(da Vinci's Workshop)
"Let me run something by you, da Vinci?" Gudao asked after dropping by her Workshop a day later to review the readings from Agesipolis - which were not particularly impressive.
"Better than speculating about Exel's next experiment for improving the Saint Quartz efficiency to three for a summoning attempt."
"That would be great if she could pull it off," the Master replied non-noncommittally. The terrible inefficiency of fabricating the crystals which were always destroyed in the ritual was the bulk of the losses involved, compared to the direct loss of magical energy (some of which was recovered, as well). "Ok, so maybe we've been wrong about our initial attempts, regardless of Tamamo Cat's bell."
"The summoning ritual is finicky at best," da Vinci retorted. "The bell is perfectly fine. Well, as long as Sasaku doesn't take it off; proof enough that Cat was onto something."
"No, that's the thing, see? She specifically said that, 'Rate-ups are a lie.' What's a rate up?"
"Rate of success? Wait, so what you're getting at is..." the Rider suddenly looked as though struggling to contain laughter.
"Do our cats come when you try calling them? Cat essentially told us to expect this, even while giving us a catalyst. At least it doesn't get destroyed like the others. Argh, that leaves the other Servant we met, so we'll need Elizabeth's autograph to try."
"She kind of offends my artistic tastes in songcraft, but very well." Looking around a number of small boxes, da Vinci opened one to check that it had the requested momento. "Come to think of it, Cat also took this picture, didn't she?"
"The only reason to not get upset at her for all these shenanigans is that Cat probably doesn't understand any of the things she does either." Gudao sighed. He liked things at least neat since squared away was often a pipe dream. For being Berserkers, Asterios and even Kiyohime were rather straight shooters.
"Speaking of shenanigans, can you tell Blackbeard that his single-shot pistols do not need to have red-dot sights on them? Just because I can make things doesn't mean they'll work for anyone else - and he's already an Archer anyway."
"I seem to remember you had an optic like that on a shotgun," the Master remarked wryly. "No, you don't have to explain, I know it could use slugs."
"And anyway I'm sticking with a staff since the default attack seems to work better when improved with one," da Vinci retorted. "Can't a girl mess around with her inventions without setting off copycats?"
"Doesn't that happen a lot with geniuses?" Gudao grinned. "Soon one of the riders will take up rollerskates, since they count as a mount for the Riding Skill?"
"Only Mary could pull off that look. Or Chloe."
(A Break Room)
"I've been wondering," Chloe asked Marie who was reading a book on Warring States history with a small absorbed frown that managed to look very cute. "Was that really the fashion in your time?"
"The dress? No. Interesting change, isn't it?" Motioning for her to sit down nearby, the Rider put her book to the side. "da Vinci thinks it's based off what people nowadays call 'idol' outfits? Though that seems to be a pretty wide classification."
"It's not actually some sort of defensive layer, is it?" The question had been on Chloe's mind since her experiences in Wyverns War Singularity. "Um, I wouldn't normally think that one could get an 'idol' keyword despite what Elizabeth said, but then a Servant can become a 'magical girl' so..."
"Ah, I think I see." Marie fell silent, thinking. "da Vinci said it was an 'invulnerable save' which basically means she couldn't figure out how the Skill works. But what did you really want to ask me?"
"... I guess you caught me out there," Chloe admitted, though she had rather obviously been reaching for a suitable topic to start off with.
"You're still young. Go ahead and ask," Marie despite behaving to match her apparent teenage years when not in her darker and more quiet moods, was nevertheless not ignorant of what had led her to such states.
"You're good at singing, aren't you?" the Archer finally asked as encouraged. "Unlike say Elizabeth who's so bad it literally harms Servants, you can even Charm with it."
"Hmm." The Rider's expression became more complicated. "That might be true for some other 'Marie Antoinette', perhaps."
"I thought you actually are at your 'prime' though?"
