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Archer of Brown      Glover Park is a little ways away from the most famous of D.C.'s landmarks, but it's still one of the nicest neighborhoods in town. There are a lot of memorable views here, and the bright winter sun works with the abundance of trees to create a quaint patchwork of sunlight and shadows characteristic of upstate America. The sounding of morning colors can be heard from the Naval Observatory in the distance, signaling the time as 7:55 AM, to the furthest imaginable decimal point. The sound of the National Anthem follows shortly thereafter, the faint melody carried on the wind.

     Senator Albert Mason stands on the sidewalk. Archer is beside him, but the Spirit is dressed in a manner more befitting the modern era--a particularly handsome redneck rather than a legend of the frontier. The senator holds in one hand a cane. The other holds a large brown bag. "Senator Albert Mason, at your service." He smiles at the Elites--a warm expression despite the quiet urgency in the air. "Thank you so much for coming, everyone. I took the liberty of buying some donuts, if you haven't eaten yet." He nods to Archer, then hands the bag over. The Servant begins distributing donuts to those Elites who are feeling a bit peckish! Meanwhile, Mason elucidates, pulling a folded-up piece of paper from his coat pocket.

     "This young lady went missing a few days ago. I first saw the posters last night." The paper shows a girl, perhaps of college age. Shoulder length black hair, horn-rimmed glasses and a general bookish appearance. Her name is Kelly. "Simply put, that doesn't happen here. It shouldn't happen anywhere, but this is one of the nicest neighborhoods in town. Paired with the fact that one of my familiars was killed on the same day she went missing, I have reason to believe, at best, that there's a rogue magus at work. At worst... it's a fellow contestant in the Grail War. Either way, this young lady's safety is at stake, and so is the safety of any mundane authority who goes looking for her."

     "So far, we got two leads," says Archer, leaning against a tree. "Paper says she was last seen at the library checkin' out a whole lot of books, so I reckon that's a good place to start. Might also try the cemetery, on account of that's where Al lost his familiar. Any questions?"
Dominic Masoch Saving a missing girl seems like a suitable reason to quest in the Extraverse. It has the baseline heroics, the inherent play on the noble-spirited to watch over females, and the chance for some action.

As such, Dominic took a break from his afternoon practice sessions to come out and help out, "No need to thank me. Simply helping to prevent tragedy is enough of a reward. Plus, perhaps I can catalog Extraversal Entities and receive extra credit." He says to Senator Mason, adding a moment later, "Dominic Masoch of Ramuha. Fencer and student at Alexander Academy." He hooks an arm under himself and half-bows politely.

"The Cemetary is where I would start my search, personally," Dominic votes. This is not at all because, in his world, cemetary means all sorts of great monsters.
Fake Avenger      SECOND GRAIL WAR
     WASHINGTON DC

     America. Only centuries after he had died did Sasaki Kojirou ever visit the place that had been called the seat of culture, the Empire of Freedom, the mighty fist of the Western World. By the time Kojirou's wandering feet had taken him there, it was...well.

     So this is District C before it all happened, is it?

     Nobody takes any notice of the man. It would be paradoxical, in fact, how few take notice of him - men in lavendar kimonos are not common in America, nor are blue-haired, violet-eyed foreigners openly bearing nearly-five-foot katanas on the streets of Washington, nor are men bearing strange black markings that seem more like scars than tattoos oft-seen in polite society. Nonetheless, Kojirou walks, unmolested, through the streets of DC. He leaves no footprints. He leaves no recordings. For the world around him, Sasaki Kojirou is nothing but a dream of a distant age, a story-book character who shows up in Japanese media from time to time. They pay him exactly as much mind as they would a story-book character, and he drifts through the pages of DC without impact. Even the magecrafters, who walk with lidded eyes half-open to the true natures of the world, ignore him. In turn, they are ignored by him. The wizards of the world hold nothing he desires.

     Nothing in all the worlds could imagine what Sasaki Kojirou, long-dead ghost of a man who never existed, Destroyer, once-Assassin, now-Avenger, could possibly desire.

     Here and there, he stops to look at the trees corralled in their cages. Here and there, he pauses to touch the grass that peeks through the cracks of urbanity. Every so often, he stops to watch the people flowing into and out of the grandiose old buildings. No one notices him. No one sees him. No one cares.

     It loses something in the translation. Heh heh heh.

     Kojirou's smile doesn't waver. He turns, his gaze falling upon a stretching pool, and goes silent. It behooved him to listen - listen to, in the distance, the people talking about a Grail War. Kojirou pauses, thoughtfully, and disappears behind a tree before they can see him. No sense in aggravating the locals yet until he could confirm it.

     I don't feel the Grail here, Kojirou-kun.

     Kojirou frowns.

     That means there's a Grail here that I'm not part of, Kojirou-kun.

     Kojirou's frown deepens.

     What's that look for? Don't tell me the great Kojirou-dono has become squeamish this time around. You were perfectly happy to slit throats with a fishing pole yesterday for me...this is minor by comparison, Kojirou-kun. I just want you to go...learn more. This could be...intriguing.

     Kojirou looks up at the sky and sighs.

     Alright, Kojirou-kun, I'll make it...interesting. What do you say - if you help me, I won't bother you for a week.

     The samurai shakes his head.

     You don't really have a bargaining place here, you know, Kojirou-kun. Besides...I thought we were friends. Friends help each other, Kojirou-kun. And don't *I* always grant *your* wish?

     Kojirou clucks his tongue and finally nods. His serene smile reappears on his face as he prepares to do something he hasn't done in a very long time - follow people in silence and secrecy for someone else's goals.

     The Multiverse sure is a fascinating place, eh, Kojirou-kun?
Seto Kaiba      Kaiba is here, mostly, on the account of the Grail War. Though it is a conflict for a specific item, it does, more or less, amount to simply being a game of battles to the death. And /all/ games interest him.Even those of death.

     So, he showed up for the call of help. But, the specific reason for the call is something that annoys him. It is, in fact, a simple missing person's case. He could not care less about her fate. As the reason for being ehre today is explained, he is simply tempted to just leave straight away. This might be completely unconnected to the Grail War.

     Still, though, the death of the Familiar could be important. And so, with his usual poker face hiding his feelings on the situation, he speaks up. As usual, he will try to lead the charge. Why not, after all? He's the most important person here, the most skilled and intelligent. He should put the first step forward.

     "I will handle checking out the cemetary. I don't need much help to do so. But I imagine some of you will end up following me there /anyways/."

     He glances at Dominic, though. He recognizes Dominic from the one dungeon test. Most likely they'll end up going to the same place, if Dominic votes for that. He doesn't remember much of what Dominic does, due to different groups. But Dominic should surely know how formidible an ally Kaiba himself is.

     He does have the Duel Disk on his arm, though it's unactivated, making it just look like a weird wrist accessory. Or more likely, he appears to be a cosplayer, especially considering his coat. He doesn't activate it yet, though. But he is, otherwise, getting information from other means. Mainly, Mokuba is using Google Maps to figure out where the cemetary /is/, so he can start on his way there without having to be told, and seem more badass due to it.

     Though if Google Maps proves unfruitful, he'll have to wait for directions. Sadly.
Riva Banari Riva is happy to be in something that resembles a normal, nice, not horriyingly under siege version of America. Riva totally grabs a donut, and grins to the Senator. "Hi there! I'm Riva Banari, I don't think we've met yet, but I've met your friend there, and decided I wanted to give you guys a hand. This Magical Highlander Game stuff tends to be nasty from what I hear from others who have done this kind of thing."

She munches on the donut while he describes the situation. She looks less happy. "Oh damn. That's going to be ugly. God, Why do these people ruin it for everyone? Well, if it is a magus of some kind." She tilts her head and folds her arms, still using one of her hands to devour the donut quickly. om nom nom, om nom.

She nods, then. "All right, let's get this started. I'll head to the library, since I should fit in fine over there." She pulls out her cellphone and takes a picture of the picture, and taking some notes. "Anything else we should know about the missing young lady?" She asks.
Kyra Hyral     Kyra is in total agreement with Dominic. This did seem like an ideal quest to embark upon in the multiverse. Investigation was certainly not out of the grasp of the Light Warriors which is why Kyra can be counted among the Elites present to answer the Senator's request.

    Graciously, she accepts a donut and listens through the Master's mission briefing. "Nice to meet you, Senator." she greets, mustering SOME respect for the extraversal government figure. "I'm Kyra Hyral, a fellow classmate of Dominic, and a white mage by Job." Chemist gets left out for some reason. Surprisingly, she doesn't seem to have any questions about the Grail War, having read some basic summaries on it from the Union archives prior.

    With a frown, she adds, "Funny, I would start at the library myself." Because Kyra is biased and enjoys libraries but this opinion, being irrelevant, goes unvoiced, "However, if you think we ought to start where the familiar was killed, Dominic, then we should go with it. Splitting the party is never a good idea."

    Then KAIBA speaks up, making Kyra glower just a little bit. She remembers him too from the dungeon test and his fancy dragon jet.

    However Riva suggests splitting away herself to go to the library herself. Kyra looks WORRIED for her. "Um...you sure about that?"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa had been one of the one to take up the call for help from the Senator at this point, she looked casual enough compared to the last time they met but here and there there's some signs she's packing some extra gear. She'a also wearing gloves as well. She moves to get a donut and nods grinning.

"I haven't really had a good donut since I moved to New Port."

She happily devours it but lkeaves the rest for the others.

"I get it and that's why we're here right?"

She pauses looking over at Dominic.

"Huh? Extraversals? Wait your getting school credit for this? What kind of school is this Alexander Academy? I don't mean to be rude, you just got my attention with that."

Kotone's notthing ugly but there's something off about her, really kinda the lack of visable physical flaws and her eyes? If one looks really close one can catch their mechanical nature.

Kaiba gets a nod.

"It's better to not soloi things in the event you need a runner."

Riva gets a grin out of the cyborg as she looks her long time friend over.

"Glad to have you here I'm certain your friends will be a buzz about this."

She looks to Kyra nexk and takes a moment ot introduce herself.

