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The sarcasm in Maverick's chat had reached what could generously be called a comfortable cruising altitude.
[Analyst]: okay but actually, the character is carrying seven weapons through airport security — how IS he supposed to handle that scenario?
[AlsoAnalyst]: right, like if the suitcase triggers the scanner, there has to be a mechanic for it
[Theorizing]: maybe you're supposed to bribe the guards? Use the hypnosis ability?
[Theorizing2]: or go through a different entrance entirely
[Deep_Cut]: the character is literally a professional assassin, there should be an assassin solution
Maverick read the analyses scrolling through his chat and felt something click into place. The game hadn't punished him for being stupid — it had punished him for being unprepared. There was a difference. He'd jumped into multiplayer with no knowledge of his character, no understanding of his abilities, and approximately zero tactical awareness. The airport wasn't a wall; it was a test he hadn't studied for.
He needed to actually look at what he was working with.
As if the game had been waiting for him to reach this conclusion, a hint box appeared against the black loading screen — patient, unhurried, like a teacher who'd been watching a student struggle and decided enough was enough:
[Hint: Bend your right pinky finger to open your character information panel.]
"Oh," Maverick said. "So that's how you do it."
[Vindicated]: I KNEW there was a gesture system
[Relieved]: thank god, I was worried there was genuinely no tutorial
[Impressed]: the hint only appears after you die. the game waits for you to need it.
[Respectful]: that's actually smart game design
Back in the snow outside the church — familiar ground now, almost comfortable — Maverick extended his left hand, bent his right pinky finger, and felt a faint haptic response as a clean information panel materialized in front of him. The chat and Maverick read it at the same time.
Emiya Kiritsugu
Strength: D | Speed: D | Endurance: C | Magic Power: C | Luck: E
Held Items: ① Glock 17 — 17 rounds (Pistol) ② Walther WA2000 — 6 rounds (Sniper Rifle) ③ Calico M950 — 50 rounds (Submachine Gun) ④ Thompson Contender — 1 round (Single-shot hunting rifle) ⑤ Grenade ×3 ⑥ Smoke Grenade ×2 ⑦ Flashbang ×1 ⑧ Self-Imposed Geas ×1 (Contract)
Magic Abilities: ① Suggestion — Hypnotize a target through direct eye contact. Issue a simple command; the target will comply and believe the command is reasonable. ② Innate Time Control — Activate magic circuits by mentally chanting the skill name (e.g., "Double Innate Time Control") to enhance physical capabilities up to five times.
The chat had things to say.
[Reading]: FIVE TIMES speed boost??
[Lore_Fan]: okay so this IS Kiritsugu, from Fate/Zero, he's a Magus Killer — this makes perfect sense
[Impressed]: the loadout is insane, sniper rifle AND submachine gun AND a contender
[Worried_For_Him]: Maverick is going to immediately misuse all of this
[Accurate]: this is a correct prediction
[Curious]: why are the stats so low though? D in strength and speed?
[Lore_Fan]: Kiritsugu's thing isn't raw power, it's tactics and time manipulation. His stats being low is accurate.
Maverick was less interested in the lore discussion and more interested in the words "up to five times."
Five times speed. That was the one that kept pulling his attention.
Meanwhile, the game's design logic had clicked into place in Max's memory from across the city — though Maverick had no way of knowing this. The Holy Grail War's multiplayer mode had required significant mechanical rebalancing. In the original Fate lore, Kiritsugu's Innate Time Control wasn't a speed boost — it was something far stranger. A fixed-time compression: no matter how many actions he performed, they were all completed within a single second. Every movement, every shot, every step, collapsed into one moment.
That was impossible to implement fairly in a PvP environment. So Max had simplified it — turned the time compression into a straightforward speed multiplier, kept the cost mechanic, and let players discover the tradeoffs themselves.
The tradeoffs were not small.
Maverick, operating without this context, saw "five times speed" and made a decision.
"Alright," he said. "I know how to play this game now. Brothers — any of you who match with me from this point forward are going to have a very bad time."
[Believing_Him]: I believe you, Maverick
[NotBelievingHim]: I don't believe you, Maverick
[Neutral]: I'm here to find out
He went back through the process — church, old man, dialogue box. This time, instead of choosing the third option and storming out immediately, Maverick paused in front of the white-haired elder.
The old man's red eyes were steady, waiting.
Maverick had his character meet those eyes directly.
The Suggestion prompt appeared. He selected it.
"You," Maverick said, leaning into the bit, "are a puppy."
