Day 4b - MPFC: The Board 8 Project (2025)

Part 4

Though the alarms in Van's suit rang off it still took Rider's group two and a half hours to come over.

"Lizard! Heey! No we're not here to fight stop being tense! We like lizards! We're flying in peace, see our arms waving? Master, make it wave! See? We're here because Ex wanted to come over and help you out! We would've stayed out of it and let you be the hero but you seem to want us so be thankful!"

"Move over and let me talk to him. Lizard! We fought a long time ago before you got into Top Tier. Remember me? I was one of your bigger matches when you were still in Upper! We fought in a city, there were forests, ringing a bell yet? Wait how's he hearing this? Are you using a completely open frequency?"

"Yep! Everyone can hear us but they don't need a radio, just ears."

"Oh for— you have an open broadcast on this?!"

"We're almost there you grouch. Lizard's waiting looking all heroic and lizard like."

"He's been in the same position just floating around there!"

"It's heroic! See the way the tail curves? Sign that he's a good lizard. Hi Van! Hi random women Van is carrying back to his ship that in no way will make his boss mad!"

Van laughed while holding a woman under each arm. He had been flying around getting used to the suit in between attempts with women and appeared to be succeeding on both ends. The two girls gripped onto his shoulders and waved to the machine before he turned to Lizard.

"They're a weird duo but don't let the first guy get to you. He'll annoy you but he might be your main rival."

"The child-like one who ordered his master to wave is Rider?"

"Yep. Though I didn't hear him called that much. Actually I'm not sure what half your classes are anymore, you guys seem to be running on a first name basis. Thought you guys hated that? Then again it's not like half of you never met each other before, that contest is something we all seem to be a part of. You didn't recognize me at first, right?"

"Yes. I felt like we had met but was uncertain. It feels almost like there's interference with my memories clouding them."

"Similar reaction to the rest then. Seems like you guys directly in the war are starting to remember things about your time in that two month contest and maybe a bit more, Alan didn't have much issue with knowing that I was from Top. Not sure where this goes but if knowledge is the game of this war it's about to change."

"It's a shame that it had to come so late then. Perhaps Arctrus might have been able to stay. I've been trying to detail the reality marble but it's still beyond my grasp. What's odd about it is that normally the world would fight against it yet that doesn’t appear to be the case. If the world can’t make it collapse then he’d have to be the one that does. Or perhaps it’s self-sustaining somehow? However based on his statements prior to leaving it may make the most sense to assume that he won’t be coming back. He’s locked in a room with Rangh and has no chance of escape.”

"Let's hope not, I’ve got a lot of questions for the guy still. Update me in an hour or two, I've got my own locked room to get in. Trust me ladies - you won’t want to get out of once I’m done. Later, Lizard."

Van left to his ship as the Giant Robot came over with the three individuals. Lizard was happy with their arrival but was bothered by two missing servants: Assassin and Archer. Two units he had no trust in and felt that each would target him as the final remaining Top Tier servant.

An hour inside of Hell and Rangh had only begun to properly reform himself. Arctrus' spinning weapon, The World had successfully managed to slow Rangh down but it wasn't able to stop him. The dry ice had fully turned back to its gaseous state and Rangh finally was able to modify his body to process carbon dioxide as well. If necessary his body could function without needing to breath just like a machine, though further tweaking would demand more time. With some of his wits back a Hyperorb was summoned in between the two halves of The World and he successfully stopped its rotation. Assimilation on the other hand failed - Arctrus called it back the moment he felt he was losing control. Still, one more Hyperorb was enough. With it he managed to reform his body.

"You're not getting yourself together that easily."

Arctrus summoned Dispellado, swung down, and this time connected with Rangh. It wasn’t the way Arctrus had hoped though; Rangh held onto it and by manipulating polarity from his body and the weapon he held it with an extremely tight grip.

“You warp me to a place I’m unaware of with temperatures this high and attack me when I’m barely alive? No, as of this moment I will assimilate every piece of you that I can. Anything I cannot will be treated like trash.”

Both knew that even with Lizard’s buffs and Saber’s more powerful debuffs Rangh had the upper hand. All of SCP’s power and durability laid inside of him and he was rapidly improving the connection between his telekinesis and SCP’s control. Arctrus still was better with his own weapons but this was starting to change; Rangh’s grip wasn’t one that he could shake off even at full power while Rangh still was far from perfect. His body was fully reformed but his energy and mana couldn’t have been high.

Take another damn piece if you want, gotta use this before time’s up anyway…

Directly above their tug of war over Dispellado was Gates and Rahvan Bane, a gigantic bow several stories tall and a single arrow proportionate to its size. It flew slightly above Dispellado’s maximum range and pointed directly at Rangh. It could had one arrow to it but that’s all Arctrus wanted.

Pull… aim…

He felt electricity beginning to come from Rangh.

Broken Phantasm charged. Dispellado vanish! Fire!

Both bow and arrow became overcharged with mana, pulling it further back and launching with greater force than before. Rangh, unaware of what was happening, stumbled upwards into the air and was struck without even realizing it. Rangh’s strength pushed it just enough out of the way to prevent a full body strike but his waist was caught and was driven several meters through the ground. The bow wasn’t the only thing falling to pieces - Rangh’s legs were completely removed from his body with the top pulverized beyond recognition.

Only three left. That should be fine. Hope that makes it easier for her…

Despite the damage, Rangh was still alive. While rapid reattachment resembled regeneration, the secret to his near immortal state lied in his body’s ability to readjust itself to only what’s needed. It wasn’t a simple wound but his body was already recreating new legs with other pieces of his body. Had Arctrus physically pulled the bow he wasn’t certain if he’d have survived, but the weakened parameters from being out of class saved his life. As a regular attack the arrow would have caused similar damage as Nobuna’s slash, but as a Broken Phantasm it was a full rank stronger than before. For this, Rangh secretly thanked Ex Machina’s tendency to focus on defense.

Bastard locks me in here, attacks me with all he's got and even destroys one of his weapons! Only two more summons left too. I— fuck!

Pick up the arrow.
Slam it back down.
Pick up the pieces remaining of the arrow.
Slam the pieces back down.
Hold together whatever's left along with chunks of the bow to maintain its shape and mass.
Slam it down again.
And again.
And again.
And again.

Two hours had passed and Lizard’s class change was over. Rangh teleported to escape only to meet with a swift slice from Despellado swung so hard pieces from the broken end flew apart and the cracks in the sword deepened. There were no restrictions to Arctrus in Hell as he had nothing to lose. As a result, there was nobody more dangerous.

Regal was in charge of piloting Giant Robot and he made sure that he kept his distance from Lizard. Because it wasn't the first time they met he didn't need any warnings. The last time they fought the same enemy he had somehow summoned meteors from the sky as if it were a casual thing - as far as he was concerned it was no surprise that Van's suit triggered the response it did. If anything it was a miracle that it triggered it so late.

"Do you intend to maintain your distance? I have no intention of fighting you right now; I believe Arctrus has bought us time with his life, not the victory. Fighting Rangh by myself would be suicide and it's rather clear that your group is the one best equipped to finish the job. You also have questions, correct?"

"…Well, those two might. It's the second time we've fought. First time around we got beat and you saved us a few times with some interesting tricks. Remember it? A Noble Phantasm turned to snow and meteors from the sky. Now you show up working with what looked like a sane Berserker after saving his master. Was that also your fault?"

"It was and of course I remember. I'm glad to see you've upgraded. Judging by your machine's movements and capabilities there was a change in pilots too, correct? It doesn't just move like it's alive but its attacks carry a strange anti-magical residue to them. It's less like a machine and more like the extension of its pilot. An impressive technical marvel with a dangerous fighter. A risky yet very impressive endeavor."

"Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"A bit of both. You appear to have a basic understanding of magic. What of the other two?"

Regal backed away from the speaker and let the other two talk.

"Ex Machina here. I learned a bit of the way mana works from Rangh but that's about it."

"Alan Chang, Boy Genius has arrived! Huh? Oh right, he didn't know that. No matter! Almost everyone else does and fellow heroes should have no problem sharing identities! As for magic… I'm a servant. Physics and math may be my two main areas but I wouldn't be a servant without knowing at least a little. Just enough to use my genius to make master into a Giant Robot! Next goal: Super Giant Robot!"

"Physics? Perhaps you'd understand the message from the warning then."

"Nope! Go from the top, Doctor Lizard!"

"Doctor? I don't have a doctorate, I almost have a Master's. Though between my time there and experience I'll admit that I've surpassed most of my professors in both knowledge and application…"

"See? You're close enough to a doctor to count. Now explain! Start with that elemental magic bit."

"Before that I need to make the underlying principle of magic clear: All magic is explainable phenomenon. It is the creation of that phenomenon where the 'magic' lies, the result is simply a mechanical process."

"Ex here. Hate to cut you off so early, but I don't think we'll be seeing eye to eye here. I may know the least about magic but when it comes to making things my powers are almost like it. If it's explainable then it's something that can be recreated without magic at all. What difference is there from magic and science?"

"Science has to follow strict rules and take specific steps. Magic does not. Science must obey theory and law while magic can skirt around them a bit and bend the rules or jump around. In some instances this is the only way high level magic can be produced."

"So what's stopping me from making something that always produces the same fireball you can do? Or better yet, summoning the same meteors you do?"

"If your suggesting that you can recreate magical effects I won't deny that as a possibility. Should you find the common underlying rules and work through the principles I don't see why you couldn't make it work. Yet you misunderstand the point: the magical spell is the creation of it. It is neither the 'fireball or meteor' as you seem to suggest nor the ability to transport it. It is the ability to bend the rules of physics in order to create it."

"Bend, but never break. Correct?"

"In almost any magic you encounter, yes, but there are very rare exceptions. We call these true miracles. Things that cannot, should not exist yet do. This is truly rare though there are a few that come close. A reality marble is not grounded in any logic and is a manifestation of the caster who alters the world. This dimension is considered a true miracle by some though others believe that it doesn't quite qualify as one as it does already exist inside the caster's head and it's simply a highly advanced form of spatial alteration."

"…that doesn't make sense. How can you have a 'true miracle' with a definition as wide as that? You've effectively shut down anything that can be thought of."

"Correct. Servants are yet another example as none of us should exist. The world also acts against us, yet due to the power of the grail we are able to sustain contracts and hosts to keep us alive."

"Sounds like a standard transfer of energy. Grail goes to you, you go back to the grail."

"Yet it does not consciously make us. All heroes, past, present, and future, exist in a pool which it has access to. Selection is made by a mix of random selection and the attraction of the hero to the master.

"The grail picks the master in the first place, doesn't it? In that case it already created a selection process."

"…I see where this conversation is headed. I won't accept or deny your claim of magic being a possible subsection of scientific analysis because it's a discussion we can save for another day. What's important is you understand the underlying principle behind what defines 'magic.' May I continue?"

"I… sorry. It's easy for me to get worked up on this is all."

“Hey you two. Hate to interrupt, but I’m getting some weird readings here on a pretty large area. Nothing concrete, it's just a series of on and off spikes of massive energy that barely blips before leaving like a glitch of some sort. Any ideas on what that may be, Alan? Lizard? And the repairs on Giant Robot are done too, right?”

"Yep, you're good as new! Even made a few more secret tweaks, hehe. For the blip… I'm not sure. There shouldn't be any glitches inside, the code is perfect."

“I might have an idea, yes."

"Does it have anything to do with your invisible master holding a collapsed invisible woman who looks a lot like Berserker's master?"

“You noticed?”

“Bit hard not to. Flow of magic’s pretty obvious.”

"That's good to hear, perhaps my explanations won't be in vain after all. I’d suggest preparing for combat. I’ll explain as much of the curriculum as I can in our available time, but one of you might need to bother Van soon."

That was Ex Machina's cue.

"I'll do it. I'll listen to your explanation too but I've a feeling these two will benefit more from it and they have their own tasks to worry about. Can't be freeloading off of them for too long, I already owe Alan enough and I've been interested in that ship Van came in for a while now. Good a chance as any for me. Ready whenever, you can transport me, right?"

"With ease. Just get to a point where it's safe."

"Oh no, you aren't just gonna fly over like that! If you're going to the spaceship you need to get there in style! Take the Pilder Prototype MKIII, she's the one who saved your life and is sure to show that you mean business."

"And be stuck owing you another favor?"

"You already owe me your life, what more do I need? At least they'll be to only the better boy genius and not to the better boy genius and the better lizard genius."

"…you've got a twisted point for once. Alright. Sorry Lizard, maybe next time."

"It's quite alright. Machines are your specialty after all, it's sensible for you to use one. This way you can hear and possibly participate in the same conversation too, correct?"

"He will!"

"In that case i'll continue…"

Regal paid the most attention to Lizard while Alan tinkered away in his lab. A radio was inside the Pilder Prototype MKIII which Ex Machina used and adjusted to stay in the conversation with the other three.

"At its core magic is creating phenomenon that already exists. Beginning with elemental magic is the simplest way to showcase this - it’s a visible, tangible creation to help others understand.The university I went to had a standard four year program to get your Bachelor’s as well as a few graduate degrees. I almost got my Master’s but that’s a story for another day. As you’re curious and we have the time, I believe it would be best to explain things to a magus who’s still young and with promise.”

Lizard wasn’t just referring to himself but D Money and Illuv as well, all of which could hear the conversation in full but not participate. Lizard knew there was a chance he’d die soon and his one wish was not to become human, but to truly create magic. Once he had that he was sure he could do anything, even revive himself to any form he wanted. To him the act of turning back to a human wasn’t important, it was the process which a human was made that mattered.

“Freshman year focuses on projectile magic. Two elements, fire and one of water or lightning. Projectile magic is used because it's easier for people to connect with it. To some this is remedial material but if they get cocky we go a little harder on them as they always underestimate how valuable direct control is. At the highest level of magic direct control is easily the most powerful class simply because you yourself are the direct magical artifact and component of the spell. Mages are confused at first when they join because they feel that elemental magic has more to do with magical chemistry but they fail to understand that when it comes to magical physics you'll need a backing of all sciences to fully understand it. Chemistry is certainly one way to create fire or water and will help early on. Lightning is a bit tougher and usually best left to the ones studying magical physics. Earth, the last main element taught, is completely our element of choice and the one where those suited to be chemists fail.”

"Do you ever study Spiritual Magic?”

"That's an odd one. There are a few courses on it, though they start at the Junior level due to its difficulty. So you know, I’m just going to tell you about the main path the Magical Physics degree has. Other students have different experiences but I’ve seen the process start and end quite a few times. There’s a funny story I have on my senior year of someone who specialized in that actually… but that will be quite a while. This is a rather long story, are you sure you want to hear this?”

"I'll keep listening, don't worry. You said two elements. Why those?"

Regal was the one most into this. To him this was a lesson that not only didn't he receive it, but he couldn't. Magic was completely ingrained in his blood and though he had trained a different perspective was being taught to him. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to not only have a teacher that wasn’t just a high level magus but a servant too. Lizard meanwhile had suspicions that Regal was a unique sort of mage but didn’t know him well enough. Still, his intuition when it came to magic was always right and he was excited. First his master, then Illuv, and now Regal, even as a servant he had students to help.

"Fire is often used as the introductory element because it's the simplest to produce. Raise the temperature of an area, add more energy, destabilize certain molecules, even recreating the mental image of flames has worked for some. If a mage can't create fire they'll usually be in a different field if they made it into the school. The second element is the real test. Fire is simple because it's possible to accidentally create it and nature does the rest as oxygen gobbles it up. A drop of water will not expand.

The easiest method to do water is by changing the temperature, pressure, or components in the air, but that's exactly what a mage-in-training needs to learn: Specific changes over a set region. Spatial limits matter at this stage. With Water one trick many fail at is that they can't control the temperature very well and make Ice instead. Ice Magic is its own specialized field that shares a similar beginning before becoming much more complex. The goal here is Water magic however and some fail as a result. Don't misunderstand, some mages are clearly meant for that field and shifted to the proper departments, but if you can't even make water you definitely do not belong in magical physics. Most students go for the fire-water combo and think they're special, but those who want a challenge pick Lightning. There are a lot of students who fail that course.

"Why? Lightning is pretty easy…"

"Spoken like a lightning mage. Fire can be formed by an increase of energy while water would be simply depleting it. Lightning does neither. Some students do accidentally do it during fire training and think it'll be a breeze when they take the course, but that's a mistake. Accidental lightning is dangerous magic. Unlike fire, firm control of all pieces at all times is necessary. It's inherently unstable: set paths of magic and an understanding of how electric and magnetic forces work both need to be known by the mage. Professors are very picky when it comes to lightning magic as it must sustain its form without turning to fire. Most students make it through the first semester as it's not too hard, the rate was always around 80%. Second semester? We lose half our starting enrollment.

Those who pass will be taught the element they skipped from above and one more: Earth magic. Earth demands an understanding of spatial control in size, quantity, and material. Unlike the others you aren't dealing with energy or temperature conversions, but actual material. Mages who prefer hands on work will excel here but those looking to learn how to fling fireballs right end up changing majors because they find it boring. It's not a flashy magic class but it's one of the most important ones as it's a clear, tangible showing of magical physics in the world. You need to learn about firm spatial limits and tightening physical material to create compact or loose items. The final exam is a test using two equal piles of sand. One needs to be extended to create a sand castle while the other needs to be shrunk down to the size of a golf ball. It's no surprise that the best second years all aced it. Should I keep going?"
“Yes,” Regal said. The other two gave no response.

"Alright. The main magic that best describes a second year student is telepathy. Classes are usually with a mix of students studying Mental Magic and Magical Physics, but there's a slight difference in their approaches. Mental Mages focus on directly targeting the mind while Magical Physicists focus on targeting the space which connects the mind. The end result is the same but as the two advance it will be that fork in the road.

Telepathy has three parts to it:
1) The full content to be sent must appear in the caster's head prior to sending. A basic first start but you'd be surprised at how many errors are made because they simply did not know all of it at the time of casting.
2) The content must be sent through a medium to another person. Early lessons are taught using exclusively would-be verbal communication with two cups and a string as it's easier for students to grasp the concept. Eventually phones are used and magical artifacts between two points close the first semester's classes.
3) The other person must receive it.

Not stated in those rules is the fact that the caster is also responsible for the return of return data. Between two mages learning this is ignored at first but keeping the channel open matters for later classes and requirements we had to do. At this point Mental Mages often prove superior as they don't particularly care for the method, their target’s the other person’s brain. The second semester however is where they begin to struggle more thanks to this approach. Delivering words to another mimics what we do this on a day to day basis, but delivering still images becomes harder. Success rates between both sides are even there. Content that has movement or extreme amounts of detail, such as videos and maps, favors the Magical Physicists. Since we focus on compressing data through space adding more of it works for us. It’s the same way we had to compress sand. The transfer of data is why we struggled earlier, getting material from Point A to Point B is where we struggled. Mental Mages, focused on the destination and not the travel, traditionally struggle more when more content is added and they need to tweak their method to be a bit more like ours. Often they end up realizing that they can send pieces of data over in rapid succession and go with that, but if that's the best they can do they’ll never be more than a third rate magus. Those who are advanced in this field will begin trying communication without a magical artifact but just the air itself, but this, much like Ice Magic in the first year, is rare and gotten into later in higher level courses."

"From the sounds of it the first two years are all about control. Control of what's inside a space then control of transmitting data through it. If that's the case then the third… would be both? Magic beyond a projectile? Both years seem to focus on magic from the caster in a direct way but by the end the connection's pretty loose."

