071 - Cry Havoc and Let Loose the Dogs of War
Olga Marie Animusphere
They had a plan.
It wasn't a pretty plan, it wasn't an elegant plan, but it was very much a viable one. A greedy, shameless thing that would reach for everything while giving up nothing. It's amusing, in a way. Any 'proud and proper' modern magus would turn their nose at the very idea of debasing themselves like this. It didn't take much more than casual interaction to realize Matou didn't appreciate magi culture as a whole.
And yet, if magi are supposed to resort to any methods and sink to any lows to achieve their goals… Then there's no plan more fitting of a magus than this one. It's all the same for Olga, honestly. Chaldea is built upon a mix of magecraft and technology that's also frowned upon by 'proud and proper' magi families.
Her upbringing may rear its ugly head in the form of knee-jerk reactions from time to time but, at the end of the day, results are all that matters. She cannot afford to let something as foolish as pride or traditions compromise her mission. Pragmatism is the name of the game when the survival of Human History is on the line.
In any case, they had a working plan that should, if not directly solve the Singularity, at least drastically shift things in their favor. They just needed the time to set things up properly before putting them in motion. At least, that's how it should have been…
And then everything went to hell.
With the first light of dawn, the red sails of the Crimson Empire were spotted on the horizon, covering the sealine from side to side. Thanks to familiar telepathy and the many Purple Servants watching the coast, the news immediately reached all the way to Matou's inland base, prompting the emergency meeting they are currently holding.
"Initial scouting has ruled out the possibility of this fleet being a trick or a decoy. The ships are fully manned and carry what estimations consider the full might of the Crimson Army." Medusa sums up the situation, a huge projection of the attacking army in real time occupying the entire wall behind her. "This is no longer a conflict of positioning and border skirmishes. The Crimson Empire has moved into total war footing."
"Oh, Nee-san…" Matou shakes her head sadly. "You could never leave good enough alone."
"What?" Olga blinks in confusion at that comment, seemingly coming out of nowhere. "What happened?"
"She outsmarted herself, that's what happened." Matou answers with a sigh. "We both know odds are in my favor if we compete seriously, that's simply how our individual personalities and skillsets interact. But she must have realized she still had a chance, as long as she seized the initiative and went in hard and loud before I could put my own plans in motion."
"And once she realized…" Olga connects the dots, finishing the line of thought on her own. "She had no choice but to follow through."
"Indeed, the curse tugging at our puppet strings is nothing if not vexing."
But there's no time for despondence right now, no time to bemoan the frustrating state of affairs. War is coming and they need to keep their heads on the game. The immediate response and general overarching strategies have already been discussed, but they still need to figure out how to handle—
Her thoughts grind to a halt when the projected image shows a massive tri-color comet flying over the Crimson Army ships, overtaking them all and exploding into a burst of light as it stops right in front of the coast. Once the blinding light dies down, the comet resolves itself into two figures.
The first one is Altera's massive form, walking on water as if it was solid ground. The second, standing on the palm of the first, wearing a gorgeous crimson dress and multiple glowing jewels of different colors ominously orbiting around herself… Tohsaka-Senpai.
"Purple Empress, I challenge you to a duel!" The projection is image only, but that doesn't stop the words of challenge for reaching them anyway, physically traveling all the way to their location and making the ground shake on their path. "Come here with your champion and fight!"
Silence falls on the tent, all planning dying down and all conversations stopping as everyone turns towards Matou.
"Matou-Senpai isn't…" Mashu is the first to speak up, looking somewhat worried. ""Going to accept that challenge, are you?"
Olga's friend has latched onto the terrifying woman like a lost duckling to a prospective new mother and the thought alone should probably be enough to give Olga nightmares. The old Olga who somehow managed to convince herself of so many strange and silly things certainly would. Her current self, on the other hand… Well, the world is a scary place and Mashu should probably learn a scary thing or two of her own, just in case they are needed.
"I can feel the power of the challenge, latching into my role as the Purple Empress, tugging me towards accepting it. Nee-san did her homework." Matou muses, getting up from her seat and gesturing for Medusa to follow. "I could resist the pull, but then it would make everything else harder. For the whole army."
