2944/EoT: Shirou's Answer

EoT: Shirou's Answer
Date of Scene:	02 September 2015
Location:	Midnight Shrine Tokyo <MST>
Synopsis:	The heroes go to interrogate Crucia's brother about his involvement with the Epoch Saints. Meanwhile, a sick and dying member of the Witching Hour is menaced by an undead monster... And a mysterious new hero steps in to stop it!
Cast of Characters:	560, 589, Sanary Rondel, 821

---

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Before the Final Confrontation

    Princess Paladin, Crucia Hex, and Libra have spent months trying to track down Crucia's brother, Shirou Kikumura, following their first encounter at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building. He'd abandoned the place quickly after meeting them, insisting he was not responsible for the then-ongoing theft of 'time'. But after they defeated the Life Gear that had been possessing the mayor's secretary and saved the mayor himself, not all of the 'time' being stolen had been returned... Infact... The 'time' theft had continues all over town, without an identifiable source. They had defeated more Life Gears, but none of them seemed to be solely responsible either.

    Every one they defeated was just a drop in the bucket as the overall theft continued unabated. The only other magic user that had been at the building that day... And the one they couldn't find ever since... Was most likely the one responsible. So now the magical girls, and their allies, are looking to find the brother of Kiko Kikumura, aka Crucia Hex, and confirm his allegiances.

    And today, they've finally located him. A quick meeting has been called to gather people to confront the wizard. He's supposed to be really strong with magic, and also skilled in using it in combat. Not all people who use spells are good at fighting. Even someone who wields a powerful Element like Destruction or Fire might be relatively easy to defeat in a direct battle.

    Other Shirou isn't that kind of wizard. He's the kind who can not only fight, but can probably seriously hurt an opponent one-on-one. Everyone is in their civilian guises right now, because Other Shirou has been sighted in a coffee shop of all places, as blatantly showing himself as though he had no idea anyone had been looking for him and didn't care if they had. He even has a seat by the front window, his long, smoke-gray hair tied back, a business suit like the one he wore at his 'job' he hasn't shown up for in months, and glasses over his crimson eyes. Kiko stands with the others in casual clothes of orange and black coloration, with little jack-o-lanterns hair-ties and barrettes keeping her huge mass of body-length gray hair held up. Madeleine Beaumont, a French transfer student, stands alongside Kiko, her black hair, pale skin, and simple school uniform a complete contrast to the personalized outfit of her friend. Miko Fujimoto, a bit older than the other two girls, is wearing a simple white blouse with a light jacket, and a black skirt.

    All three stand on the opposite side of the street from the coffee shop, ready to make a move as soon as everyone else is.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    At the same time...

    Elsewhere in Midnight Tokyo, as the time of people all over the city is gradually being sucked away, making the world around them seem to move in slow motion, for time-keeping devices to move at an incorrect pace or to simply stop entirely, for some people to even be on the verge of dying... There are some who seek to capitalize upon this state of affairs. And there are those who might choose to hunt them.

    A length of shadow winds its way across the rooftops on this evening, seeking those about to die, and then beginning to siphon away their life force. Both life force and 'time' are needed for a person to live. To remove one or the other shortens life span considerably. For someone already suffering from a loss of time, to ALSO suffer life force drain... They are going to die in short order.

    The shadow just keeps slithering down the side of a building, overlapping an entire room with its silhouette from the outside, and sucking dry everyone inside of the room, before moving to the next building.

    With everyone too slowed to even react, there's no chance of self-defense, and little chance of even being noticed. All of these people are completely helpless to the predations of this monstrous... THING.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary's been in something of a lazier mood lately. Wanting to laze around, eat some junk food, pass out in a food-induced stupor. Upon hearing that request for assitance from Miko, however, she does at least manage to drag herself out of bed today. Hearing about the possibility of combat while also needing to not be completely obvious about it, it's something of a relief to know she can't wear her giant armor even if she wanted to. Which she doesn't. Still, she has to bring some sort of protection with her.

     And so, she shows up in her fuzziest of armor: The padded sort made from the Lagombi! Between that, her axe, and the shield on her back, it might even make her look more like a cosplayer than an actual combatant. Showing up at the requested street, the healer waves lightly while shuffling towards the gathered three. "Am I late? Today feels... Long for some reason."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Tracking down a troublemaker of this sort hasn't been easy, but when the others have managed it... Shirou came to help. He's dressed casually as always. If he has any armor on it's under the clothing and blue and white outfit! So it's probably pretty simple stuff.

    "So he's in there?" Shirou sounds doubtful now. It's going to bee hard to confront anyone seriously with important questions in such a public place, and if it goes sour... baaaaaaaad.

Archer (821) has posed:
    Well... this was disturbingly familiar.

    Not even a days had passed since his summoning and already Rin was sending Archer out on missions.

    Though in this case... the distraction was welcome in a way, unpleasantly similar to his contracted line of work that it was.