"That's the idea, yes. Now that the caster knows how to deal with space and working with its limitations he will focus only on that. First year projectile magic, as it comes from the caster directly, has a trail to it. Some don't even make it a full projectile but a flamethrower of some sort instead. Now that they learned about transmitting data for one type of magic, they’re taught to apply it to the rest too. Elemental magic is selected since it was taught in their first years and likely still is the one they’re most familiar with, though some choose to focus on a different one primarily. To all cases it’s the same: You will create a completed projectile. No trail to the caster must be seen and magic must be moved from Point A to Point B.

"Hm… so it depends on how they did the telepathy from earlier. In that case are you controlling the fireball or the thing it’s going through? You said that Magical Physicists would compress the data to transfer, so they were really manipulating how things moved. If it’s going through the air then… are you controlling air? Is this that spatial compression you mentioned to make the suit go crazy?”

“No, this is still fairly normal. Your question’s a good one but the answer is really one that depends on the mage. Some realize that it's easier if they just maintain the same pattern “on top” of an area and move it around that way. They essentially place a layer of space between their attack and where it resides. This resembles words in a tube to a point and they’re left with a movable piece that maintains itself in the air until it hits a target or runs out of energy.

Others take a more complicated path in keeping it tied to the space it resides in. Some very long streams of magic can be found like this but this is usually the sign of a mage who will be capable of entering the graduate program. They begin the formation from their hands but focus their magic on an area separate from them before launching it forward. Whirlpools, tornados, lightning storms, earthquakes, and other massive area of effect spells are rooted here. To them magic is the ability to place one's own content on top of another’s and change its composition in full."

"Those aren't really a projectile though."

“Tell me Regal: How aren't they? It's magic launched away from the caster in a set direction that does not leave a trail. Unlike the other method they don't ride on top of space but it still travels from Point A to Point B without leaving a trail to the caster. Remember the principle of what magic is: Creating phenomenon that already exists. Transferring data through space with no direct connection to the caster is the magic being taught here, not the specific types of element or method of attack. Other courses in the same semester include how to transmit false information - illusions - and Illusion Mages find this approach quite reasonable as wide-scale illusions demand this form of projectile."

"Something still feels wrong about that. Area of Effect magic being a projectile just doesn't seem right as it always feels different. Launching it from me has the lightning just fly away and not worrying about it, but setting in a region has me focus on that spot. They're different."

"If you feel that way then here's a question we ask students: Say you need to hit a target but cannot reach it from your position and can't reposition yourself. Curving the magic to reach that specific point will take too long and it is impossible to surround that region with magic due to magical barriers which prevent AOE magic but a projectile will fly straight through. What do you do?"

"I need to get a projectile over to it somehow. Can't I just make a large wave from me that will definitely get to it?"

"You can, however time is low and that would be an extremely wasteful amount of mana. You would not be fighting intelligently that way."

"Hm… I think I get it. You want me to say that I can make a projectile from a different point, right?"

"Correct. But is that AOE magic or Projectile?"

"If I were to do that it would… I think it'd be Area of Effect. I make a lightning wave or bolt start in an area away from me so that's how I'd have to start it. Being able to push away from there seems harder than from my hand but not impossible. That though makes it just like a projectile spell from me if I can get enough magic in it to push forward. Can it be both?"

"It's both, yes. Do note though that you just confirmed that the two projectile magics aren't exclusive to each other. You made the AOE spell first then centered that spell and launched it like a projectile. Could you also make it like a wave from that area?"

"Well yeah. That might be easier but I'm low on time, right? The other seems faster."

"It'd be the better choice in the situation, yes, but can you tell me then why it wouldn't be a projectile too? It's away from you and being fired towards a target. Even though it is establishing continuous movement, should something interrupt the lightning ball you made it would release its magic too."

"I guess. You can avoid one but not the other but to a certain point they're both continuous, just that one 'passes through space' while the other passes within it."

"You'd be capable of advancing to the fourth year if you can understand and apply that much. Realize that you were confusing the application of the magic from the magic itself. In both instances there is a central point - you or the region selected - where a phenomenon will be created and pushed externally. This is what makes it a projectile. To you, the caster, both applications are completely different. To magic, there is no difference. You need to think less like the caster and more like the spell. Are the other two also listening?"

Ex responded first.
"I'm inside the ship and can hear you, but I'm completely lost. I understand the general concepts you're trying to say but I can't wrap my head around how you're making that phenomenon occur in the first place. I've got my own problems with a similar power."

"Similar?"

"My machine control. Alan knows already and it's not really a secret, but I don't actually know how I manipulate machines, it just sort of happens. It's not quite magic but sounds pretty similar."

"Do you require direct contact?"

"Yes. I touch it and can manipulate the machine or advance it to something it shouldn't be able to turn into, even if it means adding parts that weren't there before."

"Hmm… and you're sure it's not magic?"

"Been told as much at least. If you see it would you be able to tell?"

"Without a doubt. This may explain why you were able to summon and deal with a monster like SCP-1011 as a Berserker. For an inexperienced magus that had to be awful."

"I've just about run out of my usual trump card even though I had a couple uses worth of it when this war started. Might have enough for one or two more crucial moments but I'm mostly what you see now. I do owe Alan for that, I haven't felt a pull of mana from Rangh for a while now."

"I've been wondering how you were capable of moving for a while now. Rangh strikes me as a sadist who'd target your mana pool first. At the amount he'd pull shouldn't that have been fatal by now?"

"Hehe, that would be my cue! I, Alan Chang, Boy Genius, am the inventor of the cereal made for geniuses by a super genius: Genius-Os™! Right now it's like he doesn't even have any magic circuits so there's nothing to pull. It's as if they were just turned off for as long as he has my Normal Genius-On-The-GO's. But it’s not like I wanted to help him or anything."

"A line like that isn’t very convincing after the ones prior to it. You’re an interesting servant. While you may be incapable of performing magic on your own you have the ability to cancel a person’s magical connection and channel it into other places? It took a bit of time to understand that robot but it isn't truly using magic, is it? There's a connection to a greater source. Judging by its fighting style and the questions he’s asked I have to believe it's your master inside."

"I told you already you that I wouldn't be a servant if I wasn't at least a bit of a magus, you sneaky smart servant."

"So have you followed everything thus far?"

"Nope! Some things I get but there's a lot I don't really understand. Mostly I don't see how a lot of what you're saying is magic. Spatial limits, compressing, and controlling them are just pieces of regular physics. Moving one thing on top of another through gravitational or electromagnetic forces seems normal to me. That's not magic at all. My lab can do almost anything I want it to and I never needed any magic for that."

"Interesting. So you have full understanding of what and how you build something? This Giant Robot doesn't represent a manifestation of your talents? It wasn't played with by Ex Machina?"

"Of course not! I built that Giant Robot and tweaked it for Master Regal. It took more than just one all nighter but I made it nice for him. Only weird people like Ex don't. He knows what he wants and poof it's done. The guy gloats about how much better he is but he'll see! I'll always make the better robot! That cheater can stay away from it, mine will be better."

Lizard stopped to think.
If this was done purely through science then perhaps I've underestimated him as a magus. If he understands the material from a scientific standpoint then it makes sense that the concept of 'magic' is foreign to him, he’s following the rules of nature directly. The original Giant Robot was powerful enough to be on par as a dragon but this one completely dwarfs it. The two are nothing alike and he changed it in under 72 hours by himself? Perhaps he and I work at the same level but have different approaches to it. That lab in particular is extraordinarily bothersome if true…

"Hey Lizard. I get that you like what my servant said but you've only explained three years. You've almost got your Master's Degree, right? So you're still missing the senior year and graduate level courses."

"Damn. Was I that obvious?"

"Just to me. Don't think the other two got it, Ex is probably busy in the ship and Alan is… doing something I probably can't understand anyway."

"Well, I'd like to keep graduate studies hidden for now, but I can address the senior year. This is where the alarm sounded off and I don't understand why. Up to this point we've establish transmitting and receiving data to other people or specific points, adding layers to a set area for easier moving of spatial content, and constant manipulation of a set area for large effects. Why here when all the senior classes learn is how to combine everything and take the next logical step?"

"It was the content," Alan said. "Creating points of entry and spatial compression can mean anything from teleportation or summoning to changing everything over an area, which you seemed to show you were capable of when you frozen carbon dioxide to choke out Rangh. A spell having a point of entry along with the rest of what you showed makes you extremely dangerous.”

"I see. Nothing I've done would be something I could categorize as 'forbidden,' but I may be capable of doing whatever it is you believe." It's also nothing more forbidden than what you've done with this robot of yours. Should it even be possible for a Rider to make this? "But I digress. Regal, you mentioned your magic is spiritual, correct? Should I assume that it involves detection of some kind?"

"Yeah. I assume that's the normal way spiritual magic works."

"Indeed. Detection of individuals is the most common though there are more unusual ones. You in particular carry a very strong detection of magic if memory serves me well."

"Memory? …Ah, right, you hitched a ride on us that day, didn't you? Not sure if Alan noticed it since he was busy but you were between the thrusters I think?"

"That I was. Spiritual magic, Ice magic, Gravity magic, and a slew of others begin being addressed at the senior level but nothing too in depth. By now all students who have reached this point understand and can create a variety of spells either due to experience, natural talent, or from other courses. The overall theme at this point focuses on the true meat of Magical Physics: Manipulation of the world. You will remember that in the second year all students of Magical Physics are taught about transmitting data from one person to another over a physical and later magical connection. To a mage studying Magical Physics the process was important, not the end result. Here data will be transferred once more but not from one person to another, it will be from one person to a space of their choosing.”

“That doesn’t seem too bad for a senior exam.”

“A lot of people felt that way too which is why the administration divided it into two parts: A) Content must come from the individual alone, like a visualized wide-spread telepathy, and B) Content that already exists must be transmitted, almost like a magical streamer. There is one rule to it: The destination may not be something inherently capable of communication. No phone, no computer, no television. Many choose glass, water, or other reflective substances because they can identify something resembling a screen as a receiver for video, but I picked none of that. Stone would have been simple by now, a small rearrangement and I'd have glass. I wanted something more challenging and guaranteed my full scholarship into the graduate program with my answer to the test: I used only air.”

Regal was confused.
"How does that work exactly? Is it something like cooling the air in an area to make ice and have a screen?"

"No, but somebody did try that when they heard what I was doing."

"Lightning to connect a series of signals?"

"You're close but not quite there."

"Then I'm stumped."

"I'll start with the first half then as it was the simpler of the two for me. To move content from my brain at all I needed to turn it to data in the first place. At that point it's simply a matter of recreating the exact same material in a space of my choosing."

"Wait. That doesn't sound possible at all. To do that you—"

"Yes. This is why I was given the full scholarship: I manipulated all of the contents within the space I chose. It was less like a screen and more like a portal that played images."

"I'm lost." Regal stood still trying to understand how that was possible but simply lacked the ability to do it. He thought something like his body control magic might be modified in some way to do it, but this was entirely different: Lizard was replicating thoughts into thin air.

"Perhaps you'll understand what I did for the second half better then. Since it was already existing content I was unable to use the same trick as that'd demand me to see it as well. That however was the hint for everyone in class."

"…It's like the spell question of before. You need to be able to do something but can't physically do it. You fill a position up with the right kind of magic to replicate your eyes and ears so you can send over the data that way."

"See? I told you that you'd understand it better."

"I get what you did but I don't understand how you did it. Your eyes are practically screens already. I thought you didn't use anything like that?"

"They aren't necessary to see something. Take sonar from bats or dolphins."

"You… turned that space into waves?"

"Correct! I connected the information being broadcast to the space of my choosing and played it."

"That… at least sounds more possible than the last one did."

"You think so? My classmates didn't like it, some made fun of me thinking I was using screens now after showing off on the last one. One in particular was enraged. This is the funny thing with the Spiritual Mage I mentioned long ago. He used spiritual magic to detect where the television was and broke it during the middle of my presentation. It made for an awkward situation as the video continued with a television being destroyed in the background and him destroying it in the foreground. "

"It… kept playing?"

"A television is just a receiver, right? So why would it be needed? I told you that I used waves to transmit the information being broadcast to the place of my choosing so it could be played. The place I chose was directly in front of the television. It was a small game I played that got a chuckle out of the professors reviewing us. The important piece to know is that the television isn't creating the content, only receiving it. Data is being transmitted through wires so it isn't important to see the screen. This is why I say you were close."

"So when you meant when you said that you 'connected the information being broadcast…' it was…"

"Yes. I meant exactly what I said. The data which was being broadcast to the television through the wires from the studio was picked up by an electrical field I made that could receive the data directly without any wires. I effectively streamed the data directly from the studio."

"If… this is what you learned in undergraduate school then what the hell did you learn at the Master's level?"

"Perhaps I'll tell you another time. As I said, all servants need to keep a secret of some sort."

“Nuh uh,” answered Alan. “I can probably answer that for you, Master." Alan's tone was different than usual. Normally he was playful, perky, or making claims of rejection while secretly meaning the opposite. Here there was none of that. Completely serious in a tone that surprised both Regal and Ex, he continued. "Physics has a few higher levels from what he's said but they involve much greater control than what he's said. Not more than what he's shown: Precise manipulation of molecules inside of a space to change. So precise that it shouldn't be possible without highly advanced equipment but he did it easily while layering Rangh in a specific space. He mentioned spatial limits, right? He did it to a living thing. Then there's that weird portal thing he has and his new teleport skill. Both happened after meeting that masked woman who's face I forgot and Rangh. I think he's learning. Careful, master. He may be a Heroic Lizard but he's dangerous around you. Even that meteor he used on Berserker in our fight was more advanced than anything he said because that was a real meteor. Saying he can do forbidden magic is right, he might also be the reason why Berserker became sane again.”

“Your conjecture sounds convincing but it’s purely based on assumptions.”

“Didn’t you know? I’m a genius at assumptions too! You say every servant needs a secret but I don’t. I just need a Super Robot to beat down any who do thinking they’ve got a trump card to use against me!”

“Trust me Alan, it’s one of many.”

Space ripped.
”Yeah? Well you’re showing it now you cold blooded bastard.”

A man covered in chains, a metal arm, pieces of metal sticking out of his body, and holding a glowing blade that looked like a saw appeared where Arctrus once stood.

The first shot Rangh fired was an opportunity for Lizard. In that brief moment of confusion he made two portals: One for D Money, one for Illuv. The trio had already agreed upon getting to the scene as soon as Lizard deemed it was safe enough and with Van's arrival Lizard believed that was possible. It wasn't necessarily the three on one assault that convinced him but the way Rangh fell to the ground. For a servant like SCP that blow shouldn't have phased him too much, yet to Rangh it drove him down. Though Lizard saw him recover without issue it was that fact which convinced him that victory was possible. The two promised to conceal themselves and run if they ever felt they needed to but the fight left them awestruck and unable to move. After a few minutes from Arctrus' vanishing act, D Money spoke up first.

"Crazy. I ain't callin' him 'Lizza' no more, my boy just froze the shit outta that sucka. Where Arctrus at? That nigga ain't goin' all out but he ain't playin' either. Illie?"

"Hey, I like that nick. I'm not sure. He's still alive and he's still burning through a lot of mana but he's not around. Maybe Lizard will know?"

"I ain't botherin' him for stupid shit like that. If your nigga's makin' that shithead his bitch don't care where they at."

"Alright. What now though? We don't know if they'll ever come back so do we just leave home?"

"Naw girl, you crazy? You ain't ever gettin' another chance like this. Military base half deserted where they sent the lameass up there with his ship? Military inside saw that and they ain’t ever comin’ out. Thinkin' of a good coat for that ride of his. You in?"

"Not sure that's a good idea, he might get back inside."

"If he does we just gotta kick him out to jack it. Aight, tell ya what. You and me? Gonna split for a bit. One out we come back here and chat.”

"Hey wai— Charles?"

D Money was already gone.

Illuv decided to take a look inside the base. Though it had once been full of armed soldiers it felt nearly deserted. All but the bravest soldiers stayed locked inside their rooms, but the murmurs she heard of the few outside were different than what she expected. Normally the barracks would be full of people concerned, worried about the events to come. Instead they were angry but not at Rangh’s betrayal, at Van’s. As she moved into the cafeteria she spotted a few two men and a woman who had just gotten their food. It was apparent that one of the men was the in-between person of the trio familiar with the other two, yet this left an awkward situation as the woman was not particularly fond of the man not her friend. They had little choice at the moment however as the scowling man was a higher rank than them, a Master Sergeant to two Staff Sergeants. Illuv sneaked her way closer to hear what was going on.

"Hey John, you saw that fight in full right? Damn Berserker. Not sure what Rangh did to fight on the same level but that was amazing. We don't know where he is but hope he comes back soon."

"Same level? That's not right, Danny. Didn't you see that little lizard thing? I hear that's a servant too. Ridiculously powerful one too so he's actually better."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Couldn't see it but is that the thing that made that weird mist thing happen that choked Rangh out? They tortured him!"

"It sort of looked like dry ice but it's amazing that he lived. Breathing that in would kill any of us but here he was still able to force Berserker to do that weird thing. Really hope he's not dead. Van meanwhile was totally worthless. What's the deal with that?"

"Oh I know, it's terrible. Girls here are swooning all over him. They say he's a good guy but that's bullshit. Look at the way he treated Mandy, Jessica, and Emily. Especially Emily. Guy just will do anything for a warm place to put his dick inside and the girls are head over heels in love with him. Some pussy-whipped bastards also buy into him being the hero."

"Ah… you two doing alright? I saw that when he came in and wasn't sure how you’d take it."

"Don't even wanna talk about it. All I know is that he ain't no hero. Just look at what we saw: Van gets himself a new suit and the first thing he does is shoot the guy who’s been saving our asses. Only other thing he does in the entire fight? Shoot him again while being buddy buddy with the guy we’re supposed to take out. Just pissed me off. He should be fighting against Berserker, not with him. The hell is wrong with him? Rumor has it he's defected to the other side. That woman summoner must've bribed him or something. Or maybe that woman we saw? Berserker's master, right? Maybe they're fuck buddies, that'd be hilarious. Goddamn we need some actual soldiers here that won't fall for some two-bit government prop with a sick ride. Hero my ass. ”

"If he did then… Christ, what an asshole. Hey Angie, why so quiet?"//

The girl finally spoke.

"Don't you think it's weird? I mean that was Berserker but he didn't come after us and seemed to be talking to Van. That's not what we were told. And what about that other thing we saw in the sky that was huge? It just suddenly vanished and now we've got Rangh able to break that thing called a sword? Shouldn't we get more information first?"

John softened his position a bit but Danny clenched his fist.

"Angela, are you smitten with Van?"

"What? No! Danny, chill. He's a good looking guy yeah but that's it. Just makes more sense to get some answers first. Look, just because he hit on your girlfriend and she flirted back doesn't mean you need to assume every girl's out to be with him."

"If he asked you right now to go into that ship for a quick fuck what would you say?"

"That's not really any of your business."

"Danny, chill man. I mean I think he's defected too bu—"

"No. No John, I will not 'chill.' This woman's being just another bitch here trying to make Van look like the good guy when he ain't done a damn thing. How many bodies has he seen? How many kids has he had to turn away? How many of his friends have died because we're in over our heads and fucking abandoned?! All we get is lip service and some guy in a suit that ain't any better than the other suits. He's a fucking criminal that hasn't saved anyone."

The air distorted behind Danny and there stood a man looking down at him. Illuv had noticed him sneaking around and waved him over to listen to the conversation, hoping that he would do something to fix the situation.