"This is a trap." Olga finds herself blurting out, unsure if she's trying to stop the woman or just… She doesn't really know what trying to achieve, actually. "There's no way this isn't a trap."
"This is Nee-san we're talking about, of course it is a trap." Matou smiles, chest puffed up and a rare glint of pride shining on her eyes, making her way out of the room. "But I can't exactly ignore the challenge. And there's a good chance this will end up working in my favor."
"You are dancing to your enemy's tune." Olga points out incredulously, getting up from her own seat to keep pace with Matou. "How could this possibly end up working in your favor?"
"Because she'll be busy dealing with me, just like her Servants will be busy dealing with mine and her army will be busy dealing with mine." Sakura explains without missing a step. "And the more tightly every part of our respective forces are tied up with the other… the more freedom Chaldea will have to make their own moves."
"Are you hoping to buy time?" Granted, a good portion of their original plan could still be scavenged, as long as Chaldea was given the time to act, but… "But Altera crushed Medusa last time!"
"Maybe, maybe." Sakura acknowledges, her steps finally stopping once she walks out of the building as she takes a moment to stare into the skies. "But, Animusphere-san, last time…"
Matou trails off, slowly turning around to face Olga. As she does, something dark and oppressive unfurls from inside the woman, pressing against everything and everyone around them. At the same time, her appearance… shifts.
Her hair gradually turns white from the roots outward, her clothes darken and melt into a dark sludge around her body. Her skin pales while dark red markings start spreading up her neck and down her arms and legs. Finally, the black sludge around her body turns into proper clothing again, a long-sleeved black and dark-red sweater that reaches slightly below her hips before splitting into a multitude of ribbons, uncomfortably reminiscent of tentacles.
"Last time I wasn't really trying to win."
With those words, Matou turns her attention back towards the coast. A small, dainty jump sends her up into the air, easily breaking the sound barrier as she propells herself in the direction of the Crimson Army and, no doubt, straight towards their Empress.
"So that's what she was hiding…" Olga mutters with some incredulity once Matou leaves and the pressure around them abates, silently cursing the way her hands are shaking. "What a scary woman."
"Incredible…" Mashu mutters to her side. "Do you think Matou-senpai will be okay?"
Will even a freak of nature like Matou be okay when it comes to fighting Tohsaka-senpai and her own hilariously freakish Servant? Olga honestly isn't sure. And so, she's wondering whether she should admit her uncertainty or tell a small white lie for her friend's sake when Medusa interjects.
"Worry not, Chaldeans." She announces seriously, eyes locked into the point in the sky where Matou disappears, as if she could still see her. Considering this is a Servant they're talking about here, she probably can. "I'll make sure Master survives to see another day."
And, with these words, Medusa takes her leave too. Not flying into the air, but blurring over the land fast enough to make the difference moot.
"Alright, we have our own roles to play." Olga announces after a moment, clapping her cheeks with both hands. "Where's Haku? I mean… Fujimaru."
"I believe Senpai is—"
"[Mars Pattern Rhino APC!]" A different voice cuts Mashu off, yelling from somewhere outside of their field of vision.
These words are swiftly followed by a burst of dust and clay as the front wall of the nearest building explodes outward to make way for what looks like a futuristic armored transport in a way that's just as overly dramatic as painfully unnecessary.
"Ah, that must be her." Mashu comments cheerfully.
"Oh, yeah, baby! All aboard the hype train!" As the back of the armored transport opens up to allow boarding, Haku's voice comes from the sound system. "The most fit steed for a Marine, in-fucking-deed!"
"Yeah, of course it's her." Olga agrees with a sigh, following Mashu towards the thing.
She can't be the weird one for thinking there was absolutely no reason to blow away the side of a perfectly good building instead of just summoning the transport outdoors, right? Oh, well, it wouldn't be Haku if it wasn't pointlessly flashy and over the top.
(It's good to know yesterday's defeat didn't keep her down for long.)