    Now Rin wasn't the /worst/ Master he could have gotten. In fact she was probably one of the better ones. Though that in turn made it complicated in the fact that said compatibility meant little to nothing was likely to get by her.

    And off course... he still had the issue of his identity to work through with her. After all, one of the first things Rin had done was question him about how his arm could be grafted to Shirou without the boy dying during the Grail War... and he really wasn't looking forward to explaining that bit.

    Besides... Archer found it hard to imagine that Rin didn't already know, or at the very least suspect, who he was by now. She just wanted to hear it from Archer himself... possibly because she didn't want to reconcile his image with that stubborn, idealistic idiot.

    Hence why even now, being sent to investigate the recently-detected distortion in this reality was both a welcoming distraction... and yet troubling.

    "Damnit, Rin... you really know how to pick them, don't you?"

    Looking across the city, Archer noted how the rest of this version of Tokyo seemed to be moving slowly, as if submerged in thick sludge. If Archer were to make a comparison, it was like an aspect of the Second or maybe even the Fifth Magic going out of control - a distortion in time and space. His status as a timeless Heroic Spirit removed from the cycle of death and rebirth what likely what let him resist it, and his holy shroud likely helped too... but he didn't know if that was permanent.

    He didn't want to test it either. Especially not when he senses a presence that reminds him all too much of what he faced in the Grail War.

    Narrowing his eyes as he focuses on the seeming absence of life in one of the buildings, moving for the area to investigate... and keeping his distance to not get caught. Even if he was immune to time getting stolen... he knew from experience that creatures that could drain life away were another matter entirely.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Coffee Shop

    In answer to Shirou, Miko raises her hand and points at the man visible through the window. "Unless that's an illusion or imposter, it would appear that he is indeed inside."

    Kiko huffs and says, "Aah, if only Shiho were here, she could see right through any illu--" but she cuts herself off. Shiho, aka Musica, aka the final member of the Witching Hour trio, is currently in a hospital, on the verge of death. She can't help them now. That's why they're in such a rush to STOP all this as well. Shiho might not last if they don't find the one responsible and defeat them. And if that person is Kiko's brother...

    "Many people are so sluggish and slow it would be more unusual if they noticed what was happening than if they didn't," Madeleine offers, her slight accent showing in a way it doesn't when she's transformed into Libra. She focuses on Sanary somewhat worriedly, realizing that maybe being magical girls in civilian form doesn't protect them. If even someone like Sanary can be affected... Maybe all of them are susceptible. She has her own familiar inside of her backpack, serving as both advisor and Artifact, so she mutters over her shoulder, "Byblos... Can you shield us if we start to become affected by the 'time' loss?" There's a muffled, high-pitched male voice that responds energetically with, "YES, friend Madeleine! Your scholarlyship shall be MOST protected! Your Elements are Time and Books, and I wield both magics! The enemy Time Magic is too weak in its current form to influence you! But if it amps up I will protect EVERYONE nearby!"

    A little white-haired fairy with red eyes pops up out of Miko's jacket pocket. "Puah!" she lets out as she gasps for air. "M-me too! I, the mighty White Rose, can also protect us! ...Probably! Time is an aspect of Law after all, right? It runs on rules. So it should be possible to regulate--"

    Kiko just starts walking across the street, and right in front of an oncoming car that is moving at like 30 mph and is STILL going so slow that a normal teenaged girl can cross the street in front of it before it's moved more than a few feet.

    "...I suppose we don't have time to waste here," Miko says apologetically to the others. "Cute outfit though, Sanary." Then she does the same feat as Kiko and starts heading for the coffee shop entrance.

    White Rose says, "Hey. Hey, Shirou. Should we give you a codename so we don't mix you up with Kiko's brother? Like... Swords Shirou, or Teen Shirou, or Captain Shirou, or... Uh... Oh, I know! Shirou the Hero! Yeah, I like that one!"

    Madeleine also follows after Miko, and does not comment on Shirou's new codename.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Rooftops

    Archer's inspection of what's going on, if he looks through a window into that building that is suddenly so empty of life, reveals a lot of people slumped over or lying in weird places. A mother kneeling on the floor, with just her fingers clutching the edge of a crib, her face blank and her eyes unresponsive to the light. The child within the crib is just as silent and motionless. In another room, a man lies on the floor in front of an open mini-fridge, with an bottle of Sapporo beer glugging out onto the floor in his hand and creating a puddle around his head.

    The chill of that deathly presence still in the area might be traced to the sight of a tail like a flattened rattlesnake slithering over another rooftop right nearby. It's already heading for its next victims!

    It seems to be rather large too... Maybe even growing larger with every life it takes. And if it's not stopping after this many, then there's no guarantee it's EVER going to stop. Unless someone stops it.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary's eye goes straight to Libra's backpack at the sound of Byblos' voice coming from within, peering at it cautiously before jumping a bit when White Rose speaks up next. She stares at the fairy blankly before raising her hand in a slow, stiff wave. "Uh... Hey there. We'll be counting onyou two, I... Think."