"You guys sure like to talk a lot of shit when I'm not around. You got a problem with me?"

Danny flinched for a moment but didn’t lose any ground.
"Oh look, it's the hero who'll save us from the war. What's wrong? Haven't fucked us over enough that you came by to do it personally? What, is Berserker's master not giving good enough head or what?"

"Anyone hear that buzzing sound? It's like there's a swarm of something in here. Wasps? Hey, you guys have cleaned up the place, right?"

"Y-yeah, we have," said John. "I don't hear anything. You Danny?"

"Just some jackass womanizer who'll backstab us for a good pussy."

"See, there's that buzzing again, sounds like a swarm of flies are coming from the area by your mouth. Just how much shit did you eat?"

Danny stood up and took a swing at Rangh, but a quick sidestep and shove over his leg made Danny just stumble forward instead. He tried to swing a second time but this time Rangh pushed his arm away and grabbed him by the shirt.

"I don't know how smart you think you are but it's pretty fucking stupid to pick a fight with me. I'm the man your bosses put up to this operation because you're not good enough. Next time you speak to me you show me some goddamn respect unless you want to have your head in the wall. How many people I’ve saved? Bodies I've seen? Too many to the point where I don't feel a damn thing anymore when I see a crying one armed kid whose parents were burned to death in front of him. Be glad that all you're doing is turning away kids and not having to kill them so they don't have to feel the pain of bleeding out of six different places with no chance of survival. There's some sick shit out there that you ain't ever seen and thanks to guys like me you won't have to. I do the work. The good, the dirty, the bad, and if I want to relax with some vodka and a good woman that's my business, not yours. That's my downtime because I know that at any moment I'll have to deal with some sick fucks out there and that human contact is the only way I'll remember what it's like to be one. We clear, Danny?"

"…asshole."

Van grabbed his head and slammed it on the table.

"That's Sir Asshole to you."

"V-Van, can you let him go? He's not a fan of yours because you hit on his girl and she flirted back. Then you just blew her off while she still seems to be smitten by you over him."

"Then maybe he should grow a sack and realize that if she was willing to ditch him for me before, then the way he’s pussyfooting around and being a jackass now won't win him any points."

"True… but then we have those rumors and that fight we saw. How you shot up Rangh, who's been helping us out a lot and keeping us safe."

"He was using you the same way he uses everyone else. It's what he does. He would've used me too if I didn't sneak off to see things with my own eyes."

Van let go and Danny scrambled away behind John. Van took a few steps forward trying to intimidate them but Angela stepped in front of both.

"You done being Mr. Macho?"

"I'm always Mr. Macho Capacho. We met yet?"

"Unless you count being part of the crowd of people whose jaws dropped when they saw you fly in on that ship, no."

"Yeah? What do you say I show you inside said ship and maybe have you open that jaw again…?"

"You really are an asshole aren't you?"

"Only when I'm nice."

"So were you being nice when you shot the guy who's been helping us out and never explained anything before waltzing back in here picking fights?"

"Ah… that. Yeah, I should explain what was going on shouldn't I…"

"No need to. Everyone's already made their opinions on you and what you're doing and nothing you say is going to change their minds. Good job, hero."

"Sticks and stones…"

"In case you haven't noticed, we're fucking stranded in a city where most of us don't know a damn thing about what's going on or any of this magic shit and you're the guy they sent. That means you're the guy in charge. If you aren't willing to tell us anything then we can we do?"

"I don't need you guys to do anything. Just stay put, you'll get in the way. I may not be much better than you guys right now but soon as I figure out this suit's new functions I'll stop being in the way of the other guys too."

"Fine, but we need you to work with us. We're still human, Van. We want answers. We want people to tell us the truth. We want people to tell us that things will be okay or at least that they're in good hands."

"The truth? Alright, gimme a sec here… frequency is… and… okay. Testing one, two. Can everyone hear me? Met a girl on a different planet once. Cute, red hair, blue skin, but looked human. She asked me about religion and saints but I told her to go ask some other guy. Later that night she came into my room with some drinks and asked again. Turns out the only saint she was interested in was Saint Peter and she wanted him to guide her to the gates of heaven and like a gentleman with a good twelve shots in me, I happily obliged. Alright, I think it's working."

Van's clearance level was at the highest levels for a variety of nations, allowing him to access almost any facility in the world. Combined with his new suit hacking the PA system was an easy task.

"Ahem. So I'm Van, the guy sent here to save your asses. Now I know I ain't the most popular guy in the world to you right now but know this: You're fucked and got dealt a shit hand. Don't even try to get involved unless you know the first thing about magic. If you do then all you should be doing is making this place better to not die. There ain't much you can do besides try to survive and if you wanna go out and help people that’s your own business, not mine. That guy you knew, Rangh, was using you. One of his powers lets him say bullshit in your head and it looks like you all fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. I ain't gonna sugarcoat or spew crap to make you feel better but I'll tell you the truth if you got the balls to deal with it. That's all I got. I've saved you all before and I'll do my best to do it again, just know that if I ain't able to well… the last moments of your life are gonna suck."

Van cut the mic off and disconnected from the system and not noise was uttered in the entire building. Van looked directly at Angela who nervously looked around.

"There, did what you wanted. Hey. Look at me. What, you wanted the truth and can't deal with it, is that it?"

Instead of breaking down she started laughing. Danny and John both took this chance to leave her alone but tears rolled down her face as she steadily calmed down.

"You… you really did just get on the PA and say that didn't you? That's amazing, you just scared half the boys in the base and made the other half laugh."

"Long as nobody leaves a puddle of piss around I'm fine with that."

"I'll bet! Whew. Looks like I've judged you wrong then."

"So, about that tour in my ship you wanted…"

"Mmm… maybe later. Gotta go calm John down, he's a bit of a scaredy cat but he's a good soldier. Works more for electronic warfare but he came by to do his part and help out."

"So even though he's only gonna get his ass kicked he came to a brawl? Not a bad guy."

"Yeah. Still… I'll meet you later. How about on the roof in 30?"

"Sounds good to me. See you then."

As she left, Illuv tried to sneak off but Van held her by the shoulder. His suit wasn't going to be fooled by any illusions this time around and a mix of auto-map and his sensors were enough to see exactly what she was doing inside.

"So, you taking a tour here?"

"Guess you can see me, huh."

"Guess so. I'd have shot you before but now I don't think I need to. Mind telling me why?"

"I'm not a master anymore. I give Arctrus his mana but my command spells are all gone. Here, see?"
Illuv raised both her arms and showed that indeed, she didn't have any markings on them.

"Alright, so now what? You still control that beast right?"

"No, Lizard does. So long as he's not Berserker anymore he'll be able to listen to the last commands I gave him but once he goes back there aren't any promises that it'd work out. Lizard can keep him locked in as other classes and keep him sane. Don't think that's happening right now but I don't think he'll be coming back anytime soon either."

"…so he's still fighting?"

"Yeah. I don't really understand it either but before he left he did say he was glad that he didn't have a master anymore because now he can use his most powerful attack without worrying about it."

"Hm. Alright. …Say, you wanna come up to the ship too?"

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

"Aw come on. It'll be good treatment. I heard a thing or two about so called 'mana recovery methods.' I'm sure that I can get you a lot more mana than any other guy…"

"Cute. Unfortunately I don't really have a thing for guys keeping their clothes on, it's a bit of a turnoff. Maybe once you can take off the suit and be a real man I'll sneak inside for a welcome party. Until then, sorry cyberdick."

"…Bitch. Fine, I didn't need you anyway, I've got Angela. And Mary. And Katrina. Speaking of which I really should get back to her. Gonna bring ‘em all with and fly off the roof with ‘em. Oh yeah, don't do anything stupid and don't take anything too valuable. That's all I got. Talk to you later."

D Money needed to get to the ship but flying in the air it was simply too high. He could theoretically summon some of his bitches but that would attract too much attention. A small mountain made of guns was possible but it'd take a lot of time, mana, and if anyone stumbled upon it he could get into major trouble. Instead he decided to go about it the old fashion way: Climb up high and leap. Magic would be less notable from above too, making it easier to avoid getting caught. He sneaked into a nearby building and made his way to the roof without getting noticed. When the announcement from Van aired he used it as an excuse to sprint to the roof and double tapped the locked door open. To his surprise there was a boy just staring at the ship. He looked familiar but D Money couldn't pinpoint from where.

"The door opened? I thought it was locked. …Is that you D Money? Do you remember me? I was at the camp with Vanessa and those mean boys the other day.. But I never got to talk to you. I'm a kid from this base here. Daddy's trying to fight but can't do anything. Mommy… was in that building from a few days ago. Nobody ever found anything, it’s like she just vanished. I like to sneak up here when I get a chance to because I can see everything going on. The big thing in the sky, what I think was a robot, then the guy come in surfing on a building. It was awesome! With Van's ship it feels like this place is special. Though he does spend more time getting pretty ladies downstairs instead of fighting.”

"…you ain't supposed to be here, kid. Go back in, I got business to take care of."

"I knew that was you! Oh, are you gonna try to get on that ship?"

"Yea. Sorry, but time ain't on my side and when I see a ride I want, I get it. Government bitch like Van ain't even useful in a fight, all he be good for is dyin' and standin' around like a bitch who don't know their place. I'm takin' that ride and makin' somethin' of it. If the space pig wants it back he could man up or cry home to his army bosses and suck enough dicks that they'll do something about it. You still there? Move, no reason a kid's gots to hear this dirty mouth o'mine."

"I've heard worse. I mean I've got all your singles and have been waiting for the next one you've got!"

"No shit? Pretty tight meetin' you up here then. When this shit's over just hit me up online and mention you're that roof kid with the weird hat and lame ass glasses. …You sure I ain't ever meet you outside that camp? Just checkin', lemme see those hands of yours."

"Huh? Sure."

The boy raised his hands up and no signs of anything unusual were found. He flipped them over and put them in stranger angles to show off his meek arms but there wasn't anything notable. It was perfectly clear that he wasn’t armed either based on the clothes he was wearing and the complete lack of bulk..

"Hmm… don't feel nothin' bad about'cha either. Just got this weird nagging feeling inside. Oh well."

"Maybe at a show? You did one not too long ago around here… don't remember when."

"Show? Hmm… done a couple clubs and small joints but nothing major. Dad might'a brought you I guess. Whatever, we can figure this out later. I'm jackin' that ship so get to steppin', door's waitin' for ya."

"That ship? Ooh, do you plan to go to space too?"

"Space ain't a bad idea. Could run a nice track up there with the bitches floatin' around for the music vid. Think I'll call it 'Zero G.'

//Lookin' down all I see is a rock in space that nobody on it appreciates. It's always fate, God, never the human race, ‘n’ instead up at it wonderin’ they’re too busy spending time watching shit like some slut named 'Kate.'

It's a big blue world worth more than a couple pearls, but political madness swirls and twirls as we hurl bombs and kill instead of smokin’ bongs and chill. The past makes us ill but the cycle continues still as our hearts bang on the windowsill, but it’s no luck ‘cause these people run amuck lookin’ down at the ground instead of up so they can keep denyin’ that they’re the reason this world is fucked.//

Need to work on the flow and get good beat but the base ain’t bad…”

The boy looked on excitedly and had a glow in his eyes as if he had just met Superman.
"Kid, last time I'm tellin' ya, move. See that weird orange shit in the sky there? Faster I get to the ship, better things'll be. Get me?"

"Do you know how to fly it? My dad's a pilot, he can do it. Or I can! I’ve been inside and know a few things."

"I ain't here for your daddy, I ain't here for you. If you wanna hitch a ride lemme jack it first a- fuck those guys be runnin' those steps quick. One… two… three? One’s pretty heavy, the other three ain’t. They ain’t stoppin’. Don't sound light and they ain't stoppin' either. Tch, gotta go. Kid, you haul ass outta here t— where'd that brat go? Heh, sneakin' up here and sneakin' out too? Kid ain't half bad. Never got his name either, damn."

The boy didn't need to use any powers to sneak off. To get to the roof he picked the lock and closed it behind him. He had considered getting to the ship himself, however doing so would make his position known to parties he didn't want to reveal himself to. He saw the fight and hoped that the three would kill each other, but instead two were gone and Rider arrived.

I want that robot too… and now I remember D Money. Guy kicked me out of Mid Tier back into Low. Sure I was the king of that division but still…

With Van, Alan, Ex, and Regal all gone the two remaining masters stood with their servants waiting for each other to leave. It had been an hour since they were the only ones left and though Keyuri stuck around she was busy drinking with some of Roman's maidens. She claimed they were her drinking buddies and though they tried to run away at first, a few wires and whispers was enough to convince them to get drunk in public. The doll was laughing as the three others drank with tear-stained cheeks. The only silver lining to them was that Roman had promised to look over them once they were too drunk.

"Alright Roman, it's just you and me here. We both got our asses kicked by Rangh. Truce?"

"Why would I make a deal with you?"

"Well, we could pick up where we left off if you want. My cat army can still go if I need them to and I'll push myself if I have to if it can guarantee me a win."

"I'd rather not. You sound rather confident despite the fact that I don't really need all the girls being summoned to beat you. Just enough to make a hole between your cats and your servant."

"You don't have your trump anymore. Sure you wanna take that chance?"

"….depends on the conditions of the truce."

"You and I don't fight each other unless we absolutely have to. I'll send out Syl and you'll send out Solai, the two Japanese swordswomen you have there, and the crazy one with a knife. We've got him on the ropes and if Berserker's got his mind back we can totally win this."

"This doesn't seem like a fair trade off. I sacrifice four units while you lose only one?"

"Nobody said anything about sacrificing. You have a couple hundred more and plenty to defend yourself with. I don't. In exchange Syl will improve those units for a full day. Go ask the one with two swords how that is. If it wasn't for Syl she would've been blown away and you'd be dead. You owe us for saving your life twice."

Roman looked at Masamune for confirmation and received a silent nod. Nobuna walked over next to her and also gave a nod of agreement.

"Alright, I can agree to that. Arctrus though? Isn't it a bit risky relying on him? We don't even know where he went to after vanishing in thin air along with Rangh but it doesn't feel like this match is over yet. Without him things don't really feel like they're much better either though."

"I agree that it's not over yet, but we've got a real chance to win next time. Syl, if you will?"

"Thank you. While Arctrus is important and a powerful ally should he return, I should note that he is not necessary to Rangh's defeat. Judging by the last rescue mission and the pieces I saw of the earlier fight I find it to be highly probable that he's working with Lizard. Evidence of his being there can be seen in Alan's greeting of him from so far away. If you are concerned about your safety do not fret: Master will call me back immediately if either of you are in danger. This is unlikely however as with your primary fighters there it would be reasonable to assume that you yourself are nearby, making it actually safer to allow the team to form.

"I can buy that. I'll also send over another girl, Lybris, who has a communicator built in. Would this be fine?"

"Yes. So long as it's a small group we should have no problems."

"Lizard… I remember that guy. I got my way into Top, beat Hyperorb, Van, got to Lizard and just got my ass handed to me. Completely beat. Not sure how it happened but he just knew how to fight me."

"Unsurprising. Lizard's specialty appears to be spell knowledge. After seeing my seals for a few seconds he appeared to understand the basic application of it. Judging from this, I believe that he is able to detect, recreate, and likely counter magic to an unusual degree. You, a summoner who uses a device to complete the ritual, would be an obvious target."

"Huh, so that's what it was. Meanwhile Rangh's a mage too who also knows how to beat me so… okay, I'll take that offer. Truce it is! You have a plan for what comes next?"

"Yes. Solai is the fastest one of us and will go on ahead first. I will apply six improvements to her parameters as per her requests. The rest of us will go ahead. I see the two Samurai here but where is the knife user…?"

"Aha… she probably went on ahead already. Kana? Kana! …No response. She definitely left. You just had to say 'it will leave you safer,' didn't you. Hey cat-boy, do you always let your servant do all the planning?"

"Not all of it. Just most. She's better at it than I am in these situations and is probably right so I'll just do as she says."

"Master is lying to you, Roman. I've told him multiple times to stay out of combat yet he continues to join."

"Don't mind it too much Syl, it's a cat thing to not do as you're told."

"You are human."

"That I am, but see this? I've got a cape now. It makes me invisible! Alan said that he couldn't get it right on Van so he gave it to me. Isn't it awesome? Now we can match!"

"You may be a terrible human, but are still human. If you die I do too, can't you understand that?"

Solai flew over next to Syl and bounced up and down as if she were nodding.

"I understand what you mean. Roman almost died and if she did it would have been very NO. All these cute and legendary swordswomen and support almost didn't matter and I thank you for saving her. I'll do what I can but we just got stuck with the worst kind of masters. Busybodies all of them!"

Aha… Solai, can you tone it down a bit? I don't think I've been that bad. I just call shots from the back at times, that's—"

"No! You like to get involved because you think you're safe and invincible but you aren't! Promise you'll stay out of it. Other members, please help her stay here. You too other fairies. Please."

Murmurs from the crowd were heard all in support.
"We won't let her leave!"
"Stay close to Roman //without
that creepy girl staring me down? Like, yeah!"
"Alriiiight! Mission "Make Roman Stay Put With Me" accepted!"
"I'll I'll try my best and ifit'sokayI'lljust…" //

A small circle formed around Roman all eager to stay. All except for the drinking group, which by now only Keyuri had the capacity to respond.

"Eh? What are you girls all doin' surroundin' her like that? If you're tryin' to tie her down you should've just asked, I've got more wire running than HBO! Damn that was a good show, why'd they can it? Bunch of bums. Can't wait until I guide one of those jackasses…"

"Okay okay! I'll stay here. Oh you think that's funny? Syl! Tell me, where do you want your master to be: Here or with you."

"Here. It's safer and I will not have to worry about his well-being."

"In that case I'll stay if he does. Deal? Solai? Syl?"

"Hey wait a s—"

"Quiet, master. I accept. Please surround master as well."

"I'm fine with it too! You masters need to rely on us more," Solai said as she puffed out her chest. "We'll beat that guy and make you two in the finals, just you wait!"

Keyuri had looked away for a while to finish the leftover bottles of the fallen trio but couldn't believe what she saw.

"Eh? Holy crap I must've drank too much. Is there a human with a dick in that circle? Roman, what gives! That's just a boyish girl, right?"

"Sorry Keyuri, it's a guy. He's a fellow master who needs to work with me in order to defeat Rangh. We can't have anything happen to either of us so we both are going to stay here. Him, you, me, and a couple hundred girls."

Nervous at his situation RST meekly raised his hand to make a request.

"Just one question uh… can I at least summon a few cats? It's rather lonely."

"Define a few."

"Ten…"

"S-"

"…thousan-"

"Keyuri ready those wires."

"Alright! Just… 50. That's enough right? I'll even let your girls play with them for a while!"

"I do like cats."
"Ooh! Maybe I'll find a good mate in that. How do I look? Is my tail too fluffy?"
Tiger! Grrrr! I want a tiger!"
"Kittens are nice theyhavefluffytailsandfallwhenyoupokeand…

"Fine. The girls seem interested so keep them entertained. That also serves as your safety net that can protect you so we're both trusting each other now. That better, Syl?"

"I thank you for noticing my concerns. Yes, this way Master will not be taking such a huge risk by staying with you as he will have a safety measure of his own. For now the combatants and I should discuss what improvements can be made to them and their weapons. I will be sure to focus on 'Kana' once I find her as well."