"If we hadn't first met due to the interference of the Dragon Witch, I might be able to sing. But as you know, the basis for such things has to be somewhat genuine."
"I don't understand. Is that also because I'm too young?" Chloe replied after a few seconds of being unable to decipher Marie's words.
"Now that's something I wouldn't have thought to hear," Marie mused. "Why exactly did you become a Heroic Spirit ?"
"I didn't. As for the original Chloe, I don't know," was the simple answer. "Even the Four Houses couldn't find out what had happened to her; probably not a legend from our branch."
"But is there a greater reason behind your particular manifestation?"
"I don't know."
"... I take back my earlier estimation; you're far too wise to be a child." Chloe just looked at her, the silence becoming uncomfortable until the Rider took up the conversation's thread again. "Why, do you think, humanity exists?"
"I don't know," Chloe replied automatically, but with a growing sense of where Marie was headed with that line of questioning.
"Fair enough. What happens if humanity in a single branch is wiped out? Pick any cause."
"Oh, I know that one. The World will prune that particular branch."
"So you do know why humanity exists, then," Marie's amusement was growing for some reason.
"But I only said why it won't not exist? Oh." Chloe put the two pieces together. "The reason we don't not exist is the World. But we don't know why the World cares about humanity."
"It isn't a person, it doesn't 'care' in any human sense," Marie shrugged. "Near or distant as the gods have been through history, the World lacks prophets or a holy word to tell us what it wants. Do you know what the course of history looks like from the Throne that touches upon all times?"
"I doubt you would while manifested."
"True." She relaxed somewhat, easy smile reappearing. "But the details don't matter much because it doesn't matter much. That's why I don't sing. Now leave me to my book."
Chloe looked skeptically at the item in question, since a history about an era of bloody conflict hardly made for light reading. "Ok." Rather than pursue the matter, she decided to take the unsubtle hint as a sign that Marie was actually becoming more, not less, agitated. "Thanks." She stood up to take her leave.
"I do like it here," Marie said abruptly. "Artoria and I disagree on many things, but that's probably because of our different experiences. Hmm, you too have a relationship to Emiya Kiritsugu; he must be a very interesting man. Unfortunately modern era humans apparently don't enter into the Throne much."
"I wouldn't write him off just yet," Chloe surprised the two of them by that reply. "Um well, I'm here after all. Without being a Heroic Spirit."
"Not being recorded on the Throne might be a plus, who knows?"
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(Summoning Chamber)
"I want to point out that we don't have the likes of that Nero to counteract Elizabeth's proclivities," Sasaku protested when Gudao presented her with the Servant's autograph from the previous Event.
"We'll survive," the Master said with conviction but not much enthusiasm. "At least her power level will be limited in Chaldea proper."
Seeing that they were now committed to at least try, the Ruler began loading the ritual-required four Saint Quartz. Everything being ready besides for that and the following steps, the room was silent except for the sound of Tamamo Cat's bell whenever its current wearer moved.
"... I guess it's the moment of truth," she concluded finally after the last crystal had been loaded and confirmed secured by the support team. Gudao simply nodded, stepping back for a bit of distance as Sasaku quickly transformed to gain the associated protection.
Ruby fluttered over to take a look at the autograph laid on the edge of the summoning circle. "I hope it can survive this," the wand commented.
"It won't," Gudao told it. "These things only really have one chance to work, if they even make it across from a Singularity or Event. So if Elizabeth really wants in, she better do it now or be left hanging for whoever knows how long."
"I'm going to start !" Sasaku raised her voice so the others could hear. After a slow countdown, she triggered the ritual to begin with the same Vault-shaking explosion as previously.
"Trick or treat!" A very familiar voice rang out even before the usual flash of a successful summoning had faded. Someone might have sighed upon hearing a familiar unbridled enthusiasm, or perhaps it was just the air rushing about as currents of magical energy were flushed out of the magic circle system.