"Kotone Yamakawa, I apologise as well Dominic for not stating my name sooner."
Emiya Shirou     "Yeah. Who is it that went missing?" Asks Emiya Shirou, who's accepted a donut and set about munchig it down as he'll definitely need a bit of extra energy. "Is there anything about her you know the paper doesn't?" There's a single purpose behind Emiya Shirou's question as the magus readies himself. That purpose: 'is she a magus?' But getting ready... mostly this involves straightening his jacket. "She needs rescue either way, but why she's a target might be a good clue!"
Archer of Brown      First thing's first, Senator Mason shakes hands with everyone he's not met yet, and for a few brief seconds, he tries to make each Elite feel as if his undivided attention is on them. "Mr. Masoch, Mr. Ns. Banari, Ms. Hyral, my pleasure to meet you all. And you," he says to the headstrong youth with the duel disk, "Must be Mr. Kaiba. It's quite a thing to finally see you in person!" Now, on to business.

     "It seems like most of us want to go to the cemetery." He nods towards Dominic, Kaiba, and Kyra. "Kyra has the right idea--if there's a Heroic Spirit skulking around in that cemetery, we're going to want everyone we've got. Meeting it with overwhelming force is our best option, especially if it's an Assassin or a Caster. The former is better at attacking solitary Masters, and the latter usually prefers to build up a power base first. That said, the Second False Grail War is a secret to the public. There's only so much the organization can do to conceal it, and the public, however cowed they are by media saturation, will only believe so many gas leaks and weather balloons."

     "That means don't go shooting every damned thing in sight," clarifies Archer eloquently.

     Mokuba's searching pulls up a result! Holy Rood Cemetery is not far from here. Evidently, it's fallen into disrepair despite the pleasant surroundings. It's a frequent victim of vandalization, and apparently, has been cordoned off due to an 'invasive and potentially harmful strain of fungus.' "If we don't find anything there, then we can return to the library. We might be able to inquire something about the books she was checking out."

     Shirou and Riva's inquiries are met with a response that's only slightly helpful. "It's possible she was a witness to a fight," says Mason. "Maybe she had enough magical talent to see two Servants fighting, and one went after her. The secrecy of any Grail War is always enforced, however unpleasant it might be. For her sake, I hope that's not the case, otherwise this is a murder investigation rather than a search party. Aside from that, there's not much that I know about her. Her name is Kelly Burgstaller. I'm not aware of any American mage families with that last name, but we do have a strong tradition of independent families not affiliated with the Association. My own, for example."
Seto Kaiba      Kaiba was going back and forth on whether or not to bring his Dragon Jet. But, it seems he picked right /not/ to, because of the secrecy. Because really, there isn't a better way to break the masquerade than flying in on a dragon jet.

     He doesn't nod, bow, or offer to shake hands with Mason. Instead, he just simply speaks. He's not a very polite youth, at all. Sure, he fakes it sometime, but at his core, he's a bit of a jerk.

     He at least resists mentioning that seeing Kaiba, in general, should be considered 'quite a thing' and something for people to be honored by.

     "Don't worry. We'll solve this as quickly as possible, while remaining discreet."

     And wiht that, he starts walking off towards the direction of the cemetary. Yes, he's not going to wait for the others to follow. He feels that, most likely, the Archer and Mason gave him /enough/ information to work off of, at least for now. Possible mage, possibly involved, possibly just an innocent bystander who got shot down. With that information, yes, it's time for him to start heading to the cemetary. Normally one could call it 'leading the way', but really, he'd consider everyone else unnecessary baggage /anyways/.

     Even though, you know, he doesn't have capabilities of scanning things for traces of magic, or other things that would be useful in doing an investigation revolving around magical stuff.
Riva Banari Riva nods, and takes some notes in her phone. "All right. I'll stick with you guys." She looks to Kyra as she expresses concern about Riva and she smiles. "Well, I guess we're going to stick together. I mean, with you here I certainly wouldn't have anything to worry about, right?" She chuckles and gives Kyra a light swat on the arm. "Now let's go hang out in Spookytown, right?"
Emiya Shirou     "So we don't really know anything for sure but her name." Shirou grouches. Oh well, he can work with this. He'll hope for the best but prepare for the worst. This brings him strolling over next to Riva and Kyra. "Yeah. To the cemetery!"

    He aims a sour look Kaiba's way, having remembered that guy's manners, but honestly what is he supposed to do about it besides spell something out to him. Although it's more of a question. "Do you have something smaller and less flashy than dragons for this?"
Dominic Masoch Dominic shakes hands firmly and politely, stock standard 'wealthy individual meets another wealthy individual' sort of gesture before he releases the hand a moment later. He nods his head to Mason in agreement with most of the advice. He can understand a lack of wanting collateral damage, though with that Dragon Summoner here, he's not sure it will actually go through without collateral.

One of Dominic's hands hangs at his side while the other rests on the hilt of his sword. He doesn't have much else to say, so he'll tag along with Kyra for the moment. This means Riva gets a polite nod of his head, "Greetings."
Kyra Hyral     "Splitting up never goes well anyway. I've got a really scary horror story about doppelgangers I ough to tell sometime." Kyra asides to Riva, resting her hands in the front pockets of her hoodie. "And you're right, as long as you're with us I can distribute the sweet, sweet heals." She looks kind of sheepish when Archer politely requests that they don't go 'shooting up every damn thing.' "Collateral damage to a minimum, I've got it."

    Something interesting gets mentioned when Mason speaks about witnessing fights that Kyra has to speak up about, "-so what if someone sees /us/ fighting the Servants? We're not expected to murder anyone that sees us, right? Because I sure as hell did not sign up to do that."
Riva Banari "LARPing." Riva supplies. "It's the perfect excuse for almost anything."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa says "That is a good point we'll need to brig them down, so don't make an incident unless we have to, got it."

Kotone right now is trying figure out more of what's up. She gets the idea she's in it now and there's no getting out now not that she's bail on this. She cna help and well in a way if that girl did come across hte fight? It reminds Kotone too much of what happened to herself. She moves to follow up with Riva at this point and makes a face.

"After Kingsmouth's graveyard I think I can handle this one, it's not that spooky."

She takes a moment to look at Kyra and tilts her head a bit.

"Just a warning I'm not certain if your magic will work with me. It's been quite hit or miss in my travels given my prosethic body."
Archer of Brown      "Don't worry, Kyra," says Mason, bringing up the rear with his 'employee.' "Neither I nor Archer has any intention of harming a bystander. When we get to the cemetary, I'll make arrangements for us. There should be no need to 'bring them down' as Ms. Yamakawa said." The tip of his cane clicks on the ground softly as he walks. The old man feels a bit of relief--it seems discretion isn't a lost cause in the Multiverse, after all! "At the very least, we won't have to pretend to hit each other with foam swords." He chuckles softly. Archer looks utterly lost.

     The cemetery's just a few blocks away, and the walk there is uneventful. The passing Elites get mildly interested looks from the locals, but most seem to take them as a matter of course. The False Grail might be a tightly kept secret, but this world has accepted the Multiverse with open arms, and it seems as if they've already packed it away in its own little place, along with microwaves and social media and everything else mundane. Mason sighs.

     Of course, the doldrums are quickly replaced by an artificial feeling of dread. It extends around the cemetery like a dome, and the gate bears a thick padlock with a newly made sign hastily bolted on, warning about harmful fungus spores. The magically aware, especially those familiar with the maxims of Grail worlds, will know exactly what it is. "A bounded field," says Mason incredulously.

     "Either he's brave or stupid," surmises Archer. "Killed your familiar, then set up shop right then and there."

     Mason takes a moment to explain. "Do you feel that mild sense of dread? That tingling feeling on the back of your neck? It isn't real," he says to the Elites--well, Shirou probably knows, if he's Kiritsugu's son. "It's like a forcefield, put in place to scare off interlopers. On a mundane individual it'd be immense. Much more than dread. Superstitious terror. Hence..." He taps the sign with his cane. The mundane world's answer to something it can't explain, or perhaps a savvy mage's attempt to cover his work.
Fake Avenger      It is at this point that Kojirou decides to complicate things.

     The Servant has been following them for a while. They might've gotten glimpses, brief flashing moments, of the blue-haired man following them - though most probably not. Kojirou is very, very old, and very, very good at keeping himself hidden when he wants to be hidden. It's basically a survival skill when an entire world wants to kill you, and even without the supernatural Servant Class Skill backing him up, Kojirou's gotten quite competent at it.

     The first and most important rule of mastering stealth is to know what sorts of things draw attention, and then avoid them.

     Therefore it can be said that the most important rule of mastering stealth is to know how to be unsubtle.

     Once they hit the Bounded Field, Kojirou immediately stops caring. This is proof that there was someone inside. Now the only real goal was to draw the enemy out.

     Kojirou drops out of Presence Concealment, and everybody in the area probably notices - in large part because not only does he stop using supernatural stealth, but in another part because the blue-haired man walks right through the group without a care in the world. Archer would immediately be able to identify him as a Servant, and immediately identify him as a Servant who doesn't belong to the Grail War - /any/ Grail War. Dominic is likely incapable of forgetting him.

     Everyone else just sees a blue-haired man in a lavender-blue kimono, a lavender hakama, and a slightly scorched blue ribbon walk right past the group, covered in wriggling tattoos, tattoos that look more like deep scars than anything else. There's a loud, distinctive *shnnnnnnnk* as the Servant draws his ludicrously long sword. The tattoos settle into a new pattern on his skin and in his violet eyes.

     The only thing that gets cleaved, however, is the padlock and the sign. Kojirou doesn't seem to take any interest in the group, in the Bounded Field, or anything else around him.

     Nor does he particularly care if the kidnapped girl lives or dies, however. This is the kind of thing that sets off warning alarms. It would probably draw the enemy Servant to him in a heartbeat.

     You must be really impatient to have your privacy. Is it that girl you met? That's not like you at all. Heh heh heh.

     Kojirou chuckles at nothing at all and steps forward into the graveyard without fear.
Seto Kaiba      Shirou, of course, somewhat challanged Kaiba in a bit. Or at least, Kaiba is interpretting it as that. The question was if he had something less flashy than dragons. Kaiba interprets it as a challenge of whether he can even be /effective/ without his dragon. Kaiba is used to incredibly subtle slights, and so that is why he interprets it that way.

     Still, though, he takes out a deck. Not the one in his holster. It is, in fact, in one of his trenchcoat's inner pockets. And he shuffles it for a while, before inserting it into his Duel Disk.

     "Fine. If you think I can't handle things without my dragons, I'll show you one of my /other/ decks. It'll work for blending in at the graveyard, and for the whole 'pretend we are LARPer excuses, if it comes up. And not all LARPers use foam swords."