     Magic is so strnage.

     Keeping one hand on the handle of her axe, the healer snickers lightly at the compliment from Miko before tapping two fingers to her forehead in a salute. "Is it? I just brought it 'cause it was armor and.. I'll let you feel it later." Laughing softly, her attention shifts to Shirou as she looks him over quickly before starting towards the coffee shop with the others. "Shirou the Hero's got a nice ring to it. So that makes the guy inside Brother Shirou, then?"

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou blinks a few times at this development, but his answer is a warm, "There's nothing wrong with just Emiya." He scratches his head a bit embarassedly. Being CALLED a hero is a biiiiit embarassing.

    Even if it's what he's really trying to be.

    "You've got a point there, I just hope nothing big comes of it." Although not able to transform or take on any kind of magical form, the boy's circulating a little bit of magic through his Circuits in hopes it will protect him - or at least him to invasive magics. It probably won't since he's a sucky magus, and it wouldn't have much bearing on concepts like time... but it's all he can do.

    Sanary gets a smile in greeting... then a blink. A few MORE blinks. THAT OUTFIT.

    Oh well. Across the street he goes!

Archer (821) has posed:
    In his mind, a firing hammer clicks back... then snaps forward - the mental trigger for his Magic Circuits./"Trace; On."/

    Reinforcing his eyes, Archer peers through the window from the top of the opposite building into the window of the room... and as he observes the grim details, he eyes narrow in discontent - truthfully a form of thinly-veiled disgust. The only emotion that death seemed to pull from anymore, really - for endless amounts of blood, fire and steel seemed to have burned anything else out of his heart.

    he'd been right. It /was/ similar. Almost disturbingly similar to the Shadow of Angra Mainyu - something had simply drained the life out of everyone and everything it touched. The only differences were that it didn't devour the bodies or seem to put it's victims in any pain.

    But it still didn't make the sight less grizzly to see, knowing that it was just extinguishing lives.

    Catching sight of the edge of the almost serpentine tail-like shadow slinking across the rooftops, Archer's bow appears in a flash of prana, but the creature is already moving at a rate that will make it impossible for him to get a shot in at this angle.

    Exhaling as his reinforcement is applied to his legs, Archer enters his astral form and bounds across the rooftop to try and get a better angle on the creature.

    He already is visualizing a weapon that should be able to hit it.... so long as he is in a position where he can keep his eyes on it. And if need be... it could be made destructive enough to simply wipe out enough of a target zone to kill it even if he couldn't get a direct hit.

    After all... in all likelihood, the people in the building it was on were already dead or soon would be by this point - beyond his ability to help. And he wouldn't endanger an entire city, or possibly this whole world, just to selfishly try to save doomed lives. He'd learned the hard way what happened when you tried recklessly to save everyone.

     It wasn't a mistake he would make here.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Coffee Shop

    White Rose huffs a bit and says, "Fine, fine. Emiya it is." Though she DOES take the time to wave back cheerfully to Sanary despite the grim circumstances. It's not that the fairy doesn't understand. But some level of moderation is needed here when at least two of their members are desperate and thus likely to attempt desperate things. She's trying to be the influence that keeps things from going out of control. But can she? She's such a tiny thing after all, and Witching Hour girls aren't 'hers'. As much as she might want to control their actions to avoid unnecessary conflict, they are not beholden to the Law Element that flows through and created White Rose. She can't command them or manipulate them. All she can try to do is suggest and soothe.

    Miko nods and smiles very faintly to Sanary, more focused on the task at hand. She does mutter to the offer to touch the armor, "Ah... Thank you." Then her brown eyes are focused back on the dangerous man who they've come to find after months of searching. She's honestly... Kind of angry at him for making them scramble around for so long only to then show up like their effort was meaningless. But she does her best to contain that emotion. She's used to suppressing her feelings in favor of a more pleasant demeanor.

    Kiko enters the coffee shop, looking both determined and scared, and marches right up to her brother's table.

    Brother Shirou looks up after a few moments, smile and says, "Good evening! Should you be out this late on a school night, Kiko?--Oh, that's right!" He taps a finger to his chin. "Our parents are gone so you don't have anyone to tell you to behave."

    Kiko's jaw clenches and her eyes narrow, but she doesn't respond as Miko and Madeleine and everyone else pile in and gather around.

    Other Shirou says off-handedly, "It seems I did you a favor after all when I killed them," and then raises his cup of coffee to sip at it while turning his gaze out on the street full of people moving in slow motion.

    Kiko slaps the cup from her brother's hand so hard it hits the window and cracks it. Coffee splashes everywhere.

    Other Shirou remains right where he is, hand still in position to hold the cup, the broken-off handle dangling from his forefinger. He calmly turns to Kiko, looks over everyone present, and then back to his sister. "Is there something I can do for you?"