"No need to be so formal, we're friends. Your master and I not so much but you? I like you. I really did mean it when I said you could join if you wanted. Unlike a certain man with a cape I notice little things."

"Thank you for the offer, but no. Master is master and I will stay with him. Solai, you first."

Illuv and D Money reunited as promised, however two hours had passed. Illuv arrived first and though she was annoyed she had a bigger concern with Arctrus. She may have had a greater mana pool and quicker regeneration, but Arctrus had long since burned through the proper amount for that. His demand kept rising but she couldn’t tell why.

"Yo, been waitin’ long?”

“Hm? Not sure. Don’t think so…”

“Good. Then you jackin' it with me or not?"

"Van's a bit… busy inside the ship."

"Busy? Don't tell me that nigga just tried to pick up one of my bitches without tellin' me."

"It wasn't like that! Well… it kinda was but he picked two others up instead."

"…Aw hell naw. Tryin' to pick up a bitch of mine, 'aight, at least it shows you got some taste. Turnin' one of mine down? Punk ass gonna get capped."

"I'd prefer if you didn't do that. Van will be useful to us and serves as our main connection with the governments in the world. If we lose him we'll also lose our security blanket. For now it's best to let him do as he pleases."

"Lizza…rd? That you?"

"You almost got my name right. I'm having discussions with Rider, his master, and the man who created those robots to see what information or partnerships can be made. The master is interested in my past and there's nothing truly remarkable about it, however there are lessons of magic which I feel you and your main subordinate should know as well. You'll be able to hear the conversation and communicate with only me. I may get a bit excited from having three students so use your discretion if you feel that I'm going too far."

"Aight, sounds good. Do I gotta talk out loud or is this one of those 'think and you'll get the memo' sorta things?"

//"Thinking is fine. Illuv, are you able to receive this?"

"Yeah, I'm… I’m here here. Odd having a secret three way communication. You sure I should be hearing this? I mean I'm technically still a master after all."

"That you may be, however you are in no condition to be one at the moment as your mana's rather unstable. Arctrus?"

"Yeah, he's Berserker again. Not holding back either.”

“Bitch, why didn’t you say so? You ain’t no master no more, you’re mine. Rule No. 1: a man’s gotta protect all his women. You need mana? It ain’t hard to get some of mine. Just gimme a couple hours and I’ll give you all the mana you could ever want and a good night’s rest.”

“You’re starting to sound like Van.”

“How ‘bout this then - you just stay close to me. That’s it. Nothin’ fancy, just stick with me and you take some of mine.”//

Lizard piped in.
//”That’s not a good idea either I’m afraid. If Rangh shows up again I will not hesitate to deplete your resources too.”

“Yeah? So what, you want me to leave one of my girls behind?”

“Feel free to take care of her as you see fit. Do remember however that she is no longer a member of the war but you and I are.

“That’s fine. How ‘bout this, I call back the bitches and focus on her. Better?”

“That… would certainly change the situation, even if it’s a bit unusual for you to do.”

“She’s still human, Lizard. The bitches may be mine, but I can bring ‘em back in time. I can’t bring her back, so she’s special like that.”

“Ah, I see. Well, do as you must.”//

Lizard began discussing what his student days were as the two listened on. Sure enough, D Money holding her did give her a bit more strength than she normally had. Lizard went as far as to replace her illusion of herself with one of his own to cloak her with invisibility, doing his part to help reduce her mana strain. It was a ridiculous consumption and neither had any comments on the first and second year information because it didn’t really apply to either one; D Money’s magic type would never be taught and illusionists focus on different paths. Illuv was interested in the magic a bit due to her disc, but this wasn’t enough to make her lose focus.

//“‘ey Lizard. That boy’s askin’ you a lot of questions, I hope you ain’t goin’ soft on me here. Tellin’ your past, ‘aight that’s fine. Boy’s gettin’ somethin’ out of it though, remember that.”

“Don’t worry, everything I have said thus far is basic. It doesn’t quite apply to either of you two though…”

“Yea well, right now she ain’t doin’ too hot either. Got anything that could help?”

“I’m afraid not. The barrier is breaking down however, I can feel the two worlds merging again. If she can hold on a little longer…” //
Lizard continued into the third year as different applications of magic began to be discussed.

//”Say… this sounds familiar to me. Magic in a different area? Sounds like both of my types really…”

“That is correct. Your discs are a projectile created in a space of your choosing and are quite impressive. It’s not the greatest spell in the Destructive Magic tree, however the way you have trained it is admirable and it truly makes for a remarkable combination with your illusions. If you could improve the speed your discs travel at you may be able to get noticed by a few professors I know that can be of assistance to you.”

“Huh… so that good. What about Charles?”

“Master has magic that can fall into a variety of camps, however the root magic he holds is the power of words. His magic is to put power into words towards a specific meaning. By putting power inside he forces the world to accept his statements as truth and the phenomenon is born. The only words he can empower are the ones he creates and understands so he is limited by his imagination, however the applications are certainly unusual enough and carry sufficient variety to gather any professor’s interest. He would never pass a written or experimental exam, but for practical tests I doubt many would surpass him. The one field he’s very notable at is his summoning potential. That needs to be examined in much greater detail.”

“If you ain’t able to shoot somethin’ then just get a bitch to shoot it for ya. Ain’t nothin’ hard ‘bout that.”

“And yet few think of that. They instead focus on how to curve their spells or create them in other places. Take the woman you’re holding - she moves the discs in the air.”

“Nothin’ wrong with that, but it ain’t as fast or easy as gettin’ half a dozen niggas and bitches to do it for ya.”

“I… completely… disag……”

“Yo, Illuv? Illuv! Lizard, what gives?!”

“…Arctrus is draining her at a higher speed than before yet it’s almost as if nothing is working. I believe he’s dying.”

“Yo, I swear to God that if you say you ain’t got somethin’ for her to survive I’ll—”

“If you give her some of your blood it will help her stay awake. Any transfer of liquids will be useful but blood is among the more powerful capacitors for mana.”

“‘aight, one sec. Gonna shoot my own ass for a bitch, life ain’t workin’ out right ‘bout now.”

“No need to. There’s a knife approximately ten meters from your location. Use that to make a slight cut on your lip so she can draw blood and you can deliver it properly. No need to waste yours or cause great injury. Once Arctrus is dead she will be able to quickly recover, but for now you need to assist her.” //

By the time Lizard had finished speaking D Money already found the knife and was on his way back to Illuv.

//“Got it. Slit lip, ‘ai— ow—ght. Now what?”

“What else? Kiss her.”

“…Hope this girl don’t get too mad for mackin’ on her.”//

Lizard smiled a bit at hearing D Money finally call Illuv a girl but continued talking about his fourth year. This was the most important part for Rider’s master and D Money alike, yet with one of them busy he didn’t mind focusing more on the man in the robot. As he was finishing he felt the collapse of one world and the full connection to the other - something was being sent back. Illuv began to stir and D Money stopped, though by the taste in her mouth it didn’t take her long to figure out what he was doing.

//”Kissing a girl passed out… real man you are.”

“It ain’t like that. Just didn’t want you dyin’ here and I—”

“Yeah? Well next time do it when I’m awake too, dumbass.” //

Space ripped. Rangh arrived as Lizard looked on and the two invisible mages below looked up in horror.

//”…Lizard. I think I know those weapons. That chain around him is—”

“Yes. It appears that while the fight may have left him weaker, his arsenal has had a few notable improvements.”//

Watching on her own at the events unfold for everyone Anastasia smiled.

"Looks like the stage is set. A bit different than initially planned but the mission's complete. I'll just sit back and watch some more. Hope Keyuri doesn't mind breaking into her home too much, it's just the most comfortable place in New York. Ghost has good taste and some classic wine. I wonder who I can pair her with. Roman might be able to get a straight shipping for once while I can satisfy some BL fanatics with this Ex and Alan fic. Ooh, what if Ex finds Rangh with the two women and awakens to his inner lust? Illuv and D Money already look like they've been shipped together but they need a rival! D Money's women all become jealous, I'll especially include that 'Vanessa' girl mentioned. A man who got her into this and is willing to risk his life to get her out! Syl can make Solai turn into a bigger fairy and shrink herself down a bit to make them match up more evenly. Together the stoic support sweethearts fight and experience love… yes…. yes this is good… hehehehe…. guhehehe…"

Anastasia, Archer, was the busiest one of all.

End Part 4

Part 5: FINALLY THE ENDING

Arctrus was stronger than Rangh. If both were at full power the reverse would be true, however Saber’s trick was the difference maker to this match. Six Grand Seals were still in effect:

1) Decrease in physical strength. Even with those conditions only Arctrus was more powerful.
2) Decrease in all physical speed. No servant or master was faster at raw movement, however Gauntlet Snap could keep a similar pace now for a brief period of time. Reflexes on the other hand were beatable as this was never SCP's field.
3) Decrease in all resistances. Syl identified the defenses as one and the same for the purpose of this debuff, running with the idea that it’s not the source of a spell which counts, but the contact with it that causes damage. causes the damage. Despite this, his durability was unparalleled and deep in the A ranks.
4) Decrease in magical strength. Even with this, there was no stronger magical attack from any master or servant than a full powered Discharge. In his base form at medium strength it was capable of being ranked as an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. A stronger, enhanced, full power version would be fatal to any servant if directly hit. In its current state, survival was still possible.
5) Decrease in maximum mana. As a servant SCP-1011 had a high amount but it was still inferior to RST, Roman, and comparable to an unsealed D Money. Technically Arctrus had more as well, but the expense of his weapons made his effective amount lower. The seal effectively nullified Rangh's portion.
6) Lock the generator which produces electricity. It could be shaken but never broken, leaving Rangh to primarily rely on mana or newer generators based on later absorbed material. As it was a much more limiting supply of energy, full powered Discharges weren't desirable, yet he hadn't had a choice when dealing with RST and needed them to survive against Arctrus. Each of Arctrus' swings could wipe out a fortress with ease. Even though Dispellado was breaking apart its power never waned. To counter these attacks one of equal value needed to be delivered.

Lizard buffed Arctrus in simpler ways: Increase of strength, increase of all physical speed, increase in telekinetic strength, increase of magical strength, increase of mana, and increase of mana regeneration. Six buffs all meant to increase the offense of an uncontrollable monster. Rangh moved faster, yet Arctrus struck quicker with weapons large enough to nullify any speed advantage. Arctrus easily outclassed Rangh in strength, yet Rangh easily outclassed Arctrus in defense. No matter where Rangh went he had to defend himself Arctrus as he was fully extending his telekinetic aura to its one kilometer maximum and had more control than before over the contents inside. Rangh may have been superior when it came to anything metal but with so little around it was clear that Arctrus had the upper hand. On arrival the temperature of the area was 30 degrees Celsius. It was now 80 and neither noticed the difference; Arctrus due to being a Berserker and Rangh due to extreme heat resistance.

Constant escape, constant Discharge when escape wasn't possible. The temperature rose and only after 200 degrees Celsius did Rangh begin the notice the temperature going up but he didn’t particularly care. He had fused with five Hyperorbs and each was a 20 meter tall ball, 18 of which Tungsten. Arctrus simply didn't care and slashed away as Dispellado shrank. By now it was a quarter of its maximum size and Rangh was more than capable of avoiding it without any magic. He had taken a few pieces to improve himself but the majority was used as a defend against the onslaught. After half a minute Rangh went on the offense. Though Arctrus summoned The World to stop him an electric charge between the two halves sticking them together rendered it useless. Nearly weaponless, Rangh looked to have won.

Yet a faint glow came from Arctrus and a chain with a drill attached flew in the air and wrapped around Rangh. A weapon the size of a skyscraper formed into Arctrus' hands and was swung down to hit, but a quick teleport allowed Rangh to escape. It was a short lived moment however: much to his surprise Arctrus was personally waiting at his new location and planted a straight right into Rangh's face. To stop Rangh from flying away too far, two objects rotating quickly spun around and held him in place. The moment he tried to get up one of the rotations shot him straight up into the air.

Bastard… uses… everything. Next… should be…!

An arrow came by from above but Rangh already expected it and teleported directly above it to escape. A crackle like thunder rang out underneath him and by barely a few inches an oversized chakram had missed him. Chains circled around him once more but Rangh fired off a discharge to keep it from happening again.

All five. He's using all five. Six on one. SCP couldn't take this. Not in this condition. Is that all I have? Am I to die in this inferno? My mana is beginning to feel strained with this constant level of combat yet Arctrus is fine? No, he can't be. I can sustain my existence on my own. He's still relying on that girl. I hope he's still relying on that girl. This temperature is still increasing at a rapid pace. I think I’ll stall for a bit then…

The chakram spun around towards Rangh but this time it was a two rapidly spinning objects of his own which stopped it. Though his copy of The World was completely destroyed, it didn’t matter. Part of the chakram flew off and Rangh held onto it tight, keeping and establishing it as his weapon, not Arctrus’. With this golden blade he deflected the flying drill coming at him, sliced the chain off its base, and teleported over to slice it in the middle. Arctrus managed to take back the drill in time but the chain, like the piece of Halo Rangh held, was no longer his. Enraged, Arctrus moved the original version of The World to where Rangh was, but this was promptly carved in two by Rangh's new summon: A sword covered in runes that was a quarter of a skyscaper in size.

"Your weapons are nothing short of incredible but you're a sloppy fighter. You gave me enough time to mimic The World after I had just recovered from being treated like whipped butter. At this size even I can use Dispellado right and there isn’t a weapon you have which can take its slash. None may be as powerful as yours but they're enough to level this playing field and leave a hole in your chest."

Arctrus had power.
Rangh had speed.
Arctrus had superior defenses and weapons at the expense of a higher mana cost.
Rangh had more efficient defenses to deal with his costs.
None of this was mattering because temperatures had crossed 800 degrees Celsius.

Rock around the fighters had already begun to melt but the two continued. Arctrus’ armor began to glow red and his telekinetic aura had been steadily shrinking, but ire did little to change the fight. The tables had turned and Rangh’s gamble was proving correct: The longer the fight lasted the better his odds to win became. A greater focus to using the Hyperorbs’ natural heat resistance because his sole motivation while inside and there was little Arctrus could do to stop him. Melee combat was out of the question between the piece of Halo in his hand and Ssyss around his body and neck. Fighting with chains had them get slashed, fighting with arrows required a still target, fighting Rangh with two spinning weapons required them to not get tied, zapped, or slashed. Even all at once the five weapons weren’t enough to stop Rangh who could summon his weapons with considerably more ease than Arctrus.

“What’s wrong? Getting a bit too hot for you? Too bad, you brought me here. You treated me worse than an insect. I’m going to make you suffer from that tenfold. Mark my words Arctrus, I am going to boil you alive.”

1200 degrees Celsius. The fight continued to be a standstill. Arctrus tried using the massive size of Dispellado to pour some magma on Rangh but it was as if he never felt anything. The aura had now shrunk down to just around Rangh’s body but he continued to attack with everything he had.

1800 degrees Celsius. Arctrus was moving slower. The biggest proof of this was a sneak attack by Rangh where he dived into magma while hanging onto Arctrus’ armor. The two became completely surrounded by magma and while immediately fled, Rangh laughed. This wasn't nearly hot enough for him yet.

2400 degrees Celsius. Arctrus' suit and weapons began to crack and show signs of melting. The runes that held the weapons together were rapidly losing power. Rangh was doing his part as he fired small Discharges out at the area around Arctrus, forcing him to evade or get scorched. Pieces of the armor had holes in them and power began to leak outside of Arctrus, yet stability issues plagued his body. As the temperatures rose Arctrus had to abandon all his weapons save for Dispellado but Rangh didn’t mind. He managed to copy //Halo and Ssyss before they were removed from the arsenal. Dispellado was simply too big of a weapon for Rangh to ever properly observe.

”Copy Complete.”

The one missing piece left was Arctrus’ armor. Trying to use Observation on Rangh was a fruitless endeavor due to his madness, but the armor he wore was interesting and only after wearing it did he realized just how special it was. Though it did little to enhance his telekinetic powers, the durability of it was almost unmatched by anything he had seen or felt for how thin it was. He felt more focused than before and to reward Arctrus he delivered a quick punch, shattering the original armor, coming into direct contact with Arctrus flesh, and delivering a Discharge directly into his body. In his weakened state this would have been fatal, yet Rangh kept him barely alive as electricity flowed inside another man's body.

3000 degrees Celsius. The suit melted off and Arctrus was completely out of control. No weapon he had could exist anymore for an extended period of time and he could barely move. Rangh simply watched at the slow, painful death of the servant who troubled him from the very beginning.

3422 degrees Celsius. Tungsten's melting point. Yet with 18 meters of diameter, the sheer mass that each Hyperorb brought made it incredibly difficult to feel anything. Worse for Arctrus, SCP’s assimilation wasn’t simply adding one piece but a reinforced, superior version of the original. Rangh was hot and in no condition to fight either, yet he still could do it. Arctrus began to have pieces of his body melt and the crazed aura had began to falter at last.

3700 degrees Celsius. The first drop of melting Rangh felt. Concentration fully turned to survival and though the pace was slow it had begun to be possible. Arctrus’ aura had been completely destabilized and his body was falling apart. Limbs would burst into flames only to be immediately put out. He was effectively dead and yet through sheer force of will he continued to keep Rangh trapped. His sanity was beginning to return to him and though he could no longer speak he continued his best to stay in one piece. Perhaps it was the heat, but for once he was able to control his aura without the armor and focused it on holding his body together. He locked eyes with Rangh who was also doing the same but in much better condition.

4000 degrees Celsius. Drops of Rangh began to fall but his body would quickly reform. Arctrus had lost both arms and legs while the aura focused solely on his body and head.

4300 degrees Celsius. Rangh’s regeneration was being overcome at last. Though he had combined the Hyperorbs to the best of his ability, he was neither Ex Machina nor SCP-1011 himself. He could adjust, but he couldn’t do it masterfully. While he had begun to lose pieces of loose flesh, Arctrus was down to a head.

4600 degrees Celsius. Arctrus had completely faded away at last. The reality marble began to collapse on itself but the temperatures continued to rise.

5000 degrees Celsius. Limbs melted but Rangh held on. He could feel the shift of the world and continued to fight back.

5500 degrees Celsius. The temperature of the surface of the sun. The reality marble fully collapsed and began sending Rangh back. Space itself had to adjust for the temperature change as both he and it underwent a sequence of rapid cooling to return back to the world. Rangh’s body immediately underwent repairs until he was whole once again. Golden saw-blade in hand, chains around his neck, and gauntlet in one arm, the world accepted Rangh who fired a Discharge around his body to help keep his return to the world safe. One look at Lizard was all he needed to know that coming back was the last nightmare the reptile would see.

Chains starting from his neck and going down his body, armor around his right arm with a spiked fist, a golden glowing saw-blade, and a body that still wasn’t completely formed. Had Rangh been the same man as before it would have been impossible to summon so many objects, yet as a result of being in Hell he had burned through the four Hyperorbs which SCP had back when he was under Ex Machina's control. Now with only one the heat resistance Rangh gained wasn't nearly as ridiculous, however it did give him six slots to summon.

"Oh? You don't seem too surprised to see me? No rushing attack? No changes to the air? That bastard brought me into Hell so he could turn to dust and you don't even welcome me back."

