*/*/*
Hakuno did not have much time to process the discovery that her next opponent was a little girl, because this was followed by her terminal beeping later in the day. The cipher key had been generated, and the Arena officially opened for this next round. Even if she was in emotional shambles, Hakuno refused to disappoint Lancer. So, her steps started to resume the usual training.
Of course, she was interrupted by the same little girl who was currently agonizing Hakuno's mental state. "Big sister! I want to play tag! Play tag with me!"
"Sure thing" Hakuno found herself automatically agreeing, even with Lancer's warning still ringing in her head. She knew that the little girl could very well be faking an innocent act. But Hakuno's heart was soft, bleeding easily.
"Yay! I knew you would play with me! I'll be in the Arena, but let's start now! Tag you're it!" Little feet raced away.
This one really will be trouble. Lancer gave a sigh, but no scolding followed it. Let's go chase her then. At least we'll get a glimpse of her Servant this way. Because no one could survive in the Arena without one.
The starting floor of this Arena was very purple in Hakuno's opinion. But it made the sky blue of Alice's frilly dress stand out as the girl raced off into the maze of cyberspace. Her Servant hadn't deigned to appear yet, but it would only be a matter of time. "Let's get chasing, Master" Lancer appeared, already watching the halls in front of them. "That Servant won't be able to both stay Astral and protect their Master." Then they were off, following the young girl through the hallways.
"She must be a superior Magus." Hakuno hadn't seen the ability to teleport like Alice even from the other powerful Wizards. Alice was flickering from one point to the next, seeming more ghost than person.
"What it is, is a pain in the ass" The red lance pierced through another program, removing the obstacle from the chase. "If she can keep doing that, there's no reason for her Servant to show up." Lancer was running out of patience for the game, so Hakuno picked up her own pace.
Finally, Alice was there in front of them. "Oh boo. I've been caught! But as a reward, I'll tell you my story. Once upon a time there was a little girl that lived in a country far away." Even as Alice spoke there was suddenly another presence beside her. Another Alice, this time in black.
The dark Alice continued the tale "And then a scary country came with their tanks, and their planes. Then the sky turned red, my house went black, and I woke in a white room. It was a room of nothing. No change. No friends. No parents."
"All I felt was hurt and pain. Eventually all the hurt ended. And I woke up here. But it's fun here! It's filled with nice people!"
"And Alice can play as hard as she wants."
"But if I play too hard, things break. I don't want their heads and arms coming off!"
"Don't worry" the black dress shook her head "If they break, I can sew them right back up."
"Then it's ok so long as they're in one piece." blue dress smiled brightly.
The new Alice gave a pleased nod. "Then we'll play real hard with the nice lady. She is our new friend after all."
Isn't there a modern story about creepy twins? Lancer's voice sounded in her head even as he stepped between Hakuno and the girls. Because I feel like we're in it.
"I know! Let's see if 'he' wants to play too!" The original Alice raised her hand. Everything began to shake from a massive influx of power. And a monster appeared.
It looked like a mutated humanoid and-
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Hakuno winced, gripping her head. Before with the glitches, it felt like things were being forcibly 'corrected'. This was something going wrong.
No longer was there a humanoid creature behind the girls. It vaguely resembled a dragon in that it had four limbs and wings. But then its shape turned alien. The creature's face resembled that of a deep-sea fish, complete with needle teeth, tendrils and antenna coming off of it randomly. The fore limbs were thin, almost skeletal. More arms than legs, the 'hands' were armed with long hooked claws. The back feet resembled that of a bad movie monster or an incorrectly designed dinosaur, with the beast finished off by a long whip-like tail. It made a chattering noise as it crouched.
Run. Hakuno just knew that whatever this thing was, it wasn't good. Lancer! "Run!" Her feet scrambled for purchase away from the thing. Lancer cursed, scooped her over his shoulder, then took off.
And the monster chased them.
"Looks like he wants to play too! Good luck Big Sis! Have fun!" It was unclear which Alice spoke, the world a blur around the fleeing Master and Servant.
"It's keeping up!" Hakuno could only watch in horror as the thing crashed through the halls.
"For such a gangly bastard, it's fast!" Lancer veered around a sharp corner. The beast crashed into the wall. "But thankfully not very good at turning!" The monstrosity gave a screech that made Hakuno's ears ring. And it was suddenly airborne. "I forgot the fucker had wings!"
"Drop me!" Hakuno had an idea. A wonderful, stupid idea.
"What?!" Lancer almost tripped in shock.
"You can hit it, can't you?!" She'd seen his skill with the spear. And believed in him with all her being.