    Kiko is still standing there with her arm in the position of one who has just swung it, palm open, red eyes wide, breathing heavily in her anger and fear. She grits her teeth and then lowers her hand.

    Before the situation can deteriorate further, Madeleine steps in to speak quietly and calmly. "We've been looking for you for months. You're the only other magic user who was present at the government building when we stopped that Life Gear. The time loss hasn't stopped. It has accelerated. We are here to ask what you know about this. And whether you have a connection to the Nether Realm agents known as the Epoch Saints."

    Kiko takes the time to try to regain control of herself for now. But Miko understands some of that anger. Even if it appears there's... Some DEEPER cause for distress between them. She looks to Shirou and Sanary, trying to communicate to them with her eyes alone that if either Kiko or Other Shirou tries something, they need to stop whichever one it is. They can't risk a fight here in a crowded coffee shop. None of the other patrons could move fast enough to even flee the area. They'd be guaranteed victims.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Rooftops

    Archer's actions bring him into a perfect position to see the shadow and also to see the nature of the building the shadow is crawling across. It's one of the worst discoveries he could have made in this instance.

    It's a hospital.

    This life-stealing monster intends to prey upon those already sick or injured or in-recovery. Those already on the verge of death. How low can this monster go!? Something else that might be noticed about the creature from Archer's position, aside from its large size and its new feeding grounds... Is that it's not just serpentine. Its 'front half' resembles an enormous spider of sorts. Ten long, spindly black 'legs' of shadow spread out to the sides from a central body, skittering the thing forward or in any other direction it chooses in a rhythmic pace that is both snake and arachnid at the same time.

    Its outline is like if someone combined a rattlesnake with a tarantula and then made it big enough to chase down a chase bus and eat all the occupants. It is concentrated Death Magic, whatever it is. This is something whose sole purpose is causing, spreading, controlling, and benefitting from death.

    And in one of those hospital rooms, there's a teenage girl lying on a bed, immobile, unable to do more than move her eyes, while a creature that looks like a cross between a piece of fruit, a rubber ball, and a dog rolls around in a panic on the floor.

    "Did you know!?" Momo Mo MomoMo cries out in this hospital full of people who can't even notice him because their sense of time is so different from his. "You're the only magical girl in the Witching Hour who doesn't use Time Magic, so I can't directly protect you from this effect! All I can do is create a Mask to conceal you temporarily! I sure hope the others fix this fast, because did you know? There's something reallllly scary on the building and I don't think I can stop it by myself!"

    Shiho Nakamura, aka Musica, has her eyes fixed on the window, and the menacing presence she can sense there. She can't reply outloud. She's paralyzed, unable to act except to watch her own death approaching.

    Creeping across the window in her hospital room with ten shadowy legs, one appendage at a time.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     For the first few seconds, Brother Shirou actually seems pleasant enough. Then he starts talking about killing his and Kiko's parents, and... Yeah, that's not going to be pretty at all. Stepping inside with the others, Sanary wrinkles her nose slightly at that splattering of the coffee. Madeleine seems to have the right idea, and that pointed look from Miko draws a slow nod from the healer.

     "Just a few questions, that's all. The sooner you tell us what we need to know, the sooner we'll be out of your hair, okay?" She puts on her best slightly-strained smile as she steps over to drape her arms over Kiko's shoulders. Worst case scenario, she can just try to brute force them away from each other, but she's hoping this will be enough to keep the girl (relatively) calm. That, or direct her anger elsewhere because of that blatant invasion of personal space.

     "Nice hair, by the way."

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Well that's a bombshell of a thing to say. Shirou gapes. This guy KILLED HIS PARENTS? Why?

    "What--" WHAMPF!

    And Kiko responds the way he expected. Emiya grimaces but his attention is now fully on the Other Shirou. What can he POSSIBLY say?

    Mages. That's what he can say. Lots of them are rotten.

    He's glad these girls aren't!

    "And just as importantly, if you're any good at all, why you're not out there trying to stop this mess!"

Archer (821) has posed:
    When Archer sees the creature, he is automatically reminded of the Black Shadow - writing limbs piercing targets and trailing death. A creature tailored to kill living beings and feed on that absence of life.

    And it's targeting those that are already on the verge of death - those who's lives hang in the balance.

    Even Archer cannot deny the repugnant nature of such an act. His teeth grind slightly as he sees the creature crawl across the rooftop of the building, intending to devour those that are incapable of fighting back.

     ... and yet, that does not stop Archer from holding to his prior conviction, bile filling his heart at the fact that once again he must be reminded of how nothing ever changes.

     And with that in mind... the heart of steel draws his weapon out of the barren waste that is his soul, a flash of prana condensing in his free hand and shaping into a pitch-black sword, it's form a series of twisted edges coiling around a thin core.

    The hound of the red plains, remade as a projectile that could hit Mach 10 if fired in a straight line, letting it cross a four-kilometer distance in roughly a second. A piercing black arrow that would never miss the target so long as Archer's bow remained trained on them.