Lizard immediately considered changing the air around Rangh but decided against it. Doing so would initiate combat and he was the only fully prepared fighter. Without knowing what Rangh had gone through he knew that it was best to hold back. New weapons and an aura of heat, visible steam and lightning surrounded his body as he waited. Worse yet were the cheers from soldiers at the military base he received, a noise surprising both of them. Those who rejected Van still considered Rangh a hero and the most apparent was a single man shouting through an open window where he hanged an oversized banner saying "GO RANGH!”

"Rangh's back, woo! Kick their asses! Show them that you don't mess with the United Fucking States! Wait are you looking at me? Awesome! You're the best, go beat Van around too! Give the bastard a taste of his own medicine and shove his head into concrete!"

Van turned to Lizard and pointed down at the man.

"What an odd fellow. They actually don't realize anything yet? Are the men chosen to serve the military this dumb or are they this blind?"

"Lizard, stop him! I met that guy inside and while he's still not a fan of Van I—"

A laser fired from Rangh’s finger and flew through the man's skull along with three walls behind it.

"Ahhh, that's what I was missing! The reduction was that much? Haha, Lizard! In some ways I have to thank the two of you for sending me to that inferno. That experience may have almost killed me but I haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm not only the second to ever beat Arctrus, but I've managed to do it to him as a servant! A Berserker no less! My Berserker was superior to the one the Grail gave. I also thought I'd be stuck with the same restrictions until Saber died, but did you know that all magic loses its ability to stay together at a certain point? My magic is complete once the fusion is made, but everything else? The seals? Hellfire is the ultimate in dispelling annoying magic. Are you trying to change the area around me again? I had time to think of how you did that after I had won and was waiting on Arctrus to turn to ashes. You’ve tried, haven’t you? Know that you aren't good enough. Arctrus wasn't good enough. Saber's seals melted off in Hell and weren't enough either. As the sole person to ever defeat Arctrus as a servant and the woman who beat him as well—"

Lizard transmuted the saw-blade and chain to weak glass and shattered in place.

"Second."

"Excuse me?"

"You're the second. I beat Roman in that same contest and Arctrus lost to me in this war. Would have lost twice if Archer didn't interfere. You only caught up to the last servant from Top Tier by fusing with one and beat the other only because you outlasted him. You think your weapons are impressive? A crappy copy of Halo and Ssyss?"

"Ah… if you defeated him then that would explain how he regained his sanity. You did something to him to remove that madness, didn't you? I couldn't quite figure that out. He was considerably weaker yet had his mind back. How did you do it? Your ability to change a man's properties… or perhaps his class? As absurd as that sounds you changed the composition of the air around me as well. While fighting Arctrus with you my teleports also felt something different every time too. What power is this?"

"I'm a talented mage. If you can't figure it out perhaps you aren't as capable as you believe you are?"

"Arrogance or buying time? No matter, there's more mana in this world and material for me to play with. It won't work a second time, I assure you."

He was buying time but kept trying to show no signs of it. Upon Rangh's arrival the 'Genius Heroes' all had requests.

//"Hey Lizard, Regal here. Can you buy some time for us? Alan said he's been busy tweaking up Giant Robot and though he could emergency boot it if he had just a few more minutes he could make it better. Can you hold him off for that long?"

"Are you insane? Lip service and distractions I can do, but 'a few minutes' is a considerably lengthier period than that."

"You beat Arctrus! Dealing with Rangh should be something you can do for a few minutes, right?"

"The two are different fighters under different circumstances. Depending on the scale of your 'few minutes' I may be of use. Anything longer however…"

"Ex here. I was looking around inside to tell him what was going on but apparently he was already on the case. He said that taking off the suit was extremely painful so he just took off the lower half and helmet. I stopped him there. Suit seems to have blared warning signs that scared the girls just as he was getting somewhere. looks like it detected Rangh's return before the ship could. Did a quick check on the inside and I don't think everything on this is working right. Van's prepping for launch now. I'll be staying inside, I've got an idea on what to do with it. Asked Van if it was alright if I tweaked the ship a bit, he said that as long as I don't break it I'm free to do whatever I want."

"So the two of you capable of giving proper assistance need time and my backup is a sex-crazed man who almost died to a possibly weaker Rangh. That's bloody fantastic."//

The conversation gave D Money cause for concern. The two invisible mages were currently hiding in plain sight and intended to keep it that way. Illuv wanted to go inside but D Money said they'd be safer here since there's less people and sure enough, that was the case.

//"Yo, anything I can do to help? Sounds like them smart niggas ain't gonna be helpin' you out."

"Just keep an eye on the battle and don't get hit by any spells. You seem to have a good sense for trouble, if you detect any please do not hold back from using a command spell. I'm stalling as long as I can with words and tactics, but don't expect a miracle as I've yet to find how to make one of those."

"That's aight, I'm the miracle man of the streets. You need a way to do somethin', I'll hook you up."//

"Why would a second time matter? If I want to change your air I will. I simply need to do it better than before."

"Heh, better? I've come to understand that you're a manipulator, but of what I'm not so sure. Direct control of space is rare and seems incredibly complex, especially if it can be done at a moment's notice to another high level mage, and no words of yours will change the experience and knowledge I've gained to suggest that I'm anything below that. Then there’s the matter of the weapons I had with me. Replicas or not, their bases were of Noble Phantasms yet you turned them to glass with ease. Very little magic out there is capable of doing both things. Changing one molecule to another is simple transmutation, but to do it at a scale that large with material that small suggests it may be more…"

"Why would this be surprising? I am of the Caster class. Being a master of multiple schools seems quite reasonable."

In truth, Lizard was only a master of one type of magic, transmutation. This however was a difficult magic to properly gauge simply because by mastering Magical Physics he managed to understand the way magic works even if they were of other specific classes. With the ability to create phenomenon that was normally reserved to other schools of magic, being thought of as a master of various forms wasn't quite right. Most see and judge magic by the effects of a spell but Lizard focused on the process. Elements and healing were never taught at a high level but he knew how to perform high level spells all the same. It wasn't that he lacked the capability but that he found direct control simpler, romantic, and far more versatile. It's also because of his versatility that he was able to fool many an opponent into thinking his magic was something else.

"Reasonable to anyone else. Yet it seems that I finally understand you as well. Perhaps I should focus on establishing a fusion with you, Lizard. The power of a Marble Phantasm holds certain benefits that SCP doesn't have."

Rangh was wrong, of course. It was false information sent through Observation to make Rangh more cautious. A Marble Phantasm is similar to a high level transmutation but was fundamentally different. Transfiguring the world to the caster's whim to something that may already exist in nature is an attribute both share, but the process is entirely different: A Marble Phantasm relies on probability while transmutation simply changes what's there. The former picks the 1% chance of a phenomenon's existence and makes it 100%, the latter does not care for probability at all. In some ways this was more powerful as it could affect living beings directly, yet in others it was weaker because it relied on knowledge and skill, not imagination. Functionally similar yet fundamentally different, for a mage who didn't understand the finer details of magic they looked the same. There was absolutely no reason Lizard had to tell him the truth - after all, Marble Phantasms carry a stronger connotation to much more dangerous foes.

Rangh fired a few balls of lightning to Lizard as a test and each of them faded away before coming close to Lizard, as predicted. No matter how fast they flew they always canceled out. Keeping his distance he taunted the reptilian student.

“Transforming space as you see fit again? What is it this time, making a vacuum?”

“Who knows?”

A vacuum was a well known use of a Marble Phantasm, but a much more complicated task for Lizard at the speed he needed. Folding space around him, Lizard effectively sealed himself into a single point and created a gate to connect to the outside world which primarily would draw in breathable air. Outside of that small area for himself the air was changing. Air, due to its high concentration of Nitrogen, is a natural insulator but not nearly strong enough even at high pressures to dispel Rangh’s attacks. Lizard instead transmuted it all into two different atoms: Sulfur and Fluorine. Six fluorine atoms would attach themselves to every single atom of sulfur to create SF6, Sulfur Hexafluroide. Capable of breaking down voltage at three times the level of air, SF6 is one of the best electrical insulators in the world and by far the simplest of its category. That simplicity allowed Lizard to focus on transmutation speed and more importantly, placing the molecule under higher pressures to further improve its insulation.

Rangh would have noticed the trick had he entered the region it resided in, but due to his belief of Lizard creating a vacuum to protect himself, he never would enter and both knew it. The further Lizard extended his transmutation and increased the pressure, the safer he was. Six volleys of lightning in and Lizard was still safe but the voltage was steadily rising to a point where his trick would be seen soon. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait any longer as a screeching noise was heard followed by multiple waves going through Rangh before getting stopped by the pressurized SF6 molecules.

"Hey ball-boy, remember me?"

"Unfortunately. I still don’t understand how you survived but I see you’re using the rest of your arsenal."

Rangh fired a laser at Van yet he avoided it with ease. Raising an eyebrow he fired three larger ones but all missed.

"What, that’s all you got for me? Too busy losing to Mr. Six Inches over there?"

”Yo Lizard, head’s up. Space pig ain’t movin’ naturally there. He ain’t no mind reader but boy’s a step ahead and movin’ ‘fore Rangh does.”

D Money was the first to notice but Lizard quickly followed. No matter how Rangh attacked he seemed almost incapable of hitting Van, even with a teleport strike. Van was anticipating every move and bursts of speed would make him do evasive maneuvers that were impossible from his old suit. Rangh may have been stronger but he didn't treat his offense any differently than before. The suit knew how he fought and through a mix of luck and Van’s Regal-like reflexes, he was barely managing to avoid getting hit. Finally, after an awkward turn by Rangh, Van had him in point blank range with a charge shot ready.

Got him.

The antimatter gun released its attack and was expected to down Rangh as before, but no such luck this time; though he was being knocked back it only pushed him back a few feet for the duration of the full attack.

"Odd. Perhaps it's just the change in my defenses but that attack felt considerably lighter than the last two. New suit not up to snuff?"

The hell's going on? I thought this suit was supposed to be better but that shot was worse than the last two. …Low energy? What's that supposed to mean?

Van's body had still not fully recovered and his earlier fooling around had come back to haunt him. The suit was constantly supplying energy to his body to speed up its regeneration, especially his heart. Had he kept the full armor on he would have been capable of fighting at a higher level than before, but in his current state the antimatter gun had its power cut to a quarter of its strength. Evasion required little energy and with defense being the priority, Van now needed to change his combat style.

"Hey master Regal, I've got a favor to ask."

"What's up? It's not normal for you to ask for anything."

"It's not like I want to, but we don't really have a choice here. My mind's flying at a mile a minute and I can't wait to make it into a reality, but I'll need your help. You still have three command seals, right?"

"These things? Yeah, why?"

"I need you to use one on me and let me use another for fuel."

Inside Giant Robot Alan was working at a furious pace to get everything done. Machines he controlled were in charge of machines he used and Regal had long since been incapable of keeping up. Alan's mind had kicked into an overdrive beyond any other all for the purpose of creating a miracle in the war.

//"You need me to what? Alan, you do realize that if I don't have these we lose, right?"

Yeah, but if we want to win we need to use them too. I'll need you to use the first one to make sure I can: Command me to make the most powerful thing that I can think of. The second one will be used to help ease the burden for you on it. Command seals are really just another source of energy out there. If I can make it work with you as the centerpiece of a black box I should be able to get a lot out of it. I don't know how much, Lizard might, but this should work out I think. I'll know once the command is given and my overdrive hits overdrive on top of overdrive!"//

Alan was correct. Command seals are simply highly condensed forms of prana once attached to a master and have no requirement of a Magus, making it a very suitable source of fuel. The output which could be delivered was equivalent to the magic crest spanning generations and large enough to supply a man with a few lifetimes on its own. The last thing Regal was told after using the command seal was "Regal, stay there," and he did. 10 minutes had passed and there was no sign of completion shown just yet.

When the charge shot failed to knock Rangh back, Lizard made his move to sit atop of Van’s shoulder.

“Your evasion is better than mine unfortunately. Just focus on the physical strikes, I’ll deal with the electrical ones.”

Electric attacks were dispelled by Lizard while physical ones were avoided by Van. The only weapons Rangh had summoned thus far were the saw blade of before and the chain, yet neither were that powerful and almost instantly Lizard would turn them to glass. What bothered him the most was that the weapons were low level items and incomplete. Had Rangh copied the true weapons he knew this game would end.

“Compared to Arctrus the two of you barely count as a warm up. Still, I do thank you. I have a better grasp of my capabilities now.”

Rangh struck at a high speed which surpassed Van’s reaction time but not Lizard’s, who created a gate over the two just in the nick of time. Van was forced to keep his distance and constantly move at top speeds to avoid teleport strikes but it was a rapidly losing fight and attacks had begun to graze his armor. Van, frustrated at his uselessness, scanned the area for anything which could help them before he spotted a familiar signature.

“Lizard, can you get him away from me for a few seconds?”

“I’ll try.”

As Rangh charged for another melee strike, Lizard summoned a gate directly in front of Van whose exit faced the entrance of a another gate for Rangh to stumble into. Summoning a meteor directly above the second's exit, Lizard slammed it into Van. Though no damage was dealt, it wasn't needed. Van fired a charge shot not at Van, but the area beneath him. At first Rangh thought he had missed but the rumblings below made him remember the weapons Van had. Though he saw no difference in the area below there was an unnatural rise in the grass surrounding it, almost like an illusion he thought. Rangh teleported higher but a girl flew through his barrier and stabbed him in the leg.

The knife almost instantly cancelled his mana and began to absorb it. The girl reached over to his other and held onto it with freakish strength that felt like she could tear it off his body as Lizard tightened the space around Rangh’s waist to prevent him from escaping. Unlike before however, Rangh had no seals in place and all of SCP’s engines were on. Through sheer force he tore through the space and flew legs first towards the plant life, but Van was one step ahead and fired an explosive shot to eradicate it all. Lizard, not to be outdone, placed a gate near the bottom for Yandere to slip through and let go as she fell into her new destination: Directly above Rangh’s head. Wrapping her legs around Rangh she stabbed him once more, this time to the back of the neck.

In the brief moment she let go Rangh summoned the pieces of Halo and Ssyss he arrived with and could still control them even if mana locked, however Van’s limited supply had enough for one more explosion shot, this time from the welding gun to destroy them both. Van was effectively done while Lizard was busy freezing the area around Van’s hands with the same dry ice trick of before, but this time they were considerably less effective than before; Van spun the generators inside his chest to increase his body’s heat and generate enough electricity to push Yandere away. With one bloodshot eye, Rangh raised a fist to Yandere.

"You with that knife again?! No third time.”

Lifting the fist above his head, the gauntlet expanded its metal coat to the rest of his body and though Yandere charged in a single strike was not enough to pierce it. Parrying blows with forearms he laughed as he telekinetically held her in place before punching her in the chest and firing off a Discharge while keeping her there, steadily increasing the voltage. Lizard was doing his part to transmute the air around it to SF6 but the increases happened faster than he could work.

"That's a rather dirty trick you have, Rangh…!"

"It's a waste to leave such a fine piece of material in Hell! As a fellow mage interested in material goods I thought you’d appreciate me bringing it back!”

Though Yandere tried to stab him it was no use. So long as she was focused on resisting the attack she would be unable to generate enough strength to pierce through.

Gauntlet Snap, Light Snap, Bulwark Snap.

Solai teleported within feet of Rangh.

Weapon Snap: Radiant Shield.

Holy flames engulfed Rangh and the shock weakened his grip enough for Yandere to escape. The light had blinded Rangh temporarily and had him swinging wildly but Solai was nowhere near him and instead flew next to Lizard. Taking a look at her then at Rangh he thought for a moment on what to do next.

Gauntlet Snap.

Lizard teleported onto his gauntlet and immediately transmuted the armor Rangh had bragged about into a highly dense foam before teleporting away back to Solai.

"Snapdragon mages are awfully rare yet the spells are almost always immensely useful, even if they're rather complex."

Rangh had been protected from the holy flames thanks to Lizard’s foam, but in exchange he was unable to maintain a low-level charge. Raising the voltage around him, the temperature rose to 300 degrees Celsius before it finally started to melt. Before a current could run through however Lizard turned it into cold air, prompting Rangh to look in his direction where he noticed Solai.

“This fairy again! Well, if we’re going to play the game ‘double team the servant’ then it’s only fair I summon my own arsenal too, no?”

Rangh put the armor back on first but Lizard didn’t move. Solai, not caring for what came next, simply flew towards him at high speeds with 16 rotating weapons, each capable of dispelling magical barriers and resistant to electricity.
First he summoned The World. // Two per half were destroyed to take out the replica.
Next came //Halo
. It sliced through two before it dulled and was destroyed by three more.
Each drill half of Ssyss destroyed one while the chain entangled another, stopping it while getting pierced resulting in both breaking the other.
With a single swing of the last weapon he summoned the remaining four weapons and swatted the fairy to the side. It didn’t take him long to resummon the other weapons. and a second of his new one for the other hand.

“I call it Mini-Dispellado. What do you think? It’s a simple enough weapon: I swing, it slams, things break. Even at a quarter of the size of the original my replica can do more than enough damage to either of you two.”

Lizard and Solai looked to each other and nodded.

Keep Your Piece.

Lizard hadn't forgotten about his rap magic yet and summoned what appeared to be two handguns and two rifles. Solai on the other hand summoned 16 new weapons in a V formation spearheaded by Earthsplitter behind a variation of Radiant where the shield was covered in electric resistance. Rangh launched his replica weapons but not even two feet had passed before streams of repeated high impact damage stopped and shreaded Halo and Ssyss. A barrage of explosions broke The World and while his two Mini-Dispellado were taking the assault well, Solai's came in and with three each she had broken them into pieces. Rangh made more, prompting Solai to make more, and the bullets from locations that Rangh didn't know turned to rockets whose targets were the swords. In actuality it wasn't four guns Lizard summoned, not one of those had been fired, but the 16 other invisible weapons which he summoned. While D Money summoned his guns to his hands, Lizard simply mimicked that specific effect in order to summon them wherever he wished. Among his favorite tricks in this fight was an invisible fully loaded rocket launcher teleporting between Rangh's arms when they were close in order to destroy the replicas in each of Rangh's hands with a single explosion. It wasn't as one sided as the numbers pointed however, as the specific place where Rangh summoned the swords was just as relevant and not one of these attacks was producing any harm to Rangh. Even after five minutes of Rangh being hit by attacks from both there was not a single cut or bruise to his body. Solai may have been annoying due to her speed, size, and invincibility, but outside of Weapon Snaps and specifically designed weapons it was impossible to generate the necessary output to harm Rangh. Lizard on the other hand danced around attacks instead of simply flying through. Though he was capable out producing the necessary output, the guns weren't it and served only as a means to keep Rangh as a singular target so he could properly avoid damage.

What's taking those two so long?! I appreciate the time to analyze the Snapdragon spells being shown but the mana cost on most of these is abhorrent. This 'Bulwark Snap' would need to be modified to the caster if I wanted to use it and a live testing is simply not going to happen. Some of the others however…

Date Masamune and Syl arrived first with Lybris and Nobuna close behind and looked up to see the massive proxy fight. Summoned weapons being destroyed to immediately be forced into new ones it was pretty clear that Solai was pushing hard but was barely making a dent. Lizard was the primary target for Rangh but he couldn't get any offense in due in large part to Solai's distractions slowing him down. Van hovered near the group loudly enough to make his position obvious despite the cloaking, especially to Syl who had enhanced her senses a greater reaction time. Yandere quietly followed Van and once the two got close enough Syl quickly sealed her wounds and unsealed her body's healing abilities, but she was in no condition to fight Rangh again. The girls shared data with each other until Van, finally impatient, got the ball rolling.

