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"Go home, Maverick. Go home. The Holy Grail War is not for you. I mean that sincerely."
[Finished]: my face is completely gone. I can never admit I'm a Maverick fan again.
[Caught_It]: did anyone catch Artoria's expression? she looked like she had something to say and then decided not to?
[Holding_It]: I couldn't hold back. I lost it.
[Genuine_Question]: so what does asexual reproduction actually mean
[Caught_Another]: another one who skipped biology
[Rider_Opinion]: this Servant is incredible. that black bodysuit is doing something to me and I will not be apologizing for it.
[Donation]: ["FlowerBloomProsperity" sent 10 Rockets!]
[Asking_For_Sister]: Maverick can you ask how to recruit this Servant? asking for my sister
[Everyone]: are you asking for your sister
[Response]: I am asking for my sister
[Observing]: why is the other Master so — I mean, two grown men, huddled together like that, it's a bit—
[Disagreeing]: you don't understand. decadent older man and earnest younger man. I have material for my dreams tonight.
[Existential]: is this still the stream I've been watching for the last six hours
In short: Maverick's single sentence about asexual reproduction had completely dismantled the tension of the situation, and everyone was taking a moment to process what had just happened.
Maverick studied the sky above Fuyuki City with great interest. He was absolutely not reading the chat. He was simply very interested in clouds.
Rider, to her credit, gave him an exit by clearing her throat and continuing.
"In plain terms: self-replication. Infinite proliferation. These figures can reproduce on their own, independent of Caster. The mechanism appears to be connected to the life force being harvested from the city's residents — human vitality is a major magical resource, and Caster is using it as fuel. Even if we kill Caster, if the existing figures can't be stopped at the source, the army sustains itself." She paused. "And as the numbers grow over time, this stops being a Holy Grail War problem and becomes something considerably larger."
"You mean they could threaten the actual world," Artoria said. Not a question.
"I don't want to be saying this either," Rider said. "But yes."
The humor bled out of the moment. A thousand Columbus figures laughing simultaneously in every direction of the city — it was already oppressive as background noise. Imagining it uncontrolled, spreading, was a different kind of uncomfortable.
Then all three players' phones buzzed simultaneously.
The message was formatted like official correspondence. Clean, neutral, the voice of an institution that had been sending messages like this for centuries and had gotten the tone exactly right.
To all registered Masters. It has been determined that the irregular actions of Servant Caster and his associated Master are resulting in a significant loss of mystery from the ritual grounds. In accordance with the Holy Church's mandate as supervisor of the Holy Grail War, all Masters are hereby invited to jointly eliminate the Caster-class threat. Upon verified completion, the Holy Church will provide one Command Seal per participating Master as compensation. Location data has been appended to this message. Your cooperation is appreciated. — The Holy Church, Fuyuki Branch.
"...There's a referee," A-bro said.
Rider nodded. "The Holy Church monitors the ritual. They don't participate, but they enforce certain rules. Destroying the city's mystery — making magic visible to civilians at this scale — is one of the things they're authorized to act on."
Maverick looked at A-bro. A-bro looked back at him.
A-bro, who had watched enough of the story mode to know about the Holy Church, stepped in before Maverick could say anything that would make the situation worse.
"The Holy Church is the ritual's supervisor — essentially, the referee. I assumed they'd only appear in story mode, but it looks like they have a presence in co-op as well. They enforce the rule that the war stays invisible to ordinary people." He looked at the message again. "One Command Seal per Master for completing this. Command Seals are the irreplaceable resource — one Seal can force a Servant to release their most powerful Noble Phantasm directly."
"I understand," Rider said.
"Makes sense," Maverick said.
"Are you a girl?" Maverick also said.
A beat of silence.
"Yes," said A-bro's partner.
Maverick had been tracking this since the chariot arrived. The way she looked at Rider was a specific kind of look — passionate, undisguised, not the way someone looked at an impressive NPC but the way someone looked at a character they'd already decided things about. He'd been running the probability assessment: either a particular type of male gamer or a female player, and the former came with implications about the current seating arrangement that Maverick preferred not to think about.
Female player it was. The arrangement was fine.
The chat, naturally, had several thoughts.
[Demand]: I'm registering my real name here: the game needs controllable female characters
[Agreement_With_Agenda]: yes especially ones with a certain physical configuration
[Called_Out]: I see you
[Not_Hiding]: I wasn't hiding
[On_Maverick]: okay but can we talk about the fact that Maverick has contributed nothing to this alliance strategically? A-bro explained the Holy Church. Rider explained the reproduction problem. Maverick asked if someone was a girl.
[Harsh_But_Fair]: Maverick is collecting information like a roadside collector. just freeloading.
[Piling_On]: Maverick? Hmph! Just a freeloader~
[Harsher]: he's a roadside informational sponge. absorbing everything, contributing nothing.
[Maverick_Fan]: the Command Seal comment was useful! he listened!
[Counter]: he asked if someone was a girl
[Champion]: he listened FIRST and THEN asked
[Donation_Chaos]: ["HeroicSpirit_QinShiHuang" sent V50! Message: "I, the First Emperor, will now participate in the Holy Grail War. Victory is assured."]
[Chat]: WHAT
[Chat]: WHAT
[Chat]: THE FIRST EMPEROR IS IN CHAT
Maverick went from relaxed to alarmed in about half a second. That level of donation plus that username in the same message was exactly the kind of thing that got streams reviewed. He abandoned sky-gazing immediately.
"Brothers — please. I'm begging you. If the stream gets flagged I lose everything. And on contributions, don't be so specific about it in the messages — it's good that you're here, all of you, that's what matters. We don't need to clarify individual rankings." He looked at the screen. "We really don't."
The chat debated this among itself while Maverick pulled his attention back to the alliance forming in front of him.
A-bro had finished negotiating terms with Rider's group. The arrangement: a temporary four-way alliance, holding until Caster was completely eliminated and the Columbus army's source destroyed. After that, the Holy Grail War resumed as normal.
Rider breathed something that sounded like relief. Then she said there was one more thing she'd been meaning to share — the reason she'd been circling this fight looking for allies before she came in.
She had information about the other Masters.
And it changed the calculation somewhat.
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