"You're the good kind of crazy, Master. Here's hoping we don't die! Ariel attacks are more Shishou's thing!" Lancer stopped, dropped Hakuno, and turned in the same motion. He pulled the spear back. And it flew, a red streak across the virtual sky. Into the beast's wing, tearing the membrane. The monstrosity came crashing back down. Alive, but no longer able to chase them through the tight corridors of the Arena.
The spear reappeared in Lancer's hand with a shimmer as he exhaled in relief. "Shishou would've hit its heart. But at least we don't have whatever the fuck that is chasing us anymore."
"It was made worse," Hakuno shuddered. How to begin explaining what she'd seen happen?
"I'm aware." Lancer was scowling in the direction the creature had fallen.
"What?" Her head snapped over in his direction.
"There was something else earlier. For me it's like a half-forgotten dream. It looked humanoid I think?" Lancer shook his head. "Then I saw that thing as the knowledge of what I'd just seen got mostly shoved out. I think my connection to you is starting to let me see these glitches of yours."
"We should get out of here. I can celebrate the fact I've got proof I'm not insane when we're no longer in the same area as that thing." Hakuno was so relieved that someone else was reacting to this that she wanted to cry. She would not, especially not here in the Arena.
"Don't have to tell me twice". They quickly covered the remaining distance to where they'd come in, Lancer vanishing as Hakuno returned to the school building.
Lancer reappeared as Hakuno dropped into her fed face first. "What do we even do with that? Did we learn anything?" The words are muffled through pillows, but Lancer had Servant senses, so he understood her just fine.
"We have creepy twin one and two. And a critter that got morphed. If little girl blue is Master that leaves the girl in black or that thing as the Servant." Lancer sank into his own hammock, his hands gesturing as he spoke.
"Not two Servants or two Masters?" That had been Hakuno's theory once she'd had time to think.
"Not allowed. Even with all this crazy going on I'm not sure the corruption has glitched out that part just yet."
"The Alice in the black dress spoke like they were summoning the creature. And we know that the Alice in blue is the Master. So, that makes the on n black the Servant, right?" Hakuno just knew that this was going to get confusing.
"I think so too." Lancer nodded. "Summoning creatures is usually an aspect of the Calvary classes. A Knight class can still do it too of course, it's just more often seen in the first set."
"Caster, Rider, Assassin and Berserker." That much even Hakuno knew. "Rational Berserkers are possible but not the norm." She felt confident in removing that one from the list.
"If she was an Assassin, then she was a really bad one. Just talking to us out in the open like that? I guess it could be mind games though" Lancer made a face as he thought. "That creature wasn't subtle at all. In either of its forms. Not exactly stealthy."
"I think we're safe with either Rider or Caster" Hakuno nodded her agreement. "But I don't know if I can narrow it down from there. She'd be small enough to ride on the shoulder of the first monster, and the other she could just hop on its back."
"I think a Rider servant, if they summoned their mount, would have taken the first chance to hop on" Lancer mused. "While she summoned the bastard, the one in black didn't really acknowledge it outside of it wanting to 'play' by eating our faces off. So, my bet is Caster."
"I'll trust your instincts" Hakuno nodded. Unless of course they'd both been fooled. Her terminal did its usual beep. MATRIX LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED.
"Let me guess. Picture of the girl in blue, picture of the one in black and the declaration of the class as Caster." Lancer didn't even bother moving from his position.
"It has 'Caster?' with a question mark. Guess we didn't have enough convincing evidence for the Moon Cell. But otherwise, that's exactly what it has." Hakuno wondered if this was a good or bad thing that these Matrixes were becoming predictable.
"Ha! I'd toast to my predictive abilities but there's no booze around here." This was followed by the man sulking slightly. Perhaps she should hack some alcohol in for him. Could Servants even feel alcohol anymore? Maybe it was a placebo thing. Honestly, after dealing with that nightmare beast, joining her Servant for a drink was an idea with some appeal to it. Hakuno would consider it.
"What are we going to do about that thing?" That monstrosity was still alive in the Arena and in the way of their training and progress. The strength it had given off was terrifying. Far beyond what she and Lancer had recovered. This realization prompted bitter sarcasm from Hakuno. "Ask Master Alice nicely to just get rid of it?"
"Well, that's a straightforward way of addressing it. Why not?" Lancer looked over at Hakuno like she'd hit on a strategy. "She wanted to play games before. Maybe challenge her to a new one."
"There's no way that would work. Right? You were the one who said not to take her lightly!"
"Worst that happens is we get told no or play her game and have fight it anyways. Nothing really lost on our end. It's not taking her lightly to see if your opponent will be consistent."
"… why must you make sense?"
"I do that a lot actually" Lancer laughed "Yet everyone is always surprised when it happens".