"Yo! No need to worry, your great hero is still alive this time around. Fairy girl replaced my ass and seems to be holdin' her own better than I could. Hey Syl, can you do the same thing you did before to him?"

"No. The six seals I placed on him will not be done again."

"Why not? We almost won with it last time."

"Exactly. We almost won. It was still a defeat. I lost my arm, Roman lost her Vita, Regal was in no condition to fight and exhausted much of his mana. We cannot afford 'almost' again. I've thought about it and have decided on a few new seals made to specifically deal with him."

"New ones eh? Not a bad idea, he damn near killed me once already, woulda been nice to not have to deal with that. Got one request though: Seal his scanning. Objects, living beings, all of it."

"I do not understand. What scanning?"

"It's a bit weird of a power. Lizard's a better guy to explain it than I am. Just gotta ask him…"

"Ya'll ain't askin' nothin' from my boy up there, he ain't got time for your bull. You gots a question for 'im, ask me."

An unfamiliar voice spoke to them all. Van had already known that Illuv was close but for some reason he had trouble detecting D Money specifically. Audio traced him to a single point but when Rangh went to touch that area nothing was there and he was instead hit with a low sweep and knocked off his feet.

"The hell?! Hey! What kind of trick is this."

Van took a swing but hit nothing but air.

"Ain't no trick. Lizard's my boy and knows his shit. I ain't ever gonna get caught by no gov'ment bitch, space pig or not."

"First it's a kangaroo then it's a pig, you bastards in this war have any other animals you wanna call me? Hey Illuv! What's the deal here?"

Illuv took off the illusion covering her and looked at the group of women around.

"I'm Illuv. I used to be Berserker's master but well… you know the story there. I used all my command seals before he did that thing so right now I'm just another mage. There's no illusions or tricks on this, Van can confirm it."

Syl was the first to respond.
"I was wondering who you were. You weren't hostile yet you kept waiting so I was beginning to get worried. That other person however… who is he? And… where?"

Syl was already familiar with Illuv after having saved her once. Roman's girls already knew that if she was anyone that had to get saved from Rangh she was likely an ally to trust. The one character that bothered all of them was the man who avoided detection from both Van and Syl.

"Just call me D Money. That fairy girl with you?"

"Yes."

"And you wanna slow down the punk ass beating on your girl and my boy up there?"

"If by 'punk ass' you mean Rangh, then yes. How are you avoiding my detection again? Your voice is coming from a specific location that clearly pinpoints you, yet almost immediately afterwards your position changes."

"Don't like gettin' caught. You two move, I move. Simple as that."

"Understandable, but… I can't understand why I'm unable to properly detect you by any other way."

"Already told ya, Lizard's my boy. Tweaked up my rhymes' power, now I ain't ever gettin' caught or givin' in."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?"

Illuv raised her hand.
"I can vouch for him. I've been working with him and Lizard ever since they kidnapped me, they're the reason why Berserker was sane and gave us the chance we have now. I don't know if you feel like you can trust me but if we're facing Rangh then I think it's safe to say we're all on the same side, right?"

"I'll accept that. I don't understand how but if Lizard's at fault that's good enough and an issue for a later time. Do you know about that 'scanning' power Van mentioned?"

"Ain't much to know. Van checks somethin' out and boom, knows all 'bout it. If it ain't alive he gets to make copies, if it is he knows what you do. Lockin' that down means Rangh ain't gonna know what else he fights and he ain't gonna be able to make anythin' new."

"Hmm… well alright. I think that's enough, it's something he needs to be able to see, right?"

"Only to start. If he's already doin' the scan and it already started it ain't no problem. Startin' it though? No eyes, no problem. Can't blind the sucka though…"

"Not reliably at least. Still, now that I've got the rough idea of how it's done that shouldn't be a problem."

//"Hey Lizard, that bitch with the seal wants to do some tricks on your pal up there and lock that scan shit of his down. Got anything else you want?"

"Anything that limits him to a 1 on 1 fight would be most appreciated!"//

"Yo, one more request from my boy up there: Somethin' to make him get 1 on 1 fights. Got anythin' for that?"

"For an invisible man you certainly like making your presence known. But no worries, I already had two tricks for that. The fairy is 'my girl' there and I ain't gonna let her down."

"…startin' to talk like me?"

"Y'ain't the only one on top o' your game."

1) Seal away part of his telekinetic control.
2) Seal his ability to summon any more items or beings.
3) Seal his ability to teleport.
4) Seal away the rate which he could reform his body.
5) Seal his ability to scan.
6) Seal the Noble Phantasm "Discharge" from levels higher than A.

It took a few seconds to compress them all into one gesture but once done they were all cast at once. Rangh’s movements almost immediately were akin to drunk stumbling in the air as Rangh forced himself to grow metal wings from his back to maintain flight. The Grand Seals had sealed off any power rooted within Rangh himself and weakened those that came from SCP by a full rank. No more summons after the ones he had were destroyed. Teleportation, scanning, and his own telekinetic powers were gone. Had Rangh been using Discharge at a higher level in the fight the last seal would have been more difficult, yet by conserving power he left a non-active door for Syl to seal shut. Though still incredibly powerful, it no longer could grow to levels that can wipe out the island they fought on.

Rangh was still able to maintain flight but it was notably different than before. Lizard immediately capitalized on it by messing with the air around the wings to both toy and test Rangh’s new system.

Dependent on surroundings but high levels of resistance to changes in the air around it. The wings aren’t flapping either, they’re almost cosmetic. Did he revert to SCP’s original formation with its wings? if so electromagnetic control would be the focus…

A loud crack was heard in the direction of The UPSS Perspicacity and as everyone turned it became clear what the next target would be.

//"About bloody time! Master Charles, please tell the women below that I'm returning the favor and asking for a new one with the two magic scrolls being sent down. Confirm with Illuv where they are, she should be able to see them. Tell them that no matter what Ex Machina needs to finish the transformation of that ship."

"Can do. Van's here too, anything I should say?"

"Tell him to not worry about his ship, it's just going through some adjustments to turn into a machine for combat."//

"H-hey! I've got women inside that thing!"

"Chill, just talked to Lizard up there. Said not to worry 'bout your jacked ship, it's just turnin' into an ass kickin' bot that we all gotta protect no matter what."

"What about the girls?"

//"'ey Lizard, anythin' on his bitches inside?"

"Ex Machina wouldn't do anything to them. Neither harm nor personal activities."//

"Said that your bitches be a'ight. Ex don't wanna hurt 'em and they ain't good 'nough for him to steal so no biggie."

"Not good enough?! They were the finest this place had to offer!"

"Yea? Lemme show you what fine is."

D Money summoned Vanessa as all the girls raised an eyebrow to the random appearance of a long legged woman wearing a mage hat and barely enough clothing.

"That is a fine bitch. Baby, just tell the other girls that it ain't gonna be much longer and to get ready. Soon as we win we gonna celebrate like we won the world fucking series. Gimme some love."

She bent over to give him a kiss before fading away as Van stood in place mouth open. He looked at the other girls then back to the place where he thought D Money stood and shook his head.

"Alright, you win this one."

The girls nodded.

"'course I did, I know my bitches well. Oh yeah, almost forgot; 'ey chick squad, when we done here be sure to tell Roman that Illuv's my bitch now so hands off."

Rangh was still able to maintain flight but it was notably different than before. Lizard immediately capitalized on it by messing with the air around the wings to both toy and test Rangh’s new system.

Dependent on surroundings but high levels of resistance to changes in the air around it. The wings aren’t flapping either, they’re almost cosmetic. Did he revert to SCP’s original formation with its wings? if so electromagnetic control would be the focus…

A loud crack was heard in the direction of The UPSS Perspicacity and as everyone turned it became clear what the next target would be.

//"About bloody time! Master Charles, please tell the women below that I'm returning the favor and asking for a new one with the two magic scrolls being sent down. Confirm with Illuv where they are, she should be able to see them. Tell them that no matter what Ex Machina needs to finish the transformation of that ship."

"Can do. Van's here too, anything I should say?"

"Tell him to not worry about his ship, it's just going through some adjustments to turn into a machine for combat."//

"H-hey! I've got women inside that thing!"

"Chill, just talked to Lizard up there. Said not to worry 'bout your jacked ship, it's just turnin' into an ass kickin' bot that we all gotta protect no matter what."

"What about the girls?"

//"'ey Lizard, anythin' on his bitches inside?"

"Ex Machina wouldn't do anything to them. Neither harm nor personal activities."//

"Said that your bitches be aight. Ex don't wanna hurt 'em and they ain't good 'nough for him to steal so no biggie."

"Not good enough?! They were the finest this place had to offer!"

"Yea? Lemme show you what fine is."

D Money summoned Vanessa as all the girls raised an eyebrow to the random appearance of a long legged woman wearing a mage hat and barely enough clothing.

"That is a fine bitch. Baby, just tell the other girls that it ain't gonna be much longer and to get ready. Soon as we win we gonna celebrate like we won the world fucking series. Gimme some love."

She bent over to give him a kiss before fading away as Van stood in place mouth open. He looked at the other girls then back to the place where he thought D Money stood and shook his head.

"Alright, you win this one."

The girls nodded.

"'course I did, I know my bitches well. Oh yeah, almost forgot; 'ey chick squad, when we done here be sure to tell Roman that Illuv's my bitch now so hands off."

"…Reid? Dammit I’ve been mana draining him for hours now!

Rangh knew that Ex making a God would take a bit of time and estimated that it would take two minutes before anything stable could be made. With his wings Rangh was able to fly at similar speeds from before. Encasing himself in the remains of his weapons he turned into a humanoid torpedo with a stinger in the front to penetrate the ship. Solai and Lizard tried to catch up with him but with full focus being the path in front of him they were unable to keep up, even with Gauntlet Snap's teleportation. He kept flying until a sword sliced through the stinger, the shielding, and his armor as he forced a change in direction to see what happened.

She's the one who stopped the attack I gave Roman. Was she always able to fly…?

From below another woman darted upwards and sliced off his left wing which Lizard transmuted to clay immediately after, forcing Rangh to recreate yet another wing.

…This one's a servant yet that one isn't. Three servants, one summoned humanoid, and the one wielding two Noble Phantasms is the weakest?

Rangh tried to charge a full powered Discharge before finally realizing that it had been sealed in a way similar to his generator earlier.

"Limiting me there… certainly, it weakens my raw offense but to take a page out of your book…"

Lizard charged Discharge to its highest level and fired one at Masamune before quickly flying up and firing another at Syl. A third was launched to Solai while a fourth went back to Masamune, knocking her to the ground. Though she blocked it with the unnamed sword twice, Discharge was still an A-Rank Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm. Though the sword could cancel any of Rangh's attacks if any piece of it wasn't the backlash would kill her instantly. While on the ground she gave a nod to Syl and got one back before quickly retreating much to Rangh’s confusion. Syl didn’t give him any time to think as she molded her arm into an oversized drill as Solai and her attacked. On the ground Masamune ran to Nobuna’s location and with five words set the match.

"She said to do it."

----

Solai was good help, but Lizard needed more. The two magic scrolls earlier each contained a 30-minute period of the spell Flight which he himself perfected. Though temporary it would be enough. Syl took the first scroll and though the top speed was higher than she preferred, it was sustainable for a quick strike. Syl however, was a servant, much like Lizard. Yandere would have been ideal, but she still wasn’t fully recovered. Lybris held the key to communication with Roman and Nobuna worked best in a stationary position. Masamune was the only choice, but even with all her skill the top speed was too great. Worse, if she didn’t deal with Rangh perfectly she’d die and two high level Noble Phantasms would be lost. Lybris opened communications to Roman and explained the situation.

“Alright, so it sounds like there isn’t much choice if we plan to use it. Can we hang onto it for later?”

“Negative. D Money has confirmed that it will steadily lose magical power after 30 minutes and be completely depleted after one hour.”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do but give it to Syl afterwards. Hm? What’s wrong Richy?”

“Syl! Heard about your seals, nicely done! I’ve got an idea for you here.”

“You wish for me to use my Grand Seals on Date Masamune, correct?”

“You know it!”

“Even though she will be an enemy down the road and the effects are permanent until my death?”

“They weren’t with Rangh!”

“Any treatment resembling his experience would kill her long before that.”

“Well… still. We promised to help and have a deal in place to stay out of each other’s fights until we absolutely need to. Buff her up.”

“…Understood. However, I will only apply an increase to her durability and speed to allow her a greater chance of survival. Is this acceptable, Master and Roman?”

“Wait you’re actually doing it?”
“Wait you’re actually doing it?”

“Yes, both of you. With her skills such improvements would enable her to fly at Mach 1 for a very limited period of time. More than anything else she’ll be limited by her strength.”

Roman was back on.
“That’s fine! Surviving is all that matters right now anyway so I’ll take anything you got. Oh, what about Kana? Can you do anything to her too?”

“…If master tells me to I will, however it will make little difference to her combat ability today. As that is the case I do not feel I am under any obligation to improve her…”

“You aren’t,” RST said. “That’s quite a bit riskier of a choice anyway. ”

“Hey guys? I uh, appreciate the chance here and I’ll definitely live so don’t you worry, but I’ve got one more idea. Can we increase Nobuna’s strength and the power of that Noble Phantasm?”

Roman’s ear perked up.
“….What are you thinking, Date?”

“We need to stop Rangh, right? How? Do we wait on Ex to make that machine of his? Alan to do his? It doesn’t look like the three up there will be able to stop him in time, even Syl agreed. To stop him we then need to hit him with something that makes him stop.”

Everyone turned to Nobuna at once. A single attack to stop Rangh’s movements was possible from only one person there. There was no risk now that Syl had made Nobuna’s slash the more powerful attack of the two, but with the extra power it would be able to override that and still deliver a sizable amount of damage, especially as Rangh couldn’t teleport anymore.

"You girls already talked about this, didn’t you.”

“Yes.”

“Is there truly no way for Kana to get involved?”

“She can, however that would put her at risk instead and have no guarantee to work.”

Nobuna decided to speak up next.
"My apologies, Mistress Roman, for I must leave you today. Please apologize to Madam Solai, she is a true princess of fairies in heavy armor and hopefully more will follow her example. Long term strategy says Kana will be your second best unit now that we’ve settled on making Masamune better. Using Kana is also a notable risk as it wouldn’t be the first time she’s stabbed him today: if she almost died then I fear what would happen next. No! I will do a warrior’s duty and slash your way to victory! All I ask is that you treat Solai well and apologize to her on my behalf as I am unable to use the weapon she is making for me with all her love.”

“Why so formal? She’s a member of the harem already, of course I’ll treat her right. Once this is over you two can play together for a while. Hey Lybris, keep the line open. When you spot a good opening tell me when. Hey Richy, get on and tell her to do it.”

“Alright alright. Syl? Get ready to use your Grand Seal on Nobuna but don’t do it just yet. You’ll be fighting up there, right?”

“Yes.”

“It’s your call then. If she needs to use it, buff her to the moon. If not then there’s no need to worry about any of this.”

“Understood, master.”

Roman clicked her tongue as she had hoped to get a freebie in the process but RST caught on too quickly for anything to occur.

Two servants, sixteen independent weapons, and none of it mattered. Rangh couldn't teleport, summon, or showcase the extreme power he had in one attack, but he could release that power in bursts quickly instead. Syl was in a similar position as Masamune in that one attack would be enough to kill her, however in exchange she had a considerably higher base for speed to work with and was able to avoid most attacks. The few she couldn’t, Solai could, now on her fourth Bulwark Snap. Rangh continued to fly and was finally within striking range for maximum damage, but Lizard was in the way. He launched a Discharge while expecting it to fizzle out to his ill-believed Marble Phantasm, but while it did break down a stream of light leading back to him was found and transmuted into seawater. Though the feedback shocked him, a second Discharge was fired, and this time the glowing trail turned into a rubber cable which wrapped itself around his body. Opposite Tracks may not have been the spell he used the most but right now it was enough. The trails also gave the flying females an easier way to read him and they had finally managed to push Rangh back. Though she got the okay from both Syl and Masamune, Nobuna still hesitated. Deciding it was time for another call, Lybris called Roman again.

"I haven't seen the sky light up yet so I take it you're waiting for me to do something?"

"I'm worried," Nobuna said. "I only have one attack and I need to be sure that he cannot avoid it. He may have been stopped but based off of his pattern this is where he becomes difficult to track and I suspect he’s priming himself for a rush no matter what. I time it wrong and he gets to the ship? I’ve failed us all.”

"Hmm… alright, I think I got a way to fix this. Syl's good at taking the hint too so enjoy your last hurrah here."

Roman raised her left hand into the air as it glew.
"Solai! Weapon Snap Earthsplitter and Heaven’s Asunder before teleporting behind Nobuna immediately after!

Solai teleported within point blank range to Rangh and broke the two weapons with it, producing a massive whirlwind of weighted wind that slammed heavy gusts that each held an extremely fine edge to slice down its targets.

Solai used two? Then in that case…

Syl looked down and saw Nobuna ready to attack. While joining her on the ground six Grand Seals were made.

1) Improve concentration of mana within weapon.
2) Improve magical strength of the weapon.
3) Improve speed of Nobuna's transference of energy.
4) Improve magical strength of Oda Nobunaga.
5) Improve physical strength of Oda Nobunaga.
6) Improve reflexes of Oda Nobunaga.

Solai teleported behind Nobuna just Syl cast her seals. Nobuna gave Solai a quick look over her shoulder and smiled.

"My apologies Solai. I will wait for your sword after the war."

"Nobuna!"

With one swing the magic covered Rangh inside of itself completely. Lizard manipulated the folds of space around the attack as he locked Rangh's body in place to make sure that the entirety of the attack would pass through him as it flew miles into the air. Rangh had pushed aside Solai's attack through a burst of electricity but this attack completely overwhelmed him and he was motionless at last. Yet with this Nobuna was forced to bow out the war and had begun to fade away.

"Why did you do that, Nobuna? We're supposed to be together! Date, you, and me all live in our harem inside a harem with love!"

"It was the only way. Again, my apologies, Lady Solai. I promise to see you after the war. The experience will be very… yes…"

Ex's God was entering its final phase shortly after the attack passed through Rangh. His armor was readily destroyed and he was barely keeping himself together, but this wasn't a new situation for him. The weapon system had been completed however and from the particle accelerator inside Ex Machina fired a round at Rangh, tearing through Lizard's folds and pushing Rangh half a kilometer back.

"Hey uh… Solai? Roman here. She made the choice on her own and it's not like she's gone for good. I just can't summon her until I get a new special Vita."

"But we had our moment! Like heartbroken lovers trapped in a forbidden world, we know that we'll be reunited again! It was a promise as she faded away so it must be true."

"Wait, you're not mad? Are… you okay with this? I thought you'd be more upset."

Solai flew up along with Masamune and looked in the air where Rangh was.

"Nobuna fading away is Very NO but it was the only choice we had. Thank you for trying to make me happy, but if she was not used I would have been concerned. We're both here to win the Grail War and though I love spending time with a master swordswoman, she's still a soldier in it and you, master, are the general. We needed to stop Rangh from becoming any stronger and that attack is one of the few guarantees we have to prevent it. Even now both Lizard and Ex Machina are attacking him, yet he still is alive somehow. There was no better choice."

"So all that just now was for… drama?"

"Very YES! Solai is a fantastic fairy and an amazing actress, wouldn't you agree? Oh, though the sword made with love for her is almost done. It's the sword symbolizing Nobuna's ambition of uniting Japan. I've worked very hard on this one!"