     He draws his cards, just go get ready. Yeah, a good hand. But, he'll only start playing cards once they actually go through the gate and past the field of teror thing.

     Kaiba is doing his best not to react to it.

     He's also trying his best /not/ to react to the blue-haired guy who just popped out of of nowhere, went ahead to slash the gate's lock.

     Sadly he has to react somewhat.

     "...And /you/ are?"

     His tone sounds annoyed. This is to cover up his surprise.
Riva Banari "It totally works, believe me." She used that a couple times herself in the past. She shrugs at the comparison to Kingsmouth's graveyard. "I wouldn't speak so fast, Kotone. The last graveyard I went to was in Rome, and boy was /that/ a doozy."

They head through the area, Riva spending her time laughing and joking with whoever, and they get to the graveyard.

Riva takes a picture and tweets it with #2spooky4me. She can't resist. At least she's not on THIS WORLD'S Twitter... "Wow, I can totally feel the bad mojo coming off that place." She says, while poking her phone.

And then Kojirou shows up. "WHOA! GHOST SAMURAI!" Riva yelps, pointing. Kojirou cleaves the hell out of the gate, and Riva immediately starts foillowing. "Holy cow, what is going on here?"

Which means she's /also/ functionally charging headlong into the graveyard and within the bounded field.
Kyra Hyral     "LARPing? Damn, you should have told me before hand, I would have brought that Dungeons and Dragons manual that Simon gave me for Christmas." Kyra jokes with Riva, inadvertantly revealing that LARPing really isn't something she does. She then squints at Kotone as she reveals she has a 'prosthetic body' "I guess I can't help you, then, because I'm fresh out of nanomachines. I guess people with cybernetics are going to be a problem."

    Uneventful walk indeed. Truth be told, Kyra would probably fit in with the rest of the teenage punks that walk the streets of DC. All she's missing is a cigarette.

    "...ooh." Kyra murmurs as they approach the cemetary. "Yes. I feel that alright. Can it actually keep us out? I can try casting Dispell on it, if it is." There's also the fact that Kyra seems keenly interested in some magic on magic action. An experiment, even. She waggles her fingers, hand lifted-

    Then Kojirou appears with the very noisy sound of his sword being drawn. Kyra jumps backward, her eyes widening in recognition of the man Dominic had told the rest of the club about several days ago. Her raised hand drops, grasping one of the guns hidden beneath her hoodie. Although the servant merely cuts the chains upon the lock, it doesn't interrupt Kyra's original intention to arm herself.
Dominic Masoch In a much belated response to Kotone, Dominic explains, "Alexander Academy is a school focused on training exceptional students to excel at the Jobs they were chosen to train in." He would go on further, but Kojirou appears.

"That's that guy!" Dominic says, grabbing Kyra's shoulder and shaking her a bit, "The one I showed you pictures off of my mPad, from the world that I thought had strange air," Of course, it was wholly unnecessary, because Kyra already recognizes him from exactly the scenario Dominic described, "I am unsure how and when he chooses to fight, other than he enjoys challenging strong people," He says to her in a quiet tone, looking around a bit.

When Kojirou draws his sword and Kyra draws her gun, Dominic is drawing his mithril rapier and holding it carefully in his hand. If not for Kojirou, then for the fact that Mason did just definitely confirm this place has magic going on.
Emiya Shirou     "Good. We don't need anything too big or flashy making a-" Mess?

    Shirou crosses into the Bounded Field and is about to comment about feeling a weird tingling. However... Archer explains it first, and then...

    Then the wandering samurai strolls right past him and dices the lock apart....

    Leaving Shirou gaping. Who is this and why did he not sense another... "Ser... vant...?"

    The boy's voice is kind of squawky until he regains his bearings. "Trace... on!"

    Prana awakens in Shirou's grasp, sizzling in light and dark colors and congealing quickly into Kanshou and Bakuya. He makes no moves towards the newcomer but damn if he isn't on guard. "hey... are you friend or foe?!"
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa grins at the larping idea and gives Riva grin, that should be the best story to give, right? IT would muddy thigns well enough, for a moment and she gets the idea the field is like an sonic fence for pets she has to say she likes that idea, given the alternatives. It's time to get going she thinks she shifts her weight a little bit as she looks to Dominic as he explains things a little bit.

"I see it sounds like it might be ... something more akin to spec ops training on my world."

Seriously magic users, she could see the basic tatical military uses for such and could only guess what someone who was traiend could figure out to do. Kyra's humor does get a smile out of Kotone, she just wanted to keep her informed.

Then someone else drops in and she's already going for her pistol, but does not draw it yet.
Archer of Brown      Archer is... oddly calm. "Put your irons away. If he was here to kill us, he'd have done it already. Good thing, too. Nothing more cowardly than killing a man from behind." The gunfighter reaches into the pocket of his flannel shirt and retrieves a hand-rolled cigarette, lighting it with a highly dextrous flick of a matchstick. The cigarette is rolled to the corner of his mouth. "He ain't from this war, anyhow." The Servant doesn't even bother dispelling his modern clothes. "Or any war."

     Mason is caught by surprise. "No, don't--" He holds out a hand to Riva, as if to stop her, but it's too late. "Well, I suppose the field's owner knows we're here by now. Kyra, go ahead and see if you can dispell it--I'm going to give us some privacy." The senator raises his cane. "Photon Barrier," says the old man quietly. Prana definitely leaves him, but aside from a momentary shimmer in the air, nothing seems to happen. Only once Riva and Kojirou fully step into the cemetery does the effect become apparent--Mason has effectively projected an image of the cemetery around the perimeter, to create the illusion that no one is inside. His magic is easy enough to discern from the icky bounded field, so at the very least Kyra shouldn't have trouble telling /which one/ to Dispell. Evidently, the enemy's field can't keep them out--it's just designed to scare and frighten.

     "If he's here to fight a strong opponent, he's probably looking for whoever put that field up. That makes him an ally of convenience," says Mason, nodding to Dominic and placing a hand on Shirou's shoulder. "Excuse me, sir." Mason calls out to the samurai, but doesn't do so in a threatening manner. "Is it true that you're a free agent, so to speak? Is there something here we can help you with?"

     Archer scoffs. "Al, I'm sure he loves your manners, but I don't think he's interested."
Fake Avenger      Kojirou's eyes slide backwards towards Kaiba's. The swordsman's eyes are as tranquil as a still pond under the moonlight as they meet Kaiba's own. There's nothing there - no hostility, no aggression, no anger, no kindness. It's just an empty well, except for the bizarre black flecks in his violet eyes. Then he turns his eyes forward, towards the graveyard, and keeps walking. Monohoshi Zao hangs at his side.

     "I was never a samurai," Kojirou replies to Riva thoughtfully as he enters. He stops, as if to take a look around the field, but his head doesn't move at all. Each of the gathered Elites can feel Kojirou's gaze fall upon them, one by one, as he examines them with his fighting spirit...and then it focuses on Shirou's blades.

     "Neither. Your goals don't coincide with mine at all. It makes no difference to me whatsoever if the hostage lives or dies," he tells Shirou and Albert, "If you wish to profit from me or hinder me, it makes no difference at all."

     Kojirou tilts his head up at the blue sky and smiles. Yes, Kojirou knew Shirou Emiya. The headstrong master of Saber had left an impression on him - like raw clay, he was still in the process of being molded. Like Dominic Masoch, he was someone Kojirou wanted to see at his peak, at the apex of his skill. Right now he was too raw, too unformed. It wouldn't be a good fight at all. Not yet. Not *yet*.

     Kojirou doesn't turn to meet Archer's gaze, but there's a sense of agreement from Avenger in regards to killing a man from behind. He nods, distantly, as if distracted by something.

     Aren't they curious. I suppose they can't help it.

     He chuckles again and continues on into the graveyard.
Seto Kaiba      With the illusion up to hide their activities inside, Kaiba steps in. He doesn't really know what to think of this blue haired man with them. But, at a guess, well. He isn't actively against them, at least not yet.

     But, something /does/ strike Kaiba, just a little bit, as he begins to walk in. If he had killed someone's pet familiar, and then wanted to kill the master... How would he kill the Master?

     "...This is /far/ too obvious, isn't it. A familiar is killed here, last night, and we're walking right into this area. But I suppose, if this is a trap, we may as well be springing it /knowingly/."

     Yes this is /almost certainly/ a trap. But Kaiba can prove how tough he is by going in knowingly and winning /anyways/. And at least everyone else should be made aware of the potential trap as well.

     Still, though, he draws a card, to begin his first turn. May as well make sure his setup is completely optimal before battle even starts.

     "I play Vampire Sorcerer, in the face up attack position!"

     And so, the Vampire Sorcerer appears on the field. It looks much akin to any mage, with a pointed hat and all. But the black outfit, purple claw design on its back, and the staff with a figure of a bat on the end definately give it that whole Vampire feel.

     "But... That isn't all! I play... VAMPIRE EMPIRE!"

     And, in the graveyard, the terrain changes. A hologram appears inside the graveyard, mostly around the edge of the area. While still keeping the potential battlefield mostly clear, the cemetary has what appears to be a small village surrounding it. And, in one part, there seems to be a castle. A castle that so totally looks like Castlevania but isn't because Konami owns both Yugioh and Castlevania.

     Kaiba spaeaks up, to Avenger. Albeit, he isn't looking at him.

     "You, at least, better not get in our way, or we will deal with you as needed."
Kyra Hyral     "...hrmmmmm." Kyra hums, slightly wary for a few moments before she returns her gun to its holster. Those that look carefully will see...it just looks like a regular handgun someone might find on the streets of D.C. Semi-automatic, pretty nondescript. Either way, she's not worried. The samurai was interested in people with the art of the sword so a mage like her shouldn't have to worry. Kojirou seems to be here on his own accord, perhaps just to watch Dominic since he did not have an investment in this particular mission.

    "Oh boy!" Gleefully, she holds up her hands, wiggling her fingers again as she reaches forward, hands hovering less than a centimeter over the surface of the field. "Hmmm. Ooh." She seems to relish the strange, unpleasant feeling of the magic for a few seconds before a white glow spreads across her palms. A flash follows and the barrier disperses. "What an interesting arrangement...not unbreakable but...hmm." Her own white magic disperses.

    "Alright. So. We're good. Let's go!"