"There's no need for introductions, right? Demoness Elisabeth Báthory. In response to your passionate support, I have been summoned in my best dress !" Now clearly visible and identifiable as Elizabeth, the new Servant, her words notwithstanding, introduced herself with aplomb to cheers from Ruby who had been flung back during the summoning and was making its way back to Sasaku.
"Welcome to Chaldea," Gudao began, looking with some doubt at the large, almost prop-like, trident in her hand. "Sorry to interrupt, but what class do you happen to be?"
"Can't you guess?" Taking this as a prompt to show off, she began twirling the weapon like it was a staff. "Technically I'm a Lancer, but obviously my true, secret Class is Idol."
The Master motioned for her to join him near the rear wall as Sasaku shrugged and began loading the second set of crystals. Generally, they did summoning 'runs' in pairs to save on the per-session maintenance needs, so twice every two days. However, yesterday's summoning of Agesipolis had made the usual work much easier as the Shielder had essentially done a lot of the necessary work by using the ambient magical energy to fill out his Spirit Origin.
"... so it's been about a week since we met at Castle Csetje. Not bad, I see that Chaldea works pretty quickly," Elizabeth was saying as everything else was going on. No one could leave while the Vault was sealed, so she would have to wait a bit before going through the usual introductory routine.
"Indeed." Gudao avoided mentioning that they had delayed a few days for da Vinci's analysis of Tamamo Cat's bell because the Masters had really wanted to summon her compared to being quite willing to take a long-duration raincheck on the Lancer. "She's going to summon once more and we should be good to go."
"Oh, is it Tamamo Cat? I saw that girl still has her bell on, did she have to keep wearing that the whole week? Sounds awkward, that's a rather character-specific accessory."
"I guess so," he replied without interest. "By the way, do you happen to have a copy of the autograph you gave me? I think you should have been summoned with it."
"Huh? Why would I... wait, I do have it. How mysterious, it's the exact same one I gave you before." With that observation, Elizabeth dismissed the mystery from her mind and simply handed the item over to Gudao who placed it in a storage box to be scanned and then secured in a Vault.
"So, do you need some help with that?" The Lancer returned to the issue of Cat's summoning, at least in part from remembering how capable Tamamo Cat was when it came to the Halloween sweets. "People cheer on idols, and idols cheer up people, why don't I give you a 'boost' of luck?"
"La la, My stomach, growling~ One slice of toast... isn't enough~"
"Oh crap," several present grimaced as the Servant broke into song, releasing an impressive, even frightening, amount of magical energy. The room shook and, understandably enough given the energetic pressures involved in systems utilizing Saint Quartz, the summoning ritual was abruptly triggered..
"What did you-? Ah, get down!" Staggering as Elizabeth's voice and energies slammed into her, Sasaku's annoyance was rapidly overtaken by panic when she realized the ritual had self-started. Something was coming through, thankfully considering the alternatives, but it didn't give off a stable signature and the risk of a disintegration into magical energy explosion was...
The Ruler hurriedly tackled her Master to the ground seeing that as a Servant, she could react faster than even a well-trained homunculus. A blinding light, magical energy, and the echo of Elizabeth's abortive song washed over them, registering a not-insignificant amount of damage to Sasaku's Ruby-granted defensive layer.
"Wahahaha !" a single person was laughing, though not at the scene playing out in front of them. "You must be desperate to summon a Cat for help!"
"Heh, so she did come out after all," Gudao commented mostly to himself, seeing that he wouldn't be able to push a Servant off himself no matter how light she usually was unless she moved herself. "Elizabeth, you should know better than to do that when people are doing rituals," he said from the floor.
"We could have been blown up," Sasaku grumbled, getting up and helping Gudao to his feet in turn. "Oh right, you're like Kiyohime, always conveniently forgetting your dragon's breath does friendly fire. In a manner of speaking."
"At least idols don't stalk, though they might be stalked," Tamamo Cat added for good measure. "So this is the boat floating on the fires of humanity."