"Yet another one that didn't exist. Well, without being able to resummon I guess I can deal with another high end weapon of yours. Any idea who you're going to give it to?"

"Maybe you. With a harem like yours I feel like a soldier to a queen. What do you think of Roman's Ambition?"

"Will I have to kill any of my fellow maidens? Or will any betray me?"

"Of course not, we're yours to the end."

"Then I accept."

As they talked the machine finally finished and, to celebrate the moment, Ex Machina fired a laser through Rangh.

“Hey Rangh, I know how good SCP was when you took him in. It's rather strange, here you are with my old tech primarily being used instead of your old powers, almost as if you want me to analyze how much is left to beat you. I don't know how much you lost when you were with Berserker - the real Berserker - but you're not even half the servant my guy was. So next time you think about grabbing something of mine - don't. I like to experiment with my old toys when testing out the new ones.”

Keyuri had wandered off in search of more alcohol and saw a piece of paper with an arrow pointing to a gate saying "BEST BOOZE HERE!" Shrugging her shoulders she walked through and found the finest and rarest wines from around the world along with a brand new 84" 4K television in her house. There were two expensive massage chairs and a woman in some unusual easy-to-move-in clothing was sitting in one of them.

"Welcome! Was hoping it’d be you alone. Grab whatever you want, I figured that if I was going to let myself in I should bring a few gifts, don’t you? Relax, no fighting here. I actually just wanted someone to talk to for a bit to see the upcoming show. Sure, technically probability says Alan won’t do it but by now I’ve figured that probability isn’t working with this particular Alan and he’ll willingly go to the bad ending just to beat it.”

Keyuri was suspicious at first but as soon as she realized that next to her chair sat a bottle of 1947 Château Cheval Blanc she immediately plopped down and giddily opened the bottle.

"I do have some stuff to talk to you later on, but for now…

"It's done everyone!"

"Yesssss…!"

With a loud thud the God had touched down on the ground and looked quite differently than the ship had. Unlike Rider's creations, this was far more of a tank than a human. Treads instead of legs, and though it had two arms each with a laser gun attached to the forearm, they weren't primarily focused for offense. Weapons were internalized in order to draw out more power and stability; Each shoulder carried two weapons each: One to fire missiles the other a rifle of choice. The chest had one central cannon and six missile launchers beneath it, all of which could also be opened in the opposite direction to protect against attacks from behind. Using the ship's flight module the God was capable of hovering for up to five seconds before needing to recharge itself for two. The tracking system could pinpoint and keep track of a target for up to 200 miles and the sniper rifle module was capable of picking a target off 20 miles away, not that he needed to use that in this situation. Though it had treads the machine was capable of horizontally turning 360 degrees and could 90 degrees up or down if need be.

Ex fired a round from a high powered Gauss Rifle mounted on the shoulder.The wind pressure on its own blew away Lizard, Solai, and Syl, yet it almost immediately began to slow down after coming into contact with Rangh. Holding onto it with both hands Rangh absorbed it into his body before smiling at Ex.

"Half… half? Yes, I may not be half of your servant anymore but you raised him so high that it's still enough to beat any two of these. Three, that strange woman, and your mechanical God? Go ahead, fire another laser and watch me shrug it off! Fire another round from that gauss gun and watch me absorb the round! Oh, since this is a spaceship you're going to shoot gravity beams at me too? Your God suffers the same problem that the rest of these do, it's simply not strong enough."

“Strong?”

This time a shot fired from its chest and tore a hole into Rangh’s. Though wounded he shrugged and electricity began forming in that area.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to use a particle accelerator? Yes, you worked on SCP-1011. You know how it worked, you don’t know how I do. Hundreds of thousands of years and you think that’s enough?”

Discharge from the chest following the path of Ex’s most recent one rained in one after the other yet it would not be destroyed. Ex Machina’s forte was defense and for the God he knew that it was going to need as much defense as possible without sacrificing too much. The machine resisted electric attacks and heat but after the sixth, eighth, twelfth attack that resistance was safely gone and extra shielding was put into place. The barrage didn’t only take a lot out of Ex, Rangh himself had limitations and was breathing hard. Taking this moment, Lizard teleported on top of the God and made a few tweaks of his own, starting with unsealing its shielding.

“That’s… quite… the machine… you’ve made, Reid. Taking so many attacks at once? But you can’t be too healthy in there, can you? How many more will it take to knock your ass down?”

Ex required full concentration to control his God of the Machine but right now he needed all of it to keep it in one piece and stable. It was essentially a game of chicken; Rangh would keep attacking anyone in his way while Ex would need to stay in control and have his backup help. Solai joined Lizard as Syl returned to the group of girls so she could discuss matters with RST if need be.

"Alan, what the hell has been taking you so damn long?! It's been 20 minutes since you last said anything and we don't have time for long plans here! We're one push away from beating him and you and I have got just the right tools to take him out. Regal, answer for him if he won't!"

“Shut up you’re annoying and whiny and stupid! You were gonna use that drug again but that’s bad for you! Let your body relax for a bit and let me, the Hero, save you!”

Rangh stopped. That voice didn’t just come through the machine but through every radio, television, and device connected to any form of wired or wireless communication.

It's done everybody! I’m Alan Chang, Boy Genius! What we have here today is the Mid-Boss fight of the battle for the New York Holy Grail. It’s a magical war where we have people flying around, super cool giant robots, and evil manipulative baddies like Rangh over there. See him? Okay! We’ve been doing this for a few days but I’m here to establish a worldwide release. Generators on, turbines maximum spin. Rising… rising… okay Regal, you're up! Break the seal!"

Regal raised his fist and smashed it through a glass lid. Underneath it the back of his hand was pressed tightly against a container which would steal the command seal from him.

"Transfer over!"

The command seal lit up and vanished from his hand. Reappearing on the container, Regal ran to the cockpit area as the container steadily made its way to Giant Robot's chest through a series of conveyer belts. It was Alan's turn again.

"Pilders link up!
Pilder Prototype MKIII in sync!
Pilder MKV in sync!
Giant Robot at full power, using command seal now! Combine!"

Ex Machina's God shut down. Much to his surprise the machine kept the same form it had and didn't instantly collapse like it normalyl would, something he figured Alan was responsible for.

Acknowledging life forms inside. Chambers established, dropping now.

"What are yo—"

Ex Machina and the women that were still inside the machine all were put into a single room as the rest of the machine changed. Two screens were inside the chamber: One from every broadcast satellite showing the events going on live and the other showing the changes to the robot. Arms and legs were being made as a single piece continued to move forward and with that, it all clicked.

"You sneaky bastard…"

Those not in the fight were surprised to hear Alan's voice, let alone see the fight in full. Alan's broadcasting the fight, though an act made of arrogance, did have some merit. The reality of the situation for those in New York is that they had been effectively abandoned as a city and treated like a war zone instead. The entertainment capital of the world had, for the first time, a showing of what things were like inside to the voice of a child whose happiness and enthusiasm was infectious. Those outside of New York were aware that a lockdown was taking place and after a few days of rumors there was nothing left to hide. Alan opened Pandora's Box with a cruise missile and its contents were laid bare for all to see. Though satellite imaging wasn't perfect with modern software, Alan was able to make the events appear like a live movie, full with close ups of the combatants in the air, on the ground, and a panoramic view of the beaten down city full of buildings destroyed and flames. Magic, combat, machines that shouldn't exist, secret agents - all were shown and there was no cover up that could be made. The government tried to shut the broadcast off but was completely unable to, with every attempt to crack Alan's security draining the desire out of each of them due to the firewall's AI.

//"What, you can't even get a letter in my passcode? Some crack specialize you are! I bet you couldn't even crack stage glass with a sledgehammer!"

"Aww look at the wannabe hacker! Maybe we should replace him with a Koala, they're cuter and smarter."

"You cracked a letter! Here's a digital flower. Know that your hacking attempts will be just barely better than it even after 1000 years."//

Back at the scene of the event, Assassin watched on with eyes shining brightly from the top of a roof. From where he met D Money he simply looked on and was captured on camera, even if it was a passing moment. He didn't particularly mind however as if that's the cost of seeing a transformation live, it was worth it. As far as the world knew and indeed, as far as he himself pictured it, at that moment he wasn't a servant, but a 9 year old boy seeing giant robots transform live and in person.

D Money, Yandere, Illuv, and Lybris all looked up to see the events while Roman and RST both were dumbfounded. Inspired, those who could fly did and were attacking Rangh, save for Lizard. A close up of Syl was shown with her smiling face, laughing, and doing a pirouette in the air as she attacked Rangh.

"Don't get too distracted now, Rangh! Chop my arm off? I'll chop off a hell of a lot more from you before sealing it shut so you won’t eeeever get it back again you son of a bitch! Wheeeeee!"

Roman turned to RST.
"So… that's your servant."

The screen turned to Solai and Masamune flying together. Masamune threw the unnamed sword at him to cancel out attacks and Solai controlled the sword to make sure it always landed where it needed to before returning to its owner.

"Team VERY YES LOVE will not lose!"

"What Solai said! Oh screw it, Very YES, Solai! Return the sword, it's time to fly together! With all our VERY YES LOVE! Roman's gonna kill me if she hears this."

RST turned to Roman.
"And that's your harem.”

Dejected yet with an awkward smile on their faces, the two looked at each other and sighed.

Lizard had initially fought with them but by now their patterns were completely unpredictable and his involvement would be more of a hindrance than help. A closeup of Lizard's face was shown as most of the world heard a lizard speak for the first time.

"What… have I done?"

Anastasia and Keyuri drank wine together and laughed with tears in the eyes of the living one and ectoplasm in the seat of the other.

"That boy genius makes soldiers into kangaroos and now the best live television that's ever been shown. Hey Anny, any chance you and I can hook up for the war to wish that we keep the bugger? World would be a lot better place with brats like him around making stuff."

"If only. Unfortunately that Grail is kind of the reason I need to talk to you too. I'll be needing your help to stop it."

"Whoa there, hang on. This sounds a bit heavier than what I wanna deal with right now. Let's talk about this later, tomorrow maybe. Roman'll be busy dealing with her little couple there and the rest of her mess to worry about me and I just wanna see what happens to those two robots next."

Ex Machina's God of the Machine had the piece from the back move to the front and rise up with a click. Giant Robot ran to it and leaped into it with a diving headbutt and boosters on as it crashed into the front. There was a moment of awkward silence before two voices rang out.

"COMBINE!"
"COMBINE!"

Giant Robot had been improved upon and considering their numbers it was likely their fight to win no matter what. Rangh was rapidly losing energy fighting against four servants and a few assistants with high level weapons. It was almost obvious that they would win. Yet both understood that it was also equally likely to suffer some casualties. Rangh had survived a trip to Hell. If he was telling the truth it was a place that burned Arctrus to less than a spec of dust - or to flip it around, it meant that Rangh had the stamina to outlive a man who knew he was already going to die. Alan focused on making sure the combination would go right while Regal got on the microphone.

“Rangh!”

The extended arm of the God stretched itself out to point at him.

Understand this: You already know you lost. Fighting four servants and backup? Arctrus wouldn’t be able to do that, you wouldn’t be able to do that, SCP wouldn’t either. You might have gotten better or worse but really, from the start you knew you’d lose to us all. Yet you still fight. You plan to take us all down if you have to no matter what. For that, Saber Syl! Thank you for cutting him off at the pass.”

“Of course. I refuse to let this city burn, master appreciates it.”

“As he should. Right here, right now, this is the city of heroes!”

Leg joints combined and it started to stand.

“To defeat you we can’t just give it 101% of your 100, we need to give 1000% to your 200! So we’ve come up with this! The true symbol of the war! The heroes that represent it and all people in the world! The hopes of millions being watched by billions to live on for trillions of years!

The arm spun around as it began to be molded into a much mightier, beefier arm that continued to point. Inside Ex’s room with the girls they all saw two letters appear: E-S that were spinning around each other. As the two combined the letters spun around faster and faster.

“We will defeat you in the way you wanted to beat us: Complete domination gained from overwhelming power. Because hey, you’re just the mid-boss. Why should we spend that much time on you when all you’re important for is dramatic effect?”

Lizard laughed and teleported away from it, as did Solai.

“Master Charles, it seems one servant truly understands you afI— Master?”

"SUPER… EXA… GIANT… ROBOT-TOOOOOOOOOOH!"
"SUPER… EXA… GIANT… ROBOT-TOOOOOOOOOOH!"

An unbelievable series of poses was uttered for each line to finish with an awe inspiring moment The E-S that Ex Machina saw inside stopped with one on top of the other.

"What… is… this… feeling… Assassin…?"
"No master. Right now, it's Nikolai. Nikolai Rykov, servant of thieving justice."

He raised his hand to cheer the two on, making the blood from the knife in his hand splatter onto his face.

Tears streamed down RST and Roman's faces as they clenched their fists.
Anastasia and Keyuri continued laughing while drunk.

For the briefest moment even Rangh's heartbeat skipped a beat. World peace was truly obtainable for those seconds, but his heart skipped several more when it broke from its pose to point at Rangh.

"EVIL LIKE YOU CANNOT BE LEFT TO LIVE!"
"EVIL LIKE YOU CANNOT BE LEFT TO LIVE!"

"…Aw fuck."

Rangh had gotten caught in the pace set by the self-proclaimed heroes set and knew that this never ended well. After taking a deep breath he tried to run away, but Date Masamune flew in front of him and stopped him in his path along with Solai.

"I believe you claimed that there wasn't a man, woman, child, or lizard who could stop you, yes? I'd like to see this proven."

"I agree with Solai. Though I've used enough magic for this fight and can use a small break, I just wish for you to, as a certain spectator would say, 'see your bitch ass get turned redder than a beet."

Overwhelming an enemy with power is simple to say yet difficult to execute. To beat someone, all you need to do is be a little more powerful - to crush them you needed to be at least ten times that. Alan was not a servant who could recreate his weapons on a whim and Regal was not a servant with an endless battery; to them the mad scientist wasn’t a route to choose from - it was the only route when faced with a variable like Rangh.

Rangh fired off three Discharges at the new robot yet with a wave of its hand all three were gone. Nodding his head, he looked behind him to see the three S-Girls - Syl, Solai, and Samurai Girl A - trying to block his path. Looking in front, Alan’s new toy was complete and there wasn’t a hint of the instability it had with Ex Machina. He flew up into the air in order to circle around the girls but in just under 50 meters was stopped by a wave that made his body ten times heavier, making him lose his balance as he fell. Fortunately he never landed as the newly made robot cut the distance and clapped its hands over him like a bug, sending shockwaves out that blew the girls away. They all got the message loud and clear: This fight was done.

“So Rangh, like my new robot? It took a while but I got the idea when Ex went over to the ship. He likes making robots and I knew he’d do it. The things he makes are really impressive for a human, but when powered up by a servant and the greatest boy genius the world has ever known? I’ll show you a few tricks. Master Regal?”

“On it.”

Electricity crackled from his hands as Rangh's body jerked around as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“This is a particle accelerator. I don’t mean a beam, I mean you are the beam. The only thing keeping you together right now is SCP’s subatomic control and survival instincts. It could be worse, this is only what you fueled. Master Regal is going to let you go now. Run away and I will let Regal deliver the justice he wants. Stay still, we deliver the justice I want.”

Coughing, Rangh looked at the machine.
“You… aren’t… Alan.”

“I’m the boy genius who doesn’t like it when you terrorize a city. New York isn’t Genius Town, but right now it’s my city and I’m mad.”

“Mad…. right. Well, I—”

Rangh tried to escape.

“…I tried. I wanted him taken in because evil must always be brought to justice…”

“Sorry Alan, not this time. Some evil you’re never gonna change. Transforming into Gauntlet mode.”

The same trick with Regal’s aura being replicated around the robot’s arms was being used, however this time Alan included a new transformation: Gauntlet mode. Shrinking down to a fifth of its size, the SE Giant Robot became an oversized arm as the Aurora-like effects covered it completely.

“Launching now… Rocket Gauntlet!”

As it flew through the air with a loud boom, a straight punch flew into Rangh. They continued flying miles into the air and at approximately 40,000 feet, Regal shut the thrusters off as he spun the fist to point down, Rangh firmly pinned into it.

“Gauntlet Slam!”

Thrusters blared on as the two units went from the stratosphere to the ground. A small baseball field in the nearby park was picked to minimize damages but the crash was more than enough to leave a crater and knock away the fencing surrounding them. Steam poured out of the fist as it stayed there, and after a minute it began to transform back to its full version; starting with the feet from the end and going upwards to make the legs, body, head, and eventually the arm as the fist shrank. Still large enough to hold Rangh’s body on it, the SE Giant Robot flew back to the group and punched him to the ground, this time sending off an electric current to push all the pieces off.

“That’s enough, Master Regal. Dispel, Super Exa Giant Robot.”

Rangh’s body crackled with electricity through the pieces that fell but tiny movements were all that it could do. Between the rapid rise, descent, and impact, Rangh had been crushed and completely torn apart from the different pressures and inability to use any magic to help defend himself. Feet first, the machine began to fade away as people inside were lowered to the ground. Ex Machina and the girls came out first as they were located by the stomach and Regal, in SE Giant Robot’s chest, came after, who was seen panting hard and needed Ex’s help to stay on his feet once he landed. Alan was by the head of the machine and continued to stare at Rangh. He had managed to move an arm to lift itself off the ground but there was nothing else attached.

“Your connectors don’t even know that they’re broken yet, do they?”

Rangh only looked up. He wanted to prove to the Grail that he should have been chosen, that he was the best, and he would bring the most fun to this world possible in his own way, even if it meant the death of billions. That, to him, was what he was denied in full of and now he was defeated by its servants making something that shouldn’t have even existed.

“You brought in the strongest servant. You fused with it, fought with it, and now are dying with it. My Giant Robot’s not the same anymore, it’s not even something that only I made. It took two Super Robots to beat you and if you had run away, maybe three. Why? The hero beats the villain because evil can’t stay, The villain is either defeated and taken away or outsmarts the hero to escape, but you didn't let either happen. No new episode, no comeback, no new invention. If you weren’t stopped there you would’ve killed as much of the city as possible and kept running until you could win. That’s not being the villain to me anymore, but to the world. Why do all that work to prove yourself only to fade away with it when the good guys combine like only they can? Why not try to win the war with your power by beating the other servants and masters in a straight fight? You lied, cheated, and killed to be better than the top, but even you knew that you were going to die. My Super Exa Giant Robot wasn’t needed to kill you, but it would do it without a doubt. Master Regal used a lot to do it but you already knew he didn't even need to."

Rangh could only stare. By now the rest of his body parts had gone limp and there was no electrical passage inside going on at any part of his body, SCP-1011 was dead and Rangh’s body had begun to fade as it was going to return to the grail. The summoning may have been forced but the contract with it was still intact. SCP's body needed to return to the grail now and without the energy to defuse anymore, that included Rangh’s.

“…I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. You were a good mid-boss. We’ve been fighting you for over 16 hours now but this is the end. Goodbye, Rangh.”

Alan walked away to Ex Machina who had been examining Regal to make sure he was still capable enough to fight. Van joined the group to partially stay with the girls but also to help the examination as he and Ex talked about what appeared on the scanners Van’s suit made.

“Hey Ex, how’s Master Regal doing?”

“He’ll be fine, just needs to rest. Not sure if your Genius-O’s will be of any use here as he’s pretty drained and you making stuff to help him out seems a bit counter-intuitive. I’ve got a few things that could help, a couple inventions I know how to make which will help him recover mana. Regal’s got a much better cap than I do and you have a better idea of how to be with it all, so I think we’ll be fine. …Especially if any of the girls want to help.”