    Now if, in theory, in Kyra's brain there was background music playing right around now there would be a big, loud recordscratch as Kaiba starts summoning vampires. VAMPIRES. Kyra makes a face and steps behind Dominic. "...are those really necessary? You couldn't summon dragons again? I'm sure they're about as subtle as making a castle appear."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa moves her hands away fgrom her weapon and she doesn't like the new guy but what can she do? She does however know when to keep her mouth shut, such as now. She does know it's time to go in at this point. She looks at Kaiba for a moment and she ponders Kaiba's got a point they are likely walking into an ambush. Seeing Kyra's distress she speaks.

"They are holograms if I recall right, constructs of hard light."

Hopefully that helps keeping things from being a issue?
Emiya Shirou     "There's a person's life at stake here!" Shirou blurts, amazed at Kojirou's moral stance on the matter. Oh, he's pissed at it. He doesn't agree. But what can he do about it besides grouch at the warrior?

    And grouch he did.

    Maybe it'll twing out some sympathy from Avenger. Probably not.

    As all kinds of vampiric and gothic imagery appears, Shirou can only be grateful that Mason has the stealth part covered. He makes a disgusted noise, amazed at Kaiba's sheer audacity...
Riva Banari It might be a trap, but Riva doesn't care. She's following Kojirou in anyway. "Oh, you weren't?" Riva gabs at him as they enter. "You just really look the part, so I need to brush up on my knowledge of that stuff, I guess. Sorry if I offended you, Mr. Ghost Swordsman."

She's hoping things work out here. The presence of the guy might help or harm their chances, but all she can do is work with what she's got. And that's a /metric ton/ of friends at the moment.
Dominic Masoch He's distracted from his displeasure at Kojirou mysteriously appearing by the fact that Kyra is moving behind him. Natural instincts prevail in this moment and Dominic puts a hand on her shoulder and steps squarely between her and the vampires a moment later, giving her a silent nod of understanding but not saying anything about the why of it.

"Just... stay behind me, Kyra." He says in a quiet tone, giving her a bit of a smile. His sword is kept in his hand as he cautiously watches Kojirou for his response. Dominic will follow into the graveyard for now.
Archer of Brown      So, everyone enters the cemetery, thanks to Kojirou and Kyra. Something of note here--the picture Mokuba found on Wikipedia, specificially with regards to vandalism... no longer appears to be accurate. In fact, the place looks better than ever, with virtually no knocked over tombstones or weeds. Someone has been doing some housekeeping. And evidently, that someone is here.

     Music begins to play, a suspensful chord on a synthesizer. A voice rings out in the graveyard. "Well, what do we have here? A bunch of vagrants hiding behind a few Servants! You have the audacity to come into MY house and piss on MY carpet with these EYESORES?!" The voice grows louder, as does the music. "Well, I guess I'll just have to teach you upstart little fuckers a lesson then, won't I?!" The doors of a nearby mausoleum begin to open, emitting a black rolling fog. The fog rises and rises, until the conditions inside Mason's illusory dome are more like eight o'clock at /night./ Finally, the music reaches its peak, and that's when it becomes obvious what song it is.

     The unforgettable, hard-hitting intro of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' plays, as a dark-skinned man in a black tuxedo /leaps/ from the darkness of the mausoleum, a purple top hat in one hand and a long cane in the other. He lands nimbly on his feet and begins a dance routine, slipping the hat on and cribbing Jackson's dance moves while flinging prana around. Each headstone hit by a burst of the Servant's mana causes the shadows on the ground to elongate until they form vaguely humanoid shapes, which then advance across the ground towards the party!

     The dark-skinned servant turns to face the Elites--mostly Avenger. His face is painted with white makeup in the design of a skull, and he wears dark sunglasses, which, given the dark conditions in the makeshift arena, seems a bit impractical.

     Senator Mason readies his cane. Archer dispels his modern clothing and draws his pistols in one fluid motion--a twist draw.
Fake Avenger      Kojirou's smile is utterly placid. Kaiba's vague threat doesn't elict anything more than a shaking of his head, sending his blue hair flying. It reminded him of old days. The castle springing up around him gets his attention, thoughtfully, and he examines it as he does everything else. His thoughts turn towards old days, towards imaginary castles and wicked spellcasters. He chuckles again.

     Dominic, Kotone, and Kyra's wariness of Kojirou is apparently entirely unwarranted. "I have only ever had one Master, and I didn't serve her very faithfully," Kojirou notes to himself as he starts walking through the castle, "I'm merely a swordsman who spent his life chasing a worthless dream."

     He stops as the music starts playing. It's unfamiliar to him, as is the voice. Kojirou gazes off into the distance as Baron Samedi arrives, watching the Caster move. The shadows dance, the world becomes strange, the magic erupts around them, and Kojirou makes an 'ah' sound with his mouth.

     Then he just keeps walking for the mausoleum, leaving the others to deal with the spontaneous Caster interruption like he doesn't even care. "I'm not here to fight you, Caster," Kojirou tells him on the way past, "But you seem like the sort of man to like interesting things."

     Kojirou passes, a broad smile passing his lips. "If you want to see something really interesting...then survive for a few minutes. They can probably kill you, after all."

     And then he steps into the mausoleum without a care in the world.
Seto Kaiba      As the Servant bursts out of the mausoleum, Kaiba just remains calm. Yeah, he really should of used his Blue-Eyes deck. Because one, it's more powerful. Two, he should of known whoever would take a battle to a graveyard would be one who would have an advantage from being here. Three, he just played Vampire Kingdom. Which, well. He hasn't tested Duel Monster cards on /real/ creatures of the various monster types, but Vampire Kingdom gives a bonus to all Zombie type monsters.

     He is hoping these shadow things don't count as 'zombies'. If they do, he'll need to pull Mystical Space Typhoon, and fast, to destroy his own Kingdom. Which would be embarrasing and admitting he made a mistake, so even then he may not actually play it.

     So, for now, he simply draws a new card. And almost immediately, he plays it, dynamically and dramatically as usual. "I play Vampire Lady, in attack mode! And now... Vampire Lady, Vampire Sorcerer! Attack!"

     The two monsters are trying to rush forward. If /possible/, they're attack the Caster directly. But, far more likely, they're going to end up encountering the humanoid shadows instead, and try to attack them, if they seem like things that can actually be attacked.

     Though, Kaiba is kind of hoping that the Vampire Sorcerer dies, at least. If it gets destroyed, it might actually be /beneficial/ to him.
Riva Banari Riva hears the music, and she listens to the objections of the man in the hat and fancy clothes. "Holy cow! That's awesome!" Riva calls out, and she begins jamming to the beat. "Oh yeah, thrillerrrrrr, through the niiight! Woo!" She seems to be not really noticing the shadows immediately.

Until they get close, and she yelps. "Hey, man, this isn't cool!" She fumbles for her guns in her coat, and steps backwards. "Why do you gotta do this to us, man?"
Kyra Hyral     Backliner life, yo. Getting behind the fighter is a very time-honored combat formation! It's also one that Kyra is too happy to take advantage. Even Kotone's reassurance that Kaiba's 'summons' are hard light hologram constructs doesn't seem to help. "I'd still rather not be around..vampires."

    Music starts in the graveyard. Had Kyra known more about American music, she would be thoroughly amused. Instead she's just appreciative. All fights should have background music. Also the song sounds pretty good.

    She peers out from around Dominic at the man dancing around on the gravestones and summoning Friends from the Other Side. "A necromancer...?" she hazards, "A lich? Hmmmm." Kojirou calls him a 'Caster' and Kyra ohhhs. "Okay so an enemy wizardly type. In that case-boop." She reaches forward and taps Dominic's back with a finger, activating a Shell spell around the Fencer.

    She breaks away and steps over to the Archer next, "Boop." The protective magic is spread to the Servant as well before Kyra moves on, heading to each in turn to gift her own brand of 'magic resistance.'
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is looks about and notices someone has been caring for the yard she is being careful, she was an inch away form death and the thought about someone rampaging over her own grave isn't a plesent one she then just pauses as a very old pop song starts to play she stares for a long moment and then looks at the Servant whom has appeared she makes her self ready a this oint going for her weapon, she's looking for gover but grimaces it's mostly tomb stones around here so she just waits for now.
Emiya Shirou     BUH?!

    That word aptly describes Shirou's reaction to the incredibly BIZARRE Servant who just leapt out! "H-hold on, we're not here to fight a Servant! We're looking for a girl. Kelly Burgstaller. is she here?!" Less rude and more just not caring to inject much politeness in his delivery, Shirou steps forward as hell breaks loose around him.

    He really doesn't want to fight without a good reason, after all.
Dominic Masoch Dominic has his sword out and at the ready, the lightning patterns in his blue eyes glowing as he starts to figure out what what is going on. The music reference is utterly lost on him, being from a foreign and non-Earth world. So he just looks blankly at this and looks over to Kyra.

"He's a... Necromancer/Dancer?" Legends on Galianda had been told of the Necrodancer and their grave and serious power. Okay, so not really.

Either way, his sword comes up and at the ready. He grips the blade tightly in his hand and then moves to shield Kyra all the more. Frontliners need to watch the backline, it's basic Combat Rules.

His rapier flits forward, trying to stab one of the shadows in the center of the head.
Archer of Brown      Caster stands atop a tombstone, brow quirked in response to Avenger's question. He has the audacity, between slinging bolts of energy, to place his free hand upon his chin. "Baron Samedi finds your offer... agreeable! Enjoy yourself!" The Heroic Spirit cackles, and returns his attention to the fight, having just given his name like it was nothing. Shirou, at least, will know this is one /highly/ unusual Caster.

     Vampire Lady and Vampire Sorcerer appear to have a clear path to Samedi, until his shadows stretch across the ground at an odd angle to intercept them. The shadows are a bit weird to fight--they attack the shadows of the Elites, but the Elites themselves feel the blows as if there were invisible creatures standing in front of them. Once you catch the trick--that is, making your shadow attack the one on the ground--they're only /mildly/ weird to fight.

     Kyra's Shell is a great deal of help in this matter, especially since these creatures apparently /do/ count as Zombie type enemies! Senator Mason attempts to help by holding his staff aloft and generating artificial, but very bright light. This reduces the effective range of the shadows, but has the unfortunate effect of attracting Caster's ire! The Servant throws a ball of sickly green energy Mason's way, which is promptly shot out of the air by Archer.