"Right..." the Ruler took a while to take off the bell around her neck. "This is yours. That is a very nice kimono, now that it isn't hidden behind an apron."
"I'd feel bare without it, woof." This while ignoring the luxurious red kimono that even featured black and gold trimming. "So, you owe me food and a nap."
"I can't 'give' you a nap, but we can go to the cafeteria, sure."
"Guess that works out," Gudao began taking charge. "Elizabeth, we'll visit da Vinci first for the usual introductory stuff. Please try to control yourself until we can organize, er, a proper venue for festivities."
"Ooh, I can tell that I'm going to love this Chaldea Tour!" Choosing to take that flimsy excuse as a form of encouragement for her idol path, the Lancer happily followed Gudao out once the Vault door opened to let the inspection and maintenance crew in.
"So, what would you like?" Sasaku asked conversationally as she and the Berserker went towards the cafeteria. "Well, the menu for Servants is rather random so perhaps I shouldn't ask beforehand."
"You have to cook it." Cat was very serious about that point. Apparently when it came to food she wouldn't let go of any detail in one's promises.
"I doubt you'll find my kitchen skills worth being summoned for," the Ruler sighed, but as part of acquiescing to Cat's demand.
"You'll need the practice, wan."
"... I'll keep that in mind."
(da Vinci's Workshop)
"... well I think that's the usual statistics verified and logged," the Rider concluded after running through the usual battery of tests for any newly summoned Servant.
"I guess that wasn't as bad at running gauntlets of Attack Programs that kept increasing in difficulty level," the Lancer said happily. "I mean, at least an NPC can appreciate music, you know?"
"Um, right. Well I guess that leaves me with the special section," Gudao looked at the list in his hand and sighed. "Suppose we'll want a tape recorder? No, that's not the right tool."
"A decent microphone and your computer will do," da Vinci offered.
Elizabeth's ears immediately caught onto the word 'microphone'. "Is it already time for my first Chaldea recording session?" she asked in some excitement.
"Better than that," Gudao said with his usual deadpan style of misdirection. "It's your debut interview. Something like that."
"I'm flattered at the attention but... what is it really?" she had clearly not pegged him as being the Manager or Producer type.
"It really is an interview format," he passed the list to her. "Well these are more of guidelines on what to cover."
"I kind of wonder how well this idea will work," da Vinci mumbled to herself while tidying up her Workshop. "Will be hard to confirm either way, huh?"
"Um. It would be nice if you could tell me what these seemingly innocuous questions are actually for," the idol Servant knew to be on her guard. After all, information about a successful idol is incredibly valuable, and she was definitely one of those ! In her own mind, that is !
"Ok, so upfront: this is an incredibly long shot, but - why don't I just tell you about a conversation I had with our librarian-historian."
"I hope this is a flashback and not a filler recap episode," da Vinci said. Elizabeth nodded, but in her case it hardly mattered since it would have been new material to her anyway."
"Right, ok so we were discussing the interesting case of Chloe, whom you've met..."
l
(Chaldea's Library, some time back)
"But it gets even odder when we come to Chloe," Gudao continued. "Unlike with Saber, there might be a chain of events across three branches and the proto-Singularity."
Anaz agreed, but due to not knowing much about the Heroic Spirit or Chaldea's Servant. "I remember not being able to find out much about her when searching. Of course, this was years before moving to Chaldea. But no one mentioned why it didn't matter anymore when the ticket was closed."
"Right. Well, that was something Siegfried was involved in. And the Founder actually, but more to the point, that's the mystery; I'll fill you in on what we think happened, and you give me your take on it all."
"Ok." The two of them were drinking coffee in Chaldea's 'library' as they called the Historical Records and Research Room.
"Let's start in Branch A. An individual, probably a human actually, called Chloe von Einzbern becomes an adult and eventually legends are created, she becomes a Heroic Spirit. Now we jump to Branch B. There's a homunculus, Illyasviel von Einzbern, there and apparently there's no Fourth or Fifth Holy Grail War. That Illya ends up becoming a magical girl and along the way uses Ruby's Install function to utilize the powers of the Heroic Spirit Chloe we first mentioned."
