Act 4, Scene 10
I wake up filled with irritation. Seriously, that guy…
"Betty thinks Subaru should put him aside for now, in fact. We should be focused on overcoming that boy and his Servants for the time being, I suppose."
Well, she wanted me to save him regardless, so I guess it makes sense that Beatrice wouldn't want me boiling with rage towards him, but… but…!
No. No, I don't have time for Algol right now. She's right. The obstacle at hand is still Ritsuka.
Glancing at my hand, I see a single Command Spell has returned; accounting for Pepe and Akuta's, that'll mean I've got three once we transfer theirs to me. Three Command Spells is probably enough for one serious attempt at most. We've got eleven days left until the sun rises, so between these attempts and my night activities, that's twenty-two tries.
"Well, compared to last time… no, let's not say it out loud," I mutter as I rise from bed, stretching. "Alright. Let's get this started - this is count zero."
…In hindsight, I probably raised a flag by saying that line, huh?
***
Day One
We try a variation on our first attempt. Rem occupies Ivan, Miyako rushes Ritsuka, and Gogh wreaths us all in a protective shroud of wind. If I don't spend a command spell, and trust Miyako to land the strike on her own, will that smoke still make an appearance?
-We don't get a chance to find out. Although Miyako avoids his sucker punch this time, Ritsuka's [Emergency Evade] still manages to fling him out of range of her strike, and a moment later Qin Shi Huang arrives on the field. A futile struggle briefly follows, and then we're flung out of the trial once more.
***
Night One
We attack faster, this time. Without wasting the time to assess her new form, Ram is fast enough to strike Ivan with [Al Fula], tearing him to pieces as an illusion looks on scornfully. Her true body, on the other hand, explodes forward towards Ritsuka - but even as her knife-hand emerges from total invisibility to hit him, it phases past him as that strange black smoke deflects it. Realizing what's about to happen, I try to dodge - but even still, I'm flung out of the simulator as Ritsuka's Assassin Servant kills me before I can react. This time, I catch a glimpse of a black-armored figure with a mask reminiscent of a panther - that at least confirms the Assassin is the same guy I briefly see when that smoke appears.
***
***
Day Three
Pepe and Gogh are launched out of the simulator together as the rest of us look on.
"Well that's not fair at all, is it?" Pepe says with an astonished laugh. "Goghie's [Sterrenacht] blocked that Anti-World attack, alright, but Qin Shi Huang was out by the time it ended. I see what you guys are talking about with the restricted movement now. And then he pulled out his Great Wall, and all I could say was, 'are you serious?'"
-Apparently, said attack looks like some sort of artificial orbital ring he fires into space. After it was deployed Pepe and Gogh were even further immobilized, to the point that they basically couldn't stand up.
More information might not be bad, but just how is this supposed to even be possible!?
***
***
***
Night Five
I preserved a command spell today, so this time Ram and I enter with that as a backup plan. Again, we come at him with all we've got, but this time after that smoke appears, I activate [EMM], allowing the Assassin's attack to pass through me - he phases out of existence a moment later as Ritsuka, already launched backwards by [Emergency Evade] says a name I haven't heard him say before.
"Tezcatlipoca."
"[El Fula]!" A blade of wind sings after the enemy master but in a sandy whirlwind that panther-man appears once more to deflect it - but this time he remains present, pouncing on seemingly empty space to meet the invisibility-shrouded Ram and entangle her in direct combat.
"I've got a similar trick of my own, so I sent my awareness back to match you," the Tezcatlipoca in Louis Arneb's body had said.
-So that's how it works. Tezcatlipoca can use some kind of limited time travel to act a few seconds before he's summoned. In other words, that black smoke - oh, duh, she called herself the [Black Smoke Mirror], how did I miss that? - that smoke isn't invincible. It locks Ritsuka's next summon into Tezcatlipoca. Can we take advantage of that?
Considering he's keeping up with Ram in melee combat, the answer is 'probably not'.
"Arjuna," says Ritsuka, and the simulator detonates, flinging me out again.
***
***
***
Day Seven
We've been at this for a full week - only six days remain before the polar sunrise. With that in mind…
"Alright, what the heck haven't we tried yet?" I ask, groaning as I pick at my breakfast. "There's my mystic code, but it's a trap option… summoning another Servant, but that'll probably get influenced by TATARI… and then I guess there's the option of talking to Tezcatlipoca."
"Speaking of that mysterious interloper, wasn't she supposed to be resurrecting Daybit at some point?" Pepe asks. "Just how long is that going to take, anyway?"
"There's apparently trials involved when an actual human comes back, but…" I glance at Miyako.
"...It was probably because of that Something-Totec guy that I got to skip them…" she mutters. "But Panda-sensei too.."