     The gunfighter, having revealed himself as Wild Bill, is certainly living up to his legend, tracking and plugging the shadow creatures. But the problem with fighting shadows in a darkened area is that they can keep coming back with pretty much no repercussions. It's not that the monsters are tough, it's that Caster has a seemingly absurd amount of prana and the homefield advantage here. Dominic, Riva, Kotone and Kaiba can easily dispatch the minions, but for every one that falls, two more appear! Unless someone can end Caster quickly, Kojirou is going to get the chance to make things somehow more interesting than they already are!
Fake Avenger      People squabble about Kojirou on the radio. Amusement flickers through his voice, though not his face. What did he care if they wanted to oppose him? Kojirou's apathy serves him well as he enters the mausoleum.

     He doesn't wait around. He's apathetic, but he's not /stupid/. He made a deal, after all. Kojirou picks up his pace, shifting from a light walk to a rapid run. His Magic Resistance would protect him from any of the Master's traps. His speed would probably keep him ahead of the others, unless they have some teleporty tricks.

     Kojirou heads down without fear. He has an Agenda for the first time in a very, very, very long time.

     Time to see where it led.
Seto Kaiba      As the two shadows move in to attack, the shadows destroy both the Vampire Sorcerer, and the Vampire Lady. Kaiba did, in fact, make things more difficult for his allies, then. But, at the moment, they don't matter. While the only one he trusts is himself, he still is willing to take guesses at who will win what game. And, in this battle between Baron Samedi, and the Elites, the Elites will be at least able to hold off the Baron until he deals with Avenger.

     And so, he looks at Samedi, frowning.

     "...I'll let my allies deal with you. I will deal with the one after your Master."

     And so, he runs after Kojirou, heading into the mausoleum. He goes at a fairly decent pace, to ensure that he can catch up. But, even as running, he is prepping cards.

     After all, due to the effect of his Vampire Sorcerer, when it is destroyed by battle... He can bring forth a monster from his Deck to his Hand. And so, it is time to prepare.

     "I bring forth the Vampire Lord from my Deck. I start my turn by drawing my card. And then, by banshing my Vampire Sorcerer from my graveyard... I can now /play/ it!"

     And so, he plays the Vampire Lord. An elegant and regal looking young man appears in front of Kaiba. It follows his path, floating along as Kaiba runs along. And, when he catches up to Kojiro (if not stopped), he stops, speaking aloud. /Very careful/ to make sure none of the others are around.

     "Tell me /what/ you are up to, and I might let you continue. I don't care /whose/ side you on. I don't care about the Servant who is leading this search. I'm just looking to be on the winning side."

     Kaiba isn't fully set on being on Mason's side. So, he very well /might/ be willing to change sides, it seems. He's also absolutely making sure /no/ one is hearing this right now.

     Also, Kaiba puts a face down card in his Spell/Trap zone.
Emiya Shirou     No answer. Oh well, Shirou wasn't really expecting one. He doesn't have time to worry about the strange Servant who claims to know him either. Right now... he needs to free up everyone else so they can get into that Mausoleum and find the Master and the missing girl!

    If there's one person's life at stake, he will risk his own. No question!

    "Guuah!" So he hurls Kanshou and Bakuya wildly at Caster. The married swords spin like boomerangs, arcing each way and then closing in on each other with Caster in the epicenter. It's a very obvious attack and would be easy enough to dodge except...

    Except as they fly, Shirou's adding more to the strategy. A bow of some strange black material appears from a second wave of prana and a twisted black spear-like sword with it. The sword he mounts and fires somewhat sloppily and hastily to time things right.

    HRUNTING - if shoddily done - flies through the air with an ominous crimson light, right for Caster! It doesn't quite coincide with Kanshou and Bakuya but does it really need to?
Dominic Masoch Dominic receives a request to cover Kyra. And so he shall accomodate and cover her to the best of his ability. It's an interesting and good thing that Kojirou is presently gone and out of eyesight, otherwise this next move probably would have made the mission all the more complex:

>[Fencer]
    >[Swallowtail]

Stepping forward and into the fray, there's a surreal rush of energy around Dominic. All of a sudden, he's not just cutting where his sword is. He's cutting in all directions at once, trying to push forward into the onslaught of minions and cut them down to give Kyra a clear path.

Still, some do find their way past his defenses, and he finds himself gouged or scraped by their advancing strikes. But he remains focused and pushes to hold them at bay to the best of his abilities.
Kyra Hyral     Shell set up, check. Kyra quickly returns to hovering around Dominic, relying mostly on him to run some much valued physical interference since Kyra's not gifted in much prowess in that department. She carefully watches those here, keeping track of their statuses, ready to act if anyone experiences a serious injury that needs to immediately get addressed. Her hands move, reaching down to her left him to draw a large, ornate revolver with intricate gold and white enamel inlays.

    It is the Luna's Resolve, the first gun that Lloyd Irving has ever forged. Activated in a strange combination of physics and trapped Efreet essence, it fires large shells that were forged with holy energy. Being a weapon made independently of Galianda, it curiously does not draw on Kyra's MP. She's fired the gun a few times before to get accustomed to the strangeness of having a physical recoil but all those times were on a shooting range.

    At last she gets to use this on a real target. Dominic serves as cover, clearing the shadows from around and before them as she takes aim at the gravestone-hopping Caster. She waits, carefully, especially when Shirou hurls weapons at the Servant. The last thing she wants to do is shoot their ally's attack out of the air. But once she thinks she has that clear shot, she takes it. She takes three, in fact.
Riva Banari The shadows smack Riva around as she pulls out a pair of MAC-10s. The impact causes her tor grunt and fold over, her eyes widening as she gets smashed by a shadowy, invisible force. "OOF! Ugh! Ah! OW! STOP THAT!" Riva staggets backwards, leveling the guns. Green light shines through circuits etched into the action of the weapon, and she pulls the triggers, ang shining bolts of emerald light rake the area that the Shadows are in.

Riva has a small problem when fighting shadows. And that is the bullets emit light. Therefore, they distort the shadows as they pass and possibly can't even hit the things. "Agh!" Riva huffs.

She turns her attention to Baron Samedi. "Look, Samedi, if you wanted to party you shouldn't have invited the rough guys! Now we're going to have to CRASH IT!" She lunges, running along the well-tended gravestones and hopping around between them as she lays down a hail of magical bolts upon the Caster. "LET'S DANCE!" She yells in challenge.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is now making redy to get into thingds at this point and pause as the name Wild Bill is dropped. She stops for a moment and stares with more than a bit of awe on her face. She'd heard the stories she'd knew bit about the grail war but this? She had no idea. While not American the tales did reach up to Canada after all. She snaps out of it thankfully and is now got her pistol out and she's hoping her shots can disrupt the shadowy minions. she notices they just keep spawning more.

"Damn it wait does anyone have light magic if these things are shadows maybe enough light can get them all and keep them from respawning?!"
Archer of Brown      Avenger's flight down the stairs is quick, and virtually unmolested. The illusions and bounded fields of Caster's Master are no match for his Magic Resistance, and soon, he finds himself in a makeshift atelier, face to face with a cloud of bees. The bees, being constructs of prana, bounce harmlessly off of him like raindrops, and once the last of them has dissipated, Caster's Master and Kelly Burgstaller are revealed--that is, they're one and the same. Kelly fires her magic again, to no avail, her back against the wall. "Who are you? What do you want?!" She suddenly keels over, her magic circuits apparently working overtime.

     Meanwhile, outside the Mausoleum, the battle rages on. Kaiba's return to the battlefield after trying to find Avenger is marked by an enormous explosion--Hrunting slamming into the Baron, followed by three shots from Luna's Resolve and a whole lot of bullets from Riva. The Servant evaded Shirou's first attack easily enough, but being summoned as a Caster places certain limits on one's agility. Samedi vanishes behind a cloud of smoke, and for a time, there doesn't seem to be anything coming from it.

     The battle seems to be going in the Elites' favor, as Dominic's swordplay cuts down a large number of minions just as Senator Mason responds to Kotone's request. "I've got it here! Cover me!" The old man raises his cane high, and a brilliant white light begins to pierce the fog, diminishing the shadows more and more, until each one slain no longer produces a second. The Elites easily finish them all off, until...

     "STUPID GIRL! I need more prana!" The Baron rises from the cloud of smoke, his wounds healing at an accelerated rate. He begins to tap his cane against the ground as the music reaches the lyricless interlude. "I'm gonna knock you all flatter than hammered shit! Ahahaha! BANDA~!" Prana rushes forth from him like a hurricane, and all around the Loa, shadowy figures begin to rise. Unlike the minions, these stand above the ground rather than on it, and their features are easily distinguishable. "FESTIVAL OF THE WILD GHEDE!" The Ghede, the family over which the Baron presides, begins to dance--and hurl spells. That's right, each /one/ of them can throw magic. Though it's nowhere near as strong as the Baron's magic, the fact remains he's essentially just summoned a dozen or so spellcasters. His cane beats out a steady rythm, to which the Ghede dance and attack!
Fake Avenger      Avenger explains his goal to Kaiba /off-screen/. It is mysterious. There are words exchanged, as Avenger disappears into the mausoleum at a speed Kaiba probably can't keep up with. On account of magical traps, and Kojirou being apathetic towards modern-day magecraft. Magic Resistance is a hell of a drug!

     The girl appears. Kojirou walks forward, slowly. "My name is Sasaki Kojirou, Avenger-class Servant. I'm sorry. You won't be surviving this night."

     Kojirou purses his lips."It's distasteful of me to injure a woman, but I'm afraid I don't have any choice. I made a bargain with the Devil himself."

     Her magic rebounds off him as he walks forward. He glances at her Magic Crest, then her Command Spells.

     There's a flash of light as Kojirou's blade slices off her arms. He doesn't blink at the sudden violence, nor the spray of blood. He just picks up her arms, stows them in his coat, then grabs her by the coat. If she hasn't passed out from the pain, he clocks her over the head with his sword and starts dragging her upwards.

     The things he'll do for a moment's peace. It's disgraceful, but what choice does he have? She's a participant in the Holy Grail War, after all.
Seto Kaiba      And, with the trail of Avenger lost, Kaiba turns around towards the entrance again. Just in time to witness the absolute chaos of explosions, and now the shadows throwing magic everywhere. For now, he will simply focus on the shadows. Not on the Baron. After all, the Baron will be running out of magic, and quite quickly at that, most likely, if Avenger gets to the Master.

     And so, Kaiba draws his next card. And, immediately, he plays it.

     "I summon Mezuki, in attack mode!"