     /"I am the bone of my sword."/

    The arrow's frame pulses as it is charged, the seconds ticking by slowly as Archer sees the black shape near a window on the building.

    The arrow's strike has to be precise or he may tear out a portion of the building's side. Even now, the force of his arrow will likely rattle the hospital's structure - he wouldn't be surprised if at least a few walls cracked or some of the windows shattered from the force of the arrow's flight stirring the air around it.

     Someone might be hurt from it. Archer is fully aware of that.

     But in the end, if anyone is hurt... it is still better then letting this nightmare creature have free run of the city.

    The charging of the first shot is finished - the arrow flushes red -

    "Hrunting!"

    And takes flight as it's name is called, the weapon's form enveloping itself in crimson and streaking toward the the creature's center-of-mass.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Coffeeshop

    Brother Shirou arches an eyebrow at Madeleine, as he puts the pieces together. "Ah. Then you were one of the other two magical girls with my sister back then."

    Madeleine nods. There's not much point in concealing her secret identity in a situation like this. If he's really working with the Epoch Saints, they aren't letting him escape to tell anyone else. Whatever it takes.

    "I also recognize the not-my-brother-Shirou... Since the fairy is with YOU, I imagine that makes you the pink-haired magical girl, which means this foreigner is the blue-haired one... I don't recognize YOU though, miss." he says as, towards the end, he directs his gaze at Sanary who seems to be quite buddy-buddy with Kiko based on the arm-around-the-shoulders.

    He has yet to answer Madeleine's question, and instead addresses Shirou's. "I'm sorry. I must have missed the part where the fate of this city became MY responsibility. Isn't it the job of magical girls to do this kind of thing?" Brother Shirou sighs, and releases a bit of his Time Magic. "Rewind." The coffee cup and window both reverse their individual flows of time, returning to the state they were in before they were broken. The coffee flows in reverse, back into the cup.

    He looks up briefly, seemingly noticing something happening somewhere else... A flare of major magical energy. But he doesn't comment for anyone who can't sense it like he can. If their senses don't reach as far as his, that's their problem.

    "Has my little sister ever told you WHY I killed our parents? I imagine not, it's not something she likes to talk about. You know how she and I use Time Magic? It runs in the family. The man and woman who raised us, who claimed to be our parents, were not out parents. They couldn't have been. Because they had no magic at all. And their reaction to the discovery that their supposed children had powers that couldn't be understood by limited minds was, shall we say, unpleasant. But no matter how much Kiko and I tried not to use our magic, our love of our birthright made it impossible not to. So we instead used it in secret." Brother Shirou still hasn't addressed what they actually came here for with this story of his. "And when they found out how much our power had grown after several yars, their violent response necessitated their removal from our lives. So, certainly, I killed our 'parents'. And we're better off for it. Now if only my foolish little sister would accept it, I wouldn't need to keep confronting her with the fact."

    "They WERE our parents, Shirou!" Kiko interrupts. "They ARE. The magic just skipped a generation, that's all--!"

    "They were ABUSIVE and SMALL-MINDED cretins who were IN OUR WAY," Brother Shirou interrupts, showing an emotion other than confident sarcasm or calmness for the first time to others. This apparently more sensitive a subject than he pretended it was. "I never recognized them as being such to begin with. Whoever our REAL parents were, they wouldn't have attempted to smother our birthright and tried to cage us like animals."

    Miko steps in now too. Sanary is doing her part to control Kiko, the arm across the Pumpkin Witch's shoulders keeping her calm. Now the other half of this needs to calm down. "I apologize for interrupting this dispute, but we have a deadline for how long we can spend listening to you without an answer to our questions. The Epoch Saints are a Nether Realm group that steals the 'time' of others for an unknown end. There is no way you aren't aware of the temporal anomalies all over the city. We want to know if you are part of them. And regardless of if it's your responsibility to protect the city, you are consciously choosing not to. If you refuse to act, at least confirm for us what your role in all this is. And help us to find the one responsible if you are going to claim you're not part of it. That shouldn't require much of anything from a mage of your power, now should it?"

    Brother Shirou goes silent.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Hospital

    Momo bounces up onto the bed and then hops until he is placing his tiny, rubbr-ball-sized body inbetween the window and the girl he is meant to advise, teach, and protect. He's shivering as he spreads out his leaf-shaped dog ears like floppy arms, trying to mazimize the cover he can provide. He's shielding Shiho from the temporal magic, so he can't shield her from any other form of attack. If that monster does something... All he can do is guard her physically!

    Shiho can't speak outloud. But via her magic, she can still speak with her mind over short distances. <<MoMo. Get out of here. Get the others.>>

    "N-no! MoMo can't do that!"

    <<You can and you will. You can make a new connection with a new girl. You can create a new Musica. I'm already lost. Don't get hurt for my sake.>>

    "MoMo won't leave Shiho! She's the only Musica for him! D-did you know? M-MoMo can be brave t-too! J-just like... Master!" His glistening, bead-like eyes tremble as he watches the horror descend upon them...

