?"

"Not at all. I'm a warrior from Celtic myth," the confused girl admitted. "Aside from my class completely changing, we really have no idea what's going on here. We don't even know where we are."

"You mean you were just recently swallowed?"

"Yes, we were just… Wait, swallowed?"

"Yup. Swallowed."

"Uh," the three girls uttered in unison. All of them were afraid to ask what X was insinuating.

"Wow, this is going to take some time," the Assassin grumbled to herself. "Okay, I'll start at the beginning and tell you my tale so you have a better understanding of things."