     A horse-faced monster with a horn appears. It has a muscular human body. It, and the Vampire Lord, both move in on the Shadows, moving to attack them. The Vampire Lord, using its raw power and fists. Mezuki, using a massive axe.

     Of course, they're attacking the shadow creatures with their own shadow, because Kaiba figured that out easily after the first attack.
Kyra Hyral     "Thanks Dominic!" Kyra calls out shortly after she's able to take her shots. She's already getting set up for more as it seems that the Shadows have all been dealt with. That is until-huh, well, from what she can tell the Baron is definitely healing himself pretty quickly. Interesting.

    Impressive dancing from Samedi and the Loa follows but rather than get caught up in watching that, Kyra's drawn by the swirling Prana and the bad feeling it gives her. That many Loa...all casters-!

    Her left hand breaks away from the Luna's resolve and traces a hexagon in the air in front of her in a sharp, rigid motion, blue light trailing after her finger as she does so. "Attention /spellcasters/! Screw you!" she announces, the crystaline shield forming around her, "REFLECT!" True to the name, the spell itself makes any magic thrown at her bounce right back at the caster.

    This also gives Kyra the rare opportunity to shield other people with herself-as long as it's magic, at least.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is still making use of her pistol with the phantoms for what good it will do it does seem the shots may disrupt them but she's clearly picking her shots carefully as she can. She's not spraying and praying here, no that would be unwise. She does wonder why she does these thing why is she flirting with death? Does some part of her reget saying she wanted to live that day? She doesn't know but she's still putting one foot infront of the other.

She reches into a pocket and pulls out small grenade and she calls out.

"SHIELD YOUR EYES!"

She lobs int into the thick of the enemy and the flash grenade goes off in a blinding fleash of light, will it do anything to the minions? Who knows?
Riva Banari Riva is faced with something even more unpleasant now. When the Servant demands more Prana, Riva calls out, "What, is the party over already? Come on, I thought you had more stamina than that!"

And then Samedi busts out the Festival. Riva blinks, taken aback as the Ghede start bombarding with spells. While Riva is fairly mobile, that's a dozen or more spellcasters. A blast hits her, and then again as she tries to use the gravestones for cover.

It doesn't help. Spells cheat. Riva pops up and shoots more bullets, but gets winged again, the strike knocking her flat. "Damn it!" She curses, attempting to get back on her feet. Hopefully she can avoid attention for a moment...
Emiya Shirou     "TAKE THIS!!" With a hot-blooded yell, the red-headed sword magus lets fly his arrow.

    It scorches a path over the cemetery at tremendous speeds. And the moment it's free of the bow, the Galatine arrow becomes fully encased with flame. Holy fire of the sun, bright enough that if the Senator's magic were not in place much of the town would see the light show that's only an impact away from occuring.

    It's headed straight for Baron Samedi.

    Best not get in its way.
Emiya Shirou     When Kanshou and Bakuya collide it's in a shower of sparks and shattering metal. They evaporate into constituent prana moments later, before the fragments even reach the ground. But while Caster's busy with Hrunting, Shirou begins assembling a new image. Each time he Projects - no, Traces - he becomes ever more determined to improve this strange art and make it into something that can save people.

    Here is a Caster who's endangering some of his friends and allies when peace might've been an option. He's gotta be stopped!

    "My body is made of swords. Begin Full Trace." The boy chants out firmly, eyes glazing over momentarily. His mind burns and fizzles, perceptions shifting into a coldly mechanical analysis of events - all emotions temporarily shut down and suspended.

    And his analysis says TAKE COVER!

    So that's what SHirou does. He hurls himself behind a rather large whole-family headstone, buying him a precious few seconds of cover and protection from most of the spells. They splash into hard stone and eat away at it, but better stone than flesh.

    His mind sharpens and heats up, becoming a mighty forge. An image appears, a blade no human hand could ever hope to claim to have forged. A silver and blue longsword fit for a chivalrous hero.

    Its origins in the minds of elementals. The magics that went to creating it and the materials gathered from the spirit of the Earth itself. The shape it would be bound in and the structures and skill that made it so. The adventures it was brought on - many journeys and battles in the hands of a skilled, loyal knight. A blade of the sun that can fell any foe!

    "GUUUUAAAAAAAGGGghhhh....!!!"

    It's far, FAR beyond Shirou's ability. Silver and gold prana flies free of his empty hand, creating one hell of a wild lightshow. Caster will no doubt consider this a terribly wasteful, unrefined 'spell' - him and Mason both. Anyone with any sense for magic can tell this feat he's doing is as raw and crude as it gets.

    It goes on for several seconds. During which, Shirou rolls free of his cover and bats away several spells with the still-forming blade he's grasping. The illusion seems no worse for the wear for these efforts, even as it's wielder gasps and grunts from the sheer exertion. But which is greater? The toll on his body to defend himself or the toll on his mind and soul to forge that which none can replicate?

    "All processes complete. BIND!" Emotion finally returns to Shirou's voice and prana crackles up the length of his weapon as it fills in.

    EXCALIBUR GALATINE, the Resurrected Sword of Victory, trusted weapon of Sir Gawain should not be here. It should be many worlds away. It definitely does not belong in Emiya Shirou's hands.

    And it won't be there long.

    With blood leaking from his mouth and his lungs heaving for air, Shirou forces his body to move. Galatine is gripped as an arrow and mounted along the bow. As Shirou draws the string back with all his might the weapon warps, thinning and streamlining itself simplistically to be more aerodynamic.

    Then... it begins to shine and glow. A wave of hot air blasts across the cemetery, reaching everyone briefly. Scorching golden light ignites along the metal, an emanation of pure sunfire. Shirou's circuits are glowing hotly in any kind of magic vision - he's pumping most of his reserves into this one shot... And the more magic he pumps into Galatine the hotter it gets, the brighter it becomes...

    Oh it's hot, indeed. It's so hot that Shirou's fingers would be in peril were it not for the magic of the blade - Galatine will not endanger its wielder, if they're gripping the hilt. His only saving grace.

    It also doesn't take much to realize that calling this Noble Phantasm a sword anymore is a mere technicality. It is an arrow of the fiercest sort, and Shirou takes aim straight for Caster.
Dominic Masoch Dominic cannot keep Swallowtail going for long, as it is a tiring move and it requires a great deal of energy for him to keep up for any extended period of time. He pants slightly, adjusting his footing and trying to catch his breath. He doesn't want to ask Kyra for a pick-me-up, she's been busy with her own assault so far.

A gloved hand comes up to wipe some blood and sweat away from his cheek. This momentary lapse in battlefield awareness sees him struck center of his body with a blast of magic from one of the many conjured figures. He slides back along the ground, grunting in pain and clutching at his chest. Kyra gives him reprieve for a moment and he lifts his head in time to watch Shirou project Excalibur Galatine and then fire it like an arrow a moment later.

Dominic watches and gets a detached look to his face, seeming to zone out for a few moments.
Fencing
>Not A Sword Saint
    >Observe

-Inside Dominic's Mind-

Dominic looks around for several moments, finding himself in a vast darkness, surrounded by a circle of light on the ground only wide enough to illuminate his own diameter plus slightly more. Moments later, a new pillar of illumination reveals a second figure. The man is six and a half feet tall, clad head to toe in plate armor, and wielding a massive sword. He and Dominic stare at eachother for a moment.

"Who-"
"I am the Sword Saint. Or I am your mind's attempt to resolve the magical pattern. What you subconsciously know."
Dominic blinks several times, "You're me."
"In a sense. But I am also not. I am what you will use to process that which you cannot easily understand. I am no more you than an elaborate and recurring dream."

A third pillar of light erupts, a light in the darkness far off. It shows Shirou at the moment of firing his Broken Phantasm. They both turn to look towards it. Dominic says simply, "I cannot do that."

"You cannot. But you can use it as inspiration. This darkness is your potential." The large man gestures to the space directly between the two of them. Dominic can feel something there, but he does not know what, "Eventually, as you illuminate potential, you will come closer to this."

"What is it?" Dominic asks seriously.

"It is the culmination of any Sword Saint's life's work. You know it exists, even if you do not know it yet."

The two turn back to the projection of Shirou standing some distance off. As they walk towards it in tandem, Dominic subconsciously steps around as if knowing places in the darkness where landmarks lay. As he does so, other, dimmer pillars appear. They show the various Fencers that Dominic has learned from. As well as one or two Holy Knights.

The two stop just in front of the landmark of Shirou and stare at it. The larger man looks to Dominic, "Now look. Look and be inspired."

Name: Breaker Thrust
Class: Extraversal Derivative
Compatible Weapons: High-Quality Blades. Lesser blades risk destruction.
Fundamental Mechanic: By projecting a high level of magic into a physical form, destabilization and destruction of a magical projection may be weaponized. Lesser weapons risk outright destruction.
Mana Cost: Extreme
Range: Short to Long
Original User: Shirou
Dominic Masoch [New Technique Acquired: Breaker Thrust]

Dominic seems to snap back into reality a second later, shaking his head and looking down at his sword. His blue eyes crackle with yellow lines as he twists his wrist. Mana Particles run through his body and leek out across the blade, creating a manifested blade around the basic mithril of it that looks almost crystalline.

He steps backwards and lifts his blade up into a practiced stance. There's a flick of his wrist and towards one of the spellcasters, his blade whips like a shot, trailing energy and crackling as it does. At the apex of its swing, the crystalline outer shell of the blade detaches, streaking through the air and trailing excessive amounts of magic and energy, soaring along at an incredible speed.

Upon impact, the projected blade will explode in a massive detonation.
Archer of Brown      Avenger's ascent up the stairs is much the same as Kaiba's--namely, that when he returns with Kelly in tow, there is absolute mayhem afoot.

     The Festival of the Wild Ghede is primarily an offensive Noble Phantasm--the Ghede themselves are easily felled with carefully planned attacks. Thus, Kaiba, Kyra, Kotone and Riva can all pick off a few of them.

     Senator Mason, no longer providing magical light, prepares to fire a beam off at the Baron himself when he turns and looks at Shirou. Even Archer, in the midst of providing fire support for the Templar, casts a surprised glance towards Shirou! "No, boy! You'll burn out your circuits!"