“Aren’t you mad? I stole your machine and used some of its tricks first.”

“Some? You used my Gravitron Wave and a burst of my electrical absorption nanomachines! But you did use it to stop this battle as quickly as possible and minimized fighting, so I think I’m okay with this. Besides, you did save my life from Rangh, twice, so helping you keep yours seems fair. Though it might be a good idea to stop filming, the battle’s over.”

“Y-yeah, I did save your life twice didn’t I? Hmph, only fair you help then! T-thank you. Anything you wanna say, Master Regal?”

“Heh… so long as the Super Exa Giant Robot is fine, just that I’ll be piloting it again next time. I’ll be better with it then and if there’s any evil to face I’ll beat ‘em down with even more gutso. Got some new ideas planned so stay tuned to the next episode, folks.”

On that smile, Alan cut the transmissions and returned them back to what they normally would broadcast. To some stations it was a show that would normally air in the block but most were newscasters that were also surprised by the transition as the screens they watched were black.

As SE Giant Robot began to fade, Van quickly came over as soon as he saw the girls. After Ex caught Regal he came over to talk and check on both.

"Hey pretty boy, she was mine you know."

"What?"

"The ship. You jacked my girl to make that thing so don’t get to mad that someone out-planned you and did it to you too."

"Van, I didn't—"

"Save it, I’m not really mad at you, just hope you aren’t mad at him. I gave you the okay and truth is I would've given him the okay too so long as it could make that guy's face reach his ass. He did that and then some so far as I'm concerned, he earned a joyride or two."

"Joyride? You do realize that he combined with it, yes?"

"Gotta say, you're being pretty dumb for such a smart guy. The mana costs for that are gonna be hell on junior. Regal ain't Roman, he’s conked out after doing that and ain’t gonna be gettin’ much better on his own so we’ll have to help him get his shit back together. No way he can fight like this.”

"Fight? You think they’ll push ahead for the Grail War?”

"Of course they will. Relax, they've got bigger things to worry about and far as I can tell their wish is to do what they’re doing now. But since you seem to be sticking around, what do you say we team up?"

"Excuse me?"

"You're one of the guys who gave me my life back so way I see it, I owe you one. I’ll get a new ship in time and when I do I’ll make it so that you can play with it as long as you want to. Mutual gain: You get a bigger toy and get to travel around with someone who can get you almost anything you want in and out of this world, and I get an ally with a brain who can watch my ass.”

"Hmm… that sounds pretty good…"

"Pretty good? Kid, I've got clearance to almost everything you could want."

"And I can access everything you don't have. Gonna have to try harder than that."

"Alright, how about this one: You're still mad that he took your robot but there's one piece of tech he can never take back: Me. You saw my suit, you worked on it, so how do you feel about working on it some more? Think about it, I'm the only lead you've got on him that you can personally use. Come on, what else are you gonna do, make some useless toys again before people get pissy and kick your ass again? Or are you gonna work with the only other human on the field who's giving you a sweet gig?"

"When you put it that way, alright, I accept. I get free access to that base, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I don't think you picked this spot at random and I highly doubt your bosses wanted you to just park the ship outside. What was the plan?"

"Ah… that… not too sure really, boss was saying something and he was getting on my nerves so I just shut him out."

"What was he doing?"

"Talking."

"…alright. Do you have any idea what he could've been wanting out of you?"

"All I remember is something about parking this ship underground. Said it'd go well with this weird sonar ball they got, though nobody really knows what that's supposed to be."

"Hmm… is it big?"

"Supposedly. People who saw it say it's about as big as the Christmas tree."

"Interesting. A machine that's around 20 meters tall… I'm interested. Let's check it out."

"Yeah uh… problem is I'm not sure how to get there. Don't really feel like calling the Major General either as all he's gonna do is yell 'cause I lost the ship."

"Alright, I'll talk to him later. In the meantime you just run some diagnostic checks on Regal to make sure we can see how to fix him up best. After that, focus on what needs to be done for yourself and the area to see how we can set a neutral zone away from this war. You’ll be busy, so no skirt chasing!"

"Tch, you two tightasses will get along just fine…"

Most were happy with Alan's finish to the match but there were two who weren't: Roman and RST. They teamed up to take out Rangh initially, each assuming that their contribution would be less costly to them than the other, but the aftermath showed Roman clearly on the losing end and RST was concerned.

"Hey Roman, we won! Pretty great, right?"

"Hmm… I guess. But you sure are a lucky one there. Out of the two of us I'm the one who lost one of my best fighters, am paying a ridiculous amount of mana to Solai, and used a command seal. It's only fair one of those happens to you too, right?"

"What? H-hey now, a deal's a deal. You aren't trying to go back on it, are you?"

"Of course not. Yet I can't control all my girls, if something happens to you and I find out later I'd be depressed. See, like that one over there, she's just an archer and working on her shooting. Did you know she could teleport behind a target to kill them without noticing? You can start running right now if you want. I do have an angel that can shoot down a target regardless of distance though…

"Syl!"

RST's hand lit up as he prepared himself for a fight. Roman stared blankly at him before laughing.

"You really- you seriously used a command seal for that? Threats? See, I had no intention of going back on the promise because I didn't see a real reason to. Yeah, I lost a lot in that battle but I always deal with loss. It's how the harem works. It's a bit worse than usual of a situation, but I follow my word because if I didn't my girls wouldn't be able to trust me 100% like they do. You? Do your cats trust you?"

"It's not the cats, it's you. I expected you to joke about it, give a thank you, or at least say that those were the terms we agreed to and leave it at that, but you brought up the idea of going back on the deal. You either thought that I was the kind of person who would do that, in which case you'd never have come to me in the first place and ignored how generous I was going into it, or it's option two: You thought of doing it yourself."

"I wouldn't do that! Syl, vouch for me."

"…I can vouch that you are an idiot. You think of a lot of odd solutions to problems and have proven it in the war multiple times. Roman knows that. She didn't doubt you either, she only saw an opportunity."

"Hey now, I did doubt him for a second there, but he didn't think twice about calling you to the fight as soon as he felt threatened. I believe him and do you know why?"

"A command spell was used."

"That's right. He felt threatened and kept his word to you to call you in. We only have three of these and if he wanted to backstab me he would've figured out some way to get you over here without that. Instead he panicked and felt that he would need a miracle to win."

"Wait a sec. Syl, you know what she was doing?"

"Most would, master. She goaded you on and you took the bait. You've done this to many people before."

"Yeah, but—"

"It's a simple tactic that you should have known but slipped into it because you're too paranoid. I asked you to be careful, not stupid."

"Sure, bash me in front of another master. What can go wrong…"

"Hahaha! You two are adorable. Syl! I want you to join my harem even more now. As for you Richy… deal's a deal and I'd say that I'm sorry for teasing you but I'm not."

Roman raised her left arm.

"Because as you can see, thanks to your slip up we're even. See you in the finals. Syl, don't you dare die on me, I'm relying on your buffs to Masamune to trump that guy. His Super Robot—"

"Super Exa Giant Robot-toh," Syl said.

"Right, the Super Robo—"

"Super Exa Giant Robot-toh."

"…Syl, do you like that thing?"

"I just appreciate calling things by their name. SE Giant Robot is acceptable, however it would be more genuine if you added the proper suffix to it."

"…Alan then. I need to beat Alan. That thing's too strong. From the sounds of it powering up that suit involved a transfer of some sort but what, I don't know. With the output it had compared to before I gotta say, that wasn't all the God of the Machine's improvements. That kind of output, someone got sacrificed… or maybe something containing high level magic did. Regal's got three of those. Well, that's enough speaking out loud. If other people got that tip there's nothing I can do, right? Take care, summon buddy and be sure you let Syl get on some rollercoasters or go sky diving sometime if you win. Call it a hunch, but I think she might be a bit of a thrillseeker. Wheeeee-ll I'll be off now…"

Roman winked at Syl before leaving as she waved to the combat group’s return.

"Excuse me."

From behind RST came a girl with a Noble Phantasm knife that followed Roman in secret.

"…How long was she there?"

"Since before I arrived."

"Guess I can trust her then. You're blushing you know. Was it really that fun?"

"Quiet. …It was fun."

Date Masamune, Solai, and Lybris rejoined the group too as Roman was leaving and a smile popped up on everyone's face.

"We're back!"

Lybris followed behind, fiddling with her receivers. Date looked around and saw that everyone, including RST and Syl, were smiling at what they were seeing.

"Was there a funny joke you all heard? It's a bit weird to hear you all laughing. …at the moment Solai and I arrived. ….Wait you can't—"

Two energetic girls were acting out scenarios for the group.

"Oh Date!"

"Dearest Solai! With what little time I have we'll fly in the air together, just as our hearts will one day be too!"

"Sweetest Date! Yes, yes! I accept!"

Masamune instantly blushed but Solai angrily flew over to the group.

"No, no, Very NO! That's wrong! The one who confessed to me in the air was Date Masamune, not Oda Nobunaga, get your character straight! And me using only 'yes, yes'? Very NO! You need to be better at being like us! Let's show them Date: Date, Date, let's fly together again! We will have Very YES! moments in the air together!"

"S…Solai, isn't that kind of embarrassing? I mean…"

"What? Never! The world now knows of our love, it has heard of them and will accept them! Anyone who doesn't will be considered an enemy of the harem and I expect everyone's full cooperation."

Approval among the crowd was heard.

"See Date? We're safe together!"

"Y-you promised Nobuna! I could never accept you."

"Hm? It's a harem, right? Can't I have both of you?"

"Roman's the one in charge! Harem inside a harem, that—"

"Oh don't pin this one on me," Roman quipped, "I'm just happy to have her. Solai's a servant, a miracle from the war itself. I shouldn't be able to have her in my team ever but here she is. If she wants to be second in command with a mini harem I'm not about to say no, especially since the three of you work oh so well together. Besides, it'd make Yandere just a bit happier and make her stronger. Sounds like it's Win/Win/Win all over the place! Or as your girlfriend would put it, Very YES!"

"She's… she's… I… it's…"

"Ahem."
Lybris moved Masamune to the side for a moment. A glint in her eyes was visible and made Masamune just a bit worried.

"I came back from combat too y'know. It was real interestin'. Juuust to be sure everyone's on the up and up, I've got a bit of something. Solai? I've got a couple copies made so don't you worry."

Lybris had recorded everything and played back the specific moments where either of the two were seen in the fight along with everything they said. To end the video she had the small clip of Syl cursing out Rangh along with her smiling and going 'Wheeee!' at the end. Syl drew her sword but RST held her back.

"Relax! It was cute, even if a bit evil. That's a good thing! You're awesome and even came for me when I thought I needed help here. So just… thanks."

"I-it's always a pleasure, master."

Roman raised an eyebrow but moved along with her group to find yet another location for them all to stay in. She believed that this time around things might be a bit easier now that people understood that Rangh was the bad guy. Looking around she had only one question…

"Hey, anyone know where Keyuri is? Ah well, she'll pop up when she wants to. Girl's recruited but still likes to stay independent."

Lizard went stiff and fell from the sky. A gate he didn’t make opened up underneath him as he prepared himself for what he’d see next.

"Thought you might need the help. You alright?”

"…My master is dead."

“Yeah. You’re still around though.”

"I felt an abrupt change and barely made the change to Archer and have a limited amount of mana for the day. I can still absorb some of the residual mana in the air and am capable of keeping a low level of existence. I should have a day’s expense with fairly routine usage but I’ve neither the time nor energy to waste on beating a man who cost me the war. I trust those two will accomplish the task?”

“With ease. Ready to see the bodies? And no, I didn’t do this. You can check out the wounds yourself - stabbings and slashes all over. Not my style, it’s bloody and messy. Was afraid of this possibility… knew my luck wouldn't sit right. He did listen though, I'll give the runt that much."

Lizard arrived near the two bodies and spotted D Money with Illuv on top. Stab wounds in the neck were responsible for her death while slicing wounds up the side of his leg were seen for D Money from a familiar knife. He wasn’t taken down in one attack and had wounds in the chest and head.

"You knew this would occur?"

"Just a possibility! Again, I'm not here for a fight. Why do you always have to be so hostile?"

"You have a strong connection to events, almost like controlling fate. How could I be friendly to someone with a power like that?"

"Alright, fair enough… but Lizard. You have no master now. The only way you can survive is as an Archer. No workshop. No item creation like before. Your offense and defense both take a hit. Sure, if you were like Solai over there you'd be better off, but you're not. You are 100% a Caster and like this even I can beat you. I do have a way to help you out though… picked up a nice little invention recently. I've also got a few tricks you can learn that'd benefit from your new class, what do you say?"

"I refuse. I've been on adventures with minimal resources before and survived, I'll do the same again or find myself a new master.

"A new one? You saw what happened to Illuv already, she was your Plan B. Illusions worked at first so you know, but after one hit three more landed with ease.”

“You know an awful lot about what happened…”

“I saw it. Before you get too mad, I’m not sure how it happened either. Assassin’s got a trick up his sleeve that works well against me, whatever the future may be with him becomes a mess, it’s like he’s not even there.”

Lizard remembered the time he saved D Money and felt nobody around and found no trail of mana. He was finally convinced that Anastasia was indeed Archer. Based on her showing him this scene he was also convinced that he could trust her more than before.

"Is there any information you can provide on this servant?"

"Unfortunately no. He keeps popping in and out of futures I can see that what he does is often unpredictable to me. I've contacted him before, but—"

"Give me his information."

"Not saying please, Lizard?"

"Not saying it because it’s a demand, not a request.”

"Sorry, no can do. It's hard to demand when your weakness is so clear right now, you know that right? As it stands you'd never be able to beat him. Boy has no honor and a dangerous trick. If you were to team up with me though…"

Lizard scoffed at the idea and flew away. As Lizard flew he pondered what to do next. He had little time to decide and there were four choices he saw:

1) Lizard would go to Roman. With Roman's newfound limit she may opt to take him in, despite being male. Roman offered a notable amount of support and he just finished working with Solai; it was possible for him to convert her to an Archer and give her an even more efficient way of combat to match her style.

2) Lizard would go to RST. He was the only other master who showed a high enough capability to work with multiple servants and he had worked with the duo previously. He was aware that Syl could improve and weaken individuals, allowing him to become better than when he was with D Money.

3) Lizard would go team with Archer. Nobody else quite understood her power just yet and though he was unsure if she had a master or not, she was a frontrunner and a master manipulator. This was the clear minimalist approach to win the war. As a bonus, she knew details on the servant who killed his master.

4) Lizard would manage on his own for the day and reconsider his choices tomorrow. At his current D Level Independent Action he did not have much time but still could muster half a day normally. Due to his small amount of existence and the abundance of mana in the air it was possible for him to stay up to a full day.

There was no guarantee that any would say yes but he had to try.

Nikolai saw the fight in full and still managed to kill off two more masters in the process. Happily deep inside the military base he chatted with Hyperorb about the day’s events.

“I dropped that knife earlier thinking that I might have to use it, but I didn’t think D Money was going to pick it up and hang onto it. He even cut himself with it! At that point I figured why not? That woman just told me to make sure we’d win the fight, she didn’t say I had to keep them alive forever. After that cool robot combination happened it was obvious who’d win. You don’t combine this late and lose a fight! He kicked Rangh’s butt like nothing!”

“You… seem… excited.”

“So were you! That last pose, you felt that, didn’t you? That feeling that welled up inside, it was like a spark just set off in your heart and you wanted to cheer them on!”

“Yes. With… that… power… they.. could… beat… Rangh.”

“Not because of that! It was that feeling of justice! They’re a bit too goodie goodie for me but I like them. Fun guys who know how to play on the battlefield, even though you shouldn’t. Posing, video, kicking the baddie’s butt, it’s all part of a show to them and that’s awesome. I want one of those.”

“But… you… are… an… assassin.”

“Well not on me when I’m doing the kill! If that woman hasn’t made a contract with a new master yet then I have to make sure she can’t make one. Lizard is scary. Cute, but scary at how much he can do. I never met him but I think he was higher. Top?”

“Yes. I… fought… him. He… is… immensely… powerful… and… rivalled… Arctrus… and… SCP. He… beat… me… and… that… woman… too.”

“Well, now he has no master either. Richard, Regal, Roman, and you seem to be all that’s left. Domination out of Low Tier! I was the king of that so if anyone wins out of that, I will! I got rid of the Middle Tier Masters. That was fun. D Money may not like getting caught, but if you put my knife into your pocket you already did. He still fought back too you know. It’s scary how he was able to summon those exploding guns to try to run away. Even under Shift I thought that was fast.”

“He… did. But… I… stopped.. his… movement.”

“Yep! And with that shank shank boom! Stab in the heart then the head, dead. Illuv tried to fight back but she was so easy to kill. I’m not sure what she thought she was doing, it’s like she didn’t expect me to slice her up where I did.”

”Are you two enjoying yourselves?”

Nikolai readied himself but Hyperorb happily spun.

“You… return! Relax… Nikolai.”

”Nikolai? Between that spin, your actions, the fact that you seemed to have felt something earlier, and being on a first name basis with the servant I gave you, I believe you’re starting to learn, old friend.”

“…gave him? Wait. ….Are you—”

“Stay silent and don’t talk unless I ask you a question. We wouldn’t want you to have a problem, correct?”

“Do… not… threaten… my… servant. We… are… acquaintances… but… he… is… too.”

Haha! He’s actually making you think and feel better. Who knows, maybe speak better too? Well, I came by to compliment the two of you. I did give you a rather weak servant yet here you are at the halfway point. Three gone and the artificial one will never be touched again, yet you two are as powerful as ever. You’re steady. Assassin! I compliment you on your actions; even threatened by that woman you found a way to adhere to her request and kill two masters in the process. Yet neither servant is dead and that faker is coming to you next. Multiple command seals were used today leaving you two with the most again. I need you two to continue fighting, continue winning.”

“Easier said than done! Hyperorb’s so big and that lady’s strong.”

//”That she is. How would you like to even the score a bit? With the power of those two servants inside of me now, the lock of information is fading away quickly. It’s not much of an unfair advantage, but how would you like to know everything about the contest you all came from? Their matches, their pasts, their experiences.” //

“You… would… give… us… this?”

”As I said, everyone will have it in time. Should they survive long enough that is. I’m just giving you a small token of knowledge in advance. Should you do well with it, I’ll return and might offer you a greater piece of assistance. That however is for later. Starting with the humans…”

End Day 4: Part 5.
DAY 4 COMPLETE.

PS - If wondering what would've happened had Nikolai won the "Yeah he'll go against Rangh" question? He wouldn’t have killed D Money or Illuv. Instead It would've been Illuv, D Money, Lizard, Hyperorb, and Nikolai for a team full of good, neutral, and evil characters that can get along for a while. Nikolai is more evil than neutral, but D Money's fine with it because they share a similar idea of ruthlessness. No honor between enemies but full trust that the other also believes that. Lizard would have held back on some support there and I’m not sure what would’ve been sacrificed instead, but I think I would have had Regal or Richard die at the end.

Berserker was always intended to die here. Things get a lot more in depth with the rest of the cast, but this was a lot like a Near/Far Side sort of thing. Far side of this group vs. Near on the other. Main showdown for that scenario was a showdown of Hyperorb/Nikolai vs. D Money/Lizard.

Day 4b - MPFC: The Board 8 Project (2025)
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