Tohsaka Rin
A grim smile forms on her lips when she notices Sakura's form flying straight at her from… somewhere deep inland. It stings her pride a bit that never managed to pinpoint Sakura's actual base of operation beyond 'somewhere in the heart of Iberia', but… Well, it won't matter anymore after today, will it?
This whole situation, the escalation into total war and all it implies… That's Rin's own fuck up.
And now she has to deal with the consequences.
War is dangerous. No matter the preparations, no matter the skills involved, even the mightiest can fall to a moment of misfortune. Raw numbers have a way of turning statistics into chaos. Sure, the averages even out, everything is neat and tidy on paper. The higher the numbers, the closer reality matches predictions. And yet, at the same time, the number of edge cases also increases.
War is chaos, and total war is total chaos. Even if any tactician worth their salt can predict the general shape a war will take, the finer details only get muddier and muddier the greater the stakes. Altera can anticipate the beats of combat, to dance with unnatural grace in the chaos of the battlefield, but not even she can tell beforehand which individual soldiers will fall in each clash.
And the Purple Empress, as the leader of the enemy armies, will have the animosity of every single soldier and Servant of the Crimson Army aimed straight at her. Of course, Sakura isn't helpless. Even disregarding the divine Servant by her side, even disregarding the overwhelming power her role as the Purple Empress has granted her, Sakura is still a force to be reckoned with all on her own.
Soldiers are but insects before her, Servants are no more dangerous than stray mutts.
But!
But that's still Rin's beloved little sister. And she needs things to go according to expectations every single time, while her enemies only need to get lucky once. As the Crimson Empress, there's little Rin can do about that. She cannot call her forces back. She cannot forbid them from going after the enemy leader with the intent to kill.
But there's something she can do, something that plays perfectly to her role, and yet allows her to keep Sakura safe from her army.
"You have come." She greets, once Sakura is finally hovering in front of her. "I wasn't sure you would."
"You did call." Sakura greets back, in all her blackened glory. "I am sure you have a plan, Nee-chan."
"You could say that."
The Nauthiz rune ignites behind Rin, directly East of their current position.
There's many ways Rin could've gone about this, many approaches and strategies she could've adopted. The goal was never to win, but rather to put up a good enough fight to satisfy her role, while leaving the actual victory up to Haku and the Chaldeans. That could've certainly been achieved in a multitude of ways.
The Algiz rune ignites behind Sakura, directly West of their current position.
But few of them gave her a chance to shield Sakura from the consequences of her blunder. To eliminate misfortune as a factor and ensure events develop in a controlled manner, even in the middle of total war.
The Ansuz rune ignites to Rin's right, directly North of their current position.
There's something she developed a long time ago, during a cursed ritual she was naive and arrogant enough to call war. Something inspired by warriors of legend, that she unearthed and studied and finally made her own. Something even a Demon Lord had to play along with, because it couldn't be broken through mere brute force.
The Inguz rune ignites to Sakura's right, directly South of their current position.
"[Ath nGabla - Shoal of the Four Branches]"
A massive blood-red spell circle manifests between the fourth runes, filling itself with the appropriate lesser runes to enforce the desired effect. To claim a portion of reality and enforce its own rules, trapping two Masters and two Servants inside. Lesser than a Reality Marble, more than a Bounded Field. Rin's own version of the infamous duel spell once used by the Knights of the Red Branch.
Nobody else can interfere now. Not the army, not their roles. This is now a sacred duel between them.
It's only once she feels the spell settle in place, successfully encasing the four of them within its rules, that she finally allows herself to relax slightly. For better or worse, they're now both out of the game. It's all up to Haku now.
… That may very well be the only thing that saves their lives, when everything goes to hell a moment later.
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Mars Pattern Rhino APC (Warhammer 40k): The Mars Pattern MKIIC Rhino is an armored troop transport produced by the Imperium. It's use is entrusted only to the most loyal of soldiers. As a Standard Template Construct vehicle, the Rhino dates back to the distant time of Mankind's initial colonization of the galaxy. Rugged and dependable, this armored transport is considered by many the ideal example of what an armored transport should be.
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