     Caster's eyes go wide. "Holy /shit!/" Not only is there a LEGENDARY SWORD-ARROW coming towards him, there's also a FLYING CRYSTAL RAPIER OF DEATH! The Servant hurriedly throws up a forcefield. It's broken through. Another! It's broken through. Beads of sweat gather on his forehead as he tries with all his might to repel or even slow the combined force of Shirou and Dominic's attacks, until finally, it breaks through. The remaining Ghede dogpile him in a protective measure, and the entire dark huddle vanishes behind a cloud of acrid smelling smoke. The last, triumphant chord of Thriller rings through the air, and the music is silent.

     The smoke clears. Caster, minus one arm and one leg, blood dripping through his teeth and severe burns all over his body, hangs from the wall, impaled through the chest by Excalibur Galatine. His every motion as weak and frail as a child learning to walk, he reaches into his coat pocket, far, far removed from being any kind of threat. The Servant retrieves a white handkerchief. He waves it in the air weakly, before the wind gently snatches it from him. "Fucking... hell. I..." He coughs, spattering blood all over his tattered tuxedo. "I surrender." His breathing is ragged. "I surrender." If there's going to be interrogating done, it should be quickly--the Servant likely has minutes left, if that, with an incapacitated Master.
Seto Kaiba      With the battle over, Kaiba could simply turn off his Duel Disk. But. He doesn't want to risk it. Not quite yet. One never knows what /might/ happen. As such, he draws a card, and then proceeds to place a card phase down in the Spell/Trap Zone, and another card in face-down defense mode. A face down card hologram appears representing the monster. And he approaches the Baron.

     "So. We'll make this fast. What was your Master's goal in this? Are you aware of any other Servants and Masters, and where we can find them? Is there anything unusual to be aware of? And, are there any traps still left in this graveyard by your Master?"

     He shoots off the questions fast, having a guess that there won't be much time left anymore.

     Though very soon he wants to have a /long/ sit down with Mason and Archer to figure out what the hell they all know, and to figure out a much better gameplan. Shirou will probably be called in on this too, as will any others aware.

     Besides, it's /Kaiba/. If you should ask /anyone/ for advice on playing a game, it would be him.

     Albeit most people would ask begrudingly.
Fake Avenger      Kojirou emerges from the door of the Mausoleum, the armless girl dragged along the ground behind him, into a scene of absolute madness. Shirou used the explosive power of Excalibur Galantine. Dominic used the explosive power of something not unlike Excalibur Galantine, which just solidifies Kojirou's satisfaction. One day, that boy will be a fight like no other.

     Kojirou emerges from the mausoleum, dripping with blood, dragging the girl behind him. His eyes flash as he walks forward, well aware that his enemies just gave their best - expended their power to incapacitate Caster. His peaceful smile is one of complete assurance.

     He tosses the girl to the ground in front of Caster, then steps between Caster and the rest of the group.

     "Drink her soul," Kojirou tells Caster, "Eat her prana. Take spiritual form, and follow me."

     "You have a new Master now."

     Kojirou flicks some of the girl's blood off Monohoshi Zao with a casual motion, letting it splatter on a tombstone. He addresses the group with that same unearthly aura of calm. "You're drained. You've used your best shots. I recommend you allow me to walk away without an issue. If you choose to face me..."

     "Well." Kojirou's eyes flicker dangerously. "I told you what would happen if you crossed my path, I believe."
Riva Banari Suddenly, everything is over in a conflagaration of Super Moves and Pure Awesometactular Explosions. Riva peeks up from the tombstone, the sides scorched and chunks blown out of it. "Is it over?" She asks, and peers over at the kneeling Baron Samedi. "Oh damn, it is."

She stands, and smiles. "Man, you should have done that in the first place, I totally would have gone drinking with you, man. Jesus." She shakes her head, and then Kojirou happens. She stares in horror as he throws the very girl they're looking for to the feet of her own Servant to cannibalize for power... And she's MISSING HER ARMS.

She blinks. "What the /HELL/ did you just do, man. NOT COOL! NOT COOL, MAN!" She yells, levelling her guns. "HEY YOU! LEAVE THIS PLACE, ZOMBIE GHOST!" Immediately, Anima flares around her, and Riva charges towards Kojirou, intending to try to bull past him on pure stupid determination. And bullets. Lots of Anima bullets. "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Emiya Shirou     moments before the impact, Shirou starts staggering. That was a MASSIVE drain on his circuits. even if they are specialized for this one thing he was still pushing them to the limit - and, more importantly, using up nearly all of his prana. That's much like a kick to the gut. So he stumbles and wobbles, gasping for breath. "I'm alright, not the first time I've done that!" He shouts to Mason. Not the first time, no, but the previous occasion was in Iianor's painting in a workshop.

    But somehow, Caster survives that. Somehow.

    He survives not just Excalibur Galatine but also one of the strangest other techniques he's ever seen. Dominic's Breaker Thrust doesn't look AT ALL like the Broken Phantasm or Projection, but the similarities are pretty clear! Was that a coincidence?! Shirou can only spare Domonic a slightly weirded-out glance though...

    He instead approaches the bloodied, battered Baron Samedi. The bow he used is left behind. It evaporates into the wind like sand blown over a beach...

    "And one more. This Holy Grail War's such an unfair and awful idea, but if the Grail's power is infinite then it won't lose any effectiveness if it's shared. What's your wish? Maybe it can be granted too." It's not a lot of consolation to a loser.

    But at least Shirou realizes their enemy here might not actually bear them any personal malice...

    There's some regret in his gaze while looking down at Caster from... not too close.

    And he starts backing up when Avenger reappears. That guy's mere presence gives him the willies right now. No, it's partially because of what he's dragging along.

    That is not cool.

    Nor is what he does next.

    Shirou clenches his teeth, then angrily spouts out, "AVENGER! That's going too far!" What is, exactly? The arm slicing, or the trying to get caster to turncoat and eat someone's soul?!

    It's not clear. But either way, SHirou's glaring at him!

    And then Riva MAKES AN ACTUAL MOVE. "Wait--!" He stretches an arm out, but doesn't take action. For this bief moment, indecision paralysis strikes...
Dominic Masoch "Wait!" Dominic says, looking towards Avenger and holding up his hand.

He looks tired and ragged, out of almost all of his energy. His eyes still glow slightly, but it's much dimmer now. He holds up his hand towards Avenger and the Servant, stepping in towards the two of them.

"Spare the girl. You can have what Magical Particles I have left in my reserves right now, but let the girl live."

He knows he can't fight and stop Avenger, but he also refuses to come out of this having let a girl die. No matter what her crimes, Dominic believed she deserved a trial, not an execution.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa watches as Shirou does something nuts.

"Shirou What are you!"

Kotone hits the deck now and sees the shadow creatres are no longer an issue she rises to her feet and lowers her weapon intending to accept the Caster's surrender her self she looks at them she's about to say something. She stares for a moment she stares in abject horror and she acts there was no one there the day she was ripped limb from limb. Even if an enemy this ain't right and she's opening fire at Fake Avenger.

She can't even form words right now she's so incensed about what's going on, she can't even form words right now.
Fake Avenger      The Anima Bullets are fast. Fast as hell. Kojirou's eyes flash as Riva and Kotone fire. In the instant between her finger hitting the trigger for the first time and the bullet leaving the muzzle of the gun, Kojirou has raised his sword upwards, slid his leg forward, and gotten into a stance.

     "Hiken."

     Suddenly, the storm of bullets vanishes. Or, no - not vanishes. They split into two pieces, diagonal. The bullets split away from Kojirou. They plow through gravestones, tear apart the walls behind them, carve through statues, but they do not touch Sasaki Kojirou.

     He moves so fast. So fast. It's inhuman, how fast he is - it's impossible, how fast he is. In a single instant, he carves through the bullets. In a single motion, as Riva and Kotone run towards him, he cuts a path through the air. Two slashes whistle outwards. Two slashes...but...

     But there was only one moment. Only one strike. Only one...only...!

     "Fukanzen."

     No. No, as Kojirou lunges towards Riva and Kotone, it becomes quite clear. He didn't cut twice. He didn't slash twice. And yet...and yet...and yet that's clearly two strikes at the same time!

     It's literally impossible. It's an impossible act of swordsmanship. Physics, magic - it doesn't make sense. This is the true form of Avenger...or at least, a piece of it! This is...this is...

     "Tsubame Gaeshi."

     Kojirou steps back, flicking his eyes at Shirou. Then his eyes pan over to Dominic. He doesn't even bother to think about it, his peaceful smile utterly unchanging. That bizarre, peaceful smile...!

     "Very well. It doesn't matter to me whether she lives or dies. My only objective is already secure."

     Kojirou sheathes his sword, kicks the girl over to the group with a casual flick of his wrist, and gestures for Dominic to move over to them. There's something like pride in his eyes as he watches Dominic. Maybe? Or maybe it's just an illusion. Maybe those eyes are just mirrors - mirrors of a man who has nothing inside him.

     Who can say?
Kyra Hyral     This wasn't half bad. Too bad the Grail War had messy things like 'melee classes' to deal with. In fact most of them were 'melee classes'. What's up with that, Grail War? Why so Jobist? Only one mage-type?

    Kyra squints. "...servants aren't supposed to surrender are they." She mutters, finding this slightly strange given what she did know about the game. They're supposed to fight to the death, right?

    Then Avenger shows up and drops the Master down, who they know the identity of having realized that this was something of a trap. Seeing her missing arms is a bit of a shock and Kyra can easily put two and two together on that front. It's a bad loss but something that can be lived with, assuming the girl isn't fed to her own Servant in exchange for loyalty to Avenger. Disgust writhes in her stomach now as she regrets offering to help on this front if this is what the Grail Wars ultimately come down to.

    "Riva, wait!" Kyra calls out in panic, "Don't-" While she can appreciate rushing Avenger to save the girl, she'd at least want to drop some buffs or do /something/ before they get whacked. That is to say nothing about Dominic's deal, which brings to mind her own set of worries.
Dominic Masoch Dominic watches Kojirou advance forward with a sword strike. He takes a few moments to blink and watch the move go down. He zones out for a second...

Fencing
>Not A Sword Saint
    >Observe

#-1 FUNCTION (SWORD SAINT) EXPECTS 1 TECHNIQUE BUT GOT WHAT THE FUCK EVEN

A spray of blood briefly erupts from Dominic's nose as his mind attempts to comprehend an attack which exists almost dominantly outside of concepts like Space and Time. He won't be attempting that again.