    And then there's a loud sound and an impact outside, and the monster goes flying from the building, and plummeting towards the ground far below. The window shatters, and a plaster and concrete dust fill the air as the wall is gouged simply by proximity to the arrow's path.

    There's only a brief delay, and then Shiho sends to her familiar, <<MoMo. Go to the window. See if you can find out what did that. Don't expose yourself to danger.>>

    MoMo wipes his eyes with his ears and then says, "Y-yes!" And bounces over to the window to see what's going on.

    And what's going on is that some twitching shadowy abomination is sprawled in the parking lot, overlaying several cars. There's an arrow piercing its center. It begins to twitch, its legs working to no effect, its tail writhing, until it just... Peels itself off the ground, gaining form and substance, and raises itself up to look back at Archer. There's still shadow there, but not to the same extent.

    It now looks like a giant spinal cord with two pairs of skeletal hands joined at the wrists protruding from the end of it. And at the center of those two palms, right where the heels meet... There's an empty eye socket. And inside of that eyesocket, the gaze of many may be felt by Archer. Too many to count. Too many eyeless sockets looking at him from within another empty hole.

    And then a barrage of bone fragments comes shooting out of the hole from... Wherever the hell the other side of it leads to, at machinegun pace, trying to bombard Archer's position! He seems to have gotten its attention.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     "Sanary. Healer, skull-cracker. Good to meet ya, Brother Shirou." Sanary actually sounds rather relaxed as she speaks, although she is still careful not to take those arms off Kiko. No telling when or if she'll blow up at someone, after all! Her eye widens in surprise as B-Shirou quite literally reverses time for the coffee, her mouth opening and closing a few times.

     She really needs to learn that one day.

     Strangely enough, she can't find it in herself to fault him for what he did, assuming that explanation is true. She looks over at Miko and H-Shirou to gauge their reactions to B-Shirou's story, then presses the side of her fuzzy hood into Kiko's face. Might as well try and distract her a bit more with the incredibly comfortable carcass of a giant rabbit monster.

     "Miko's got it. We need to focus on fixing all this Epoch Saint business first. If this shit doesn't get fixed, nobody'll be around to even deal with what's going on with you and your sister here. So... Throw us a bone, will you?" She gives him another one of those sweet smiles, even giving Kiko a light nudge to try and get her to go along with it.

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Emiya flinches at this tale, but his mouth's still left slightly agape.

    This guy... is just like Matou Shinji.

    Except he has the power to do stuff, and isn't a coward.

    That's pretty terrifying, come to think of it.

    This subconscious realization (Shirou would have to be pretty hard pressed to think too bad of Shinji... at the moment...) causes Emiya Shirou's gaze to harden.

    Yet with others keeping Kiko in check, he's free to show some of his astonishment at this guy's actions.

    "Job? You're caring about who's role it is when lives are at risk?!" He can't follow this one. AT ALL. There's no logic at that.

    "Don't you live in this city? If you have some kind of power, isn't trying to protect it the decent thing to do?! There won't be a city if this keeps up!"

Archer (821) has posed:
    He only has a minute to move before the building he's on is pelted by bone fragments, leaving Archer cursing inwardly at the thing's speed as he leaps to the next building... not to mention it's overall appearance and the unsettling presence it carries.

    He can feel the creature's gaze, noting that it feels almost like a jointed intelligence - almost like a hive of insects has locked it's sights on him from a massive hive, freshly disturbed.

    The next arrow is already traced - this time, the spiral-sword comes into form.

    This one is the quickest to charge - now that it's off the building, he can be a little bit more free with the power he can throw... though the hospital will probably need a new coat of paint and a new sheet of plaster to the wall facing the parking lot.

    The arrow is knocked back, the bowstring is drawn taunt-

     "Caladbolg!"

    And the arrow shoots forward for the skeletal construct, enveloping itself in light as it is hit by an attack powerful enough to send a small cloud of fire and smoke balloting upward in an all-too-obvious mushroom-cloud.

    He doesn't have the time to be subtle or give concern to the destruction of the parking lot - not with this thing. After all... when one got right down to it, it was more insane to pull his punches if it meant this thing would get away from him or got back to the hospital.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Coffee Shop

    Brother Shirou takes in a deep breath at the continued cajoling. "If it will make this conversation end faster, I suppose I'll do what I can to point you in the right direction. It was amusing at first, but there's nothing further to gain by playing around." He focuses on the Heroic Shirou and says, "I wasn't the only magic user outside of your group at the building that day. There was another. I can't imagine you didn't run into them given where you were headed."

    Hospital Parking Lot

    Archer's attack explodes against the deathly monster, shattering four or five of its ten limbs and damaging its tail as it then falls forward onto the remaining finger-legs and skitters towards Archer. It's boney appendages crush any cars that haven't been thrown through the air by the detonation along the way, seemingly trying to join the Servant on his perch. But then it whips its spinal cord tail towards him, and the length extends tremendously, arching up towards him to try to smash him!