The elderly NPC — ancient, composed, radiating the specific dignity of someone who had survived far more than any player would ever attempt — looked at Maverick for a moment.
"You dare use Suggestion on me?" His voice was very calm. "Fine."
[CRACK.]
[Chat]: MAVERICK
[Chat]: MAVERICK NO
[Witness]: THE STATUE MOVED
Behind the old man, the limestone figure at the back of the church had shifted. Not dramatically — just a slow, deliberate raising of the arm, the hand that held the book of precepts lifting up and then coming down with the unhurried certainty of something that had never needed to hurry because nothing had ever successfully gotten out of the way.
The book connected.
The screen went black.
[Silence]: ...
[Silence2]: ...
[Silence3]: bro how
[Helpless]: you tried to hypnotize Risei Kotomine and got crushed by his god
[Losing_It]: THE STATUE. THE STATUE DID IT.
[Cannot_Stop_Laughing]: you got killed by a church decoration
[Dignity]: Maverick please, I can't keep watching, I haven't finished eating
[Fishing_Guy]: this is genuinely better than my thirty-pound bass and I am not joking
"Brothers," Maverick said, once again in the familiar darkness of the death screen, voice carrying the patient dignity of a man who had accepted certain things about his life, "that old man did not play fair."
[Immediately]: he absolutely played fair
[Quickly]: that was completely fair
[Consensus]: that was the fairest thing that has ever happened in this stream
A new hint appeared:
[Hint: In multiplayer mode, use of certain magic abilities will deduct the current character's health. Please use magic with caution.]
"Why," Maverick said, at a volume that suggested genuine personal injury, "did you not tell me this before?"
[Laughing]: IT TOLD YOU AFTER THE FIRST DEATH
[More_Laughing]: THE HINT APPEARS WHEN YOU DIE, MAVERICK
[Gasping]: it told you the first time! you just didn't read it!
[Summary]: so to recap: death one, airport security. Death two, went outside and skipped everything. Death three, tried to hypnotize the church elder and got flattened by religious architecture.
[Impressed_Actually]: the fact that you can even attempt to hypnotize the NPC quest-giver is genuinely wild — how many games let you do that?
[Good_Point]: right, the game didn't stop him, it just had consequences
[Design_Brain]: the freedom in this game is insane. The dialogue box is there to let you choose, but it's not railroading you — you can completely go off-script and the world reacts.
[Counterpoint]: the world reacted by killing Maverick three times
[Counterpoint_Response]: yes but it REACTED, that's the point
Maverick, back in the snow for the third time, read the hint properly now.
Health costs on magic use. So the Innate Time Control — the five-times speed boost he'd been eyeing — came with a price. That was fine. That was workable. He just needed to use it strategically instead of just... maxing it out immediately.
Which was obviously what he was going to do anyway.
"It's fine," he announced, rolling his shoulders. "Rounds one and two were reconnaissance. Round three was research. I understand this game completely now."
[Supportive]: WE BELIEVE YOU
[AlsoSupportive]: MAVERICK FIGHTING
[Honest]: we absolutely do not believe you but we're staying anyway
He pushed open the church door for the fourth time. The white-haired elder was there, patient as stone, red eyes tracking him across the threshold.
The dialogue box appeared.
This time, Maverick read all three options very carefully.
Thought about it.
Selected the third one again.
[Chat]: MAVERICK
[Chat]: MAVERICK WHY
[Resigned]: you know what, honestly? this is exactly what I expected. this is the content.
The coat flip was just as clean as the first time.
The airport materialized around him, timer counting down, luggage waiting on the carousel with its extremely obvious contents.
Maverick picked it up.
Carried it toward security.
Put it on the belt.
Watched it go through.
The beeps started.
"Okay," Maverick said. "Okay. So. Different approach this time."
He turned to the nearest security guard, made direct eye contact, and activated Suggestion.
[Hint: Suggestion requires sustained eye contact of 1.5 seconds to take effect. Breaking eye contact will interrupt the ability.]
The guard looked at Maverick.
Maverick looked at the guard.
The guard looked at Maverick's suitcase coming out of the X-ray machine.
Maverick looked at the guard.
The second guard came around the corner and immediately shot him.
[Chat]: ...
[Chat]: ...
[Fishing_Guy]: thirty. pound. bass.
"BROTHERS," Maverick said, as the screen went black for the fourth time. "You must believe in my wisdom."
[Chat]: WE BELIEVE IN YOUR WISDOM
[Chat]: WE BELIEVE IN YOUR WISDOM MAVERICK
[Quietly]: (we really, really don't)
"I heard that."
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