"I think the better guess is, either something held Daybit up, or he failed," I sigh.
"No, I really can't imagine Daybit failing, no matter what. He'll be here at some point," Pepe says. "Anyway, honey you left out a few more things - you haven't tried to use those 'Authority' things yet, have you?"
"Well yeah, but that's because they're useless," I answer. Invisible Providence won't manage a thing against Ritsuka himself, let alone the guys he's been summoning. There might be something to be done with that weird variant of [Cor Leonis] I pulled off near the end of Okeanos, but I don't think we have many impressive buffs to spread around… "No, actually we might be able to cheat Gogh's Noble Phantasm into the simulator? If she applies [Het Gele Huis] to Pepe out here, I can pull it from him, and then spread it to our combatants… it's probably not a game changer, but it'll help… And then there's the other one-"
"Eheh… [Der Sterrenacht] will probably give negative effects to anything other than Scandinavia-sama's halo creatures…" Gogh mutters.
"Mmmm…" I groan a little. "Well beyond that, there's [Solar Flare], but I can't really see…"
My authority of Gluttony lets me take on the Name of another for a short time - but even now the only ones at my disposal are Ahab, Angra Mainyu, and the Dark Jeanne from France. There aren't really any other grudges around to eat… I instinctively know that TATARI won't count, it's too impersonal to qualify as a grudge.
But still, maybe there's something there, actually? We already figured out Ritsuka's first summon is dependent on who he's facing, so we might be able to fish for a more favorable matchup.
"Actually, let's give it a try."
***
His France was probably different from mine, and I don't exactly have any way to verify who he faced. So, as I stand before the entrance to the simulator, I consider for a moment. Angra Mainyu was a sort of bonus grudge I picked up by chance - there's basically no way Ritsuka met the guy. Ahab was a little more prominent, but would he have even been summoned if not to counter Ley's whale? Ley's presence being my fault, I can't really imagine Ritsuka ran into him, and that probably means no Ahab, either.
The origin of the France singularity… was Dark Jeanne, right? She's the most likely to get a response, so let's do this.
Next to me, I hear a familiar clinking of chains, but I shake my head. "You don't have to be super ready. I'm not going to use command spell this try - I just want to see who he summons."
Rem frowns at my statement. "Subaru-kun, that seems a bit reckless."
Does it? "It's the same simulator as always. No matter what Ritsuka summons, I'm just going to get thrown back out when the fight is over." I say.
"No, it's…" She pauses, resolves herself, and gives a big smile. "No, Subaru-kun's bold willingness to walk into danger is part of what makes him a hero."
I blush a little, but nod with a smile. "Yeah. Just keep watching my back, Rem. I've gotta show off, after all."
As I step through the door into the empty white space, my gums bleed as I call upon a name I've barely used. Jeanne d'Arc, give me your name.
"Face, the one who shattered seven worlds."
"[Solar Flare]."
Ritsuka appears, hand outstretched - but he pauses, and for just a moment I catch something like confusion on his normally expressionless face. "Wh…y…" He groans, clutching his head with a single hand.
I almost capitalize. I almost burn two command spells to call in Rem and Miyako to beat him up. I almost call for Ram, and crush him with overwhelming power. I almost charge him to punch him in the face and stop the trial once and for all. But I hesitate.
Long forgotten feelings of friendship resurge, and my first response is compassion. "Ritsu-kun-" I blurt out as I take a step towards him, and just like that, Dark Jeanne's name slips away from me.
"Co…unt…" Ritsuka gives one last groan as one of his command spells burns away to seemingly no effect. Then, his hand falls away from his face, and he starts to stand straight again as his eyes glaze over once more. "-Ivan."
"Damn-!" And then, with a bolt of lightning, I'm flung out of the simulator once more, where I land, pillowy soft, in Rem's waiting arms - so she took advantage of it, huh?
"So?" Miyako asks after a moment.
I don't know what just happened there, or why, but-
"...Yeah," I mutter. "We can capitalize on this. He gives us an opening there, so let's take full advantage."
And so, without much further fanfare, I step back in, clothed under the same name, only-
"Ivan." Wait, it didn't happen this time!?
…Suffice to say, we lost again.
***
Night Seven
"Going again tonight, Master?" Shaula asks as we trudge up the stairs.
"...Yeah. I've got to try again to recreate that bug from this morning," I mutter. "If I can just… if it just happens one more time, we can clear it, and finally get moving forward again!"
"Sounds good to me," says another voice as we reach the top, a voice that causes my blood to freeze in my veins. "You guys have been stuck here for way too long, after all. How am I supposed to finish my job if you just hang out in the tower until dawn, huh?"
Leaning against the wall, Nanaya Shiki waves lazily at me while stroking a bandaged black cat perched on his shoulder.