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Coffee Shop

    "If I give you and my sister all the easy answers, you'll never be able to fend for yourselves. Can you figure it out? I am not affiliated with these 'Epoch Saints' as they so arrogantly call themselves. But somebody else there was. Another spellcaster. They should have been right before your eyes."

    Madeleine's eyes widen. She realizes first. Then, in succession, Kiko and Miko.

    An expression of anger appears on Miko's face. Anger at herself for not realizing sooner. But how could she? That person had been so skilled they had concealed all trace of having magic even from White Rose, and even Byblos: the latter being SPECIALIZED in analysis and detection and knowledge-gathering!

    But it's Kiko who voices it, and she uses accented English to do it. "<<Son of a bitch!>>" She gives Sanary a one-armed hug. "I'm okay now. Thank you. But we have to get back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building right away."

    Brother Shirou looks at an ornate wrist watch that seems to display color-coded dials and such instead of the time, like a true mage's invention. "And it's time for me to get back to work. I've done my part to save the city after all, just like the other Shirou wanted me to."

    Then the space he's sitting in warps and he's just gone.

    Miko scowls and turns to leave the coffee shop. Kiko likewise starts to move, "If my brother is telling the truth... The Epoch Saint collaborator was the mayor. The very man we 'rescued' from the Life Gear!"

    Then anyone who can sense magic may feel like a wall just rushed towards them and rammed into them before passing clear through them. Suddenly, everyone drops. All those people out in the street fall in slow motion, plummetting towards the sidewalk, or the street. Cars come to a stop completely. A fire goes out very slowly as no air is moving to replace that being consumed fast enough to sustain it. The whole city just went under temporal lockdown.

    White Rose and Byblos both yell simultaneously, "EVERYONE WHO CAN, TRANSFORM!"

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Hospital Parking Lot

    The wave hits Archer as well, but his nature and his Shroud protect him as they have been. But both he and his opponent seem to be free of the effect even as light itself seems to slow in the air until it's visible as a gold and crimson stream of dying sunlight.

    Then everything turns gray, and Archer and his opponent are two of the only beings in the city right now who are still experiencing the flow of time. Why the monster too? Becaue its Element is Death, and much like Time, it is partially in alignment with the Element of Entropy. The passage of time, the inexorable decay of all things, is part of Death. And as a manifestation of pure Death Magic, it will continue to hunt as surely as all things will one day die.

Sanary Rondel has posed:
     Sanary looks from B-Shirou to the other magical girls present, then lets out a low grunt before nodding slowly. Not because she's made any realizations, but she's not about to let herself be seen as the idiot dead weight here. "I see... It all makes sense now." The healer chuckles as she returns that one armed hug, ruffling Kiko's hair a bit before letting go of her. "Right, right.. Well, thanks for your t-"

     And then B-Shirou's gone. "-ime... Uh." She sighs lightly and rubs her forehead, snickering after a moment. She's annoyed at first, but she has to admit that the timing really was good there. Perhaps she'll have to see that man again some time...

     But she'll have to worry about that later. She runs after the rest of the group as things start slowing, then stopping. If Sanary wants to learn anything from that guy, she'll need to get through this ordeal first!

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    Shirou's close to scowling himself. But holding negativity towards isn't something he tends to do in public. If B-Shirou is an unhelpful jerk, he's not going to waste any more time on him. But he still yelps a bit when he simply VANISHES. "What the... where'd he go?!"

    He's normally not very sensitive to magic, but for some reason or another, DISTORTIONS TO THE NATURAL WORLD do reach him. When what feels like a time-warping Boundary Field strikes his reaction is instantaneous. "/TRACE ON!/" His Magic Circuits flare to full power. Kanshou and Bakuya are called out from Unlimited Blade Works, the married swords flaring into existence in his hands.

    "What's going on?!"

Archer (821) has posed:
    Archer feels the flow of time ebb away entirely now, his brow furrowing as even the light around him is suspended and held in place.

    Of course, he can hardly spare a moment toward that line of thought as the skeletal creature, severely damaged, tries to make a lunge for him. However, Archer knows first-hand that it's best not to let creatures that drain away life make contact with you, and so he jumps ahead -

     - and leaps /forward/, another flash of prana shimmering to life in his hands as he free-falls toward the beast... with the shape forming in his hands being much, much larger then any weapon he has used against it yet.

    An immense blade he should not be able to wield, carved from stone and raggedly cut into a massive sword longer then he is tall. The handle is wrapped in simple cloth, the edge made up of manny jagged teeth.

    This blade has no name. No real history. And yet, by association of the one who wielded it, it contains a powerful secret.

    Transcending time, seeing through the history of it's wielder, the strength of another being from another age flows into him through reading the history of the black giant that uses it in the hight of the Grail War.

    Time stops from Archer's viewpoint - the images of nine intersecting paths appear before him, crossing over and over to form a storm of destruction.