"Right, right..."
"Now in Branch C, where we are. Rin Tohsaka summons a Servant for the Fifth War, and ends up with Branch B's Illya in the state when she had the Chloe Install active. No Ruby either. And this Servant thinks she's Illya, and well she is to some extent, but her True Name as a Servant is definitely Chloe von Einzbern. And that's the one walking around Chaldea now."
"Quite a chain of events."
"It gets odder since we know in Branch C that there's no legend about Chloe or Illya-Chloe. And the person themselves never heard of Chloe von Einzbern either. So that's twice that 'a Chloe' shows up despite people not knowing she even existed. Also, the original Chloe, in the proto-Singularity, crafted a heart bracelet, which was the catalyst to resummon not just Illya-Chloe, but the same one who died at the end of our Fifth War - she remembers it all."
Anaz immediately caught on to the implications of this. "You think someone set all this up, created at least two new variants of the very first Chloe."
Gudao was satisfied by the human's conclusion. "Better, actually. It's probably Zelretch, since Ruby was heavily involved in the middle portion. And it's too odd that when Ruby shows up in our Branch, it's Chloe that causes her to form a contract with Sasaku, who is now also a variant with a different Class and Skills."
She agreed. "He has the best access to parallel worlds, too."
"I see," Elizabeth nodded after hearing the explanation. "Well for an idol being well-known is practically a currency. Or perhaps a point ladder?"
"High score," Gudao prompted her.
"Right. Anyway, I think it's an excellent idea, nowadays all I hear on FateBook is about dealing with its fiendish algorithm; you'd think it had not only gained sentience but also become an Avenger-class Heroic Spirit. Uh no wait, that sounds like it was actually a certain Mooncancer. Nevermind."
"Mhm. Interestingly enough, it was Nero - yes, the one you met, I think; her Chaldea might have been somewhere 'close' to us during the Singularity and your Event - who gave confirmation that a form of that method was being attempted. By, no less than some other Sasaku out there. Unfortunately, having someone show up as Support doesn't make it easier to summon them. But to the point, it was Camilla who pretty much revealed, at least her belief, that you could rig the system by creating many slightly different variants to fill the list. In short: if there are many specific Elizabeth's a summoner is more likely to summon an Elizabeth rather than a Camilla."
"But there's just one of me, right?"
"True for a certain definition of 'one'. The 'you' who we met in the Event isn't the same record as say the current you who encountered us via the Event. You might say there's only one Artoria, but the King of Knights and the Princess Knight are two separate records, with different Skills. And each of those has at least Lancer and Saber Class versions. But then we also have a slightly different Princess Knight who encountered Kiritsugu and also got changed by Grail Mud. We probably can't also summon the original white-themed one who hadn't met Kiritsugu (no duplicates), but potentially could encounter her in a Singularity, Event or such. Maybe even as a Support from a Chaldea who summoned her. To them our Princess Knight is the odd variant case."
"Um. Yeah." Somewhere in that, Elizabeth had stopped being interested, though Gudao was probably continuing in order to fill in da Vinci.
"Let's open this interview by asking about how you got started on the path of becoming an idol. It would have been after becoming a Heroic Spirit, right? Remember: details are critical for this."
l
Notes:
The "no duplicates" thing showed up in Another Aria and is what it sounds like. It's mostly just about how in FGO you can't have two of the "same" Servant in a party formation. But of course Supports can be duplicates, and well any separate Servant entry... However, since it's mentioned here how the Servants also Rayshift in, there's no way (storywise) that the group could somehow have both Martha (Rider) and Martha (Ruler) from the same Chaldea since there's only one Martha Rayshifting.
This is why they have the idea that if people summon the pseudo-Nero, it will prevent them from summoning the actual one. As to if they are right or not...