Wiping the spray of blood from his nose, he nods to Avenger and steps forward. Turning both hands upwards, he begins to concentrate what Magical Particles he has left, channeling them into the palms of his hands and offering them to the Caster.
Archer of Brown      Kaiba at least gets SOME information from Caster, one single solitary sentence. "Saw... I saw... Berserker... face painted... blue. Sword..." He smiles at Shirou. It's a genuine smile--perhaps there is kindness in the man.

     And then, Kojirou ruins their figurative Christmas. Senator Mason frowns. "Yes," he says. "Yes, I believe you did. Well-played, Avenger. For the time being, let's consider ourselves allies. You mentioned you'd like to do battle with Archer here, and I can't think of a more fitting way to end a Grail War, False or otherwise, than by pitting the East against the West. I'll be looking forward to that day when it--" And then Riva charges Avenger.

     Mason raises his cane aloft, and attempts to block her path with a barrier of hard, but invisible light. Avenger cuts right through it.

     Caster, on the other hand, receives enough energy to regenerate himself, thanks to Dominic. The Servant, bidden by his new Master, takes only enough prana to sustain himself. Once he's strong enough, he just dematerializes, taking spiritual form--and laughing. "Thanks for the help, kid! I might even forgive you for bringing those undead eyesores into my graveyard." So /that's/ what he was pissed off about. Thanks, Kaiba!
Riva Banari Riva knew this was a bad idea before she even started. But the sight of the samurai-esque man dragging the armless, bleeding woman out of the crypt will be burned into her memories forever. The man cleaves the bullets from the air with speed and precision unheard of by mortal man, and Riva suddenly gets an idea of what she's dealing with.

There's only 2 kinds of people who dress like that. Posers, and super badass swordsmen. Unfortunately, this guy is the latter. The turns, trying to leap out of the way, but it's already too late. The barrier rises, and the blade's path cleaves through it, tracing through Riva's body in a flash. She stumbles to the ground, kneeling and breathing in the aftermath.

"... Hey, I'm okay... I think." She reaches down and pokes herself, and then stands up...

Then there is an ugly sound as Riva hits thre ground amidst a red splatter, her eyes wide in shock.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is perhaps doing something foolish her bullet sare clut in two, Kotone manages to track him longer than a normal humam could that's what saves her from the worst of it. She's hit the blade sliuces into her body and ther's pain for a moment very bad pain.She's sent sprawling from thei and hits the ground, hard she's holding the wound and has dropped he weapon. Though that might see it would notice somhin there's something red but one the sent isn' right alos wires and cabling are visable where it hit, she's clutching the wound and due to the pain has forgot she can turn off her ability to feel physical imput.
Seto Kaiba      Kaiba, honestly, doesn't care about the fact that the vampires just made the Baron mad. Because, in the end, things worked out in the end, and he proved to Shirou that he can fight /without/ dragons.

     And so, Kaiba just dismisses his monsters, and puts away his deck. He just does speak as leaving, though.

     "Just don't blame me when the girl wakes up and wants revenge against us all for beating her. Just because she lost, doesn't mean she can't /try/ to make our lives living hells."

     And he walks away without really saying goodbye or anything proper like that.
Dominic Masoch Dominic nods his head to Caster as the Magical Particles are taken. The Servant was nice enough not to take enough to kill Dominic, but giving up that much magical energy in one encounter is still EXHAUSTING. Especially because, as a martial user, he doesn't have the magical pool of someone like a Mage or Spellcaster. He has a decent pool, but he's almost tapped. And he shows it.

When his hands come down, he shuffles not unlike someone who will probably be utterly exhausted for a few days. It's a strange kind of easily readable exhaustion that shows on his face. Still, to Kyra he gives a wide smile, "I saved her."
Kyra Hyral     The Luna's Resolve is promptly placed back in the holster at Kyra's hip seeing as 'shooting at Avenger' does not seem to be a very good course of action. Aside from that, everyone seems to be in pretty /bad/ condition all the sudden between Dominic surrendering his remaining MP and Avenger whacking both Riva and Kotone something fierce. She doesn't have any other words to offer at the moment as she darts after Riva first, her palms glowing white as she does so. Everyone seems to have been very exerted from the fight with the Baron. Yet...

    Kyra's still able to cast pretty readily, it seems, and not just tiny cantrips either as demonstrated when she lays her hands upon Riva. "Cure-3." She breathes out, the healing energy flowing into the sprawled woman. What was life threatening a moment aago no longer is. Despite that, she offers a stern "Don't move all that much for a few seconds, things are still settling." to Riva before movign on.

    She moves to Kotone next, about to cast only to pause. That's right. Prosthetic body. Kyra actually can't do anything about that. "-shit, what's that red stuff...?" she mutters, peering into Kotone's wound like she might peer between the cushions of a couch. "Umm..here...try this?" Kyra passes a vial from underneath her hoodie to Kotone. "It's, um, well, it's glue. Maybe it'll hold?"

    She passes by Kaiba on the way, at last, to Kelly. "Whatever you say, Kaiba." She says dismissively, kneeling by the bleeding girl. Another cure-3 is dropped to seal off the arm wounds since she figures it might be a little too late to be reattaching arms, leaving whether or not that sort of thing is possible on her world a mystery. As Dominic speaks, she looks up to him with a smile of her own.

    She remembers that moment of his weeks ago during the attack of the Chaos Cultists, after all. "Yeah Dom." she says quietly, "You did."
Emiya Shirou     Shirou does know a few things about swords. He knows more about swords than techniques, but he also knows that the strange way Avenger just moved is enough to make his mind BSOD almost as bad as Dominic just did.

    But then Riva and Kotone both go down gruesomely. "No--!"

    At the moment, he can't remember that Kotone's body is repairable and she's probably in no serious danger. That Riva can simply... respawn.

    He can't beat that guy. If he faces down Avenger, he will probably lose his head. He doesn't even have enough prana for anything big left. But this aberration has to go. He's an inconsiderate murderer!

    As though Caster is any better, either. "You're going to just side with this murderer and turn on your Master when she's this bad off, Caster?!"

    Shirou does not approve. He doesn't approve at all.

    He trembles and glares where he stands, mind rapidly flickering through his library.

    But there's just no weapon he can use right now that can match this man. He doesn't have the prana left for Gae Bolg and none of the others can pre-empt that strange technique.

    Perhaps he doesn't even intend to really take action. But hostility's brewing hotly in Shirou's spirit.

    And in a strange display of extra competence with Projection, Kanshou and Bakuya form smoothly from a small flare of prana in each hand, each neatly solidifying. He makes a choking noise, utterly consternated and confused. What's he doing? What SHOULD he be doing?!
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa mutters, "Akin to blood, it's dyed red so a actual human can be told apart from an android."

She's clenching her teeth now at the moment as keeps speaking. She's going quiet now at this point. She's going to try to use the glue as best she can it's a decent idea at least it will seal her 'skin' to keep contimate from getting in she'll give Kyra's that she does appicate it a lot.
Fake Avenger      Kojirou's eyes land on Shirou's. He ignores the healing, the madness going on around him; as Baron Samedi disperses into Spirit Form, Kojirou walks forward, sheathing Monohoshi Zao with a shnnnnnk. Each step he takes, his stride is perfectly assured. He stops in front of Shirou, looking at the boy. His eyes are so dispassionate. So...calm, so peaceful. Given what he just did, and how easily he did it...it didn't cost him any prana. It cost him nothing at all, in fact. It cost him no magic, it cost him no feeling, it cost him no peace. It was like stepping on a bug. No, less so - even that implies some level of care, some level of aggression. While there is no kindess in Kojirou's eyes, there's no aggression, either. He simply...did it. The act of cutting through those bullets, of slicing off that girl's arms, of covering himself in blood, and of carving through Riva and Kotone...it was just a reflex. It was to Kojirou no more effort or emotion than reaching for a cup of coffee or taking a walk.

     "Emiya Shirou," Kojirou observes, his blood-splattered face as peaceful as his voice, "I have, at best, three hours to have the surgery in order to transfer these Command Spells. Each minute you waste is a minute my procedure is less likely to succeed."

     Kojirou's voice remains placid. "I estimate, if you went all-out, in your current condition, you could burn five minutes off my procedure at the cost of your life."

     It's so utterly matter-of-fact.

     "You might surprise me. You might last six. You might last seven. But you burned off a significant chunk of your prana to fight Caster, and I am at full strength. If you gave me everything you had, you might be able to seriously hinder me, and it would probably kill you in the process."

     Kojirou pats Shirou on the shoulder with his blood-splattered hand. "Don't waste your life on something like this. The girl lives. Your healer is tending to your friends. When you throw away your life to me, make it a fight worth having."

     Kojirou turns away from Shirou and heads for the wall of the cemetary, blue hair swaying behind him. The scars along his body wriggle and writhe, shifting into new positions as he walks.
Emiya Shirou     The approach is not easily piercing through the shroud of frustration, indignation, and AFFRONTED SENSE OF JUSTICE plaguing Emiya Shirou. The peaceful swordsman's gaze is met with a burning hot spirit, hotter than any smith's forge would ever be. Perhaps this is the secret to why this pair of Kanshou and Bakuya were made so well so easily... so utterly reflexively. Perhaps not.

    But Shirou's restraining himself from actually moving. His eyes flicker left and right to where the others are still alive... that douses some of his flame. The ferocious teeth-clenching dwindles some into a sour grimace. His whole body trembles, and then...

    Kanshou and Bakuya simultaneously glow in his grasp... and vanish with a small flash.

    The hostility's largely died down, but Shirou points a finger at the retreating Avenger. "SASAKI KOJIROU!" Shirou growls out accusingly. "You're right. There's no way I can win right now. But you've got it wrong. I'll never throw away my life to beat you. When I'm ready, I'm going to kick your ass!"

    It's a small declaration born of the purest personal frustration.

    Is it truly Kojirou he hates here...

    ... or his own weakness, and inability to really matter...?

    What can one Magus do against so many Monsters?
Riva Banari The burning flash of pain is what comes first, then a terrible, aching warmth. The spreading red is what she can see as her body begins to scream, her brain overloaded with pain signals and urgent signals. She can't breathe. There isn't... enough air.

There isn't enough air.

As she stares numbly through the redness, her consciousness fading due to shock, Kyra comes in with the save. There is a wash of light, and Riva's wounds begin to close, her body being reinvigorated at the edge of death by her spells.

"Right." Riva says weakly, as she flops onto her back, letting her body mend itself... But that doesn't keep her from staring at Kojirou and the Senator as they converse.

She can barely understand what she is hearing. She can only pray that it is a thing that has come from shock and pain.