     He cannot afford to waste any more time with it now that the city around him has been wholly consumed by this distortion. He will end it here and now.

     Upper-left leg, spine, eye socket, right hand, left knuckles, central axis, brow-plate, right under-palm, left forefingers - nine targets all selected at once across it's body.

    "Trigger; off."

    Nine in his head.

    If the boy could do it, he surely could as well.

    Nine hammers click in his skull - and all snap at once as the strength and techniques of Berserker's blade are channeled through him like a conduit-

     "Set - NINE LIVES BLADE WORKS!"

     -and explode outward, nine near-simuntanious strikes being delivered with the force of a typhoon - the strength of Heracles, Zeus' strongest son and the man who used the sword to nearly slay the King of Knights.

Miko Fujimoto (589) has posed:
    Coffee Shop

    Miko and Madeleine transform into their magical girl forms as fast as possible, becoming Princess Paladin and Libra. Kiko has to cast a spell to swap her clothing with witch's dress and appear as Crucia hex. Shirou's prana circulation grants him some protection, though not a lot as the effect continues to increase in severity... But the presence of White Rose and Byblos shields Sanary, Shirou, and anyone else nearby without Time Magic. Paladin doesn't have it herself, but as White Rose hypothesized: Because time functions upon a set of rules, it can be subjugated by Law... To a degree. It's not Paladin's or White Rose's specialty, so a skilled Time Magic user could still bypass this and defeat either of them.

    But for now, at least, the small group is safe. Paladin looks around at all that has happened, unable to feel magic herself, but able to plainly see all is not right with the world. "I think we just ran out of time," she summarizes.

    She's going to put out the call for help. Maybe Golden can get here to aid them on their way to the TMG building.

    Hospital Parking Lot

    Archer's attack is more than even a monster like this can handle. It is taken apart, broken into pieces from nine simultaneous strikes, utterly destroying its current form. The parking lot is in ruins, cars that were thrown through the air have either landed and been crushed, or are still flying the air, forever in the moment following the explosion of Archer's second attack.

    And yet, as the monster lies there in pieces, dissolving into dust, that eye socket still watches him. And from within, he may hear the rush of whispers that carry a message from beyond this reality.

    "We do not write your story. We do not determine how it will end. But when you have reached the conclusion, the final page of your tale, the final sentence, the final word, the final period, that emptiness that lies after is where we will be waiting for you." Then the emissary of The End is gone into dust that finally succumbs to the rule of time and is no more but a cloud suspended eternally in mid-air.

    This is probably not the last time whatever sent that thing makes an attempt upon lives. But at least the flow of life energy that was stolen appears to be returning to those who it belongs to, even if in slow motion.

    It may be around this time that Archer is contacted about his mission or decides to continue it on his own. Because somewhere up there in the sky, something is churning. A wheel of sorts, not presently visible, but winding the threads of time around it like a spool in the face of the universe.

    And directly beneath it is the Tokyo Government Metropolitan building...

Emiya Shirou (560) has posed:
    "No, we've still got time! There's still people to save...!" Shirou blurts, immediately bolting for the most obvious source. The building beneath that GIANT GEAR.

Archer (821) has posed:
    Archer winces as his muscles strain and one of his bones crack under the force of the axe-sword's strikes. Even as a spirit, his body cannot entirely capture the black giant's power to the point that it is harmless. Though thankfully, his Master's prana-reserves are supple enough to easily restore much of the immediate damage... or at least it will within the next few minutes.

    All in all, it could have gone much worse, and when he lands on the ground level in front of the dying skeletal construct, he notes that the damage is actually rather acceptable if weighed against the lives of everyone in the city or the rest of the world.

    However, when he watches the creature die, Archer cannot help but almost glare at it while it seems to whisper to him in a way he can't immediately perceive. But then at the end, though... he cannot help but let a bitter smile work it's way across his face, even while he glares at it.

    "You're too late on that count. I've already reached the end of my story... and I already know all too well the emptiness that waits for anyone who shares in it's path."

    Thus, he lets out a sigh as the creature vanishes... but then, almost against himself, he decides to look up at the hospital, catching sight of a small spherical creature looking down at him-

     'Archer! What's going on? The city's state has gotten worse from what we can see - what the hell have you been doing all this time if you weren't stopping it?1'

    But he doesn't get much chance to muse on it, his Master's impeccable timing being what it is. However, he knew Rin wouldn't waste the energy to contact him over their astral link unless it was important... and this was indeed more important then satisfying his curiosity on what it was that was staring at him from the hospital. Though, he didn't detect any threat from it.

     "Don't worry - I'm on it. Like always."

    Ignoring the rebuke from his Master, Archer instead opted to give an off-handed two-fingered wave to the rounded thing looking at him before bounding upward to the buildings, taking off across the rooftops toward the source of the disturbance.

    And all the while, he wondered what could possibly be strong enough to cause something this immense in scale.