*/*/*
Hakuno tried her luck the next morning. She didn't even need to look for Alice, the little girl in blue waiting on the first floor. "Let's play again today!" Alice was beaming brightly speaking up before Hakuno could even open her mouth. "Let's play hide and seek in the school! If you win, Alice will give you a prize!" The blue dress raced away down the hallway.
Hakuno followed in the same direction. She touched her Servant's, not sure how to process the situation. … Is this working without us even trying?
Don't jinx us, Master. Despite the words, Lancer sounded just as baffled.
Alice was not very good at hiding. Hakuno found her standing there in front of the Arena entrance. "You won big sister! Alice will give you a prize! What would you like?"
"Please tell your 'friend' to move" Hakuno answered without hesitation. Preferably out of the area entirely.
"Hmm. You'd normally have to talk to Alice about that" the girl in blue considered. "I know! I'll send you on a treasure hunt that will help you move my friend! You need the Vorpal Blade! You need a clue though… Ah! You won't find the Vorpal Blade in the Arena! A legendary blade that no one has ever seen. How will you find it? Can you find it? Have fun big sister!" Alice skipped away humming.
Master. You're standing there looking like a fish with your mouth open like that.
"The Vorpal Blade. That thing in the Arena is a Jabberwocky". Hakuno was so dumbfounded that Alice would reveal such information, even as a 'prize' that she spoke aloud.
I knocked a Jabberwocky out of the sky! Ha! And, of course, now the Grail fills my head with the Jabberwocky poem. Gee thanks magic cup, you have excellent timing. Lancer sighed. At least he didn't scold her for her outburst. I suppose we should focus on the main problem. How are we getting one?
Hakuno quickly corrected herself, switching back to mental speech. Well, asking is working out well so far. Maybe Rin and Rani will know about it and tell me more.
Master! You're being social! I'm so proud!
Sometimes I wonder why we're friends. Then I remember that we're stuck together.
First, ouch. Second, you consider me your friend? Most Masters prefer thinking of their Servants as tools.
Unless you've got some objection to being considered my friend Lancer?
Nay lass, none here.
Hakuno nodded pleased. Friends. War was a strange place to make one, but she wouldn't be complaining. Now to go see the other two in this school that might also qualify for the moniker. The positive thoughts were only interrupted by a beeping from her terminal. MATRIX LEVEL 1 UPDATED. Still said 'Caster?' but now had the additions of 'Jabberwocky' and 'Vorpal Blade' in the Keywords section. Seems the Moon Cell would reward the realization, even if voicing it had been accidental.
"Vorpal Blade? A weapon with an effect on types of monstrosities. If you want one, you need to talk to an Alchemist. Sorry, I can't transmute such a thing." Rin's answer was a step in the right direction. Then it was up the stairs to Rani.
Rani looked up at the approach curiously. "The stars have already aligned. Is there something you need?"
"You happen to be an Alchemist Rani?" Hakuno figured it was worth a shot. "One who could maybe transmute a Vorpal Blade?"
"With some malachite I could create one but…" Rani paused, as if considering the repercussions for helping a potential enemy Master.
Maybe I'm being too selfish. Or relying too much on the generosity of others Hakuno braced herself to apologize for being presumptuous.
"No, I have seen that your star is different. If you bring me malachite, I will provide you a Vorpal Blade." Rani seemed satisfied with her own decision. Hakuno thanked her profusely. Then it was back to Rin. Because if anyone had gems, it was a Tohsaka. Rin sent her to retrieve a ruby that Rin had hacked into the Commissary. The gem of course was overpriced as hell. Explained why Rin hadn't gotten it herself. Another fetch quest involving retrieving a lunch made by Sakura for the store AI clerk, exchanging that for a ruby, then exchanging the ruby once more for malachite with Rin, Hakuno was heading back up the stairs to Rani.
It feels like we're in Zelda with the fetch quest chains. Hakuno's thoughts grumbled.
Lancer's chuckle reverberated in her mind. We even exchanged a cauldron for a magazine for that crazy teacher earlier. You really fancy yourself some unfortunate hero in a story, Master. I'm half expecting Shishou to show up and scold you for not doing the tasks quickly enough.
Hakuno decided to ignore that commentary and just offered the gem to Rani. The Atlas Alchemist took it in hand and it glowed before bursting open like a flower. The gem was then replaced by a blade unlike any Hakuno had ever seen. "This is the Vorpal Blade. Sadly, I could not create one that will last beyond one fight. Use it wisely." Rani handed over the weapon.
We can get rid of that thing Hakuno was relieved.
I'm no Saber, but I still know how to use a sword well enough. I hope. Let's get that bastard Master. No way I'm passing up a chance to kill a Jabberwocky with a Vorpal Blade.
You can still stab it after with your spear just to be spiteful, Lancer.
You make a fantastic point, lass.